MKBHD HTC One M9 Review

[festinator]

HTC One M9 Review: https://youtu.be/5x6DELO6Sz4

MKBHD just released this review a few minutes ago, have not watched it yet, but Marques is one of the best phone reviewers. No bias and very knowledgeable. Most of you probably know him haha, but for those who don't, yeah he's really good and trustworthy. Anyways, here you go, for all interested!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[boogas8]

I watched his review and my experience is the similar to his.

Sent using my HTC One M9 via the Uncarrier

 

[UJ95x]

Maybe the first positive review I've read/watched
Everyone else was ruthless :\

 

[festinator]

I watched his review and my experience is the similar to his.

Sent using my HTC One M9 via the Uncarrier

Yeah, if you and most other people have the same experience as him, I'm fine with getting this phone. Camera has never been too important to me, as a university student, and having the nexus 4 for the past 2 years haha. Just need something fast and snappy, with good enough battery life. Gonna wait to see what the g4 brings, but probably will be getting the m9.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[boogas8]

Yeah, if you and most other people have the same experience as him, I'm fine with getting this phone. Camera has never been too important to me, as a university student, and having the nexus 4 for the past 2 years haha. Just need something fast and snappy, with good enough battery life. Gonna wait to see what the g4 brings, but probably will be getting the m9.

Posted via Android Central App

Yeah for me I have always been an HTC fan. I really like my M9 but the one complaint is the camera. It is a joke. I did mess with the settings which helped a little but I am coming from a Note 4 and it's a downgrade. Thankfully Im not a picture person so the camera is something I can look past.

Sent using my HTC One M9 via the Uncarrier

 

[SharkyNY]

Honestly it wasn't all that different from what everyone else has been saying. Its just that his overall feeling on the phone wasn't as negative as other reviews.

 

[cbreze]

Great un biased straight forward review. Had the M7 and am considering this or maybe the Samsung S6/S6-edge. Never had a Samsung before so kinda leery about it, although the reviews so far have been positive sans battery life. One thing I heard regarding the M9 camera adjustments is they can be tweaked to take really good shots. Some one over at XDA figured the best settings out and if anyone hasn't tried it with their M9 yet, might want to check it out. Sorry don't have a link, but should be easy to find.

 

[festinator]

To sum it up, if you already have an M8 no need to get an M9. If you have an M7, the M9 is a step up. But the camera/videos you take on the device are like deja vu. Not good, not good at all.

If there are problems with this device it won't be phone of the year. Someone in another thread mentioned this.Nobody is going to give HTC the best design award this year either. They will switch things up.

Tbh the only problem is the camera, and the m7 and m8 were phones of the year and had the same problem

Posted via Android Central App

 

[codeda]

Tbh the only problem is the camera, and the m7 and m8 were phones of the year and had the same problem

Posted via Android Central App

Yeah but how many years are you supposed to forgive a crap camera. Time for them to step up


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[neo905]

Why would he take this long to come out with his review and use dated camera software on his US model? And then proceed to slam the camera. I thought he was waiting all this time to evaluate it with the new software. It doesn't make sense.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Why would he take this long to come out with his review and use dated camera software on his US model? And then proceed to slam the camera. I thought he was waiting all this time to evaluate it with the new software. It doesn't make sense.

Posted via the Android Central App

He did say that he blamed the hardware and not the software for the bad camera
He pretty much said they used some random Toshiba sensor which isn't good...the software helps but doesn't really fix the problem to the extent it should

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S6!

 

[neo905]

He did say that he blamed the hardware and not the software for the bad camera
He pretty much said they used some random Toshiba sensor which isn't good...the software helps but doesn't really fix the problem to the extent it should

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S6!

That doesn't take away the fact that the camera DOES improve after the update so it would favourably impact his opinion of the camera. Just irresponsible on his part. He might as well have just reviewed the phone 3 weeks ago like everyone else. He gave the impression he was waiting for the software before he evaluated the phone. Just ragging on the hardware is sloppy. The video not being able to focus is a software issue that will be fixed. The lack of OIS is a hardware issue but the iPhone 6 has EIS and isn't shaky so it could be addressed software wise. Now having confidence HTC can do that is another question.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Habiib]

He did say that he blamed the hardware and not the software for the bad camera
He pretty much said they used some random Toshiba sensor which isn't good...the software helps but doesn't really fix the problem to the extent it should

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S6!

Keep in mind that he wasn't stating that as an absolute. Also if you look at Anandtech's breakdown of the sensor, you'll see that it is quite capable.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[bhatech]

That doesn't take away the fact that the camera DOES improve after the update so it would favourably impact his opinion of the camera. Just irresponsible on his part. He might as well have just reviewed the phone 3 weeks ago like everyone else. He gave the impression he was waiting for the software before he evaluated the phone. Just ragging on the hardware is sloppy. The video not being able to focus is a software issue that will be fixed. The lack of OIS is a hardware issue but the iPhone 6 has EIS and isn't shaky so it could be addressed software wise. Now having confidence HTC can do that is another question.

Posted via the Android Central App

It's not his fault that HTC didn't release with proper software. You got to review with what you got and it was not till yesterday that we were even informed that updates are in line for the us carrier models. There may be another software update shortly after this which may further improve but you can't wait for ever. Let's be realistic do we really think software is going to make this camera really awesome? Don't think so, it will definitely improve than what we have currently but it will probably just be decent if HTC can get their act together. He mentioned as well that he thinks it's hardware and not software that's the issue. His he right? May be in part but it's just his opinion like we all have here.

 

[neo905]

Here's the thing. This isn't all existing in a vacuum for him. He knew weeks ago that Phil from this site waited until he got the software update until he gave a full review. That is the smart thing to do. Especially if you are going to be using a U.S. variant that you know doesn't have it and a million people will watch your review. That is why I am saying I am surprised he was waiting so long to review it. I thought he was waiting because you was going to be testing a US phone and he wanted to do the same due diligence on the device. The fact is most people who aren't as tech savvy as he is wouldn't be aware that an update would be coming that would improve the picture quality of people who already have it. Then he could say something like this with respect to the camera. I am using the phone that doesn't have the update that the international model does. It does improve the picture quality so software updates may in the future continue to refine the images but don't expect miracles because there are limits to what can be accomplished given the hardware. The fact is the camera was just flat out bad before the update and decent afterwards. I personally only care if the camera is awful and after the update it isn't a concern. That's all I am saying here.

 

[bhatech]

Agree what you say but if we have to blame anyone it's HTC QA. No way they should have released with that software, they have to know that once you put devices in people's hand all bets are off. You can say software update will come and improve but you can't undo the damage it does to the launch. Especially knowing that everyone was expecting the camera to be the main focus of this year M9. So they should have waited until they at least got decent software.

 

[neo905]

Agree what you say but if we have to blame anyone it's HTC QA. No way they should have released with that software, they have to know that once you put devices in people's hand all bets are off. You can say software update will come and improve but you can't undo the damage it does to the launch. Especially knowing that everyone was expecting the camera to be the main focus of this year M9. So they should have waited until they at least got decent software.

You are 100% correct to blame HTC and I haven't been shy about being vocal on here about that. At the same time let's be real. These aren't phones anymore. They are handheld computers running complex software. Look at gaming consoles for example. They ship them and as soon as you log in there are updates waiting for you and more to come. That is just how tech is now. It isn't just HTC. Samsung even Apple released a buggy IOS 8 they are still trying to fix on the latest 8.3 version. It's an industry problem really.