Inside, HTC has followed the trend into the world of the Snapdragon 810 chipset, despite reported problems by all and sundry on how this can overheat if pushed to the limit. In the button’s place up top is a wider infrared window – it’s really not clear what’s behind this, but it must be meaty and I’ve heard from many people who really do use their smartphones to control their home A/V set-up, even if I came a cropper below. The button cluster on the right hand side – you soon get used to – and appreciate – the power button ergonomics… To its left are separate volume buttons and the nanoSIM tray…

The button itself is also beautifully textured, for easy location without looking. On the right hand edge is one of the first things that has been ‘fixed’ – the power and screen lock button is now perfectly placed in the middle of a side, rather than being out of reach on the top edge of the design – well done, HTC, even if it took three years to sort this out. Each speaker needs a certain physical volume around it, internally, in order to develop some of the frequencies that get output, so you can’t just pack in components to the same degree as on the average Samsung Galaxy.

The BoomSound speakers are still top notch, albeit needing a little working room, top and bottom….Īs before, there’s a slight size penalty to pay for the BoomSound speakers – around an extra centimetre, vertically, in total. Above and below the screen are the usual top notch BoomSound speakers, which put out high and low frequencies that you just don’t hear on any other manufacturer’s phones – they’re that good and continue to set the benchmark for every other phone speaker set. I’m quibbling a little, of course, the fit and finish generally is tremendous, as you’d expect for well over £550 SIM-free in the UK right now. You know and I know, as AndroidBeat readers and knowledgeable enthusiasts, that the ridge is part of the design, but an average person picking it up might easily just think the phone hadn’t been finished properly! The two-tone step/ridge that runs right around the One M9 – design highlight or abomination? Your call…. The feel in the hand isn’t as premium as on the M7 and M8 though. The ridge is weird – is it to improve grip? Possibly. At least, I assume it’s still all in one piece, but the new gold ridge around the outside might be an indication of a two stage design. The basics are as before, with an aluminium unibody. HTC’s latest One – it’s better than the M8, but is it good enough value? This turns out to be the otherwise impressive M9’s Achilles heel, with lower priced competition that includes its own sister devices, both old and new. To its credit, HTC succeeded, the One M9 is a terrific top end smartphone, albeit at a rather crazily high launch price. Take everything that critics said was wrong with the One (M7) – camera, usability and storage, and with the One M(8) – camera (again) and usability (again), and fix it.

Htc one m9 new still ok to use