I do feel like HTC has been a little lazy... so they made the sides gold, so what? I get that they want to keep the overall design language the same, I mean after having two phones that were so lauded for their design it's only natural that they would want the next generation phone to at least look like it's from the same family, but they really could have done more
Just following on from this....just have a look at these renders comparing what looks to be the actual design (the one labelled "evolutionary" in the pics) to renders based on early leaks (labelled "revolutionary" even though it's really not)
Stunning Renders Compare Likely HTC One M9 Design With Earlier Leaks | Made of Tech
You would still be able to tell it's from the One family of phones (talking here about the "revolutionary" design), and it's definitely a fresher, more modern looking take on the phone that I think a lot of people would have appreciated