Back in March, HTC unveiled a better version of the last year’s flagship device, the HTC One M8. Since its launch, we’ve done a few comparisons to help users find out about the big differences between the HTC One M8 and flagship devices from other OEMs.

However, if you’re still hooked up with the last year’s HTC One M7, and want to know if its really worth upgrading to the latest and greatest offering from the Taiwanese OEM, read on.

Amazing Build Quality and Design

Before I proceed, let me tell you one thing: both devices are amazing — in terms of hardware, software, build quality etc. Coming over to the build and design, HTC One M8 looks strikingly similar to its predecessor, and features an all aluminum body, but it’s a bit more polished and better. They both look great in hand, and HTC revealed the latest HTC One M8 in a few new color options, including gray, gold and the traditional silver color.

HTC One M7 received a lot of recognition across the globe because of its beautiful design, and was also named as the best smartphone of 2013 at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in February.

HTC One M7 measures 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 mm and weighs 143g, while its successor is 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm and weighs 160g. The latest flagship device is a little heavier, but thinner, and the difference is minute when it comes to weight.

Bigger Display, But With The Same Resolution

HTC One M8 comes with a slightly bigger 5-inch display with a 441ppi pixel density compared to 4.7-inch in its predecessor with 468ppi pixel density, but it still boasts the same resolution.

The different in the screen size shouldn’t bother users, but they should get a some what similar screen area due to the inclusion of on-screen navigation buttons.

Comparatively Faster

This is one of those areas which received the biggest bump when it comes to technical specifications and performance of the device. HTC One M8 is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2.3GHz with 2GB of RAM, compared to the Snapdragon 600 on its predecessor with the same amount of RAM.

The new processor makes it a lot faster compared to HTC One M7, and offers a good user experience, no matter which app you to try to run or task you perform.

Storage

The all new HTC One M8 comes with 16GB of storage on board, compared to 32GB on its predecessor. But, there’s a major change here: the new HTC One M8 comes with microSD card support of up to 128GB, a feature which was missing in the One M7.

It’s not just the microSD card support, HTC One M8 comes with 65GB of free Google Drive storage as well which helps users save their data in the cloud so its accessible no matter which device they are on.

Duo Cameras

Image via HTC

This is another major change in the latest flagship device. HTC One M8 comes with an improved Duo Camera — although it’s still UltraPixel. The camera is accompanied by a depth sensor with UFocus which lets users focus on an element in a photo, while the remaining part is blurred out. It’s not just uFocus, the new camera comes with an array of editing features to improve the picture quality.

The new HTC One M8 also features a 5MP front-facing camera compared to a 2.1MP one found in the last year flagship.

Other Changes, Software, Nano-SIM and more

HTC One M8 comes with the latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Sense 6.0. The HTC One M7 is also running the latest KitKat update, but it features Sense 5.5 UI, but worry no more as HTC has promised to deliver the latest Sense 6.0 to the device in the coming months.

The new flagship comes with support for a nano-SIM card, while the HTC One M7 came with micro-SIM support. But, that’s not a pretty big issue as it can be handled easily, or you could just get a nanoSIM from your carrier.

Additionally, the HTC One M8 comes with other software improvements which are not present in its predecessor, with the most interesting one being Motion Launch. It lets you turn on the screen and perform a few tasks without pressing any button, unlock device, and more. The HTC One M7 will not get the Motion launch due to hardware limitations.

As far as the battery is concerned, the HTC One M8 rocks a 2,600 mAh battery which is 40 percent more efficient than the 2,300 mAh found inside the HTC One M7. In addition, it comes with an Extreme Battery Saving mode that can extend the battery life of the smartphone to 14 days on a full charge — impressive isn’t it?

The new HTC One M8 is available for $199 with a two-year contract in the US, while T-Mobile is selling it for $0 down with 24 monthly payments of $26.50.

Wrap Up

There you go. The new HTC One M8 comes with several improvements and new features when compared with its predecessor. But, if you’re thinking whether it’s worth upgrading, well, if you ask me, I’d say, Yes. The device looks beautiful, and the internal upgrades will make you notice the difference in first use. Rest is up to you. The handset is available from various retailers and carriers in different regions.

Also why not check out: