Review: HTC One M9
HTC has a sweet looking phone in the form of the HTC One M9 which was supplied to me by Rogers. The body is made of a single block of machined aluminum. It looks great and feels great in my hands. It also feels really solid. The power button is on the right side below the volume up and down buttons. One suggestion to HTC would be to make these buttons physically different because I made the mistake of pressing the volume up button thinking that it was the power button. On the front are the front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers which put out some of the best sound from a mobile device that I’ve heard. It also has a 5″ 1080p Super LCD display that is clear and readable in most light.
Here’s what you get under the hood:
- Android 5.0.2 w/ Sense 7.0 skin
- 5″ 1920×1080 pixel SuperLCD panel
- 8 Core 1.5 GHz CPU
- 3GB RAM
- 32GB internal storage (expandable via microSD)
- 20.7MP rear camera
- 4MP front-facing camera using UltraPixel technology
- 4K UHD video capture
The phone is quick. But when I was testing it to see how it could handle heavy usage, it actually got warm enough that it was uncomfortable in my hand. This has been an issue in the past and HTC released a software update to try and address this issue. It seems like they have some more work to do. Having said that, common usage should not make this an issue for most users. In terms of LTE speed, I averaged 24.40 Mbps downstream and 8.86 Mbps upstream on the Rogers LTE network. Software wise, it comes with the latest and greatest version of Android Lollipop with HTC’s Sense 7.0 Skin which unlike most Android skins that I can’t wait to get rid of, was quick and unobtrusive. It also comes preloaded with a number of Rogers apps including SureTap wallet and Anyplace TV.
When it comes to the camera, you get a 20.7MP rear camera that takes outstanding stills and 4K UHD video. The camera is outstanding as far as I am concerned when I tested it at my usual test site which is Pearson Airport in Toronto. First here’s the stills. Click to see them in full resolution:
When it comes to the video, here it is in 4K UHD. Set it to full screen and 4K if your monitor supports it to see it in full quality:
If you want a great camera on a smartphone, the HTC One M9 has to be on your list.
When it comes to the battery life, I got just over a day in normal usage. That’s pretty good and it is what you should expect from a flagship smartphone. The HTC One M9 goes for $199.99 at Rogers on a 2 year plan or $700 outright. That puts it in line with most of its competition from Samsung and Apple. You should take a look at it as it is definitely a top tier choice in the Android smartphone space.
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