HTC One M9: My bitter disappoinment

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I was expecting more. Now that Samsung have a UI that is actually fast and not laggy (supposedly from hands-on at MWC)

TouchWiz has a history of being pretty fast and not laggy for awhile, but then slowing down significantly after a few months of use. We'll have to wait until the S6 is in consumer hands for a few months before we know for sure.
 
If you are jumping from the M8 to the M9, then no... this isn't a significant upgrade in design. It's not even that significant of an upgrade in specs. But I don't think HTC is targeting the small percentage of users who buy a new flagship phone every year.
 
If you are jumping from the M8 to the M9, then no... this isn't a significant upgrade in design. It's not even that significant of an upgrade in specs. But I don't think HTC is targeting the small percentage of users who buy a new flagship phone every year.

Seems they are targeting only their loyal buyers which is a stupid strategy. The strategy should to sell as many as possible, and enticing people with the m8 should be part of that strategy. This is a fail.
 
TouchWiz has a history of being pretty fast and not laggy for awhile, but then slowing down significantly after a few months of use. We'll have to wait until the S6 is in consumer hands for a few months before we know for sure.

I hope that isn't the case with the S6. My M8 is still as fast and smooth as the day I got it.
 
I don't get it...htc came up with such a beautiful design for a phone when it launched the m7. Everyone praised it and it won phone of the year..if something isn't broke why fix it? People hate on the m9 and for what? The camera is a 20mp camera that hasn't even had final software unveiled. All specs are better than the previous year and the phone itself is a beautiful size and premium materials. I think that to many people expect unrealistically that each year a whole new looking phone is going to come out but it's just not realistic.

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I don't get it...htc came up with such a beautiful design for a phone when it launched the m7. Everyone praised it and it won phone of the year..if something isn't broke why fix it? People hate on the m9 and for what? The camera is a 20mp camera that hasn't even had final software unveiled. All specs are better than the previous year and the phone itself is a beautiful size and premium materials. I think that to many people expect unrealistically that each year a whole new looking phone is going to come out but it's just not realistic.

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Real benchmarks have curves!!
 
I don't get it...htc came up with such a beautiful design for a phone when it launched the m7. Everyone praised it and it won phone of the year..if something isn't broke why fix it? People hate on the m9 and for what? The camera is a 20mp camera that hasn't even had final software unveiled. All specs are better than the previous year and the phone itself is a beautiful size and premium materials. I think that to many people expect unrealistically that each year a whole new looking phone is going to come out but it's just not realistic.

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There are a few issues with the M9 for me which deal with the design, hardware choices and software. I'll try to explain why the general opinion of the device is ho-hum (or at least why my opinion is that).

Design:
As you mentioned, when HTC revealed the M7 back in 2013, it was a beautiful looking device. But now in 2015, the design is starting to edge on the stale side. Aside from that, there are some changes which I don't like about the M9:

- The M7 had nice tight corners, whereas the M8 and M9 have larger rounded corners
- The M7 had symmetrical speakers both top and bottom. The M8 had asymmetrical speakers where the top speaker was shorter than the bottom, and the M9 seems to make it even smaller
- The M7 and M8 had circular camera modules which I preferred over the M9's now square module
- The M7's black bar had a useful feature in the capacitive buttons. The M8 and M9 have the black bar with no use other than to house the internal components - from a design standpoint, it doesn't look that nice
- The two-tone metal finish on the M9 is said to take twice as long to manufacture, but does that make the phone better/look nicer? Is that an actual improvement to the phone?
- I just think this third iteration now should have had a distinct aesthetic change. Even the M8 changed a bit from the M7. The M9 changed little from the M8.

The thing about design is that it's all subjective. While I still think the M9 is one of the nicer looking designs, it is getting a bit stale to me an no longer as impressive as the M8 and certainly not the M7 when they were revealed.

Camera:
Probably the biggest 'issue' with the M7 and M8 phones. I had the M7 and currently have the M8 and have taken great photos with both phones. However the cameras did have their limitations and when compared to other flagship devices, if fell very short in well lit shots.

From my understanding there have been reviews with the new camera software (Android Central is one of them) who still say the pictures taken with the M9 aren't very good and in certain cases, takes worse shots than last year's M8. This to me is completely unacceptable. They had been criticised for two years now about the camera, they knew it, accepted it and have responded to it by providing a new 20mp shooter, but it isn't really much better. Hardware specs aside (how on earth does a 9.6mm thick phone with the camera module sticking out not be able to fit OIS?) it seems like their software image processing is worse. Other companies are just killing them on the camera front. Images from the S6 on various websites legitimately look like a couple of generations ahead of the M9's camera.

Software:
Sense imo is the best looking and performing OEM skin on the market. I love Sense 6 even more than stock android - I think it legitimately looks and performs that good. Sense 7 looks to be even better, however looks more like Sense 6.5 (as Android Central call it). The UI is pretty much untouched, except that they've added 3 new features; Themes, Yelp to Blinkfeed and Smart Widgets.

- The smart widget looks poorly implemented. Various reviews have mentioned that it doesn't learn your app usage fast enough or doesn't learn at all.

- Yelp on Blinkfeed is for me, a completely irrelevant addition. Don't use blinkfeed other than the occasional swipe through to see what's going on, but I mostly use RSS.

- Themes look ok, but again, not something I'd be particularly interested in. I'd imagine I'd try it once or twice then not use it again.

I can see why those features would appeal to consumers, but for me personally, I don't see Sense 7 being a significant improvement over Sense 6.

So they are my gripes with the M9 this time round. And the combination of those reasons will be why I won't be picking up the One M9. I get what you're saying, and maybe my expectations of the M9 were too high, but when you hear reports of the M9 camera performing worse and the battery life being worse than last year's phone, that's just not acceptable to me.
 
I'm a bit concerned about the Sense 7 UI lag on the M9. I've seen quite a bit of random stuttering on the M9 from the videos, yet barely any reviewer mentions it. The stuttering is just so damn obvious, so for them to sit there saying that the experience is smooth is bizarre.

To my knowledge, there was only one reviewer that called out the lagging and stuttering - Josh Ho of Anandtech. He wasn't sure if the lag was due to the throttling or the unoptimized UI, but he did mention the lag and stuttering were there and very noticeable.
 
I'm a bit concerned about the Sense 7 UI lag on the M9. I've seen quite a bit of random stuttering on the M9 from the videos, yet barely any reviewer mentions it. The stuttering is just so damn obvious, so for them to sit there saying that the experience is smooth is bizarre.

To my knowledge, there was only one reviewer that called out the lagging and stuttering - Josh Ho of Anandtech. He wasn't sure if the lag was due to the throttling or the unoptimized UI, but he did mention the lag and stuttering were there and very noticeable.
Its because lag doesn't exist on HTC devices, I wish you would stop using the word "concerned" when ever you're trying to bash the M9.

Your implying you have a genuine interest in the phone and its success.

After all you did admit to "hating" HTC in a previous post so to be "concerned" about something you hate is very bizarre.

Let's just let those purchasing the device itself enjoy the phenomenal experience it will we deliver and everyone else, well they will just have to miss out and opt for one of the lesser flagships this year- Adam
 
So is it going to be $199 or less? $149 would be great! Were giving Sprint back our M8's and getting enough to upgrade early but then we have to buy the phone new cases a new screen protector and we had a Zagg Tempered Glass for the 1st time on our M8's and loved it.
 
I had a silver M7 also and wanted silver in my M8. Had to go with the gold from best Buy and my huband did the Gunmetal. I figured it would be in the case all the time anyways. But now I want the silver again or even the Pink which I am sure won't be out right away. My husband will do Gunmetal again. I know theirs not a big change but for me just having the latest processor and 3 gigs of ram and sense 7 and the 20 mp camera is good enough. As long as it takes decent pictures for me to post on FB and does good video which it says 4K I'm good. I wish the screen was a little bigger but that's ok. And the dolby added in the speakers also seems good. So we'll see once it comes out. Noone will really know until it comes out. I have had all HTC phones starting with my 1st smart phone Touch Pro 2 windows and than every EVO M7 M8 and am excited about getting the M9. My phones been lagging a but lately and I could stand to do a reset but don't want too. I wish the phone was coming out the end of March like they orginally stated though.




They actually turned a profit last year. I didn't think the M8 was beautiful. But maybe it's because I was forced to get the gunmetal color. Only Verizon had rights to the silver M8's. That probably cost HTC some sales in itself. I had a silver M7 and wanted a silver M8.

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I wish the screen was a little bigger but that's ok..

I'm super excited the screen isn't any larger. Anything over 5 inches is too big for me to carry around. Of course that's just my opinion. I know plenty of people who say they'd never go back to less than 5.5.
 
Well my friend had mostly HTC's than went with the note 3 and loved it then got the note 4. And after so long she was like it's too big it won't fit in my pocket. I always said it was too big for me I have small hands anyway. But than my friend changed her mind and sold her Note 4 recently on ebay bought S5 for 1/2 the price and said it's pretty much the same but smaller and no S pen. Now she's like I kind of miss my note again maybe i'll get the 6 she doesn't know. But the note is too big for me and yeah I guess it's good hte M9 isn't any bigger that's what the plus is for I guess. I heard their will be an M9 plus.

I'm super excited the screen isn't any larger. Anything over 5 inches is too big for me to carry around. Of course that's just my opinion. I know plenty of people who say they'd never go back to less than 5.5.
 
the problem is , apple fans can choose either 6 or 6 plus
samsung fan can choose either note 5 or S6

But no one wants to choose M9 Plus or Max

I don't know that there aren't those who wouldn't want to choose a Plus or Max M9. I've seen plenty of people in the forums and on the Plus rumor articles that want one badly.
 
my only gripe with the m9 is battery life. I can deal with the camera being not up to snuff, i can deal with the display not being as vibrant as last year, i can deal with sense 7 not being a major step up from sense 6, i can even deal with the phone being EVER so slightly thicker, but the battery life being WORSE than the m8??? Thats something i cannot tolerate. Unfortunately for my case i'm in dire need of a new phone. My S3 has become an absolute piece of trash and the only pickings i have now are the M9 and S6/S6 edge. I'd really prefer not to go back to a samsung phone but the way the m9 is looking now i might have to. Had high hopes for htc this year but they completely dropped the ball on this one.
 
my only gripe with the m9 is battery life. I can deal with the camera being not up to snuff, i can deal with the display not being as vibrant as last year, i can deal with sense 7 not being a major step up from sense 6, i can even deal with the phone being EVER so slightly thicker, but the battery life being WORSE than the m8??? Thats something i cannot tolerate. Unfortunately for my case i'm in dire need of a new phone. My S3 has become an absolute piece of trash and the only pickings i have now are the M9 and S6/S6 edge. I'd really prefer not to go back to a samsung phone but the way the m9 is looking now i might have to. Had high hopes for htc this year but they completely dropped the ball on this one.

Throughout my time these past few weeks reading M9 and S6 threads in various internet forums, the part I highlighted seems to be VERY common among smartphone buyers.
Even people who hate Samsung are reluctantly pre-ordering or planning to buy the S6 because the competition is just so far behind in every metric. It's actually quite hilarious.
 
Throughout my time these past few weeks reading M9 and S6 threads in various internet forums, the part I highlighted seems to be VERY common among smartphone buyers.
Even people who hate Samsung are reluctantly pre-ordering or planning to buy the S6 because the competition is just so far behind in every metric. It's actually quite hilarious.

its not that i hate the s6 or samsung. There are just certain things i've come to dislike about owning one of their galaxy phones. For example ive come to really dislike the home button and capacitive buttons. Touchwiz i can deal with easily by throwing a launcher on the phone. I had a nexus 5 before hand but had to move back to the s3 because it broke and google wouldn't replace it for me. After owning the nexus 5 it just changed how i felt about galaxy devices, its just not for me.
 
So their saying the battery life is worse on the M9 than the M8 even though it has a bigger battery?
 
So their saying the battery life is worse on the M9 than the M8 even though it has a bigger battery?

some reviewers are saying its worse, some are saying its on par with the m8, some say its slightly better. Going to have to wait for US models to drop before we can decide anything.
 
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