An out of season thunderstorm greeted me whilst I was making my way from Jozi CBD towards the Ten Bompas Hotel to attend the South African leg of the HTC One M9 launch. The wet weather couldn’t extinguish the excitement I felt to get up close and personal with the new HTC flagship.
Those of you who read my HTC One M8 review in August last year will know that I am a BIG fan of the HTC franchise. Yes, I am still an Apple user, but this little guy nearly converted me to Android last year. Here’s what happened at the HTC One M9 SA launch…
The Ten Bompas Hotel, located just south of Hyde Park corner, is a chic, modern and essentially Johannesburg hotel. I was greeted by the friendly staff from Idea-Engineers, the public relations company working with HTC on the launch. Following in the LG media event style, the launch was an intimate, media only event catering for about 40-50 people. I really enjoy these types of events as you can get right up and personal with the company representatives and the product as well.
Our MC for the night was Clive Maistry who among a variety of different endeavors is the eNCA radio host of the Tech Report. I took my seat among the who’s-who of the SA tech media and listened to Clive introduce Mr Neeraj Seth (HTC Head of Marketing for Middle-East and Africa). Mr Seth took us through the HTC 2015 strategy which includes doubling efforts in South Africa and bringing the M9 to our shores much quicker than the M8.
We then go the low-down on the new One M9. What a beautiful phone this is! For me, HTC has the best looking phone on the market hands-down. The design stayed true to the success of the One M8 with more detail around the edge of the phone. To be honest the M9 is more of an evolutionary step up from the M8. Here is a breakdown of the new hardware and software packed into the M9:
– The HTC One M9 measures 144.6 x 69.7 x 9.61mm and weighs 157g compared to the 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35mm and 160g of the M8 (slightly smaller phone).
– The display remains the same, 5-inch view at 1920 x 1080 pixels, 440ppi.
– Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset, bringing support for the 64-bit Android Lollipop software. There’s 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, with microSD card support. A big step up from the M8 (not that the M8 was by any means slow).
– New Sense 7.0 OS. Comes with a host of nifty new features, amazing AI capabilities (learns your habits) – look out for our in-depth review coming in a few weeks for more!
– 20.7-megapixel main camera with dual LED flash, 4-megapixel Ultrapixel camera. A big step up from the Dual-lens 4MP M8 snapper. Will have to see if it delivers.
– The class leading BoomSound now has a Dolby mode! More immersive surround sound Theater mode that’s great for movies and gaming.
– 2,840mAh non-removable with Quick Charge 2.0 technology. A step up from the 2600 mAh M8.
***The HTC One M9 will hit South African shores on the 1st of June 2015. With pre-orders becoming available in May 2015.
The HTC One M9 looks to be a step up for anyone except those owning a One M8. During the launch a lot of videos and advertisements were shown which of course puts the M9 in the spot-light, showing off all of its great features. The real test though will be our in-depth review. I was lucky enough to receive a M9 review unit so look out for our review in a few weeks time!
After the “show” we were allowed to have a look and experience the new M9. The phone just oozes class. Unfortunately all the display units were setup with a locked demo-mode program which only allowed you to check out the new features. Never the less I had a few good conversations with HTC representatives and fellow tech media alike. Everyone seems to love the M9 on first impressions. The new features add to the phone experience rather than being distracting gimmicks.
The HTC brand has slowly been making all the right moves in the smartphone market over the past couple of years. It comes as no surprise to me that their flagship device is now rated among the elite smartphones out there. I am really exited about the company’s overall direction as well as the plans they have for the South African market. We will see what out review of the M9 digs up, but I do believe that the next model (M10?) should and will be a revolutionary rather than evolutionary device.
If there is one smartphone company out there capable of bringing this revolution I would rank HTC among the favorites.
Follow Jaco on Twitter: @Jaco_vdWalt
