HTC One M8 Launched in Canada

The new HTC One (M8) debuts in Canada.

Tonight HTC held a mingling event at the Burroughes in downtown Toronto to showcase the new HTC One (M8) to Canada.  Various press, vendors, and HTC Elevate members were invited to the event.

The new HTC One (M8)

There were about 6 HTC One (M8) secured to a fixture guests to test out.

Blinkfeed and Onscreen Navigation Buttons

The phone is a lot taller than the last HTC One due to the larger screen, retaining the large bezels around the screen, and large silver bezels around the speakers.

The Duo Camera

The gunmetal backing is brushed aluminum looks really nice.  From photos I preferred the old glacial silver that's similar to the old HTC One but in person, the gunmetal impresses while the silver looked boring.  A really great job to HTC on this.

The new camera UI

Gone is the purple tint in the old HTC One. Photos turned out a tad less noisy than the old HTC One.  Focus time was a tad faster but overall it behaves the same as before - it initially had trouble focusing in the dark environment just like the old version.

I found myself hitting the left side of the phone bottom black bar many times thinking a capacitive back button would be there like the previous generation HTC One.  Now you need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the navigation buttons

The Crowd

I only recognized Howard Chui from the diverse crowd.  There were much more people later in the evening.

Some third party cases behind display cases.  A few HTC employees had the Dot View case on hand.

The Dot View case looks great when it's closed. But like other reviewers have said, when the cover is folded back, it doesn't sit flush on the back because the cover is rigid flat while the back is curved at almost 15 degrees. The cover also has strong rubber to snap close. 

HTC pulled together a great event to show case the HTC One.  I wish there were more units spread out at the venue for people to touch.  It would've been great to see the inside of the phone for people to appreciate the effort and detail that went into the construction of such a high quality phone.

The HTC One is expected to go on sale at  major Canadian wireless retailers starting next week.  I encourage you to drop by your wireless provider to feel the smooth aluminum finish of the HTC One.