HTC One M8: The Android GOAT, 10 Years On!

It's March 2014, and you're PUMPED. Why? Because you've just picked up maybe your first or second smartphone ever, and THIS phone is something special. You've followed leaks of this new hotness for months, and now it's finally time to unbox your very own HTC One M8.

I was right there with many of you ten years ago, setting up my shiny new M8 in March of that year. It's hard to overstate how big a deal HTC, and its flagship phone, was at that time. And so ten years on from its debut, it's time to tell the story of the last great HTC smartphone.

0:00 Intro
0:30 HTC One backstory
3:09 Iconic hardware
6:36 Sense-able software in 3 flavors
8:43 Zoes and Ultrapixels
10:35 Android 14 on HTC One M8
12:04 HTC One epilogue

Check Out XDA on Social Media.

[MichaelFlatman]

Front facing speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, IR blaster, sd card reader... All features no flagship has anymore. I miss the good old days

[bardknight]

I owned the M7, but to this day that is still one of my favorite phones of all time. The build quality was incredible, the stereo forward facing speakers sounded amazing for the time and its Android skin was refined compared to every other phone at the time.

[TechKingdom]

IMO, M7 was the GOAT, but the M8 was also a great phone. Sad what happened to HTC

[BigZoShowTime]

I can't believe Samsung won. HTC had so much better design, features, and OS

[MaxMiller]

My friend in college had access to the engineering department's laser engraver, so we tattooed my M8 with a few extra designs. I'll never throw it out.

[grunzythepotato]

i had an M8 and it is still to this day my FAVORITE phone i’ve ever had. i had the black and red one i loved it so much.

[jeffreymichael]

HTC M8 and Nexus 4 were optimization king. Every app remained on memory even after 2 OS updates.

[AkshayDhargave]

HTC One M8 is my Roman Empire. I think about this device almost every day. It's the perfect phone, the size, the design, the software, it has it all.

[tomrachellesfirstdance]

I miss HTC thought they had a great thing going and sense was brilliant. I used to love when I unlocked my desire if you had the weather app you would get sunshine show or raindows and a windscreen wiper which wiped away the rain. That feature never got old and would love to have it again.

[Vega-lwtl]

The M8 you picked up has blown speakers

[javierstrive]

Man I Miss This Gaming Back Then

HTC & Sony ERA

[xfayk]

Back then, I also got the HTC M8. It's the best Android phone I've ever had, alongside my still current Mate20 Pro. Dual speakers, metal body, and an innovative low megapixel camera that surprisingly captured great images with just 4MP. The UI was super sleek and ahead of its time, easily five years ahead back then.

[wesley]

this phone was awesome! It looked so premium, with many people having plastic rectangles as phones, M8 really was a step ahead

[peterming]

Still have a red HTC One M8 in my drawer. Physically, the look still can compete with the best of today’s flagship. Add the color red which no other brand is willing to do now. ❤❤❤❤

[SammyM]

I loved the M7 and M8 so much, I refused to throw them away.

[smokeyarcade]

I absolutely LOVED this phone! easily my favorite phone I ever used at the time. I miss HTC and would love for a comeback with a modern revision of this phone!

[ShotByHawkDown]

I Had the M7 And M8 Greatest phone i ever had in my life them rooting/switching ROMS days was the best

[xMelx]

I still have it and still feels like a tank.
I wish they make it back with updated specs and trends

[gral]

Im missing metal phones 😢 now is glass everywhere.

[jamesmancuso]

HTC EVO was the real GOAT!

HTC sense UI was the first to have quick settings accessed from the status bar. It was a real game changer that we take for granted today. HTC created many of our common features every phone uses today.

Personally I believe the death of HTC was is deal to make the google phone. It was a rushed device that had poor specs with poor quality at a premium price. When other companies were making better and cheaper devices it feel behind and never came back. Which is a shame because it really did have the best android skins at its peak. Sense 2.5 and above were years ahead.