HTC’s latest flagship, the One M8 is a powerful and high-performance smartphone that standouts for its elegant and attractive design. This handset includes accessibility features that may accommodate the needs of people with hearing disabilities, low vision or limited comprehension skills. Amóvil was able to review this device thanks to a loan by the Vodafone Spain Foundation.

The M8 has Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) and a 5-inch LCD3 display with 1080x1920 pixels resolution. It measures 146.4x70.6x9.4 mm and weighs 160 grams.

An interesting feature included in this device is the primary 4 megapixels dual camera consisting of two sensors and two lenses, located on the backside of the phone. According to HTC, the largest lens captures images, and smallest gathers depth information to let the camera know the distance of the objects in the scene. In addition, the handset includes a secondary camera on its front-side for videocalls.

Regarding connectivity, the M8 includes Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth and NFC. The device is also compatible with 4G data network.

Accessibility review

Vision

The M8 is unsuitable to blind users. While the performance of TalkBack, the screen reader for Android, is better in this model than in other HTC’s handsets, it does not identify all the keys on the keyboard. Blind users will have a hard time trying to enter text in this device. TalkBack also fails to read the alarm configuration menu and the clock.

Another barrier observed in this smartphone is that both the power and volume buttons are not tactilely discernible. In addition, the screen timeout cannot be deactivated

However, this device can be useful for some users with low vision. Besides including an inbuilt screen magnifier, the device allows changing the size of the text and customizing the screen brightness and the type of the fonts.

Users with color blindness, on the other hand, may have a difficult time with this device as it does not include a contrast color scheme. Reversing foreground and background colors is not possible either.

Hearing

The HTC M8 has a hearing aid compatibility rating of M3/T3. It also allows customizing LED notifications and assigning a color to each event. This handset supports instant messaging and videocalls.

Dexterity

People with dexterity disabilities may have hard time using this device. Although the device meets the minimum required weight, it is much heavier than most smartphones available in the market, thus some users with dexterity disabilities may have a difficult time lifting and carrying this phone.

Additionally, inserting the SIM card can be nearly impossible to do for some of these users because it requires inserting a special tool into a small hole. People with tremors or shaking in the upper limbs may not be able to that on their own. Furthermore, these users will not be able to navigate the device using a stylus or a similar device as it is not possible to reproduce the function of the side buttons from the display.

Comprehension

The HTC One M8 is suitable for people with limited comprehension skills. It includes standardized icons and symbols, and an option to customize the phone book and to arrange the home screen elements as needed. It also provides a widget to pin frequent contact and favorite apps to the home screen.

For a more detailed description of the accessibility features included in this device, please see the full accessibility report available in Amóvil.