A phone so roundly praised

it’s still winning awards a year after its release

In other words, how do you top yourself?

Well if you’re HTC, you take what you did the first time , and make it better!

That’s the company’s strategy with the all-new HTC One for 2014.

But can the company capture lightning in a bottle twice?

That’s what we’re here to find out.

You’re watching PocketNow, I’m Michael Fisher,

and this is our video review of the all-new HTC One.

Beauty through craft

Beauty through purity

Beauty through simplicity

These were the tenets HTC worked under when designing the new M8

and the end result is stunning piece of hardware.

Available in three colors, probably the most striking is our gun metal gray test unit

whose aluminium casing bears a brushed hairline finish

that sets it apart without going overboard

But a quick look isn’t enough.

To fully appreciate the craftsmanship of the new HTC One

you need to hold it

The cool metal casing is completely seamless in the hand.

The contours and wide radius corners feeling almost impossibly smooth against the palm.

While the crisp chamfers and machine speakers grilles are front

pay on march to its predecessor

It’s a little on the tall side

and at a 160 grams that’s definitely not lightweight

but the extra mass works for it rather than against it

The 5-inches SLCD3 display is gorgeous beneath its protective Gorilla glass 3 panel

And while the extra camera sensor around back isn’t necessarily attractive

It’s not quite prominent enough on the gray version at least to take away the phone’s overall look.

Once again, HTC has crafted a beauty of a smartphone.

That beauty continues beneath the surface.

The Snapdragon 801 processor ensures a long use of a lifetime

backed up by 2 gigabytes of RAM ,16 or 32 gigs of storage

plus a micro SD card slot capable of supporting an additional 128 gigabytes

HTC also offers 50 gigs of Google Drive storage free for two years with the new device

so those in need of lots of space on the go should feel right at home here

At 2600 milli ampere Li-Po battery provides power but it’s not removable.

For connectivity, there’s Bluetooth 4.0 dual band WiFi and IR port

and 3G and 4G radio packages depending on region

There’s also a new center hub controlling the gyro and accelerometer package

giving the One a degree of contextual awareness.

That awareness enables some useful additions to the M8 some software.

Most visible and convenient are the new gesture based unlock features

which allow you to tap or swipe on the screen to unlock the phone

or launch certain apps

This is an idea we’ve seen used great effect elsewhere.

But here, unfortunately, it’s a little inconsistent.

To save on battery life and to minimize accidentally screen wake ups,

HTC has made the gestures contingent on moving the phone first.

So while they’re very convenient when taking the phone out of a pocket for example,

they’re less handy when it’s stationary sitting on a table.

You still have to reach up to that power standby key annoyingly still located on the top of the phone to wake it up.

These gestures are very smart shortcuts,

we just wished they worked a little more reliably.

For the new one, HTC has brought a new version of its third party a lot.

Sense 6.0 running a top Android 4.4.2.

It’s very similar to the sense we know and love from last year’s one.

It’s straightforward, stylish, and almost impossible to trip up.

The sombre minimalism of last year’s version has given a way to a slightly more jovial approach in 2014

with accent colors and a brighter feel overall

We’re not crazy about the entire pallet but it’s nice to have options for changing up the look of the software

Of course, Blink Feed is back and more customizable than ever

allowing you to blend social news and custom search feeds into one stream of curated data

with plug-ins for calendar appointments, locally stored photos and third party apps like FitBit.

The new Blink Feed is kind of like a modern take on the old today’s screen from the Windows mobile date.

It’s much more than just a Flipboard clone.

Other changes across Sense 6 are more subtle.

The new on-screen button configuration makes a lot of sense.

The multitasking panes are easier to see

and if you’re a fan of controlling your home entertainment from your smartphone,

Sense TV works better than ever.

In the midst of all these improvements,

there is one disappointment lurking on the M8 spec sheet at least in terms of metrics,

the camera.

HTC has decided that 4 megapixels was fine for 2013 and so it’s also plenty for 2014.

And what’s more? The company has also done away the optical image stabilization.

Now there are solid reasons for this.

HTC told us that the OIS is incompatible with its new approach to photography

which uses the dedicated depth center of the dual camera to reduce focused time

and to enable more arty photos.

Adjusting photos after taking a photo is a very cool trick

And while it doesn’t always work perfectly,

those who appreciate bouquet effects will no doubt have some fun with this.

Also, while 4 megapixels is still pretty paltry sounding,

it’s important to note that it’s not the same sensor as last year’s according to HTC.

Well it’s kind of ridiculous that the primary camera has a lower resolution than the 5 megapixel front-facing one,

it’s still capable of some very nice shots.

Low-light performance is still a high point, though the lower the light, the noisier the photo

and you can still expect some overexposure in some shots.

The real improvements of the camera are in software which has been a completely rethought.

The new viewfinder is still not as an idiot proof for Samsung’s or Motorola’s

but what it lacks in fluidity, it makes up for in-features.

Dual capture has been added.

There’s a 360 degree panorama option.

All the fun filters are here and manual settings can now be saved as preset.

Best of all, HTC’s celebrated Zoe features back now with its own app

which will eventually allow for crowd sourced videos.

You also get more editing options to hone highlights.

HTC absolutely dominates this area.

There’s no easier way to whip up a quick summary about house party for example.

And the stock effects do a nice job of covering up whatever deficiencies might exist in the raw footage.

On the video front, we’re not looking at anything special here.

The software stabilization does an okay job of keeping the shots steady even walking

but it’s not quite as smooth as on the original one.

Frame rate seems to suffer a bit as quick movements do.

And the plus side: colors are nice and rich,

exposure and autofocus are plenty fast

and sound capture is excellent.

Focus autocorrect,

the sun going in and coming out willy nilly today

but there’s our exposure correction and hopefully you got a sense from my walk earlier

just how well stabilization works on this device

We tested the all new HTC One over a 6-day period between Boston and New York City.

Our demo unit is a UK edition so we were confined with 3G here in the States

but we encountered no reception difficulties on AT&T and our voice calls were clear.

Callers reported that the phone’s noise cancellation work well

and we especially enjoyed the feature of just putting the ringing phone to our ear to answer it.

HTC’s BoomSound has become one of the company’s most celebrated offerings over the past year.

And the all new one takes it to a whole new level.

You won’t find a pair of louder, richer, better balanced speakers anywhere.

Something you’ll be reminded of every time you stream a song, play a loud game or watch a movie.

Speaking of gaming, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Snapdragon 801 has no trouble handling even the most demanding titles.

Asphalt 8 plays very smoothly in full resolution

as do Riptide GP2 and Sky Gamblers Air Supremacy.

If you can think of an Android game, the new one can handle it... no sweat.

As usual though, go easy on the gaming if you want the phone’s power pack to last.

While HTC’s new Xtreme Power Saver will help out once to get down to the drag of your battery,

that just covers the basic

We have more detailed information on battery life in our full written review link in the description below.

In the world of smartphones, the very best products are those which deliver consistency across the physical and the virtual.

HTC did it with the first one last year and it’s done it again with the M8.

From its refined almost luxury grade construction,

to its rock solid feature-packed software, the all new HTC One is an absolutely stunning smartphone.

It’s not quite a Grand Slam.

We’d like to have seen more from its camera,

and some of its new features are less consistent than they should be.

But looking at the Android landscape in 2014, it’s tough to see any competitor

being able to live up to the all-around quality this package delivers.

Put simply, HTC has done it again.

Once again for photo’s benchmark scores and much more granular information on the all-new HTC One,

check out our full review.

It’s link in the description down below.

But also you’re on Youtube, we have a whole lot more including the comparison of the older HTC One

and unboxing and a broader examination of HTC versus Samsung in 2014.

Be sure to check those out.

But before you go anywhere, please leave us a like if you enjoyed this review

and leave a comment down below.

Let us know if you’re going to pick up the new HTC One M8 or not

or just what your thoughts on the device are.

Until next time, this has been Michael Fisher with PocketNow.

Thank you very much for watching and we’ll see you on the next One.