HTC One A9 Review

HTC has been pretty on high-end design & sound for Android devices for quite some time now. While that hasn't translated into big sales for the Taiwanese company, that doesn't mean they aren't looking to switch things up a bit. Not another M9 this time, meet the One A9.

HTC ditched much of the innovations we're used to seeing and utilized the current landscape of devices as their muse for this one. This ain't the One M-series, welcome to their new vision of smartphones. Here are 3 things you need to know about w/ the One A9.

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Hardware

Yes I know. At 1st glance, you saying: why did HTC rip off the iPhone's design? Ironically, it was Apple who stole 1st as HTC has been doing aluminum unibody devices for several years now. So you can actually consider this a payback of sorts.

Like we said: aluminum body, home button/fingerprint scanner, microSD card slot, and no BoomSound. The 3.5mm jack supports built-in DAC support which sounds amazing. Consider it BoomSound's internal replacement. The A9 sports a 5inch 1080p panel which is great as HTC always never fails on the display.

Camera

On the rear we have a f/2.0 13MP with auto-focus + OIS. On the front, we have a f/2.0 4MP UltraPixel sensor. The rear shooter on the A9 performs like how you would expect an HTC device would - until their image rendering kicks in. Then you see the difference.

No gimmicks, just a solid shooter that's better than the M9.

You get nice color reproduction and a nice sharpness that has been missing from HTC shooters. It captures images in a pretty good speed but takes longer than desired to process HDR photos however. It still suffers in low-to-no light environments w/ noise but there are still only a few who can shine in that area.

On the video side of things, you only can shoot at 1080p. But thanks to the OIS on-board, you can grab some great footage as well as their dope Hyperlapse feature to offer native timelapsing. Even w/ its shortcomings, this is actually their best shooter to date. This brings HTC closer to compete w/ the rest of the higher-tier crowd.

Performance

It looks & sounds like a mid-range, but it don't act like one. Inside of the A9, HTC equipped this w/ a 64-bit Snapdragon 617 CPU + 3GB of RAM. Our review unit came w/ 32GB of storage that's expandable via microSD card.

Don't let the specs on mislead you, this is powerful performer.

Whether playing media, games, or day-to-day activities (like tweeting, emailing, taking photos/videos, etc.), the A9 handled everything like a champ. Inside is a 2150 mAh battery, which won't last all day. Be prepared to carry the charger w/ you and charge it nightly.

Of course, this wasn't made for intense, graphic gaming. On paper, this should be HTC's worst device to ever launch but in reality, its one of their best. Great job.

The One A9 is a true mid-range Android device that could be a bit cheaper.

TG 2 Cents

Before handling the One A9 for review, I was skeptical. After spending more time w/ it, I actually love it more than the M9 (minus the lack of BoomSound). Similar to how I felt about viewing Ant-Man this year. Definitely a pleasant surprise. Although, the pricing was a little steep at launch but has since improved for a more suitable price point. This is a great alternative to the M9 as HTC shows everyone how to pull off a proper mid-range device. I do despise the pricing but it gets a little bit better on contract though.

Tags: Android HTC One A9 Review

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