HTC One M9 Review

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You must know that this HTC One M9 Review is coming from a non-techy, iPhone fan, Mother of 3 who knows nothing about this sorta thing. So it may not be all that professional of a review like any of the tech gurus on the web. But, it is a real review — that’s what we do here at The Review Wire

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Alright, ya’ll — I dropped my iPhone 4s 64gb into a pot of water and chicken broth. You see I was making my famous Crack Chicken salad on Periscope and my TT girl accidentally knocked it into the pan that was in the sink. It was LIVE ya’ll!

So I panicked, grabbed the rest of the rice from the pantry and threw my phone in hoping and praying that my phone would come back on…..

IT DIDN’T 

My husband tried to work his magic, replaced a few parts and now needs a new screen in hopes that the darn thing will work again.

You see. I’m not one for change. In fact, I hate change. I live in my own world where everything is far from perfect. While I enjoy learning every day, I HATE learning electronics. I’m pretty good at designing websites, setting up recipes and managing websites, but, anything more than that and it’s all foreign language to me. It goes in one ear and out the other.

When I learned the fate of my poor, poor iPhone 4s I was devastated. Dena mentioned that she had this HTC ONE M9 to review. While I was hesitant, I was a bit interested to learn about the dreaded “Android”. I knew from researching that the cameras were to be a lot better than the iPhone and that was something that had me wanting to convert. I take A LOT of pictures people. I take pictures while we are off-roading in the Rhino, food that I make for MyHeavenlyRecipes.com, pictures of the kids playing and being silly and everything in between.

So here is my HTC ONE M9 Review after using the phone for about a month:

 

1. SCREEN

I love the screen size of this phone. I also love the fact that it automatically adjusts in the light. So if I am on the phone in the bright kitchen and walk into a dark room while the screen is still on the screen will brighten automatically. I guess they call that technology!

The resolution on this phone is amazing. Everything is always so crisp and clear compared to my old iPhone. I will say I was pleasantly surprised by this.

2. CAMERA

Now I was the most excited to try out the camera. It disappointed. I HATE the location of the camera. My finger is ALWAYS over it and without a case…it’s ALWAYS dirty. I do love the option of shooting in RAW that I do with my Canon T5. However, I never actually shot in RAW. I have shot several videos with the M9 and have yet to be able to send a video in a simple email or text. I never had any issues with the 4s.

If you are wanting to shoot amazing images without purchasing a digital camera the M9 could be the phone for you. However, you will need to invest in Adobe Photo software so that you can edit your RAW images. I would also look into the iPhone 6s if you are looking for a great smartphone with amazing camera abilities.

3. POWER

Ya’ll the power button is on the side of this phone. It was quite irritating to get used to, but, all is well now. Having three buttons (volume controls) + the power button on the same side is a bit annoying! But, it’s not a do or die.

4. SPEAKERS

The speakers on the ONE M9 is AMAZING. Dolby can in and helped HTC create this BoomSound speaker system. If you enjoy listening to music, podcasts or movies this may be something to look into.

5. STREAM

So one day I left my phone on the table. My 4-year-old grabbed my phone and put on YouTube {is anyone else’s kid obsessed with watching other kids on YouTube?!?}. I came out and the TV was on with whatever she was watching on the phone. I still don’t know how she did it! Maybe it was an app, the new Smart DVD we just bought or what, but, it was magic! You can stream your phone to the tv.

6. BATTERY

I’m just going to cut to the point on this one — the battery sucks. If you are actively on your phone throughout the day be sure you have a charger on hand. By mid-afternoon, my phone is typically at 35-50% battery life remaining. It’s 12:45 pm right now as I am typing this HTC M9 Review and it’s at 35%….needless to say I need to jump up and put this thing on the charger!

 

7. BODY

The body of this phone — is well… bada**! The full metal body has the look that the iPhone and similar phones lack. If you are interested in a sleek design that launches a statement, this is it! At first glance I felt like I wasn’t going to like the slimness of the body, but, I’ve actually grown to like it. With my small hand, I’m able to hold the phone in one hand with comfort.

8. SOFTWARE

Now if you enjoy customizing your phone, the HTC One M9 may be something you would enjoy. There’s so many functions, themes, upgrades, applications that are to be changed on the HTC One M9 phone it was vastly different from the iPhone. You get what you get with an Apple product with not much room to customize. The one thing that I didn’t enjoy was I had to push the power button on the phone to get any of the notifications that were up on the phone and couldn’t figure out how to change it.

Now, because I’m not a tech guru, maybe I was overlooking something, but, I love the feature on the iPhone that shows the notification automatically. As a busy Mom, I don’t have all the time in the world to keep checking my phone to see what notifications there are.

9. FACETIME

One of my favorite features on the iPhone is Facetime. I was disappointed that there was no feature for this with an Android. I have quite a bit of friends and family that we Facetime on a daily basis that my three kiddos have been missing seeing their cousins and Aunt and Uncles!

Overall the design and look of the body of this HTC One M9, the Google Apps and the customization are the three positives to this phone. It’s got a hefty price tag and doesn’t have a strong battery life or a bada** camera to justify the cost for me. For the money I would prefer to have the iPhone for the mere fact, there’s not much difference in the M9 and 6s, the 6S has a much stronger camera and I’m familiar with the operating system.

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