HTC One M9 Review

The HTC One M9 is a all Premium Smartphone designed to compete with the likes of Sony Xperia Z3, Samsung Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6. 

It has a all metal body with dual-tone finish, slimmer profile, Snapdragon 810 Octa-Core Processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, Micro SD card support upto 128GB, 20MP rear Camera with Dual LED Flash, UltraPixel Front-facing Camera support upto 1080p, 4G, NFC and a 2840mAh battery.

Thanks to Vodafone for lending me this device. For the latest devices and offers check out 
www.vodafone.co.uk

DESIGN 
The HTC One M9 has a all metal body design with smooth edges that is comfortable to operate with One-handed operation. Everything about the HTC One M9 just stands out, the look and feel of the phone all Premium, although it does tend to get warm easily during heavy usage it’s not a major issue. The phone it looks great to use, feels great, all around a smooth experience.

SOFTWARE 
With the HTC One M9 it is running on Android Lollipop using HTC own custom interface HTC Sense 7. With the Latest version of HTC Sense you get 
Sense Home- A location based software that changes your home screen based on your location 
HTC Themes – Change the look and feel of your phone by choosing your own pictures picture or find something online
One Gallery – Organise and neatly puts together all your photos and videos and you can easily search for all your content. 
HTC Custom interface is simple and easy to use, nothing felt slow when running many different apps at the same. The whole experience was painless and just smooth overall.

MEMORY 
With the 32GB of internal storage, about 21.08GB is available to the user. You can expand the memory by adding a micro sd card which supports upto 128GB.

AUDIO 
With a Premium Smartphone you get a Premium Audio experience. With the HTC One M9 you get the best of both Worlds no special headphones required to experience this Premium Audio experience. With HTC Boomsound and Dolby audio combined together you get a full Theatre Audio experience, hear all the details as if you were in the Studio.

VIDEO
Video playback was decent, but not good thanks to the poor limited function that’s available on the standard default video player. There are few decent apps you can use to watch all your content and gives you more control, making this a better experience overall. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
MX Player, HD Video Player

CAMERA 
It has a 20MP Camera with F2.2 aperture with 4K video recording support and Ultra Pixel Front-facing Camera for Video calls and selfies. 
The camera found on the HTC One M9 is Rich and full of useful tools to make your photography experience a whole lot better it has many different modes to choose from giving you full control. 
Video recording is decent and more sharper with 4K Support its more clearer, vibrant and smooth painless experience.

Here are some pictures taken with the HTC One M9 Both in Daylight and Night.

DAYTIME

NIGHT

BATTERY 
With a 2840mAh battery and powered by the Flagship Snapdragon 810 Octa-Core Processor it can help you get more than a day’s worth of work. 
In my experience I found it last more on light /medium usage when everything is kept to a minimum. 

With Heavy Usage it lasted me between 7-9 Hours and that’s by browsing, listening to music, streaming the latest films, watching movies and TV shows. 
On Moderate Use it lasted upto 2 days and that’s with General browsing, listening to music, watching videos and social Networks. 

The Battery Saving Modes Found on the HTC One M9 is not as helpful as it is on Sony’s Xperia line of Smartphones it lacks the resources to make your smartphone battery last longer.

FEATURES 
5-inch IPS FHD (1280X1080)
Snapdragon 810 Octa-Core Processor 
3GB of RAM 
32GB of internal storage 
Supports Micro SD card upto 128GB 
4G
NFC 
20MP Camera With Dual LED Flash 
UltraPixel Front-facing Camera 
Premium Design 
Android Lollipop 
2840mAh

PRICING 
It is available both on contract and PAYG. PAYG starts from £348

AVAILABILITY 
Available across all Major Retailers and Networks including Vodafone.

OnePlus 2 Officially Announced

After months of rumours, numerous leaks the OnePlus 2 is officially announced in a first ever virtual reality broadcast.

At an event broadcast from San Francisco on Monday evening, which was the first product launch ever to be beamed around the world in virtual reality, the firm confirmed the full spec sheet, while also offering very good news on pricing and availability.

Introduced at the OnePlus offices by CEO Carl Pei, the sequel device will keep the original’s display size and resolution at 5.5-inches and 1080p LCD screen, despite speculation a QHD panel may have been on the way.

Of course, we already knew the OnePlus 2 would offer an ‘improved’ version of the much-maligned Qualcomm Snapdragon 810  processor, free of the overheating issues that have plagued some devices to jump on board with the chipset early. 

Qualcomm was on hand to promise better performance across the board with the 1.8GHz chip (which will team up with an Adreno 430 GPU) during a video call during the event.

In terms of memory, the firm had previously confirmed the presence of the 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, which should pair very nicely with the boosted chipset. 

As well as the blisteringly-fast 64-bit octa-core processor, there’s also dual-SIM 4G LTE functionality too and 64 GB of storage as standard. The 3300mAh battery pack should keep everything ticking along nicely too.

OnePlus was also keen to reveal the fingerprint sensor in the weeks leading up to Monday’s event, which the firm says is faster than Apple’s Touch ID and allows users to store up to five fingerprints. A single press will also take users directly to the home screen.

Another new feature is the physical Alert Slider switch that allows users to toggle between priority notifications, all notifications and no notifications while the phone is resting within their pocket.

In terms of design there’s also a metallic frame surrounding the device and polished steel buttons. The physical dimensions are 151.8 x 74.9 x 9.85mm, while the device itself will weigh in at 175g.

MicroUSB connectivity has also been ditched for the new, reversible Type-C USB standard, with the OnePlus 2 likely to be the first major smartphone to hit the market carrying the tech first spotted in the 2015 Apple Macbook.

However, other end of the USB cable is also reversible, which OnePlus says is a patent. The company will also launch an adapter to ensure existing accessories remain compatible.

The device has the same 13-megapixel/5-megapixel cameras as the original, but several enhancements are also in play. Pixels are now 35 per cent larger at 1.3 microns to let in more light than before, while there’s also a new Laser Focus mode that promises to pick out the perfect focus point in 0.2 seconds.

Optical Image Stabilization is also on board, with OnePlus promising this feature will come into its own when shooting video. There’s also a dual LED flash.

The OnePlus 2 will arrive running the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system, with an updated version of the custom Oxygen OS user interface running on top. 

OnePlus said changes have only been made to pure Android in order to make enhancements, one of which is a new camera app offering a super-resolution mode, time-lapse and 120fps videos. There’s also a dark UI mode available in a flick of a switch, plus a colour mode that enables accents to be changed. LED indicators can also be tweaked.

OnePlus says the device has “better specs than any flagship smartphone out there,” while claiming its “beyond powerful, and it will be for years to come.”

The the company stopped short of revealing the price tag for the device during the event, but shortly after it announced the 64GB device will cost $389/£289 for the 64GB model, while a 16GB model with 3GB RAM will cost $329/£239. UK pricing is yet to be revealed.

The 64GB version of the handset will go on sale in the US, Canada, EU, India and China on August 11, with a Q4 launch to follow in South East Asia. Pop up stores will be opening in 9 major cities (including London) on July 31, where fans will be able to go hands-on with the device ahead of launch. The 16GB handset will come later.

Early forum members will get priority, when it comes to buying the device, but OnePlus said a much larger inventory, so they’ll be easier to get this time. “It’ll be a lot easier to get an invite” Pei said, with interested parties able to register their email address at OnePlus.net.

Oneplus 2 to feature Snapdragon 810 Processor?

A device tagged under the model number ‘A2001’ has been listed on Geekbench.

It’s named as the Oneplus One, but we know that the One has a model number ‘A0001’.

That suggests we’re looking at a sequel handset, although we still can’t say for sure.

OnePlus has been very vocal about its plans for a Q3 smartphone launch, so it’s unsurprising that the upcoming device has started to make a number of premature appearances.

Unfortunately, the benchmark doesn’t reveal much in the way of new details on the phone.

Perhaps the most interesting titbit is that the processor is listed as ‘MSM8994’.

That’s the model number for Qualcomm’s relatively new Snapdragon 810 Chip.

Such an addition would mark a big upgrade from the Snapdragon 801 used inside last year’s OnePlus One.

The mystery OnePlus smartphone is also revealed to be running Android 5.1, which is no big surprise.

What’s different compared to the One this time around, however, is that it will almost definitely be skinned with the company’s new OxygenOS, rather than CyanogenMod.

The benchmark indicates there’ll be 3GB of RAM on board too, which is par for the course with flagship handsets this year.

Sony Xperia Z4 leaks with a QHD display

The Sony Xperia Z3 has only been out about three weeks, but we’re already hearing news of its successor. And if true, it could be one of the most impressive handsets to date.

Like the LG G3, the Z4 is expected to sport a 5.5-inch screen with a QHD resolution. That means 2,560×1,440 pixels, which is four times as many as 720p. Image-wise, we’re looking at the same 20.7-megapixel resolution as in the Z3, though the sensor will be curved.

The person spilling the beans to GSMArena previously told all about the Z3 Tablet Compact, which suggests this info is accurate. Though as ever, these are rumours, and not set in stone.

Inside is a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, with a 2.8GHz octa-core CPU (that’s four Cortex-A57 cores and four Cortex-A53). The RAM is up from 3GB on the Z3 to 4GB, and the entry-level model will pack 32GB storage, as opposed to 16GB.

What else? Cat.6 LTE will give you theoretical download speeds of 300Mbps, it will have Bluetooth 4.1 and a dedicated amplifier for beefier sound quality. It’s likely to look the same as the Z3, with the same Omnibalance design language.

The Z4 will also see Sony cool it on the flagship releases for a while. It released the Z2 and Z3 in 2014, but the Z4 will be the only range topper it releases in 2015. It’ll reportedly arrive around March, most likely at Mobile World Congress.