The first batch of reviews for the HTC One M9 are out, and things are not looking good for HTC’s latest flagship. Reviews of the handset from all the major publications suggest that the One M9 suffers from the same issue as its predecessors have: a poorly placed Power button and mediocre camera performance. More worryingly though, reviews indicate that the screen and battery life on the One M9 have actually regressed compared to the One M8, which is both shocking and disappointing. The Verge: The publication says that using the One M9 gives a déjà vu experience, with the phone feeling “largely the same as the M8 from last year,” which is not necessarily a bad thing. As for its mediocre camera, this is what the publication had to say: Overall, The Verge concludes its review by saying that the One M9 has some “show-stopping flaws.” Engadget Engadget’s review of the One M9 echoes the same sentiment as that of The Verge. Design: Camera: Performance AnandTech AnandTech’s review of the One M9 is the most detailed of the bunch, and paints a very negative picture of the One M9. In their testing, the publication found that the One M9 performed poorly than its predecessor in many aspects. Display: Performance: As for the Snapdragon 810/HTC One M9 overheating issues that have been doing the rounds, the publication clarified that HTC rolled out a last minute software update that greatly impacted thermal throttling on the device. The CPU benchmarks from the site shows that the Snapdragon 810 is not a great performer, and HTC has greatly limited the SoC’s ability to clock to a higher frequency to avoid overheating issues. It also noted random stutter and lag in Sense 7 indicating that either the skin is unoptimised or the Snapdragon 810 has some issues. Conclusion: ZDNet Design: Software: Camera: I did not like the recommended apps folder at all and removed it after seeing poor recommendations. You can remove/hide this folder and the downloaded apps folder from the Sense Home widget if you like. One aspect of the HTC One M9 is that HTC gives you full control over the experience, including whether or not you want to use the BlinkFeed panel. Conclusion: Overall, the publication’s review of the handset was pretty positive, and it received a solid score of 9.5 out of 10. Pocketnow Design: Performance: Camera: Conclusion: As the reviews of the HTC One M9 indicate, the handset is actually worse than its predecessor in key areas like battery life and display. Additionally, the new 20MP camera on the rear has once again failed to impress reviewers. Overall, the One M9 does not seem to be as impressive as its predecessors. This is particularly bad for HTC especially since Samsung has brought its best foot forward this time around with the Galaxy S6. Will you still be buying the HTC One M9 despite the mediocre reviews it has received?
