The HTC One M9

[leglessAlex]

For those that haven't seen it, here's a linky to the Engadget preview:

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/01/htc-one-m9-prev...

I don't think I'll be upgrading my One M8, the Duo camera is one of the things I like on it and I'm a bit disappointed they have removed it. I can see why they have of course, but still. It made the phone different and it seems to me that's getting rarer with each new phone release.

So, what does PH think?

[anonymous-user]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I "upgraded" from a Samsung Galaxy S4 to an M8 because I was sick of the terrible build quality of the S4. I Have to agree, the camera on the M8 is awful and the S4 camera is much, much better.

I also hate the fact that the M8 has the buttons on the screen, which often means you are losing some of the screen display as it is taken up by the buttons. Lastly I hate the fact that the bezels are so massive as they are taken up with the speakers and the black button bar makes them look even bigger.

I wish I had spent a bit longer playing with it and didn't just get carried away with the fact that it is made of metal. Going back to my S4, build quality aside I prefer it in almost every respect.

Basically I want a phone that is made of premium materials, has an excellent camera and has physical buttons that are not part of the screen display. Never thought I would say this, but I am tempted to go for the new Samsung S6 or an iPhone 6.

[clonmult]

leglessAlex said:

I don't think I'll be upgrading my One M8, the Duo camera is one of the things I like on it and I'm a bit disappointed they have removed it. I can see why they have of course, but still. It made the phone different and it seems to me that's getting rarer with each new phone release.

So, what does PH think?

I think the duo camera was a complete and utter waste of time, you could get exactly the same results via other computational imaging techniques. Actually, the other techniques tended to give better results - Nokias Refocus being a prime example.

Basically, HTC have admitted that they got the camera completely wrong in prior versions of the One. The rest of the phone is however rather gorgeous, maybe the M9 is addressing the one failing of the prior versions ...

[durbster]

clonmult said:

Basically, HTC have admitted that they got the camera completely wrong in prior versions of the One. The rest of the phone is however rather gorgeous, maybe the M9 is addressing the one failing of the prior versions ...

The weak camera of the M8 was what swung me to get the LG G2 instead.

I'm not exactly shooting weddings with my phone so I wasn't looking for SLR quality, but at the very least I wanted a better camera than was in the Galaxy S2 I was replacing. After poring over examples photos and reviews online, I wasn't confident the HTC camera could even do that.

[leglessAlex]

I always knew I was in the minority with my opinion of the camera! No big deal, they have got rid of it now anyway.

I really hope for their sakes that the software on the camera wasn't finished yet as most journalists seem to think it wasn't very good.

[TameRacingDriver]

My previous phone was an M8. The Mrs has it now.

I'm surprised some are saying they couldn't get any decent photos out of it, but I agree, the camera certainly wasn't its strong point.

On screen buttons are something I came to like, but I now actually prefer capacitive buttons. The screen of the 5.5" OnePlus One I'm using now looks enormous compared to the one on the HTC thanks the those buttons, and in a good way, that was the main reason for me upgrading (I don't have a tablet).

Looks decent, but not really much to upgrade from the M8, especially as the camera still appears to be its Achilles heal.