Where is the overall Product design differentiation between the premium and not-so-premium products?? I buy a M9 which looks and feels very much similar to M8s. Its more like saying don't buy the M9 since for most purposes M8s will just plain suffice.
I do agree with you on this, for all years we been saying Samsung phones have no differences but now HTC doing same, mid range and flaghsip both looks same. Bad move HTC.
But that's not a bad thing for HTC. For the people who don't read sites like this the M8s will get them a phone that looks as good as the M9, but cheaper, and most will never really care much about what type of cores it has or what memory interface it's running, or the fact that it's 2 ms slower in some benchmark or another. HTC gets to keep building the cases and components it probably spent a ton of money to tool up for building the M8 with a year ago, it hopefully gets to sell more phones, and at the same time expands it's product lineup. If you care mostly about appearance then it's still not the newest flagship phone as is easily distinguished by the dual cameras and other tweaks, regardless of if it's an M8 or M8s, it's not an M9.
Does that now make it sounds more like a excuse to buy a cheaper phone?? :P I guess sales people HTC thinks wants more number of devices sold to capture market share. So basically HTC marketing idea is: 1. make a good looking phone with high specs 2. make a copy of the same phone - but price is cheaper hoping more people buys that
If the upgrade process is screwed up it won't matter. I've got a VZW M8; and last night started looking to see why, although it had been announced a few weeks ago, I hadn't gotten any notice on my phone about the Lollipop OTA update. When I found the check for updates option, conveniently buried deeply enough in settings that the odds of a normal user finding it by accident are near zero, I discovered I'd also missed a few earlier software updates. *facepalm*
After installing two 4.4.x updates and something that called itself the first of two pre-Lollipop updates (there wasn't a second) last night, I was able to install Lollipop this morning. After doing that, when I tried to do another update check to see if there was a point update available, the settings-check for update app displayed an error saying I needed to use settings-check for update instead. *facepalm* *facepalm*
C'mon - looks does matter! and matters more so for "flagships" even for people who are not buying flagships. That's why S6 is being praised all over the press and so does the IPhone gets praised so much.
For a closed eco system like Apples where you have no choice but to choice between a Iphone 5c and a Iphone 6 (and plus) for a upgrade path it makes more sense - since you know you get a very good looking and fine phone or a relatively bad-one. So the choice is clear!
But here HTC is telling/compelling it customers that "don't buy the M9" when you can have a exactly same gorgeous looking, maybe with a little less speed, with the almost latest Android 5 - which would suffice most users for the next 2 years well!!! So this does make a bad use case for people spending money on buying their flagships which cost same as a S6! Make no doubt this gamble is of course better for HTC's survival!! :)
I purchased an M8 a couple weeks ago (on Verizon). I knew the M9 was coming out, but i didn't care, it was free under 2 year agreement. I promptly rooted it, and when sunshine was updated I installed the lollipop GPe rom. The phone works flawlessly and gets 18-24 hours to a charge with my rather heavy usage patterns (hours of browsing the internet, listening to music, and watching youtube videos every day)
Ditto. I think they took a page from Sony's Z3C playbook. Camera was the main thing holding me back on the M8, and this [should] fix that, if the sensor and software are decent. I like the unique speakers too, and don't care much about SoC as long as basic system functions are fluid. Hoping they send it over here to the Colonies. Also hoping that other vendors find that Z3C playbook page...
lol one can buy almost any phone launched last year for less in the UK. From the LG G3 to HTC's own M8. This is clearly just an attempt to mislead and sell less for more.Even the name is aimed to suggest that it's an updated version of the M8 in the same shiny tin can not a budget version. It's borderline fraud.
the name m9 suggests an updated version, 8s suggests a slimmed down m8, so not sure where that becomes misleading (not everyone names phones the apple way). and of course a year old flagship would be less than a brand new upper mid range phone. that's not fraud, thats how markets work.
But you are right on one thing, this is how markets work, folks like HTC get erased by competitors that don't have the ethics of a purse grabbing meth head.
Just wow... How is the M8S *NOT* an "updated version of the M8? If it gets similar performance but improved battery life and camera, that sounds like an "updated version of the M8" to me. To be honest I'd rather have the M8S than the M9. I don't want a phone that runs hot, gulps down battery, has a worse screen and a lackluster (albeit higher res) camera without the depth sensor. The M8S being cheaper than the M9 is just icing on the cake. Why pay for a S810 if it's severely throttled under nearly every workload? Too bad there's no mention of a US release.
Performance? On a 5 inch display? I need the phone to make calls, texts, a handful of apps and a decent display. I could care less about phone "benchmark tables" and care more about common everyday use. Battery life is far more important to me.
The kids here like to play games and buy stuff for their Kardashian apps. Plus, they can brag to their nerd friends how their phone can run a benchmark 20 miliseconds quicker than their friends. Because, when you have a small penis, 20 miliseconds means a bunch.
What's the point of calling all these phones "One", but the differentiating that with letter + number + letter? It does sound nice, but has nothing to do with the meaning of "one".
The battery life on this alone should make it more attractive than the M9 or M8 for some/many as not that many people truly need the performance benefits of the 810 or 801 over the 615.
Companies truly do not understand just how much people hate how fast their batteries die.
Oh they understand, if you got an uber battery in a cheap phone after two years it would be degraded to what people consider "normal". You would have less reason to drop another $650 on their high markup devices.
I understand some companies might think that way. But there must be a single company in the entire world willing to make a better product in order to steal the multi-BILLION dollar market.
Well we can expect to see these in much cheaper price during the Christmas time! Now... too expensive as you said. But these should be easier to bring down in price! Also the battery usage should be ok with these.
Maybe someone can clear this up. This article says the M8*s* will have bluetooth 4.1 but i've see one report elsewhere that says its bluetooth 4.0 can anyone from anandtech get a direct confirmation on this ?
Also i think this will be better than the M9. I'm really not worried if the device is a little bit slower than the M9. The M9 is missing the pressure sensor. As long as this has both receive and send infrared and all the same features as the M8 this will definitely be my next device.
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mavrikd - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Where is the overall Product design differentiation between the premium and not-so-premium products?? I buy a M9 which looks and feels very much similar to M8s. Its more like saying don't buy the M9 since for most purposes M8s will just plain suffice.Gich - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
But M9, as the flagship, will receive "premium" update tratament.mmrezaie - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
for a limited time.Gich - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
more time than this M8S...rubyonrails3 - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Yes for limited time of 2 years and also will be the first to get update. then will come M8(not s version).rubyonrails3 - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
I do agree with you on this, for all years we been saying Samsung phones have no differences but now HTC doing same, mid range and flaghsip both looks same. Bad move HTC.djc208 - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
But that's not a bad thing for HTC. For the people who don't read sites like this the M8s will get them a phone that looks as good as the M9, but cheaper, and most will never really care much about what type of cores it has or what memory interface it's running, or the fact that it's 2 ms slower in some benchmark or another.HTC gets to keep building the cases and components it probably spent a ton of money to tool up for building the M8 with a year ago, it hopefully gets to sell more phones, and at the same time expands it's product lineup.
If you care mostly about appearance then it's still not the newest flagship phone as is easily distinguished by the dual cameras and other tweaks, regardless of if it's an M8 or M8s, it's not an M9.
mavrikd - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Does that now make it sounds more like a excuse to buy a cheaper phone?? :PI guess sales people HTC thinks wants more number of devices sold to capture market share.
So basically HTC marketing idea is:
1. make a good looking phone with high specs
2. make a copy of the same phone - but price is cheaper hoping more people buys that
Smart move HTC! :)
DanNeely - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
If the upgrade process is screwed up it won't matter. I've got a VZW M8; and last night started looking to see why, although it had been announced a few weeks ago, I hadn't gotten any notice on my phone about the Lollipop OTA update. When I found the check for updates option, conveniently buried deeply enough in settings that the odds of a normal user finding it by accident are near zero, I discovered I'd also missed a few earlier software updates. *facepalm*After installing two 4.4.x updates and something that called itself the first of two pre-Lollipop updates (there wasn't a second) last night, I was able to install Lollipop this morning. After doing that, when I tried to do another update check to see if there was a point update available, the settings-check for update app displayed an error saying I needed to use settings-check for update instead. *facepalm* *facepalm*
mavrikd - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
C'mon - looks does matter! and matters more so for "flagships" even for people who are not buying flagships.That's why S6 is being praised all over the press and so does the IPhone gets praised so much.
For a closed eco system like Apples where you have no choice but to choice between a Iphone 5c and a Iphone 6 (and plus) for a upgrade path it makes more sense - since you know you get a very good looking and fine phone or a relatively bad-one. So the choice is clear!
But here HTC is telling/compelling it customers that "don't buy the M9" when you can have a exactly same gorgeous looking, maybe with a little less speed, with the almost latest Android 5 - which would suffice most users for the next 2 years well!!!
So this does make a bad use case for people spending money on buying their flagships which cost same as a S6!
Make no doubt this gamble is of course better for HTC's survival!! :)
eek2121 - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
I purchased an M8 a couple weeks ago (on Verizon). I knew the M9 was coming out, but i didn't care, it was free under 2 year agreement. I promptly rooted it, and when sunshine was updated I installed the lollipop GPe rom. The phone works flawlessly and gets 18-24 hours to a charge with my rather heavy usage patterns (hours of browsing the internet, listening to music, and watching youtube videos every day)Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
This seems like a really decent phone to be honestEddyKilowatt - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Ditto. I think they took a page from Sony's Z3C playbook. Camera was the main thing holding me back on the M8, and this [should] fix that, if the sensor and software are decent. I like the unique speakers too, and don't care much about SoC as long as basic system functions are fluid. Hoping they send it over here to the Colonies. Also hoping that other vendors find that Z3C playbook page...MonkeyPaw - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
"the M8s opts for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615 which has two clusters of four Cortex A53 cores at 1.7GHz and 1.0GHz respectively."Why 2 sets of identical cores running at different clocks? Or is that supposed to be another core type running at 1ghz?
Gich - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Differnet hardware optimizations.The ones at 1GHz consume less then the ones at 1.7GHz downclocked to 1GHz.
jjj - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
lol one can buy almost any phone launched last year for less in the UK. From the LG G3 to HTC's own M8.This is clearly just an attempt to mislead and sell less for more.Even the name is aimed to suggest that it's an updated version of the M8 in the same shiny tin can not a budget version. It's borderline fraud.
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
the name m9 suggests an updated version, 8s suggests a slimmed down m8, so not sure where that becomes misleading (not everyone names phones the apple way). and of course a year old flagship would be less than a brand new upper mid range phone. that's not fraud, thats how markets work.jjj - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
You forgot to disclose that you work for HTC.jjj - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
But you are right on one thing, this is how markets work, folks like HTC get erased by competitors that don't have the ethics of a purse grabbing meth head.cwolf78 - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Just wow... How is the M8S *NOT* an "updated version of the M8? If it gets similar performance but improved battery life and camera, that sounds like an "updated version of the M8" to me. To be honest I'd rather have the M8S than the M9. I don't want a phone that runs hot, gulps down battery, has a worse screen and a lackluster (albeit higher res) camera without the depth sensor. The M8S being cheaper than the M9 is just icing on the cake. Why pay for a S810 if it's severely throttled under nearly every workload? Too bad there's no mention of a US release.Gich - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
615 is nowhere near 801.Performance won't be similar, expecially GPU side.
Chaser - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Performance? On a 5 inch display? I need the phone to make calls, texts, a handful of apps and a decent display. I could care less about phone "benchmark tables" and care more about common everyday use. Battery life is far more important to me.superflex - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
The kids here like to play games and buy stuff for their Kardashian apps.Plus, they can brag to their nerd friends how their phone can run a benchmark 20 miliseconds quicker than their friends.
Because, when you have a small penis, 20 miliseconds means a bunch.
Notmyusualid - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
I can concurr.Gf's Galaxy A7 has the 615, and its GPU was noticed stuttering whilst the kids were playing 'Hay Day'. Not what I expected for the price.
I think the 801 in my GS5 beats it everywhere, save for memory performance, which is about 50% higher.
MrSpadge - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
What's the point of calling all these phones "One", but the differentiating that with letter + number + letter? It does sound nice, but has nothing to do with the meaning of "one".LukaP - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
I assume One is to HTC what Galaxy is to Samsung. But then again HTC also have the Desire series...shadarlo - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
The battery life on this alone should make it more attractive than the M9 or M8 for some/many as not that many people truly need the performance benefits of the 810 or 801 over the 615.Companies truly do not understand just how much people hate how fast their batteries die.
Gunbuster - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Oh they understand, if you got an uber battery in a cheap phone after two years it would be degraded to what people consider "normal". You would have less reason to drop another $650 on their high markup devices.shadarlo - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
I understand some companies might think that way. But there must be a single company in the entire world willing to make a better product in order to steal the multi-BILLION dollar market.Chaser - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
I couldn't agree more. If its good this could be my next phone.FwFred - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Wow, far too expensive for such a low end CPUhaukionkannel - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
Well we can expect to see these in much cheaper price during the Christmas time! Now... too expensive as you said. But these should be easier to bring down in price! Also the battery usage should be ok with these.Dorek - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
And here I was hoping the "s" was for small, like the Z3C.HHeart - Friday, April 3, 2015 - link
Maybe someone can clear this up. This article says the M8*s* will have bluetooth 4.1 but i've see one report elsewhere that says its bluetooth 4.0 can anyone from anandtech get a direct confirmation on this ?Also i think this will be better than the M9. I'm really not worried if the device is a little bit slower than the M9. The M9 is missing the pressure sensor. As long as this has both receive and send infrared and all the same features as the M8 this will definitely be my next device.