HTC One M9+ First Look: A Beautiful Beast

|

Having intentionally dropped the idea of launching the One M9 in India, HTC's latest flagship device is none other than the One M9+.

 

Rating:
4.0/5

HTC One M9+ First Look

The HTC One M9+ is a luxury slab that borrows design cues from a lot of the One M9. It has a metal body, rounded corners, and it has a 5.2-inch, QHD screen. The high-end luxury phone definitely highlights HTC's ambition to make Apple-like image in the consumers' mind.

 

Is HTC really aiming to be the next Apple in India with its One M9+? We went hands-on with HTC One M9+ to find out.

HTC One M9+ First Look: Form Factor, Design, Display and Operating System

As you can see from the first look images, the HTC One M9+ looks a lot like the original One M9. To be honest, there are hardly any key differences in the HTC One M9+ look and feel.

HTC One M9+ First Look

HTC has a used a dual anodizing process to turn the aluminum two different metallic shades: gold on the edges and silver on the back. Interestingly the two tones look extremely gorgeous, and work well with the design. We found the handset to be well balanced, with the brushed metal chassis giving it a pleasing amount of grip.

HTC One M9+ First Look

Like the original HTC One M9, you'll notice that the power button now sits on the right-hand side; it's right below the two volume buttons. You may find it extremely challenging to press the power button, if you've got this phone in your pocket. Otherwise, there's hardly any fault when it comes to the design of the HTC One M9+.

HTC One M9+ First Look

Unlike the One M9 which comes with a 5-inch FHD screen, the new One M9+ has a 5.2-inch display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. It's a good thing; though, we're a bit concerned about the battery life.

HTC One M9+ First Look

Nevertheless, it's a good-looking screen and colors are vibrant and images absolutely sharp. We'll conduct some extreme tests once we've the device in our labs.

HTC One M9+ First Look

To make things sweeter, HTC One M9+ runs on Google's Lollipop 5.0, and seriously it look quite improved. The new Sense UI makes a few notable changed to the app drawer, but it mostly keep the look intact.

HTC One M9+ First Look: Processor, Sound Quality, Fingerprint Scanner and Connectivity

HTC has ditched a Snapdragon 810 processor with a 64-bit MediaTek MT6795T SoC which has an octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz. It is paired with a healthy 3GB of RAM and comes with 32GB internal storage which can be expanded to 128GB via a microSD card slot.

HTC One M9+ First Look

During our time with the One M9+, we found the phone to feature more than enough processing power for standard use. Given the limitations of our demo period, however, we were unable to run benchmarks instantly.

HTC One M9+ First Look

HTC's One M9+ is just as powerful as every other flagship smartphone onto market with the 64-bit processor. We're not at concerned if the processor under the hood - is supplied by MediaTek or Qualcomm. As far as the performance is satisfactory, we've have no big issues.

HTC One M9+ First Look

Like the Samsung S6, the One M9+, too, has a fingerprint sensor. Basically you don't need to swipe - instead it works with a touch. We found the fingerprint scanner extremely fast , and it even recognized us twice during my time spent with the HTC One M9+.

HTC One M9+ First Look

The dual frontal speakers also give pleasant sound - mainly because of their appropriate position. That said, it's a great phone multimedia phone for streaming videos on the go.

Connectivity options are pretty standard. Being a premium phone, it offers 4G LTE connectivity.

HTC One M9+ First Look: Cameras

HTC One M9+ First Look

Projected as a camera-centric handset, the One M9+ features a 20-megapixel with the Duo Camera hardware first introduced in the One M8.

HTC One M9+ First Look

During my brief encounter with the phone, the HTC One M9+ didn't produce astounding results. The device had a hard time balancing light in photos. Up front, a secondary, UltraPixel front-facing camera worked like a charm in our brief testing.

HTC One M9+ First Look

HTC One M9+ First Look: Battery and Early Verdict

The HTC One M9+ has a 2,840mAh (non-removable) battery which could be its biggest drawback. The fitted battery is same as seen on the original One M9. We'll share more details about the battery in our detailed review.

HTC One M9+ First Look

The HTC One M9+ has a superior design, and the hardware is nice. If you're using the HTC One M7, there's really no reason to upgrade. This phone is strictly made for true, loyal HTC fans.

HTC One M9+ will be available in India from next month for Rs. 52,500.

Best Mobiles in India

Best Phones

Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Yes No
Settings X
X