Hardware

With the trend toward bigger and bigger displays, the 4-inch 8S is almost an outlier. At 120.5 x 63 x 10.28 mm it’s broader and thicker than the obvious 4-inch alternative, the iPhone 5, though shorter; the sharp bevel around the edges of the rear panel does help disguise some of the thickness, however. HTC’s polycarbonate plastic is bright and tactile, and the range of colors the 8S is available in is a welcome change from the typical choices of black, white, or silver. The two-tone finish – with the earpiece grille and camera surround matching the capacitive button section – shows admirable attention to detail for the midrange.

Buttons are the Microsoft-mandated usual, with touch-sensitive keys for back, Start, and search under the screen, a power key on the top edge, and finally a volume rocker and camera button on the right edge. The headphone jack sits on the top edge, while the microUSB port is on the bottom; that whole section unclips (with no small amount of difficulty) to reveal a microSD slot and micro SIM slot.

A removable memory card is a useful addition, considering HTC has been fairly humble with the 8S’ specifications overall. You get 4GB of onboard storage and 512MB of RAM paired with Qualcomm’s 1GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 processor, WiFi b/g/n (though not dual band 5GHz support), and Bluetooth 3.1 (not 4.0). No LTE, but dual band HSPA (900/2100) and quadband GSM/EDGE, plus GPS/GLONASS, an accelerometer, proximity sensor, and ambient light sensor.

HTC opted for WVGA (800 x 480) resolution for the 8S’ Super LCD, and while that seems a shortage of pixels at first glance, the relatively small dimensions of the display mean it’s less of a drawback than you might expect. In fact, the screen is bright and clear, and while not the smoothest when it comes to on-screen graphics, the angular lines of Windows Phone’s Metro-style interface do a good job of working with the limitations of the resolution on offer. It suffers some when you take it outdoors, however, struggling to keep up in direct sunlight.

The biggest compromise is in the camera, however. On the back there’s a 5-megapixel shooter with an LED flash, but it misses out on the finessed lens we’ve seen on some recent HTC Android devices; instead, you get an f/2.8 aperture lens and 720p HD video recording. There’s no front facing camera whatsoever, which means no Skype video calling. Considering HTC has been leading the way with wide-angle front cameras – fitting more people in-frame than rivals can – it’s a sad omission.

Software

We’ve already comprehensively reviewed Windows Phone 8, and despite some rough edges we like Microsoft’s latest platform. It’s distinctive in the handset segment, and straightforward for new smartphone users to get to grips with, though at the same time held back by a shortage of apps. That’s gradually changing, true, but it still makes recommending Windows Phones tricky, since if there’s a specific title someone needs, there’s a fair chance a device running Windows Phone won’t have it.

On top of all this, HTC adds its own customizations, though they’re relatively minimal in comparison to HTC Sense on the company’s Android phones. There’s an HTC hub with weather, stock alerts, and news headlines (you can add more sources from HTC’s list, but there’s no apparent way to add further RSS feeds) and the Photo Enhancer tool we’ve seen before, as well as a Connection Setup app.

The literally titled “Make More Space” tool shows you exactly what’s eating up your storage – split into music and videos, pictures, and documents – and then suggests you use the relevant apps themselves to actually delete any unwanted content. FInally, there’s a Beats Audio option added to the Settings page, though it only allows you to turn the system on or off; no more granular adjustments are possible.

In practice, we found the 8S to be smooth running for the most part. There were the occasional hiccups, particularly when loading or switching between apps, though not to any extent that we’d consider them deal-breakers. The fact that HTC opted for 512MB of RAM means you shouldn’t come across any third-party apps which won’t be compatible, unlike some of Nokia’s cheaper Lumias.

Camera

5-megapixels is pretty underwhelming for a smartphone today, though the midrange is a competitive place and we’re not especially surprise that HTC opted to cut costs here. Still, megapixels aren’t everything, and we’ve seen decent shots produced from humble cameras. Unfortunately, that’s not a claim to fame the 8S can make.

There’s an odd blue tint to white sections in the frame, and grays – such as the overcast sky in our London sample shots – become strangely purple in the hands of the 8S. Meanwhile yellows and greens are muted and dull, while reds are slightly too saturated for the rest of the frame. Close-ups fare better, with text crisp even at short distance, and a reasonable amount of detail on show.

Video, meanwhile, is recorded in 720p at most, and suffers from noticeable blurring. There’s also occasionally an odd flickering to the footage, and smearing during faster pans. Audio quality is fair, but doesn’t hold up to what the 8X can produce.

HTC 8S camera video sample:

Phone and Battery

The 8S doesn’t get any fancy in-call audio processing, at least none that HTC is shouting about, but it still puts in a good showing for calls. Earpiece audio is strong and capable of loud levels, and the speakerphone mode is similarly blunt. On the other end, callers said they could hear us with no problems, even when in areas with fairly loud ambient noise.

HTC equips the 8S with a 1,700 mAh non-removable Li-Poly battery, and it’s sufficient for more than a day of use. We had push email switched on, and use the 8S for a combination of web browsing, messaging, photography, and some Bing Maps use, and it lasted through the day with charge still showing.

Wrap-Up

HTC very nearly nailed the Windows Phone 8 market. The 8S is well designed and a great size: not everybody wants a huge smartphone, and many people who told us they liked the design of the 8X but wanted something scaled more like an iPhone 5 had no such complaints about the smaller model. Where the story starts to fall apart is in specifications, and where HTC has opted to cut corners.

Yes, the camera is poor, but HTC’s big problem is Nokia. In the time since we first saw the 8S and its arrival on the market, Nokia has revealed the Lumia 620: it pairs a pocket-friendly 3.8-inch screen with both front and back cameras, NFC, and interchangeable back shells that are just as distinctive as the 8S. It also looks like the 620 will be cheaper than the 8S when it arrives early in 2013.

There’s no denying that HTC has crafted a good looking phone in the 8S, and the general user experience is solid. What makes it tough to recommend is the subpar camera performance and the absence of a front-facing camera; Microsoft is only going to emphasize Skype more, and for a new Windows Phone to launch without hardware provision for that is myopic cost-cutting. There’s certainly room in the market for a well-performing, affordable, compact Windows Phone 8 handset, but the HTC 8S lacks the all-round polish to fill that niche.

Three will be offering the 8S at no cost with a two-year contract, while an off-contract unit will be priced at a reasonable £180. If you choose to go the contract route, prepare to pay at least £17 per month for a plan, while a pay-as-you-go plan for off-contract users starts at £15. That’ll be enough to get you 300 any-network minutes and 3,000 texts to fiddle around with.

The Windows Phone 8S features a 4-inch WVGA display and runs off of a 1.0GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset and 512MB of RAM. It also has 4GB of internal storage, although HTC has thrown in a microSD card slot for good measure, which is located at the bottom beneath the brightly colored — and somewhat distracting — end-cap.

The handset also has a 5MP rear camera, but if you’re into video chatting with friends and family, buyer beware, since there’s no front-facing camera on the 8S. Then again, HTC doesn’t expect such activities to be a really popular activity among the target audience anyway. Nevertheless, if you feel like giving the new phone a go, it’s available now on Three, and check out our hands-on of the device to learn more about it.

Qype Deals and Offerum are also contributing offers, with local sorting so that users will be able to sift through cheaper meals, massaging, and the inevitable waxing and hair treatments, that are nearest to them. However, HTC says that there will also be deals on the company’s own products and accessories, though exactly what they’ll be is unclear.

Other sorting options will include popularity, the size of the discount, the price, and when the deal expires. Each can be reviewed, bookmarked, or shared; it’s not clear whether, if you share a deal with a non-HTC Best Deals user, they’ll see the same offer, but it seems likely.

In addition to the 8X and 8S, and the One X+, the HTC One X and One S will also get Best Deals in a subsequent firmware update. HTC hasn’t said when that new firmware will arrive.

At launch, twelve deal providers are involved with the app. HTC says it’s working on adding more to that list, as well as introducing new categories. Partnerships with mobile operators are also on the cards.

That “step above” could consist of wireless charging, location-based services, photography under the PureView brand, or something else, but whatever it is it’s over and above the basics of the OS, Elop argues.

Mildly spanking rivals while remaining loyal to Windows Phone overall has become something of a habit for Elop in recent weeks. Speaking to GigaOm earlier this month, he countered suggestions that the rumored Microsoft own-brand Surface Windows Phone 8 might damage Nokia’s prospects.

“I don’t think it changes the relationship” Elop said of Nokia and Microsoft’s partnership, should a Surface phone appear. “It’s incumbent upon us at all points in time to build the world’s most innovative smartphones. Which is what we believe we’ve done, for example, with the Lumia 920. That’s something that’s done based on years and years of work, and years of investment in what makes great mobile devices.”

In fact, Elop is doubtful that Microsoft taking the sudden decision to lead the Windows Phone device parade, Google Nexus-style, would actually work out too well, because it takes significant periods of time to develop compelling features. “The reason the Lumia 920 is standing out so well amongst the competition, one of the reasons is the imaging capability, this low-light photography capability” he points out. “That’s five or six years of work in our labs, engineers doing nothing else but working on that technology. Saying, “oh, this year, we’re going to do our own phone,” doesn’t allow you to do that. You have to make those investments over a period of time.”

Those investments may well expand to encompass a more holistic ecosystem of devices than simple smartphones. Asked about the possibility of tablets or, further afield, TVs and other product lines, Elop was coy on plans but honest about the gap in Nokia’s current portfolio. “We haven’t announced anything specifically, but what I will say is that people in their digital experience expect to be able to move seamlessly between form factors like a phone, a tablet, a television, an automobile, on and on and on. So we’ll participate in different elements of that to a greater or lesser extent.”

Don’t expect a tablet immediately, however, as Nokia focuses on getting a solid start in smartphones. “The ecosystem in which we’re involved, we’ve got to be a part of a world where people are experiencing all of those things. Everything’s got to hang together” the CEO points out. “So yes, there’s a lot of opportunity there.”

Nokia and AT&T announced earlier today that the Lumia 920 would be ranged by the carrier as an exclusive in the US, the second time AT&T has been the sole place to pick up a flagship Lumia Windows Phone. Although rival brands have had great success broadly spreading their devices across multiple networks, Nokia has previously insisted that its strategy of focusing marketing and sales training on one specific carrier has paid dividends as it attempts to reposition itself in the smartphone marketplace.

Ever wonder how much Americans have spent on iPhone repairs? Wonder no longer, because SquareTrade says that we’ve $5.9 billion on repairs since 2007. Samsung once again reiterated its intentions of taking Apple to court over the iPhone 5, while HP announced a range of new ultra-light notebooks today. HP didn’t stop there though, as it also revealed a brand new ENVY desktop, which we have to say looks pretty sleek. Verizon talked about how good its Share Everything plans are during an investors conference today, and the ASUS Padfone 2 might be getting a reveal next month.

Prices for the freshly-revealed HTC 8X and 8S were announced today, and Chinese manufacturer Cube has a new tablet incoming that sports a display similar to Apple’s Retina display. Qualcomm was seen touting its Snapdragon S2 processor today for some reason, and SkullCandy revealed a trio of new gaming headsets. Speaking of gaming, we heard rumors that Half-Life 3 will have open world elements, and were amazed by a new multiplayer trailer for an upcoming game called Cube World. Amazon’s Kindle eReaders and tablets have been banished from the shelves of Walmart, and the all-new ZTE Anthem will soon be heading to MetroPCS complete with 4G LTE capabilities.

Android users were given The Bard’s Tale and Fort Courage today, while the US Senate claimed that Microsoft avoided paying $6.5 billion in taxes over the last three years. Facebook Messenger got an update on Android today, as did the regular Facebook app, and Sony told us why we didn’t see a price cut on existing PS3 models when the company revealed its brand new super-slim console. Microsoft can officially claim another victory over Motorola in Germany, and finally tonight, we have a hands-on with the excellent 10Terra Nexus 7 Bamboo case, which is looking to get funded on Kickstarter right this minute!

That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up. Enjoy the rest of your night, and join us back here tomorrow as we wrap-up Friday’s news and ring in the weekend!

Retailer Clove has the 8X up for preorder at £399.99 including tax ($648), while the 8S is listed at £224.99 including tax ($364). In contrast, UK sales of the iPhone 5 kick off at £529 ($856), again including tax, while you can pick up a Galaxy S III unlocked and SIM-free for £462 ($748).

UK pricing factors in the not-inconsiderable 20-percent tax rate, and we’d expect both Windows Phones to be cheaper in the US. Still, they’re some ambitious numbers from HTC, and given Windows Phone 8 has an uphill struggle to claw market-share from iOS and Android, undercutting the flagship from both platforms is a sensible strategy.

HTC 8X and 8S hands-on:

It also bodes well for on-contract pricing, though while networks AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA have all confirmed they’ll be offering both models (with some LTE flavors too) subsidized numbers aren’t available yet. We’ll know more closer to launch in November.

We grabbed some hands-on playtime with the new phones, so check out our first-impressions of the 8X and of the 8S.

Today was also a pretty big day for the Apple fans out there, as the company officially released the final version of iOS 6, and we were there with the full iOS 6 changelog. A new version of OS X Mountain Lion launched alongside iOS 6 (10.8.2 to be specific), and new benchmarks show that the iPhone 5 is a beast when it comes to browsing. IHS iSuppli says that the 16GB iPhone 5 costs Apple $207 to make, and a Samsung Facebook campaign has been invaded by the pro-Apple crowd. Samsung ultimately got the last laugh though, as it released a new commercial informing the consumers of the world that the best has already arrived.

T-Mobile USA has named John Legere as its new CEO, and he sat down for a hello to everyone on YouTube. AT&T brought its 4G LTE service to 8 new cities today, and ZTE gave us an idea of when it will launch its first phones running Firefox OS. The Samsung Galaxy Note II has been announced for all major US carriers, and US Cellular gave the new device a price tag of $300 and a late-October launch. Earlier in the day, we heard that Google was planning to launch a new update for Google Maps on Android, and sure enough, that update arrived just a few hours later with a couple cool new features in tow.

Tobii and NTT DOCOMO will soon be showing off a new tablet with Tobii’s eye-tracking technology, while the Raspberry Pi’s turbo mode gives it a 50% boost in power. After its two co-founders announced yesterday that they were leaving the games industry, BioWare outlined its plan for the future (spoiler: it includes more Mass Effect and Dragon Age), and Toshiba announced the latest in its line of Camileo camcorders, the rugged BW20. Finally tonight, we have a review of the all new Kindle Fire HD for you to check out – does Amazon’s latest impress or does it fall flat? Read the review to find out!

That’s all for the Evening Wrap-Up, folks. Now go out and enjoy the rest of your night!

The tension has seemingly been prompted by HTC’s deal with Microsoft to brand the 8X and 8S as the “signature Windows Phones.” Microsoft will use HTC’s handsets for its promotional material and advertising around Windows Phone 8, and CEO Steve Ballmer appeared on-stage at today’s event to wax lyrical about how the smartphones embodied the updated platform.

That’s a position many expected Nokia to automatically assume at Microsoft’s right hand, given the Finnish company has entirely committed to Windows Phone and is even paid by the software firm to subsidize development and marketing.

Although HTC has undoubtedly put plenty of effort into the slick designs of the 8X and 8S, the software experience is more off-the-shelf. The company confirmed to us that, bar a homescreen clock Live Tile, there’ll be none of the custom apps or HTC Hub content found on the original HTC Windows Phone 7 models. Nokia, in contrast, has a suite of exclusive apps, including Nokia Music and Nokia Transport.

Those questions are apparently enough to leave Nokia confident that its phones remain ahead of the game. “Happy to add a new Signature to the Windows Phone ecosystem” Weber suggested, “behind the Lumia 920.”

“HTC designed the Windows Phone 8X and 8S to blend the virtual and the physical utilizing a three dimensional, unibody-style based on the Windows Phone Live Tiles” the company said today. “These smartphones are perfectly sculpted with a dramatic taper making them feel thin in your hand.”

Inside, HTC’s engineers stacked up the various circuit boards and components in a multi-layered pyramid. It means there’s no camera bump around the lens on the back, for a start, while the Gorilla glass curves neatly into the plastic casing.

Iconic design behind the Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC:

We’ve got more on both phones in our 8X hands-on and our 8S hands-on, and buyers will be able to check the two handsets out for themselves when they hit shelves across the US, Europe and Asia in November.

HTC 8X and 8S hands-on:

[youtube mHM-5ptKLvU

Both phones will be available in LTE versions for the North American market, HTC has already confirmed to us, though we’re guessing that not all three of those carriers will have an LTE device. Similarly, it’s not been announced whether each carrier will range each color combination – both phones have four apiece – or if they’ll each stick to a certain subset.

HTC 8X and 8S hands-on:

Of the two, the 8X will be the more expensive. It has a 4.3-inch 720p Super LCD II display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dualcore processor and twin cameras – 8-megapixels on the back, 2.1-megapixels on the front for video calls and 1080p vanity videos – whereas the 8S makes do with a smaller, 4-inch WVGA display, 1GHz dualcore S4 and a single, 5-megapixel camera.

Exact pricing and specific launch dates will follow on closer to commercial availability in a couple of months time, and after all Microsoft has to give Windows Phone 8 its official launch first anyway. Still, expect to see a whole lot more of the two new HTC handsets in the coming months: as “signature” phones they’ll be featuring in Microsoft’s promotional campaigns for the OS.

In some ways, the 8S is arguably a more impressive design than the larger 8X. HTC’s choice of color schemes – black/white, grey/yellow, red/orange, and blue/purple – are eye-catching and, with the matte-finish to the plastic, draw your fingers in to touch them. The grey/yellow has something distinctively sneaker-like about its vivid yellow and putty grey; HTC says it’s counting on the Beats Audio cachet to win appeal in the youth market, but it’s the hues themselves that are most attractive.

While the exterior may be distinctive, what’s inside is less unusual. Altogether more pedestrian than the 8X, the 8S pairs its 4-inch WVGA display with a 1GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 chipset and 512MB of RAM; it also has just 4GB of internal storage, but HTC has sensibly thrown in a microSD card slot. Pull off the brightly colored end-cap – which, as in HTC devices of old, doubles as the antenna – and there’s the SIM and memory card slots.

Windows Phone 8S by HTC hands-on:

Unfortunately there are compromises to be made elsewhere. The rear camera runs to 5-megapixels, an understandable figure given the positioning of the phone, but despite Microsoft’s emphasis on Skype integration in Windows Phone 8, HTC hasn’t equipped the 8S with a front-facing camera. The company tells us that it doesn’t expect video calling to be a particularly popular activity among the target audience.

That audience will get Beats Audio but not to the same extent as on the 8X. No twin amp magic here, individually driving speaker and headphone socket, with instead just the DSP we’ve seen on previous HTC phones that’s specially tuned to suit Beats headphones. Since Microsoft is playing it coy with Windows Phone 8, pre-official launch, we weren’t able to dig through the 8S to see exactly how well it performs, something which will have to wait until review units drop.

A price tag expected to come in at around the HTC One V point and the option of LTE in North America – if not Europe, at least according to the current plans – could still see the Windows Phone 8S by HTC carve out a niche for itself. Its certainly already found some favor among carriers: HTC tells us that over 100 operators in 37 countries have picked the 8S up. It will stand out on shelves, certainly, but Microsoft will need to put all its heft behind Windows Phone 8 if HTC’s midranger is to succeed.

The 8X also includes Gorilla Glass and an optical lamination touchscreen, 16GB of internal storage (though no microSD card slot), WiFi a/b/g/n, NFC, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and the usual digital compass, GPS, and other sensors. North America will get LTE versions, while EMEA will get HSPA+/DC-HSDPA models.

Beats Audio branding is, unsurprisingly, included, but the 8X actually accommodates a pair of amplifiers: one for the headphone jack, and another for the phone’s speaker. It’s not the only multimedia boost: the 8-megapixel main camera uses a BSI sensor and HTC’s Image Chip for better processing, and is capable of 1080p Full HD video recording.

Interestingly, the front-facing camera is also able to record 1080p HD, and uses a a special ultra-wide angle 88-degree lens so that it can fit up to four people in-frame simultaneously. That should be useful given Microsoft’s extra emphasis on Skype in Windows Phone 8. Four color variants will be offered: blue, black, red, and yellow, though not all markets will get all color options.

As for the HTC 8S, that will target a more affordable price point, with a smaller display and twin-tone casings in black/white, grey/yellow, red/orange, and blue/purple. It pairs its 1GHz dualcore with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a microSD slot, as well as LTE for North America, and there’s WiFI b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS, and a digital compass.

The camera is a 5-megapixel unit with 720p HD video recording, but there’s unfortunately no front-facing camera which seems a missed opportunity on HTC’s part. Instead, you get Beats Audio branding, though only the DSP and Beats headphones equalizer presets, not the twin amps of the 8X.

Both phones will go on sale in November 2012, with the HTC 8X being snapped up by 126 operators in 50 countries, and the HTC 8S by more than 146 operators in 52 countries. In the UK, Three, Orange, T- Mobile, Vodafone, O2, and Virgin Media will all be offering both handsets, as well as unlocked versions through the usual retailers.

In the US, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon will be offering the phones, while in Europe it will be Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile doing the honors. Telstra, Vodafone Australia, Singaport Telecoms, Chunghwa Telecom, Smartone, Optus, and Telecom NZ will be offering the pair in Asia-Pacific.

Check out our hands-on with the HTC 8X and HTC 8S for some first-impressions, and you’ll find all the specifications in the gallery below.