HTC One M8 for Windows, Gunmetal Grey 32GB (Verizon Wireless)

I have had this phone for about two months now. The first phone I received I had replaced because the phone would overheat. However, other than that little hiccup which could have simply been a bad one in the bunch, my second (replacement) phone has surpassed my expectations.Easily the best thing about this phone is the battery life. With moderate use running bluetooth, calling, web searching, and texting, the battery lasts anywhere from 1 and 1/2 to 2 days. Additionally, the speakers are the best I have ever heard on a phone. Great call reception and quality aside, while playing music I could hear audio crystal clear in another room overtop of other noises.Perhaps the only negative is the camera, although I say this as an extremely minor complaint. It's not that the camera is necessarily bad, just for a high-end phone there are some better alternatives if you're looking for high-end quality pictures on a mobile device (ie. Nokia Lumia Icon; 1020;1520; Samsung Galaxy S5, or iPhone 6 probably all take better photos than this phone). However, there is some nice editing software that spruces the photos up. For a phone camera the photos are still great quality, just not as good as they could be. A plus is that the camera shutter speed is the fastest I've seen, so although the photos aren't brilliant quality, you can take clear photos almost instantaneously.Regarding Windows Phone as the operating system, I love it. The best way to describe the OS is "simple, but elegant." I won't go into too many details because my focus is on the phone itself. You need an in depth review of the Windows Phone OS to know if it's right for you. As others have mentioned the Windows Phone OS doesn't have as many apps as its Android and iPhone counter-parts. However, I have found Windows Phone to have all the apps that I need (and any many cases viable third-party alternatives). I prefer the OS because it has a simplified and easy user-interface in comparison with Android and iOS (again my opinion). I strongly suggest, you give Windows Phone a test run, before writing it off. Regardless, the Android or Windows variation of this phone is a great choice for your next phone. It's sleek, with a wonderful build, and solid metal-like frame. It doesn't have a fake-plastic feel at all. Give it a try, and I don't think you will be disappointed with its strong quality.

Ok. I own up to having bought this without noticing that it was a Windows OS. I had this same phone for 3 years as an Android and loved the operating system and high durability of the metal case. I hate this windows phone more than I generally dislike people. Microsoft and Google do not have compatible apps and any google pages run like doo-doo on this device. I MUST HAVE certain Android based (google play) apps for my job. Windows is ok for desktop for me, but not as a handheld device.

In summary, MS really brought Windows to the phone.... as in incompatibilities depending on which hardware platform you're running. Also note that I came from the Galaxy (Android) world and am a recovering Apple Fanboy of many years. Details are below -This device (for Windows) is just not ready for the prime time yet. I got it on a Thursday and spent the next couple days plus weekend trying to get it set up. I would rate myself somewhat advanced technical proficiency, and I just could not get the thing to run 30-40% of the apps I tried to install on it.CONS1) Since I couldn't install / run ANY of the MS or Verizon apps out there to restore my contacts from my old phone (including phone to phone, Verizon Cloud, Verizon Backup, etc) I had no way to bring my contacts over.2) Several apps that I tried to run simply stated that they were incompatible with this device. I'm assuming they were created with Nokia device in mind.3) Very few apps - this is more a problem with the Windows Phone platform than this particular device.4) My corporate email policy requires a password / PIN to be set on the homescreen. Sometimes it would prompt me for password, and sometimes not. Seemed random, as I couldn't figure out the logic here. May be a problem for those with top secret stuff on their phone or something to hide.5) App store seemed to be down for hours at a time, twice for the 4 days I owned the phone.PROS1) Very good physical feel to the phone, felt better quality than my Galaxy phone2) Windows 8.1 has a great UI, and I prefer the (vertical) scrolling nature of the home screen to the Android horizontal scroll.3) Because of the device quality, I would consider it for the Android platform. But then again, thinking I'll play it safe and get the Galaxy S5 or IPhone 6.... haven't decided yet.

This is simply an excellent phone. At the moment I'm writing, Microsoft doesn't have all the apps that Android or Apple offer, but there are quite a few good ones. Cortana works well and "she" is able to handle followup questions without difficulty. The phone itself is generally easy to learn to use. It has excellent sound, better than my larger Lenovo tablet, making it great for music. Call sound is quite clear, although sometimes it suffers from too low volume even turned all the way up. The camera is much better than adequate and the HTC camera software is very good.The only downside is that on occasion the screen doesn't respond even to quite firm taps and some other times it is too sensitive, launching or changing apps without any apparent user input.