Bad News For The M9

[PsychDoc]

...At least one reviewer who's had hands-on time with the new M9 camera is not too complimentary. You really would have thought that after all the criticism of the M7/8 cameras that HTC wiould have nailed this.

Not so it seems!

We spent a day using the HTC One M9 as a camera (hands-on) - CNET

Sounds disappointing, maybe? Well, it is. The problem I had with the M9's camera over a day and a half playing with it casually -- as, well, a regular phone-owner would -- is it just isn't that good. The 20-megapixel camera captures a fair amount of detail, but it's got some issues.

To compare, I took shots against what's the best phone camera out there, arguably: the iPhone 6 Plus. The Plus takes great, crisp shots, has excellent low-light exposure, is super-fast, and also records phenomenal video. Maybe I was spoiled by it. The M9's camera, well...it's a step down.
The M9's photos, which you can see throughout this post, are grainier, but they're not that bad. Some are actually very good, and turned out better than I expected. But I had a harder time dealing with low light, blew out more photos, and the camera had a much slower auto-focus than the 6 Plus. Acceptable? Maybe, but there are so many good and better phone cameras out there that this doesn't feel like one people would opt for.

 

[smooth3006]

if the leaks im seeing of the s6 are accurate it wont be any better for samsung.

 

[droidguy1964]

if the leaks im seeing of the s6 are accurate it wont be any better for samsung.

So your saying that you have seen leaks of the s6 camera?

 

[smooth3006]

So your saying that you have seen leaks of the s6 camera?

im not just talking about the camera man.

 

[droidguy1964]

Lol.

 

[Adawg1203]

At least we know the S6 isn't just going to be a refresh of the previous model. I use the M8 now and won't be switching to an M9.

 

[droidguy1964]

At least we know the S6 isn't just going to be a refresh of the previous model. I use the M8 now and won't be switching to an M9.

Agreed I think the m9 will not be as successful as the m8 was. It's s6 or g4 for me. I need a good camera.

 

[mountainman]

im not just talking about the camera man.

Don't fool yourself. The Camera will be top notch.

The problem that Samsung has is that they are going with a UNIBODY phone and pricing it the same as the iPhones. People will leave for iPhones because of non removable battery and no SD, not because the Camera is bad.

Plus, if you are on Verizon, this is going to be the same crap... you can root but no custom ROMs. It's BS.

 

[smooth3006]

htc / samsung ... facepalm

 

[npaladin-2000]

For me custom ROMs aren't an issue, I'm on T-Mobile and I like my WiFi calling. For me, it's about battery life, and speed in daily use, and speaker quality. I do want a good front facing speaker, or barring that, a side-firing one. I refuse to tolerate a rear-firing speaker anymore.

 

[taft]

That Edge looks great. Not sure how functional it will end up being in this first iteration, but gotta admit designs are going to start getting creative again over the next few years of curved displays.

 

[smooth3006]

apple will be suing them by tomorrow morning, guaranteed.

 

[npaladin-2000]

Gotta say, Samsung's actually pushing the envelope here, they're not playing it conservative like they usually do.

 

[Brian Low]

i dont get why they didnt compare the M9 to the iphone 6. Why the plus?

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

(Editor's Note: this hands-on was done with a pre-release model of the HTC One M9 using non-finalized software. Elements of the software may indeed be improved before launch, especially in terms of the camera. The following impressions are what we felt thus far, but as always, things could change when CNET reviews the final model of the HTC One M9.)

I know for a fact they were told that the camera isn't finished on these units.

 

[npaladin-2000]

I know for a fact they were told that the camera isn't finished on these units.

It'd better be nearly finished, as they're shooting for release in a couple of weeks and they don't have much time for QA.

 

[stackberry369]

Agreed I think the m9 will not be as successful as the m8 was. It's s6 or g4 for me. I need a good camera.

how about the note 4? ☺

Posted via the Galaxy Note 4

 

[smooth4lyfe]

how about the note 4? ☺

Posted via the Galaxy Note 4

The S6 camera is better than the Note 4s according to the keynote

 

[droidguy1964]

The S6 camera is better than the Note 4s according to the keynote

Correct and the note 4 camera is amazing!

 

[jrb363]

I get that the camera is a disappointment, especially compared to the claims HTC made prior to showing it off. (which is always a bad decision) However, the amount of crap HTC is taking is ridiculous. Samsung has made equally horrible choices with their S6 series and are facing nowhere near the level of scrutiny. I guess advertising $$$$ talks.