Every year, we have something to look forward to. Thanks to manufacturers latching onto the yearly refresh cycle, when a certain time rolls around we know that it’s time to get excited. Of course, leaks and rumors help that cause quite a bit, but for the most part the announcement of a new smartphone is circled on a calendar long before the manufacturer confirms anything.
The trouble with yearly refreshes is, at some point, there’s going to be some kind of repetition. It’s just bound to happen. A year isn’t a lot of time for anyone, especially for a company that has to start working on a new device almost immediately after launching another one.
The Audible Minority seems to have the loudest voice, especially when they’re upset, and we get to see that in some degree or another every time a new device is announced. It happened again this year with the One M9 from HTC, as many people thought the company was going to unveil an entirely new-looking smartphone.
This year’s flagship, in reality, looked quite a bit like last year’s flagship.
More than that, the One M9 doesn’t change a lot when it gets compared to the One (M8). Of course, that didn’t sit well with a lot of people that were apparently excited to see the One M9. Apparently those folks thought HTC was going to change the name of the game when they launched the One M9, and wanted it to look completely different from the device’s predecessor.
The funny thing is, those exceptions should be levied against HTC next year, because the One M9 is, if anything, an iteration from the One (M8), and not meant to really revolutionize anything. The One M9 probably could have been called the One M8s, for example. The One (M8) was a bigger aesthetic change when compared to the original One, so this year’s flagship could very well be positioned as an iterative upgrade from last year’s model.
So, next year, when HTC is gearing up to announce the One whatever-they-call-it, it would make more sense for people to expect the device to look different from the One (M8) — and the One M9. Who knows if it actually will, of course, but effectively gives HTC more time to change the design and make the hardware inside work, along with the software changes that will be necessary down the road.
With that being said, I’m curious to know what you would change about the One M9 now that it’s out in the real world. For those that picked up the newest flagship smartphone from HTC, is there anything about the device that you’d change after using it for a stretch? And for those that didn’t buy the One M9, why did you decide to skip it? Was it on your radar at some point, before you ultimately changed your mind? Let me know!
