HTC announces the HTC One (M8) with dual cameras and fancy gesture controls

 

 

HTC’s latest bid for smartphone relevance is a 5-inch handset called the HTC One (M8), parentheses and all. At a Tuesday press event in New York, HTC CEO Peter Chou announced the new smartphone, stressing smart industrial design, and what the company calls “another breakthrough camera.”

 Key specs include a 440 ppi, 5-inch display; a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 processor paired with 2GB of RAM; and a MicroSD slot for up to 128GB of removable storage, augmenting 32GB of onboard storage. (The original One featured a 4.7-inch display, and didn’t include any slot for extra storage.) The handset features a new Boomsound audio amplifier that provides 25 percent louder speaker volume relative to the previous One, and battery life has been increased by 40 percent thanks to a larger cell.

 Available for online purchase today via AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, the new One (M8) could be “in your hands as early as tomorrow,” says HTC. The price starts at $199.

 The new smartphone features the sixth version of HTC’s Sense user interface, along with a new iteration of BlinkFeed that allows for creating custom content streams based on personal preferences. But the real standout features are certainly the new One’s cameras, and gesture-sensing UI.

 A new wide-angle front camera rings in at 5 megapixels, while new dual rear cameras offer depth-of-field bokeh effects for more professional-looking images. When you’re framing up a shot, you can simply tap on the portion of the scene you want in focus, and the camera will deliver those results. Anchored by a 4.1-megapixel sensor (just like the original One mode), the dual-camera system also includes a manual mode with sliders for ISO, white balance and more.

 And how’s this for a cool trick: Just like with the most recent iPhones, you can shoot slo-motion videos, and turn them into regular-speed videos with a dramatic, slow-mo sequence featured in the middle.

 The One (M8) also adds new gesture controls to perform a variety of quick actions that would otherwise require fussy menu interactions. These include single-motion actions for going to BlinkFeed, accessing the widget panel, taking photos, and answering calls. Double-tapping the screen unlocks the phone.