HTC One M8, Glacial Silver 32GB (Verizon Wireless)

Overall, I absolutely love this phone.My background: I was coming from a Samsung Galaxy 1 (Fascinate) that was several years old. It had not been updated by Verizon for at least a few years and the phone itself was becoming finicky (had to restart the phone several times a week, would freeze randomly necessitating unseating and reseating the battery, phone was slow scrolling through screens or opening apps, would lock up 50% of the time when using Navigation, etc.). So I was overdue for a new phone.When I started down the road of looking for a new phone, the HTC One M7 was at the tail-end of its lifecycle and I had heard rumors of HTC coming out with a new version of the One. I also researched a bit on the Samsung G5, but having a lot of issues with my current galaxy phone, I wasn't all that psyched to go with Samsung again. Therefore, I waited to see how the reviews would turn out on these two flagship phones until I decided to actually pick one.My research into HTC and their One phone, I began to appreciate the quality that HTC apparently put into their phones, especially into their flagship phone, based on numerous reviews I had read. Since I had a tendency to hold on to a phone beyond the 2 year standard wireless contract, I needed a phone that would stand the test of time.The same week the Galaxy 5 came out, there started to be a large number of comparisons between the M8 and the G5 and I read all of them religiously. While the camera on the M8 was equally panned by all comparisons, no one said it was an awful camera. And the camera wasn’t a selling point to me. In addition, being able to remove the battery, submerge the phone in water, have a fingerprint scanner and heartbeat monitor, weren’t all that interesting to me. But when the price dropped to $149.99 with a 2 year contract, I was sold immediately on the M8. It was what finally pushed me over the edge. Plus, the fact that it came with 32GB of storage out of the box compared to the G5’s 16GB at a higher price, didn’t hurt. Pulling the M8 out of the beautifully crafted packaging, I finally held a new phone in my hands. It had some definite heft to it, being as it was made out of metal, but the weight singled out the quality and craftsmanship that simply oozed. The phone was night and day compared to my old one. The M8 was super quick on anything I asked it to do. However, I found it odd and took some time to get used to the button placement, the power being on the top and the volume rocker on the right side. Plus the volume rocker has some unnecessary give (looseness?) to it that doesn’t line up with the rest of the quality of the phone. However, I bought a case that overlayed some rubber buttons over the original and it gives the buttons some needed resistance/firmness.I ended up getting the silver verses the gunmetal color. I just am not a fan of gunmetal in general. Anyways, the silver color is gorgeous against the metal body.As for the rear camera(s), it gets the job done. It is easy to see the overexposed light problem that many comparison articles mentioned, but hopefully that can be fixed by a software update. The dual camera seems neat, but appears to be more of a gimmick. I do like the UFocus feature (the ability to focus on an area in a photo and blur out the rest), but not sure if that is solely due to the dual camera. There is also a 3d effect setting but I am also unsure whether this is due to the dual camera. It was neat to look at but don’t see myself using the feature long term. Otherwise, most of my photos come out nicely and have no real complaints.The front facing camera is nice though and I hear has a much better camera (in terms of MP) than most phones out there, including the G5. So if you do a lot of selfies, consider the M8. The speakers are fantastic! Playing Pandora on the phone, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound and clarity coming out of a phone’s speakers. I heard they were good, but didn’t know they were this good. However, unless you watch a lot of movies or listen to your music without headphones, I don’t see the benefit of having great speakers. At least, I can’t think of any long term use and benefit.Battery life seems great thus far. Moderate use seems to garner about 2 days worth of charge before I have to plug the thing in. And I need to make sure I don’t charge the phone while it still has a good amount of charge left, so that I don’t reduce its “memory” long term. I had to charge my Galaxy 1 phone at least every day or twice a day after moderate to heavy use.Android Kitkat is completely new to me, having come from such an old version of Android, so it is hard to determine what is really base Android, verses what HTC added on or modified. I’m still getting used to the new set-up compared against the Galaxy 1, but I’m starting to figure it out. Everything is very slick, smooth and responsive.Finally, circling back to where this review started, this is just a great phone. It does everything I need it to, and more. And it does it in style. You won’t regret getting this phone.

Bought the phone after looking closely at Wal-Mart, Target, Windows Store and AT&T Store.I got an excellent price from Amazon -- $60 plus tax -- and then AT&T charged me $40 on top of that... presumably for the included mini-SIM card and the customer service to change my account over to the new phone.The phone arrived from Amazon just two days after my order. I've had it now for about a month and I'm very impressed. This is the nicest phone I've owned and I've been an AT&T customer for over 15 years now.The HD screen is excellent and the sound is amazing -- stunning really -- on phone calls and for music. But the best thing about this phone is the speed at which it does everything. Indeed, it's so fast that it takes time to get used to it. The camera is the fastest phone camera I've seen and takes really great shots, and I say this as a Galaxy owner who's taken award-winning pics with my phone. But this new phone is, in a word, AWESOME.HTC's build quality is second to none. It's a big phone with a big screen and big sound, but nothing about it is too big. It's just about right on all fronts. The professional reviewers love this phone and I can see why. It feels great, it looks great, it performs better than all the other phones and there's a ton of accessories available.Amazon has good prices on micro SD cards, so definitely take advantage of the fact that this phone's storage space can be greatly expanded so you'll NEVER run out of space for photos, music, apps, etc. Also, the battery appears to have excellent properties. It doesn't get hot. It lasts for at least 2 days with heavy use. It charges quickly and there's a turbo charger accessory available if you want that feature.No matter how you use your phone, you'll love this One from HTC.

I love the phone...the upgrade experience through Amazon/ATT was not very informative and therfore I am not happy.During the upgrade Amazon checks with ATT to see if your current number/account is eligble for an upgrade. If so, they affirm this and then tell you the amount of monthly bill (not in detail, just the total w/o fees and taxes). The estimated total they showed for my plan was $200...when I compared this to my existing bill, it was correct (not including any discounts for the mobile share). So, I accepted.Later in the week I began thinking about this and called ATT to verify the plan cost. WELL, since I had changed the equipment on that line, ATT deemed it no longer eligible for a $25 mobile share discount each month. Hence, my out of pocket cost INCREASED $25 + fees and taxes. FOREVER!! I ACTIVELY discussed this with ATT customer service, retention, and eventually another supervisor. I was stuck.Now, I'm upset because there was NO DETAILED DISCLOSURE of the increase in cost at any time during the upgrade process. I was denied COMLETE INFORMATION with which to make my decision!This is Amazon and ATT's joint fault. Amazon was acting as a duly authorized agent of ATT...and I've decided that ATT just doesn't care if they mislead their customers.My only satisfaction would be a reduction of my monthly bill by the $25 for the duration of the contract.