Are you a working
professional looking for some extra income? Or a Housewife who wants to
financially help her family or let's say a student looking for some
income to pay off college fees? We all need extra income, a little more
to realize our dreams, to make our lives better and also of our near and
dear ones. You might have thought of various career options / work at
home opportunities / part time job options but have you ever given a
thought to internet based online jobs something which can fit in your
existing schedule, does not require any setup or investment... and is
always just a click away.
At EJobsJunction, you can explore one such online work at home option
and the potential it holds. If you have a little free time, this can be
something that can change your life for better.
With the great
pleasure, we want to inform all people and organizations that our
company is going to launch a very typical online directory list and
advertisement system in the IT history of Nepal. For the first time
which is a new additional brick to promote any sorts of the profession
company through web media.
Our main motto: behind inaugurating this online concept is to give
extra concentration to our youngsters who often spend their maximum time
on internet. Moreover our website gathers information’s from different
fields and makes accessible to everyone via single site named
www.onlinejobpoint.com, at any time. By doing this our site basically
helps to busy time of the people visitors and providers actual
information about there subject of interests including opportunities,
business, bank, college school, tour & travel, hotels, business
complex, automobiles, garments, models and many more…
We would like to offer you to promote our
originations through www.onlinejobpoint.com, a latest media for this, we
do have the special package of Rs. 500/- for each organization to
include their information in our online directory lists.
The Internet is expanding and so is the Internet Society. A
career with us offers you an amazing chance to use your skills and
talents to further the Internet Society’s mission, which is based upon
the fundamental belief that the Internet is for everyone. Please come
by often to see what new employment opportunities we have at the
Internet Society.
The Sense interface on the HTC One M9 is still one of the most
cultured and sophisticated around – far better than Samsung's TouchWiz
and far more powerful than iOS - and with the addition of Android
Lollipop it's been given another boost forward in terms of
functionality.
There are still a lot of swipes needed to get
around, which may put some people off, but it's simple to pick up and
rewards you for playing with lots of subtle tricks.
The interface
hasn't really been overhauled that much in the last year, and given most
of the updates below will be coming to the HTC One M8 (and possibly
even the M7) it seems like the reason to get them on the current model
is slightly limited.
That said, they're still great ways to drive
through the phone, and the nimbleness of the Snapdragon 810 chip means
most of the touches are buttery smooth and quick. There are still
pauses, judders and stumbles though, which I don't expect in a phone of
this level.
BlinkFood
I'll be honest here: I'm a fan of
Blinkfeed, but I've barely used it on this review device. I only
remembered it was there after a couple of days of using the phone, and
even then I found the motivation to go through and set up all my
favorite sites wasn't something I wanted to do.
There's something
about Blinkfeed that's not evolved in the way I wanted it to, even
though I was promised two years ago it would become really intuitive.
I
really like the theory and when I'm sitting there waiting for something
and I want to idly read some stuff for a few minutes, it's always great
to have it there. But
then I realized that I don't want to keep snacking. I want something
more substantial. After a couple of years of flicking past interesting
tidbits of info, I'm not feeling full.
Blinkfeed needs to evolve,
become something more substantial - and there was an attempt to do that
here, with the service keeping an eye on where you are and the time, and
showing you nearby restaurants and eateries that would be perfect for
you based on Yelp recommendations.
However, this option doesn't
seem to know anywhere in the UK, as it's never once recommended a place
to eat, although it is working well enough in the US.
Either way,
I don't want it - the times when I fancy a place to eat that I've not
tried are few, so the One M9 telling me what's nearby each lunchtime
isn't going to be helpful.
Ideally, this service should know the
EXACT moments that I'll be looking for a new place to eat (when calendar
invites show lunch, for instance) rather than just generically. If it
worked now, I'd have turned it off.
The lockscreen does tell me
when the sunset and sunrise is coming, which is nice. Always good to
know when the vampires are going to be out.
New notifications
This
isn't something that's particularly new, but for those of you thinking
about upgrading from the HTC One M7 or other phone from 2013, the
improvements on Sense are really cool.
The lockscreen now shows
information in strips which can be flipped away when not wanted, or
double tapped to open in the relevant app. It's a neat system, and shows
Google and HTC have worked well together to integrate the option with
Sense.
In the pull down bar, there's often a lot going on though.
With Google Now just chucking information at you (you'll get the option
if you search for anything in the dedicated bar on the home screen) as
well as apps telling you information, music widgets popping up and more,
it's quite busy. Another
pull down will show the quick settings and the integration of all this
together makes a lot of sense to me. It's one of those things to be
experienced rather than read about, but with a few minutes of use it all
makes sense.
Sense Home
Sense Home is one of the big
things HTC is talking about with the One M9, a widget that lives on the
home screen to show you the apps you use the most.
The clever
trick is that the phone will work out where Home, Work and the more
generic 'Out' zones are, and populate the apps accordingly - and you can
set these locations yourself.
It generally works well too,
although you can't tell it to NOT put certain apps there - Tinder fans
probably won't want others to see that on the front screen. By
default HTC has also lobbed 'smart folders' into the mix, showing
suggested apps and those you've downloaded.... but these are really poor
and should be switched off. The suggestions are random and the titles
truncated - not what you'd expect from a flagship phone.
I like
the idea of having different apps for different times, and generally
they were pretty good. However, I still found that after a week the
eight slots weren't filled with my most-used apps, so I hope this gets
more accurate over time.
Gestures
Gestures are back from
the HTC One M8, allowing you to wake the phone into certain modes when
locked. The main gesture is double tapping the blank screen to unlock
it, something Nokia invented and LG made popular. Given how hard it is
to find the power button at times, this ability is useful - plus you can
now double tap to turn the screen off too.
Flicking up from the
bottom of the display bypasses the lock screen altogether if you've not
got security on, and when I remembered to use it I found it quite a
useful ability.
Plus you can drag down from the top or other side
to open straight into voice dialing or Blinkfeed, although these are
turned off by default. The
main thing that's annoyed me from last year is still there though: if
the phone is asleep on the desk, you can't wake it without picking it up
or knocking the One M9 first. I'm sure the screen doesn't stay
constantly waiting for a tap or swipe input when asleep to save battery,
but the LG range seems to be able to do it with better power
management.
But this gesture unlock is one of the best thing HTC has done in a while, and it should be applauded for keeping it present.
Keyboard
While
I don't want it to sound like I'm bashing the One M9 too much in the
interface section, the keyboard is another place where HTC has let a
lead go.
The brand used to be synonymous with an excellent and
accurate keyboard, but it's so far behind the likes of SwiftKey that
it's hard not to recommend you don't download a better option from the
Play Store as soon as possible. The
accuracy is OK, but the word predictions are rarely correct. On top of
that, the phone will only let you put in a word that's not in the
dictionary if you explicitly to so - and it won't default to that the
next time.
It's not terrible, but HTC used to be the best default keyboard on any phone, where now it's just OK.
Excellent contact integration
One
thing HTC does do really well is make the phone section really easy to
use, with the clever join between your contacts on handset and social
networks almost seamless.
For instance the smart linking between
your friends on the phone and the profiles on Facebook and Twitter is
excellent. And on top of that, the One M9 can pull in HD pictures from
Facebook profiles so when you get called it's not from a blurry,
pixelated mess. It
can take a while for the app to overwrite the fuzzy pictures with the
HD options, but it will shake itself out eventually. Given phones like
the iPhone 6 still can't get close to this kind of happy integration
(nor do they have smart dialing, where you can easily tap out numbers to
get to friends' profiles) so HTC should be applauded for this effort.
Performance
The
performance of the HTC One M9 is excellent, as noted. There are too
many judders in this early version of the software that I anticipate
will be ironed out in a very short time, but when it's opening apps or
searching the web everything is crisper than last year.
I wish I
could it say it would stay that way for the next two years that you'll
own this phone, but when you start filling it with apps you'll get an
inevitable slowdown as they start doing things in the background.
Always keep things clean and safe, kids. A factory reset once in a while doesn't hurt.
The
GeekBench 3 results show a very impressive score, and remember this
isn't really the full performance of the phone as HTC has throttled it
slightly so it doesn't go burning hot. That
points out something huge about today's phones: they're pointlessly
powerful. The octacore processor can be pushed to insane speeds if you
don't care too much about battery, but in day to day life it won't hit
anywhere close to that limit, meaning HTC can dial back the power
without a worry.
With that in mind, why does it matter how
powerful the phone is? It's like buying a high performance sports car
that will never see the track. It's good to know you've got that
headroom to put your foot down when you want it, and the acceleration is
great, but push it too hard and you'll be in trouble. Even
with the lower power, the HTC One M9 is the most powerful smartphone
we've tested, only second to the insane skills of the iPad Air 2.
For
gaming, flying through multiple apps and more it's got the power – but
then when you're trying to browse high resolution pictures in the
gallery and it takes a second to load the fully sharp image, that
experience is ruined.
Shout out for call quality though – the
ability to grab signal is very good indeed, which is even more
impressive when you think how much metal is in this phone.
Metal
usually equals no phone signal at all, so it's good to see that HTC has
somehow managed to improve this area. I was a really big fan of using
the One M9 to make something as old-fashioned as a phone call.
Thinking about what's changed with the One M9 is where you'll realize that HTC has hit a roadblock when it comes to innovation.
For
a brand that's been so heavily into bringing something extra to the
smartphone table – think BoomSound speakers, the duo camera, finding a
way to get phone signal through an all-metal body – there's very little
to shout about here.
It's disappointing, given I've become used to
HTC being the go-to brand for cool new ideas – making the same phone as
last year with a little more polish has left me a little deflated.
And
yet the phone costs so much more than in previous years – it's even
more than an iPhone 6. Perhaps that will drop soon as the market
stabilizes, but for now it feels like the brand is asking for more just
to get a slightly more refined design.
Surround BoomSound
What's
better than hearing things? Hearing them in three dimensions of course!
And that's just what HTC says it's done here, adding Dolby support to
its BoomSound speakers (both with and without headphones connected) to
create a virtual surround sound.
What this seems to mean in the
real world is that the phone can now pump out sound for "theater" or
"music" mode, and further improve the sound quality when you're
listening to tunes over headphones.
HTC has also created its own range of earbuds to allow you to get the
best out of this optimized sound too, taking advantage of the extra
power for your ears.
Happier snapping
HTC has gone bold
and ditched the Ultrapixel camera for the new One M9 - well, ditched it
from the rear anyway. Last year's sensor is now used on the front of the
phone; with the low light ability making selfies looks much better.
The
rear camera is now a 20.7MP affair, a very similar sensor to the one
found in the Sony Xperia Z3 (although made by Toshiba).
It's been heavily revised, and now offers a much sharper image for
those that like to zoom into photos. It's lost a little of the low light
ability, and colors are more muted, but overall is a much sharper and
more competent sensor.
Four more cores
The HTC One M9 is
powered by Qualcomm's new all-star Snapdragon 810 chipset, which is
offering two sets of four cores (with only one set ever working at any
one time), clocked at 1.5GHz and 2GHz.
That's backed up by 3GB of
RAM, and this combination results in a very fast experience under the
finger. It's not perfect still, as Android Lollipop still seems to get
in way when doing things like pressing the multi-tasking button and
letting the phone lag.
Thinking about what's changed with the One M9 is where you'll realize that HTC has hit a roadblock when it comes to innovation.
For
a brand that's been so heavily into bringing something extra to the
smartphone table – think BoomSound speakers, the duo camera, finding a
way to get phone signal through an all-metal body – there's very little
to shout about here.
It's disappointing, given I've become used to
HTC being the go-to brand for cool new ideas – making the same phone as
last year with a little more polish has left me a little deflated.
And
yet the phone costs so much more than in previous years – it's even
more than an iPhone 6. Perhaps that will drop soon as the market
stabilizes, but for now it feels like the brand is asking for more just
to get a slightly more refined design.
Surround BoomSound
What's
better than hearing things? Hearing them in three dimensions of course!
And that's just what HTC says it's done here, adding Dolby support to
its BoomSound speakers (both with and without headphones connected) to
create a virtual surround sound.
What this seems to mean in the
real world is that the phone can now pump out sound for "theater" or
"music" mode, and further improve the sound quality when you're
listening to tunes over headphones. HTC
has also created its own range of earbuds to allow you to get the best
out of this optimized sound too, taking advantage of the extra power for
your ears.
Happier snapping
HTC has gone bold and ditched
the Ultrapixel camera for the new One M9 - well, ditched it from the
rear anyway. Last year's sensor is now used on the front of the phone;
with the low light ability making selfies looks much better.
The
rear camera is now a 20.7MP affair, a very similar sensor to the one
found in the Sony Xperia Z3 (although made by Toshiba). It's
been heavily revised, and now offers a much sharper image for those
that like to zoom into photos. It's lost a little of the low light
ability, and colors are more muted, but overall is a much sharper and
more competent sensor.
Four more cores
The HTC One M9 is
powered by Qualcomm's new all-star Snapdragon 810 chipset, which is
offering two sets of four cores (with only one set ever working at any
one time), clocked at 1.5GHz and 2GHz.
That's backed up by 3GB of
RAM, and this combination results in a very fast experience under the
finger. It's not perfect still, as Android Lollipop still seems to get
in way when doing things like pressing the multi-tasking button and
letting the phone lag. Like
a lot of things on this phone it seems that it's fine when 'warmed up' -
pressing the multi tasking button will lead to a pause the first time,
but press again and it's instant - but the first load is slow.
And
there's the issue of heat. HTC has been subjected to some bad press in
the build up to this review, with the insane power of the 810 chipset
meaning you can really run this phone hot through benchmarks and gaming,
although not to the levels being described thanks to recent software
updates.
In reality, the phone does get rather warm at times
thanks to the metal body dispersing heat more evenly, and while it's
clear the Qualcomm chip is running to a higher temperature it's nothing
massive.
Go and go and go
The battery life on the HTC
range has always been something to keep an eye on, as I've always found
it rather 'slippy'. That means that even doing general tasks like
browsing the web or checking football scores will munch down battery
life a little fast.
The One M9 has tried to eradicate that problem
by using the Snapdragon 810 chip (which can use a lower power set of
cores to get you through the less taxing tasks) as well as whacking in a
massive 2840mAh battery, which is only fractionally smaller than the
one used in the iPhone 6 Plus.
Thinking about what's changed with the One M9 is where you'll realize that HTC has hit a roadblock when it comes to innovation.
For
a brand that's been so heavily into bringing something extra to the
smartphone table – think BoomSound speakers, the duo camera, finding a
way to get phone signal through an all-metal body – there's very little
to shout about here.
It's disappointing, given I've become used to
HTC being the go-to brand for cool new ideas – making the same phone as
last year with a little more polish has left me a little deflated.
And
yet the phone costs so much more than in previous years – it's even
more than an iPhone 6. Perhaps that will drop soon as the market
stabilizes, but for now it feels like the brand is asking for more just
to get a slightly more refined design.
Surround BoomSound
What's
better than hearing things? Hearing them in three dimensions of course!
And that's just what HTC says it's done here, adding Dolby support to
its BoomSound speakers (both with and without headphones connected) to
create a virtual surround sound.
What this seems to mean in the
real world is that the phone can now pump out sound for "theater" or
"music" mode, and further improve the sound quality when you're
listening to tunes over headphones. HTC
has also created its own range of earbuds to allow you to get the best
out of this optimized sound too, taking advantage of the extra power for
your ears.
Happier snapping
HTC has gone bold and ditched
the Ultrapixel camera for the new One M9 - well, ditched it from the
rear anyway. Last year's sensor is now used on the front of the phone;
with the low light ability making selfies looks much better.
The
rear camera is now a 20.7MP affair, a very similar sensor to the one
found in the Sony Xperia Z3 (although made by Toshiba). It's
been heavily revised, and now offers a much sharper image for those
that like to zoom into photos. It's lost a little of the low light
ability, and colors are more muted, but overall is a much sharper and
more competent sensor.
Four more cores
The HTC One M9 is
powered by Qualcomm's new all-star Snapdragon 810 chipset, which is
offering two sets of four cores (with only one set ever working at any
one time), clocked at 1.5GHz and 2GHz.
That's backed up by 3GB of
RAM, and this combination results in a very fast experience under the
finger. It's not perfect still, as Android Lollipop still seems to get
in way when doing things like pressing the multi-tasking button and
letting the phone lag. Like
a lot of things on this phone it seems that it's fine when 'warmed up' -
pressing the multi tasking button will lead to a pause the first time,
but press again and it's instant - but the first load is slow.
And
there's the issue of heat. HTC has been subjected to some bad press in
the build up to this review, with the insane power of the 810 chipset
meaning you can really run this phone hot through benchmarks and gaming,
although not to the levels being described thanks to recent software
updates.
In reality, the phone does get rather warm at times
thanks to the metal body dispersing heat more evenly, and while it's
clear the Qualcomm chip is running to a higher temperature it's nothing
massive.
Go and go and go
The battery life on the HTC
range has always been something to keep an eye on, as I've always found
it rather 'slippy'. That means that even doing general tasks like
browsing the web or checking football scores will munch down battery
life a little fast.
The One M9 has tried to eradicate that problem
by using the Snapdragon 810 chip (which can use a lower power set of
cores to get you through the less taxing tasks) as well as whacking in a
massive 2840mAh battery, which is only fractionally smaller than the
one used in the iPhone 6 Plus. It's
even bigger than the same one used in the Galaxy S6, and combined with
the lower pixel count should enable HTC to get a better battery life out
of its flagship range.
Except, well, it doesn't. You can read
more about this in the Battery section of the review, but HTC still
seems unable to build a light interface that doesn't eat power when you
don't want it to.
Looking at the statistics it seems that Android
updating certain Google services is the main culprit, which is
something usually associated with early software, so future updates
might solve this.
So it's an OK battery life for HTC, and one that
might get you through the day, but it will be close - and it's worse
than the battery life on the One M8.
Storage hunting
Here's
a big win for HTC: the base (and only) level of storage on the phone is
32GB, which means any apps that need to be kept on the phone's internal
memory can do so happily without leading to the dreaded 'delete apps to
free up space' message when you need to take a picture or download new
software.
There's also a microSD slot on board to allow you to get
more storage in there as well, with the upper limit of 128GB bringing
the total available to 160GB for your One M9. It's
worth remembering that putting loads of extra info into the phone via
memory card can have an impact on performance, so don't chuck too much
on there that you'll need to use regularly as it will slow the phone
down somewhat.
Sensing themes
Sense has been overhauled
again for the new phone, with the new version coming with a few little
tweaks - although it really looks very similar to the one we got last
year.
The big changes are through themes and the gallery, with
both having a marked effect on the way you personalize your phone. The
theme generator is actually pretty cool: take a snap of anything, the
phone will analyze the image and create a full palette of colors to use
with icons and app headers - plus the font and icon shapes will be
altered to match the overall 'ethos' too.
You can choose different
styles if you're not completely happy with the way the phone's
suggestions work - but it's a very holistic way of making a picture work
throughout the phone. Cloudex
sounds like stock broking software, but it's the new way of organizing
pictures on your new phone. It allows you to draw from Facebook, the One
M9's internal gallery and others to give you a complete look at all
your snaps in one place.
It takes a long time to sync up at the
start and can munch battery if you're not careful (make sure uploading
through mobile data isn't tagged, as this takes a lot power when you're
snapping around) but does give you a more rounded view of all your
photos across cloud and local services.
Healthy performance
One
of the interesting things about phones from the last two years was
their ability to track fitness, the idea being that they'll always be in
your pocket and therefore will give the best amount of info.
Despite
partnering with Fitbit last year, HTC decided it needed its own version
of a health tracker: HTC Fun Fit. It looks like you'll need to download
this though, which is a shame – especially when you see some of the
pre-loaded apps on the One M9 that I could live without happily.
Then
again, Fun Fit doesn't seem like there's a lot of point to it for a
number of reasons. Firstly, the rise of the fitness tracker has shown us
that the phone is only so good for tracking steps, as it's not always
in the pocket and therefore might not get all the data. Secondly
Fun Fit seems very limited beyond giving you information on what you've
done in terms of steps taken or time spent running / walking. It's also
a little useless, giving wildly incorrect results when working out how
long you've been running for.
As part of a larger app, this stuff
is great – and I love the cartoonish avatars, the ability to instantly
sync up with friends using the app on Facebook and the different levels
of activity on offer as you trot around through the day.
However,
there's no end game here with HTC's option. No training plans or
motivation to do more – so who's this for? The average non-exerciser
will idly look at it, intrigued by their stats at the start, but with no
motivation to go further.
It's a good app in that it's well-designed, but that's about it.
The HTC One is a phone built on precision. It's a brand realising it
made a pretty much perfect phone with the One M8 and doubling down on
its greatest strength to try and win over more customers.
It's
dropped the maligned 4MP Ultrapixel sensor, bumping it up to a huge
20.7MP option in a bid to attract those that feel safer buying a phone
with higher numbers on the spec sheet.
And it's tied off the
experience with a huge boost in the engine room and teamed up with Dolby
to refine its already powerful BoomSound experience.
Even the battery capacity is improved, something HTC has struggled with in the past – now it's beating Samsung's Galaxy S6. So has the Taiwanese brand managed to do the almost impossible and create yet another perfect device?
It's certainly charging for it: the One M9 isn't cheap. In the UK
it's going to be £580 SIM free for the handset, with a good £10 per
month extra on contract. Early US price has it at around $650 without
subsidy – which is only a rough price, but seems slightly out of kilter
with the UK.
This will go down, but it seems this phone has had to
have a price increase to facilitate the improved design and uprated
innards. HTC has kept the microSD slot for extra storage, and boosted
the internal spec to 32GB to ensure issues of low memory should be a
thing of the past.
The internals are impressive: an octa-core
Qualcomm 810 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 2840 mAh battery on top of a Super
LCD3 screen. It's not got the cachet of Samsung's Super AMOLED display,
but it's still colour rich and seems close to the glass, which is
important for image quality.
There are some things that haven't improved though: the screen is
still "only" 5 inches, which could be too big or too small depending on
your opinion on the subject. The resolution is "only" 1080p, but again,
some are questioning whether the pin-sharp QHD resolution is needed,
especially as it's harder on battery life.
The metallic chassis is
back and is bolder than ever. It's a two tone design (well, the
Silver/Gold and Gold/Pink versions have a contrasting band around the
side, whereas the Gunmetal Grey and Gold on Gold versions don't) that
uses a single piece of metal for the entire phone – it really feels
better packaged.
However, the key question remains: is this
package good enough to warrant the extra cash? Have the improvements
added more to the mix or is HTC just treading water, adding nuance
rather than innovation?
Design
Let's get this out the way at the start – the design
is, by far, the most amazing part of the HTC One M9. HTC is calling it
"jewellery-grade," with each one hand-finished by craftsmen, and it
certainly shows.
The one-piece fascia is complemented beautifully
by the two tone metallic rim (on my review unit, the silver and gold
variant). The grey and gold versions will look less impressive, given
they've lost the two-tone appeal, but that doesn't mean they won't be as
nice to hold.
Actually, I'm pretty sure they'll be nicer than this model. There's
something about the design right now that I really don't like, the rear
edge proving to be quite sharp in the hand. It's not going to draw
blood, but when I used the gunmetal grey preview device in Barcelona it
definitely felt closer to the One M8 in style, with more of a
comfortable curve.
The reason for this hasn't been confirmed by HTC, but I get the feeling it's something to do with the colouring process.
The other thing that's changed here – and not for the better – is the
power button transferring to the right-hand side of the phone.
This
is a more natural place for it to live, making it easier to turn the
screen on and off. However, HTC has inexplicably made it the same size
and shape as the volume buttons above, so feeling for it without
explicitly looking means I often hit the volume key instead.
The
microSD slot is right above the trio of buttons too, and as it's
slightly indented can cause confusion when trying to change volume in
the pocket. It's hard to tell which is which, even with the phone in
your hand – the extra ridges on the power button don't help enough.
While the decisions HTC has made to improve the One M9's design don't
seem to have hit the mark, there's no doubt this is a finely crafted
phone, and is probably the best on the market in that respect.
The
two-tone finish is superb, the weight and balance is even better than
before, and the precision I spoke of earlier is the overriding feeling.
The
sharp edges of the BoomSound speakers are well-defined, and while it's
heavy at 157g, especially compared to the iPhone 6 or Galaxy S6, Apple's
is the only device that can come close to beating the attractive
packaging here – and I prefer the weight and balance HTC has created.
Screen
One thing HTC gets lambasted for is the extra space
around the screen, with people saying the HTC logo doesn't need to be on
there, surrounded by a black bar that many think is there for show.
It
isn't. It's packing screen components that have to go somewhere as HTC
has extended the length of the One M9 through the need for decent audio
chambers to pump out BoomSound – and I'd rather have the powerful
speakers than an identikit smartphone.
The M9 is actually a little smaller than before, despite having the
same 5-inch screen as last year. In fact, it's an identical screen to
last year's model with a 1080p SuperLCD display covered in Gorilla
Glass.
There are undoubtedly performance improvements, but like
last year, HTC is being cagey about them. What is apparent is the
screen's colours are rich, the gap between glass and display is low and
the response under the finger is noticeably sharper.
The screen's
441PPI is perfectly sharp and doesn't really offer a lot less than the
QHD screens that are starting to flood the market. Well, more not so
much "flood" as "gradually drip," but they are coming.
The only
functional reason I can see to stick a super-sharp display into a screen
below six inches in size is to allow for virtual reality headsets,
which magnify the screen and can cause pixelation. However, HTC isn't
using the phone as the base of its VR Vive headset, so there's not really any need here.
The 5-inch screen is a fraction smaller than the competition on the
market right now, with many other brands choosing to go 5.1-inch and
above – but again, 5 inches seems like a fine choice here. There's a
fair amount of bezel on the One M9 compared to phones like the LG G3 and
the Galaxy S6, and that's more pronounced due to the extra metallic lip
that's running around the edge of the phone.
But we don't need
edge to edge displays unless that's what the phone is about – and HTC's
model is geared towards feeling more ergonomic in the hand, so it seems
to suit the device.
The camera on the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is again refined (well, if you consider this a sort of sequel to the galaxy s5).
It's got a 16MP camera with f1.9 aperture sensor, so it'll have a very
fast sensor with good ability to draw in light in darker situations.
The
interface here has been well improved, as instead of a sea of icons
users are greeted with fewer pictures and more words to help explain
what you'll be tapping when trying to get a snap.
The front facing camera is wider than before but has the same decent low
light abilities, allowing you to improve your narcissism whenever you
fancy. However, unlike the Galaxy S6, it seems that there's no ability
to touch the heart rate sensor on the back to take a selfie... although
that might just be a glitch in the software I tried.
Battery and specs
Samsung's gone big on the specs for this
phone, as it's got something to really shout about with the curved
screen. There's no Qualcomm chip here (at least, that's what I deduced
by being told it was a '64 bit chip' for the first true 64 bit OS).
Rumour
has it that this is Samsung's own-brand Exynos octacore chip running
things, and backed up by 3GB of RAM it's certainly a powerful beast.
I've
still yet to find out clockspeed, but under the finger it felt slick
and smooth. Then again, coming from the Galaxy S5 recently anything
feels fast in comparison.
Like the S6 it comes without a microSD slot (or removable battery)
but the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge does have the same faster RAM and memory
on board, which were apparently key factors in the slowdown before.
To
make up for that lack of expansion, Samsung is offering a 32GB / 64GB /
128GB to those that fancy a different package and that's combined with a
lot less bloatware so the overall space you have free is much improved.
The
battery life could be something of a concern here, I'll admit. While
that extra 50mAh of life (ramping it up to 2600mAh) doesn't sound like
much, it could be crucial to this phone lasting a day. It's got a lot of
pixels to power in a very tightly packaged body... this could be
disastrous if Samsung hasn't optimised it properly.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is one of those phones
that sets a line in the sand for smartphones. It makes curved edges
viable, offering them in a phone that doesn't look bonkers just for the
sake of it.
It won't sell anywhere near as well as the standard
S6, simply because it will very likely be more expensive and users are
always reticent to try something new when there's no proven need for it,
and rightly so.
But this is the phone we all hanker after secretly, something that looks
premium yet futuristic. And if the battery life holds up well, the
combination of form and high end specs could see the Galaxy S6 Edge
being something of an underground hit.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is a bit of a mouthful, but it's a phone that makes me annoyed the S6 is even being created at all.
I
get that Samsung thinks this is a phone for the early adopters, that
the added expense the next level screen technology will be prohibitively
expensive at a time when the brand needs to get the basics right.
I
guess I understand that... but hold this up down the pub and people
will be desperate to take a look at your new SpacePhone. If Samsung had
wanted to make a big splash with its flagship handset this year, the S6
Edge would have been the one to throw the spotlight on.
It's essentially just the Samsung Galaxy S6 but with slightly bent
edges. It's 7mm thick, so fractionally less thin than the main version,
but it's also lighter and has a 50mAh larger battery. Take that, spec
fans.
Design
I'll admit, the S6 Edge is ever so slightly
less ergonomic to hold, as where the curved edges taper into the chassis
is a little sharp, where the S6 is smoother and nicer to use in that
respect.
But this is a very light phone, and is primarily screen across the
front. It manages the very clever trick of being able to fit a massive
screen (5.1-inch) into a frame around the size of an iphone 6, which should settle the need for many to decide between a compact handset and one with a larger display to play with.
The
camera protrudes slightly from the back, as Samsung has packed in an
advanced sensor and didn't want to compromise on the specs to get to a
thin, flat back.
This does mean it wobbles on the table a little,
but it's barely noticeable... I'll be keeping an eye on whether that
scratches in our full Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge review.
But the main thing you'll feel when you pick up the Edge is just how
premium it feels. Its curves blend perfectly with the chassis, and the
combination of metal and glass really works well to convince that you
that this phone is worth paying for.
It's going to be expensive, so elements like a translucent back in a variety of colours really help sell that ideal.
Screen
The display is something to behold. It's definitely
the next generation compared the Galaxy Note Edge, for instance. That
phone looked lopsided and the 'spine' screen looked like it was tacked
on later.
With the S6 Edge, both sides of the screen are more
subtle, not quite reaching to the bottom of the chassis to make it seem
like the whole front is just well-designed.
It's also very impressive that this phone manages to pack QHD resolution
into the smaller display and bend it at the sides. Although you could
ask what those curves are actually for beyond a headline grabber.
It'd be a fair question to ask too. The Galaxy S6 Edge has a great
screen, and things like being able to control the video player without
having have the controls wipe across the main display are cool but not
necessarily game changers.
This is a phone that does have some reasons to use the curved edges, but
perhaps not enough to convince you to spend more than just buying the
main Galaxy S6.
TouchWiz
It's still here, but Samsung's overlay has at least
been refined. Plus it comes with some nifty abilities to make use of the
curved sides of the Edge.
For instance, when the phone is flipped
on its front the sides will glow a specific colour when one of your
favourite contacts calls in, so you can see who it is without having to
turn the Edge over.
It's basically the same as having a notification light on the back,
which doesn't sound that exciting when you say it in such a way.
However,
sliding from the edge of the screen does allow you to get access to
your favourite people anywhere in the phone, and apparently pick up
things like missed calls and messages from the same people.
I assumed the same touches from the note edge
will make their way over to this phone - this means being able to
control your music at the side while still using the phone to browse
Facebook, for example.
Sadly, due to the refined nature of the curve, that's not going to
happen here. It seems that edge for displaying information will solely
be used when the phone is in sleep mode.
It's not a very intuitive way of doing it either: you need to sort of
rub the edge of the phone to light it up, and from there you can see the
night clock, notifications, sports scores and more. The good news is
this arsenal of information can be updated through the improved edges
you can download from the Samsung store,
The TouchWiz interface has been cleaned up to be a little flatter and
easier to use, with fewer menus and dialogue boxes to annoy you. It's
still too garish and cartoony, but it's done some growing up in the last
year.
Themes will help that somewhat: you can download new changes to the
interface quite easily, as you can see here. However, they're still the
same TouchWiz underneath, which may still irk.
I've often wondered how a brand like Samsung could have messed up so badly in the smartphone space. When I saw the galaxy s4, I sighed. When the galaxy s5 rolled around, my shoulders sagged further.
How
could a brand with so many hyper-intelligent researchers and well-paid
designers make something so bland yet complex time and again? Both
phones packed amazing power in a boring case, with each element somehow
negating the other.
This year though, following a reshuffle, things have changed. The
Samsung Galaxy S6 is a thing of beauty, a complete redesign that really
works, but blended with large swathes of power once again.
The
key thing here though is, it appears that power is not there for the
sake of it – each element has a purpose, to ensure the Galaxy S6 works
well under the finger while finally being a phone you'd consider
alongside an HTC or iPhone.
Let's not get too carried away though. TouchWiz is still on board,
adding a cartoonish feel to things where other brands still feel more
premium, but Samsung has refined this again (building on good work from
the S5), removed a lot of the bloatware and cleaned up the icons.
It's
easy to see the S6 is a great phone, and one Samsung sorely needed –
but coming from so far back (its flagship device was barely a top 10
phone last year) it wasn't hard to improve dramatically.
Design
Smartphones
stopped needing more power a long, long time ago – arguably we could
have called it quits with 2013's specs and spent the following months
optimising them to allow days-long battery.
So with that race already run it became a battle for the best design,
which meant that HTC suddenly rose to prominence once more, with a
good-enough spec list sitting inside one of the best phones I've ever
held.
Apple managed the same thing with the new iphone 6, focusing on a premium metallic shell while getting the battery life just about tolerable.
All
the while Samsung toiled in the background, promising that we'd start
loving plastic at some point, showing that it's more robust and
scuff-free and rugged… and it didn't work.
So Project Zero was born, a plan within Samsung to completely
redesign its S6 model from the ground up. Plastic was out, waterproofing
gone, and in their place a fusion of glass and metal.
Put simply:
it's a much, much better phone, but again that's not hard when you've
got the Galaxy S5 to improve upon. But the S6 does feel very well
packaged, the combination of metal and Gorilla Glass 4 giving no hint of
creak or give when pressed.
It does sound a little hollow when tapped on the back though, which
does diminish the effect somewhat – however, at only 6.8mm thick, that's
kind of understandable.
Samsung's gone bold with this design in
more than one way. It's got rid of two of the staples that users have
loved for years: the microSD slot has been removed and the battery is
locked in.
The reasoning behind this is sound: Samsung tells me the former is to
improve performance and speed (something the S5 struggled with terribly
as it aged) and the latter is clearly to allow for a unibody design.
I'm
behind the loss of the removable battery – after all, it's easier to
carry a battery pack than shell out for a replacement power unit – but
the microSD card disappearance is a shame. I appreciate the quest for a
better performance, and perhaps it will turn out to be up there with the
iPhone when my full Galaxy S6 review comes out, but other Android
phones seem to manage to tick along just fine with expandable storage.
Samsung is offering the S6 in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB flavours to
compensate, but those latter options are likely to be pretty expensive.
I'm
hugely impressed with the way Samsung has put this phone together
though – it's managed the incredible feat of bringing the best screen on
the market (the brand's words, although the combination of QHD
resolution and a 5.1-inch display with Super AMOLED technology means I'm
inclined to agree) in a package that's barely larger than the iPhone 6.
That means Samsung can offer a phone with a huge, crisp display while
still being small enough to be considered alongside Apple's non-phablet
and Sony'sxperia z3 compact – both phones that I'll point to when people ask 'I want a phone, but not one that's massive'.
Considering
the options from Sony and Apple both have a 720p resolution, and
Samsung's packed in four times as many pixels in the same footprint, and
you can see why I'm impressed by Samsung's option.
Of course, this could all come at the expense of battery – after all,
more pixels take more power, and the smaller package means there's less
space for a battery (a 2550mAh pack is smaller than the 2800mAh seen in
the Galaxy S5, which is a bit of a worry) so I'm intrigued to see how
Samsung has managed to solve that problem.
Samsung needed to sort
out the build quality of the entire phone, but one of the big issues was
with the home button, which was too soft to push.
The S6 has a
really nice action now, with a lot of effort put into the satisfying
click (useful for when you need to activate the camera, which I'll come
onto later).
The phone is going to be unveiled in four colours at launch too, with a
pleasant jewel-like exterior that changes colour slightly as the light
hits it. It's got a nice translucent effect, which again adds to the
more premium chassis.
-320-80.JPG)
-320-80.JPG)
-320-80.JPG)
-320-80.JPG)
-1200-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-1200-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-1200-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)
-650-80.JPG)