HTC One A9: the final nail in the coffin for HTC?

[asim1999]

Yes, but if you buy upfront you are not tied by any contract also you can find a deal, where carriers, atleast here, stick to on release prices which never go down ever, so it's more expensive.

True, my uncle got a new iPhone 6 Plus 64GB for £300  unlocked and only pays £10 a month on O2. Is contract will be £150 less than mine and he has a better phone in akmost every respect (except the camera) 

[Bsmith]

-grabs his ipod touch gen5-

 

Interesting... the colour's match and so does the thickness.

 

in a quick look I doubt a normal(non techy) person would see any other diffrence then the lines on the back

[AlwaysFSX]

Yes, but if you buy upfront you are not tied by any contract also you can find a deal, where carriers, atleast here, stick to on release prices which never go down ever, so it's more expensive.

But far fewer people do that. So there's no need for so many of you guys to get your panties in a knot over the pricing.

[ZetZet]

But far fewer people do that. So there's no need for so many of you guys to get your panties in a knot over the pricing.

Far fewer people buy with contract here, that's what I am trying to explain to you. 

 

 

I know exactly 0 people who have a phone on contract at the moment. 0.

[Bouzoo]

I didn't read any info on the phone but it has a physical key as well as on screen ones? The hell? Or is that just a fingerprint scanner?

[Briggsy]

I know a number if iphone users who switched from android after using an HTC smartphone. Are HTC doomed? probably not as they have other projects in the works like the Vive, although I would imagine that Valve could buy it out from HTC if they had to, its a solid product apparently.

[Senzelian]

Where can I get an iPhone for 599 euros.

 

 

But yeah, this phone is awful. The bezels are worse than iPhone, which is already awful at bezels, no stereo speakers that I can see and a AA battery.

http://millionstore.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?prod=MS1048

Maybe not for 599,- €, but for 629,- €.

The 16GB version is quite a bit cheaper at around 530 - 570,- €.

 

Iphones are not $600 any more.

Maybe not in 'murica, but an iPhone 6 in Germany costs around 550 - 700 €, depending on the model.

The price of this HTC thing was 599,- €, not Dollar

[ZetZet]

http://millionstore.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?prod=MS1048

yeah, that's because it's old already tho. There is 6S, you can't buy last gen iPhones, you lose the swag factor...

[snes]

The last semi decent phone they made was the M7.

[asim1999]

The last semi decent phone they made was the M7.

True, it would have been the perfect phone at that time if it had expandable storage and didnt have that godawful camera.

IMO the last good phone they made was the Desire Z 

[AHaskin14]

:-( I like my m8, but upgrading next year will be a tough choice.

[asim1999]

:-( I like my m8, but upgrading next year will be a tough choice.

Well HTCs upcoming O2 smartphone looks promising: 1440p screen, 4GB RAM, SD820 and waterproofing 

[TechStyle]

HTC has always succumbed to the Apple influence and while they did have some cool ideas (dual speakers) their sense UI, awkward ergonomics, and especially their cameras kept them at a stand still while Apple and Samsung have experienced growth.

[Swndlr]

Pretty bad imo, I dont see how it competes with anything thats already out there.

[Noctus]

Not here in the UK. The average total price for an iPhone 6S contract is £1200. Now lets take a SIM only iPhone 6S for £500 and stick a £17 a month unlimited 4G data sim from 3 in there. The total price is £900. Big difference 

 

Cheapest Unlimited Data Three do right now is 20 quid, recently upp'd from £15 much to my chargrin  <_<

 

Where u getting £17

[atrash]

Cheapest Unlimited Data Three do right now is 20 quid, recently upp'd from £15 much to my chargrin  <_<

 

Where u getting £17

 

I'm guessing the 20 quid is for payg plan. Mine is 17 quid for 12months contract. 

[Noctus]

I'm guessing the 20 quid is for payg plan. Mine is 17 quid for 12months contract. 

 

Ah, yours is contract. Yeah mine is topped up monthly by 20quid.

[pit5000]

Looks like the love child between Galaxy s6 and iPhone 6s

[dizmo]

Haha, wow. What on earth is HTC thinking. It's like their design department has completely given up.

"I know, people love the iPhone, so we'll cop 99% of that. But we'll move the camera to the middle so they can't sue us. People like buttons right? Let's take Samsung's home button and shove it on the front. They've got to love that. Now, let's put medium spec and charge like it's an iPhone. Voila! We'll be profitable again!"

 

You deserve what's coming.

[asim1999]

Cheapest Unlimited Data Three do right now is 20 quid, recently upp'd from £15 much to my chargrin  <_<

 

Where u getting £17

http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

The 12 month contract with 200 mins 

[79wjd]

How many of you people actually pay full price for the phone to begin with? Most people get it through their carrier for waaaaaay cheaper from the get-go.

Contracts are really starting to change in the US. When I ordered my 6s+ I switched to the 'verizon plan' (they've ended the 'more everything plan' (i.e. the standard contract plan) -- I could have stayed on the more everything plan and upgraded to the 64gb 6s+ for $400, but it's actually cheaper to switch to the Verizon Plan and just pay the full cost of the phone (i.e. $850). So subsidized upgrades are starting to disappear in the US (which was probably by far the largest market that still had subsidized plans). It should be interesting to see how that affects iPhone sales seeing as in the past an iPhone really wasn't significantly more expensive than competitive Android devices (even $100 over a two year period is only $4/month). Now with more and more contractless plans (i.e. unsubsidized), the initial cost difference does become greater. (Just to clarify, I'm not saying an iPhone isn't worth the money anymore -- if it wasn't I would've bought the Moto X instead, just that it's now at a larger price delta). 

[AlwaysFSX]

Contracts are really starting to change in the US. When I ordered my 6s+ I switched to the 'verizon plan' (they've ended the 'more everything plan' (i.e. the standard contract plan) -- I could have stayed on the more everything plan and upgraded to the 64gb 6s+ for $400, but it's actually cheaper to switch to the Verizon Plan and just pay the full cost of the phone (i.e. $850). So subsidized upgrades are starting to disappear in the US (which was probably by far the largest market that still had subsidized plans). It should be interesting to see how that affects iPhone sales seeing as in the past an iPhone really wasn't significantly more expensive than competitive Android devices (even $100 over a two year period is only $4/month). Now with more and more contractless plans (i.e. unsubsidized), the initial cost difference does become greater. (Just to clarify, I'm not saying an iPhone isn't worth the money anymore -- if it wasn't I would've bought the Moto X instead, just that it's now at a larger price delta). 

It's true that the plans are starting to disappear ever so slowly but the mentality isn't going as fast out the window.

[79wjd]

It's true that the plans are starting to disappear ever so slowly but the mentality isn't going as fast out the window.

true, and most of these companies are still hiding the full cost of the device behind a monthly payment plan. (i.e. the 64gb 6s+ is advertised as $35~/month, not $850). 

[AlwaysFSX]

true, and most of these companies are still hiding the full cost of the device behind a monthly payment plan. (i.e. the 64gb 6s+ is advertised as $35~/month, not $850). 

Which mentally is a lot easier to stomach number than $850.

[Nececelery]

Why they got rid of the speakers on the front is beyond me. Stick a fingerprint scanner on the back or find a workaround, like having smaller speakers on either side of the scanner and don't make the scanner obnoxiously large. I think the front-facing speakers were the only truly standout feature for the One series, as other flagships have caught up to the sophisticated and sleek metal design, and now that the front-facers have gone I can't really see a reason to buy the phone.

 

It's like they thought "Hm, Apple... they're selling really well so we'll try to make our new model look pretty much like theirs and try and add some cooler features, like fast charging and a microSD slot, so people will buy the A9 instead of the 6/6s." But it's not worked because of the smaller battery size, downgraded chip, and lack of front-facing speakers. Not to mention the fact they're about a month too late for that ship to sail.

 

To be honest, I don't care that it looks like an iPhone. HTC were the first to create a metal, unibody design for a phone, so good on them for trying to claim it back. I hate that a lot of consumers are trying to push for a quad HD display, which just isn't necessary for a 5 inch screen where ppi is sufficient. 1080p still looks amazing, and doesn't cause a hit to the battery life, so I see no issues with them continuing with the trend, and I bloody well hope they don't conform to the rise of quad HD displays.

 

I do like the introduction of the fingerprint scanner, but oh boy did they poorly execute it. It's like they just shoved it on the front somewhere, following in Apple's and Samsung's footsteps, and didn't think about the placement at all. Yeah it looks as though it works, and pretty quickly at that, but it just clutters the phone imo. The phone becomes unnecessarily tall because of the obnoxious HTC branding on the front, resulting in a large black bar that just doesn't need to be there, combined with two sets of buttons to control the phone itself: the large hardware phone button, and the three software buttons at the bottom of the UI. I mean, why? Why do I need two home buttons? I really don't. Place the fingerprint sensor on the back or find another way to integrate it, because having two home buttons just looks pointless and unplanned and uncoordinated.

 

I haven't got an opinion on the camera yet because I have nothing to go by. But if it's not at least a marginal step up from the M8 and M9, then what's the point really. Yes one could argue that not everyone wants a top-of-the-range camera on their smartphone, and you could argue that HTC are aiming for that market and audience - a middle range smartphone. But this would seem an excuse because it appears as though HTC aren't aiming for that market at all with this device, judging by the price point.

 

If this was HTC's new middle-range phone that competes with phones priced mid-range, then I'd say it's not done too bad. Props to them for trying and it's not a complete disaster. It retains its good quality, the speakers are still dolby supported, it introduced a finger print scanner and fast charging, and the screen is still damn good. If it's their new almost-flagship phone that's not that much cheaper than the M9 then I'd say it's a bit of a waste of time. They should've just waited skipped the A9 and focussed entirely on the 2016 flagship.

 

I almost feel sorry for them for receiving quite a bit of hate recently, as their phones just aren't living up to the high expectations that have been set - by them! But, this isn't the end of the line for HTC, and it would be an exaggeration to say they're doomed. Of course they can pick themselves up from this, and I believe they will, and when they do introduce a new flagship that has all of the features their customers have been begging them to integrate then my gosh will that be a good year for HTC!