Android Magazine 58 - 2015 UK

Review

placing a fingerprint scanner on the front. This
design departure has been a success and the
A9 looks like a sleek, premium device. It feels
top quality too, encased in an all-metal unibody
that screams class.
On the other hand, that fingerprint sensor
heralds the end of one of HTC’s major selling
points. The dual front-facing speakers have gone
and have been replaced by a single speaker on
the bottom of the handset. Nevertheless, the A9
has lost none of its audio quality as BoomSound
technology is still to be found inside the device
with Dolby Audio surround sound and 24-bit
lossless audio. The sound quality is staggering,
even through earphones where you can really
feel thumping bass and pure high notes. If you
love listening to music through your phone, this
could be the one for you.
HTC has always had a bit of a love-hate
relationship with its camera technology. It tried
to shift the goalposts with UltraPixel in the M8,
but that really didn’t take off as much as it had
hoped. As with the M9, the UltraPixel camera
remains, but only on the front; the A9 also
sports a 13MP camera on the rear with an f/2.0
aperture. Now this is one of the most impressive
camera apps we’ve seen. The pro settings are

easytouseand,onceyou’vegotthehangof

them, they can produce superbly detailed

images. When compared to the LG G3, the A9’s

detailing on clouds was superior and much truer.

Theautosettingsaren’tthebestsoyouprobably

will find yourself playing around with the settings

a little more than you’d like, but the fi nal result

can be stunning.

While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 is a few

steps behind the 810 or Samsung’s Exynos

range, this is still a nippy device and you notice

very little lag or waiting time. Videos and games

play smoothly, even when there are other apps

running in the background, so the 2GB RAM

clearly isn’t having to work overtime. It does heat

up quite quickly, but it doesn’t reach the

uncomfortable levels that we found with the

Sony Xperia Z5.

While the fi ve-inch FHD screen is fantastically

clear and pixel-free, it is lacking a bit of

brightness. While the likes of the Galaxy S6 and

G4 can almost hurt your eyes at their top

setting, even at full whack the A9 can’t get a

terribly vibrant screen.

HTC has dragged itself kicking and screaming

into the upper mid-range war, but whether it is

quite worth the price tag remains to be seen.

This is a really smartly packaged

phone with only a few minor flaws,

including its large price

HTC A9

£419/$499.99

»More informationwww.htc.com

»Supplied byHTC

»^ Operating system ............. Android 6.0 Marshmallow

»^ Processor ................................^ Qualcomm Snapdragon 617

1.5GHz octa-core

»^ Memory ..................................... 16GB storage / 2GB RAM

»^ Dimensions ............................ 145.8 x 70.8 x 7.3 mm

»^ Weight .........................................143g

»^ Display size ............................5-inch

»^ Display resolution .............1080 x 1920 pixels (441 ppi)

»^ Front camera ........................4MP with UltraPixel

»^ Rear camera..........................13MP

»^ Connectivity .......................... 4G, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC

»^ Expansion slot .....................microSD up to 2TB

Te c h n i c a l s p e c s

The 2,150mAh battery is small and will only just last a

day,butitdoessupportQuickCharge2.0

Battery life

Verdict

Good for

Bad for

This is one of the best looking and best feeling HTCs

we’ve ever used

Build quality

Shipping with Android 6.0 is a great selling point as

everything is optimised for the new OS

Android Marshmallow

We would have liked a battery that could comfortably see

out the day and then some more

Battery life

It really is noticeable that the screen doesn’t have the

razzle dazzle of its rivals

Screen brightness

£32

per month

(contract)

£32.50

per month

(contract)

£32.49

per month

(contract)

Best deal

“HTC has dragged itself kicking and

screaming into the upper mid-range war”

Extra stability

HTC has included OIS in its

camera app so your photos

will be a lot more stable and

shake-free than in previous

HTC models. This feature is

only on the rear camera,

which also has auto focus

Make some Sense

HTC’s Sense skin is as good

asever.Itisclean,lightand

the ability to alter your

homescreen based on your

location is a great feature. It is

still one of the best Android

skins out there

Hyperlapse mode

Any videos you take can be

sped up thanks to the A9’s

Hyperlapse mode. You can

whizz through videos at up to

12 times the normal speed

with the slider and then save

it to create a high-energy

video clip. This also works for

downloaded videos