If you’ve already picked up your HTC One in the United States — or plan on doing so in the next few days, you might notice that the EXTREME Power Saving mode is missing from your shiny new M8. Meanwhile, folks outside the U.S. already have it on their phones. There’s a good reason for that. (Or a bad reason, depending on your point of view.) And we’ll give you three guesses why.
Outside the U.S., the M8’s on a newer software version — one that includes EXTREME Power Saving mode. (If you must know, it’s software version 1.54.401.5.)
[ Read our complete HTC One M8 review ]
But HTC’s waiting on U.S. carriers to approve the power-sipping feature. Once it’s ready, it’ll be available via a software update.
In the meantime, here’s what you’re missing: EXTREME Power Saving mode basically shuts down everything but the essential functions on the HTC One, In fact, you get a whole new home screen, and five apps — and that’s all you get. Those apps are Phone, Messages (HTC’s texting app), Mail (again, HTC’s email app), Calendar (of the HTC variety) and Calculator. No push notifications. (In fact, no notification pull-down at all.) Just the bare minimum. HTC says it’ll get you 15 hours of use on 5 percent battery. We’ve played with it a bit, and it definitely saves on juice.
So, U.S. friends, sit back, relax, and know that you’re once again waiting on the carriers to get new features onto your phone.