After much talk and speculation, HTC have now officially revealed their next flagship Android smartphone, the HTC One M9.
Surprisingly the new HTC One M9 was announced on its own and contrary to what the rumours suggested, there has been no sign of a “plus” model – well at the moment anyway.
The new HTC One M9 features a refined design that includes dual anodization, along with scratch-resistant coating and sapphire glass used on the camera lens. No one can deny it looks very similar to its predecessor; however HTC have made minimalistic changes to the smartphone which actually make the device smaller and lighter. The HTC One M9 features a single-part front bezel along with a new location for the power/lock key, improved volume rocker and a brand new colour option too.
HTC have said that the One M9 will not be dust or waterproof, however the company have promised that it will release IP certified cases for the handset. Once released, you’ll be able to choose between a Silver model with Rose Gold accent (on the frame), Gun Metal Gray, completely Gold version and Pink model with Gold accent on the frame.
Moving on to the hardware; the HTC One M9 packs a 5 inch 1080p display (which happens to be the same unit from One M8), although features minor improvements on the technology and colour rendering. The highlights of the front are the traditional BoomSound stereo speakers, now improved further by Dolby Sound technology. The One M9 is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform that features an octa-core 64-bit processor with four Cortex-A57 cores at 2.0GHz and a four Cortex-A53 working at 1.5GHz. The new Adreno 430 is in charge of the graphics, while the 3GB RAM will handly all your multi-tasking needs. Other hardware specs include; 32GB expandable storage, LTE Cat.6 or Cat.9 (various by region) with support for 21 LTE bands, wired and wireless TV-out, GPS + GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and Wi-Fi ac.
As rumoured, HTC has dropped the dual-camera tech in favor of a Toshiba-made 20MP sensor with a 1/2.3″ sensor size. The maximum shooting resolution is 5376 x 3752 pixels; it also has the ability to capture RAW images too as well as 4K video recording. The front camera uses a 4MP UltraPixel sensor similar to the one used on the HTC One (M7) and One (M8) however it lacks auto focus.
On the software side of things, the HTC One M9 runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop alongside the new HTC Sense 7 UI. HTC have changed the concept of Sense and now the launcher will allow user to support themes; therefore backgrounds, colours, icons and even the keyboard can be set however you like. Finally, Sense 7 also supports a feature called BoomSound connect – this allows the phone to combine its internal speakers with external ones that will create surround sound playback.
As yet, HTC have not announced pricing of the new HTC One M9 although it’s believed that the ne Android smartphone will launch later this month.