SYDNEY: The new flagship by HTC with the name of HTC One M9 has been on roll in the markets. HTC One M9 is in a bitter competition with Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and sets high node for it.
HTC One M9 is equipped with a better resolution than Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and its pervious model One M8. HTC has upgraded its design from back side but the front side is still same as of HTC One M8.
Thankfully, HTC’s third iteration has stuck to the same formula. The One M9 was supposed to keep doing what it did right but fix two things wrong with the device: the incredibly slippery, hard-to-hold design and the lacklustre camera. However, it only managed to fix one of them.
Let’s start off with a quick run down of the device. From the front, it looks almost identical to last year’s One M8. It has a gorgeous five-inch full-HD screen and has two huge speakers at the top and bottom of the display. It has lost its slippery rear, but managed to keep the stunning brushed aluminium design, albeit a tiny bit thicker than last year’s. A trade-off that I’m happy to see happen.
Craftsmanship is second to none, and somewhat makes you feel better about the $1099 you just spent on your phone. It genuinely feels like one of the best, if not the best phones I have ever felt.
HTC’s BoomSound speakers are back, and just as good as ever. While you might think quality phone speakers have become redundant, being able to watch a few YouTube clips with proper, deep audio is a luxury I can no longer live without.
Using the phone is also great. HTC’s software is one of the best on any Android devices, offering a clean, well-designed skin over the top of Android 5.0. Little additions like double tap to wake up and its smart folders on your home screen are genuinely useful.
It’s also really fast, thanks to an eight-core processor and a huge 3GB of RAM, meaning you don’t have to worry about closing your apps down to keep it working smoothly.
The colours of HTC’s Sense software are rich and beautiful on the full high-definition display, even working well in direct sunlight. It’s not quite as dazzling as the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, with its higher resolution display, but is still impressive.
Battery life on the One M9 isn’t bad by early 2014 standards. But everyone has now picked up their game, including Apple, which notoriously had average battery life on previous iPhones.
With the One M9, I constantly found myself searching for the charger before my usual sleep time of 10pm. That was after a day of above average usage involving text messaging and a few phone calls
But the camera is where the device hits its lowest point. HTC had previously offered 4MP Ultrapixel cameras that, despite their low resolution, were meant to take great lowlight photos. They delivered on that promise; I’ve often taken photos at night that my iPhone 5s at the time couldn’t touch. In the daytime though, they lacked the detail that could only be picked up by a camera with higher resolution.
This year, HTC has gone the opposite direction by chucking in a 20.7-megapixel camera. The same one as the excellent Sony Xperia Z3, actually. But somehow they it is let down by its software. Pictures are often washed out, colours aren’t anywhere near as natural as they should be and lowlight is almost unusable. HTC had 12 months to work on the camera and make it great. It was its one job, and they let us down.
At least the front-facing camera, which is the old 4MP Ultrapixel sensor, works well for selfies.
