What's the best HTC handset currently available?

HTC isn’t one to keep us waiting for smartphones, throwing all manner of handsets in our direction over the course of the year.

But that begs the question – what’s the best HTC phone you can buy? Can the all new HTC One M8S overthrow its older relatives?

The new HTC One M8S, M8 and M9 are all worthwhile selections from the HTC product line, with each potentially being as a sound smartphone purchase. So, how can you make a decision between the three? Let’s find out!

Last Year’s HTC Flagship Handset: HTC One M8

You can’t go wrong with one of the most well-known and trusted smartphones on the market; The HTC One M8 might not be the newest handset, but it packs a real punch and is no longer going to cost you an arm and a leg to pick-up.

Its design is one of the best on the market, with a smooth metallic construction being one of the most attractive we’ve ever seen on a smartphone. The One M8 doesn’t weigh in too heavy either – at just 160g at 9.4mm thick, it makes the handset incredibly easy to handle as well as good looking.

The One M8 specs also show off plenty of power with a 5” Super LCD3 1080p effort supplying a sharp and responsive screen. This is backed up by a Snapdragon 801 chipset, quad-core 2.3GHz processor and 2GB RAM.

The M8 camera also keeps the top class performance going, and is one of the most recognisable features of the handset with a rear set of dual lenses offering 3D style effects and superb low-light performance.

HTC Profits

The One M8 helped spearhead HTC’s huge surge in 2014, but is it the best HTC smartphone?

The front camera boasts a full 5 megapixels for all of your selfie and video chatting needs as well – making the One M8 a true all-round success.

All of this culminates to make for a great smartphone from HTC, and one which helped the company drive its record breaking $75.5m profits in 2014. Although its sales have obviously slowed down since the launch if this year’s flagship device, the One M8 is still a great option if you fancy saving cash, but also keeping a hold of flagship specs.

The Mid-Range HTC Smartphone: The New HTC One M8S

Sometimes tightening your financial belt results in your smartphone performing at a second rate level, but this isn’t the case with HTC. Introducing the HTC One M8S, the first ‘mid-range-flagship’ phone from the Taiwanese company.

You might not actually spot any differences in the design compared to the HTC One M8, other than an ever so slight increase in thickness (9.6mm instead of 9.4mm if you’re

“In its simplest terms, the HTC One M8S is a flagship design with mid-range specs.”curious).

It’s behind the scenes where we can really start noticing the changes, with HTC watering down several of its internal components. The first notable drop is with its chipset, which plummets from the Snapdragon 801 down to the 615, whilst the 16/32GB storage option and 2GB RAM stays put.

The Best HTC Phone? HTC One M9

Sometimes it’s time to throw caution to the wind and treat yourself to the latest and greatest smartphone on the market. If you invest in the HTC One M9, this is what you’ll be doing – and you won’t regret your decision.

Boasting the best spec sheet of all three HTC smartphones, the One M9 packs a real punch as well as looking the part. In fact, the only thing which gives it a similar impression to the two previous phones is its design, which has barely changed.

The screen is the only piece of kit within the phone which has kept to itself in the design process, with the very same 5” Super LCD3 1080p effort being used. Keep in mind that this is one of the only things to stay put however, with a brand new Snapdragon 810 chipset taking charge behind the scenes.

An octa-core processor generates much faster speeds than both the M8S and M8, totalling 3.5GHz of power altogether, whilst 3GB RAM also offers more quality than the other two devices. The One M9 also ditches the dual-camera experiment from the M8, instead opting for a 20.7 megapixel rear lens but keeps the UltraPixel technology on the front camera.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that all three handsets run Android Lollipop, with the M9 and the M8S both sporting HTC Sense 7 user interfaces, whilst the older M8 sticks with an ever so slightly older Sense 6.

Overall, the HTC One M9 is the ideal option if you value specs and don’t mind splashing the cash. Whilst on the design side of things it does look very similar to its other HTC brothers and sisters, it definitely separates itself when it comes to its performance.

Verdict: What’s the Best HTC Phone?

Ultimately, the decision between the three HTC handsets depends heavily on how much performance you’re willing to pay.

The new HTC One M8S is looking like the cheapest of the three, and its identical design to last year’s One M8 make it a a real bargain, despite the phone’s dumbed down spec list. At the other end of the scale, the HTC One M9 boasts super high quality for an equally high price tag, whilst the One M8 seems like a good mixture of the two.