HTC One M8 UK SIM-Free Smartphone - Amber Gold

Excellent phone! HTC has worked for me and several friends for years - and the M8 so far has been great for me. The price was good value through Amazon, and I've calculated it will work out as saving me money, purchasing a phone myself and going SIM only with a network rather than going onto another contract for 24months!! Especially as I'm hoping this phone lasts me a good few years if I look after it properly, with no need to upgrade after 2.I love the colour - as I was after something a bit different from the normal greys and silvers. The size isn't too big either - I had the M7 previously, which is slightly smaller but not much. And as always Android is so much easier to use and get on with than a certain fashionable brand which teenagers flock to. The HTC has a great camera and often takes better photos than my little digital camera, lots of storage, great screen organisation, and battery life is really good - On a normal day I often only use around 50% and even using my phone as a Sat Nav without charging it in the car I still have battery life left at the end of the day!! I imagine this will wane as the phone ages, but for now it's great. The HTC also has the best speakers of any phone on the market, no matter what model you have, and on the M* there's no exception. Fantastic sound from this phone!As with all phone changes there are some differences to get used to - but these are minimal here and easy to get used to - such as the home and back buttons no longer being physical buttons but part of the touch screen, and the power button on the top of the phone being on the opposite side to what I was used to!I had been toying with getting the more up to date M9 but after lots of comparison reading I decided on the M8, and am glad I did. I think for the hike in price for an upgrade to the M9 it's not worth it. The cost was a big factor for me - esp after finding that after 2.5 yrs the M7 had lost nearly all its value (originally £600 brand new down to £25!!!), so don't weant to invest such a huge amount when it's not going to be worth much in a couple years. And from what I've read it seems that the M9 doesn't have much of an edge over the M8 for me to warrant paying out for it.This phone is great, and in my opinion should be outselling the Samsungs and Apples out there!

Beware I bought this phone in October 2015 from Amazon market place from a supplier called Mariner2007 who was based in Hong Kong, the phone worked good until February this year when it upgraded to Android 6 then it promptly died, when I got in touch with the supplier, I was emailed with a list of instructions to flash the phone and because I had the phone for over 3months the warranty was up (this was a brand new phone) I was quite shocked I tried to flash the phone but could not get it to work so I tried a independent phone engineer, who told me I should not have to flash the phone as its something best left to a engineer, he tried to flash it too but it would not work, he suspected a damaged board in the phone, I then contacted Amazon who were helpful up to a point when I put a claim in to there A to Z guarantee, it was turned down due to me not contacting the supplier by 30 days (this time was when the phone worked fine. All I then got from Amazon and there third party supplier was I should contact HTC directly, Don't take it for granted that your new electronic device comes with a 12 month guarantee, it may not, also mariner2007 as left Amazon market place. The long and short is now I am stuck with a phone I cannot use and a complete distrust in Amazon

Having bought a M7 in October 2013, (after reading a many reviews) and really loving it, I seriously doubted the M8 could be much of an improvement. How wrong I was! Took me a couple of months but I eventually took the plunge & invested in an M8 - boy, am I glad I did.Whilst the screen resolution is the same on the old & new models, the larger (5") M8 screen doesn't appear to have any clarity loss against the 4.7" M7 screen.Strangely, despite looking a fair bit bigger, the M8 feels as good as, if not better than, the M7.The ability to add (up to) 128Gb memory with a microSD card is a real bonus. With the M7 I used a USB flash drive connected via a micro USB cable. The beauty of the external memory on board means you can save considerable space by transferring a lot of apps on to it.The biggest improvement on the M8 is the battery charge life. The M7 would last 12 hours if you are lucky, but the M8 is usually good for at least 36 hours and I have seen times approaching 48 hours. I now leave my portable battery charger at home when I go out.Tablet wise, I have a Nexus 7 which I carried around when I was using the M7 but it too has been relegated to my bedside table when I go out since getting the M8.I also had a Nexus 5 which I sold in March which was a nice phone for the price but it lacked the quality feel & performance of the M7 and isn't in the same league as the M8.Software wise, the M8 has just enough & fortunately doesn't suffer from being overloaded with "bloatware apps" that take up space and can't be deleted and also slow down the phone. (My opinion of a popular manufacturer of cellphones whose name begins with 'S' & isn't Sony!)Be warned that the M8 uses a nanoSIM which is smaller than the currently popular microSIM. I simply went down to the high street shop of my service provider & they transferred my existing cell number onto the new nanoSIM while I waited & at no charge.The main beef that the critics point out on the M8 is the camera. I have used the camera several times & found it quite suitable for my needs. The photos have been reasonable & the quality acceptable. HTC's Zoë is a pleasure to use and gives the user the pick of a group of photos to choose the best shot.I doubt any serious photographer would ever sell their camera & replace it with a cellphone!Overall, HTC seem to have got it just right with the M8 and there isn't anything I could really fault.As I stated in the subject title: 1 word describes the HTC One M8 - SUPERB!