We’ve heard rumblings of a plastic version of HTC’s fantastic M8 handset for a while now, and at last it’s been officially revealed. Courtesy of HTC’s Chinese site we can see the first official images.
Oddly enough, the One M8 Ace (or the One E8 as it’s referred to on its Chinese Page) actually seems to resemble the original One (M7) more than the One M8. A large factor in this is the removal of the M8’s duo-cam in favour of one single, rear-facing 13MP lens.
Exchanging the all-aluminium chassis for a plastic one means that the M8 Ace is also a lot more colourful – it’s shown in black, white, red and dark blue, all of which look rather nice. Whilst HTC has been widely applauded for the design of the One M8, a change to plastic isn’t exclusively a budgetary one. Some users prefer plastic over metal as it doesn’t hold scratches as much, and it’s considerably harder to permanently dent.
Of course with a plastic edition of a metal flagship, many will automatically draw comparisons with the Samsung Galaxy S5. Generally speaking, which of the Galaxy S5 or the original One M8 is the better smartphone is a matter of personal opinion – a plastic HTC makes the two a lot more comparable, though.
What with the handset’s premium build quality now removed, it’s expected that the price will be reduced. Seeing as the One M8 and the Galaxy S5 both retail for £530 at the time of writing, a price cut to give HTC a real leg-up over the dominant Samsung. A RRP of roughly £100 less doesn’t seem too unreasonable.
We’ve not had confirmation of the One M8 Ace’s screen size yet, but the expectation is that it will stick to the same 5-inch, 1080p display as the one found on the One M8. It will still pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz processor, which is nice, and the BoomSound dual font-facing speakers are present and correct.
From left to right: The original HTC One, the HTC One M8 Ace and the HTC One M8
UPDATE: Now for the main announcement. The E8’s Chinese website has unveiled the price of the new smartphone at CN ¥2,799 (that’s approximately $450 / £269). Comparatively speaking, that’s around half the price of the HTC One M8 and Samsung Galaxy S5, two high-end models that boast similar specs.
