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Mystery Caller Three
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REVIEWS 31
I do think Phil should have backed-up his opinion with more details on specifications
Three’s CSA had a very strong view on the HTC One (M8). “To be honest I do not think it warrants the price in- crease,” Phil said. I asked him what the main dif- ferences between the device and its predecessor are. “There aren’t many,” he said. “The HTC One (M8) has a five-inch screen and the HTC One has a 4.7-inch screen, and the new one has a faster processor,” he said, adding that these are the main differences. There was a lack of detail here – he
hadn’t told me just how fast the One (M8) processor is (2.3GHz versus the One’s 1.7GHz). There are lots of other no- table differences, namely the five-meg-
apixel front-facing camera compared to the One’s 2.1 megapixels, but these weren’t mentioned. This left us with very little to talk
about, and Phil turned to tariff options. He asked me how much data I required (2GB) and suggested one including 600 minutes and unlimited texts. This would cost £32 per month (no upfront cost). Wishing to prolong the call, I asked about battery life. “Let me just double check that,” he
said. I was placed on hold, only for 20 seconds though. Phil came back and told me the One has 470 hours standby while the One (M8) has 496 hours. He tried to push the sale but I de-
Tina went through both devices in turn, rather than comparing them side by side as I would have preferred
I got through to Tina at “EE sales” who began by enquiring about my monthly budget. I said I wanted to be advised on whether to purchase the HTC One or HTC One (M8) and she kicked off by pointing out that the former is slightly cheaper as it is older. Tina couldn’t do a comparison off the
cuff, which is understandable given the number of devices on the market, so I waited while she looked up both hand- sets on GSMArena. “Which details are important to you?” the CSA asked, and I gave a list includ- ing camera quality, processing power and speed, memory, and screen size and quality. Tina went through the devices in turn, rather than comparing them side
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by side as I would have preferred. She told me the HTC One has a 4.7-inch screen and quad-core processor, both correct. However, Tina fell into the same trap as several CSAs this issue and said the rear-facing camera was four “megapixels” rather than the correct ultrapixels. This does make a differ- ence – four megapixels on a premium smartphone doesn’t sound good. And it doesn’t do the camera justice either (it’s pretty good). We moved on to the HTC One (M8).
“The camera is the same,” Tina said, and I sighed. However she pointed out a few key differences: the new device has a faster processor, improved battery life and a larger screen. “There are some
slight differences; for example the front camera has been improved,” the CSA said. We moved onto pricing and Tina was giving me 4G tariffs. The older One would cost me £29.99 on contract, £119.99 upfront. A more expensive con- tract (£34.99 per month) would bring the upfront cost down to £20. The One (M8), “being a newer phone”, is more expensive, with a £249.99 upfront cost accompanying £30 con- tracts. The upfront cost drops to £149.99 on £34.99 contracts. Tina made no effort to persuade me to buy the One (M8). “Yes there are only slight changes with the new one,” she admitted before I ended the call. No wonder EE isn’t tak- ing new stock of the One.
I chose not to point out that £5 per month over a 24-month contract amounts to £120 – hardly free
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Emma at Vodafone began her pitch for the HTC One (M8) by telling me about a new set of speakers I would get free with the handset. “I could give you the promotional code today,” she said, but I said I wanted a comparison with the HTC One nevertheless. The two are roughly the same size, Emma said. “The HTC One is 4.7 inches compared to the One (M8) which is five – a slight difference,” she said. The One (M8) has 16GB of internal memory whereas the One has 32GB, although this is non-expandable, Emma pointed out. Camera-wise the two devices are “very
similar” and they both run the latest version of Android, she said. I was start-
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Average score from the past eight weeks 16 17 16 14 13 16
ing to wonder why anyone would go for the more expensive model. At this stage no attempt was made to persuade me to get the One (M8) rather than the One. “There isn’t a huge difference between the two,” Emma said. However, she pointed out two key dif- ferences. The secondary camera is better on the One (M8). So is the battery: the One M8’s endurance rating is 71 hours compared to the One’s 48 hours. I would also get 50GB of Google Drive cloud storage with the One (M8), in comparison with the One’s 25GB of Dropbox storage. Like Tina, Emma was relying on the GSMArena website for all specifications, although she didn’t go into as much
Summary
one built on the success of the original One. For this reason I wasn’t surprised that several CSAs told me I would be better off (literally) going for the year-old device, despite the One (M8) having a better front-facing camera and processor.
Orange lost points for recommending the One (M8) without knowing
anything about it, and O2 and Three lost points because of a lack of detail. T-Mobile’s CSA was more thorough, and didn’t try to push me towards the
more expensive handset for the sake of it. Three O2 Orange T-Mobile Virgin Vodafone
Vodafone gave me some original information which made for a well- informed recommendation.
The HTC One (M8) is an impressive device but
detail as the T-Mobile CSA. We moved on to pricing and Emma told me to go for 4G as I would get better value for money. For example, 2G of 3G data costs the same as 3GB of 4G data (£47). On Vodafone the One (M8) is free
upfront on contracts over £47, while the One is free on £42 contracts. “For the sake of £5, you should go for the One (M8) as you get a free gift,” Emma said. I chose not to point out that £5 per month over a 24-month contract amounts to £120 – hardly free. The CSA was incredibly polite even when I declined her offer to “put the sale through” and said I should check out the reviews on GSMArena. A good performance overall.
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Time of call 13:24 Duration of call 13.5 minutes Length of queue 0 minutes Assistant introduced by name Yes
clined. Phil then asked if I wanted him to call me back once I’d had a think about it. I said I would go in store and he said the deal was only available over the phone. He gave it a go. While I appreciated Phil’s honesty with regards to whether the One M8 was worth the extra money, I do think he should have backed-up his opinion – with more details on specifications. His statement also goes against
Three’s plan to not take any more stock of the One after it sells out. The com- pany seems to believe the One (M8) is worth the extra money. Or perhaps Three is concerned people will just go for the cheaper device.
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