HTC One M8 Launched as an iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S5 Competitor?

HTC One M8 just got at the top of the high-end smartphones. HTC launched the 2014 model of its flagship smartphone, called the HTC One M8, at an event in New York City on Tuesday.

The new phone will have a screen measuring 5 inches diagonally, up from 4.7 inches in last year’s model. It will help software improvements designed to anticipate your needs, such as offering lunch recommendations when it’s time for lunch. That will come through HTC’s hub for personalized content, known as BlinkFeed. BlinkFeed itself will be more colorful and will continue to present news, social media updates and other items of interest.

HTC puts design first and you can certainly tell that with the M8 in your hand. It feels like a premium smartphone which is something Samsung has failed to achieve, in our opinion, with the Galaxy S5. The new HTC One M8 is ergonomic, but also sturdy.

A big upgrade is the new Duo Camera. On the back of the HTC One M8 are two cameras, one of which can capture depth information. That allows the user to perform some software tricks after taking a photo, including a refocus effect that can blur parts of the image in a manner similar to the Lytro camera. You can pause video recordings. Most phones only let you stop recording, so you have to stitch together several files with software to get the same effect. The Vine and Instagram apps also let you pause video recording, but those clips have length limits. With the One, you’re limited only by the phone’s storage.

For all the consumers looking to tie themselves down with a two-year contract or looking to make a switch in their carriers, the HTC One M8 is now available online in the US from AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless. Even though the two-year contract prices are not really different, there is enough difference among the carriers’ contract-free offers to make it worth shopping around a bit.

U.S. customers are also eligible for a one-time screen replacement if it cracks in the first six months.

There’s a lot to like in the new phone. This phone likely won’t be as popular as the iPhone 5S or the Samsung Galaxy S5, but the One M8 is one worth considering if you’re looking for something that feels right and works nicely.