HTC One M9 Android smartphone: Like a M8 with a squinty eye

Dread snapper

Last year’s 4.4x KitKat-based M8 software simply looks so much better than its 2014 5.x based Lollipop successor. Lollipop notifications contrive to be more intrusive and less clear, while the neat demarcation between notifications and quick settings has gone. Sadly Lollipop has got more bugs than a slice of Casu Marzu. And like the illicit Sicilian cheese, some of these bugs can get right up your nose.

Camera lens is protected with Sapphire glass

The camera is not actually bad, but in its current state (this may change with software tweaks) it mucks up shots that other phones can capture reasonably well, and it’s lost the distinctive HTC advantages. The two previous HTC One flagships have used a “Ultrapixel” pdf with a very large (2.0 um) pixels which HTC said allowed for 300 per cent more light. HTC added an additional depth sensor to give photos a bokeh effect. It didn’t have many pixels but used them well.

In practice, I found photos of people – particularly my kids – taken with the One M8 had a warmth and richness other smartphone cameras rarely matched. Shot-to-shot time was almost instantaneous. It produced something OK, if not photo quality, in low light. Taking outdoor and landscape photos, the output was more variable but overall, with the M8’s unusual approach was often a winner. Certainly not camera-standard, but if you want camera-quality photos, then pack a cheap camera.

Now quipped with a 20MP shooter

However, gadget bloggers shouted at HTC. HTC cowered and gave up on the UltraPixel technology for its main shooter. Last year’s 4MP UltraPixel has been moved to the front, while in its place is a 20MP module. I found the results marred by post processing, losing detail and colour subtleties. Scenes with strong contrast – or really any kind of contrast – produced a loss of colour. Turning on HDR brought its own problems, as the camera then took an exceptionally long few seconds to take and process the image.

Have a look at the rose – a standard indoor shot, in reasonable light conditions. Not bad, but not great. Most disappointing of all, it burnt out the sky in a street scene. In only one of several shots could I capture the subtleties of a post-storm sky – in the other captures colours have been bleached out by over exposure.

Still a respectable snapper for easier targets

Cloud cover is burnt out here

This is all rather unfortunate and unnecessary. And it's all the fault of gadget bloggers. Gadget bloggers don’t have kids. Most, I suspect, live with their mums. So they don’t take pictures of children. They don’t have friends, either, so can't even take pictures of them. So while ordinary people seemed really quite happy with UltraPixel, the gadget bloggers shouted and stamped their little feet, and told HTC it was falling behind in the “megapixel race” and must move into line with the industry.

Unlike gadget bloggers, mainstream reviewers appreciated UltraPixel, such as this one who appreciated the UltraPixel selfie camera more than the 20MP main camera.

It’s a pity, is what I say.

Skyfail: Out of a dozen shots of this scene, it only even partially captured the colour subtleties

Besides the camera, the differences over an M8 sporting Lollipop and an M9 are minimal. In the hand, they feel very different. The One M9 no longer looks like it was carved out of one piece of aluminium, but two, as HTC has placed a sharp-edged lip around the display. It certainly makes it feel more secure, and less slippy in the hand but the sharp edge won’t be for everyone.

As with the iPhone, the power button has been moved from its hard-to-reach location on the top of the phone, to the right. It’s jammed in alongside the volume controls making them all quite hard to distinguish. HTC has given the One a two tone finish, with the sides burnished to a different colour. Visually the HTC looks expensive, and carefully crafted. The rear camera unit is covered with sapphire glass.