We absolutely loved the HTC One (M8) and today we got our hands on the HTC One (E8) which is essentially the plastic version of the original flagship smartphone. The smartphone has been officially announced for the Indian market and will be available for Rs. 34,990 by the end of this month.
The One (E8) sports a 5-inch full HD Super LCD3 display with Gorilla Glass3 and runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz processor along with 2GB of RAM. There is 16GB of internal memory which is expandable via a microSD card slot, dual SIM slots and the phone ditches the dual-camera system for a 13MP camera with an LED flash and f/2.2 aperture. There is a 5MP front camera with a wide angle lens so one can take better selfies. It runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat along with Sense 6 UI on top and will feature all the touch gestures, just like the HTC One (M8). The E8 also features HTC’s patented BoomSound dual-stereo speaker system.
The newly announced smartphone looks quite similar to the M8 but replaces the metal finish with a plastic dual-curved uni-body design. HTC will be offering the E8 in three colours- black, white and red. It retains the elegant design and form factor and also includes the similar touch gestures that we had seen on the M8. The smartphone feels sturdy and the premium look is maintained despite the glossy plastic back.
Apart from the metal finish, the E8 will also miss the dual-camera system, which was on the M8, for a 13MP camera with a BSI sensor and f/2.2 aperture. The new camera works quite well and is pretty fast when taking pictures. For the short time we got to test the camera, we were quite impressed with it as it manages to do a good job in bright and low-light conditions.
At 35K, HTC has put the One (E8) against some affordable flagship devices although we think that the price could have been much lower.
Related story: HTC One (M8) Review