The HTC One M8 comes with a measly 4MP ‘UltraPixel’ camera, which the Taiwanese maker says is more than enough for the majority of consumers out there since we all end up sharing our pictures on social media websites only. While the 4MP resolution is definitely low, the One M8 camera, rather its app, has one serious ace up its sleeve — a manual mode.

The One M8’s camera app is easily better than what Samsung and LG offer on their respective flagships. It manages to provide a simple and uncluttered UI and yet provides in-depth manual controls that most advanced users would love to play around with.

Under Manual mode, One M8 owners can control the White Balance, Exposure and even the focus mode. The best part? You can also control the shutter speed, which when combined with the ability to control the ISO levels, is a deadly combination in the hands of an ace photographer.

For example, if you shooting in extremely low-light, switch to manual mode and increase the shutter speed to 0.5 seconds or higher. This way the shutter will remain open for longer allowing the camera to take in more light resulting in a much better (read: brighter) picture. You will, however, need to keep the phone completely stable as even a bit of movement can result in a blurry image.

If you don’t like how HTC under exposes its images by default on Auto mode, you can always tweak the manual mode to your liking to get the perfect image. You can switch the camera to manual mode by tapping the three-dot menu overflow button on the bottom left of the screen, then tap the first icon which usually says ‘Auto’ followed by the ‘M’ icon from the list.

HTC also allows users to save their manual settings. Simply tap the cog icon on the left side of the screen in Manual mode and select the Save custom camera option.

Have you gotten your hands dirty with the manual mode on the HTC One M8’s camera app? What do you think about it? Drop in a comment and let us know.