HTC One M7, Silver 32GB (Verizon Wireless)

The HTC One has been out on Verizon for about a year at this point, and even though HTC has announced that it's successor will be hitting carriers soon, I chose to opt for the tried and true original for my recent upgrade. There are several reasons that I didn't get one of the newest android phones, and having previously worked in the cellular industry for several years I no longer feel the need to have the latest thing. Following that kind of mentality often gets you burned, and you end up with buyer's remorse when things don't go as advertised.These days, I prefer to stick with phones that have already established themselves as capable and dependable devices. Furthermore, I've owned phones with just about every operating system available, so I feel confident about what software can offer a smartphone user in terms of an overall experience. My wife and I both had our choice of devices to order, and she chose the Galaxy S4 which is also an excellent Android device with more features than she will ever need or use. I chose the HTC One, because I wanted something more simple yet powerful and technically diverse enough to make my experience as smooth as possible.In many ways, the S4 and the HTC One are the best Android phones on the market right now, and their popularity reflects that. The "One" is a great multi purpose phone that shines in all of the right areas. It really doesn't overspecialize in any department though, so there are some features that may fall short for some consumers. For example, the camera isn't as capable as the ones found on competing devices, but it's good enough for the user who wants to be able to capture shots on the go.The "One" gets wonderful reception and really takes advantage of the 4G LTE network with an impressively speedy processor that provides lightning fast response for web browsing or loading apps. HTC also fitted the "One" with an exceptional high resolution screen that provides vibrant, colorful images in high definition. Watching Youtube videos on this thing is as good as watching on my computer monitor at home.One of the shortfalls of this device is that the phone only comes with 32GB of internal memory without an external expansion port. That's fine for me since I only stream music and take a few photos here and there, but if I really wanted to download movies or download all of my digital albums, the internal memory wouldn't cut it. The sturdy aluminum body also precludes the ability to remove the battery from the phone which might be inconvenient for some should it need replacing.I really can't say much else that other people haven't said about the device in terms of features, but having used pretty much every smartphone OS, I can say that Android is my favorite hands down. My last phone was a Windows phone, and despite the fact that the user interface was perhaps the most fluid and simplistic of the operating systems, the lack of platform support from outside developers was frustrating.Android has found its place in the market over the years, and their support base continues to grow. That being said, the HTC One is a great phone, and with the price its a tough act to beat. Even though there are phones out that might outclass the "One" it still holds its own for those who may be late adopters like me.

Part 1-Thought this would be a nice phone upgrade. After 2 days can say I'm very disappointed. Phone arrived in timely fashion but would not activate without Verizon's help. No instruction book, have to use on line manuals. Very hard to operate the basics (apps, internet connectivity, screens, settings, etc.). Battery life sucks so far, could be just using a lot of juice for original set up. Back of phone does get warm but a cover will solve that problem. Call quality was fine. Will proceed further with set up this weekend and will advise further after some studying and practice.Part 2- Much happier today. Still learning the ins and outs (on-line manuals at Verizon and HTC,and YouTube videos help). Have phone set up and customized and can say I am totally pleased. Battery seems to be lasting longer (first couple of charges may not have been a full re-charge) but since the battery is sealed we will have to live with it. Upgrading rating to 5 stars.Part 3/FINAL- Solidly built phone and beautiful screen images. Easy navigation once you get familiar with HTC. Camera OK for me (don't use it that much). Battery life seems acceptable for calls and lite use of apps, heavier users (games/vids/music) will encounter problems, may be a deal breaker for you.DEFINITELY WOULD RECOMMEND THIS PHONEP.S.added June 23 - Used the phone for about 5 weeks before finding out I was using DATA instead of WIFI despite having the wifi icon on the notification bar. After going back and forth with HTC (great customer service by the way) I called Verizon and the connection problem was fixed. Now the phone is 100% better. The speed is what I expected and the battery is lasting longer.

I've had this phone for about 3 months now so I feel I can give it a fair enough review. For context my last phone was a droid 2 global which I had for 3 years, loved it, never had any problems other than somewhat poor battery life. The HTC One is a substantial upgrade over the last phone, which was android 2 based, HTC one is android 4. Mostly used for texts, email, news, podcast, web, navigation, minor games. Have not used it for any work functions. I will just list below but overall I highly recommend the phone, it's fantastic. My cons are really all minor and would not negatively influence me from purchasing the same phone again.Pros:-Very fast both in phone functions and network (4g lte)-Camera is great, excellent photo quality, limited zoom though.-Google Now service is interesting if not always useful.- phone settings all available from pull down screen at any time.- Thin but has great weight to it. Feels well built and has survived a couple 5 foot falls without any dents or damage-Boots up very fast.- IR blaster surprisingly useful for tv/cable box at home.- very easy transfer of pics and contacts from old phone with HTC app.Neutral:-Blink feed. Frankly never used it, never saw the need to. You can't turn it off but I just pushed it to the far left of my home pages and it never gets looked at. Social media users might like it, I don't see any need for it but doesn't detract from the phone in any way.- cosmetic, I don't like the the curved back of the phone. Also there is a black edge all around the screen. I wish the actual screen ran to the edges of the housing.- miss the hard keyboard.Cons: - Screen scratches very easily. Just get a screen protector on it and you'll be fine.- infrequent freezing or not recognizing touch when using built-in browser. Other browsers no issues.- Volume toggle is very smooth no differentiation between vol up and vol down. In other words without looking at the side of the phone I can't tell if I'm pushing vol up vol down or just futiley pushing the side of the phone casing. Not an issue when using the phone in front of you, but I often listen to podcasts or music and it's annoying to take out the phone from my pocket and look at it to find the volume toggle. I just wish it had a better feel to it.- also Volume function does not rotate with the screen. I wish the Vol slider rotated when holding the phone sideways. In other words when watching Netflix I have to push the left volume button (usually volume up) to make the volume slider move right. Previous phones I have had switched the functions based on the orientation of the screen.- Phone speakers and tones. The speakers are front facing and very good for a phone my issue is the phone is very loud. Even at the lowest volume setting the phone is way too loud. and then holding volume down strangely puts the phone in vibrate mode not silent mode. So to go silent you hold down vol down, and then push volume up to go silent. Odd. On top of that the selection of ringtones and alert noises is ridiculous. There is a total of 1 out of the 20 or so ring tones that actually sounds like a phone and not some random cyborg playing the flute or the theme from bambi.- headphone jack - guessing here but it seems like the switch to headphones is software and not hardware. When you plug in headphones there is a delay before audio switches , and sounds still play through the phone speakers when headphones are plugged in. So when listening to a podcast I have missed calls and texts because the alert chimes play through the speakers not through the headphones so I didn't hear it.-Battery- could be better, but still very good, will last a few hours of constant use. Takes longer than desired to reach full charge.- can't turn off WiFi notifications. Phone constantly alerts you that WiFi is available, and then when you turn off WiFi, the phones alerts you that your WiFi is off and you might want to turn it on. Bizarre. seems to only be an issue with Verizon version. Not huge issue but annoying that it always takes up a spot in the staus bar.Again none of these issues would keep me from purchasing the phone again, just personal preference things I would change if possible. Must say purchase and activation through Amazon was flawless too.