The new HTC One M9 Full Reviews Techradar, HTC flagship phones are typically among the most beautiful models launched every year. Often they are also slightly smaller than the increasingly large phones Samsung and LG put out. Now it seems that HTC could break with tradition and offer a large badge with the One M9. It's here. The new HTC One M9 has been announced, and it's already going to vying for the title of best phone in 2015, such is the combination of design and high power specs.
The new HTC One M9 release date, news and features Techradar
While loads of the mooted specs didn't actually appear, the new phone has finally been launched following loads of leaks all over the internet, and it doesn't disappoint, with upgrades in nearly every area.
HTC One M9 release date
HTC sent out invites to an event on March 1 at MWC 2015 in Barcelona, and that's where we saw the new phone.
The Taiwanese brand has confirmed that the phone will be launching in mid-March for Taiwan and Europe, with the US slightly later towards the end of the month. There's no news on cost at the moment, but it seems very likely to be the same price as before - £549 / $649 / AU$849, with contracts starting at £36 in the UK.
Design HTC One M9
It's another full metal uni-body on the HTC One M9, after near universal praise for the One M8's distinctive design. The design was one of the key reasons we voted it TechRadar's Phone of the Year 2014, and it's back again.
The HTC One M9 features a 5-inch 1080p display, set inside a body with 144.6 x 69.7 x 9.61mm dimensions, making it a little shorter than the One M8 but also a little fatter.
The added thickness is as much about ergonomics as it is about the upgraded battery, which has been boosted to 2800mAh.
The phone will be coming in three colours: the 'hero' colour of silver with a gold band, gunmetal grey and all gold.
HTC One M9 camera and battery
The HTC One M9 has finally ditched the Ultrapixels... at least, on the back of the phone. On the front the largely misunderstood dual 4MP UltraPixel has been moved to the front of the HTC One M9, to offer improved low light performance for selfies.
The battery pack is also more impressive: that 2800mAh power unit is one of the biggest HTC has ever packed into a phone, and with the lower power screen that's going to help keep your phone chugging along for (hopefully) longer than a single day.
HTC One M9 OS and power
It's official: the HTC One M9 will be powered by the 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 810, as Qualcomm first teased and then confirmed as much earlier before it appeared on the official spec sheet. That's good news, because as well as being powerful and efficient it brings improved 4K support.
The new chip should help improve battery life as well, with improved efficiency, plus less interesting but useful things like carrier aggregation and VoLTE are included as standard.
In terms of actual specs, the HTC One M9 will have 3GB of RAM and an octa-core 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor, with four cores running at 2.0GHz and four at 1.5GHz, allowing it to switch between them depending on what it's doing, using the slower cores to conserve battery when the extra power isn't needed.
Beyond that the One M9 is obviously running Android 5.0 Lollipop with its own Sense 7.0 UI interface over the top, which offers new tricks like a contextual widget that will display different apps depending on where you are - it's pretty cool.
You'll also be able to make your own themes - simply take a snap, the phone will analyse the image and use that colour palette for apps and icons.
HTC One M9 other features
The HTC One M9 supports dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.1, giving it improved Wi-Fi performance over the One M8.
Rumors pointed toward both 32GB and 64GB internal storage options accompanied by a microSD card slot, but while the expansion is here there's no 64GB option - it's just 32GB, with 21GB available to install stuff onto.
There will also be some HTC One M9 related accessories including a DotView 2 case as well as a clear protective case, that can be turned into a stand for watching media and a waterproof cover with an IP68 rating.
HTC One M9 rivals
HTC's big flagship has some stiff competition. The iPhone 6 is a big rival for the handset and has already staked its claims as one of the best looking and strongest performing mobile phones ever.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is heavily rumored to launch with a metal uni-body, making it even more similar to the HTC One range than ever before. Expect some similar level specs but quite a different design when both are announced.
Then there's also the likes of the LG G3 and the Sony Xperia Z3. Both phones have been on the market for over six months now but it's going to be a little way off until we finally see the next iterations of both handsets meaning these will be some of the main competition for the One M9 for quite a while.
Source : Techradar.com