Anyone gone from an S6/S6 edge to an M9?

[RobbyRob]

I just got home from returning my S6. Everything about the phone was okay, except for the battery... It was so bad I had to charge 2-3 times a day with light to moderate use. TouchWiz still gave me a couple problems crashing apps here and there, but the battery was the major killer. Let's see how well the M9 does.

 

[Wildo6882]

I just got home from returning my S6. Everything about the phone was okay, except for the battery... It was so bad I had to charge 2-3 times a day with light to moderate use. TouchWiz still gave me a couple problems crashing apps here and there, but the battery was the major killer. Let's see how well the M9 does.

My battery life wasn't bad, but there is no way in the opposite of heaven that people can say the thing didn't lag. I would click on a notification on the lock screen and it would take a good 3 seconds to unlock the phone. I've seen my wife's do the same thing. That's unacceptable. The camera was great and I enjoyed the phone most of the time, but I don't think it's worth the premium over other options out there right now. Especially when it lagged like it did.

 

[Lefank]

I had the Galaxy s6 Edge for about a week. I hated it. I have had pretty much every HTC device before that. I hated the lag on the regular launcher. I hated the curved edge because you couldn't fit a case or screen protector on nicely. The phone weighed nothing and honestly thought if I ever drop it it will shatter into a million pieces. I traded it in for an M9 (Verizon) and couldn't be happier.

 

[Alex_Hong]

I just picked up an M9 yesterday, and my overall personal choice would be the S6. The camera performance on the S6 is just so much better than the M9 in pretty much all aspects. You know a camera is good when you want to take more photos of things. Whereas my experience with M9's camera is the complete opposite. Even if I took the image in RAW mode, adjusting all the settings to get the correct exposure, etc, then export it to photoshop to manually touch up the images... even then... the S6's camera could take the same shot in full auto mode in a matter of seconds, and have a photo that looks better than the M9's.

Full res images for One M9, Galaxy S6, Note 4, Nexus 6, Lumia 1520 for comparison if you guys are interested.

Battery life between both devices wasn't that far off for me personally. The M9 lasts longer for sure, but not by a sufficient margin for me to completely write off the S6.

Speaker quality on the M9 is unbeatable, but I listen to music more often on earphones, and S6's wolfson DAC sounds much better to me. In fact on earphones, I couldn't stand Dolby's EQ at all. Turned them off immediately.

In the past HTC has a huge advantage in build quality and the premium look and feel. But Samsung has come far enough for me to be okay with the S6. But the One M9 definitely feels more premium and well built to me.

I prefer Sense UI over TouchWiz hands down. But again, Samsung has made huge strides in optimising the UI. And I can certainly live with Touchwiz on the S6 (with more Samsung things turned off of course.)

Performance on both phones feels just quick, though the S6 felt faster loading apps and games, probably because of the faster memory. But not a big deal to me. Both phone performs really well.

Screen on the S6 was much better in my opinion. Better contrast, better outdoor visibility (brighter), able to go super dim (for using at night in bed), better colours too. Pixel density is not a huge deal to me, the M9 looks just as sharp when i'm using both phone at normal handheld distance. But the M9 display's colour seemed a little off to me compared to other IPS panels. Particularly the blues and the greens. Like app icons' colours are fixed across all screens, but the Hangouts and Ingress icons' colour looks "blown out" on the M9.

The bonus on the S6 to me was the home button. I've never really liked it in the past, but this time round the button brought enough to the table for me to consider it a pro. Fingerprint sensor actually works properly now, not to mention the camera launch is really consistently quick.

In the past I've always preferred the HTC option. The One X, the One M7, the One M8. But this year... the S6 has my vote.

Depending on your needs and preferences you might come to a completely different conclusion and choose the M9 of course. It's still a really good phone.

 

[Lefank]

Oh yeah, and I love music...the music experience on the M9 is superior to the S6. If you want a better camera though HTC is not it...but I really don't care about taking pictures with a phone.

 

[tippmann15]

I'm currently using both, both seem like they're full of annoying little bugs, I'm blaming lollipop and not enough testing.

But if the two options for my personal use, the s6 wins in every category.

 

[neo905]

I'm currently using both, both seem like they're full of annoying little bugs, I'm blaming lollipop and not enough testing.

But if the two options for my personal use, the s6 wins in every category.

The S6 wins in EVERY category? Ummmm ok.

 

[tippmann15]

The S6 wins in EVERY category? Ummmm ok.

For my personal use, the s6 wins in every category, it's not even close.

 

[kflanegan]

I really like both. Camera is really important to me with a 2.5 year old, crazy little girl running around my house and a 12 year old that's involved in everything. That's really the only thing stopping me from getting the M9. I worry about this battery issue on the S6. I know it may be a Google thing, but still doesn't seem as prevalent with the M9.

I had a T-Mobile M9 for about a week and can confirm that the camera is the weak point on the M9. Other than the poor rear facing camera, hardware and software wise I enjoyed using the M9. I have a one month old baby boy so the camera was my number one priority with everything else considered afterward. I'm getting alright battery life (3-4 SOT) with the S6 Edge after disabling all the AT&T bloatware and changing the launcher to the Google experience. Also I have a Tylt wireless charger so that helps in topping up easily if I know I'm going to need some extra juice. I've heard Lollipop 5.1 helps considerably with S6 and S6 Edge battery life and stability. Hopefully the upgrade comes sooner rather than later if that's the case. ;-)

 

[kflanegan]

Personally, i've gotten a better overall experience out of my S6. I was one of the people who had the "cell standby drain" issue, but after disabling two settings, my battery life has been great and much better than the M9. There are those who haven't had to touch their phones at all and have been getting 5+ hours of SoT. So I think the battery ceiling for this phone is pretty high after fixes. Other than that, I haven't had any issues with the phone. The only thing I really prefer on my M9 are the speakers, but I rarely use those since i'm at work most of the day.

What two settings are you referring to that you changed for improved battery life on the S6? I'd like to know so I can try it out. Thanks

 

[kflanegan]

My S6 has been returned. I actually bought a Nexus because I just can't stay away from stock Android. But the M9 is next on my hit list. I'm waiting for just a LITTLE more improvement in the camera.

Which Nexus did you go with? I've got a AT&T Nexus 6, Blue 32GB with a black matte d-brand skin on the back and it's been stripped of all carrier junk and is running Chroma 5.1 rom from xda. I love the phone just needed something with a better camera and the size is pretty big for my active job. For those two reasons I went with the S6 Edge and am happy overall with the switch. Trying to decide what to do with my Nexus 6 now. I applied for the Project Fi from Google so I'm holding onto the Nexus for a while just in case I get an invite to try that out.

 

[neo905]

For my personal use, the s6 wins in every category, it's not even close.

Ok. So your are being subjective not objective like Alex. Gotcha.

 

[tippmann15]

Ok. So your are being subjective not objective like Alex. Gotcha.

No, objectively speaking the s6 performs better for my usage patterns . Nothing subjective about it, I use them both daily. For me the s6 clearly is the better option, I don't plan to have either once the g4 comes out (assuming it's a step up from the g3,which imho was the best android I've ever had).

 

[neo905]

No, objectively speaking the s6 performs better for my usage patterns . Nothing subjective about it, I use them both daily. For me the s6 clearly is the better option, I don't plan to have either once the g4 comes out (assuming it's a step up from the g3,which imho was the best android I've ever had).

Ok. Sure.

 

[kedesa]

It is pretty awesome when competition has given us so many great options, S6, M9, LG G4, etc. I agree with everyone. Pick what works best for you. It's hard to go wrong. Yeah, even if that means that fruit phone.

 

[feedmylittletroll]

I switched from the S6 to the M9. It seems something was always draining the battery on the S6, I even exchanged unit and it didn't help. If it wasn't the cell standby, it was Google player services or something else. I was averaging about 2-2.5 hours of SOT with my S6 and 9 hours off the charger before it was dead. I just got the M9 so I can't tell you how much better the battery life is yet, but it seems to be doing much better. I really do miss the camera on the S6

 

[Wildo6882]

I switched from the S6 to the M9. It seems something was always draining the battery on the S6, I even exchanged unit and it didn't help. If it wasn't the cell standby, it was Google player services or something else. I was averaging about 2-2.5 hours of SOT with my S6 and 9 hours off the charger before it was dead. I just got the M9 so I can't tell you how much better the battery life is yet, but it seems to be doing much better. I really do miss the camera on the S6

What do you think now that it has been a few days with the M9?

 

[feedmylittletroll]

Battery life is generally getting me 4-5 SOT so I'm happy for the most part. The M9 switches between apps way faster than the S6 because of the S6 memory bug and I like Sense. I only have 2 complaints about the phone. 1) Rear camera in low light shots. HTC camera gives you the option to save presets for a custom camera, so I have it where the camera turns out great shots in the day. There really isn't a fix for low light since there isn't any OIS. 2) It heats up under long periods of heavy game play. Its not hot enough to where I can't touch the phone, but its just enough to make my hand a little sweaty. I don't have a case on it (I like to go naked) but I think it would solve that problem.

TL;DR version: I like it better than my S6. I get twice the SOT, like Sense but wish it had the S6's camera.

 

[Wildo6882]

Battery life is generally getting me 4-5 SOT so I'm happy for the most part. The M9 switches between apps way faster than the S6 because of the S6 memory bug and I like Sense. I only have 2 complaints about the phone. 1) Rear camera in low light shots. HTC camera gives you the option to save presets for a custom camera, so I have it where the camera turns out great shots in the day. There really isn't a fix for low light since there isn't any OIS. 2) It heats up under long periods of heavy game play. Its not hot enough to where I can't touch the phone, but its just enough to make my hand a little sweaty. I don't have a case on it (I like to go naked) but I think it would solve that problem.

TL;DR version: I like it better than my S6. I get twice the SOT, like Sense but wish it had the S6's camera.

Camera is honestly my only worry about it. I've since gone back to a Nexus 6. This camera is good enough for me, so I wonder how the M9 camera compares to it? The S6 is beautiful, but it really lags behind in a lot of areas.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[htcrazy]

I've had both since launch day. Honestly, the only thing I like better about the S6 is the camera. The M9 has a better look and feel, sense is much faster, speakers are much better obviously, sound quality is better and I've never had a single dropped call with the M9. The M9 can get a little warm, but not an issue for me. So yes, I like both.

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