Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
HTC One M8 coming this month
Update: Telecom NZ says there are delays with the HTC One M8 reaching New Zealand and the phone may not now be available in April.
Going by the reaction in sections of the overseas technology press, last year's best phone was the HTC One. That's right, a phone hardly anyone heard of and even fewer people bought.
On paper, at least, reviewers said is was better than Apple's swanky iPhone 5S or the popular Samsung Galaxy S4. I can't tell you if the phone is any good, I didn't get to see it.
HTC says the reason the phone didn't sell in large numbers was down to problems with the company's supply chain. It says it couldn't keep up with demand. As a result HTC suffered a bad year. Today the company is smaller.
Now it gets another roll of the best-phone die with the One M8. The people who named it should be taken out and shot.
If nothing else, the One M8 proves HTC can still make good phones, even if its marketing is less than respectable.
Once again overseas reviewers are full of praise for the phone. This time I hope to get my hands on one. It could be soon - Telecom NZ says it will start selling the One M8 in mid-April.
It'll be interesting to see how the phone fares here. Overseas the One M8 costs less than rival devices. The New Zealand list price is $1099 - much the same as you'd pay for a Samsung Galaxy S5.
To be fair to HTC, the company does make good hardware. I had a HTC One X phone a couple of years ago — it still sees service with one of the Bennett offspring. It was the best Android phone around then, so going on that experience, some of the hype surrounding the One M8 is possibly justified.
And yet the mainstream phone market is increasingly a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung. Everything else is a sideshow.
Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.
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