Gadgetory

what's going on guys long hair from Android authority and love it or hate it Plus phones are starting to become the new trend in the smartphone world typically bringing better specs and more features to an OEMs main flagship and to the surprise and maybe even the dismay of many HTC has done exactly that with the one m9 and has added a few key enhancements that some may feel probably should have been there from the get-go is this HTC's true flagship let's find out what the HTC One m9 plus from a design perspective the m9 plus is essentially a blown-up version of the m9 with just a few minor tweaks it's larger than the m9 in both height and width due to the bump and display size there's a fingerprint sensor located on the bottom chin now and the rear camera has been slightly redesigned to a circular shape versus the rounded off square on the m9 otherwise this is still the same all-metal design and build quality that we've come to expect from HTC the corners are rounded off in the back is tapered to allow the phone to sit nicely in the hand and the metal Ridge or stair-step effect that goes around the entire perimeter of the phone provides for a much better grip it still isn't the easiest phone to hold on to but by no means did I ever feel like it was going to slip out of my hands even though the m9 plus is slightly larger than the m9 it's not a drastic difference and for most people this will still be considered a pretty normal sized smartphone so if one handy usability is what you're concerned about it's not really that big of an issue the power button is located on the right side just below the volume buttons which is a stark improvement over previous one devices but just like the regular m9 it's just a hair too low making it slightly difficult to reach to be perfectly honest it really should be swapped with the volume down button but thankfully HTC's double tap to wake returns here to help you avoid using the power button all together and what the m9 plus you also have the added benefit of unlocking straight into the device with the fingerprint sensor the rest of the buttons and ports are in their usual places with the large black strip up top for the IR blaster microUSB and 3.5 mm headset jack on the bottom and the SIM card tray located on the left side course the m9 plus wouldn't be complete without HTC's tried-and-true boom sound speakers on the front and for better or worse the infamous black HTC bar still resides below the display speaking of the display the m9 plus features a larger 5.2 inch screen over the m9 and with a resolution of 2560 by 1440 or quad HD it's also much sharper although depending on who you are you may not even be able to tell the difference regardless HTC delivers another fantastic looking display with the m9 plus and puts their 1 flagship on par with the competition the blacks aren't as deep in comparison to say in AMOLED display but that's to be expected from an LCD the overall screen however is bright vivid with great viewing angles and it's pretty easy to see outdoors it does bias more towards a warm color tone giving off a slightly yellowish hue which is very different from the m9 which has a much cooler display but otherwise the screen on the m9 Plus is a pleasure to use in normal day-to-day operations and for media consumption another major change with the m9 plus is the processor the m9 plus still features 3 gigs of RAM but HTC opted to go with a mediatek chip this time around versus the Snapdragon found in the m9 in general everyday use like navigating through the interface and opening up applications the m9 plus maintains a very fluid and responsive experience it's when multitasking that things start to become a mixed bag sometimes switching back and forth between applications can be smooth and responsive and other times there's a lot of stuttering in the animations and huge delays and load times between apps gaming however is where you start to notice the biggest dip in performance and HTC's decision to go with mediatek becomes a little bit of a head-scratcher intensive games like modern combat 5 can run smoothly at times but when there's too much action on the screen at one time the framerate starts to dip resulting in some choppy gameplay games like Mortal Kombat 10 are a little too much for the m9 plus to handle and even simple games like clash of clans while still completely playable fail to run at a consistent frame rate it's possible some of this could be due to a lack of optimization for the immediate Exorcist ampere on anyone who enjoys gaming on their phone one part of the gaming experience or Media consuming experience in general where HTC still reigns King is the front-facing boomsound speakers there's still the loudest and most Kris sounding speakers on any smartphone that still yet to be rivaled by anyone and with Dolby audio enhancements you can easily talk between a theater mode for a surround sound effect and a music mode for a more flatter sound the bottom speaker has undergone a slight makeover with a separation in the grille to make way for the m9 pluses fingerprint scanner the process of setting up the fingerprint scanner is very similar to both Apple and Samsung implementation requiring a series of repeated presses to accurately record your fingerprint and up to five fingerprints can be stored at one time once setup the fingerprint scanner works surprisingly well unlocking the phone almost instantaneously the majority of the time and HTC's implementation feels like it can easily rival that of both Samsung and Apple the fingerprint sensor is also very well thought out allowing to treat it like a dedicated home button but because it's not a real button it functions more like a capacitive key than a physical button for storage the m9 plus comes in a 32 gigabyte configuration only but if you need more the microsd card slot will allow for up to an additional 128 gigs of storage this is actually a downgrade over the m9 s 200 gigabyte limit but for most users a hundred and twenty eight gigs should still be sufficient with the camera the m9 plus brings back the duo camera setup that we originally saw on the m8 this allows the camera to refocus shots after the fact but considering mini smartphone cameras can achieve the same effect with only one sensor reintroducing the duo camera becomes a rather questionable move otherwise the main camera is still the same 20 megapixel sensor as the m9 and the four ultra pixel camera has been brought to the front for some high-quality selfies HTC's camera interface is a simple one you can easily switch between the front camera main camera and panorama just by swiping on the viewfinder or tapping the button on the bottom right and a couple others like photobooth and split capture can be added to the mix if you'd like the rest of the camera settings are buried in the overflow menu which keeps the interface from appearing cluttered but getting to modes like HDR and manual require a few more steps than is necessary the most notable difference with the chem UI is the addition of the duo camera toggle to quickly switch between duo capture and standard high resolution shots the duo camera works just like it should but for best results you need to make sure you have a clear subject of focus and a clear background or the refocusing may not look very convincing the biggest caveat to using the duo camera is photos are capped at 4 megapixels so there's not a whole lot of room to work with if you're planning to crop when shooting a normal full resolution there is plenty of detail to be had especially when you're working with 20 megapixels but being that this is the same camera sensor in software the m9 plus has a lot of the same issues that plagued the m9 good looking shots are possible given the right lighting conditions but the cameras main problem is its lack of dynamic range and how it handles exposure the exposure can be adjusted by tapping anywhere on the viewfinder which sounds really easy but even the most my new change in where you tap will cause some major exposure swings and you can wind up with two completely different looking photos as a result HDR can help improve the situation but with several seconds of processing time between each shot it's not exactly practical to use at all times the situation doesn't get much better in low light and without OAS it becomes extremely difficult to get a clear shot especially when the shutter has to stay open longer to try to capture more detail at higher ISOs pictures quickly become filled with noise which is to be expected but this typically results in soft images with very little color and HTC's post-processing isn't quite able to save it this just goes to show that more megapixels doesn't always equate to better image quality and it's very evident that HTC's camera is still suffering from the same problems as before on the bright side battery life on the m9 plus has been quite good the embedded 28 40 milliamp hour battery can easily last anywhere between 14 to 16 hours with normal usage which should be enough to get most people through a full day on a heavier day filled with lots of gaming and picture taking that number can dip down considerably and in my case those around 10 to 11 hours while I can't provide exact screen on time numbers mainly because HTC has made that number incredibly difficult to determine for whatever reason what I can say is that I never had a problem getting through a full day with the m9 plus unless I really hammered on the device and in that case I would have to recharge midway through the day now since it's being powered by the mediatek processor you do lose out on the fast charging which would have been really nice to have but considering the m9 plus has more than adequate battery life it isn't exactly a deal-breaker for the software the m9 plus is running on Android lollipop with the latest Sense 7 that brings everything that many have come to know and love about cents from previous versions and adds a few key features that we first saw on the m9 since they're retains a very fast and fluid interface and of course you have the now very familiar UI elements like the vertical scrolling app drawer and blinkfeed for aggravating all of your social media and news stories into one panel blinkfeed can also show you restaurant recommendations now during mealtimes and these can even show up on your lock screen if you'd like all the motion launch gestures that make accessing certain functions of phone a lot faster are also still available you can double tap to wake the display swipe up to unlock the device from a sleep State directly access blinkfeed and quickly get into the camera just by picking the phone up in landscape and hitting the volume down button just to name a few the newest feature is introduced into sense 7 is the addition of the home widget and the themes engine the home budget aggregates a selection of applications that are most pertinent to you based on your location whether you're at home work or out and about and these applications can change over time as the widget learns from your usage habits a folder of recently downloaded applications will also appear here along with some recommended apps that it thinks you might like the home widget can definitely be useful but if you feel otherwise it can easily be removed since it's just a widget the new themes engine on the other hand is one of the coolest features of Sense 7 and even though sense is already a great-looking UI it's always nice to have a change of scenery the themes engine is still relatively new but there's already a plethora of themes to choose from allowing to change virtually everything at the click of a button from the wallpaper icons sounds fonts and even the general system UI elements you can even create your own theme by selecting a wallpaper or photo of your choice and the theme engine will automatically build one for you or you can get more granular with it get exactly the way that you want the m9 plus is already available in markets like China and India and recently just became available on Amazon for purchase here in the states for around seven hundred and forty dollars give or take a few bucks in either direction as pricing does tend to fluctuate on Amazon you have the choice of gunmetal and silver / gold for the color options but keep in mind this is GSM only so it will only be compatible with AT&T and t-mobile here in the States with such a high price tag the m9 plus will be going up against some very stiff competition like the g4 s6 and even the m9 itself and without a carrier subsidy it's not going to be feasible for everyone if you're debating between the m9 plus or the m9 you'll basically have to ask yourself if a larger quad HD screen a built-in fingerprint scanner and the reintroduction of the dual camera is worth the price the addition of the quad HD screen is great and the fingerprint scanner is very well executed but for current m9 owners you shouldn't feel cheated because not everything about the m9 plus is an improvement the performance takes a step backwards and the camera largely remains the same but if those aren't total deal breakers then maybe this is the one you've been waiting for as always guys thanks so much for watching this video if you did enjoy please give a thumbs up down below we definitely appreciate it and also subscribe to the channel which is also down below if you haven't already and if you want to see more here from us that Android thority make sure to check out the links over here on the side and don't forget to check out the website as well for more in-depth coverage and Georgia 30.com because we are your source for all things Android