Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone

Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone

If you were in the market for a premium Android smartphone six months ago, you might have picked a new Samsung handset, a Moto X, or maybe a Nexus 5. But HTC’s One M8 crashed the party in March with improvements on its stunning premium design. And now it’s coming to Windows Phone.

Now that the M8 and the subsequently launched Mini 2 are an acceptable baseline for what “premium” means for Android, HTC hopes they will find similar success in the Microsoft camp. The once-rumoured HTC One M8 for Windows (let’s say W8 for brevity) sticks with an old adage: If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

From a hardware perspective, the W8 and the M8 are the Same. Exact. Phone. There’s almost no discernible difference to their curvy metal chassis at all. The Windows Phone variant is a perfect clone. Snapdragon 801 processor? Check. Duo Camera with the weird UltraPixel tech? Yes sir. A 5-inch, 1080p LCD screen at 441 pixels-per-inch? You betcha. BoomSound front-firing speakers? Duh. Dot View Case compatibility, IR blaster, 32GB with expandable storage up to 128GB? Yes, yes and yes.

Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone

But once you turn it on, the W8 is one sharply dressed Windows smartphone. “It’s basically an HTC body with a Windows Phone soul,” says HTC senior global communications manager Jeff Gordon.

Not only does the phone come with the very latest version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 (8.1.1), but a whole variety of new tweaks on top of Windows Phone as well. For instance, HTC worked closely with Microsoft engineers to introduce the previously-unsupported Duo Camera, which captures a variety of fancy images, and the company has redesigned proprietary apps like Sense TV, the camera app and Blinkfeed.

The camera app underwent the most change. HTC drops the Android-exclusive Zoe function, which takes several pictures and video in three-second bursts, and the “Seasons” affect that let you put animated snow and leaves in your photos for whatever reason. The app’s iconography also gets a subtle overhaul to seamlessly blend in with the Windows Phone UX. The rest of the app functions much like its Android sibling, including in-depth photo controls and the ability to save different lens settings.

Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone

Blinkfeed feels much more comfortable in Windows Phone, due in part to its Live Tile-ish design. Transitioning from any Android launcher into this baked-in news reader was a little jarring on last year’s M7, and subsequently the M8, but on Windows Phone the application seems much more natural. You could even consider it a welcome addition.

The One M8 is HTC’s best Android smartphone, it might now be the best Windows Phone device. When asked about HTC’s roadmap with Microsoft and Windows going forward, no specific details could be mentioned — but don’t expect the HTC One M8 to be a Windows Phone one-hit wonder.

Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone

Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone

Hands On: HTC’s Best Android Phone Is Now The Best Windows Phone


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.