Introduction:
Do we have a good one for you today – the Huawei Mate 8 takes on the new HTC 10. Both devices are made from metal, although the Mate 8 has more of an iLook with rounded corners and edges, whereas HTC abandoned their rounded look for a more chiseled look with an angular approach. The Mate 8 has subtle bezels that give it a taller look while HTC decided to put their fingerprint sensor in the front causing a larger top and bottom bezels. The Mate 8 comes in two configurations – we are comparing the 4GB/64GB model for a fair comparison. We will first see what these two devices share before we take a closer look at each.
These two flagship devices have very few things in common. The Mate 8 and the HTC 10 both use the IPS LCD display technology but are different sizes and resolutions. Both devices share 4GB of DDR4 RAM and the ability to expand their internal memory. They both have a speaker mounted on the bottom of the device (the woofer for the HTC 10), and they both include Hi-Res audio features when listening with earphones. The Mate 8 and HTC 10 have fingerprint sensors for unlocking the device as well as authorizing Android Pay purchases thanks to Marshmallow. Both have non-removable batteries with a fast charge function. The usual suspects are there – WiFi, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, NFC, and a microUSB port (v2.0 on the Mate 8 and v3.1 Type-C on the HTC 10) for charging and data transfer.
Please take a careful look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two great devices stack up against one another – click on the “View Full Comparison” link at the end of the chart to expand the details. After that, we will look at each device in greater depth and point out some of its pros and cons. From all of this information, we will try to determine the winner based on specs and execution of design and functions.
Specifications
Huawei Mate 8
Huawei was like a well-kept secret until they made the Nexus 6P last year – all of a sudden, techies stood up and took notice. The Nexus 6P was well received for its design, solid build, and specifications and certainly worthy of the Nexus name. Huawei is not your typical Chinese company that produces decent devices for a low price. They build a high-quality product with the latest specs and price it as such. With its large display, the Huawei Mate 8 is a phablet and has Huawei’s common design sporting an all-metal body with the fit and finish of a true flagship device. If not for its FHD display, the Mate 8 packs almost all the right parts to compete with the new devices from Samsung, LG, and HTC.
The Huawei Mate 8 sports a large 6-inch IPS-NEO LCD FHD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 with only 368 pixels-per-inch (PPI) because of its large size. Huawei likes to use their homegrown processors; the Mate 8 has a HiSilicon Kirin 950 octa-core model with a quad-core clocked at 1.8GHz, and quad-core clocked at 2.3GHz, which produces record-breaking test results. They also like to use their graphics processors, and the Mate 8 packs an excellent Mali-T880 MP4 GPU, and it can handle any game graphics thrown its way. It packs 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 64GB of internal memory that is expandable to 128GB via a microSD card.
If there is an area where the Huawei Mate 8 suffers, it may be the camera area – pictures were good, but not up to par with other flagship devices. The Mate 8 uses a 16MP sensor for their primary camera and then added an aperture of f/2.0, phase detection autofocus (PDAF), a dual-tone flash, and OIS. Huawei also selected a large 8MP for the front-facing camera (FFC) is a wide-angle lens and f/2.4 for selfies and video chatting. A large 4000mAh non-removable battery powers the Mate 8, and it has fast-charge that will give you a 37-percent charge in only 30 minutes.
The Huawei Mate 8 measures 157.1 x 80.6 x 7.9mm and weighs in at 185 grams. It comes in Champagne Gold, Moonlight Silver, Space Gray, and Mocha Brown. It will cost you about $700 for the 4GB/64GB model or about $600 for the 3GB/32GB model. The Mate 8 is their first phone to ship with EmotionUI EMUI 4.0 running atop Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
HTC 10
HTC is the company everybody wants to love and root for, yet when it comes time to buy a new smartphone they buy a Samsung or LG device. HTC has worked hard in trying to recapture its magic, but rather than building a new and fresh smartphone with top specs throughout, they always took liberties somewhere. For instance, in redesigning the outside – it became boring, the camera area – 4MP Ultra Pixels, then a duo camera, and their refusal to use a QHD display. The HTC 10 is the flagship device they should have been building all along – an all-metal body with a new look, a QHD display, the best processor currently on the market, a great camera area, BoomSound Hi-Fi, and 4GB of DDR4 RAM with expandable memory. HTC would love to regain some of their former customers as well as gain new ones – they need help to boost their bottom line.
The HTC 10 sports a 5.2-inch Super LCD5 QHD display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a whopping 565 PPI. HTC put in the best processor currently available – the Qualcomm 64-bit Snapdragon 820 quad-core with dual cores clocked at 1.6 GHz and dual cores clocked at 2.15 GHz. Qualcomm matched this up with their excellent Adreno 530 GPU to handle the most demanding graphics. The HTC 10 packs 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 32GB of internal memory that is expandable to 2TB via a microSD card.
After experimenting with their cameras for years, the HTC 10 finally has all of the right pieces to take great pictures. Yes, they went back to the UltraPixels – as did the Samsung Galaxy S7 series – but instead of using only a 4MP sensor, HTC is now using a 12MP sensor for their primary camera. This size sensor allows it to capture more light and image for better low light pictures. They added laser autofocus, a dual-tone LED flash, a large aperture of f/1.8 and finally OIS. Even the FFC is top-notch with a 5MP FFC, but added the large f/1.8 aperture, wide-angle lens, OIS, and even included a screen flash to ensure great selfies and video chatting. The HTC 10 uses a 3000mAh non-removable battery and comes with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 – which will give you up to a 50-percent charge in only 30 minutes.
Rather than putting the fingerprint sensor on the back, HTC placed the sensor down front, where the second BoomSound speaker once resided. This change forced them to put the woofer on the bottom end of the device, and the high-end sounds originate from the earpiece. To acknowledge this difference, HTC renamed the popular BoomSound to BoomSound Hi-Fi. HTC also has Hi-Fi circuits for great sounding music for your earphones. The HTC 10 measures 145.9 x 71.9 x 9mm and weighs in at 161 grams. It comes in Carbon Grey, Topaz Gold, and Glacier Silver and it will cost you about $650 for 32GB of memory.
…And The Winner Is…
Summary
While the Huawei Mate 8 is a compelling smartphone, the winner of this comparison has to be the HTC 10. The HTC 10 excels in all areas – QHD display, much better camera, better sound with BoomSound Hi-Fi, more memory expansion, the Type-C reversible USB port, and the ability to be used on all the main US networks – and it does that for less money.
The Huawei Mate 8 is a solid device with blazing fast speed, but it still lacks in a few areas – starting with the FHD display, pedestrian photo-taker, and lack of all LTE bands. With these few shortcomings, the Mate 8 will cost you more money than the HTC 10. This is not the formula for success.
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