HTC One (E8) review: Traveling light

Display

The HTC One (E8) features a 5" Full HD IPS display with a pixel density of 441ppi, the same one that's found on the HTC One (M8). It's covered by Gorilla Glass 3 and accommodates almost permanently visible on-screen navigating buttons.

The HTC One (E8) has an identical display to the One (M8)

Taking a closer look at it under our digital microscope proves this, as the two panels show an identical RGB pattern and pixel size.

Running our display test again provides very similar findings, with the E8 providing marginally better contrast at 50% brightness, and the M8 being more contrasty at 100%.

The HTC One (E8) has a respectable sunlight contrast ratio as well, resulting in a score that places it in the upper half of our sunlight legibility charts.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia Lumia 720
  2.512
• HTC One (E8)
  2.185
• Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
  3.155
• Samsung Galaxy K zoom
  3.675
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  3.386
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Oppo Find 7a
  2.279
• Alcatel Idol X+
  3.527
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  3.549
• HTC One (M8)
  2.371
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  3.487
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• LG G Flex
  2.407
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• BlackBerry Z30
  2.79
• HTC One Max
  2.537
• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  3.997
• Apple iPhone 5s
  3.565
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• Apple iPhone 5c
  3.512
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2.95
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  2.262
• Sony Xperia ZR
  2.672
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  3.118
• BlackBerry Q10
  2.856
• Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini
  3.127
• Nokia Lumia 925
  3.402
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2.352
• Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4
  3.352
• Motorola RAZR MAXX
  3.42
• Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
  2.832
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  2.307
• HTC One
  2.504
• Nokia Asha 311
  2.25
• Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express
  2.861
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Apple iPhone 5
  3.997
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Nokia Lumia 820
  2.193
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  2.958
• Samsung Ativ S
  3.129
• HTC Butterfly S
  1.867
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• Nokia Lumia 630
  2.056
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Sony Xperia SL
  2.078
• Nokia 515
  2.134
• HTC Desire 500
  2.129
• Nokia Lumia 920
  2.17
• Nokia Lumia 1020
  2.103
• Samsung I9295 Galaxy S4 Active
  2.022
• Sony Xperia acro S
  2.119
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Nokia Lumia 620
  2.142
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.68
• LG Optimus G
  1.753
• LG G3
  1.82
• Sony Xperia T
  1.894
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• HTC One mini 2
  1.94
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  1.873
• HTC Desire 816
  1.783
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1.944
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1.992
• HTC Desire X
  1.878
• LG G2 mini
  1.838
• LG G Pro 2
  1.922
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  1.769
• Nokia Lumia 1320
  1.941
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  1.772
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Nokia Lumia 1520
  1.813
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  1.913
• Sony Xperia J
  1.932
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Meizu MX3
  1.754
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  1.931
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• Nokia Asha 308
  1.911
• LG G2
  1.976
• Oppo R819
  1.957
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  1.845
• Huawei Ascend P6
  1.865
• LG Nexus 4
  1.926
• HTC One mini
  2.003
• Sony Xperia SP
  1.733
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• LG Optimus GJ
  1.666
• Oppo Find 7
  1.691
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  1.74
• HTC One V
  1.685
• BlackBerry Q5
  1.682
• LG Optimus 3D Max
  1.658
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  1.4
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  1.578
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1.632
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1.622
• Nokia Lumia 520
  1.161
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160
  1.566
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1.552
• BlackBerry Curve 9320
  1.488
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Sony Xperia go
  1.577
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  1.563
• Sony Xperia E1
  1.372
• Meizu MX 4-core
  1.462
• Oppo N1
  1.47
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  1.315
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Sony Xperia M2
  1.393
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia miro
  1.324
• Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand
  1.321
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8
  1.35
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1.393
• Nokia Lumia 625
  1.371
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  1.38
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• Sony Xperia L
  1.351
• Nokia X
  1.291
• Sony Xperia tipo
  1.166
• LG Optimus L7
  1.269
• Nokia Asha 501
  1.27
• Nokia Asha 503
  1.281
• Nokia XL
  1.204
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  1.245
• Nokia Lumia 510
  1.268
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1.203
• LG Optimus L9
  1.227
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  1.22
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  1.18
• Nokia Asha 305
  1.178
• Nokia Asha 306
  1.175
• Sony Xperia neo L
  1.169
• Samsung S6802 Galaxy Ace Duos
  1.148
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  1.114

Battery life

Has the same 2,600mAh non-removable Lithium Polymer battery as the HTC One (M8). While the M8 was able to post a respectable 71 hour endurance rating, the E8 is able to do even better.

While the E8 doesn't do as well when it comes to 3G talk time, it makes up for it with over 10 hours of web browsing, and over 11 hours of video playback time.

Overall, this results in a 77 hour endurance rating, which means that you can use the HTC One (E8) for over three days and do an hour each of calling, web browsing, and watching videos each day, and still have some left in the tank.

Standby power draw is included in the calculations, though the exact number isn't listed in the scorecard above. You can find more about the HTC One (E8) battery life in our blog post. Details on the testing procedure can be found here.

Connectivity

The HTC One (E8) packs a solid set of connectivity features, with a few omissions compared to the M8. You still get quad-band GSM, 3G, and LTE support.

The local wireless connectivity has Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and DLNA support (both client and server, for images, videos and music) and stereo Bluetooth 4.0 with the higher-quality aptX codec.

There is no Wi-Fi ac support however. The lack of an IR emitter is another glaring omission, too.

HTC has conveniently designed a special options screen, when you connect the One to a PC. The long list of options includes Portable Wi-Fi hotspot, settings, USB and Bluetooth tethering (the phone becomes a modem).

NFC connectivity with Android Beam is present too. We found it to work with no hiccups.

There's a microSD card slot too supporting up to 128GB of storage. In addition, the device also comes with 50GB of free Google Drive storage for two years.

Unfortunately, compared to the One (M8), the microUSB port of the One (E8) lacks TV-out functionality and there is no support for USB host or USB On-the-go.