Gadgetory

get far enough away and they almost blur together there HTC's flagship smartphones from last year and 2015 and we're putting them head-to-head to see what's changed and what hasn't I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is HTC One m9 vs. HTC One m8 if you don't see much difference on the outside here well you're not alone both the m8 and m9 are tall aluminium slabs with intricate details and distinctive adornments like prominent front firing speakers the screens aren't just the same size they're the same resolution and the same display technology if it weren't for the slightly cooler and greener whites on the newer phone I'd say they were the same exact panel pick them up and the differences start to bring out you won't find the unlock button up top like it was on the m8 for the newer phone it's off to the side where it probably should have been all along also you're less likely to drop the one m9 it's got a grippy or coating on the back cover and its sides are boxier with more pronounced edges and a glossy finish to contrast with the brushed hairline many changes are even more subtle than these the volume control has been split from a single rocker into two buttons on the m9 and the bezel around the display is now single piece as nice as these improvements are on camera you're going to want to hold both of them yourself to see which you prefer while I came to find last year's ma both too slippery and a bit too tall I still prefer it's smoother thinner more ergonomic feel in hand the crisp edges of the m9 are good-looking but they're definitely not as comfortable at least on our silver and gold review sample same with the m9 s new button studded side rail which is attractive but confusing under a thumb I do appreciate the grippy or coating on the m9 though and the sapphire lens cover on the new phone's camera should help save it from becoming the scratched up mess that many m8 lenses became the one I made already got an Android lollipop update and it'll soon receive an upgrade to the newest version of sense that ships on the M now that's since seven and it brings a host of improvements that we flesh out in our full review just to touch on the main points since gets full theme ability in the new version with everything from typeface to icon packs to keyboard color fully customizable and you can finally choose which toggles you want down in the home key Road - since seven also uses the lock screen to show you nearby dining destinations around mealtimes and it tries to predict which apps you'll need and when based on whether you're at home and work or just out on the town that functionality comes courtesy of a widget that also includes folders for downloaded and recommended apps part of HTC's attempt to rescue us from the app launcher which it equates to antic ated desktop computing models other changes are very minor and there's little in the hardware to make me believe that any of it will be exclusive to the m9 so let's move on to the biggest comparison point the camera with the one m9 HTC didn't so much ditch its ultra pixel camera as move it the four megapixel sensor has been switched to selfie taking duty on the new flagship without standing results the ultra pixel photos are sharper cleaner and brighter than those of last year's more conventional FFC meanwhile back in the back the old much-maligned duo camera depth sensor has been eliminated for the m9 making room for a more traditional 20 megapixel shooter and F 2.2 lens on the newer phone comparing photo outputs side-by-side it seems at first like HTC made the right call here while some shots don't look all that different others dramatically illustrate the advantage of more pixels there's a massive upgrade in sharpness with the m9 there's less chromatic aberration and also less lens distortion at the edges it's the same deal indoors with ample lighting everything's crisper and cleaner on the m9 even though the m8 didn't set too high a bar in this regard the newer phone superiority is striking and a back-to-back comparison contrast sees a sizable boost too and it's pretty easy to get a nice bouquet effect with the m9 without the fancy duo camera and without losing any of the added sharpness but don't go thinking this is a slam-dunk and 100% crops the m8 still picks out detailed at the m9 misses also the dimmer the scene gets the tougher it becomes to get focus with the newer device in fact everything gets worse for the m9 after the Sun Goes Down it's low-light photos are almost always greener grayer and grainy err than its predecessors things get a bit better if you switch the m9 from automatic into night mode but then you've got to deal with a really terrible framerate in the viewfinder and the output gets much noisier to note the lack of readability in the sign when we switch from m8 to m9 despite having many more pixels the newer phone produces the blurry or photo not to play the what-if game but it's hard not to wonder what benefit optical stabilization would have been in this situation take away the m9 s resolution advantage by switching over to 1080p video and things don't get any better there's much more saturation in the m8 s footage the m9 just makes everything sort of look grey and lifeless by comparison that's indoors outside the newer phone has a different kind of problem with color I have no idea where this bizarre bluish cast came from also notice the focus issue here this is because the m9 comes set to lock focus in video right out of the box which doesn't make much sense to me fortunately you can set it to continuous autofocus and it gets better but it's still quick to wander and as noisy as anything turn the lights way down for the dark tea tunnel test and well do I really need to spell it out fortunately for the m9 it's capable of shooting in 4k resolution while the older phone isn't and more importantly the m9 also has tons of camera tricks that are so fun they helped you forget the sensors shortcomings for details on each of those check out our full review as for which camera is quote-unquote better the answer depends on what time of day you take most of your photos and videos and yeah that's as disappointing an answer as ever the one m9 gets its processing power from a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 system on a chip though it's just a digit swap away from the Snapdragon 801 and the older phone it's a completely different beast in terms of architecture and design and you know what it's basically impossible to tell the difference performance-wise the one m9 and One m8 are almost indistinguishable outside of benchmarks whether it's everyday scrolling and swiping or hardcore gaming there's an additional gig of ram in the newer phone but again you wouldn't know it not because the m9 is bad but because both phones are so Swift of course that's for now the m9 will likely be supported for longer because it's the newer phone and it may age better to its Android and it's apps take better advantage of 64-bit architecture over time there's one small performance reason some folks might prefer the older phone it's boom sound is a little boom here it's impossible to illustrate on microphone but in person the newer devices sound is a little thinner a little tinny err whether we're in music or theater mode this is likely a result of HTC focusing more on Dolby optimization with the m9 shooting for a more dynamic sound rather than just a louder one but it sure surprised me when I preferred the beats coming out of the m8 other changes under the hood mainly favor the m9 depending on which version you buy the newer phone offers up to 21 bands of LTE compatibility three times that of its predecessor it also packs a bigger battery more color choices and simplified storage options in the US the m9 comes only in a 32 gig trim thankfully it offers the same microSD expansion as the earlier phone given the relative parity and performance the inconsistent camera improvements and the very similar builds here folks looking to choose between the One m8 and One m9 will need to focus very closely on the details the m9 is less slippery but also less economic the m8 has a better low-light camera but an older processor that may not age as gracefully and that goes for other elements too like it's battery still it's kind of crazy how much you won't miss if you decide to go for last year's model rather than this year's if you're in the market for a new Android right now clearly we recommend the newer device but if you just recently bought a One m8 and you're kicking yourself well don't you're not really missing out on much remember everyone this is just a point by point comparison for much more on the HTC One m9 including feedback on software battery life and more see our video review here on YouTube and our full written review at pocket now linked in the description below pocket now is Adam Lane contributed to this feature til next time this has been michael fisher with pocket now captain two phones on twitter thanks for watching and we'll see you next time