HTC One M9 - Is the One still my #1?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2016-05-06
·
1,865 words · ~9 min read
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when the HTC 1 M7 launched I took it for a 30-day test drive and thanks to its
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clean responsive sense UI and iPhone like construction it became my new daily
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driver then when the 1 M8 followup launched it became the second Android
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phone to earn the my daily driver status
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for the same reasons so now that the 1m9
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is here is solid construction and a clean sent youi still enough spoiler
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alert no but let's find out why shall we
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the Corsair HX 1200i power supply delivers 80 plus Platinum efficiency for
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quiet efficient power and Corsair link digital for advanced monitoring and
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control click right here to learn
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more I guess these videos start with specs right so there's an octet of CPU
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cores four low power and four for high performance 3 gigs of DDR 3 RAM an
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adreno 430 GPU 32 gigs of built-in storage Wireless AC an FM radio and a
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20.7 megap rear camera all crammed inside the phone's characteristically
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premium feeling metal enclosure then moving around to the front we've got a
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5.0 in 108p super LCD 3 display covered
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with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 a 4 megapixel selfie camera HTC's
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characteristic and much better sounding than the competition front-facing stereo
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boom sound speakers and the chin bar is
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back this was a big warning sign for me I mean the chin bar never actually
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bothered me in fact with the move to onscreen buttons on the M8 making the
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device symmetrical was as simple as rotating it the other way in landscape
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mode so it was buttons on one side and Chin bar on the other and I never really
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bothered with that anyway because devices covered with screen and buttons
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are actually kind of hard to hold when you're watching videos in landscape mode
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but the thing is a lot of people are put off by it and leaving it there smacks of
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either laziness or an internal feeling at HTC of fearing to break the mold
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something that they proudly shouted from the rooftops that they weren't afraid to
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do when the 1 M7 launched as an oasis of
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beautiful craftsmanship amongst the plastic junk that passed for Flagship
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Android phones at the time and the rest of the 1 M9 does little to convince me
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otherwise we'll do the obligatory physical tour but frankly they didn't
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change much and I am they didn't change anything for the better from the back we
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can only tell that the device is marginally shorter if we hold it right
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next to the 1 M8 the asinine secondary camera has been thankfully removed and
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the lone camera with its dual LED flash is now accompanied only by a noise
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cancelling microphone and HTC branding on the top is a large IR emitter for
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Media Center control on the left is the nano SIM tray on the bottom we find a
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micro USB charging port supporting qualcom Quick Charge 2.0 and the 3.5 mm
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headphone jack that's been again IMO unfortunately relocated from the top
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where I prefer it on the right is a Micro SD slot a very important inclusion
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considering the Galaxy S6 removed expandable storage and the worst lock
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and volume control buttons I've encountered in some time this is really
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simple people they need solid tactile feedback they need to be easily felt for
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their position and differentiated from each other without looking and no
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putting a light texture on the lock button doesn't count for that and they
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can't be on opposing sides of the device so you mash two buttons when you mean to
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hit one and at least it gets the last point right in fact I like the position
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of the lock button in the volume rocker it's easy to use right or left-handed
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but everything else about these buttons sucks back to the drawing board
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HTC the good news is that while a NC's
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very detailed analysis of the screen actually found more issues there other
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than the lackluster maximum brightness especially when compared to the Galaxy
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S6 there wasn't really anything that jumped out to me as a huge issue
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contrast is still very good something that's more important past a certain
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point than just throwing more resolution at the problem so yes it's a 1080p
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display but unless you're really pixel peeping you'll literally never notice
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and HTC's loyalty to LCD means that you don't get that weird tinting from
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certain angles that I've seen on the Droid Turbo and Galaxy
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S6 which I guess leads us to the lollipop version of sensui blink feed is
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still a really Pleasant way to browse social media content and makes more
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sense for me personally than Samsung's left swipe to Flipboard that I totally
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forgot to mention in my review it's still clean and simple with meaningful
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customization like accent color palettes to choose from and customizability of
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the onscreen buttons not to mention the awesome gear next to every volume slider
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that gives you quick access to the other ones but gestures are a little with no
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ability to mix and match a gesture and an action so if you're listening to
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music you just plain can't use a gesture to launch the camera since that
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particular locked in gesture relies on the volume up button and device
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orientation but since is responsive and
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if you turn off the Derpy sense home widget that tries to be aviate by
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showing only the most relevant apps when you're at home or work or out in about
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but in my experience just kind of got in the way with irrelevant suggestions and
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downloads folders and the prime locations on the right hand side that
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can't be moved and poor organization of the rest I'll just use avator and
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organize my apps myself thanks it is pretty good which leads us into another
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low point for the phone however the camera is just plain not competitive
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sorry HTC the ultra pixel Gambit didn't
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seem to work out and they've gone for a more traditional camera setup and while
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it actually Compares reasonably favorably to the Droid Turbo that I use
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that's kind of like saying it runs as fast as the kid carrying a diesel
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generator on his back they improved Auto white balance and removed the head
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scratcher of a second camera but at only $50 less than the Galaxy S6 off contract
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not to mention that it doesn't come with a quick charge wall wart like the S6
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does the 1m9 needs to do more than that
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I mean in no particular order it needs faster autofocus faster shut button
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response a flash that works under 15% battery life a clearer image preview
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while taking pictures tuning of the noise reduction on low light pictures
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that makes them basically a total mess right now Optical image stabilization a
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wider angle lens on the selfie camera and just I mean I don't want to be
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unfair it's not like these test shots and test footage are unexcusable or
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unusable or anything it's just that the Galaxy S6 exists unfortunately and I'll
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pay a little extra for the better experience and the use of glass instead
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of whatever rubbish HTC uses on their lens cover on the back I actually had
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one of my two review units crack the lens cover during totally normal use
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with no drops which I would normally chalk up to a fluke and not mention if I
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hadn't had the same damn thing happen with my One M8 not to mention that HTC
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gave me the runaround and wanted to charge me for the replacement of it even
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though it was a documented issue with the phone which I guess leads us into
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the conclusion for the video the 1 M9 is just a phone it's a good phone and one
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with an SD card slot if you're into that but it's just a phone every other
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Flagship grabs my attention in some compelling way whether it's the camera
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of the S6 the water resistance of an Xperia or the tank-like battery life of
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the droid turbo solid even great build
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quality and a clean Android skin was enough two years ago but it isn't
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anymore and while I applaud HTC for offering a free replacement for a
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cracked screen or water damage within the first year that only has a value to
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me if I already own the device and I think HTC is going to need another
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reinvention to stand out against their much stronger competition than what the
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one had to work with in the first place speaking of standing out you know
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what else stands out the highquality 3M vinyl wraps that dbrand uses to make
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your phone or other device look absolutely kickass like the one M9 that
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you guys have been looking at for the last eight or so minutes dbrand provided
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us with two units of the 1 M9 so I could decide which skin style I liked better
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and I definitely liked the one that actually wraps right around all the
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little buttons on the sides it's truly remarkable what a great job they do with
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these it's not just about the quality of the vinyl either getting the cutting
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just right so that it fits your device perfectly is a real trick and they do
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more than just phones so whether it's a game console game controller notebook
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computer or whatever else that you want to personalize there's an affordable
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dbrand skin for you I mean even if you're not planning to buy one it's
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actually worth checking it out head over to dbrand.com we've got it linked in the video description and try playing around
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with the different color schemes on their Builder on their site it's actually pretty fun so I think that's
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watching and as always don't forget to subscribe