[AT&T HTC One (M7)] robamacaf:
I came from the Samsung Galaxy S III and before that it was the iPhone 4, and iPhone 3g and before that Blackberry. I have been all over the place with phones and I get very excited when anyone releases the next huge phone. My main plan was to get the Galaxy S IV until it was actually revealed and I felt quite let down but what it was offering. I felt like they 'appled' things up by just making tiny upgrades just to get people to buy more of the same thing.

Then I read about the HTC One and was a bit skeptical. They were raving about the speakers and the Ultrapixel and all the other features and I just couldn't get past the fact it was HTC. My friend had the HTC One X and I saw how it lacked in updates and didn't have expandable storage or a removable battery. On my SIII I had an extended battery and would still manage to burn through it in a day of heavy usage. So even though I LOVED most of the things about the HTC One. I was scared of jumping ship and trying it.

As the weeks went on and the reviews came out I begun scouring the internet for every bit of information I could find on the HTC One. I read every review and I swear I surfed every forum and at the end of the day I was still impressed by the device and figured i could get over the lack of replaceable battery and extra space. So I made the leap and got the HTC One on AT&T.

I've had it a few days now and I'm still as impressed with this thing as I was when I was reading all the reviews on it. Everything from the 'BoomSound' to the 'Ultrapixel' camera was spot on like I read. The names of the cool features might be a marketing gimmick but they really are the things that make this phone stand out and make it unique.

BUILD QUALITY:

Do I even need to touch on this? Every review, every person who ever touched this device all same the same thing. That it truly is a sight to behold. Trying to put it up against my S III makes the S III look like a toy. This is one phone that I don't want to get a case for (and still haven't) because I think everyone needs to see the HTC One because this is how quality phones should be made. If you read the forums and some reviews they do mention there could be a slight gap around the plastic antenna band, and on mine that is also true. But it is SO tiny on mine that I don't even think it's an issue.

BLINK FEED/SENSE 5:

I have never used an HTC phone with Sense before, coming from the Galaxy S III SENSE is a HUGE step up from what Samsung had. I would often through CM10 or AOKP on my SIII just to get rid of the horrid UI on the S III. I read in reviews that blink feed was almost worthless and most people wouldn't use it and so I figured that be the case for me too...but the crazy part is, I actually DO use it! While I am sitting at work waiting for something to happen or I'm at dinner waiting to order I'm actually finding myself unlocking my phone and seeing what is going on with the world through Blink Feed. I LOVE RSS readers and being on top of things and Blink Feed helps with this without me having to even load up a third party app or anything. While Blink Feed is good they do need to open it up to allow me to import my RSS feeds and what not (like flip board, etc). Blink feed isn't perfect but I'm surprised by how much I actually use it.

On to Sense 5 I am quite impressed with it. Typically I'll throw Apex or Nova launcher on top of the UI and be done with it but after putting Nova on it for half a day I actually ended up uninstalling it. Part of it was so I could have Blink Feed back but the other part is I liked the overall look of Sense 5. It was clean and the buttons were nice. I wish I could use the Sense 5 icon for internet on instead of the look of the Chrome button since that's what I use and chrome now sticks out like a sore thumb on the dock, but I can live with that. Sense has done some nice things in the app locker section by letting you easily search for apps/hide apps and even put apps in folders. I've found that I use Blinkfeed as my main screen and the app launcher as my 'second screen'. I don't even bother swiping over any more to show more home screens.

CAMERA

The camera was the real reason I was excited about this phone. It was something different and something that sounded amazing on paper. HTC was doing something radically different and instead of going the way of the MegaPixel war, HTC was bypassing it completely. And for me, their bet has paid off. This camera will not be for everyone. For people who want amazing clear and detailed pictures then 4MP will probably not be enough. But I'm the kind of person who likes capturing the moments through out my day and sharing them with friends on FB or on G+. I like taking pictures during almost everything and the HTC One helps me with that tremendously.

Zoe mode is a nice change of pace where instead of just capturing a still pic it does the still with 3 seconds of video/sound. This allows you to then find the perfect picture in the 3 second period and edit and save that or even do things such as picking the best face from people in the photo and combining it into one, removing objects in the background, actually making peoples faces skinnier and many other tweaks. There are some options I don't think I'll ever use such as the option to make eyes bigger but I've used it to make funny pictures of my family by making them look like aliens!

The highlight reel is pretty neat and I find myself creating them and posting them to facebook. I think it was completely stupid of HTC to only include 4 themes and make it that you can't use custom music/themes but I have my fingers crossed that that functionality is coming. The highlight reel is a lot like the blink feed. It's a great start to something that can really shine, but HTC needs to get off it's butt and finish it to make it stand above the crowd.

The UI for the camera isn't very pretty or intuitive but the amount of options it offers easily makes up for it. Coming from the SIII it's pretty cool to be able to change everything about the camera settings and it allows people who take the time to learn to capture some pretty impressive shots. Even on full auto it takes good pictures but I think that one will need to learn to adjust the settings based on the situation they are in to get the best photos possible.

The lowlight shooting is hands down amazing. I was able to take a shot around 830 at night after the sun set, the cars on the road had their headlights on and the street lights on the side of the road were on, but the HTC One captured enough light to make it look like the sun was still out. It is crazy how much light this camera captures and when you're like me and love capturing photos of your kids in the house and might not always be in perfect lighting, then this phone is fantastic. Thanks to the quick capturing taking pictures of fast moving objects is also quite enjoyable. On the SIII (not so much on the iPhone) capturing moving objects would lead to very blurry photos, that isn't the case on the One.

I know this section got a bit big but I just wanted to run down some things about it. I didn't even mention the slow motion video, the hdr, the video hdr and other things such as the sequence shot. I have used the HDR pictures (there is a tweak out there on custom roms to enable front camera HDR too) and it's QUICK. The slow motion video makes the video quality really bad but it's still a fun effect. The camera is just something you need to use to be able to fully comprehend. I'll take a photo of something and show someone and they look at me like I'm crazy because they don't understand why I'm so excited about the picture. It's hard to describe just how low the lighting was in it and how awesome the One captured the photo.

BOOM SOUND/MICS:

Stupid name, awesome feature. I never understood why phones put the speakers on the back/bottom. It never made sense. The screen is on the front so why would I want the sound coming from a different location?! On the iPhones the speaker was on the bottom and on the S III it was on the back and I'd have to do this weird cupping movement with my hand to get the sound to make it around to the front of the phone just so I could actually hear what I was watching! And if I put the phone down some where then it'd get all muffled and horrible. The One does not have this problem at all. I'd say the front speakers can be on par with some netbooks/tablets if not louder. This makes watching videos/listening to music or even taking speaker calls a very good experience. It also has dual membrane mics that do a great job at making sure that you're recording sounds of things you actually want to record. Apparently the company that made them for HTC is being sued in Europe because they were supposed to wait 12 months to use them in another phone, but HTC isn't being held liable in that because HTC had no idea.

Now most of this review seems like it's all glowing and perfect for the One but it does have some issues. Things such as Blink Feed and the Highlight Reel (2 huge features HTC touted) feeling like they aren't finished. Or the fact the LED is only 2 colors (I miss being able to have the Notification LED on the S III let me know exactly what the notification was for before I even had the phone in my hand). I also know this isn't a big thing but I always feel like I'm going to scratch the phone when I set it down someplace just because of the noise it makes. Hard to describe but when you put something metal down it makes quite a bit of noise. I know it won't scratch or anything, but in my mind I can't convince myself it won't!

At the end of the day, I'm in love with the phone. It fits me and my life style perfectly and it captures why I love smart phones. I don't take pictures of my food but I spend a lot of my day capturing memories and sharing them with the people close to me. The HTC One makes doing that and keeping it organized thanks to events very easy! I would still recommend the S III to anyone that wants a great cheaper phone (specially since the price has dropped on it). But if someone asks me what the best phone in, I will say the HTC One without hesitating.