Yesterday, we posted a video talking about all good things about the HTC One M9 but this video will talk about the not so good things we’ve experienced and noticed during our week of testing. Welcome to the HTC One M9: 5 Biggest Disappointments.
Number one must be the biggest disappointment of them all. Sadly, the 20MP sensor from Sony was not enough for HTC’s weird software. The camera, while a major improvement from the HTC One M8 camera, is still rather not good. First of all, all the shots you take outside in perfect sun-filled days will look decent. The detail’s there when you’re looking from afar but when you zoom in, you’ll see a lot of weird imperfections in the photo. Now taken inside in any type of low light situation and you’ll see some horrible things. 4K video is not as good as any OEM right now. I would say OnePlus One, the LG G3, the S5, S6, and Note 4—all have one or more legs up on the HTC One M9 right now. And this is a hugely sad thing because we know how good of a sensor Sony makes. And this is really in fault of the software from HTC. And it can be fixed—so please, HTC do us a favor and fix the freaking camera.
Number two is the battery life. The HTC One M9 houses a 2840 mAh battery inside, which sounds like plenty good amount. But I must say I average around 4 hours of on-screen time maximum. And that may be good for some of you guys but I’ve definitely gotten more on other devices.
Number three is the new position of the lock switch. And yes, you’re probably saying “But Marco, didn’t you include that in your top 5 improvements video yesterday?” well yes. I did. But I wanted to bring up the point that the lock switch was actually a little too low for my comfort. Most of the time, I would end up hitting the top or bottom volume rocker instead. I’m only throwing suggestion out there to move the lock switch on top or above the volume rockers. But I still mainly do use the double tap to wake the feature anyway.
Number four is the lack of a changed design, but mainly they made the phone a bit thicker than the last model. The HTC One M9 wasn’t a thin phone either and almost everyone in the Android OEM world is going through a thinner is better proposition. While I do value battery life over anything, which this phone still doesn’t give me, it wouldn’t hurt to make the phone thinner.
Number five is the one that I’m most afraid to share. You probably heard the rumors of the HTC One M9 getting warm while being tested. You probably know that the S6 and S6 Edge are not using the Snapdragon chips. I’m afraid to say that during my days of using this phone, it does get a tad bit warmer. And when I say that, I mean it. More warm than a typical smartphone. The thing is, this isn’t an aluminum body construction device and aluminum is a very good radiator of heat both from your hands and the internal kernels. So basically, it acts like a heat sync—taking heat and drawing heat from your hand plus drawing from the processor and GPU and also the screen and battery. So naturally, it does get warm. But during intensive things like watching 1080p video, it does get pretty damn warm. Not to the point where you’re saying it’s really hot but it’s definitely warmer than your typical norm.
I’ve confirmed this with a few fellow reviewers, so it’s not really an isolated thing where I say I have a defective model. My unit works perfectly fine. And the reason why I put this on the last spot is because curious buyers will want to watch the entirety of this video. And I honestly don’t want them to steer you away from your purchase. Now if you tune in to our full review in a day or two, you’ll see how much I really do like this phone but it definitely has its quirks and problems this being one of them. But I like to hear what you guys think. Make sure to leave some comments and questions below and I’ll try to answer as many as I can get to.
