Long term HTC One M9 owners- thoughts on the device?

[Hitokage Tamashi]

I'm considering buying one in a few months ($450 new, or $350 used with T-Mobile right now), but reviews have either made it seem really, really good, or really, really bad. Does it still perform well, does it heat up as bad as people say (if it runs cooler than the Exynos 5433, all will be good. That thing will burn a man), and is the battery decent? Basically, how is it with things of that degree (no pun intended), as well as any other additional things you may have to say/think about it?

 

[Nodnerb]

I've already purchased one off ebay, but I'm finding the same thing in the reviews. Some say the battery is fantastic, some say it is abysmal. Some people review it as getting scorching hot, some say it doesn't heat up any more than other phones. Hopefully since this has been out for quite some time firmware updates have helped the issues a lot. Which some reviewers seem to state. I'd imagine most reviews we are reading are on pre release or just after launch units.

 

[Hitokage Tamashi]

Hopefully that's the case, though reviews on the T-Mobile website seem just as mixed. If you get it soon, try and let me know how it is if possible, please.

 

[IAmSixNine]

Having the most recent firmware / software on it will help you a lot. I have a M8, M9, Note 4 and Nexus 6. If it wasnt for the display being weak / washed out i would probably use it as my daily driver. On paper the M8 and M9 are supposed to have the same screen but its clear to me that the M8 has a better screen. I think to conserve battery they are using adaptive brightness to much. On manual brightness with screen trurned up a bit i like it.
As far as battery life and over heating I have no issues with that. But my usage and your usage im sure will be different.
I think its a great device but i was let down with the display. Thats my only complaint. Im looking forward to Marshmallow on it.

 

[Nodnerb]

I'll post back when I get it Hitokage. Should be late this week.

I hope the screen is a little more vibrant than the lg g3 which I have now. That's another thing I find mixed in the reviews. Some say it is a fantastic screen on the M9, others say it isn't that great. Of course they usually mention the S6 QHD amoled as comparison. I certainly don't expect it to look that over saturated. Don't care about the resolution at 5", Full HD is fine, but the g3 is known for being a bit washed out, poor contrast etc. so if it's better than that, I'll be happy.

 

[IAmSixNine]

The screen is good if you choose to manually adjust the brightness.
Oh also during the last update or two, they added in a software feature to set the screen to cool or warmer colors. I liked this feature as i set mine to the warmer side. The cooler side to me made white look a bit bluish.

 

[henrykrinkle]

The biggest problem with the M9 is that it was such a minor upgrade from the M8 which is still a great phone. The Galaxy probably has the better camera but, for a phone, the M9 takes fine pictures. I think too much was made of the alleged camera issue. Per GSAM, I average around 20 hours on a full charge but I'm always near a charger (home, work, car) and almost always on WIFI so my results may not be typical. Overheating was a minor issue at first (with me, it only happend when out in the scorching sun) but I think they have fixed that with the last software update. Performance is great - no lag whatsoever - and Sense is still a great skin. I considered the Galaxy before buying the M9 but just can't get past the abomination that is TouchWIz.

EDIT: my only lasting complaint with the phone is the over-aggressive "auto-brightness" but you can just turn that off if you like. I hope they fix that with the Marshmallow rollout.

 

[Hitokage Tamashi]

Good thing I normally set brightness myself. Looks like I'll be getting one of these soon, then. Is there any disadvantage for getting it used from T-Mobile rather than new from T-Mobile, other than it potentially having scratches?

 

[Karl K]

Wifi disconnects or fails to connect sometimes, and camera sucks at times. However, wifi generally works all right and camera in manual mode is awesone.
Battery is great at 38% brightness and with no games. Gotta admit, you won't get the best gaming experience on this because power saver makes the game lag a bit and mid brightness with no power saver makes the phone a bit hot. (0% brightness does the job right!)
But in everyday experience, it never lags and I usually get 2 to 3 days out of one charge.
Overall, great phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Morty2264]

When I was researching the HTC devices, I too would read very conflicting reviews. "The battery life is great!" vs "It's... Average" were disconcerting. Also, reviewers seem to be on the fence about the camera; but again, there are reviewers saying "it's decent" and some saying "it's not that great."

As other users here have said, a lot of those reviews were done pre-launch or when the devices just came out; so I wouldn't worry too much about the heating/battery life, etc. I would suggest going to your carrier's website and seeing if there are any customer reviews on the M9 - I did this with Rogers when I was deciding between which phone to get, and it really helped. Of course, you get some pointless reviews saying absolutely nothing; but then you can get an enormous paragraph detailing a clear, intelligent review of the device. Good luck!

 

[Nodnerb]

Ok, my phone arrived yesterday. The phone did heat up a bit initially, before OS updates. It had two updates and downloaded 200 apps in succession. A 45 minute OS update and then another 30 min OS update. Both ran warm but nothing I would ever take note of by any means. So far today I've been downloading lots of other stuff and playing with it a lot, gaming etc. It hardly gets warm. I'm not a power user though, but it's no worse than my lg g3 is, in fact, it may run a bit cooler.

Cant say much about battery life yet but it does charge slower than my G3 on a standard charger. Initially the battery seems to be holding up fine considering how much I've been using it. It's been off charge for 5 hours 15 minutes and I'm at 68%. Considering I've had the screen on for a considerable amount of that time, bluetooth to a moto360, wifi on and downloading and installing or updating about 30 apps while gaming, changing settings etc. etc. General brand new phone set up stuff. I'd say it's holding up well. Under a normal mornings usage I doubt I'd be down even 10%.

Screen is an upgrade IMO compared to the G3, despite the resolution advantage of the G3. Blacks are slightly blacker and colours are more saturated. Obviously not amoled good. But an improvement.

Over all I'm pretty optomistic and haven't experienced any of the downfalls noted in the "bad" reviews.

 

[Jeff Pom]

I'm not a fan. Got this a week after it was released. Battery life is horrid, gets hotter than a witches tit with a brass bra in the summer time and often lags. My Note 3 is faster, it seems.

 

[mfreeland]

I'm not a fan. Got this a week after it was released. Battery life is horrid, gets hotter than a witches tit with a brass bra in the summer time and often lags. My Note 3 is faster, it seems.

Have you updated it? Mine has no heat, no lag, and is quick. Battery life is decent , depending on network strength, and a bit better after M.....

 

[Nodnerb]

Only had mine a few weeks but it is lag free, runs cooler than my g3 and battery life is what I'd expect from any smartphone. But it's no secret that when this phone came out it ran hot and had issues which were later fixed by software updates.

 

[delta7]

I will say the m9 or htc sense is general is usually pretty lag free, if I had a samsung for this long I'd have much more lag than I have now.

The m9 seems like a pretty smooth phone overall, no complains except things not included in software.

 

[dlrogers81]

I just bought the M9, and selling my S6 Edge. I enjoy the M9 a lot better. The battery life has been so much better for me too. I have zero complaints.

 

[BruteS7]

I've had M9 for 6 months and I really love it. It's a fantastic phone and it suits me the best. It has a great camera (for my needs) and it is great running apps. It does get a bit hot but it's the metal and also every phone I had was heating up same as my M9. Also the design is amazing and the speakers are fantastic

 

[Fathertime]

Needs more sound volume. They had it right on the M7. Also, wish it had optical image stabilization.

 

[GeodudeFFP]

Needs more sound volume. They had it right on the M7. Also, wish it had optical image stabilization.

Right on. But otherwise, it's just about the perfect phone...until the SD 820-powered M10 comes out!

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Loobsarella]

I really like my HTC one M9. I've had it since last October. I would advise people who are new to this phone to buy the HTC fast charger, it doesn't come with the phone, you have to buy it seperately. It really is much faster charging than the regular charger and makes a huge difference with the battetry life. The camera has taken some great pics and the phone is very slick and doesn't lag. I upgraded from an HTC one M7 so there is a difference and it has moved forward and improved.