Android 2014 all-star showdown: HTC One (M8) vs Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Sony Xperia Z2

Today marked the unveiling of another of this year’s anticipated smartphone flagship announcements, the HTC One (M8). At today’s launch, HTC hailed the device as their best smartphone ever, and it’s truly a beauty to behold with its full metal chassis and slick design. But does it have what it takes to hold its own against the other upcoming flagship-grade competition?

The new HTC M8 sports a quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset running at 2.3 GHz, with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. This is very similar to what powers the Xperia Z2, except the Sony device has an additional 1GB of RAM. The Galaxy S5 also runs on a Snapdragon 801 chip, but is clocked higher than both devices at 2.5 GHz.
We’ve broken down each device to give you a side-by-side look at all of the specs. Which one do you think is the better flagship? Vote below and let us know what you think in the comments.

	HTC One (M8)	Samsung Galaxy S5	Sony Xperia Z2
OS	Android 4.4.2 KitKat	Android 4.4.2 KitKat	Android 4.4.2 KitKat
Display	5.0" Super LCD3	5.1″ Super AMOLED FHD	5.2″ IPS LCD Triluminos display
Resolution	1920 x 1080px (441 ppi)	1920 x 1080px (431 ppi)	1920 x 1080px (424 ppi)
Height Width Thickness	146.4 mm 70.6 mm 9.4 mm	142.0 mm  72.5 mm  8.1 mm	146.8 mm 73.3 mm 8.2 mm
Weight	160 grams	145 grams	158 grams
Processor	Snapdragon 801 chipset Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400	Snapdragon 801 chipset Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400	Snapdragon 801 chipset Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400
GPU	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Adreno 330
RAM	2GB	2GB	3GB
Storage	16GB/32GB	16/32GB	16GB
microSD card slot	Yes, up to 128GB	Yes, up to 128GB	Yes, up to 64GB
Primary camera	Dual 4 MP, 2688х1520 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash, automatic simultaneous video and image recording, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, HDR, panorama	16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, panorama, HDR; 2160p video recording at 30fps	20.7 MP, 5248×3936 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, image stabliziation, 2160p@30fps, HDR, video stabilization Simultaneous HD video and image recording
Front camera	5 MP 1080p@30fps	2.1 MP 1080p@30fps	2.2MP 1080p@30fps
Battery	Li-Po 2600 mAh	Li-Ion 2800 mAh	Li-Ion 3200 mAh
Battery life	Standby: 496 hours 3G talk:20 hours	Standby: 390 hours 3G talk: 21 hours	Standby: 370 hours 3G talk: 17 hours
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP	Yes, v4.0 LE with A2DP, EDR
Network	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE-Advanced	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE-Advanced	Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE Penta-band UMTS/HSPA LTE support, LTE Advaced
NFC	Yes	Yes	Yes
Speakers	Stereo	Mono	Stereo
Distinctive features	• Dual UltraPixel cameras • Aluminum body design • Front-facing dual speakers	• Fingerprint sensor • Heart Rate monitor • IP67 water and dust resistant	• IP58 certified – dust proof and water resistant over 1 meter and 30 minutes
Availability	Currently available in select markets	April, 2014	March, 2014

Now it’s your turn to pick your sides:

Take a look at the HTC One (M8) accessories

The new HTC One (M8) flagship has just gone official – if you’ve already taken a look at our quick hands-on impressions of the device here, join us as we go more in-depth regarding the new accessories that come with the device.

These include three cool cases, a car kit, keychain locator, BoomBass speaker, external battery bar, and an HTC Mini+ remote that lets you take calls and trigger the phone’s camera.
Protection for the HTC One (M8) includes the HTC Dot View, Flip, and Double Dip cases. The Flip Case lets you protect both sides of the smartphone, and also toggles the screen on/off when the flap is opened.


The Double Dip case lets you play around with various color combinations, by mixing and matching the top and bottom sections of the case.

Finally, we were able to get our hands on the Dot View vase, which displays various notifications through small holes in the front cover, simultaneously letting you protect the screen and see notifications.

Moving on, we have the HTC Car Kit, that lets you mount the phone onto your car’s dashboard to use for navigation and such. A similar accessory exists for the original HTC One, that connected via pogo pins, while here it connects to the phone’s USB port.

HTC Fetch is another straightforward accessory that attaches to your keychain and lets you quickly locate your device, and both will sound an alarm if they are more than 15 meters apart.

The HTC Mini+ pairs with the One and is a miniature smartphone in its own right. It lets you get calls and notifications, and even take calls while using your phone for something else. It also doubles as a remote control and has a built-in laser pointer for presentations and such.

The HTC BoomBass speaker and Battery Bar both let you extend the functionality of the HTC One (M8). The first is a compact Bluetooth speaker that doubles as a smartphone stand. It pairs via NFC and has a 1,200mAh battery that lasts for up to 6 hours. The Battery Bar provides up to three full charges to the One thanks to its 9000mAh capacity, and even supports 2A fast charging.


Speaking of fast charging, the HTC One is rated to support Quick Charge 2.0 capable of accepting up to 60 watts of power – an increase of almost 100% compared to phones with Quick Charge 1.0. The 1.5amp charger bundled with the HTC One (M8), however, does not support Quick Charge 2.0. HTC is planning on releasing an optional 1.67amp charger accessory that will come with the technology later this year.
For more on the HTC One (M8), check out our detailed first impressions, and be sure to stay tuned for our imminent review!

NSA bulk data collection may come to an end

President Obama is proposing a bill that will end the NSA’s current cell phone monitoring methods: namely bulk data collection.

This means that the NSA will no longer be able to have access to all people’s cell phone and call records at all times. The new bill propose a whole new slew of regulations.
User call and text data would be safeguarded by cell phone companies, and they wouldn’t be forced to hold onto the records for extended periods of time so the NSA can have access to it later. The only way the NSA can access user data is unless there was hard evidence that a user’s call had terrorist links.
The bill comes a little over a month after President Obama gave a speech on NSA reformation, which promised three significant changes in the way the NSA collects data: that personal user data would not be stored indefinitely, that all data gathered must be pertinent to a current investigation, and that user metadata would be taken out of NSA hands.
Although this new bill will make good on these promises, there are still some other current NSA bulk data-gathering practices that aren’t addressed.
For example, the CIA can still get their hands on money transfer records, personal user web data, and hack into Google and Yahoo networks carte blanche.
But some progress is better than none, right?

Mozilla gets new CEO, wants to focus on mobile

Mozilla’s getting a new CEO: Brendan Eich.

He’s replacing Gary Kovacs, who announced that he would be stepping down about a year ago. Hit the jump to find out what Eich’s vision for Mozilla is, now that he’s calling the shots.
Eich knows the Mozilla brand, or at least he should, because he’s been with the Firefox browser from the very beginning. He helped to catapult Firefox into web-browser prominence and set the groundwork for Firefox OS. He also pioneered Javascript in 1995 when he worked for Netscape as a developer, so his development roots run deep.


Eich’s got two goals for Mozilla: making Firefox OS a success, and getting more people to use the Firefox browser on their mobile devices. To assist with this, he’s appointed Li Gong as Mozilla’s new COO. Gong has been a major player in the development of Mozilla’s mobile OS, so this move doesn’t come as too big of a surprise.
Anyone excited to see what tricks Mozilla has up their sleeve? With Eich at the helm, do you think that the Firefox OS has a chance? Let us know in the comments!

Google Now Launcher from Nexus 5 now available for other Nexus devices

One of the features that was exclusive to the Nexus 5 so far was the Google Now Launcher, that allowed you to go to the Google Now screen just by a swipe on the homescreen and to bring up the voice search simply by saying “Ok Google”.

Google has now released the Google Now Launcher on the Play Store and made it compatible with a wider range of devices, For now this includes only the Nexus devices and the Play Edition devices. Which means you can officially install it on the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (2012), Nexus 7 (2013), Nexus 10, Galaxy S4 GPe, HTC One GPe, Moto G GPe, Xperia Z Ultra GPe and the LG G Pad 8.3 GPe.
The launcher is identical to the one on the Nexus 5, so other than the aforementioned two features you also get things like bigger icons and widget menu that was moved to press and hold on the homescreen instead of a separate tab in the app drawer. You still won’t get transparency effects on the Nexus 10, however.
You can download the Google Now Launcher from the link below if you have one of the supported devices.

Futuremark relists Samsung Galaxy S4, Note 3 after company fixes benchmark boosting issue

After Samsung’s recent benchmark boosting situation came to light, a lot was talked about how it made the process of benchmarking devices and comparing scores with other handsets irrelevant. But out of all the benchmark software developers out there, Futuremark, developers of 3DMark, were the only ones who delisted the offending Samsung devices from their benchmark scores to keep things fair.

However, in the latest Android 4.4.2 update issued to the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3, Samsung removed the code that allowed the benchmarking apps to run faster than any other normal app on the device. Following this decision, Futuremark has decided to relist the Samsung devices that are running the latest update.
It’s unclear how much hand Futuremark had in changing Samsung’s opinion on these tactics; for all we know, it could be all the negative publicity that the company received in the days following the exposé but either way, it’s good that Samsung corrected its ways.

Minor update for Facebook Beta on Windows Phone is out

The Facebook Beta app for Windows Phone devices has received a slight update bringing it to version v5.2.4.1. The release brings some bug fixes and minor changes.

The company hasn’t specified what are the exact fixes, but we are sure they killed a bug or two. As WMPoweruser reports, many users have been complaining to bugs related to photos in the app.
Microsoft released v5.2 of the app back in May. Then, the Facebook Beta app for WP received a major visual overhaul and a plethora of new features bringing the experience closer to that of the social network’s website.
In case you want to check the update out, follow the source link below.