It’s not a mystery that hardware-wise there is nothing spectacular in the HTC One M8. All the hardware components are the best currently available of course, but also used by other phones manufacturers. So what makes the HTC One M8 so special? The fact that the best hardware is packed inside the most beautiful body. But we’ve been there already, so let’s take a look at the hardware details and let me prove to you that the HTC One M8 is worth upgrading to from the HTC One M7.
The heart of the HTC One M8 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon S801 SoC. Some may say it’s just a minor upgrade from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, but it’s definitely a big upgrade from the S600 in the HTC One M7.
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| Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC | Picture source: www.qualcomm.com |
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| Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC | Picture source: www.qualcomm.com |
Snapdragon 801 uses TSMCs 28nm “HPm” (Krait 400) technology which is the highest standard available among TSMC 28nm variants, while HTC One M7 is known to be based on 28nm “LP” (Krait 300) technology. 28HPm can provide better speed and performance than 28LP. This also allows higher CPU frequency speeds (up to 2.5 GHz per core on the S801 SoC).
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| Picture source: www.tsmc.com |
Next major improvement between the M7 and the M8 is related to the RAM memory. Both S600 and S801 support LPDDR3, but back in 2013 HTC decided to use LPDDR2 memory in the HTC One M7. The LPDDR3 RAM in the HTC One M8 offers higher data rate, greater bandwidth, better power efficiency, and higher memory density. LPDDR3 achieves a data rate of 1600 MT/s and utilizes key new technologies: write-leveling and command/address training, optional on-die termination (ODT), and low-I/O capacitance. LPDDR3 supports both package-on-package (PoP) and discrete packaging types. Generally speaking, RAM memory management on the HTC One M8 is much better, even though both M7 and M8 are equipped with the same amount (2GB) of RAM.
It’s also worth mentioning that the S801 SoC is available in two variants: 8974-AB (up to 2.26 GHz) and 8974-AC (up to 2.5 GHz). The first one is available world-wide, except for the Chinese market, where you can buy the AC version.
Another big difference between the M7 and the M8 is the Adreno GPU. The Adreno 330 available in the HTC One M8 has a few improvements over the older Adreno 320 (HTC One M7): arithmetic logic unit (ALU) – 24 in the M7 vs 32 in the M8; higher clock speed – 400 MHz in the M7 vs 578 MHz in the M8 and the pixel fillrate 3.2 GP/s in the M7 vs 3.6 GP/s in the M8. With an Adreno 330 GPU it’s hardly possible to find any game that will not run smoothly. And this surely won’t change any time soon.
Speaking of games there is one very important aspect of having an aluminium phone body. Heat dissipation on the HTC One M8 is really fantastic. This is noticeable because the HTC One M8 is possibly the only S801 device where the GPU doesnt throttle while gaming. A proper thermal system (which includes software solutions) is as important as GPU power. Without efficient heat dissipation you would never be able to use the full capabilities of the GPU or CPU.
Together with CPU, RAM and GPU improvements there are changes related to the connectivity as well (4G LTE category 3 on the M7 vs 4G LTE Advanced category 4 on the M8).
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| Picture source: www.radio-electronics.com |
Finally, one question comes to mind: Snapdragon 801 added support for eMMC 5.0 (embedded Multi-Media Controller) storage technology but HTC decided to use older, eMMC 4.51 technology. Bummer! But there is a good news about the storage memory too! HTC gathered feedback and listened to the users – microSD card support is back. HTC (alongside Google) tried to change market habits, but lost this little battle. The lack of microSD card support was a deal-breaker for many users, who chose Samsung devices instead. Adding back external card support was a perfect step from HTC and apparently it didnt have any negative impact on the design. HTC kept its zero-gaps uni-body design. Perfect.
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| Picture source: www.datalight.com |
Hardware summary:- Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 on HTC One M7)
- 4 x Krait 400 @ 2.26 GHz (vs4 x Krait 300 @ 1.7 GHz on HTC One M7)
- LPDDR3 RAM @ 933 MHz (vs LPDDR2 RAM @ 600 MHz on HTC One M7)
- Adreno 330 GPU @ 578 MHz (vs Adreno 320 GPU @ 400 MHz on HTC One M7)
- LTE category 4 (vs LTE category 3 on HTC One M7)
- Both M8 and M7 support NFC, IR, MHL and GPS + Glonass
- microSD card support (vs no microSD card support on HTC One M7)
- Increased battery capacity: 2,600 mAh (vs 2,300 mAh on HTC One M7)
- DSP: Hexagon V50 up to 800 MHz (vs V40 up to 600 MHz on HTC One M7)
- Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 2.0 technology (vs 1.0 on HTC One M7)
Camera
UltraPixel is already very well-known and appreciated technology by end-users. Our camera specialist Stonelaughter has already written a few bits about what he thinks of Pixels and Pixellation and Cameras in Phones. In the HTC One M8 HTC decided to continue following that road and they improved the UltraPixel technology even more. The HTC One M8 is equipped with 2.0 um, sensor size 1/3”, ƒ/2.0, 28mm lens together with HTC ImageChip 2. It also has a secondary rear camera responsible for capturing depth information. How does this work? Once you take a picture you can add multiple effects including UFocus (re-focusing), Foregrounder(Sketch, Zoom Blur, Cartoon and Colorize), Seasons(background effects), and Dimension Plus (the picture gets the “3D” effect). Honestly saying I’ve never seen such a variety of options to edit a picture after capture in any other smartphone.
Of course nothing can replace a true DSLR camera, but let’s be honest here – you can’t hide a DSLR in your pocket. Also, hardware is not everything. HTC did an amazing job when it comes to the camera software too. Playing with all these camera features is real fun and the effects are great!
Camera summary:
- HTC ImageChip 2 (vs HTC ImageChip 1 on HTC One M7)
- Secondary read camera responsible for capturing depth information
- DSLR functionality like artistic depth-of-field in photos and other effects
- BSI, 2.0 um pixel size, 1/3” sensor size, f/2.0, 28mm lens
Software
HTC One M8 uses the HTC Sense 6.0 interface. I don’t want to focus much on the UI itself because we’ll probably see HTC Sense 6.5 this year. The HTC One M7 is already updated to HTC Sense 6.0 too, but keep in mind that at some point the M7 will stop receiving updates, while HTC One M8 will still get a few more.
Of course the new UI is completely refreshed with new icons, animations and minor features, but there are 2 features worth mentioning that I really like: the ability to change themes, and “Extreme power saving mode”.
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Blizzard has announced that StarCraft 2 "is probably going to get delayed again and split into three parts. Part 1, which features a Terran single player campaign, is still targeted to be out sometime in 2009."
You wont get to play Zerg or Protoss, though, since their single player campaigns have been plucked out and turned into expansion packs, which will be released one and two years respectively after part 1.
Here is the easiest to do this firmware update:1. Download Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 v1.2 firmware image from: link1 or link2.2. Put your Pipo S1 in firmware update mode.3. Run Rockchip Batch Tool v1.7, select the proper image .img file from your desktop, and after your device is found by the program, press the Restore button and wait for 2-3 minutes to finish. The first boot is very long, wait about 5-7 minutes.What we have at the moment:
- Firmware 4.2.2 from PIPO S1S
- Removed Chinese applications
- Added root
- Default language English
- Customise kernel
- G-sensor is operating- Camera is working- HDMI output is working
- Antutu produces about 11.647 points- Wifi Display Miracast support - 2 GB of internal storage
Firmware provided by Cripple Guy.Credits for this firmware go to realmaple.
1. To install the CWM 6.0.2.7 please follow the update steps from this post. Then download CWM 6.0.3.1 from here or from here and copy it as it is on a micro SD card, install Quick Boot free from Play store, reboot into recovery, then choose install zip from sd card and apply the new CWM zip file from your card. Enjoy CWM 6.0.3.1 on your tablet!
Enjoy this firmware release, share is love!
Always keep in mind that this is not a review, just a first sight of this firmware. You have to test it more for another details, to see if it satisfies your needs.
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