Before HTC launched the HTC One M8 there were leaks, which proved very accurate. We did indeed get a high-end device with a new design, a brilliant display and lots of power.
How does it match up to its rivals, then? The Nexus 5 in particular.
The Nexus 4 came with a sparkly-under-the-right-light backing, but the Nexus 5 improved on this with a new ergonomic face lift. There's soft-touch plastic around the device, and even though it's big enough to accommodate the large screen, it's lighter and streamlined.
There's no device that can beat the HTC One M8 in looks and although it's had a few tweaks from its predecessor, it does look very similar. It has an amazing unibody, but as this is made from aluminium, it does scratch easily.
The 5" Super LCD 3 display has seen some serious improvements - great viewing angles, brilliant brightness and sharpness and 1080p 445ppi to boot.
The Nexus 5 has a True HD IPS display of 4.95", the same as on the LG G2. The images are 1080p and 445ppi as well, with vivid colours and brightness.
The Nexus 5 has a choice of 1GB or 32GB, but no SD card. You can have 4G LTE/3G, dual-band Wi-Fi (Direct and Hotspot), DNLA, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB, NFC and wireless charging.
The One M8 comes in just 16GB, but we may see a 32GB before long.
This 16GB can be boosted up to 128GB, and the phone also has infrared blast and MHL TV-Out. There are BoomSound stereo speakers on front, as well as a built-in amp. There's a 2,600mAh battery, which is better than the 2,300mAh on the Nexus 5.
The one M8 has a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip as well as 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 330 GPU.
The Nexus 5 has a Snapdragon 801 chip (2.3GHz) and 2GB of RAM.
There's revamped imaging software in the HTC one M8, as well as a camera with an aperture of f/2/0, a 1/3" 4MP BSI sensor with Ultrapixels. It can video at 1080p and has dual LED flash in white and amber, as this is better in low light. There's no image stabilisation, though.
There's another lens over the main port on the back panel and it's like the Lytro camera. Info is stored in an image file and you can select your focal point. You also have a 3D hologram parallax effect to give tilt shift.
The One M8 has KitKat 4.4 and Sense 6 UI while the Nexus 5 has stock Android.
Google has changed stock Android to add various transparent features like the status bar. It's also made app icons smaller and there's a slimmed-down font.
Google Now has new voice activation. It's always on just say "OK Google" to get it to listen.
HTC Sense is brilliant so there should be no problems with the overlay. It's also fast and customisable.
Sense 6.0 gives you the Blinkfeed homescreen, but you can change this if you want.
There are some transparent elements in KitKat, but the little things that HTC has done make a big difference.
The One M8 hasn't re-invented the wheel, but it's cool-looking and a delight to use.
