When hear the words "Android" and "HTC" in the same sentence, a few things might come to mind: success, followed by failure, followed once again by success. Although HTC was once a regal and rather premium choice in the Android family early on, somewhere around 2011 the company started falling flat with several low-profiting releases over the next year and a half or so. However, just when things were looking bleakest for HTC, last year they came along and introduced the One to us. The One bewitched people with its uniquely beautiful design, premium specs, and top notch performance in most aspects.
But there was one aspect that many people found lacking, and that was the 4-megapixel "UltraPixel" camera.
When I first found out about the UltraPixel camera, my mind did not care about whatever gimmicky name they gave their camera. In the end, 4-megapixels read to me as "Not as good as 8-megapixels, which is what my phone currently has." Over the years we have been trained to learn that more megapixels meant better photos. When you go from 1.3-megapixel cameras to 2-megapixels, then 3.2-megapixels, 5-megapixels and 8-megapixels and you always notice a huge difference in photo quality with each jump, you are under the impression that ultimately it's the megapixels that make a good camera. That statement isn't entirely untrue - it's speculated that megapixels do matter, but stop really mattering for most casual photo taking at around 5 or 6-megapixels (although this isn't proven). Most people don't really need a lot of megapixels unless they plan on doing some serious cropping or use blown up canvases for photos. But that still puts 4-megapixels below that threshold where people could probably stop caring about how many megapixels their camera uses.
4-megapixels looked extremely 2010 to us, so this UltraPixel business better be good.
And, in my experience with my HTC One, it was good for the most part. I really did enjoy the great photos that my One took, whether it was a low-light photo or just your run-of-the-mill photos. Even the front-facing camera was pretty rad at 2-megapixels. However, you really could tell where that 4-megapixel business came into play if you needed to zoom in on a far away object. Even just minimal zoom would add a few noticeable pixels where you didn't want them to be. It was for this reason that a lot of people were not exactly on board with HTC's camera choice for the One.
I would have to say that any time we talk about the HTC One, one of the top things people mention that they want to change in the All New HTC One is the amount of megapixels in the camera. While I didn't think the camera was that bad, it could stand to use a boost just for good measure. I think most people would probably be okay with an 8-megapixel UltraPixel camera. It doesn't have to be a Nokia Lumia 1020, or even a Sony Xperia Z10. Just something that people can still relate to. My Lumia 928 only has an 8.7-megapixel camera, but the rest of the features that the camera has make it almost as good as my designated point-and-shoot - but I use my Nokia more because my phone is always with me. The quality is still really good on the photos.
There have been several leaks over the past several leaks for the All New HTC One, probably more (legit ones) than I can ever remember for any one phone before it came out. Normally when you get a leak you're treated to fuzzy images from odd angles and you kind of have to piece them together for just a glimpse of what you might see once its unveiled, but the new HTC One is having a hard time keeping itself under wraps until March 25. That being said, it's also been rumored from this post on Reddit that the HTC One is keeping the 4-megapixel camera (with some upgrades, as supported by the second camera on the back of the device). While I probably wouldn't mind if the device featured another 4-megapixel camera because I liked it just fine. I know there are a lot of people out there who would mind - probably to the point where they wouldn't want it anymore.
But officially we will find out what all of the details are on March 25, presumably. But we want to know what your thoughts are regarding the camera on the M8, readers. Would you purchase the M8 based off of recent leaks even if it does still feature a 4-megapixel camera, or does there have to be more there in order to make the M8 an option for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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