Thanks to the guys over at Phandroid who’ve found a funny yet a little scary security feature on the HTC One (M8) that was launched less than a week ago.

On most devices if you incorrectly enter a lock screen password too many times the device will block further attempts for a certain period of time e.g 30 seconds, We know this can be extremely frustrating if a friend decides to mess with your phone and locks you out of your own device, even if we understand why it is included. Well the HTC One (M8) takes it one step further….

At first if your HTC One (M8) has had 5 incorrect attempts it will block the device for 30 seconds, BUT and yes that is a big but, If your device registers 10 incorrect pin or password attempts the whole device will factory reset, yes you read that correctly your device will completely wipe it of everything ranging from your phone numbers, pictures and even those special Flappy Bird high scores.

So if your brand spanking new phone get’s in the hands of a child, he or she could delete all of the content on your HTC One (M8) in less than a minute, not something that will please many if any.

I find this hilarious, I understand that we need security features, but isn’t this making a potential thief’s first job nice and easy?, Steal your phone and wipe it within a minute, sure we know you can block the device but by that time your beautiful new device will have been sold on to the best offer on Facebook ;).

I’d like to see HTC update the software to give you the choice on whether you want this feature enabled or not, it makes sense giving the user the option instead of forcing it upon them.

What do you think about this? Is it something you like or dislike, let us know down in the comments.

Source: Phandroid