HTC One M9

[nicklmg]

NCIX: http://bit.ly/1EYzkk6

Amazon: http://geni.us/29ge

 

Has the HTC One once again delivered a game changer to the smartphone market with the M9 as they did with the M7? Or is this new phone a step in the wrong direction...

 

[TheKDub]

Woot m9 moar linus for today!

[werto165]

I always thought that the m9 released ages ago. I clearly follow phones closely :mellow:

[givingtnt]

early video release ? uwotm9 ?

[Stanvard]

early video release ? uwotm9 ?

I see what you did there.

[Stanvard]

I feel like I've seen this before...

[AlexStriz]

Woot m9 moar linus for today!

Fixed that for you

[Proesterchen]

I don't think the sponsor stickers look any good on this. In fact, while I understand they provide your review units, I truly hope you test the devices without the stickers applied because it's simply not fair to the manufacturer to mess with its original surfaces and design and then have that be part of the evaluation.

[ajoy39]

The covering on the camera lens is, like the covering on the iphone 6's camera, Sapphire glass. The difference between the two is the sheer size of the piece of glass and the lack of support underneath the HTC lens cover. Sapphire is incredibly good at resisting scratches, but it's hardness also makes it extremely brittle so if you're going to put it on something you need to make sure that it will NEVER bend. (This was probably also a contributing factor in Apple not using a sapphire glass screen on the iphone 6 as was rumored because harharhar bendgate). 

[callizer]

how about the audio performance? I'm not talking about the speaker, but the DAC and the built in amplifier. M8 was one of the best phones to be used as a digital audio player.

[Nowak]

inb4 "lol the htc one m9 sux"

[Mew]

inb4 "lol the htc one m9 sux"

 

Why buy the M9 when you can buy the M8 at half the price. 

[MeltingPoint]

Ugh, that carbon fiber is not attractive at all. Makes the phone look horrible.

[HomieREXX]

it's always camera this, camera that

 

here is some stuff you forgot about

 

>micro sd card sot means you can get a 160gb m9 for way less than a 128gb s6.....especially in the us, you can use the savings to get a used EOS rebel with a decent enough lens to compensate for the slightly worse camera

>1080p screen means less power usage than s6, droid turbo, nexus 6, and g4

>more cores than m8 means more ease in multitasking

>unlike the m8, the m9 is confirmed for 5.1

>less slippier than the m8

>the buttons feel amazing with an otterbox on

>if you are gonna complain about the chin bar, the s6 has a jimmy neutron forehead that says samsung on it

>s6 doesn't come with a quick charger in the us

>that "whatever rubbish" is sapphire crystal, which is clear and scratch resistant, but also britle hence why it broke on your unit

 

more to come as i think of more

[yourfavoritenumber]

Dear Linus, Some things that are missing from your (and many of the other) phone reviews:

 

Stock bootup time

It would be nice to know how long does it take to these phones to boot up on the stock ROM, using the preinstalled apps only (without an sd card of course).

 

The microphone quality

You often talk about speaker quality, and mention that there is a noise cancelling microphone here-and-there, but you are missing the main microphone test. You could use the Nokia 808's as a reference.

 

And what is this "screen brightness war" anyway? Have you ever held a Nokia device with "ClearBlack" display technology?

 

Shoutout to all the phones that have FM transmitter!

[SwedishHaxMafia]

WTF is the point of having on screen buttons if there is a damn chin bar anyways? Just plain stupid.

[Suraj Deuja]

When is the HTC keep on digging shirt coming out??

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

@LinusTech : So which one would you use as your daily driver now, the M8 or the M9 ?

I feel that the M9 is a step in the wrong direction, which is why I'm sticking with my M8 for another year.

 

I'm also surprised that you didn't mention the terribly hot CPU, which under sustained load throttles down so much that the M8 walks all over it.

[Ridash]

Seems like a nice phone, but I see no reason to get it if you have the M8.

[Spoilt]

I don't think the sponsor stickers look any good on this. In fact, while I understand they provide your review units, I truly hope you test the devices without the stickers applied because it's simply not fair to the manufacturer to mess with its original surfaces and design and then have that be part of the evaluation.

Agreed, by adding the skin also increases the thickness of the phone.That, IMHO compromise the feel of the buttons because of the decrease of travel. My FIIO x1 buttons feels so mushy after I applied the included carbon skin on it.

[Geralt]

Typing this on my M9 right now.

Imo, coming from an M7 is amazing. But from an M8, there's really no point unless you're into 20 mp cameras. But yeah, HTC does need to change something soon or I'll be going with the Motorola phones for the almost vanilla android feel.

[Nowak]

Why buy the M9 when you can buy the M8 at half the price. 

Because I cannot get the M8 on Verizon anymore, unless it's running Windows Phone. I don't want another Windows Phone.

[Mew]

it's always camera this, camera that

 

here is some stuff you forgot about

 

>micro sd card sot means you can get a 160gb m9 for way less than a 128gb s6.....especially in the us, you can use the savings to get a used EOS rebel with a decent enough lens to compensate for the slightly worse camera

>1080p screen means less power usage than s6, droid turbo, nexus 6, and g4

>more cores than m8 means more ease in multitasking

>unlike the m8, the m9 is confirmed for 5.1

>less slippier than the m8

>the buttons feel amazing with an otterbox on

>if you are gonna complain about the chin bar, the s6 has a jimmy neutron forehead that says samsung on it

>s6 doesn't come with a quick charger in the us

>that "whatever rubbish" is sapphire crystal, which is clear and scratch resistant, but also britle hence why it broke on your unit

 

more to come as i think of more

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

1. Expandable storage is nice until you realize you're not able to use it the way you want because of limitations and how slow they are, even class 10.

2. The GS6 gets better battery life than the M9. 

3. It's more slow cores for "better" low power battery life and the "fast" cores are slower than the M8's because it throttles.

4. That's pretty much meaningless and useless.

5. That's great.

6. You shouldn't need to use a case with your phone; they are designed to not be used with a case or a bumper.

7. Unlike its competitors, HTC has stuck with the same design for 3 generations, that's 33% longer than anyone else had. It's an outdated design that's now boring.

8. I don't think that fast charging should be a selling point because of the negative effects it has on your battery. However, the S6 does come with a fast charger.

 

When using the included USB charger, the Galaxy S6 charges incredibly quickly. However, the wireless charger is noticeably slower than the wired charger, which is due to inefficiencies associated with wireless charging and the rather limited charge speed, which is appears to be limited to 1.5 amps at 5 volts. It’s a bit surprising to see that there is no option to disable fast charging the way there was with the Note 4 given that the battery is now sealed and rather difficult to replace, but I suspect most won’t notice a difference in lifetime unless the phone is used for more than 2-3 years.

9. I have not been able to find a source that confirms that it's a sapphire lens. The common issues with the M8 camera were the blurring and the cracked lens; sapphire lens will not blur and although brittle, the 5s doesn't have that problem. 

[HomieREXX]

Welcome to the forum.

 

1. Expandable storage is nice until you realize you're not able to use it the way you want because of limitations and how slow they are, even class 10.

2. The GS6 gets better battery life than the M9. 

3. It's more slow cores for "better" low power battery life and the "fast" cores are slower than the M8's because it throttles.

4. That's pretty much meaningless and useless.

5. That's great.

6. You shouldn't need to use a case with your phone; they are designed to not be used with a case or a bumper.

7. Unlike its competitors, HTC has stuck with the same design for 3 generations, that's 33% longer than anyone else had. It's an outdated design that's now boring.

8. I don't think that fast charging should be a selling point because of the negative effects it has on your battery. However, the S6 does come with a fast charger.

9. I have not been able to find a source that confirms that it's a sapphire lens. The common issues with the M8 camera were the blurring and the cracked lens; sapphire lens will not blur and although brittle, the 5s doesn't have that problem. 

i'm guessing you're mocking my 4chan like quoting/listing system as a noob characteristic....it's not because i don't know better, but because i prefer it

 

>oh yea i forgot, its capable for up to 2tb....and as said in the donation build, it's better to have tons of slower storage and a little bit of faster storage instead of just a bit more fast storage

>you got me there...personally it doesn't affect me as i get by fine on my m9 with some mid day charging but mileage may vary

>the only time that faster cores matter on a phone with android 4.4 and later are gaming.....in which modern flagships are not meant to be gaming units...these are more like basic computers if not pocket workstations.....if you are looking for a portable version of whats plopped on the desks of me and probably you, then i suggest getting a shield device and then getting a more basic smartphone like the new zenfone or a moto x

>4.3 to 4.4 finally blew ios out of the water in terms of fluidity....don't count your chickens before they hatch

>yea

>i want to keep resale value as much as possible and you never know when you're gonna pull a face down drop...also i'm still waiting for a phantom glass to come out

>actually, the iPhone 4 platform isn't too different from the 5 so that.....and if it ain't broke, don't fix it

>i agree, i'm doing fine with 2 amps....but my dad has an s6 and it just came with a 2 amper.......maybe because it's verizon lol

>if only unbox therapy would use that damn diamond tester on it

[s3ns3]

the m9 is overall a downgrade from the m8. throttling all over the place,lower screen quality, less battery life...wtf