HTC One M9 hype thread

[EvilYoda]

a few more weeks before the announcements start happening...I'm hoping at least a few contenders actually hit the market in March. This OPO needs to go!

 

[heymrdj]

those latest renders look really nice, thing I didn't like about the M8 was the wasted space for those pointless speakers

I disagree with this. I thought the front facing speakers is one of the best features. Every other phone I've ever had I have to 1. Cup my hand around behind it to hear it if we're doing something like youtube or 2. Turn it around over and over again as I'm going through dial through situations on speakerphone (which is multiple times daily in my line of work). I'll gladly take a larger phone if it means putting the larger speakers towards my head.

 

[Anubis]

I disagree with this. I thought the front facing speakers is one of the best features. Every other phone I've ever had I have to 1. Cup my hand around behind it to hear it if we're doing something like youtube or 2. Turn it around over and over again as I'm going through dial through situations on speakerphone (which is multiple times daily in my line of work). I'll gladly take a larger phone if it means putting the larger speakers towards my head.

yea we just differ in that, seeing as I can count on 1 hand the number of times ive used my phones speaker for anything besides ringtones and notifications

the M8 was a great design but the speakers served no purpose for me. headphones/headset 99.9% of the time

 

[zerogear]

yea we just differ in that, seeing as I can count on 1 hand the number of times ive used my phones speaker for anything besides ringtones and notifications

the M8 was a great design but the speakers served no purpose for me. headphones/headset 99.9% of the time

BoomSound for most people is the selling point. I honestly think that if you have no need for BoomSound, there are other phones just as good.

 

[heymrdj]

BoomSound for most people is the selling point. I honestly think that if you have no need for BoomSound, there are other phones just as good.

I don't think the comment is about boomsound. It's about the problem of not getting around the physics of sound wave generation direction.

 

[lopri]

Exactly, why are we getting excited over renders? They don't mean anything. Really it just sets you up for disappointment.

The renders are presumably based on schematics received by case makers. So they are not totally groundless. And this is a "hype" thread of a yet-to-be-released product. I do not know what you were expecting.

 

[Kelvrick]

I don't think the comment is about boomsound. It's about the problem of not getting around the physics of sound wave generation direction.

I think it has been established with other phones that have been able to get front facing speakers without the giant bezel of the HTC One M8. I will agree that a forward facing speaker is great, but I'll take smaller front speakers to save on space.

I think the Sony Z3 is a very nice compromise. If you want even more sound, I think investing $10 in a portable or bluetooth speaker would be worth wile for you.

*You's used generically for the end user.

 

[dawheat]

Probably the Flex 2 being referenced, but might be worthwhile to get a phone with the Rev 2 S810

plus.google.com/113781386215450614303/posts/1dQ2qR​​vCBjC

"I can't tell you what Snapdragon 810 device I'm using, but I'm using one, and I will say that this thing categorically throttles like a son of a bitch. It can't even run Geekbench 3 three times in a row without having to throttle down performance a solid 20-30%. I can see why Samsung ended up avoiding this chip. Also, it gets hot. hothothot.

My results at this point show a 35+% peak drop in multicore performance and a staggering 50+% drop in single core performance as thermal load builds. That's pretty f**king terrible.

Example Geekbench runs, one after the other (single core / multicore score)

1. 1215 / 3683
2. 1112 / 3249
3. 895 / 2931
4. 672 / 2414
5. 692 / 2465
6. 675 / 2421
7. 663 / 2356
8. 617 / 2263
9. 558 / 2065"

 

[Qbah]

I think it has been established with other phones that have been able to get front facing speakers without the giant bezel of the HTC One M8. I will agree that a forward facing speaker is great, but I'll take smaller front speakers to save on space.

I think the Sony Z3 is a very nice compromise. If you want even more sound, I think investing $10 in a portable or bluetooth speaker would be worth wile for you.

*You's used generically for the end user.

Other phones? Which other phones? Only Sony's Xperia Zx and HTC phones have front facing speakers. Sony's Zx phones have worse sound quality (they have smaller, edge speakers).

EDIT: OK, I see Moto G and the new Nexus also have front facing speakers. Totally forgot about those.

For me the "big" bezels on my M8 look fine. The phone is a bit too big for my liking as a general comment, but smaller bezels would not fix that at all.

Those renders look great btw! And the best part? You see that design and you instantly know "HTC". They have managed to create their own unique look that is instantly recognizable

 

[shabby]

For me the "big" bezels on my M8 look fine. The phone is a bit too big for my liking as a general comment, but smaller bezels would not fix that at all.

Its all aboot the bezels...

htc one m8 146.4 x 70.6 x 9.4 mm
sharp aquos crystal 131 x 67 x 10 mm

 

[zerogear]

I think it has been established with other phones that have been able to get front facing speakers without the giant bezel of the HTC One M8. I will agree that a forward facing speaker is great, but I'll take smaller front speakers to save on space.

I think the Sony Z3 is a very nice compromise. If you want even more sound, I think investing $10 in a portable or bluetooth speaker would be worth wile for you.

*You's used generically for the end user.

Z3 has front speakers, yes, but M8's is leagues above it.

 

[thilanliyan]

I really hope the M9 speakers are at least as good as the M7's.

 

[UNCjigga]

As long as it has an unlocked bootloader, I'm in for the HTC. That's the one thing that has turned me off from Samsung phones.

This...especially for the Verizon variant. Bought the M8 at launch and had fingers crossed for S-Off and unlock, and was happily rewarded within 30 days. Currently rocking a GPE-based Lollipop ROM and haven't looked back.

Only problem is that newer devices/newer Qualcomm chipsets have thus far proven more difficult to exploit TrustZone (i.e. Moto X, Xperia Z3, Droid Turbo) so if the carrier doesn't allow it probably won't happen with the M9.

 

[zerogear]

I personally love the fact that HTC is standing ground and staying with 1080p. (At least for the 5" version). If they have a Plus sized version, Quad HD might be better. However, I might just buy M9 based on the fact they're still using 1080p. Though 20mpx (hopefully with OIS) would be nice, as much as M8 gets the job done using just 4mpx, sometimes you just need to crop something :whiste:

 

[MrSquished]

yea we just differ in that, seeing as I can count on 1 hand the number of times ive used my phones speaker for anything besides ringtones and notifications

the M8 was a great design but the speakers served no purpose for me. headphones/headset 99.9% of the time

in that case you don't need it but they come in real handy if you use speakerphone, which i do. also, when like out at a restaurant or bar, or just chillin on the couch and you want to show your friend or whatever a video cause you don't feel like grabbbing your laptop, those speakers are greeat for that too. i do it enough i want them forward facingt.

 

[Megatomic]

in that case you don't need it but they come in real handy if you use speakerphone, which i do. also, when like out at a restaurant or bar, or just chillin on the couch and you want to show your friend or whatever a video cause you don't feel like grabbbing your laptop, those speakers are greeat for that too. i do it enough i want them forward facingt.

I really would make great use of Boomsound and that feature is in the top 3 reasons why I'm planning on getting an M9. I am in my car a lot and I listen to podcasts without earphones. I also speakerphone a lot both in my car and while I'm in my office. Also, when I run trails I play music on my phone without buds (safety first). Three killer reasons why the external speakers are important for me.

 

[lopri]

I used to disregard speakers on smartphones in the past but now I stand corrected and accede that they have their merits, albeit situational. In other words, stereo speakers are a legitimate differentiator (v. useless gimmicks) for consumers who take advantage of those.

 

[Owls]

I think it has been established with other phones that have been able to get front facing speakers without the giant bezel of the HTC One M8. I will agree that a forward facing speaker is great, but I'll take smaller front speakers to save on space.

I think the Sony Z3 is a very nice compromise. If you want even more sound, I think investing $10 in a portable or bluetooth speaker would be worth wile for you.

*You's used generically for the end user.

I'm sorry but no one is going to carry around an external speaker for those rare occasions.

 

[Kelvrick]

I'm sorry but no one is going to carry around an external speaker for those rare occasions.

For those rare occasions, I find smaller front facing speakers to work well enough. No need to have the larger ones as found in the M8's for as you say, rare occasions. For planned rare occasions, like say an outing somewhere, I don't think carrying an extra bluetooth/external speaker to be too much trouble, which as some other posters said to me regarding my Z3 suggestions, would be leagues above the HTC's speakers. For those rare occasions, I want to show off a video or something to friends, I'm fine with crappy audio so I don't have to carry around an extra half inch of phone all the time.

It all comes down to how you use it though, like the poster who speaker phones in his car, etc. If you're using it a lot in set environments like at home, work or car though, I would think it is better to spend a little bit to get a speaker that is the size of the phone.

That is just me though.

 

[zerogear]

The thing is that with HTC One M8 speakers (I also have a Nokia 360 Bluetooth Speaker). When I compare them (while facing me), in terms of volume, they're about draw, Nokia 360 has a much better coverage around the room though.

So I would to me bluetooth speakers are a non-necessity for M8.

 

[Qbah]

HTC One M9 store images hint at an evolutionary phone design

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/22/htc-one-m9-store-images/

Looks like not much changed after all

 

[tsupersonic]

HTC One M9 store images hint at an evolutionary phone design

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/22/htc-one-m9-store-images/

Looks like not much changed after all

The design imo is perfect. To say it hasn't changed much, eh...rumor size it slightly smaller than the M8, which is nice. More rumors - the rear camera is not ultrapixel, though the front is. I am one of those that liked the idea ultrapixel camera, so hopefully they at least keep it (although on the FFC). Other than that, spec bump is imminent. Still get the awesome front facing stereo speakers! The GS6 looks revolutionary (compared to GS5), based on all the rumors/Samsung hype.

 

[Red Storm]

The design imo is perfect. To say it hasn't changed much, eh...rumor size it slightly smaller than the M8, which is nice. More rumors - the rear camera is not ultrapixel, though the front is. I am one of those that liked the idea ultrapixel camera, so hopefully they at least keep it (although on the FFC). Other than that, spec bump is imminent. Still get the awesome front facing stereo speakers! The GS6 looks revolutionary (compared to GS5), based on all the rumors/Samsung hype.

It's far from perfect. The speaker bezels are still a bit too big, and the annoying HTC black bar is still there on the bottom. In 3 years they've done nothing to try and improve this.

 

[tsupersonic]

It's far from perfect. The speaker bezels are still a bit too big, and the annoying HTC black bar is still there on the bottom. In 3 years they've done nothing to try and improve this.

...speaker bezels? You mean the speakers themselves take up too much space? That's the main drawback of FFS...This just goes to show you that you can't make everyone happy. Put FFS, people will complain they take up to much space and phone is taller, but they make another group happy. I would have FFS any day over speakers on the back or bottom. I stand by my case, the phone's design is great (subjective)

Yes, the black bar is annoying, but there is circuitry in there. These are all speculations, let's wait to see the final device when it gets released.

 

[Red Storm]

...speaker bezels? You mean the speakers themselves take up too much space? That's the main drawback of FFS...This just goes to show you that you can't make everyone happy. Put FFS, people will complain they take up to much space and phone is taller, but they make another group happy. I would have FFS any day over speakers on the back or bottom. I stand by my case, the phone's design is great (subjective)

Yes, the black bar is annoying, but there is circuitry in there. These are all speculations, let's wait to see the final device when it gets released.

They are too big. The Z3 also has front facing speakers, but they are too small so apparently they suck. Something in between both would be the ideal size IMHO. Not too big, not too little.

HTC seems to be the only company with circuitry issues on the bottom of their phone that necessitates a giant black bar to be there. I definitely believe them when they say that's the reason, but I'm disappointed at their inability to fix it.