HTC One M9 - specifications. New HTC One M9 - Review of the Updated Smartphone from HTC Compact Smartphone HTC One M9

Released in 2015 as the flagship mobile device of the Taiwanese company. Alas, he did not succeed in repeating the success of their predecessors - progress from competitors and a number of their own flaws did not allow them to consolidate on top. The Taiwan manufacturer lost the position of the leader and losing customers and profit for the next two years.

To understand why M9 did not suck success, you need to look at the competitors' devices in more detail - iPhone 6 / 6S and Samsung Galaxy S6. Koreans from Samsung managed to get rid of one of the largest shortcomings of their flagships - a nondescript design. Samsung Galaxy S6 came out in a new design of glass and metal, and he instantly won success and recognition from users. Apple devices with their multimillion audience have always been successful, and the "sixth" line of smartphones itself was very and very good.

Unlike its competitors, HTC decided not to go to radical changes. In terms of design HTC One. M9 is not much different from M8 - even more, smartphones use almost identical displays. Most manufacturers presented new cameras, hardware and batteries. What can I answer HTC? Is that a slightly revised HTC Sense 7 shell.

In any case, HTC One M9 corrected the mistakes of its predecessor and showed a number of improvements. That's just a recycled main camera, no more capacious battery turned out to be so revolutionary as they should have been. And, frankly, it's not so unexpected. In any case, HTC One M9 remains a very and very worthy flagship.

In terms of design, HTC One M9 and M8 is the same as iPhone 5S and 5. Both smartphones are made according to the same design concept and are equipped with the same displays. Only a number of minor changes will differ M9 from M8.

The most noticeable of these changes is a new two-ton painting. The smartphone is available in three colors: gold and silver, completely gold, as well as metallic on gray.

As for the rear panel, instead of the curved surface of HTC, it decided to use a thick edge connecting the front panel with the rear. The front of the smartphone seemed to be squeezed into the back. This is a small advantage - HTC was able to make a thinner frame between the screen and the panel itself. In addition, the smartphone is now easier and stronger keeps in his hand, without leaving to slip out of the hands. It is even easier to keep it in one hand, although by convenience he is still inferior to M8.

In all other aspects, the design of the phone has improved. It became 0.2 mm thicker, but engineers managed to narrow it almost per millimeter. The smartphone weighs 157 grams - not too little and not too much. Sometimes he may seem heavy, but it even for the better - the user never gets the feeling that he keeps a children's toy in his hands.

The lock and turning key moved from the top to the right panel. It is now located right under the volume buttons. In addition, it changed the material - the button is now metallic and equipped with an etched surface. The user will be able to reveal it from volume controls. The latter, by the way, have also improved - they are now slightly harder and require a little more pressure to trigger.

Alas, the phone is still difficult to use if you are used to doing it only with one hand. Competitors have already invented solutions - in the iPhone, for example, the top of the screen is shifted down when double-clicking on the "Home" key, and Samsung has a separate mode. In HTC, apparently, they decided not to pay attention to such a "trifle", and no ways to facilitate the use of the phone with one hand are not provided.

The lower face is the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack and the microUSB entry. The front panel grille covers new BOOOMSOUND speakers.

Almost the entire upper face is covered with translucent black plastic. Under it is an infrared emitter, which allows using M9 as a remote.

Another change is the design of the camera. HTC One M9 uses a square chamber, slightly discovering from the case. The corners of the module are slightly frustrated, so that the phone did not get stuck when trying to put it in his pocket.

Display

In 2015, "2K-hysteria" began among the manufacturers of smartphones, and they all began to hardly equip their flagship with the displays with a resolution in 1920x1080 pixels. HTC decided not to succumb to the trend and traditionally equipped the 5-inch HTC One M9 Full HD-matrix screen.

2K displays are clearer than Full HD displays, but it does not matter with a 5-inch diagonal. Image grain is completely indistinguishable for the eyes - a density of 441 pixel on an inch allows you to work with the display without any problems. For comparison, specifications Apple Retina. We require only 336 pixels per inch. In other words, the lack of 2K-permission is not a problem.

Super LCD3-matrix does not badly display colors and has sufficient contrast and depth of black. With SUPER AMOLED from Samsung, it still will not be compared, but for normal use it will be more than enough. Brightness and viewing angles are very good, that's just the display still very much reflects the sun rays - the user will surely have to turn it at an angle so that the sun does not beat into the eyes.

Built-in speakers and sound quality

By tradition, HTC One M9 is equipped with a pair of stereo speakers with a built-in amplifier and Dolby Audio support. Compared to other speakers, they are better separated by sound in stereo gear, but this is not the main feature. What makes HTC One M9 truly special, so this is how the columns are deeply sound and how well they transmit medium frequencies taking into account their size. Competitor devices can not be compared with M9 in terms of sound quality.

Due to the small size, it will not work out good sound. Fortunately, the amplifier and support for Dolby Audio work, even if you connect headphones.

If you briefly - the best speakers are not found anywhere, HTC best quality Sound.

Performance

Before the release of HTC One M9, models with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 series dominated the market of flagship smartphones. Galaxy S5, and Sony Xperia. Z3 were equipped with these processors and they were not equal in terms of performance.

HTC One M9 uses Snapdragon 810 - the newest processor from Qualcomm. His main feature is support for 64-bit computing and eight nuclei with the Big.little architecture. In fact, the smartphone is equipped with two quad-core processors operating at a frequency of 1.55 GHz and 1.96 GHz. A low-power processor is responsible for handling calls, receiving and sending text messages, receiving data from sensors, playing music and Internet browser - in other words, for actions that do not require serious processor capacity. Thus, it is possible to significantly reduce energy consumption. The second, the more powerful processor is connected only when you start demanding applications - for example, 3D games. In energy-saving mode, high-performance kernels are turned off completely.

As for performance, the smartphone works just perfect. We have never met with braces or freezes - the system worked perfectly. In the games, the smartphone also showed himself from the best side, but the main problem Snapdragon 810 - overheating - still managed to show. After a long time in games, the phone is tangible, and if it is also in charge at this time, the temperature jumps even stronger. Fortunately, before full overheating, it did not come to the right.

In synthetic benchmarks, HTC One M9 is gaining the following number of points:

• * 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited: 15602 (21625 with a disconnected power saving mode);
• * Geekbench 3 Multi-Core: 2268 (3545 with a disconnected power saving mode).

Operating system and

HTC One M9 works on the basis of Android 5.0, with the ability to upgrade to Android 7.0 Nougat. Out of the system installed the HTC Sense branded shell.

One of key features HTC Sense - recycled home screen, called Sense Home. It works as follows: The system studies, at what time and where the user is located and what applications it uses at this time, and accordingly sets up a home screen. For example, when the user is at work, Sense Home will display a list of eight frequently used working applications. There are three main categories: "House", "Work" and "On Street". The third mode is intended for navigating with Google Maps and similar applications.

The built-in center of theme was recycled, allowing you to achieve a deeper customization of the device. The user is no longer limited to the topics available - it can now create his own. The application analyzes the image that the user wants to use as wallpaper, and picks up the icons, fonts and the overall formation of the system. Sometimes the center, the incorrectly processes the icons of third-party applications, but in general it works quite worn.

Also in the smartphone, a new Cloudex application appeared. It combines the collections of user images in Dropbox, Google Drive, Facebook and Flickr, showing them all in one application.

In M9, the built-in remote application returned, which allows the use of an infrared transmitter to the quality of the remote control. You can manage almost all-TVs, audio systems and other devices with an IR receiver. Children's regime also returned, prohibiting users to open applications that contain unsafe content.

In addition to Google Play. Music HTC One M9 is equipped with its own HTC Music App audio player. Taking into account the fact that the application from Google is more aimed at Streaming and buying an audio content from its own store, the phone needs a separate audio player - and HTC Music App is perfect for this role.

Memory expansion and wireless communication

In contrast to other manufacturers, HTC still allows users to expand the built-in memory due to memory cards. HTC ONE M9 is no exception - despite the large amount of internal memory (32 GB), users can expand it through MicroSD cards. In addition, as a bonus, HTC offers all users an additional 100 GB cloud storage Google Drive for two years.

The smartphone supports dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11a / B / G / N / AC) with DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct, MHL 3.0 to connect directly to the TV through the cable, and 4G. In addition, for energy-efficient conjugation with other devices, there is support for Bluetooth 4.1.

Camera

Cameras have always been a weak point in the HTC One smartphones. In M9, it is still not the best - truly good cameras began to appear only after exit. However, compared to M8 and M7, progress is facing.

In the M9 chamber, a 20,7 megapixel sensor is used. In principle, it is already better than in other flagship devices - for example, only an eight-megapixel matrix is \u200b\u200binstalled in the iPhone 6. Nevertheless, megapixels are not the most important thing. Unfortunately, an optical stabilization system is not installed in HTC One M9 - and this means that shooting with poor lighting will suffer.

Since the double camera in HTC One M9 is not provided, instead of the physical effect of the depth of field, the artificial effect of bokeh is used. It works, alas, not the best way - The transition from a clear to the blurred image is performed sharply, not smoothly. In addition, objects should be no further 60 cm from each other, and image processing will take about five seconds. So about this feature is better forgotten.

The editor embedded in the app allows you to add a number of filters, frames and effects to the image. Double Exposure feature allows you to merge two photos. Elements adds mobile elements to the photos - for example, falling leaves or bubbles. Finally, HTC Zoe allows you to make small video clips consisting of several photos.

But as far as wonderful there were no effects, without a good camera, they are useless. Let's look at the work of the camera itself.

After the transition to a 20 megapixel matrix, the quality of the photos should have improved. Nevertheless, the M9 camera objectively inferior to its competitors (iPhone 6 / 6S and Samsung Galaxy S6). Details of objects leaves much to be desired, and the background looks too soft and blurred.

Apparently, the wines of everything is not the best exposure algorithm. The camera cannot balance the brightness, especially when there are several light sources in the picture at once - and as a result, some environments are "drowning" in the dark, and on images in the afternoon, you will not get parts with fire.

With bad lighting, the M9 camera does not shine either. Photo quality came out a little better than that of Galaxy S5, but the lack of optical image stabilization makes itself felt - photos are far from such as they could be.

With normal lighting, the photos are excellent. Even more - if the shooting is performed under normal conditions, HTC One M9 gives one of the brightest and most saturated photos. HDR mode works very well and improves color balance and brightness. For processing, though it takes about two seconds.

As a front camera, the Ultrapixel four-megapixel module is used in M9 - in fact, the main HTC One M8 camera moved to the front panel. This camera is ideal for selfie - they are just basically done in poor light conditions.

The self-camera works much better than in iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy S5. If you like Selfie, you will be delighted with this chamber.

HTC One M9 can shoot video in a 4K resolution of up to six minutes. Also supported slow motion at a speed of 120fps. The quality of the video is not bad, but it suffers from the same problems as photos.

Autonomy

HTC One M9 is equipped with a battery with a capacity of 2840 m / h. Using the Big.little architecture should, in theory, reduce energy consumption.

For the test, we started the SD video on the smartphone with a reduced to 50% display brightness. HTC One M9 lasted about 10 hours - only a little more M8, but less than Galaxy S5 or iPhone 6 Plus. In more everyday scenarios, the battery has shown good, but not a drop of non-outstanding results. If three hours browel internet (3G / 4G), watch a video and another two hours to play 3D games, the battery will completely discharge for 13 hours. With less intense scenarios of using the chances of the fact that the phone "lives" until the evening increases.

If the smartphone is about to discharge, you can turn on the extreme energy saving mode. It disabled almost all the functions except the main calls and messaging.

Like most flagship smartphones, HTC One M9 is not equipped with a removable battery. This means that you have to wear a PowerBank or another UMB. The phone supports the function fast charging - When using a special cable, HTC One M9 is charged to 50% per half.

RESULTS

HTC One M9 is not the worst flagship smartphone. He simply failed to imagine something truly innovative when competing firms presented something completely new. Updated design in the Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G5, 3D Touch in iPhone 6s helped these smartphones do not roll into a selfover and become commercial success, at that time M9 was just "slightly updated" M8. Partly because of this, HTC has and began financial problems that the company was able to solve now.

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I use this smartphone for three months, and I will say exactly - this is the flagship! Beautiful phone with excellent characteristics and stylish design. You do not think about that you do not have enough memory or something will not work, it is enough for everything! Of course, many will say that this brand is not so known as large corporations .. I would say that it is perfect for those who like the design of the apple, but from the operating system the user prefers Android. Enough philosophy, tell about the device itself. The design of this smartphone is practically no different from the M7 and M8 models, which is not bad at all, because his shape is neat, it looks expensive. And of course, a huge contribution to a steep design is an aluminum case, which is several colors. I don't really like gold "fastened" colors, but chose the device in this version. Golden metal HTC looks simply amazing! There are also no complaints about the assembly, everything is done very monolith. As for the management of the smartphone - it has three touch buttons on the screen (back, home, dispatcher), when you press the phone slightly vibrates, which makes them very informative. The device also presents 3 mechanical keys volume and power, they are very clearly pressed and are immediately under the fingers. The phone uses Nanosim and there is a microSD card slot, so you can increase memory even more. And now I will go to the desserts, there are many of them here). For example, a display, 5-inch Super LCD3 with FullHD resolution and maximum viewing angles, it is simply great! Natural color rendition, beautiful brightness, excellent readability in the sun, work in gloves and multi-touch multi-touch do not leave indifferent. Second dessert, this is a camera .. 20mpx, this is not every flagship to meet! For example, I will say, not megapixels still make good pictures, but the general parameters of the camera. In HTC M9, a great camera that will appeal to many, but it is inferior to flagships from Samsung and Apple. The front camera is also very good, selfie is obtained with a bang! The third dessert - sound! No ... Sound! It is very good, and stereo sound is well felt. In the headphones, the sound is also high quality, and the headset is not bad. As for the remaining characteristics, they are also at the level. In the smartphone, a large battery for 3000mAh, which makes it possible to easily use it a couple of days without recharging, if you make calls and use the Internet. Technical filling in a high-level apparatus, fast 8 nuclear processor and 3GB random access memory Allows you not to think about any restrictions in the choice of applications. Internal memory 32GB - more than enough. HTC has a lot of advantages, and to be honest, I want to point out a few flaws. Compared to competitors, the device has a fairly wide screen screens (3-4mm), it is certainly not critical, but it was possible and less .. just as it should be noted that because of the powerful processor and the metal case, the device is noticeably heated when working with heavy applications But it does not give discomfort. In general, I will say for myself, I have never regretted what this smartphone acquired, to use it a pleasure!

Type: Smartphone Operating System: Android 5.0 Housing Type: Classic Control: Screen Buttons Type SIM-Card: Nano SIM Number of SIM-Cards: 1 Weight: 157 g Sizes (shXVXT): 69.7x144.6x9.61 mm

Screen

Screen Type: Color Super LCD 3, 16.78 million Colors, Touch Screen Type: Multitach, Capacitive Diagonal: 5 inches. Image Size: 1920x1080 Number of pixels per inch (PPI): 441 Automatic screen rotation: there is a resistant to scratching glass: yes

Calls

Type of Melodies: Polyphonic, MP3 Melodies Vibrating Showers: Yes

Multimedia features

Camera: 20 million PIX., LED Flash Camera Function: Autofocus Recognition: Persons Recording Video Cards: Yes (MP4) Max. Video resolution: 3840x2160 Max. Frame Frequency Video: 30 frames / with Geo Tagging: There is a front camera: yes, 4 million pixes. Video playback: 3GP, 3G2, MP4, WMV, Avo, MKV Audio: MP3, AAC, WAV, WMA, FM radio voice recorder: there is a headphone jack: 3.5 mm Video output: MHL

Communication

Standard: GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE, LTE-A Cat. 9 Support for LTE range: FDD: Bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28; TDD: Bands 38, 40, 41 Internet Access: WAP, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA + Interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, Irda, USB, NFC Charging from USB: yes satellite NAVIGATION: GPS / GLONASS System A-GPS: there is support protocols: POP / SMTP, IMAP4, HTML Use as a USB drive: there is support for DLNA: yes

Memory and processor

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Number of processor kernels: 8 Video processor: Adreno 430 Integrated memory capacity: 32 GB MEMORY MEMORY: 3 GB Memory Card Support: MicroSD (Transflash), up to 128 GB Slot for memory cards: yes, up to 128 GB

Messages

Additional SMS functions: Entering text with MMS dictionary: yes

Food

Battery Type: Li-Polymer Battery Capacity: 2840 MA · H Battery: Fat time Talk: 25.4 h Time for waiting: 391 h

Other functions

A2DP profile: There are sensors: illumination, approximation, gyroscope, compass Control: Voice dialing, voice control flight mode: yes

Notebook and organizer

Book search: There is an exchange between the SIM card and internal memory: there is an organizer: alarm clock, calculator, task scheduler

Additional Information

Features: Processor - 4 kernels x 2.0 GHz + 4 cores x 1.5 GHz Date Announcement: 2015-03-01

Indeed, if you are used to judge about the book on the cover, then M9 will be the same as M8 for you. So, think, a pair of cosmetic changes - no more. We offer expensive readers to look deeper on things. All changes in the new HTC One are essentially concerning the exclusively technical filling. For example, the M9 has the most advanced at the moment Qualcomm platform - Snapdragon 810. It is much faster than the 801th "Snepegona", which was in M8. However, we still have to make sure.

HTC engineers fresheged the "iron" of the new flagship One to the unlawful standards of 2015: installed in M9 three gigabytes of RAM, raised the volume of the built-in flash memory up to 32 GB, equipped the device with support for LTE CAT networks. 6, expanded the range of supported frequencies 4G and ... (Powerful drum fraction)installed in the device a classic chamber without any "ultrapixels", with a matrix by 20 megapixel. And this we listed only the main changes. How the whole thing works together, and also something has changed in the flagship smartphone HTC - we will tell in this review.

⇡ Specifications

	HTC One M8.	HTC One M9.
Display	5.0 inches, 1920 × 1080, IPS	5.0 inches, 1920 × 1080, IPS
Touch screen		Capacitive, up to 10 simultaneous touches
Safety glass	Corning Gorilla Glass 3	Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Aerial layer	Not	Not
Oleophobic coating	there is	there is
Polarizing filter	there is	there is
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AB V3: four kernels Qualcomm Krait-400 (Armv7), frequency of 2.27 GHz; tEHPROSESS 28 Nm HPM	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994: four cores ARM Cortex-A57 (Armv8), frequency 2 GHz + four cores ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMV8), frequency of 1.5 GHz; technical process 20 nm HPM; 32- and 64-bit calculations
Graphic controller	Qualcomm Adreno 330, 578 MHz	Qualcomm Adreno 430, 650 MHz
RAM	2 GB LPDDR3	3 GB LPDDR3
Flash memory	16 GB (about 11 GB Available) + MicroSD	32 GB (about 25 GB Available) + MicroSD
Connectors	1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 × microSd. 1 × Nano-Sim	1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 × 3.5 mm headset connector 1 × microSd. 1 × Nano-Sim
cellular	2G / 3G / 4G	2G / 3G / 4G One SIM-SIM SIM card
Cellular communication 2G.		GSM / GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Cellular communication 3G.	WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz DC-HSPA + (42.2 / 5.76 Mbps)	WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz DC-HSPA + (42.2 / 5.76 Mbps)
Cellular communication 4G.	LTE BAND 3, 7, 8, 20 (1800/2600/900/800 MHz) LTE Cat. 3 (150/50 Mbps)	LTE Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40, 41 (2100/1800/850/2600/900/800/700/2300/2500 MHz) LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbps)
Wi-Fi		802.11a / B / G / N / AC, 2.4 and 5 GHz
Bluetooth	4.0	4.1
NFC.	there is	there is
IR port	there is	there is
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS	GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, Beidou
Sensors		Light sensor, approximation sensor, accelerometer / gyroscope / pedometer, magnetometer (digital compass), barometer
Main camera	4.1 Mp (2688 × 1520), matrix HTC Ultrapixel size 1/3 "with inverse illumination, element size 2 μm; autofocus, double two-color diode flash; additional cameraRecording information about the distance to the removable objects	20.2 Mp (5376 × 3752), BSI matrix with inverse illumination; lens with focal length 27.8 mm and maximum relative opening ƒ / 2.2 autofocus, double two-color diode flash
Front-camera	5 MP (2560 × 1920)	4.1 Mp (2688 × 1520), Matrix HTC Ultrapixel
Food	Non-removable battery 9.88 W · h (2600 mA · h, 3.8 V)	Non-removable battery 10.8 W · h (2840 mA · h, 3.8 V)
The size	146.7 × 70.8 mm Case thickness: 9.4 mm	144.6 × 69.7 mm Case thickness: 9.6 mm
Weight	158 g	157 g
Water and dust protection	Not	Not
Operating system	Google Android 4.4.2 (Kitkat)	Google Android 5.0 Lollipop HTC Sense's own shell with disabled HTC Blinkfeed
recommended price	34 990 rubles	39 990 rubles

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

Honestly, going to call, than one M9 outwardly different from M8, is not a task out of simple even for specialized journalists. We specifically armed with the device of the previous generation to, so to speak, refresh the impressions of M8 and compare it with M9.

Can you distinguish M8 from M9 on this photo?

The front panels of these smartphones are absolutely the same. The only thing that has changed is the proportions of the body. For example, in the M9 side frame around the display slightly thinner than that of M8. Similar changes should be signed in the literal sense with a magnifying glass - they are not thrown into the eyes. The size of stereo speakers in the upper and lower parts of the front panel has not changed, but they sounded at One M9 as if even better than the previous model. The sound is rich, detailed, and even there is a hint of volume - M9 is played by the standards of smartphones very cool.

The enabarits of the case remained almost unchanged - the difference is minimal. The thickness of M9 was even slightly grown - from 9.4 to 9.6 millimeters, which is quite a lot of modern standards. However, due to all sorts of roundings, the device does not seem "plump" at all. One M9 is still made entirely of metal. The radius of the rounding corners has become a little less. From the back panel disappeared the additional lens, with which the distance to the removable object was measured; The form of the master chamber lens changed.

Several changed ergonomics of the device. The volume control buttons at M9 became separate, they are now on the same end with the inclusion key - on the right, while M8 lock button was located on the upper end. By the way, transfer the inclusion keys to the side end greatly simplified the process of interaction with the device - at M8 it was located, frankly, unsuccessful. Here, perhaps, all the differences between HTC One M9 from HTC One M8 in the Exterior Plan.

Otherwise, the location of the elements of the device is the same as its predecessor. Nano-SIM and MicroSD card connectors are put on the side ends under the needle-needle. The 3.5-millimeter universal audio jacks for the headset and the MHL interface that combines Micro-USB and video outputs is located in the lower end.

HTC One M9 turned out to be quite comfortable in everyday use. Dimensions of the device are acceptable - the gadget without problems fit in jeans pockets, a jacket or in small branches. True, for a five-fashioned smartphone weighs the device is a bit - 157 grams. Hands are not tired of him, but the norm for this diagonal is about 130 grams. Surprisingly: the thickness of the case and the mass of M9 is clearly redundant, but it doesn't want to swear at all - it's painful and the device is painful and finished. About the assembly we have no comments - a twisting test and a break device withstands absolutely calmly. There are no suspicious embesing and divorces on the display.

Improved and updated flagship

The central figure at the Taiwanese company NTS booth during the spring exhibitions MWC. 2015 in Barcelona became this time new flagshipsky smartphone called One M9. And it is somewhat surprising, because until this all past years, the company organized separate large-scale presentations outside the framework of any international exhibitions to submit their mobile flagships.

But even more surprising, in contrast to market leaders, such as, for example, Apple and Samsung, which made quite a lot of cardinal change this time in new generations of their products, the next flagship NTS has changed very little compared to its last year's predecessor. A more recent hardware platform is installed, the battery volume is slightly increased, but the screen, as the main and the main measure for any modern mobile product, remains absolutely the same - both in size and permission. The housing also almost did not undergo changes - the dimensions and the mass remained almost the same. And it is quite surprising against the background of the universal boom "Shovels", in which even Google got involved, the smartphones of which in the past years were considered almost a reference to the grace and which in the new season unexpectedly released one of the biggest and heavy smartphones in the world. In this regard, Taiwan remained faithful to themselves, they retained a successful balance of sizes and mass, providing inventory to those users who, for some reason, still do not want to transplant to huge tablet phones. And it is not bad.

And nevertheless, here, who in the new season could well be satisfied with the "Improved" prefix "S" in the title, so this is another flagship NTS, because the number of changes is clearly not drawn to a new model. The main and most significant "innovation" compared to the previous version is a refund to the "normal" cameras. Widow is playing with the "ultrapixels", the developers finally came to the conclusion that this is not the best option, and turned their eyes to the "classics". Instead of 4 megapixels (main chamber!) Here now proudly bangs "20 MP", which may finally give true fans of the brand sigh with relief. The chamber of the new flagship NTS has become better to shoot better, and about other changes that have happened to the next representative of the famous family, read in our review.

Video review

To begin with, we offer to see our video review of the HTC One M9 smartphone:

Now take a look at the characteristics of the novelty.

The main characteristics of HTC One M9

	HTC One M9.	Meizu MX4.	LG G Flex 2	Nexus 6.	SAMSUNG GALAXY S6.
Screen	5 ", S-LCD 3	5.36 ", IPS	5.5 ", P-OLED	5,96, Amoled	5.1 ", Super AMOLED
Resolution	1920 × 1080, 441 ppi	1920 × 1152, 418 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi	2560 × 1440, 493 PPI	2560 × 1440, 577 PPI
SOC.	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4 cores Cortex-A57 @ 2.0 GHz + 4 cores Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz)	MediaTek MT6595 Octa-Core (4 cores Cortex-A17 @ 2.2 GHz and 4 cores Cortex-A7 @ 1.7 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4 cores Cortex-A57 @ 2.0 GHz + 4 Cortex-A53 kernels)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 (4 kernels Krait 450 @ 2.7 GHz)	Exynos 7420 (4 cores Cortex-A57 @ 2.1 GHz and 4 cores Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz)
GPU.	Adreno 430.	PowerVR G6200.	Adreno 430.	Adreno 420.	Mali-T760.
Oz	3 GB	2 GB	2 GB	3 GB	3 GB
Flash Memory	32 GB	16/32/64 GB	32 GB	32/64 GB	32/64/128 GB
Memory card support	microSD.	—	microSD.	—	—
Operating system	Google Android 5.0.	Google Android 4.4.	Google Android 5.0.	Google Android 5.0.	Google Android 5.0.
Battery	non-removable, 2840 mA · h	non-removable, 3100 mA · h	non-removable, 3000 mA · h	non-removable, 3220 mA · h	non-removable, 2550 mA · h
Cameras	basic (20.7 MP; video 4K), frontal (4 MP)	basic (20.7 MP; video 4k), frontal (2 MP)		basic (13 mp; video 4K), frontal (2 MP)	basic (16 mp; video 4k), frontal (5 MP)
Dimensions and weight	145 × 70 × 9.6 mm, 157 g	144 × 75 × 8.9 mm, 147 g	149 × 75 × 9.4 mm, 154 g	159 × 83 × 10.1 mm, 184 g	143 × 70 × 6,8 mm, 138 g
average price	T-12259334.	T-11010064.	T-11883628.	T-11153512.	T-12259333.
HTC ONE M9 offers	L-12259334-10

• Soc Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8994), 64-bit platform, two clusters of four processor kernels: ARM Cortex-A57 with a frequency of 2.0 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53
• GPU Adreno 430 @ 600 MHz
• Android operating system 5.0.2, Lollipop
• SUPER LCD 3 Touch Display (IPS) 5 ", 1920 × 1080, 441 PPI
• RAM (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 32 GB
• SIM Cards: Nano-SIM (1 PC.)
• MICROSD memory card support (up to 2 TB)
• Data transfer 4G LTE ADVANCED CAT 6 (up to 300 Mbps)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a / B / G / N / AC MIMO (2.4 / 5 GHz), point access Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, IR port
• GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
• USB 2.0, OTG, MHL 3.0
• Camera 20.7 MP, autofocus, video 4K
• Camera 4 MP Ultrapixel, Frontal
• Gyroscope, approximation sensor, lighting, accelerometer, electronic compass
• Battery 2840 MA · h, non-removable
• Dimensions 145 × 70 × 9.6 mm
• Mass 157 g

Contents of delivery

The HTC One M9 smartphone is shipped in a very small flat box of a familiar form - the same as all packages of NTS products (but smaller size). The box is made of thin white cardboard with a minimum number of logos and inscriptions.

Accessory kit contains charger (5 V, 1.5 A), connecting micro USB cable, as well as stereo header with an unemployed wiring of a flat cross section and intra-channel headphones. The caps on the side slots for the installation of the cards are opened with a complete metal key-clips.

Appearance and ease of use

Unlike all-metal buildings, which once crushed the NTS laser for its top smartphones, the new flagship M9, as was the last year's model M8, received a body, only half a metal. One-piece aluminum brown, a sort of pallet, which makes up the rear wall and sidewalls, is completely open in front - here it is glued to it with a glass / display, and this frame is fully made of plastic, painted under the color of the metal. It immediately rushes into the eyes, to the touch and even when a quick look, the front part texture is noticeably different from the rear surface, although the developers obviously tried to create a form that the body is all-metal.

All the familiar form of branded design is observed: seemingly the new flagship HTC One M9 is almost indistinguishable from its predecessors M7 and M8. All the same streamlined forms, strongly rounded corners, and most importantly, this attachment, rounded on the manner press papier, the back cover, due to which the smartphone is swaying, lying on the table. ONE M9 is constantly inconvenient to work with the NTS ONE M9 solid surface, since with any pressing the housing is swinging.

As for the dimensions of the device, then the developers can only praise. It is difficult for them, apparently, it was to stay from temptation and not to succumb to the universal movement of manufacturers in the direction of the extension of the dimensions, but they coped with it. As a result, NTS issued a five-year-old smartphone in the new season, whose sizes would be considered a few years ago, but now it is one of the most elegant and small top-level smartphones in the world. Due to the well-thought-out combination of dimensions, a matte back surface and a highly lowered lid, the smartphone is very comfortable in hand. The surfaces are not marked, but the metal still remains to define more slippery than plastic, nothing can be done with it.

The upper and lower parts of the frame around the screen on the front panel are traditionally very broad, since under them are the front stereo speakers, covered with lattices in the form of an array of round holes. In addition, the wide black band under the screen is not familiar with anything, except for the branded logo, and on it, as usual, a whole centimeter of unnecessary space on the front panel is spent, although the control buttons here are virtual. The developers claim that this strip is needed due to the presence of dynamics under it. Be that as it may, but at the bottom under the screen, the frame width reaches almost 20 mm, and it is unusual for modern standards.

Above the screen in the upper part, in addition to the lattice, the dynamics and eye of the sensors and the camera is also available useful elementas a LED alert indicator. A small bright point shines directly through the hole of the lattice dynamics, notifying about the status of charging and incoming events.

On the back, respectively, there are no lattices for the output of sound, on the entire rear surface you can find only a large square eye chamber with a double-colored LED flash nearby. The flash can be used as a flashlight using a special pre-installed program. Strips that can be seen on the rear surface of the housing, these are already familiar chamdes, carved in the metal, to lay an antennas in them. First, before that, they thought precisely in the NTS when creating their first all-metal NTS ONE (M7), and now Apple and Samsung went on this path.

The SIM card and memory card are familiar to the side slots, entering them on plastic pallets with a metal base. Salazks are pulled out of the connectors with a familiar pressure of the secret buttons using a key or any clip. It should be noted that this time the holes for the key became sewn, now any clip can really fit here.

Slots are separated on the sides of the case: one is intended for the SIM card of the Nano-SIM format, and the other is for a microSD memory card to 2 TB. Insert the second SIM card in the place of the memory card will not be possible, such an opportunity is not provided here.

NTS to the last stubbornly installed the power button and lock to the top end, but after even Apple moved this element on the side, finally surrendered. In HTC One M9, the power button is also transferred to the side face, but it is still not clear whether it becomes better. Now the power key turned out to be embedded below the central axis, and it is completely uncomfortable. Tactically, the keys are practically not different between themselves, the finger constantly presses the button in the middle, which is responsible for decreasing the volume, because it is it in the most comfortable place. In general, in NTS once again cleared with the buttons, although it would seem that everything was already invented and honed, it was enough to simply survive from competitors.

In the lower end of the case, the universal Micro-USB 2.0 connector is located with support for connecting external devices in OTG mode. The 3.5 mm audio output connector on the headphone minijacks is embedded here, which may, perhaps, cause some inconvenience while connecting both plugs.

It is possible that all this nonsense with a strange placement of buttons and connectors on the housing is caused by the presence of an infrared port on the top end of the housing. However, who forced to do this element so big so that he occupy the entire surface of the end? After all, other developers have models with an IR port - to take the same Samsung Galaxy S6, for example. But there there are no slightest problems with this, all control elements are distributed on the body conveniently and comfortable.

As for the color options of the novelty, there was no revelations here: the device goes on sale in the three already familiar colors: silver, dark gray and golden. Hermetic caps on their connectors does not have a smartphone, since it is not secured by protection against water and dust. Do not find on its surface and fastening for the strap. Wireless charging device also does not support.

Screen

HTC One M9 is equipped with the Super LCD 3 touch matrix (IPS) - according to external parameters exactly the same as used in the previous model M8. Screen dimensions are 62 × 110 mm, diagonal - 5 inches, resolution - 1920 × 1080 points. Accordingly, the density of the points is very high, it reaches the value of 441 PPI.

The thickness of the frame from the edge of the screen to the edge of the case is not a record. It is approximately 3.5 mm, it is 15 mm from above, from the bottom - almost 20 mm.

The brightness of the display can be adjusted manually, and you can use automatic adjustment based on the operation of the illumination sensor. Multitouch technology here allows you to handle 10 simultaneous touches, but for this, as usual in the NTS smartphones, it is necessary to allow 3 fingers gesture recognition in the settings. When making a smartphone to the ear, the screen is blocked using the approximation sensor. The screen can be unlocked with double tapping on the glass, it is possible to work with the screen in gloves.

Detailed examination with the use of measuring instruments was conducted by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. We present his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface resistant to the appearance of scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen is not worse than the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, we give a photo on which the white surface is reflected in the screens (left - Nexus 7, to the right - HTC One M9, then they can be distinguished by size):

The HTC One M9 screen is slightly darker (brightness of photographs 104 against 108 at Nexus 7). Two reflected objects on the HTC One M9 screen is very weak, this suggests that between the layers of the screen (more specifically between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) there is no airbap (OGS-One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (type of glass / air) with highly different refractive ratios, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the event of a cracked exterior glass costs much more expensive, since it accounts for a whole screen. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (fat-repellent) coating (by efficiency, slightly better than Nexus 7), so traces from the fingers are removed easier, and appear at a lower rate than in the case of conventional glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and when the white field is output, the maximum brightness value was about 480 cd / m², the minimum is 9.7 kD / m². The maximum brightness is high, it means that considering excellent anti-reflective properties, readability even on a sunny day outside the room should be at a good level. In complete dark, brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. In stock Automatic brightness adjustment over the light sensor (it is located on the left of the front camera). IN automatic mode When the external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both rises and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness, the automatic brightness adjustment function reduces the brightness of up to 9.7 kD / m² (dark, but you can read from the screen), in conditions lit by artificial offices (about 400 lux) brightness rises to 150 kD / m² (normally), in a very bright environment (corresponds to the lighting with a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20000 LCs or a little more) is set to 450 kD / m² (not maximum, but enough). Brightness slider by 50% - the values \u200b\u200bare as follows: 7.2, 110 and 340 kD / m² (acceptable values), by 0% - 4.8, 72 and 230 kD / m² (logic is traced). That is, the auto-adjustment function of brightness works adequately. Only at the lowest level of the brightness of the backlight appears significant modulation, but its frequency is high - 2.3 kHz - therefore we can assume that the screen flicker is not at all.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs demonstrate a typical structure of subpixels for IPS:

For comparison, you can familiarize yourself with the micrographic gallery of the screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without a significant shift of colors, even with large looks from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, we give the photos on which the same images are displayed on the HTC One M9 and Nexus 7 screens, while the brightness of the screens is initially installed about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. Perpendicular to the screens. White field:

Note good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And test picture:

The color rendition is good, but the color balance varies significantly and the HTC One M9 is clearly darkened. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much from both screens, but the HTC One M9 contrast decreased to a greater extent due to the strong decrease of black. And white field:

The brightness at an angle at the screens has decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but the HTC One M9 screen is a bit lighter (average brightness of photographs 234 against 229 at Nexus 7). The black field during the deviation on the diagonal is highlighted strongly and acquires a purple shade or remains conditionally neutral-gray. The photos below are demonstrated (the brightness of white areas in the perpendicular plane of the directions of the direction is the same!):

And at a different angle:

With perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is very good:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 700: 1. Response time when switching black-white-black is 14 ms (8 ms incl. + 6 ms off.). The transition between halftons of gray 25% and 75% (on the numerical value of color) and back in total takes 21 ms. Constructed by 32 points with an equal interval in the numerical value of the shade of a gray gamma curve did not reveal in neither lights or in the shadows. The index of the approximating power function is 2.13, which is lower standard value 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve somewhat deviates from power dependence:

Due to the dynamic and very aggressive adjustment of the brightness of the backlight in accordance with the nature of the displayed image (the brightness of the brightness decreases) the resulting brightness dependence on the shade (gamma curve) does not correspond to the gamma curve of the static image, since the measurements were carried out with a consistent output of shades of gray almost in full screen. For this reason, a series of tests - the definition of contrast and response time, comparing the illumination of black at angles - we were performed in the output of special templates with constant medium brightness, and not one-photo fields in full screen. We give the dependence of the brightness (vertical axis) from time when switching from a black field to white in half the screen alternately, the average brightness does not change and the dynamic adjustment of the illumination brightness does not work (graph 50%/50% ). And the same dependence, but with the alternate output of the fields in full screen (schedule 100% ), while the average brightness is already changing and the dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight works in all:

In general, such an unleated brightness correction is nothing but harm, since the constant change of screen brightness at least can cause some discomfort, reduce the distinguishability of gradations in the shadows in the case of dark images and readability of the screen on bright light.

Color coverage is close to SRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix light filters to moderately mix the components to each other:

As a result, colors have natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is mediocre, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K and deviation from the spectrum of absolutely black body (ΔE) greater than 10, which even for the consumer device is considered a bad indicator. The balance shifted, of course, due to the excess of blue and green, thereby highlights the manufacturer of the brightness, neglecting the quality of color reproduction. But well, even though the color temperature and ΔE change little from the shade to the shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can not be considered, since there the balance of colors does not matter, and the measurement error of the color characteristics on the low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize: the screen has a sufficiently high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device without problems can be used outside the room even a summer sunny day. In complete darkness, brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. Mode with automatic adjustment of brightness is adequate. The advantages of the screen should include the presence of an effective oleophobic coating, no flicker and air gap in the layers of the screen, good uniform of the black field, as well as close to SRGB color coverage. To significant disadvantages, we will draw low stability of black to the rejection of the view from the perpendicular to the screen plane, the average quality of the color rendering, as well as an aggressive unconnected dynamic adjustment of the illumination brightness. However, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.

Sound

In terms of sounding, the flagship series of the flagship series NTS ONE has always been at the highest level. This time the developers went even further, in collaboration with the Dolby laboratory, they achieved the effect of surround sound published by stereo speakers. With the help of embedded HTC Boomsound and Dolby Audio technologies, the smartphone copes with music of any complexity and any genre - even multichannel tracks with YouTube. The device, as usual, is equipped with two front stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers, so that the smartphone sounds excellent. The sound is quite loud, pure in the entire spectrum, low frequencies in sufficiency, at the maximum volume of the volume of distortion is not observed. It also applies to sound in headphones, and in general, the sound of HTC One M9 causes only admiration. In the conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, the timbre and intonation remain recognizable.

To play musical compositions in the device, the NTS Music's own brand player is used. All sound effects are combined by Boomsound technology and are given to the exhaust automation - it is not possible to manually configure anything.

The FM radio in the standard configuration of the smartphone is available, and the voice recorder has been discovered. Write down telephone conversations With the line, the smartphone does not know how to the staff.

Camera

As for the cameras, this time the HTC developers finally put everything into place. Unlike the previous model of the series, which the role of the main chamber played all the same controversial 4-megapixel module called HTC Ultrapixel, here it was used only for the front camera, where he is perhaps the very place. Recall that HTC Ultrapixel is a specific module developed by the NTS, with a pixel size of 2.0 μm, the size of the 1/3 sensor, the model of the matrix of the matrix, the special processor HTC ImageCHIP 2, the diaphragm F2.0 and the lens 26.8 mm. Unlike, for example, HTC Desire Eye, here the front camera is not equipped with its own LED flash and autofocus.

The main chamber in the HTC One M9 is equipped with a 20.7 megapixel module with a BSI sensor and a 28 mm wide-angle lens with a diaphragm F / 2.2. The camera has the function of automatic focus and two-color LED flash. Lens lens is covered with sapphire glass. Video recording is carried out with a resolution up to 4k.

The camera control menu is exactly the same as in the HTC Desire Eye model. The menu is drawn large, convenient to use and intuitively understandable. You can perform the shooting using a touch to the screen by pressing the mechanical button on the side, as well as using gestures and voices. Tools of a new brand service called HTC Eye Experience provide facial tracking options in frame, joint screen viewing, simultaneous double shooting, real-time makeup, voice and automatic selfie, photocyrk modes and Crop Me in, as well as Face Fusion Faces. The double shooting feature allows you to shoot a photo or video of the frontal and the main camera both synchronously and sequentially, and at the same time output both images on the screen, so users will be able to capture not only events, but also their reaction to them. In stock And Corporate Mode Zoe - Photographing mode, in which the camera not only makes a few snapshots, but also glues them later into the microlics.

The camera can shoot the video in the maximum resolution of 4k, there is also the ability to shoot in even more interesting to combine the size and quality of the video mode 1080r at a speed of 60 fps. Do not forget the mode of slow motion. Examples of various test rollers are presented below.

• Roller №1 (35 MB, 1920 × [Email Protected] FPS)
• Roller # 2 (32 MB, 1920 × [Email Protected] FPS)
• Roller # 3 (81 MB, 3840 × [Email Protected] FPS)
• Roller №4 (76 MB, 1280 × [Email Protected] FPS, SLO-MO)

	Not bad sharpness and work with noise, although for such a high resolution, the work of the noise is clearly too rude.
	Sharpness drops a bit in the corners, but in general everything is fine.
	Despite the high resolution, the camera does not cope with small details, which is well noticeable according to the branches.
	There are unpleasant artifacts in the sky.
	Sometimes small details are good for the camera, but often around them there is a multi-colored circuit, which is probably the result of too small pixel.
	But often small details simply go into blur. Rooms of all cars are distinguishable.
	On the wires are noticeable to light shaping.
	Dynamic range of sensor is narrow. If the program managed to "filter" the noise appearing through the branches of the trees, the image would have won very much.
	With macro shot, the camera copes well.
	The flash significantly improves the situation.
	Flash text manages a camera well.
	Without flash a little worse, but also good.

We also tested the camera on the laboratory stand on our technique.

By practically throwing the idea with the "ultrapi's", in HTC decided to go directly to the "big megapixels", but unfortunately, such a sharp jump was not able to them. There is nothing surprising in this: beautifully painting the advantages of a "low-pixel" camera, which itself removes well, you can easily relax and forget that the transition to "multi-scene" requires a lot of work in every sense. HTC decided to "wave not looking", providing new smartphone The sensor of the largest permission among the chambers of this class. But at the same time they did not take into account that "a great resolution is a big responsibility." And the result of this is not until the end of the thoughtful step in our eyes.

The fact that the pictures are made by the flagship chamber can only be guessed by EXIF, since even a field test demonstrates the result just below average. The laboratory test confirms the seen: the camera is not so bad, but the sensor resolution does not pull, although the optics fails in places.

In fact, the main HTC error is not in the raw program, but in an attempt to use all the permission of the sensor, which requires more and cleaner optics. Even Sony engineers who used the similar sensor for the first time, schitri, limiting the resolution of the output snapshot of 8 Mp in authors. This made it possible to slightly increase the actual resolution of the camera and significantly improve the visual. Here we see a good real permission that after software improvements and a small compression could be higher, however, with the current state of affairs it is nothing more than dreams.

As a result, with a slightly more competent and cunning formulation of the task of HTC could achieve a very good result. Having worked a little diligently over the software processing and then reducing the picture twice, it would be quite possible to claim a place in the upper stages of the ratings. In the meantime, everything looks damp and ill-conceived, although it gives high hopes. In addition, with documentary shooting the camera copes well.

For some reason, of the three possible options for the aspect ratio of the parties here, it is called 10: 7, and 4: 3 is missing, which indicates a non-standard sensor, since the maximum resolution of the picture is obtained precisely with the ratio of the parties 10: 7.

Judging by the rumors, the camera supports shooting in Raw, but find this feature We failed. However, the loss is small, since the possibility of shooting in the RAW camera of a smartphone is a matter of doubtful, and with such a module, especially.

Old "ultrapixel" module moved to the front panel, although not without loss. First, of course, the lens changed, and secondly, the sensor himself has changed a little. But in any case, it is suitable for shooting a selfie, even with the very good lighting, which confirms the laboratory test of the front chamber.

Telephone part and communication

The smartphone works standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and there is also support for the fourth-generation FDD-LTE networks, that is, the frequencies used in Russia are also supported. In practice with SIM cards of the domestic operator MTS, the smartphone is confidently registered and works in 4G networks. Communication capabilities of the smartphone at height: Both Wi-Fi ranges are supported (2.4 and 5 GHz), NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 with APTX Audio Code, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, you can organize a wireless access point through Wi-Fi channels or Bluetooth. Micro USB 2.0 connector supports the connection of external devices (USB Host, USB OTG), so you can connect to the Micro-USB port of flash drives and mouses with keyboards.

The navigation module works not only with GPS (with A-GPS), but also from the domestic GLONASS, but the satellites of the Chinese network Beidou (BDS) did not see the smartphone. No complaints are on the operation of the navigation module, the first satellites are found literally in seconds. Also among the smartphone sensors there is a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the digital compass is so necessary in navigation programs.

OS and Software

As a system, a fresh Google software platform is immediately used. Android version 5.0.2 and updated brand graphic user interface HTC SENSE 7. Update the order number shell Sense. is mainly due to the fact that it works with new version Android OS, and otherwise remained in appearance and the possibilities of almost the same. Branded fonts, flat stylized icons, vertical way to scrolling the program menu, the structure of the notifications panel and quick access to the main functions, supporting the work with gestures - everything is familiar. In stock The mode of disabling audio notifications in time "Do not disturb", two energy-saving modes, as well as children's regime. The Smart Remote program is responsible for the operation of an IR transmitter as a remote control, the BlinkFeed news service. Now the BlinkFeed service will search for information based on the location of the smartphone.

There are not so many pre-installed programs, they are all useful: there is a file manager, a package for working with office documents, its own archiving service and a convenient feature of the transfer of personal data from the old apparatus to a new one, a comprehensive program for cleaning the memory and optimizing the free seat of Clean Master is installed.

Changes related to the transition to the fifth version of OS Android, put it mainly in the appearance of separate interactive information tiles with alerts; The rest of the developers have saved their own organization of all menus, notification panels, the latter menu open software without changes. HTC One M9 has more opportunities for personalization. The HTC "Theme" application allows you to issue work screens in your own way: use your own photos and pictures from online resources, change the form and size of icons. But more interestingly, a contextual-dependent home screen appeared: a special widget now automatically detects the location of the user and selects applications based on its location and personal settings. By idea of \u200b\u200bthe creators, the necessary services and tools will appear on the home screen at the moment when they are needed. In any case, you can manually switch to the widget "House" or "work" modes with the appropriate situations with a set of applications displayed on the home screen in a separate widget.

Performance

HTC ONE M9 hardware platform is based on the latest and most powerful from the entire family of single-chip system Qualcomm - Snapdragon 810. This 64-bit platform is made according to the process of 20 nm, it includes four powerful 64-bit Arm Cortex-A57 kernels with a frequency to 2 GHz, which are complemented by four simpler 64-bit Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 1.5 GHz, providing high energy efficiency or performance depending on specific tasks.

The modern video inspector Adreno 430 is responsible for processing graphics in SOC. The amount of smartphone RAM is worthy of 3 GB. For the needs of the user in the device there are about 23 GB flash memory from 32 nominal. Memory can be expanded by installing microSD cards, the volume of which can reach 2 TB, which sounds not quite familiar yet, and there are still no such cards yet. The device also supports connecting external flash drives, keyboards and mice to the Micro-USB port in OTG mode.

HTC One M9 is not the first smartphone on the newest and most productive of the modern Soc company Qualcomm. At the beginning of the year, we have already managed to get acquainted with the capabilities of Snapdragon 810 using the example of LG G Flex 2, and it should be noted that in comparison with it, the results of the HTC are surprised. Perhaps the developers slightly "strangle" a powerful processor so that the metal case does not heat up too much, or there are some other explanations, but the fact remains: HTC One M9 on the same platform literally in all tests showed lower results than, rather than Korean smartphone. In the 64-bit version of Antutu, the indicators reached 50k, but in the standard test, the resulting digit did not reach even 45k points. The same applies to all other tests with the exception of Bonsai Benchmark (in it the subject manifested itself with a true hero, lifting only the most powerful smartphone of modernity, Samsung Galaxy S6). In the rest of the graphic benchmarks, HTC One M9 is also not as bad, as in complex and browser tests, but still he has shown himself at all on equal with faster in all Korean.

Be that as it may, the HTC ONE M9 smartphone hardware filling in any case is quite productive in order to cope with any tasks set by demanding programs and heavy 3D games. Although now it is no longer necessary to talk about the unconditional superiority of Qualcomm on this field: the most powerful of the entire Snapdragon family is still inferior in the new season to the top platforms MediaTek and Samsung Exynos, and this is a disturbing fact.

Testing in the latest versions complex tests ANTUTU and GEEKBENCH 3:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the most recent versions of popular benchmarks, we are conveniently reduced to the table. The table usually adds several other devices from various segments, also tested on similar recent versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the resulting dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the same comparison, it is impossible to submit results from different versions Benchmarks, therefore, many decent and actual models remain "behind the scenes" - due to the fact that they at one time passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing a graphic subsystem in 3DMark game tests, GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the most productive smartphones now it is possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the resolution of the rendering is fixed to 720p and is turned off by VSYNC (due to which the speed can rise above 60 FPS).

	HTC One M9. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)	Meizu MX4. MEDIATEK MT6595)	LG G Flex 2 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)	Nexus 6. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 805)	SAMSUNG GALAXY S6. (Exynos 7420)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more - better)	MAXED OUT!	MAXED OUT!	MAXED OUT!	MAXED OUT!	MAXED OUT!
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more - better)	20538	16691	24102	23234	21204
GFXBENCHMARK T-REX HD (C24Z16 ONSCREEN)	37 FPS.	21.7 FPS.	46 fps	23 fps	30 FPS.
GFXBENCHMARK T-REX HD (C24Z16 OFFSCREEN)	36 fps	23.2 FPS.	46 fps	29 fps	46 fps
Bonsai Benchmark.	4092 (58 FPS)	4033 (58 FPS)	3613 (52 FPS)	3633 (52 FPS)	4185 (60 FPS)

The back surface is shown below (the top in the picture is on the right), obtained after 10 minutes of the battery test operation in the GFXBenchMark program:

It can be seen that heating is localized in about the center of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SOC chip. At the same time the metal part back cover Well distributes heat over the entire surface.

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for the benchmarks to estimate the speed of the JavaScript engine, it is necessary to always make a discount on the fact that they are significantly dependent on the browser in them, in which the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and such an opportunity is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Video playback

To test "omnivities" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special capabilities, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats that constitute the bulk of the content available on the content network. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have the support of hardware decoding of videos at the chip level, since to process modern options due to the processor nuclei are most often impossible. Also, it is not necessary to wait from the mobile device of decoding everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

According to test results, the subject did not turn out to be equipped with all the necessary decoders, in this case the sound, which are necessary for the full play of the majority of the most common files. To successfully play their playback, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player.	Full video player
DVDRip.	AVI, XVID 720 × 400 2200 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduces normal	reproduces normal
Web-DL SD	AVI, XVID 720 × 400 1400 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduces normal	reproduces normal
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 3000 Kbps, AC3	reproduces normal
BDRip 720p.	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 4000 Kbps, AC3	reproduces normal	video is reproduced normally, no sound
BDRip 1080p.	MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	reproduces normal	video is reproduced normally, no sound

Testing the features of the video output spent Alexey Kudryavtsev.

The MHL interface, like the Mobility Displayport, we did not find in this smartphone (although its presence is declared in the specification), so it was necessary to restrict ourselves to testing an image of the video files on the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with one division by the frame with an arrow and a rectangle (see "Methods for testing the playback devices and displaying the video signal. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with shutter speed in 1 C helped to determine the nature of the output of video files with various parameters: resolution ranged (1280 per 720 (720p), 1920 at 1080 (1080p) and 3840 at 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames / s). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in the "hardware" mode. The test results are reduced to the table: the red marks indicate possible problems associated with playing the relevant files.

By the output criterion, the quality of video playback playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or frames of frames) may (but not obliged) to be output with more or less uniform intervals and without frames. Smartphone can even show files with a 4K resolution to 30 frame / s inclusive. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 to 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file is displayed one-in-one via pixels, exactly along the border of the screen and in the true resolution of Full HD. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235, which is required for correct playback of typical video files.

Battery life

HTC One M9 has a non-removable battery full of a worthy volume of 2840 mAh, however, even if the smartphone has not yet demonstrated any outstanding results with the smartphone screen and resolution. All within the normal range, but many modern flagships show the best level of autonomy. The manufacturer itself promises to 25.4 hours in conversation mode and up to 391 hours in standby mode. It is also necessary to remind you that in HTC One M9, as in other modern NTS models, there are two energy-saving modes - the usual and extreme: in the last majority of services and network modules are simply disconnected, and the smartphone is essentially turning into an ordinary phone for calls, but it is capable of Stretch in this mode much longer.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D game mode
HTC One M9.	2840 mA · h	11 h. 00 m.	8 h. 20 m.	3 h 50 m.
SAMSUNG GALAXY S6.	2550 mA · h	20 h. 00 m.	12 h. 00 m.	4 h. 00 m.
SAMSUNG GALAXY A7.	2600 mA · h	22 h. 10 m.	12 h. 00 m.	3 h. 20 m.
SAMSUNG NOTE 4.	3220 mA · h	10 h. 30 m.	8 h. 30 m.	3 h 50 m.
Yotaphone 2.	2500 mA · h	12 h. 00 m.	9 h. 30 m.	3 h. 15 m.
Lenovo Vibe X2.	2300 mA · h	13 h. 00 m.	6 h. 00 m.	3 h. 15 m.
Meizu MX4.	3100 mA · h	12 h. 00 m.	8 h. 40 m.	3 h. 45 m.
Meizu MX4 PRO.	3350 mA · h	16 h. 00 m.	8 h. 40 m.	3 h. 30 m.
Sony Xperia Z3.	3100 mA · h	20 h. 00 m.	10 h. 00 m.	4 h 50 m.

Our own tests in the most common use modes have shown that uninterrupted reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) with a minimum comfortable level of brightness (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted until the battery was completely discharge of only 11 hours, and with unlimited View Video B. high quality (720p) With the same level of brightness through the home network Wi-Fi, the device lasted less than 8.5 hours. In 3D-games mode, the smartphone did not reach up to 4 hours. The smartphone battery is charging at the same time just under 3 hours.

Outcome

As for the cost of HTC One M9, it is still not definitely defined for our market, although the pre-order on the model in some retail networks is already open. The next flagship came out from Taiwanese not just good; The main thing is that the new model with full right can be called successful work on errors. Almost everything that was unsuccessfully implemented in previous models of the series, here is fixed here (with the exception, perhaps, the ridiculous location of the lock button). The smartphone got stylish and expensive design, premium materials manufacturing and qualitatively assembled. An excellent screen, an improved camera and a powerful hardware filling with an excellent set of network modules complement the overall picture. At the same time, it is impossible to say that the NTS flagship is the most advanced apparatus: here it is not to find a fingerprint scanner, nor support for wireless charging, nor water protection, and the level of autonomy also leaves much to be desired. In comparison with the most advanced modern top models of market leaders, the new flagship of the NTS, perhaps, especially to boast nothing, is a high-level good smartphone, nothing more. And in this regard, there is hope that the manufacturer, understanding this, will not establish the same transcendent price on its new product, which, for example, is exhibited for the latest creations by Samsung. It remains to wait for the official announcement of the price for russian market, it all puts into place and determine the final place under the sun for one of the best. modern smartphones called HTC One M9.