HTC One M9 - Specifications. New HTC One M9 – Review of the updated smartphone from HTC Pros and cons of HTC One M9

Taiwanese company HTC has released a flagship model HTC One M9 almost simultaneously with the Chinese by Samsung- a global giant in the production of high-quality phones, which presented its next model Samsung Galaxy. It's not easy to compete with a manufacturer to which HTC once lost the palm. Both models went on sale in March 2015 at approximately the same price and with equal technical performance. For HTC, winning this high-tech race is very important; it will determine the future of the company.

Design of the HTC One M9 smartphone

HTC smartphones have always been ahead of their rivals in terms of design beauty. The company brings mobile devices with the Android operating system to perfection in design, using not only metallic shades of the body, unlike rivals LG and Samsung. But according to established HTC traditions, each new version of the device is a direct successor to the previous one.

In terms of design, the M9 model is practically a twin of the M8 model. If you put them side by side for comparison, then at a distance they are practically indistinguishable from each other. Everything changes when you pick them up. The body has become thinner. The smooth, slippery M8 model tries to slip out of your hands, while the M9 has a brutal, rough and hard body that is pleasant to the touch. It lies in the palm of your hand confidently and firmly. Models in golden and silver colors are especially attractive. Their owner will feel like the owner of a luxury device.

Another seemingly minor design change can be considered more of a minus than a plus. The power button is now located with right side under the volume buttons. They are very similar and can be easily confused. Although there is an opinion that this makes the power button easier to reach. It has a special shape to make it easier to feel.

Technical specifications of HTC One M9

• Dimensions - 144.6x69.7x9.61 mm;
• Weight - 157 grams;
• OS - Android 5.0.2 with HTC Sense 7.0 shell;
• Processor - 8-core, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994), big.LITTLE GTS architecture (4 cores ARM Cortex-A57 2.0 GHz + 4 cores ARM Cortex-A53 1.5 GHz);
• RAM - 3 GB;
• Data storage memory - 32 GB, support for microSD/HC/XC cards (128 GB);
• Screen - capacitive, Super LCD 3 matrix, 5-inch diagonal, resolution 1920x1080 pixels, pixel density per inch 441 ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 4;
• Interfaces - Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 (aptX codec), microUSB (USB 2.0), USB-OTG, DLNA, HDMI MHL 3.0, NFC, IR port, 3.5 mm headphone jack;
• Main camera - 20 MP, BSI sensor (Toshiba T4KA7), f/2.2 aperture, EGF 27.8 mm, sapphire coating, autofocus, dual two-color flash, 4K video recording;
• Front camera - HTC UltraPixel (4 MP), BSI matrix, f/2.0 aperture, EGF 26.8 mm, 1080p video recording;
• Radio - FM tuner with RDS;
• Sensors - accelerometer, Hall sensor, compass, gyroscope, light and proximity sensors;
• Network - GSM/GPRS/EDGE, HSPA/WCDMA, 4G-LTE (Cat.6);
• Battery - non-removable, lithium-ion, 2,840 mAh;
• Features: IPX3 splash protection.

HTC One M9 smartphone screen

The M9 model is equipped with a liquid crystal screen with bright, rich colors. The screen is three-dimensional, widescreen. The only pity is that the company cannot refuse the wide black frame bordering it, at the bottom of which is the campaign logo. This does not decorate it and takes up useful space.

Sound of HTC One M9

The smartphone has good loud sound with the BoomSound system. The convenient placement of the speakers eliminates the disadvantage of some smartphones, when the sound is muffled due to the fact that the speakers are covered by the palm. This is a great success for the developers. You can listen to music, watch videos, enjoying the clear sound and deep timbre of low notes without using headphones. This qualitative difference between the HTC One M9 and smartphones from other companies allows it to seriously compete with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and even iPhone devices.

HTC One M9 performance

Externally, the M8 and M9 models are very similar, and that’s where the similarities end. The new flagship of the company HTC One M9 is equipped with a powerful modern processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (previously Qualcomm Snapdragon 801), RAM has increased significantly, it is 3 GB (M8 RAM has 2 GB). Combination of 8-core 64-bit Snapdragon processor with Adreno 430 graphics chip will especially please fans computer games.

The process is instantaneous, everything literally flies. The one-piece aluminum body does not heat up. The owner should not be afraid of the device overheating when maximum load and do not turn it off for a long time. When testing the HTC One M9 at its maximum power, its performance exceeded that of its analogues, including the iPhone 6. This is proof of the quality of the phone and the professionalism of its developers.

HTC One M9 smartphone cameras

The main 20 MP camera is located on the back, the resolution is normal, but allows you to take beautiful, clear, bright pictures and even 4K video. For selfie fans, there is a front panel additional camera at 4 MP. Both cameras do their job perfectly and their quality will completely satisfy the most demanding buyer.

Battery and charge HTC One M9

An analysis of the battery performance showed that the developers still have work to do on it. The battery does not hold a charge well and discharges very quickly when watching videos, so it can create a real problem for the user. On average, during the same time, the user sees less than 40% charge, while Samsung and LG owners have more than 60%. Watching a 40-minute episode of a movie consumes 20% of the battery charge versus 9% on the Samsung Galaxy S6.

HTC One M9 Software

As for the software, the developers themselves believe that it requires improvement. The flagship model went on sale with the Android 5.0.2 operating system with an improved shell. For comfortable operation of the device, many themes are installed; you can change fonts, icons, background, and create your own themes. Decor individual design The device with the help of stickers and backgrounds for the back panel will make your phone unique, unlike others.

Advantages of the HTC One M9 smartphone

• Good technical indicators that bring the flagship model HTC M9 into the category of a top model based on Android;
• Beautiful, unique design, attractive color palette of the case;
• Ability to change the interface according to user needs;
• operating room Android system 5.0.

Disadvantages of the HTC One M9 smartphone

• Weak battery;
• The volume and lock buttons are not very convenient.

Price and video review of HTC One M9

The cost of the smartphone is 30,400-55,878 rubles. The average price of HTC One M9 is 37,900 rubles.

We present to your attention a video HTC review One M9:

So the owners HTC smartphone M8, satisfied with its performance, can switch to a more modern model - HTC M9, and also will not be disappointed. Apart from a rather weak battery, the phone has no other serious shortcomings. At the request of the client, the company guarantees the replacement of HTC M9 if any problems are detected with its operation in the first year of use.

Characteristics

• Class: company flagship
• Form factor: monoblock
• Case materials: aluminum case, plastic frame around the display, glass
• operating system: Android 5.0 Lollipop, HTC Sense 7.0
• Network: GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE Cat 6 (nanoSIM)
• Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994)
• Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz (Cortex-A53) and Quad-core 2 GHz (Cortex-A57)
• Graphics: Adreno 430
• RAM: 3 GB
• Data storage memory: 32 GB, card slot microSD memory(128 GB cards supported)
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.1 (A2DP, aptX, LE), microUSB connector (USB 2.0) for charging/synchronization, 3.5 mm for headset, HDMI (via microUSB), DLNA , NFC, IR port
• Screen: Super LCD3, 5”, capacitive, 1920x1080 pixels (FulldHD), automatic backlight level adjustment, Gorilla Glass 4
• Main camera: 20.1 MP, f/2.2, BSI, dual LED flash (works as a flashlight), sapphire crystal
• Front camera: 4 MP (UltraPixel technology), wide-angle (without autofocus), f/2.0, video recording in 1080p
• Navigation: GPS/GLONASS (A-GPS support)
• Sensors: accelerometer, position sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, barometer
• Battery: non-removable, Li-Pol, capacity 2840 mAh
• Dimensions: 144.6 x 70 x 9.6 mm
• Weight: 157 grams

Comparing HTC's latest flagship with smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Sony, Huawei, Lenovo, and so on, few people remember how it all began and what position HTC occupies today. Yes, perhaps the understanding that HTC, compared to the brands listed above, is a small but very proud manufacturer will not make you feel differently about the One M9, but this is precisely the secret of some successful and, on the contrary, unsuccessful solutions inherent in the HTC One M9. I will try to tell you about all the features of the smartphone and will start with a short story about the history of the company.

A long time ago, in 1997, HTC appeared - one of the galaxy of Asian ODM manufacturers portable devices. The headquarters were located in Taiwan, so the company is generally considered to be Taiwanese. At that time, HTC was engaged in the production of pocket personal computers (PDAs) for various brands; later the production was expanded and they also began to produce smartphones based on Windows Mobile. The company was a Microsoft development partner mobile devices(Hardware platform development partner) and was not deprived of contracts. HTC's largest customers have long been brands such as Hewlett Packard, Dell, Palm, Fujitsu Siemens and others. Later, the largest operators became partners cellular communication, and HTC began producing products for Vodafone, T-mobile, O2, Orange.

Thus, by the beginning of the 2000s, HTC was one of the leaders in the ODM market for devices on the Microsoft platform (then still on the first versions of the PocketPC mobile OS) and therefore decided to produce smartphones under some of its own brand in order to sell them directly. So in 2002 the Qtek brand appeared to promote its products under its own name, albeit a fictitious one, and in 2004 the Dopod brand appeared for sales in Asia. Technically, everything that was produced under the Qtek and Dopod brands were HTC products, and after some time both names were simplified, and HTC continued the production of communicators and smartphones under its own, focusing on this direction and gradually leaving the niche of ODM production.

In this short story, as you noticed, there is no large corporation or additional areas that the company would develop in parallel with the creation of smartphones under the HTC brand. I want to highlight a simple idea - against the backdrop of Apple, Samsung, LG, Lenovo, you can list them for a long time, HTC is a small manufacturer and brand. Of course, there is no need to remember this when we compare the next flagship from Apple or Samsung with the HTC flagship, because we are talking about the same segment. But it's worth remembering if you're looking at the One M9 and wondering, "why is there last year's design and where's all the innovation?" Yes, from time to time HTC pleases with really cool ideas, including the design and body of the One line, the Sense shell and Dot View cases, for example. But it must be taken into account that the company does not have the same resources for “innovation” and constant race in this area that diversified large manufacturers have. And therefore it is wrong to say that HTC, out of spite or from a lack of new ideas, takes the design of the old One M8 and implements it in the new M9. The reason is more prosaic - in order to remain a company that manages to compete virtually on equal terms with huge corporations, HTC in some respects adheres to a conservative position. And when it comes to a successful solution, which I think you can't argue is the design and overall idea of ​​​​the One M8 case, the obvious choice is to reuse a proven formula rather than invent something new.

Contents of delivery

The device comes in the usual flat box for the company's new models; the previous HTC One (M8) was exactly the same. Inside, in addition to a smartphone and a couple of paper instructions, there is a charging block, a wired stereo headset and a microUSB cable. The silicone case that came with the M8 is not here.

Design

The HTC One (M8) smartphone differed in design from the One (M7), although in general the models were made in the same style, and the M9 is in many ways a copy of the M8, if you don’t look closely. The body shape, dimensions, outline - all this remains unchanged, and it would be correct to say that from the point of view of its overall appearance, the HTC One M9 resembles the M8. However, there are also differences.

First, the One M8 has a screen with protective glass is located flush with the side edges, that is, neatly built into the aluminum “bath” of the case, while in the M9 the screen with glass is slightly raised above the aluminum base of the case. From the point of view of perception of the device, this change does not play any role; we simply see a different implementation of the placement of several body elements relative to each other. From a practical point of view, there is one drawback - dust may remain in the rim formed as a result of this type of connection of the body halves, and from time to time the rim will have to be blown out.

Secondly, the One M9 has different colors, and for one of them the method of processing the aluminum of the case is different. The dark gray and gold M9 features a smooth transition between the rear plane and the side ribs, just like the M8. The third color is a combination of a silver “back” and the side edges of a golden hue; here the transition between the planes is made more sharply. Some people will find this option more interesting, others, on the contrary, will like the smooth back, like in the M8.

I'm embarrassed to admit, but I liked the gold color of the HTC One M9 the most. It’s a shame, because just a couple of years ago I myself laughed at golden iPhones and this color seemed too pretentious and bright to me. Now, looking at the M9 in gold, I see the cool, bright, rich color of the gold-painted metal, and I just want to pick it up and start using the smartphone.

And I almost forgot, the new M9, like the One M8, perfectly disguises itself as a thermos!

In my opinion, the work that HTC has done to update the body design of the new flagship is quite sufficient. Yes, many will say that HTC is lazy and that the new device should have had a different design, but at the same time, do not forget that there are many people in the world who are ready, having once chosen something they like, to remain faithful this choice. The design of the HTC One M8 was undoubtedly successful, as was the selection of case materials and assembly. The company has taken the quality of performance and perception of mass smartphones (I'm not talking about Vertu and Tag Heuer now) to a new level and in the One M9 it simply adheres to this level.

Housing materials

The main material of the M9 body is aluminum. The base of the smartphone is made of it; the electronics, display and other elements are placed in it; above and below the screen there are inserts made of plastic to look like aluminum. There is also an insert made of plastic at the top end, where the IR port “window” is located.

The problem of placing antennas in the device was solved in the same way as in the previous smartphone. They are located outside the case in small plastic grooves on the “back” of the device.

As for possible scratches: if they remain, they are practically unnoticeable in everyday use. Over many months of use, my HTC One M8 has hardly lost its original appearance and looks exactly the same as the day I took it out of the box, if you don’t look closely, of course. Due to the use of aluminum, fingerprints and fingerprints are invisible on the body. From a practical point of view, the case in the HTC One M9 is a success: it is not only beautiful and impressive, but also does not force you to buy a case so that the device does not slip out of your hands or accidentally become covered with a network of clearly visible scratches.

Assembly

The use of a unibody case without removable elements (except for trays for a nanoSIM card and memory card) makes the next HTC One good in terms of build quality. There are no loose or creaking parts, no play of individual elements. The downside of this design is not the best maintainability.

Dimensions

The new HTC One M9 is almost identical in size to the company's previous device, the M8. Accordingly, the difference with the Samsung Galaxy S6 is also small, the latter is thinner, but at the same time slightly wider. Switching to M9 after huge shovels with screen diagonals in the region of 5.5-5.7 inches is a pleasure. However, in terms of dimensions, there is something to criticize HTC for. When most other manufacturers already make smartphones with thin side frames and compact areas at the top and bottom of the screen, HTC continues to use the proprietary “triple frame (TM)” layout, the margins on the left and right are almost 5 millimeters, and on the top and bottom – almost 2 centimeter

I would like to believe that in the next One the company will make every effort to optimize the layout of elements and fit the screen into thinner frames. An excellent design option for the M10, by the way, “surfaced” even before the release of the M9 as expectations for the new flagship.

Now let's compare the dimensions different smartphones, so that you can roughly understand the size of the HTC One M9 compared to other devices:

• Apple iPhone 6 (4.7”) – 138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm, 129 grams
• HTC One M8(5”) – 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm, 160 grams
• (5”) – 144.6 x 70 x 9.6 mm, 157 grams
• Meizu MX4(5.4”) – 144 x 75.2 x 8.9 mm, 147 grams
• Samsung Galaxy S6(5.1”) – 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm, 138 grams
• Xiaomi Mi4(5”) – 139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm, 149 grams

The device is quite comfortable to carry in the pockets of outerwear and in trousers or jeans; the smartphone lies comfortably in the hand and does not slip out.

Compared to HTC One M8

Compared to Meizu MX4 Pro

Compared to HTC One M7

Compared to Huawei Honor 6Plus

Controls

In terms of the location of the keys and the general organization of controls, the new HTC One M9 is practically no different from the M8. The smartphone has three on-screen buttons – “Back”, “Home” and “Recent applications”. There are two actions only for the Home key; in addition to the main task of returning to the main screen, you can call it by holding it Google service Now.

When you touch any of the buttons, the device vibrates slightly.

The power key was moved to the right side, right under the volume buttons, and this is very correct. Now you don’t need to reach for the top end to turn on the screen, if the double-tap option doesn’t suit you, the power button is located under the thumb of your right hand, and this is convenient (at least for right-handers).

One of the main control features is Motion Launch technology. Information from all sensors is transmitted to a special coprocessor, and any application receives this information immediately, without polling each sensor. Firstly, this allows you to save a little battery power, and secondly, it allows you to implement new control methods. Thanks to Motion Launch, the M9 has different options for unlocking the screen without the power key. Double tapping on the display will take you to the lock screen, swiping from left to right to the BlinkFeed screen, from right to left to the main screen, from top to bottom to voice control, from bottom to top - you will be taken to the screen on which you locked the device (game, application menu, some running program and so on). The device distinguishes all these actions best when you hold it in your hand in a vertical orientation, although if you turn it into landscape mode, they will also work, although not so clearly (everything except the double tap works fine). In addition, any of the unlocking options can be disabled in the screen settings if it bothers you.

Another convenient feature is to turn on the camera from a locked state - just rotate the device to landscape mode and press any volume key.

The volume key is located on the right edge, I can’t say anything special about it – it’s a quite convenient button with a familiar location. Near it is a tray for a microSD memory card. To install or remove a memory card, you need to use a needle or the supplied “clip”.

On the top left edge is a tray for a nanoSIM SIM card.

At the bottom end of the case there is a microUSB connector and a 3.5 mini-jack for headphones or a headset. In my opinion, the location of the mini-jack at the bottom is the most convenient and correct. If you listen to music on your smartphone and carry it in the pocket of your trousers, jeans or even a jacket, then it is most logical to put it in your pocket with the top end down, so that later, when you take the device out of your pocket, you do not need to grab it for use. And just in this position, the location of the 3.5 mm mini-jack at the bottom end is optimal.

On the front side there are speakers at the top and bottom; at the top there are also light and proximity sensors, a light indicator inscribed in the speaker grille and a 4 MP wide-angle front camera.

Screen

The HTC One M9 has a Super LCD3 display; most of its characteristics are the same as last year's model (M8). Screen diagonal – 5"", resolution – 1920x1080 pixels (FullHD), pixel density – 441 ppi. Screen with maximum viewing angles. No matter what angle you tilt it at, diagonally, edges or ends, the picture is not distorted. There is a good margin of brightness, although a little lower by eye than in the M8. In the sun the display remains readable.

Color rendition is close to natural, but even calmer than in the M8, and this, in my opinion, will be a controversial point for some users. Personally, I like the color rendition in the new M9; I’m generally a supporter of screens with the most calm color gamut, and the paler it is, let’s say, the better. But, on the other hand, if some manufacturers offer the user the opportunity to choose and manual settings brightness, contrast and color temperature of the display, then HTC does not provide such functionality. And when choosing One M9, you must understand that the screen will be exactly the same as you see it when you first get acquainted with the device, it cannot be reconfigured. Therefore, before buying a smartphone, it would be logical to look at it “live”.

Automatic brightness adjustment works, in general, well, although from time to time you want to raise the brightness from the value that is set automatically.

The smartphone screen supports up to ten simultaneous touches, as well as operation with gloves. If you use the device with wet hands, there will be no problems either; the display responds well to such presses.

Below you can take a look at a comparison of the old and new generation HTC One screens.

Top HTC One M9, bottom HTC One M8

Camera

One of the main differences between the HTC One M9 and last year's model is a completely new main camera module with dual LED flash of different colors and a sensor resolution of 20 megapixels. For those who, having opened the review, immediately went to this point, I will write the following: the camera in the HTC One M9 is better than in the M8 and M7 in terms of picture detail (naturally), still very fast, but slightly worse in terms of automatic balance white and working in low light conditions. Yes, the One M9 is inferior in terms of camera to devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 or Note 4, but, in general, the module turned out to be quite good, and for HTC smartphones it’s simply excellent. Now let's move on to the story about the camera.

For the main camera, the HTC One M9 uses a Toshiba T4KA7 sensor with back-side illumination (BSI) with a resolution of 20.1 MP. Sensor size – 1/2.4”, pixel size – 1.12 nm, other specifications can be viewed. The characteristics are as follows: f/2.2, 27.8 mm lenses, autofocus, video recording in 4K resolution and sapphire crystal to protect the camera module.

The front camera also has a back-illuminated sensor; it uses a module with a resolution of 4 ultrapixels and proprietary HTC UltraPixel technology, f/2.0, 26.8 mm lenses, video recording in resolutions up to 1080p.

Accordingly, there are no longer “ultrapixels” for the main camera and a tiny resolution, and there are no longer two cameras on the back of the device.

I’ll tell you a little about the operating modes of the main camera.

Automatic shooting mode (Auto). In Auto mode, you can adjust ISO, exposure (EV), white balance and choose from 15 overlay effects. The camera settings also set the aspect ratio of the frame: widescreen (16:9), normal (10:7) or square (1:1), a grid for ease of shooting, saving geotags, self-timer, contrast values, saturation, image sharpness and retouch strength for pictures. All settings can be saved in a separate profile with its own name and turned on if necessary. There can be several profiles.

Frames taken in Auto mode lend themselves to the most changes: you can add various graphic effects, overlay one image on top of another, make collages, or even just draw on top of the photo by hand. In terms of the number of picture settings, the editor built into HTC One M9 is comparable to those available in Google Play paid applications.

bokeh. A new shooting mode with a blurred background effect, however, the logic of its operation is not very different from modes with the ability to change focus. The camera takes several frames in a short time, alternately focusing first on the foreground and then on the background, and then carefully blurs the background. This creates the bokeh effect. To be honest, I didn't see much of a difference when shooting a close-up subject in Bokeh mode versus Auto mode. Perhaps with new firmware the bokeh in such photographs will become more pronounced.

Double Shot. In this mode, the screen is divided into two halves, the slider between them allows you to make one of the halves larger and the other narrower. On one half of the screen there is an image from the front camera, on the other - from the main one. You can take a photo from two cameras at once, or alternately.

Photo kiosk. The mode is for the front camera only, and in it you take a series of four self-portraits, then the photos are stitched together into one frame, square, rectangular or elongated in width. I thought this mode was very cool, it would seem nothing special, but for fooling around and taking a series of photos, especially with a loved one or friends, it’s just perfect.

Manual shooting mode (M). One of the camera features in the One M8 is also implemented in the new M9 - manual shooting mode. In this mode, you can change the following parameters: white balance, exposure, ISO, shutter speed, focus. White balance is adjustable in the range from 2300K to 7500K, ISO values ​​in the range of 100-1600, shutter speed in the range from 1/8000 to 2 seconds.

The most important thing is the ability to set the shutter speed and manually adjust the focal length. This is not focusing on an object by tapping on the screen, but choosing a fixed distance at which focusing will occur. Thanks to manual mode, you can shoot well in low light, compensating for the lack of light with minimum ISO values ​​and a long shutter speed. Naturally, in this case it is better to shoot from some kind of support, but the very possibility of such shooting significantly expands the limits of the conditions for shooting on the HTC One M9. Where a smartphone without manual mode will produce either a overexposed and noisy picture or a black spot, with the M9, with the right skill, you can take a good shot.

Below are examples of photographs taken in manual mode:

The text shooting mode increases image sharpness to the detriment of color reproduction and other parameters; there is also a separate macro mode. I’ll say right away that in terms of macro photography, the new M9 is inferior to last year’s M8 - the minimum focusing distance in the new model has become longer.

The HDR mode seemed to me to work quite well - the photos in it do not look too bright or too contrasty, on the contrary, there is practically no visible excessive interference from electronics.

Below I will give examples of pictures in different modes for three smartphones: HTC One M8, HTC One M9 and Meizu MX4 Pro. The latter is taken as one of the standards for shooting. If you don't take top-end devices like the Apple iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung Galaxy S6/S6 Edge, the MX4 Pro provides very good quality shooting. In addition, it also has a 20 MP module, so the comparison is quite correct.

Shooting during the day

Shooting at night

Shooting indoors

Text

Macro mode and close-up shooting of objects

“Crops” of photos from different modes

I’ll also just give you some photos taken on the HTC One M9 in good sunny weather:

Front-camera. We can say that the main camera of the HTC One M8, with a number of reservations, has moved to the front panel of the HTC One M9. I repeat, in the M9 the front module has a resolution of 4 ultrapixels, f/2.0, 26.8 mm, pixel size – 2 micrometers, sensor size – 1/3”, sensor model – OmniVision OV4688. Despite the lower resolution (4 MP versus 5 MP in the One M8), the front camera in the M9 takes better photos. The sensor size and increased pixel size do their job - the frames on the M9 are richer, deeper, more detailed.

Video recording. Video in standard mode is recorded in a maximum resolution of 3940x2160 pixels (4k), H.264, recording speed - 30 frames per second (variable), bitrate - 42 Mbps, sound recording is in stereo mode, recording quality - 96 Kbps. During recording, you can manually change the focus point, and there is also tracking autofocus. The camera does not have optical stabilization, so when shooting video, the picture shakes, this is especially noticeable if you were filming on the go or recording a video at the maximum zoom level.

Except standard mode, there is a mode of slow motion (resolution 1280x720 pixels) and accelerated (1920x1080 pixels).

In my opinion, the camera in the HTC One M9 is a visible progress of the company. Yes, in some moments, when there is a lack of light, the M8 turns out to be better in terms of the overall transmission of the plot, but otherwise I like the camera in the M9 more: there is better detail, higher clarity, the white balance is also well set, and, importantly, the camera is still very fast: shooting occurs instantly.

Comparison of cameras (Roman Belykh)

I asked Roman Belykh to look through all the photos presented in the review and express his opinion regarding the camera in the new HTC One M9. Below are his detailed comments:

I think everyone is well aware of the capabilities of the HTC One M8 camera, so I will comment on frames from it to a minimum. It is worth noting that shots taken with the M8 camera almost always look perfect on the screen of the smartphone itself, which cannot be said about them after viewing them on the monitor. That is, if you are not going to organize a “view” of photographs on a large monitor or TV, then know that the quality of the M8 frames is enough for you “beyond your eyes”.

As always, I'll start with viewing angles. Meizu had the widest angle, followed by HTC One M8. Surprisingly, the M9 showed the narrowest viewing angle. To clarify, to get a wide angle on the M8, you need to switch the camera to 16:9 aspect ratio mode.

Shooting during the day

It’s unlikely that anyone will argue that the highest quality shots can be taken at this time of day: excellent full lighting (not spot), minimum shadows when shooting in cloudy weather.

Naturally, the detail of photos taken on the HTC One M8 leaves much to be desired: blur in the corners, artifacts, and so on. In my opinion, the Meizu camera has the best detail; the picture is cleaner than the picture obtained from the HTC M9 camera. Actually, this will be true for all other filming options.

The white balance is most accurate on Meizu MX4 Pro and HTC One M8. The M9's footage almost always has warm tones. Sometimes the M9's camera gets so confused that the blue color turns blue - typical mistake with white balance.

Exposure, on the other hand, works slightly better on the M9. At least the picture is slightly less contrasty than on the Meizu MX4 Pro. However dynamic range clearly wider on Meizu: in case of image editing, more information can be extracted from the photos of the MX4 Pro.

Total: first place - Meizu, with a minimal margin - HTC One M9, somewhere far behind - HTC One M8.

HDR mode

I used to be surprised by the cool HDR effect on the HTC One M8, now I had to be surprised by the HDR on the M9. Photos with this effect are definitely cooler on the M9 - dark areas are whitened and light areas are darkened. Perhaps more than necessary, but it looks cool. The HDR mode on Meizu is, let's say, gentle, but it also looks good.

Total: first place - HTC One M9 - the best, second - HTC One M8, third - Meizu.

Macro mode

The minimum distance to the object for all devices is approximately the same. Photos come out more beautiful on the HTC One M8. I can say for sure because I myself owned this model and often photographed cockroach insects: excellent sharpness, strong background blur. Another question is the details. Of course, there are more of them in the footage of Meizu and HTC One M9. You can “sprinkle” it so that you can see the number of hairs on the heads of the boogers :) But seriously speaking, I would choose the MX4 Pro camera.

Total: first place - Meizu, second - HTC One M8, third - HTC One M9.

Night mode

If we talk about the overall impression of the picture, the clear leader is the HTC One M8 with its native ultrapixels, which allow you to extract maximum light from the picture. However, you will have to forget about the details of the image.

In pictures from Meizu there is a little less light, but better detail, less “suppressed” noise.

Total. If you want a bright picture and detail is not important to you, then you won't find anything better than the HTC One M8. Therefore, the M8 camera takes first place in this test. The second is Meizu MX4 Pro, and the third is One M9.

Office shooting mode

I called the section that way because offices are usually not very light, but not dark either, that is, lighting that makes you think about the camera software.

I liked the white balance of Meizu and HTC One M8, M9 is again weird, painting everything in warm tones. Detailing is also better on Meizu, despite the fact that all cameras are starting to make a fair amount of noise.

Total: first place - Meizu, second - HTC One M9, third - HTC One M8.

Text shooting mode

If you're suddenly going to shoot text with the M8, you're doing it wrong. In this case, it is necessary to have a camera with the maximum resolution of the module. The M9 and MX4 Pro are suitable for this role.

It’s difficult to say exactly who took better pictures, but subjectively, Meizu MX4 Pro did it a little better: less soap, more details.

Total: first place - Meizu, second (but not far) - HTC M9.

Video shooting

The HTC One M9 model can shoot video in resolutions up to 4K (to be precise, up to Ultra HD 4K) at 30 fps. File resolution – MP4, codec – H.264, bitrate – up to 45 Mbit/s. Stereo sound.

The picture at maximum resolution is of high quality, but everything is “killed” by the lack of optical stabilization. Regular FullHD video is completely uninteresting: extremely poor detail, constantly floating focus, absolutely zero dynamic range.

The situation with night photography is called a pixel bacchanalia. It's better to watch it once than to explain it a hundred times. Pay attention to the angles of the frame.

Conclusion

My opinion is this. This time, the HTC camera has become much better than it was in the M8 model (at least in terms of resolution), but it does not even reach the flagship cameras of Chinese manufacturers: the software still needs to be tweaked and tweaked.

Sound

To be honest, I didn't notice much of a difference in sound between the new M9 and the old M8. And we are talking not only about the sound in stereo speakers, but also about the sound in headphones. Everything is just as good, in my opinion.

Several profiles have been added for BoomSound - “music” and “cinema”, the sound is slightly different, and indeed, if you plan to watch a series or movie on your smartphone, it is better to set the “cinema” profile, with it the sound will be larger and richer. I don’t know what else to add here - the device produces great sound through the speakers, and it can easily be used as a compact audio system for a small room. If before, when you went on a business trip, you took a small wireless speaker with you to listen to music in a hotel, for example, then with the M9 you don’t have to do this; the device provides more than decent sound quality.

Autonomous operation

The smartphone uses a non-removable Li-Pol battery with a capacity of 2840 mAh, which is slightly more than the HTC One M8, but you also need to take into account the new, more powerful platform.

I've been using the HTC One M9 for a week, and my overall impression is that the device's battery life is exactly the same as the One M8. Taking the One M9 off the charger at 9-10 am and using it actively all day, I end up with a completely discharged smartphone in the late afternoon or night, depending on the activity of use. On average, the load is as follows - 40-60 minutes of calls, 10-20 text messages, Gmail, 3-4 hours of listening to music and about 1-2 hours active use mobile Internet (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook messenger, browser).

The smartphone has normal mode Energy Saver, which, when turned on, can save battery power by lowering the screen brightness level, turning off data transfer and vibration.

And, like the HTC One M8, there is a critical power saving mode. In this mode, the processor operates at a reduced frequency, most sensors and sensors are turned off, no data is transmitted when the screen is turned off, vibration is turned off and the screen brightness level is reduced. Moreover, in this mode, you have access to a limited set of applications, namely phone, mail (so far only configured through a proprietary client), messages, calendar and calculator. You cannot run other programs or add new ones to the list of those allowed to work in this mode.

Thanks to the new platform, the device supports fast charging, so the battery in the HTC One M9 can be charged to 60 percent in 50 minutes. However fast charging supported only with a special adapter, which is not included in the basic package and must be purchased separately.

Platform, memory

The smartphone is built on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform (MSM8994) with support for 64-bit architecture, a quad-core processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz (Cortex-A53) and a quad-core processor with a frequency of 2 GHz (Cortex-A57), graphics subsystem (GPU) - Adreno 430. 3 GB device random access memory and 32 GB of internal memory for storing user data, as well as a slot for a memory card.

HTC One M9 is one of the first devices to go on sale on the latest platform from Qualcomm. In addition to the M9, this chipset powers the LG G Flex 2, Xiaomi Mi Note Pro and possibly the LG G4 and Sony Xperia Z4.

There are no performance issues with the device. Everything, from the shell and launching programs to games like GTA San Andreas, works quickly and without the slightest delay at maximum graphics settings. Below are the test results of the HTC One M9 in various benchmarks; to be honest, I simply have nothing to add. The smartphone is as fast as possible.

Now about heating. This is one of the problems with the Snapdragon 810 chipset, at least judging by the news online. In the M9, the heating (information taken from the battery) is about 45-46 degrees, if you play San Andreas for about half an hour at maximum graphics settings, running the stress test built into the Antutu benchmark in the background. The body of the smartphone feels very warm. If you look at the heating indicators, there are devices where these values ​​are 5 or even 10 degrees higher, but when you take these smartphones in your hand, you will not feel the same heating of the body as with the M9. The reason is aluminum. Where another plastic device retains some of the heat inside, the M9 takes everything onto the aluminum base of the case, and, in fact, when you hold the smartphone in your hands, you feel the same 45 degrees, which in another device is only partially transferred to the plastic case.

With daily use, the heating is practically not felt. If you turn on Wi-Fi and start updating 30 applications from Google Play, the heating will be noticeable, but, again, how often do you update 20-30 programs on your smartphone at the same time? Not too often, I think.

Interfaces

The smartphone operates in GSM (850/900/1800/1900), HSDPA (850/900/1900/2100) and LTE FDD bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 20, 28 and TDD bands 38, 40, 41. LTE also works in Russia. You can turn wireless interfaces on and off through settings or by adding main screen one of several widgets, as well as using the notification curtain, which has a convenient menu with the ability to display exactly those switches that you need on the main screen.

To synchronize with a PC and transfer data, the included microUSB cable is used. The characteristics of the smartphone indicate the version USB interface 2.0, however, when you connect HTC One M9 to your computer (Windows 7), the system displays a notification that this device may work faster if connected via USB 3.0. Transferring a 1GB file to a smartphone via USB 2.0 takes about 40 seconds.

The smartphone has support for USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) – you can connect flash drives and other storage devices, for example, a camera, to the device via an adapter to transfer pictures from it to the device’s memory. The system in HTC One allows you to read and copy information from flash drives formatted in file systems FAT/FAT32.

Bluetooth. Built-in Bluetooth 4.1 module with A2DP and LE support.

Wi-Fi (802.11 a/ac/b/g/n). HTC One M9 uses a dual-band Wi-Fi module. You can leave it to work automatic mode, or you can manually specify the operating frequency band for Wi-Fi - only 5 GHz or only 2.4 GHz. The module works flawlessly. IN additional settings you can set the mode maximum performance(uncheck “Wi-Fi optimization”), and enable or disable automatic connection to the last saved active network. When the module is operating, the device does not heat up.

Wi-Fi router . The HTC One M9 has the ability to “share” a 2G/3G/4G Internet connection via Wi-Fi. On the menu wireless networks select the option “ General access To mobile internet" and then "Wi-Fi router". Here, when starting for the first time, you need to select a network name and password (WPA2). You can also set the maximum number of connections to your smartphone (1-8) or separately prohibit or allow each new connection. When the utility is enabled, you can connect to the Internet, “distributed” through Wi-Fi smartphone, from any device, be it a laptop, another smartphone or tablet, and so on.

DLNA, HDMI. The smartphone supports DLNA technology: if you have a DLNA-compatible media server and other devices at home, you can use HTC One M9 with them. For example, output sound or video from the device directly to the TV. The M9 also has HDMI support, the connector is combined with microUSB (MHL), and in order to use HDMI, you will need to buy a special cable.

NFC. Like previous flagships, the HTC One M9 has NFC support, however, there are still few use cases for this module. Specifically, HTC uses this module to quickly connect a smartphone with wireless Bluetooth accessories (speaker, HTC mini+ remote control). And don’t forget that with the help of NFC and the Yandex.Metro program (or analogues) you can check on your smartphone for 55,000 rubles the number of remaining trips on your metro pass! I would like to believe that a version of the Wallet application will appear for the M9 in the near future, this will allow NFC to be used more actively.

Navigation

The M9 has GPS/Glonass support; searching for satellites takes a minimum amount of time, from 5 to 15 seconds. The device comes pre-installed Google programs Maps and Google Navigation. Google Navigation is used as the main navigation program.

For convenient work with a smartphone when it is in a car mount, there is a special “In the car” mode. When you turn it on, you see large icons on the desktop, and there are also special enlarged versions of the main applications: The address book, music, settings, dialing. If desired, you can add shortcuts to other programs in this menu. In this mode, you can use a special assistant, a utility that performs voice commands like “Call + contact name”, “Play + track name” and some others. It's worth paying attention to this program if you're going to use the HTC One M9 while driving; it really works and recognizes commands quite well if you speak them more or less loudly and clearly.

HTC Dot View Case

A brilliant idea born in the wake of the popularity of pixel themes, cases first appeared for the HTC One M8 model, and it is logical that they are also available for the M9. In appearance, Dot View is an ordinary plastic book-size case, with a silicone lid perforated with blind holes. There are several colors and types of cases available to choose from - with a transparent silicone back (as in the photo) or with an opaque plastic one. In Russia, Dot View will be sold with a transparent “back”, in dark blue, light blue, pink and gray. Estimated cost – 3,000 rubles.

For those who don’t yet know what Dot View is, let me remind you. The highlight of the case is that it not only protects the smartphone body, but also displays various notifications. The notifications themselves are drawn on the screen in pixel font, and we see them through the perforated lid. It looks amazing, and, importantly, from a practical point of view, everything is also convenient. Double tap on the cover of the case and you can see the time and weather. Swipe from top to bottom during a call - hang up, from bottom to top - answer the call. The lid also displays notifications when a timer or alarm is triggered, and icons appear Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and some other applications if they have new messages, as well as new text messages and missed calls.

In standby mode, a double tap on the lid displays the time and picture, which is selected in the Dot View application. The image can be static or animated. If on the M8 the information from the case was comfortably read only indoors or in the evening, then on the M9 everything is clearly visible even during the day – the screen brightness was increased especially for this mode.

In general, Dot View is one of the exclusive features of the M9, like the M8. This is such an unexpected wow effect from such a simple idea that it’s hard to believe.

Software, HTC Sense 7.0

The smartphone runs Android 5.0 and uses proprietary Sense 7.0 as its shell. IN new version“sens” there are a number of important changes, for some of them, such as design themes, which were very successful and implemented incredibly correctly and competently, I would like to hug and thank the developers. For others, such as the “oblique” font in the clock widget, I want to throw a rotten tomato. I'll talk about all the changes in the new Sense 7.0. in a separate article, it will be published on Friday or Monday.

Conclusion

Over the course of a week of using the HTC One M9, I had no complaints about the quality of signal reception. The device catches the network well, the sound in the conversational speaker is clear, without wheezing or extraneous noise, the volume reserve is small, but still present. The vibration alert is relatively strong and is felt, despite the size and weight of the device, in most situations. The volume of the ringing speakers is above average, while, as in the case of the M8, I cannot say that the speakers are super loud, but this is compensated for high quality sound.

There is no exact information on the price of HTC One M9 in Russia and the start date of official sales, so I will only talk about preliminary information. There is a high probability that the HTC One M9 will go on sale here at the end of April, the cost will be around 55,000 rubles, plus or minus 2,000-3,000 rubles up or down. That is, in terms of price, the smartphone will be between the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.

Yes, we can confidently say that in terms of the combination of characteristics and price, the HTC One M9 loses to the Samsung Galaxy S6, but let's go back to the beginning of the material. Unlike large corporations, HTC looks, let's say, a little modest compared to them. And the mere fact that from year to year HTC flagships are compared to flagships largest producers, means a lot. I don't want to say that HTC is a small poor company, and there are predatory sharks around, but if you look at it objectively, HTC is firmly holding on to its user in this competitive market, and M9 is another step towards not the mass user, but two categories - people , who like HTC, and people who like high-quality, well-made things, not plastic rattles. With the first category, everything is approximately clear: One M9 is all the best from the previous model with a new camera module and on a new platform, successful solutions have been preserved to the maximum. For the second category, the HTC One M9 received a gold color, incredibly cool and impressive in real life, a 20 MP camera module, so as not to scare people away with “technology” and not try to explain the power of four ultrapixels, as well as another update to Sense, simple, beautiful and an easy-to-use shell that looks organic even on Android 5.0.

Thus, the HTC One M9 smartphone is another step by the company towards a perfectly balanced Android-based smartphone. Yes, one can ironically note that the company has been moving in this direction for a long time, but it is also impossible not to note the progress. It may be slow, but HTC is moving forward. The M9 has a normal camera module, the body itself has become even better and more impressive, while remaining practical, the speakers have also been improved, the new platform was chosen even with a margin, I would say. Among the shortcomings - not the most universal color profile for the screen, maximum realism of the picture without “embellishment” will not appeal to everyone, as well as wide frames, I would like to see from HTC not just filigree work with metal, but also new solutions in the design of the front panel, with thin frames. The camera has never been a strong point of the company's devices, it seems that you just have to come to terms with this, but here, too, the progress compared to other models from HTC is obvious and visible to the eye.

Is it worth exchanging last year's M8 for the new HTC One M9? To be honest, I wouldn't unless you really want a new 20MP camera because the ultrapixel detail is lacking. But if you have any other smartphone from HTC, from the M7 to models from the Desire line, be sure to take a closer look at the HTC One M9 when you choose a new device. Yes, perhaps this is not the most flagship flagship on the Android smartphone market, but the company has created a balanced device in a well-made metal case.

The announcement of the HTC One M9 was received, to put it mildly, coolly - the company planned to update the hardware platform and camera of the smartphone, and, at first glance, left everything else unchanged. On the other hand, modern wisdom says – it works, don’t touch it! In addition, the average user has long lost interest in annually updating smartphones, and with flagships, in principle, there is no such need - they have enough performance reserves for several years. So maybe you shouldn’t try to come up with something new and minor improvements are enough to win the hearts of the consumer? Let's figure it out.

If you put HTC One M8 and M9 next to each other – last year’s and the latest flagships of the company, only a company employee will be able to tell them apart the first time. But the difference is really minimal - this is not Samsung with their Galaxy S5 and S6, which look like products from different manufacturers; maximum continuity is preserved here.

The general idea of ​​the design, design and arrangement of elements remained almost unchanged. The body of the HTC One M9 is made from a single piece of aluminum, and the texture back cover preserves the natural appearance of metal.

Not much space is given to the display on the front side - there are wide plastic grilles at the top and bottom, under which the famous stereo speakers are hidden, and the company logo still flaunts above the bottom, lengthening the body by a couple of extra millimeters.

There is a small indicator light hidden under the top grille. To the right of it is a slot for sensors and a large front camera lens.

Trays for memory cards and NanoSIM are located in the upper part of the sides, MicroUSB and 3.5 mm are crowded at the bottom, and a glossy black insert on the upper end hides infrared port for controlling household appliances.

Important changes compared to the HTC One M9 can be listed point by point.

First. The power key, after many years, has returned to its place; it is located under the separate volume buttons on the right. This makes using your smartphone much more convenient – ​​you don’t have to reach for the key on top. Of course, I would like the button to be located a little higher, just under the thumb, but this place is already occupied by the volume keys.

Second. HTC has changed the shape of the side edges of the One M9. In M8 they were rounded, but now they are sharper. As in the Galaxy S6 Edge, you need to get used to the relatively sharp sides; personally, I stopped paying attention to this feature after a couple of days of use.

Third. The main feature of the One M8 was dual camera. They decided to abandon it and replace it with a regular module. It protrudes slightly above the lid, but it looks worse in photos than in real life. In addition, the lens is protected by sapphire glass, so you don’t have to worry about the safety of the camera.

An additional change is the new colors of the case, to which fashionable gold has been added. HTC One M9 can be completely gold (Gold on Gold), silver with gold sides (Gold on Silver), or completely black (Gunmetal Gray). All colors have the same lid texture.

Otherwise, One M9 is one of the most metallic smartphones on the market, the abundance of metal is clearly felt in the hands. As before, it is larger than other models with 5-inch screens, but it can be operated normally with one hand.

Display

HTC did not pursue high resolutions and installed a traditionally good SuperLCD3 display with a diagonal of 5 inches and a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (441 ppi) in its flagship. The screen is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

The screen brightness varies from 8 to 418 cd/m², the measured contrast is 1:773. The quality of the factory calibration is at a good level - the color gamut corresponds to the sRGB space, the color temperature is slightly too high, and the gamma curve has slight differences.

The screen supports operation with gloves, which is useful in the cold season. The ability to control gestures has not gone away - to turn the screen on or off, just double tapping. In addition, with a simple swipe you can immediately unlock the screen, open the BlinkFeed feed, or launch voice control.

The screen makes a very pleasant impression. Automatic brightness adjustment works correctly in most cases, the backlight reserve is sufficient both for working in the dark and for a bright sunny day, and the oleophobic coating allows you to quickly remove fingerprints. The display has a very calm color rendition - the colors are as close to natural as possible, there are no flashy bright shades that are typical of AMOLED displays and individual IPS matrices. The screen of the HTC One M9 leaves only pleasant impressions.

Hardware platform

HTC, as a rule, uses the latest developments from Qualcomm as the basis for its flagships. This year, the company did not change traditions - the heart of the One M9 is the eight-core 64-bit Snapdragon 810. It is complemented by 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, the volume of which can be increased using memory cards.

There is also support for all current standards mobile networks, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, DLNA, Bluetooth 4.1 (apt-X), GPS+GLONASS, NFC, infrared and even FM radio. For " full set“The only thing missing from the HTC One M9 is wireless charging, but given the all-metal back, this is not possible.

Naturally, with such a filling, the smartphone ranks first in most benchmarks and works as quickly as possible during normal use. GPU Adreno always gets good optimization in different games, so there will be no problems with them either. Moreover, for most tasks the existing performance will even be excessive. There is no 2K screen, so there is nowhere to use the available “power” (except for games).

The only negative point is the heating of the case. During normal use, the M9 remains cool, but as soon as you play a little resource-demanding games or run a couple of tests, it warms up noticeably. Of course, it doesn’t burn your hand, but you can feel the heat.

Calls, multimedia

The appearance of BoomSound speakers in HTC flagship smartphones allowed them to stand out among their peers. In One M9, the speakers remain in place. Subjectively, they have not changed over the year. They can still be called the best solution, if you like to watch YouTube videos or play fast-paced games without headphones. They play loudly, quite loudly and clearly. When playing music through headphones, things are also good - the sound is clear, spacious, without extraneous noise and with a good volume reserve.

The HTC One M9 also has no problems with telephone functions, with the only exception that you need to select the melody a little more carefully - when the smartphone is in your trouser pockets, the sound is muffled, so you can accidentally miss a call. The vibration alert is average in strength and can be felt in pockets and when the device is lying nearby on the table. In talk mode, the speaker has a normal volume, in most situations it is sufficient, there is a small margin. No problems with network signal reception were found during testing.

Operating system and shell

The smartphone runs the latest Android versions 5.0.2 Lollipop with proprietary HTC Sense 7.0 interface. It may seem that no visible changes have occurred in the shell over the course of a year, they are simply hidden.

One of the innovations is the ability to customize on-screen keys, which can add a fourth button. In addition, a theme store has appeared. They allow you not only to change the appearance of icons, but affect absolutely everything - wallpaper, ringtones, fonts, and even the design of system control keys.

One of the innovations is hidden on the desktop. This is a widget that collects frequently used applications and just installed programs. The arrangement of icons changes depending on the frequency of use of specific programs and your location - this solution turns out to be convenient.

Working hours

From the built-in 2840 mAh battery, the HTC One M9 runs confidently for a day under average load, showing three to four hours of screen operation. This is a normal indicator for modern flagships, which will probably improve slightly with the release of updates.

Cameras

The potentially interesting Duo Camera with ultra-pixels turned out to be the main drawback of the One M8; the HTC One M9 uses a regular module for the main camera, and the ultra-pixels have moved to front camera.

The main camera uses a BSI sensor with a resolution of 20 megapixels. The flash is dual-tone LED, the 27.8mm f/2.2 lens is protected by sapphire crystal. The front camera has the following characteristics: 4 MP, HTC UltraPixel, BSI, f/2.0, 26.8mm.

Compared to the M8, progress is visible - the quality of the images has really improved, at least due to increased detail.

In practice, under normal non-ideal shooting conditions, everything is not so simple. We can certainly say that the camera in the HTC One M9 is inferior to the best modern photo flagships like the Galaxy S6 or iPhone 6. In difficult conditions, the device can miss focusing and incorrectly determine the white balance. In addition, you need to work on focusing speed - in this parameter the smartphone is also inferior to its competitors.

The above will be important if the quality of the smartphone camera plays an important role for you, and the pictures are studied and processed on a computer. Shots taken in clear weather look good. Plus, you shouldn’t write off the fact that the smartphone is just entering the market; the quality of shooting will probably be improved in future updates.

The front camera, on the contrary, can already be called one of the best.

The average quality of the main camera by flagship standards is slightly compensated by the software. You can add new ones to the existing shooting modes; there is a functional built-in editor.

Results

The HTC One M9 really doesn’t present any surprises – it’s an evolutionary development of the smartphone introduced a year ago. The company was able to improve the main drawback of the One M8 - the camera, although not so much that the new flagship could compete on equal terms with the best competitors. It is important that nothing was spoiled. There are the same high-quality case materials, speakers, screen, productive platform and excellent operating speed. Due to the power key moving to the side, ergonomics have improved. But the fully preserved design deprives the feeling of novelty that you expect from any smartphone that is proudly called a flagship. From this purely emotional point of view, the HTC One M9 looks boring. Owners of One (M8) may be interested mainly in the improved camera. For users of the first HTC One, released in 2013, the hero of the review will be much more interesting, but it’s worth remembering that the One M8 has remained quite relevant, and is also more affordable.

Liked:

Housing materials

High quality screen

Platform and operating speed, memory card slot

Stereo speakers

Front-camera

Did not like:

— Case dimensions

- Average main camera by flagship standards

— Case heating under load

	operating system	Android 5.0.1 (Lollipop)
RAM, GB	3
Built-in memory, GB	32
Expansion slot	microSD/SDHC (up to 2 TB)
Dimensions, mm	144.6×69.7×9.61
Weight, g	157
Protection from dust and moisture	—
Accumulator battery	Li-Ion, 2840mAh (non-removable)
Operating time (manufacturer's data)	talk time up to 25.4 hours on 2G networks; up to 21.7 hours on 3G networks
Diagonal, inches	5
Permission	1920x1080
Matrix type	Super LCD 3
PPI	441
Dimming sensor	+
Touch screen (type)	capacitive
Other	Corning Gorilla Glass 4
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994 + GPU Adreno 430
Kernel type	Cortex-A53 + Cortex-A57
Number of Cores	4 + 4
Frequency, GHz	1,5-2
Main camera, MP	20.7 (f/2.2)
Autofocus	+
Video shooting	+ (2160@30fps, 1080@60fps, 720@120fps)
Flash	+ (double LED)
Front camera, MP	4 (f/2.0)
Other	sapphire lens coating
WiFi	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth	+ (4.1)
GPS	+ (A-GPS, GLONASS)
IrDA	+
NFC	+
Interface connector	USB 2.0 (micro-USB, MHL, HDMI)
Audio jack	3.5 mm
MP3 player	+
FM radio	+
Type of shell	monoblock (non-separable)
Housing material	aluminum
Keyboard type	screen input
More	stereo speakers (HTC BoomSound with Dolby Audio), fast charging, magnetic sensor, accelerometer, compass, gyroscope

– retained the design of its grandfather (HTC One), received the typical hardware for a modern flagship (with the exception, perhaps, of a QHD display), software (that is, Android 5.0 and the new generation HTC Sense interface) and finally a camera with the usual person megapixels. We will look at whether all these improvements are worth purchasing this particular flagship device this year in our review.

What is this?

One M9 – flagship smartphone HTC sample from the first half of 2015. It is equipped with a 5-inch FullHD display, a top-end 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, runs Android 5.0 and with all its appearance and content claims to be one of the main devices of this year.

How to distinguish the brand new HTC One M9 from last year's HTC One (M8)?

HTC consistently uses the names of its lines - One for flagship devices, Desire for those that are cheaper. The design that this year's flagship One sports is inherited from the 2013 device. Yes, the HTC One M9 has been refreshed a lot and has even grown a little compared to the HTC One from the year before, but it is so similar to the One (M8) that you can’t tell the difference without an experienced eye and a tape measure with scales. This year's flagship is slightly larger, but lighter than last year's. On the one hand, repeating HTC's brilliant trick with a metal body and speakers on the front panel became a little boring in the third year. On the other hand, the design is good, you can’t say anything. There's no new one lying around on the road.

The differences in appearance between generations can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The One M9 has a memory card slot. The screen diagonal remains the same (5 inches), and the speakers are now entirely Harman Kardon, but you can only read about this in the press release; there is no mention on the body. The sound of the smartphone was excellent both in the speakers and in the headphones, and remains so. On the HTC One M9, the screen lock key has moved to the right side under the volume buttons. I liked this, but I didn’t like the fact that the shape and size of the screen lock button is no different from the other two - so I often press the wrong button. However, the gestures supported by the interface allow you to dispense with the button in many cases.

A large black stripe appeared at the top - apparently hiding the communication modules. It is so large that it is noticeable even on the front panel. Apart from that, nothing fit on the top end.

The front panel, apart from the color, is no different from the One M8. The top and bottom are decorated with speakers, which is why the body is traditionally long. Near the front camera (4 ultra-pixels, correct solution for the “front camera”, which usually takes photographs from an arm’s length distance and night selfies - exactly those things in which such a camera module is strong) there are light and proximity sensors. Somewhere between the speakers, an LED gleams, notifying you of missed events and a low battery.

At the back there is one camera instead of two, the flash is still two-color LED.

This is where the uninteresting differences end and the interesting begins - the difference in color. The smartphone that we had in our hands could be called both silver and gold at the same time. And even a little (at a certain angle and lighting) pink. In fact, according to HTC nomenclature, this color is gold. The edge of the smartphone is clearly yellow, but the front and back sides are of a mysterious iridescent color. The metal gives the impression of being precious. The movement of the keys tells you that you are holding a very, very expensive thing in your hands. Even the iPhone 6 is not nearly the same experience. One M9 looks more expensive and smarter. But iPhone case 6 is more universal, perhaps.

The HTC One M9 fits in the hand no worse or better than its predecessor. Compared to its competitors, the smartphone is elongated and has too large frames at the top and bottom. Due to its length, it constantly peeks out of jeans pockets. I would like to see the thickness in the next models be smaller - if other manufacturers can keep within 6-8 millimeters, then it’s time for HTC to take this height. According to first impressions, the smartphone body has become less susceptible to scratches. In any case, compared to the HTC One Mini 2 for sure, and it is, in theory, made of the same aluminum as the One (M8). When HTC One Mini 2 turned out like this:

The HTC One M9 has this:

True, the HTC One M9, unlike the younger model, did not go to the sandy beach with me.

Does it really get hot?

There have already been complaints on the Internet that the HTC One M9 is overheating. Metal case, top-end Qualcomm processor, untested software. Therefore, it is not surprising that the temperature of the device under load can exceed the desired values. In fact, the HTC One M9 doesn't just get hot. After half an hour of talking on Skype, for example, I literally got burned when I tried to move my smartphone from the table to another place. For comparison, the main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S6, after the same load, becomes slightly warm at the back and noticeably warm at the edges, where metal is used. But the story with HTC heating is temporary - in the final version of the firmware, which has already arrived to Western users, but has not yet reached our latitudes, the problem, according to journalists, has been solved. In everyday tasks, I did not observe any problems with temperature.

How long does he work?

HTC One M9 is equipped with a 2840 mAh battery. Its predecessor had 240 mAh less with similar screen characteristics and a less energy-efficient processor. In fact, the autonomy of the smartphone has not improved. Although I expected the HTC One M9 to last longer. With a Bluetooth accessory connected and GPS smartphone It works for about a day, but for some reason in standby mode it is not gentle on the battery charge. It feels like this is not because the processor is very power hungry (it should be even better than its predecessor), but because the company needs to work a little more on the firmware. Surprisingly, the HTC One M9 is even slightly inferior to the Samsung Galaxy S6 in time battery life in real life, both in tests and when broadcasting streaming video (under the same conditions, the smartphone worked half as long, about 4 hours). If you turn off GPS, the smartphone will last about a day and a half. As a result, neither Samsung nor HTC have demonstrated a revolution in battery life in their current flagships. In my typical usage scenario, the iPhone 6, by the way, works the same day. We're waiting for Apple to make everyone sweat again.

The HTC One M9 settings have several power saving modes, and although I usually disable power saving on all the smartphones I test, here I was forced to change my habits so as not to be left without a smartphone at the wrong time.

Well, what about performance?

The HTC One M9 is a flagship for that reason, so as not to experience performance problems either in real life, or in resource-intensive applications (tested on all sorts of games for Cardboard), or in benchmarks. At the level of synthetic tests, it is inferior to the Samsung flagship. In terms of the smoothness of the interface, the Korean competitor also managed to do the impossible and outdo HTC and catch up with Sony's flagships. But the difference is so unimportant that only geeks and IT journalists can notice it.

For those who want to know more

The HTC One M9 has a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with four Cortex-A57 (2 GHz) and four Cortex-A53 (1.5 GHz) cores and Adreno 430 graphics. All this is seasoned, as in the best houses, with 3 GB of RAM memory. A typical picture for a flagship device from 2015. New processor made using a 20nm process technology (although CPU-Z sees it as 28nm), so it should be more energy efficient compared to its predecessor. So far there is no difference for the better, but I hope that this problem will also be resolved in the next firmware update.

What's new in the interface?

Most of the innovations in the HTC Sense interface came from Android 5.0. Manufacturers try to make the interface of smartphones running the current OS version as close as possible to the bare OS. HTC retains the same shell - with BlinkFeed, a small number of pre-installed HTC proprietary programs and vertical scrolling of the application menu. The same fonts remain, but options for personalization have been added. For example, a widget with applications that change depending on where the user is - at work, at home, on the go. To be honest, I didn’t understand why this was necessary at all. Personally, I want everything on my smartphone to stay in place when I arrange my apps in the order I want. So I didn’t use the Sense Home widget. But I was happy to change the order of the icons on-screen keyboard smartphone. Now this is allowed. My favorite Motion Launch gestures for unlocking the screen remain: double tap and swipe in different directions.

Sense now has the ability to personalize themes, which is a nice touch, although not something that would make anyone buy a smartphone. Themes can be downloaded from the Internet (to get to the right place, you need to go to the “Themes” application), if you have (or if you create) an HTC account. In addition to themes, you can download fonts, designs, templates for HTC Dot View (that is, for the case), sounds and icons. This place also has a social component - you can subscribe to designs, you can share your inventions. I think that the younger part of the audience should like all this and even occupy it for a while. True, due to the diversity of third-party icons Android applications, the result of custom design sometimes looks stupid. For example, like this.

In addition to the design themes, HTC significantly improved the photo editor - they added a lot of filters and effects to it, and made it possible to overlay images one on top of another. The editor menu was redrawn in the style of Android 5.0 - with a side menu and a sliding curtain. Anyone who likes to take photos with a smartphone for the sake of filters should like this thing. A purely hipster application, and I think that among all the interface improvements, it is the most interesting for the audience who choose HTC smartphones for their design and non-pop.

In Android 5.0, the notification system was improved, now there are more of them, and it has become more comfortable to navigate between them. But if you don’t want strangers to read your messages on your locked screen, you can turn all this off in the settings. The LED that notifies you of new events can also be turned off when the device is in use. In general, of course, you can now customize an incredible amount of things.

Is the screen good?

HTC did not take the path of increasing the resolution or screen diagonal and installed exactly the same display as in the previous model. It is made using Super LCD3 technology, the diagonal is 5 inches, the resolution is FullHD, and it supports working with gloves. In numbers, the display brightness in our sample is lower than in last year’s flagship (368.177 cd/m2), the contrast is worse (733:1 versus 2088:1) and the black color is slightly lighter (0.502 cd/m2 versus 0.22 cd/m 2). But in fact, under the sun, the One M9 screen behaves the same. It reads well, but it is difficult to take photographs and check their quality in the sun. The Samsung Galaxy S6 has a similar story. Alas, today there is not a single Android smartphone lying around close to the iPhone in terms of behavior under the sun.

Is the new camera good?

The HTC One M9 has a 20-megapixel main camera, and our old familiar ultrapixels have moved to the front camera, where they belong (ultrapixels are good for macro photography, shooting close objects and shooting at night, just what selfie lovers need). The camera has definitely become more consistent with the title of flagship. The “native” aspect ratio for the matrix is ​​10:7. The interface is familiar to us from HTC Desire Eye. Appeared new mode shooting - “Bokeh”, and “Photo Kiosk” and “Double Shooting” (you can learn more about them, as well as about the camera interface from this material) must be downloaded additionally. The camera has become noticeably better at shooting during the day and has reached the level of detail compared to its competitors. Ever since the previous flagship model, it starts quickly (in the interface settings you can enable startup when you press the volume key in the horizontal position of the smartphone) and quickly shoots. But unlike the cameras of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, the HDR mode in it must be turned on separately.

It shoots noticeably slower in HDR, although the results are generally better than the competition. For macro photography, you should also launch the appropriate mode. In good conditions, the HTC One M9's camera is on par with the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, but in low light it's downright weak. It is also predicted to improve its performance along with updated firmware. This is how the HTC One M9 camera shoots in different conditions (photo in original resolution).

For comparison, this is how the Samsung Galaxy S6 camera shoots (photo in original resolution).

And these are pictures taken on an iPhone 6 (photos in original resolution). In the dark, it takes about the same photos as the HTC One M9, and the Galaxy S6 significantly outperforms both devices.

What about others?

HTC One M9 enters the market simultaneously with Samsung Galaxy S6/S6 Edge, where iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia Z3 are already waiting for them. A little later, the LG flagship will appear. Much is already known about it. But despite the abundance of interesting top-end devices, the One M9 will continue the long-standing tradition of competing with the top-end Samsung smartphone. From a purely technological point of view, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge turned out to be more interesting - smartphones have software and hardware tools for protecting personal information, they have a better camera and a more agile interface. HTC counters this with a more interesting (albeit old) case design and interface features that will be appreciated more by the younger generation than by mature people with serious matters. Although I don't believe that much expensive device users will choose based on the ability to use wireless charging or change menu themes. Most likely, the choice will again lie in the plane of design, camera and trust in the brand - after all, in the top segment there should be a lot of all this. And in these matters, gadgets are almost equal.

The Sony smartphone Xperia Z3 and its smaller copy Xperia Z3 Compact stand apart from the main characters of spring 2015. A Sony smartphone, in turn, can offer a user eager for flagship devices a more interesting price with no less interesting performance. And at the same time - interesting body colors, protection from dust and moisture, excellent battery life and a close relationship with the PlayStation (let me remind you that you can play from a smartphone remotely, for example, while lying in the bathroom). Although, after contact with two ambitious new products, meeting with the Xperia Z3 is no longer so exciting: the smartphone is large, less interesting in the classic black color, its screen is blue. But even with all these physical shortcomings, he should not be discounted.

Can HTC One M9 and iPhone 6 be considered competitors? I don’t know, HTC has always been a more geeky brand. The iPhone is, on the contrary, a smartphone for those who don’t want to bother with anything. But HTC can offer the user not only a complex and sophisticated Android, but also an equally expensive body. But appearance plays one of the key roles in buying an expensive smartphone.

Video review of HTC One M9

Bottom line

This year, the HTC flagship was a little less lucky than the Samsung flagship. Over the years of its existence, the company managed to accumulate fewer dissatisfaction from users, and therefore was forced to correct a smaller list of errors. And this is partly why its newly-minted flagship does not give the impression of something that has become better in literally everything. On the contrary, HTC diligently preserved previous achievements (design, materials, accessories that no one will see in our country, interface design style. And they increased only those that were considered not good enough - the camera (hurray!), the capabilities of some branded applications(but not everyone will notice this) and gave the user the opportunity to embellish the menu. Doesn't seem like a revolution. But if you are a fan of the HTC brand and your latest update was HTC One, then it’s time to replace the flagship. If your smartphone is an HTC One (M8), then you should only change the device if the camera really bothers you. The update to Android 5.0 should reach last year's flagship, which means that some software features should appear without extra money. If you are not a fan of the brand, but a fan of expensive and new smartphones, then wait to make a decision - we have conceived a detailed article on choosing a flagship device, where everything will be sorted out. The One M9 might be what you're looking for, but it might not.

4 reasons to buy HTC One M9:

• you love the brand and have not yet updated your HTC One;
• you like to create and control appearance things you use;
• beautiful metal case of unusual colors;
• improved front and main cameras.

2 reasons not to buy HTC One M9:

• the camera is not important to you, and then, in principle, you can buy the HTC One (M8), which will cost much less;
• Samsung Galaxy S6 has a better camera and screen.

Accelerometer(or G-sensor) - sensor of the device’s position in space. As a main function, the accelerometer is used to automatically change the orientation of the image on the display (vertical or horizontal). Also, G-sensor is used as a pedometer, it can be controlled various functions device by turning or shaking.
Gyroscope- a sensor that measures rotation angles relative to a fixed coordinate system. Capable of measuring rotation angles in several planes simultaneously. A gyroscope together with an accelerometer allows you to accurately determine the position of the device in space. Devices that use only accelerometers have lower measurement accuracy, especially when moving quickly. Also, the capabilities of the gyroscope can be used in modern games for mobile devices.
Light sensor- a sensor that sets the optimal brightness and contrast values ​​for a given light level. The presence of a sensor allows you to increase the battery life of the device.
Proximity sensor- a sensor that detects when the device is close to your face during a call, turns off the backlight and locks the screen, preventing accidental clicks. The presence of a sensor allows you to increase the battery life of the device.
Geomagnetic sensor- a sensor for determining the direction of the world in which the device is directed. Tracks the orientation of the device in space relative to the magnetic poles of the Earth. The information received from the sensor is used in mapping programs for terrain orientation.
Atmospheric pressure sensor- sensor for precise measurement of atmospheric pressure. It is part of the GPS system, allows you to determine altitude above sea level and speed up location determination.
Touch ID- fingerprint identification sensor.

Accelerometer / Geomagnetic / Gyroscope / Light / Proximity

Satellite navigation:

GPS(Global Positioning System - global positioning system) - satellite system navigation, providing measurement of distance, time, speed and determining the location of objects anywhere on Earth. The system is developed, implemented and operated by the US Department of Defense. The basic principle of using the system is to determine location by measuring distances to an object from points with known coordinates - satellites. The distance is calculated by the delay time of signal propagation from sending it by the satellite to receiving it by the antenna of the GPS receiver.
GLONASS(Global Navigation Satellite System) - Soviet and Russian satellite navigation system, developed by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The measurement principle is similar to the American GPS navigation system. GLONASS is designed for operational navigation and timing support for land, sea, air and space-based users. The main difference from the GPS system is that GLONASS satellites in their orbital motion do not have resonance (synchrony) with the rotation of the Earth, which provides them with greater stability.