4 Apr 2015

HTC One M9 Review

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HTC was one of Android's earliest supporters. When the Dream launched in 2009, little did HTC likely know that its fortunes would skyrocket in the few years after, along with its share of the smartphone market. Not long after, though, those fortunes began to wane - with the launch of the original One series (One X, S, V), HTC's first attempt to rebrand its smartphone design image began.
The One X was, and I still think is, a beautiful phone. While the Tegra version was lamentable, the Qualcomm-powered variants received generally wide praise. The next year, One M7 launched. It, too, was very good-looking, and while the Ultrapixel camera was controversial, the phone debuted to very positive reviews. Then, last year, the M8 happened. With some significant but generally subtle design tweaks, the excellent Boomsound speakers, a good 1080p LCD, and a quick Snapdragon 801, the M8 wasn't a huge upgrade over the M7, but it had its redeeming qualities. At the time, though, many of us wondered: had HTC started to run out of ideas?
With the M9, that's now a real, pertinent question. On paper, a bigger battery should mean more time off the charger. It doesn't. On paper, a 20MP camera should finally bring the One M9 in line with its other flagship competitors. It doesn't. A Snapdragon 810 should bring considerable speed gains over the year-old 801 in the M8. It doesn't. On paper, a new version of Sense should mean a real facelift for the software with exciting new features. For the most part, it doesn't.
The One is the phone only HTC could build, except then they built it again. And again. And now I'm left wondering: is there a real reason to buy this thing?


The Good


Still metal The One M9 still feels like a premium phone with premium materials, even if some of the small design changes are, to my eyes, less than great.
A respectable 1080p LCD While the M9's screen isn't going to win any awards for best-in-a-smartphone, it's not bad by any means, and still seems like a pretty good 1080p LCD. I applaud HTC for not giving into the 2K pressure.
Boomsound is still good Well, it is.
Not slow The M9 is perfectly quick in most ways, and does not appear to suffer from any of the major performance jank I found on the only other Snapdragon 810 device to date, the G Flex 2.


The Not So Good


Not any faster The M9 doesn't feel appreciably quicker than the phone it replaces, and sometimes can be slower (such as when multitasking). This doesn't speak well of the Snapdragon 810, which is already under fire for issues.
A mediocre 20 megapixels HTC finally ditched the 4MP Ultrapixel rear camera this year, but its replacement is one of the most mediocre cameras I've used on a high-end smartphone, with long focus times, unreliable auto-focus, lackluster night performance, and iffy HDR.
Buttons only a mother could love The new volume and power buttons on the One M9 are so recessed and closely positioned that I'm constantly hitting one when I mean to hit another. This can be legitimately maddening.
Battery life is subpar I was honestly surprised at just how mediocre the M9's battery life was day-to-day, especially when on the strong T-Mobile network in my area. I would struggle through a day away from home on this phone.

Hardware

Design and build quality

Look at an HTC One M8. Now look at the M9. And that's 90% of our work today.
The phones are so similar that the M9 is best described by what doesn't make it look like the M8, as opposed to what it looks like independent of its predecessor. So let's go piece by piece.
The greatest physical change to the phone is, for all intents and purposes, the area where the frame meets the display glass and speaker grilles. Instead of a chamfered, polished edge, there is a "stepped" break in the metal frame that goes straight up and is cut at a 90-degree angle. HTC says they did this because of complaints that the M8 was too slippery, and that the "stepped" effect helps it dig into your hand a little better for maximum grippability. Frankly, I think they did it because chamfering is more expensive. I don't really notice a difference when holding the phone, and it is still quite slippery (HTC's expensive new finishing process also doesn't seem to help, despite what they claim).
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Pictured: edge concerns. I personally think the M8's chamfer looks a bit nicer.
Anyway, the change also meant discarding the One M8's plastic speaker grilles (really, they are glued-on plastic - I didn't know, either) and instead building them into the metal around the display glass. This is one of the few design changes on the M9 that I actually like.
To make up for the lack of a shiny chamfer around the edges of the phone, HTC has given the front-facing camera a polished metallic ring, and it looks really weird. I don't know why they did it, but they did, and it just seems unnecessarily fussy. The enlarged sensor cluster window also isn't doing the M9 any favors visually.
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Along the edges, HTC's buttons have all migrated to the right side of the phone to create what is likely the biggest button identification clusterfuck on any smartphone I have ever used. I do not use that word lightly. I have no idea how such close placement on such crappy, extremely recessed buttons made it past usability testing. It just stinks. While you can double tap or slide up to wake the phone, HTC's solution has never felt as quick or easy as ambient display to me (far and away the best easy-on display tech of all), and you're still not going to be able to avoid those truly awful volume buttons. A recurring theme for HTC, it would seem. They should stop doing that.
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My dark gray version doesn't have the two-tone gold/silver thing going on, so it looks a bit more muted and (I think) tasteful than its shinier sibling. Around the back, the only difference worth highlighting is the camera module, which now sticks out slightly from the frame, and is square. Subjectively, I find it kind of an eyesore, preferring the slicker recessed look on the M8's duo camera (irrespective of duo camera's actual merits, which were precisely zero). I really have no idea why the rear camera module has to be that... visible - the phone would look so much cleaner with an iPhone-sized circle, but I'm guessing it has something to do with convincing consumers that this is a "serious" camera for "serious" photography, because it is big, and big things are very serious.
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HTC has retained the microUSB and 3.5mm port arrangement from the M8 to the chagrin of OCD sufferers everywhere (really, can an off-center USB port be part of your "brand"?), and while generally harmless, are bound to stir up the opinions of many people on the internet as things of this nature always do. The black plastic antenna window for the GPS / IR up top is still present, and still gives the phone kind of a space-age accent, though it's a little more angular and less refined-looking than the one on the M8.
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Antenna windows to the soul
So, here's the thing: I really liked the look of the One M8 when I reviewed it last year. The One M9 does have some positive changes (aforementioned speaker grilles now being metal, reduced height of the HTC logo black-bar), but almost every other physical design change, for me, comes down on the slightly-to-moderately-negative side of the board. The camera hump, the stepped metal instead of a chamfered edge, the ugly little chrome accent on the front-facing camera, and the new buttons (especially the buttons) - they all get an "oh, well, why did they... do that?" kind of response from me.
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Does it make the M9 hard to like as an object? Not particularly, but it does make it less likeable than the phone that preceded it, which is always going to amplify the impact of such changes. And it makes flaws carried over from the original more noticeable. The HTC "black bar," while it allegedly has to be there for display controller guts, makes the phone quite tall. So do the Boomsound speakers, which require small resonance chambers to produce mid-range and bass. The all-metal design is still really slippery. The phone itself doesn't look especially different from the One M7 of two years ago, and all claims about "timeless design" aside, that does make it feel less special to me.
But, a lot of this is subjective, and I realize that. So, if you liked the One M8's design and build quality, you'll like the One M9's aside from the aforementioned hardware buttons, which are objectively bad. Everything else really is a quibble, but when you're talking about design, nothing is truly trivial, so that's why I nitpick here - because this section is literally about nitpicking. Don't tar and feather me, please.
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As to the actual quality of the phone, I wouldn't say it's substantially better or worse than the M8. The M8 is a solid-feeling device, and the M9 feels quite solid as well, and that is because they are both encased in very hard aluminum chassis. The thing is, between those new hardware buttons - which are just plain not good - the camera hump, and the strange stepped metal around the edges of the phone, the M9 ends up feeling almost paradoxically less nice than the M8.
Also, let's not go out of our way to necessarily confuse "solid metal" with "actual quality construction" - last year, iFixIt gave the HTC One M8 a horrendous repairability score of 1/10 (an iPhone 6, by the way, gets a 7/10) because it is essentially an un-disassemble-able screwless mess of evil. This year, HTC has added a couple external screws, but the glued-in internals like the battery and display still require heat gun coaxing in order to remove, and there's still a whole mess of tape, ribbons, and easily damaged copper foil shielding in there. (Samsung's Galaxy S6, by the way, requires similar coaxing, though appears substantially less complex overall.)

Display

The M9 and M8 have fairly similar 1080p LCDs. The main difference between the two seems to be tuning - the M8's display looks much more saturated and bold than the M9's, which appears to have been tuned much cooler than its predecessor. The maximum brightness seems almost exactly the same, the viewing angles are nearly identical, and outdoor visibility has them in a dead heat. The minimum brightness setting on the M9 is appreciably lower, though not by a lot, so there is that.
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It's not a bad screen, by any means, but it's basically similar in most ways to the one HTC has been shipping since the M7. It's a good, solid, 1080p LCD... that pretty much any manufacturer can buy these days if they so choose for a fairly reasonably price. It's not that I'm saying HTC should opt for a 2K (QHD) panel, or that they have to go AMOLED to stay relevant, but there's little denying that competitors like Samsung and Apple have surpassed HTC in the display game, and that it didn't exactly happen recently. HTC is at the mercy of suppliers while Samsung, Apple, and LG develop their own panel designs and get the pick of the litter if they don't. And meanwhile, budget OEMs like OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Huawei are sourcing panels of a similar if not better quality while selling phones that are much less expensive.
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HTC wasn't keen to talk up the screen on the One M8 last year, and they were similarly reluctant to do so on the One M9 this year. While I have absolutely no problem with the M9's 1080p resolution, Samsung is clearly leading the industry in smartphone displays right now. The latest Super AMOLED panels have superior minimum and maximum brightness, insanely good color reproduction (when set to the right display mode), and surprisingly good outdoor visibility thanks to their excellent contrast. The One M9's display has OK color reproduction (pinks get a weird magenta-purply thing going on, greens are definitely a bit hot, whites and grays too cool), decent brightness, and pretty good viewing angles. If you're looking for the cream of the crop when it comes to display quality, unfortunately, it's just not here.
That said, I still prefer the M9's panel to LG's G3 or even my own Nexus 6 (ugh yellow). While it falls short of the Note 4 or, if I'm honest, even the Galaxy S5 (... or even the Note 3), it's still a decent screen and I don't think it's going to upset anybody. Also, I do commend HTC for sticking it out at 1080p when it makes sense to do so - whereas other manufacturers are pushing 2K mostly because they can.

Battery life

"Unsettlingly mediocre" is how I would describe it. The One M9 has given me range anxiety I haven't really experienced since, well, the Nexus 6, and even then that's only on some days with that phone. Even HTC's data sleeping doesn't seem to be working right, with my phone showing many wake states during the middle of the night when emails come through. Previously, on the M7 and M8, sync would basically stop between the hours of 11PM and 7AM unless you actually turned on the display, which was a huge battery saver if you forgot to plug in your phone overnight.
On the M9, I'm just not happy with the battery life as it is right now. I don't know if that's to do with the Snapdragon 810, poorly optimized software, or just plain bad luck, but it's not fantastic. It could be worse, but if I was taking this thing on the road every day to and from work without a charge until I got home, I'd probably be buying an external battery pretty quickly. It's just not where it should be.
Sense also doesn't allow you to see the amount of screen-on time in the OS's power usage UI, so you can't really get a good feel for what amount of screen-time your usage habits will allow for. Even when loitering on Wi-Fi in my apartment (which yes, does decrease power consumption), the idle battery life just does not seem very good. The only other phone with Snapdragon 810 that I've used is the G Flex 2 and, despite having 160mAh more capacity than the One M9, it too fell flat fairly quickly.
While the unpredictability has settled out some since I received the phone last week, I'm still not happy with how the M9 stacks up here. The moment the solution to a battery life problem becomes "turn on power-saving feature X," you've lost me. I'm not interested in compromising the experience simply to extend the amount of time I have to keep a phone off the microUSB teat, unless I urgently need to preserve that remaining juice. If there was one area where HTC could really put a thorn in the side of Samsung, LG, or Motorola (barring the Maxx), it would be in class-leading battery life, but the One M9 sadly fails to deliver anything of interest here, and frankly falls slightly below the bar I'd expect of a flagship handset. This is definitely a step back from the M8, which I found had pretty great battery life overall.

Storage, wireless, and call quality

HTC came to bat with 32GB of storage standard on both the M7 and M8 here in the US, and that was a significant plus for consumers burned by the 16GB-only Galaxy S4 and S5 here in America. But now that the S6 ships with 32GB minimum and LG isn't letting its flagships fly with less than that amount, either, HTC's advantage here is a bit diminished. A microSD card slot is a plus with Samsung seemingly having forsaken expandable storage at the flagship level, but only to those who would utilize it to begin with.
Sense 7 weighs heavily on that 32GB, too, which is a real shame - this T-Mobile One M9 ships with less than 20GB available out of the box. Let me rephrase that: if HTC shipped a 16GB One M9, you would have 4GB of space to work with. This is just bad bloat management. The Galaxy S6 ships with 23GB (depending on carrier) available, and last year's bloat-tastic 16GB S5 even managed a little over 10GB.
Certainly, around 20GB of space is going to be enough for most people, but that doesn't excuse the lackadaisical attitude HTC has approached the bloat problem with - it smacks of apathy, or worse, incompetence. Compared to a T-Mobile One M8 running Lollipop, the One M9 is shipping with nearly 2.5GB less user-available storage, and for what? Things most of us will never use?
Wireless performance on my One M9 review unit has been entirely respectable, I've experienced no issues with mobile data or Wi-Fi. Bluetooth has given me one problem, though it's somewhat rare - my Wear device (a G Watch R) occasionally loses sync with the phone, an issue I've decidedly not had with the five-plus other devices I've paired it with. It hasn't happened in the last day or so, though, so perhaps Google corrected something on its end.
Call quality is phone-like. I haven't tested HD voice on the M9, but I'm going to guess it sounds like HD voice on pretty much any phone: much, much better than regular phone call quality.

Audio and speakers

HTC's Boomsound speakers have some new Dolby tuning this year, but honestly, my ears can barely hear the difference. The One M8 had a great set of front-facing speakers for a phone, and the M9 still has those same great speakers that actually produce a semblance of mid-range, something you don't get on any other smartphone that I know of. The hardware, according to HTC, is the same - and the sound supports that. The M8 and M9 sounds basically identical.
Headphone audio presented no problems, and is still the same high quality that I've come to expect of Qualcomm's top-tier Snapdragon chipsets to date.

Camera

HTC's new camera is a bit of a mess on the One M9. After two-plus years pushing the 4MP Ultrapixel sensor, it's unfortunately clear that HTC is having trouble handling the somewhat odd 20MP Toshiba sensor it's using for the one M9, as opposed to the much more industry-standard Sony IMX sensors used in pretty much every other high-end smartphone.
It does not seem to have been a good idea to do this.
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You see, HTC apparently has decided that, despite no longer having a 4MP image sensor in its flagship phone, that it still wants to process 20MP images like they have 4MP of resolution. What I mean by that is, the processing seems optimized heavily for viewing on small displays. Fine detail is most charitably described as "present," while image noise and processing is brutally aggressive, especially in low light.
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This is not a very tight crop, trust me.
The cropped image above is representative of the two problems I had with the M9 in low light. First, the focus never, ever seems right. You always have to tell it where to focus, wait for it to do so (which takes far longer than it should), and then wait for the capture, which also takes annoyingly long as the camera then tries to focus again. Once you get a picture, sweet jesus, there is going to be brutal processing noise and artifacting in anything but daylight. The launch time for the camera is also lamentable, at anywhere from 1-4 seconds depending on how the phone is feeling, I guess.
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During the day, performance isn't outright bad, but the images I captured were never particularly impressive in detail, clarity, or color reproduction (most were quite bland). This is the most mediocre camera fitted to a high-end smartphone in the last year, I think - it is simply not in possession of any real redeeming qualities.
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Even in direct sunlight on a clear day, the sky still has processing noise. HTC is also lightyears behind Google and Samsung in terms of HDR performance, a mode which I found basically useless on the M9 for all the hilariously false contrast it forces into an image.
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Still, this is a notably better camera than the One M8's, because it actually has fine detail, whereas the M8's Ultrapixel had what I would describe as coarse detail at best. When you're coming from a camera as difficult to defend as the duo setup, though, it's hard not to improve in at least some ways. The One M8 also had the single worst HDR mode of any smartphone camera I have used in years, so even the M9's weirdo HDR processing looks better than that of its predecessor, shown below.
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The camera itself adds no real new features aside from 4K video, loses HDR video mode, and does not have optical image stabilization. All in all, HTC has delivered a camera that wouldn't stack up particularly well to 2014's flagships, let alone 2015's. This is not a high point for a company that claims to be deeply invested in the imaging experience on its smartphones. Some of the M9's camera issues can likely be resolved in software, but for now, it simply doesn't meet the bar I think we'd expect a 2015 flagship to.
Here are some additional sample photos.



Software

Performance

Without a doubt, the most controversial section of any One M9 review you will read is the one in which device performance is discussed. Having been extensively involving myself in the Snapdragon 810 drama of late, I'd like to begin this section with some questions and answers that I think will help serve as a primer to this discussion.
  • Does Snapdragon 810 overheat in the HTC One M9? It's a loaded question. If you run benchmarks like Geekbench 3 ad nauseam without any cooldown periods between runs, then yes, the One M9 will get very, very, very hot. The highest temperature I observed with a true IR camera was 118F (nearly 48C), which is hot enough that no, you don't want to hold the phone (not dangerous, just uncomfortable). No plastic bags, no bright lights, just my desk in my apartment and Geekbench 3 over and over and over. No other phone I've tested gets that hot, the maximum I saw was 110F... on another Snapdragon 810 phone.
  • But it still works, so that's not overheating, right? Technically, yes. An "overheat" state is one that implies the device must cool lest imminent damage occur to it. In that sense, no, the M9 does not appear to overheat - I never got a message from the phone saying it needed to turn off or anything to manage the temperature. Granted, a modern CPU can operate at upwards of 80C without risking damage, so "overheating" is an exceptionally relative term here. Smartphones go into "overheat" states to prevent damage to the battery and display, not the processor.
  • Does this happen in regular usage? The M9 will get pretty toasty when the cellular radio is very active (lots of DL/UL) and the phone isn't sleeping, or GPS is running with navigation. And it gets hot more quickly than I'd anecdotally expect. But no, it doesn't get crazy hot in anything but benchmarks.
  • So you're saying it doesn't matter? No. Because the reason it gets so hot in benchmarks is because it's not throttling the CPU almost at all, instead letting the phone get hot so that high scores can be achieved repeatedly during testing.
  • So it throttles? Absolutely. While Snapdragon 810 is unofficially rated at 2.0GHz (note that Qualcomm never published a clock speed for 810) for its high-speed A57 quad-core cluster, you'll never see it get over 1.5-1.6GHz in regular usage for more than sub-second bursts, and even, then, probably not over 1.8GHz. The same behavior can be observed on LG's G Flex 2, which also uses the 810.
  • Does this matter? Yes. Compared to the Snapdragon 801 and 805, which throttle much less often in regular usage, the Snapdragon 810 is far more likely to compromise performance under such usage, meaning the experience it provides frankly doesn't seem appreciably better than those chips and, in some applications, may actually be worse.
Is the One M9 a slow phone? No. But it's not really even appreciable quicker than the One M8, and in some cases, I actually noticed it to be slower (app switching, for example). And yes, Snapdragon 810 will beat 805 and 801 in benchmarks - HTC has ensured the processor will not throttle during benchmarking, so the scores will tell you what you'd expect for a chip that's a year newer than the one which preceded it. Benchmarks, of course, are not reality.
So, why go with the 810 at all? Why not stick it out with 805, which has proven itself a solid, reliable chip even on high-resolution smartphones?
The simple answer is marketing, and it's the same story I hear from every OEM I talk to about chipsets. Consumers want to know they're getting the latest and greatest, and even if most people don't know squat about what a processor or chipset is or what they do, there's a big enough group of buyers (especially online and in emerging markets) to matter that having the latest Qualcomm part is paramount to competing. HTC chose Snapdragon 810 not because it is "the best" chipset available from a performance standpoint, they chose it because it is "the best" chipset available from a marketing perspective. That is the slightly sad reality of the situation, and that's why Peter Chou got on stage at MWC to be Qualcomm's PR puppet.
And what else can they do? There was no other option: shipping with 805 would have had them laughed out of the room by internet spec geeks, and there is no other viable alternative to Snapdragon 810 yet. Intel has no high-end LTE SoC, there's no chance Samsung would give HTC a crack at the latest Exynos, and NVIDIA is a non-option in phones. Mediatek doesn't compete well in the LTE space right now, either, and that's Qualcomm's real stranglehold on partners: radio technology.
HTC, like LG with the G Flex 2, basically had a choice of shipping with a newer, compromised chip, or shipping with an older, proven chip. In a market with obsessive 1-year refresh cycles and constant specification warring, the older chip was never a realistic business option. This isn't HTC's fault - only as much as they can be faulted for sticking it out with the single viable high-end LTE chipmaker on the market. So, blame Qualcomm, blame ARM, and certainly blame specification hypebeasters, but HTC really is just a victim of a rare product portfolio miss here, and one that has Qualcomm noticeably shaken up.
To HTC's credit, I haven't noticed any truly unusual lag or stuttering on the One M9, which for the most part appears to perform fine in most situations. It's just not any noticeably faster or smoother than the phone and chip it replaces, and at this point, it's incumbent upon Qualcomm to show that 810 isn't compromised in practice, because the relevant data points we have for real-world devices to date show that it is. Even Qualcomm's marketing makes it clear something's wrong - they haven't published an advertised clock speed for Snapdragon 810 (yet they have for 800, 801, and 805), and it's because they can't advertise one, since the real clock speed is basically dependent on how ballsy and willing to compromise battery life (and cycle longevity, because heat) the OEM is.
So, if you want a basic rundown of the One M9's performance, here it is: it's pretty fast. It's not noticeably faster than the One M8, and it's sometimes a bit slower, which wouldn't be in and of itself quite so bad if the battery life hadn't also taken a real hit. For what it's worth, it does not feel as slow and janky as the 810-powered G Flex 2, which appears to have significantly more aggressive throttling policies, so there is that.

Sense 7

Have you used Sense 6 on Lollipop? Great! You've basically used Sense 7. The changes between the sixth and seventh iterations of HTC's proprietary skin are few and far between. For example, the notification bar has slightly less vertical height. Yes, that is how nitpicky we need to get to really highlight changes.
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The Sense clock widget is new. There's a new widget called Sense Home that... really isn't that interesting (it's a glorified folder widget). There is now a vaguely Holo-esque tab interface for switching between pages on stock HTC apps, which looks different-y. BlinkFeed has restaurant suggestions now.
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Pictured: the biggest UI design change in Sense 7.
Oh, they changed the multitasking interface back to the old Sense style, too. You see, when the One M8 got its Lollipop update, HTC tossed in a very slight tweak of the stock Android 5.0 multitasking UI. On the M9, they decided they didn't like that anymore and went to the grid-layout and added pagination to it. And, of course, they added back a button to clear all recent apps, because people do this, ostensibly for the placebo relief it provides.
The one headlining new feature of Sense 7 is the theming engine, which allows you to apply your own or community-created themes to your device. HTC's definition of theme can be a bit generous depending on your expectations, though it's still significantly more than really any other OEM gives you. You can choose wallpaper, icon pack (including a texture overlay), color palette (also including texture), sounds, and font. There's a theme store to download them from (same as the Dot View store), or you can create your own and publish it.
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This is definitely nice for those people who like to theme their device to a mild to moderate degree (I am personally not among them), and it's not something the other major device OEMs are offering. I will say the one issue I had is with theme discovery - it's hard to really search the theme store in a meaningful way unless all you really want are the promoted and popular themes.
The other customization tweak HTC has added, though not original, is for the layout of the navigation buttons. You can add new buttons like turn off screen, auto-rotate, a notification toggle, or hide nav bar. You can also change the order of the buttons. You just get the buttons HTC gives you, though, there isn't any kind of option to brew-your-own button.
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Other than that? HTC's added some new options in its photo editor, an app called Cloudex that basically just puts your cloud photos in the Gallery app, and... I can't really think of anyone else. The promised camera store, by the way, currently has a whole three options in it, and the purported "pro" mode that would allow RAW capture is not yet present.
Most of the changes in Sense 7 seem superficial, aside from the theme engine, and even the superficial changes can come off as tweaking for the sake of tweaking. Like the new tab navigation style in HTC's stock apps - it just seems like it was changed because they needed some way to differentiate the new software from the old software. It doesn't serve any kind of cohesive purpose. Meanwhile, Google's Material Design initiative is still nowhere to be found in Sense, with HTC's likely retort being that Sense is a "full-package" software identity that it does not want to cobrand into something Googly. And yet the more and more 3rd party apps adopt at least some material elements, the more and more out of place HTC's software will look. I predict we'll see them come around a bit with Sense 8.

Conclusion

The HTC One M9 is problematic. It's not a bad phone, but it's also not a great one, and it doesn't feel so much better than last year's device that an upgrade would be even remotely necessary for current One M8 owners. Even One M7 owners aren't missing a whole lot here, and that's slightly unsettling. The display is the same if not observably worse in certain respects, the Boomsound speakers are the same, the battery life isn't any better (worse, actually), and there are no major new hardware features to speak of. Sense 7 offers little aside from its theming engine, and while that's certainly a fun addition, it doesn't really strike me as a big value-add. The camera does offer you a little crop breathing room now, but as high-end smartphone cameras go, the One M9's is totally unremarkable, and in some cases a bit disappointing.
So, that leaves us with things like the Dot View case, HTC's Uh-Oh protection, and the company's Android OS update track record for selling points. While they're all certainly benefits, are they going to be enough to get the interest of anyone but those people who are already HTC fans? That's kind of my problem here: I see no special appeal for the One M9 among users of non-HTC phones. The M9 brings nothing truly compelling to the table that the M7 and M8 before it did not, and neither of those devices were runaway sales successes.
With Samsung having given us a play-by-play Extreme Makeover: Smartphone Edition on its Galaxy S6, the One M9 provides a counterpoint of, "Hey, things are still pretty good over here, don't fix what ain't broken!" The problem for HTC is that, from a business perspective, things are broken. HTC's ever-decreasing market share and recent CEO shakeup make it obvious the Taiwanese OEM is not able to bring in significant numbers of new customers, or more importantly, pull them away from other brands.
Perhaps a mid-year refresh or high-end Note competitor with a fresh new look will reinvigorate HTC in the premium phone space, but as things stand now, it feels like we're in a holding phase, just waiting for something to happen.
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copied from androidpolice.com


This New Smart Car Swaps The Infotainment System For A Center-Mounted Phone Dock And A Bluetooth Connection

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Have you ever looked at your low-tech car audio system and wished your head unit could just be as smart as the phone in your pocket? Or maybe you have one of those fancy infotainment systems, whose software tends to make the HTC G1 look futuristic by comparison. Well, an automaker finally decided to acknowledge that it's easier to use the hardware that the customer already has than build something newer and more expensive that won't do any better. Which manufacturer decided to do it? It's the same people who brought you this:
community_22
Yep, smart, of smart car fame and subsidiary of Daimler AG, the group behind Mercedes-Benz. For a vehicle in which space and cost savings are crucial, using your phone as your head unit makes perfect sense. Smart also tends to market to a younger market segment for whom this kind of unconventional thinking won't be too jarring. The typical 25-year-old won't be lamenting the loss of a physical disc drive or anything like that.
The phone dock will be shipping on some trims of the redesigned 2016 smart fortwo, the only smart model you will normally see in the United States and many other markets. Maybe this is the justification you needed to spring for a giant phone like the Nexus 6; it'll be easier to see while you drive!
Thanks to the smart crossConnect app, the dock is more than just a slightly nicer version of the same physical docks you could stick in any old car. The app gives access to the car in such a way that it even provides a score of your driving, based on things like how often you follow the posted speed limit and the amount of G-Force generated when you turn. You also get turn-by-turn directions, lots of voice commands, and the ability to control the built-in radio.
smart1
Of course, I started off this article by railing on the poor software development typical of automakers. It appears that smart may be no exception, as the Android app has generally low reviews (and even worse in Apple land). More obviously disappointing is that they only promise that it will work on the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5:
Please play attention to the fact that the app is only supported von Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 devices. On other devices it can not be guaranteed that the app will work correctly and all information is displayed completely.
All funny typos are in the original app description. While that seems to leave open the possibility of it working on other devices, we couldn't find any others that the Play Store showed as compatible.
So smart hasn't knocked this one completely out of the park just yet, but the 2016 fortwo hasn't hit the market. There's still time! And either way, this is still a great idea. Even if their software doesn't pan out, you get a nifty dock that you can use to mount your phone and stream audio via Bluetooth through the car stereo system. That's what a lot of us have wanted for a long time.


copy rights from androidpolice.com

IDM 6.23 free Download

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Internet Download Manager (IDM) is very popular software for downloading files like movies, songs, PDF files and TV series from internet. Among the download managers out there in the internet this one considered to be the best because of its speed and flexibility. Using Internet Download Manager (IDM) free is very easy but not for everyone especially for those who are new in this type of thing. Here in this website we provide crack file which you can use to make IDM full version without buying it. We modify files which are responsible for showing notifications like “IDM has been registered with a fake serial number” etc. You install IDM newest version first, then download modified version from here and paste them in installation folder. But if you have already passed the trial period of IDM than this crack will not work for you, only re-install of windows can help. If you like the software and you have ability to spend some bucks for it then please don't hesitate, it worth buying. Our effort is specially for those people who live in a country from where they can't buy this awesome software.




Whats new in Version 6.23?

Followings are some of major changes in IDM 6.23 (Released: Feb 22, 2015)
  1. Added support for Google Chrome 42
  2. Added support for new types of video streaming sites
  3. Fixed bugs

Setup Instructions

  1. Close/uninstall previous version of IDM;
  2. Install version 6.23 from setup folder;
  3. IDM may show you some notification like "You have registered IDM with a fake serial number" don't get frightened, just close those notifications;
  4. Close IDM from system trey if it is still open (IDM must be closed during patching process);
  5. Copy all files(2) in "Crack" folder and past (replace) it in original installed folder (normally C:\Program Files\Internet Download Manager);
  6. Run reg file. Done!
  7. If you want to register IDM with your own name then see this post.

DOWNLOAD :-

           MEGA / MEGA(mirror)

           USERSCLOUD


If your having any issues with software fell free to mention with in a couple of i will give the solution


If  it woks fine fell free to comment......!!!!!!!   





       THANKQ  visiting my blog

IDM 6.23 build 2

1 comment :

Internet Download Manager (IDM) is very popular software for downloading files like movies, songs, PDF files and TV series from internet. Among the download managers out there in the internet this one considered to be the best because of its speed and flexibility. Using Internet Download Manager (IDM) free is very easy but not for everyone especially for those who are new in this type of thing. Here in this website we provide crack file which you can use to make IDM full version without buying it. We modify files which are responsible for showing notifications like “IDM has been registered with a fake serial number” etc. You install IDM newest version first, then download modified version from here and paste them in installation folder. But if you have already passed the trial period of IDM than this crack will not work for you, only re-install of windows can help. If you like the software and you have ability to spend some bucks for it then please don't hesitate, it worth buying. Our effort is specially for those people who live in a country from where they can't buy this awesome software.




Whats new in Version 6.23 build 2?

Followings are some of major changes in IDM 6.23 build 2 (Released: Feb 24, 2015)
  1. Added support for Firefox 37
  2. Added support for Google Chrome 42
  3. Added support for new types of video streaming sites
  4. Fixed bugs

Setup Instructions

  1. Close/uninstall previous version of IDM;
  2. Install version 6.23 build 2 from setup folder;
  3. IDM may show you some notification like "You have registered IDM with a fake serial number" don't get frightened, just close those notifications;
  4. Close IDM from system trey if it is still open (IDM must be closed during patching process);
  5. Copy all files(2) in "Crack" folder and past (replace) it in original installed folder (normally C:\Program Files\Internet Download Manager);
  6. Run reg file. Done!
  7. If you want to register IDM with your own name then see this post.

 DOWNLOAD :-

           MEGA / MEGA(mirror)

           USERSCLOUD



If your having any issues with software fell free to mention with in a couple of i will give the solution


If  it woks fine fell free to comment......!!!!!!!   





       THANKQ  visiting my blog

IDM 6.23 build 3

No comments :
nternet Download Manager (IDM) is very popular software for downloading files like movies, songs, PDF files and TV series from internet. Among the download managers out there in the internet this one considered to be the best because of its speed and flexibility. Using Internet Download Manager (IDM) free is very easy but not for everyone especially for those who are new in this type of thing. Here in this website we provide crack file which you can use to make IDM full version without buying it. We modify files which are responsible for showing notifications like “IDM has been registered with a fake serial number” etc. You install IDM newest version first, then download modified version from here and paste them in installation folder. But if you have already passed the trial period of IDM than this crack will not work for you, only re-install of windows can help. If you like the software and you have ability to spend some bucks for it then please don't hesitate, it worth buying. Our effort is specially for those people who live in a country from where they can't buy this awesome software.




Whats new in Version 6.23 build 3?

Followings are some of major changes in IDM 6.23 build 3 (Released: Mar 2, 2015)
  1. Fixed bugs in Chrome integration module
  2. Fixed bugs

Setup Instructions

  1. Close/uninstall previous version of IDM;
  2. Install version 6.23 build 3 from setup folder;
  3. IDM may show you some notification like "You have registered IDM with a fake serial number" don't get frightened, just close those notifications;
  4. Close IDM from system trey if it is still open (IDM must be closed during patching process);
  5. Copy all files(2) in "Crack" folder and past (replace) it in original installed folder (normally C:\Program Files\Internet Download Manager);
  6. Run reg file. Done!
  7. If you want to register IDM with your own name then see this post.
DOWNLOAD :-

           MEGA / MEGA(mirror)

           USERSCLOUD



If your having any issues with software fell free to mention with in a couple of i will give the solution


If  it woks fine fell free to comment......!!!!!!!    





       THANKQ  visiting my blog

IDM 6.23 build 5

No comments :

Internet Download Manager (IDM) is very useful software for downloading files like movies, songs, PDFs and TV series from internet. Among the download managers out there this one considered to be the best because of its speed and flexibility. Using Internet Download Manager (IDM) free is very easy but not for everyone especially for those who are new in this type of thing. Here in this website we provide crack file which you can use to make IDM full version without buying it. We modify files which are responsible for showing notifications like “IDM has been registered with a fake serial number” etc. You install IDM newest version first, then download modified version from here and paste them in installation folder. But if you have already passed the trial period of IDM than this crack will not work for you, only re-install of windows can help. If you like the software and you have ability to spend some bucks for it then please don't hesitate, it worth buying. Our effort is specially for those people who live in a country from where they can't buy this awesome software. But if you have the ability to buy then please show respect to this great work.




Whats new in Version 6.23 build 5?

Followings are some of major changes in IDM 6.23 build 5 (Released: Mar 10, 2015)
  1. Fixed bugs in Chrome integration module
  2. Fixed bugs

Setup Instructions

  1. Close/uninstall previous version of IDM;
  2. Install version 6.23 build 5 from setup folder;
  3. IDM may show you some notification like "You have registered IDM with a fake serial number" don't get frightened, just close those notifications;
  4. Close IDM from system trey if it is still open (IDM must be closed during patching process);
  5. Copy all files(2) in "Crack" folder and past (replace) it in original installed folder (normally C:\Program Files\Internet Download Manager);
  6. Run reg file. Done!
  7. If you want to register IDM with your own name then see this post.

 DOWNLOAD :-

           MEGA / MEGA(mirror)

           USERSCLOUD


If your having any issues with software fell free to mention with in a couple of i will give the solution


If  it woks fine fell free to comment......!!!!!!!   





       THANKQ  visiting my blog

IDM 6.23 build 6

No comments :

Internet Download Manager (IDM) 6.23 build 6 is a very useful software for every internet user. Because every internet user download anything at some point and right there IDM specialization. It will let you utilize your every bit of bandwidth letting you download at very high speed. Internet Download Manager also have some facilities which you won't get in other software of same category, for example resume, and simultaneous multipart download facility. So if you were looking for something like this, download and crack IDM from here. Download the file from file sharing site and install. IDM crack file is included in RAR file.





Whats new in Version 6.23 build 6?

Followings are some of major changes in IDM 6.23 build 6 (Released: Mar 12, 2015)
  1. Fixed problems with video/audio recognition for several types of web sites
  2. Fixed compatibility problems of Google Chrome extension with several applications
  3. Fixed bugs

Setup Instructions

  1. Close/uninstall previous version of IDM;
  2. Install version 6.23 build 6 from setup folder;
  3. IDM may show you some notification like "You have registered IDM with a fake serial number" don't get frightened, just close those notifications;
  4. Close IDM from system trey if it is still open (IDM must be closed during patching process);
  5. Copy all files(2) in "Crack" folder and past (replace) it in original installed folder (normally C:\Program Files\Internet Download Manager);
  6. Run reg file. Done!
  7. If you want to register IDM with your own name then see this post.
 DOWNLOAD :-

           MEGA / MEGA(mirror)

           USERSCLOUD



If your having any issues with software fell free to mention with in a couple of i will give the solution


If  it woks fine fell free to comment......!!!!!!!     


       THANKQ  visiting my blog
 

3 Apr 2015

[Deal Alert] Nexus 9 16GB On Sale At Best Buy For $325 (A $75 Discount)

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If you have been on the fence about whether or not to purchase Google's latest tablet, the Nexus 9, Best Buy may have made your decision a little easier. For the next two days, the blue box store is discounting the price of the 16GB model by $75, bringing the price down to a more reasonable $325. The verdict is still out among Android Police staff on whether or not this is a great tablet, but a lower price might make up for some of its warts.
As a reminder, here is a quick breakdown of the key specs.

  • Processor: NVIDIA Tegra K1 'Denver' dual-core at 2.3GHz
  • GPU: NVIDIA Tegra 192-core Kepler
  • Display: 8.9" IPS LCD 2048x1553 (4:3 aspect ratio) w/ Gorilla Glass 3
  • Memory: 2GB RAM, 16GB storage
  • Cameras: 8MP rear, 1.6MP front
  • Battery: 6700mAh, non-removable
Screenshot 2015-04-03 at 1.26.44 PM - Edited
The tablet is available in both white and black (By raise of hands, is anyone sad the tan option isn't available? Yeah, didn't think so.) and ships free. There won't be another Google flagship tablet for quite some time, so if you want regular dessert-themed updates served in a (somewhat) timely manner, the Nexus 9 may be worth a second look.
Now I just need to figure out a way to convince my wife I need yet another tablet... Give me your ideas in the comments below.

Play Store 5.4 Makes The Notification Bar Transparent On App Pages [APK Download]

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The Play Store is where you go to watch your other apps get updated, but occasionally it's nice to sit back and watch as the store gets its own renovation. Sometimes the changes are stark. Otherwise, there's just a few new lights here or there.


What's New?

In version 5.4, it's not about what's been added, but what's been taken away. The notification bar has lost its color. Now Play Store pages appear with banner images that reach towards the top of the screen. The green strip doesn't return to the bar until you start to scroll down.
PlayStore1 PlayStore2
Left: Old, Right: New
The amount of chrome at the top of the screen has gradually eroded since 5.2. Googler Kirill Grouchnikov shared an image highlighting this on Google+.
hero-editorial-evolution-resized
This release also temporarily gets rid of all of the Play Store widgets from the homescreen's add menu, including those that show what media you have saved in your library (otherwise known as the widget that you immediately removed when first launching the device) as well as the one that makes recommendations... but only on Nexus devices (tested on a Nexus 5, 7, and 9). However, restarting the devices brought the widgets back. All non-Nexus phones and tablets we've installed 5.4 on did not exhibit this behavior.
To get the APK, you know what to do. Let us know if you come across any additional changes.
File Size History
  • com.android.vending-4.0.27.apk 5.89 MB (6,181,458 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.1.6.apk 5.75 MB (6,036,474 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.1.10.apk 5.76 MB (6,040,792 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.2.3.apk 5.76 MB (6,046,580 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.2.9.apk 5.84 MB (6,129,144 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.3.10.apk 5.75 MB (6,036,657 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.3.11.apk 5.75 MB (6,038,575 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.4.21.apk 5.84 MB (6,126,172 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.4.22.apk 5.84 MB (6,126,834 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.5.10.apk 6.62 MB (6,951,714 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.6.16.apk 6.21 MB (6,520,554 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.8.19.apk 6.85MB (7,015,533 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.8.20.apk 6.69 MB (7,015,601 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.8.22.apk 6.69 MB (7,016,172 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-4.9.13.apk 7.18 MB (7,538,155 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.0.31-80300031-minAPI9.apk 9.01 MB (9,453,198 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.0.32-80300032-minAPI9.apk 9.01 MB (9,455,091 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.0.37-80300037-minAPI9.apk 9.05 MB (9,493,814 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.1.11-80310011-minAPI9.apk 9.69 MB (10,171,187 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.2.12-80321200-minAPI9.apk 11.16 MB (11,702,547 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.3.5-80330500-minAPI9.apk 9.83 MB (10,303,033 bytes)
  • com.android.vending-5.4.10-80341000-minAPI9.apk 10.68 MB (11,194,568 bytes)

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
File Name: com.android.vending-5.4.10-80341000-minAPI9.apk
Version: 5.4.10 (80341000) (Android 2.3+)
MD5: 5692cd1d26e4e7f15f1d9da0c5fbe9bd


Fell free to comment and send the Email

Best Tools to Restore Your System on Reboot

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I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who hates it when other people mess with his computer, change the settings, install new applications, etc. and I'm just talking about the one in my house. I don't even want to imagine how irritating that would be if I had to take care of multiple public computers, e.g. in a classroom, library, Internet cafe, etc. The good news is that there are a few solutions to help ensure that no one can mess up the PCs in your care. I'm talking about applications that will automatically restore your computer to a certain state each time you reboot it.
I know what you're thinking, in theory you can create a system restore point and use it anytime something goes wrong, but that's not as effective as you would think. For starters, system restore doesn't delete files from certain folders so you will still have junk to clean up. Furthermore, most existing malware makes the system restore one of its first targets, either disabling or corrupting the files. Lastly, why waste time and do it manually when these tools can do it automatically?

Deep Freeze Standard (Demo)

Deep Freeze
 
If you haven't yet heard of Deep Freeze it means that your computer never fell into the wrong hands. This highly popular tool can either be incredibly useful or amazingly annoying, but both outcomes testify to its effectiveness. The software works like this: after installing Windows and the applications which you want to keep on the PC simply install Deep Freeze and choose the drives you want to protect. After this is done, any installed programs and downloaded or created files will automatically disappear each time you reboot the computer. This means that every time you restart, your system will be exactly as you want it to be.
Of course, if you actually need to install a new application that you want to keep on the PC you can deactivate Deep Freeze, but you will need to enter your password in order to do so. Furthermore, you can also create a ThawSpace which works like a box, where users without admin privileges can save the files that they actually want to keep in case cloud storage isn't an option. Deep Freeze can be used free of any charge for the first 30 days, but after that you will have to purchase a license (you will need to contact the seller to find out how much it would cost you). If you need to know more details about installing and using the application check out this link.

Reboot Restore RX (Free)

Reboot Restore RX Reboot Restore RX















Reboot Restore RX is a free tool that does pretty much the same thing as Deep Freeze but operates differently. This application creates its own operating system (more like a mini OS) that works at sector level and ensures the integrity of your boot sector (the one where your Windows loads from). Other than that, the tool is basically similar: it automatically restores your system to a predefined state every time you restart the PC and allows you to change the "default restoring state" any time you want. Reboot Restore RX works on basically any Windows version (newer than Windows 2000). In case you require a more extensive functionality, the application also has a paid version called Drive Vaccine which you can find here.

ToolWiz Time Freeze (Free)

ToolWiz Time Freeze ToolWiz Time Freeze

















ToolWiz Time Freeze is a free and incredibly easy-to-use application. All you have to do is to install the app (after you've set up your operating system and the programs that you want to keep permanently), then check the box marked Enable Time Freeze automatically when Windows starts and your set. Additional options allow you choose specific folders that won't be frozen (the files added in them won't be automatically deleted) and to protect the application with a password, thus making sure that your settings don't get changed by someone without proper authorization. ToolWiz Time Freeze works on any Windows version newer than XP (including Windows 10).

Clean Slate ($59)

Clean Slate Clean Slate
















Clean Slate is a bit more complicated than the other tools, but it's also an efficient solution for system maintenance. This feature-rich tool will protect your PC while also allowing Windows, antivirus software and other important applications to perform necessary updates (without discarding the changes every time you reboot, and without requiring manual permissions). Furthermore, the application has several security features including hierarchical password structure which enables admins with higher ranking to override what others have done. Another cool thing is that you won't only be able to create exceptions for specific folders or drives (where the files won't get automatically cleared), but you also have the possibility to view all the changes made during a session and choose which ones you want to keep and which to discard after rebooting the system.

Steadier State (Free)

SteadyStateSteadyState
                                    The last tool on our list, Steadier State, is a reliable solution, but will only work on Windows 7. The name and operating style is clearly inspired by a program named Windows SteadyState that Microsoft developed a while back but has since discontinued. The application operates very similarly to the other one on this list with a single (important) exception: each time you restart your PC, Steadier State will ask whether you want to roll back to the original state or keep the changes that have been made. It's true that constantly having to go through this confirmation process can be a bit annoying from time to time, but I think that the benefits of having to put up with it far outweigh the cons, so I recommend checking out the application.