My Quick Thoughts on the HTC One M9

[Alex_Hong]

axhng: Quick Thoughts on the HTC One M9

TL;DR/Conclusions:

When you look at the HTC One M9 as a whole, it is still a nice phone. HTC Sense still offers one of the best skinned Android experience in my opinion. The phone has great performance, with great looks to go along with it too (both software and hardware). The build quality is superb, and in my opinion still better than the Galaxy S6. It also has the best sounding speakers you can find on a smartphone to date. But its appeal hinges greatly on whether you are willing to live with the "quirks" of the camera.

If you are coming from the HTC One M7, this will no doubt be a substantial upgrade. But if you are coming from the HTC One M8, this might not feel like much of an upgrade. In the end, the overall improvements to the device comes across as being pretty minor. Not to mention that the camera quality is pretty underwhelming, especially when comparing it to other 2014/2015 flagship devices. If camera quality is something that is important to you, you might want to look elsewhere instead.

Flagship devices to me should represent the best of what the company has to offer at that point in time. But I am not convinced that the One M9 is HTC's best effort. To me it felt like a device born out of compromises, constraints, and misplaced priorities. Maybe the new finishing took too much time and money, so they had to skim on the camera and forgo OIS? Maybe with many manufacturers buying up all the Sony camera sensors in the market, HTC as a company with a much smaller order could not secure any stocks at all, and had to go with a Toshiba sensor? Maybe.

But what I know for sure, is that this is not the best HTC has to offer. The HTC that I know CAN do better.

 

[Alex_Hong]

Some Camera samples








(HDR Off)


(HDR On)

 

[Alex_Hong]

Full resolution images for comparison if anyone is interested:
HTC One M9:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+axhng/albums/6144520533312540145
Samsung Galaxy S6:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+axhng/albums/6138528987301439729
Samsung Galaxy Note 4:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+axhng/albums/6068510421899663457
Motorola Nexus 6:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+axhng/albums/6124088868275131905
Apple iPhone 5S:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+axhng/albums/6042179628751081153
Nokia Lumia 1520:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+axhng/albums/5961604238705888273

 

[Alex_Hong]

Edited for those who aren't interested in long read.

 

[trsbbs]

I thought there was no plastic on the case. I thought I read that. .
Camera works better after update and expect it to get even more improved with the next camera update coming out soon.

Lost me half way through. . Too long.

Via my HTC One M9...

 

[Alex_Hong]

I thought I heard some reviewer mentioned that the front assembly is plastic. Maybe I am mistaken. will dig around more. The front didn't feel particularly like metal somehow. maybe because of the difference in finishing on the rear.

Edit: looking at torture tests, the way the front took damage looks like metal. but http://www.anandtech.com/show/9137/the-htc-one-m9-review-part-2/5 says it's plastic...

"Meanwhile the back cover has a new finish and a neat dual-anodized color, but I question the value of these changes when they reduce yield and drive cost up, especially when sand-blasted anodized aluminum is comparable in look and feel. The continued use of the plastic bezel on the front also cheapens the feel of the phone. The new hard edges on the back cover is also quite uncomfortable, especially when compared to the M8’s smoother curve. There is also the issue of the “logo bar” bezel, but it’s physically impossible to get rid of this bezel due to engineering constraints."

 

[neo905]

Wow. Those are your "quick" thoughts? LOL.

I actually had the silver version and returned it for the black one. I found it looked better in the pics and indoor lighting but outside in daylight I felt like Liberace walking around with that thing. You really notice the gold accent on the HTC logo on the back and the silver itself in bright light.

 

[Alex_Hong]

Wow. Those are your "quick" thoughts? LOL.

I actually had the silver version and returned it for the black one. I found it looked better in the pics and indoor lighting but outside in daylight I felt like Liberace walking around with that thing. You really notice the gold accent on the HTC logo on the back and the silver itself in bright light.

haha, quick as in with the amount of time i spent with it. Not quick in the sense of bullets points of just saying what I like and don't like without elaborating on why.

 

[Speedygi]

I thought it was really the best phone among it and the Galaxy s6 though... But not the best of even last year's flagships though

 

[android-ua]

I have now m8. They are very different?

 

[Golfdriver97]

I have now m8. They are very different?

It is often said that those with an M8 won't see much of a benefit to this device. Those coming from an M7 or any other device will.

 

[roaduardo1]

I'm totally jelly over the front-facing speakers. When I upgraded from the Note 3 to the 4 I hated the speaker placement on the back. Even with a case it still muffles the sound when it's on a flat surface. I'm not used to putting it down face first.

 

[bembol]

If only hTc gave us the rendered pics, which was similar to their nexus 9 tablet.

It doesn't help that they slapped us in the face and released a version overseas that SHOULD'VE BEEN the M9.

I generally don't post on other forums especially if I don't own one but I can't stand when companies just doesn't seem to get it. I want hTc to succeed. Reminds of company I used to love, RIM/BlackBerry where you say enough-is-enough and move on.

 

[VidJunky]

Being an HTC fan I was a little disappointed that I was in the middle of my contract when the M8 came out, but there was something with it that I didn't think I would like anyway, so my disappointment was abated. When I started seeing rumors of the M9 my intrest picked back up and I began taking notice again. This will be my new device so I'm not particularly concerned about small issues, it's more pressing and bigger issues I'm worried about. As for the camera, I suffered through the M7 issues, which I didn't have until recently, like the purple tint, so anything that foucuses and isn't pink to purple is a vast improvement to me. Actually the only thing I'm bitter about coming from the Rezound to the M7 is the Rezound took great pics and the M7 never did, even before I started having issues. Other than that I was a bit upset that they took my removable battery away. This is my plea with all of these device companies, Please give us a larger battery or allow us to change them. They say it's a weight thing but really I've never heard a single person complain that their phone weighed too much, even in the days of extended batteries. My M7 now sports a hefty battery case and even that is preferable to 5 hours of screen time. That will be my rant of the day.

 

[aallison1882]

Other than that I was a bit upset that they took my removable battery away. This is my plea with all of these device companies, Please give us a larger battery or allow us to change them. They say it's a weight thing but really I've never heard a single person complain that their phone weighed too much, even in the days of extended batteries.

I personally like a phone that has a little more weight as it makes it feel more secure in my hand. The lighter S6s and iPhones feel like I'm going to drop them and the weight for whatever reason makes them feel more fragile. That's just my personal opinion.

 

[Alex_Hong]

If only hTc gave us the rendered pics, which was similar to their nexus 9 tablet.

It doesn't help that they slapped us in the face and released a version overseas that SHOULD'VE BEEN the M9.

I generally don't post on other forums especially if I don't own one but I can't stand when companies just doesn't seem to get it. I want hTc to succeed. Reminds of company I used to love, RIM/BlackBerry where you say enough-is-enough and move on.

I was really excited about when i saw the renders too. Not that I think the M9 is bad looking... it is still one of the best looking phones in the market. Just that I was hoping for a bigger change. The M9+ is kinda of a head-scratcher too. While in Singapore we got the M9, our neighbour in Malaysia (just a couple of kilometres away) got the M9+. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯