HTC One M9 review: Hands-on with the new HTC One M9 - a gorgeous flagship Android phone but the hardware hasn't moved on much for 2015

The new HTC One M9 is absolutely gorgeous, but hardware hasn't moved on much so can it compete with the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6? Read our HTC One M9 hands-on review. HTC One M9 specs, HTC One M9 display.

Announced at MWC 2015, the HTC One M9 is the Taiwanese firm's flagship smartphone for 2015. It 

was announced on the same day as the Samsung Galaxy S6 which is one of its main rivals - at least until LG and Sony unveil their new premium handsets. NOTE: The software on our HTC One M9 review unit is not final so we will be updating this review on 23 March with more details including benchmarks. Until then, this is a hands-on review of the phone. HTC One M9 review hands-on: UK release date and price The HTC One M9 will hit the shops on 31 March 2015 and the official price is £579 matching the Samsung Galaxy S6 which will arrive just after on 10 April. Unusually the iPhone 6 is now a cheaper option as it starts at £539 - but the entry level Apple phone has just 16 GB of storage. (Also see: HTC One M9 UK release date, price and specs.) The HTC's price is acceptable, but more than was the HTC One M8 when it launched at £550. With the M9 being a similar phone, as we'll explain, the older generation looks like a bit of a bargain at the £350 mark saving you more than £200 – it could well drop even further once the M9 goes on sale. It's similar to the situation with the LG G2 and the LG G3 - if you're happy to not have the latest handset, there are bargains to be had. More here: HTC One M9 vs HTC One M8 comparison. HTC One M9 review price If you don't think you can afford the HTC One M9, the firm does normally offer a mini version (read our HTC One Mini 2 review) but there's no sign of it yet. Don't worry because HTC didn't announce them together last year. For now we'll have to focus on the full-size phone. The Galaxy S6 is, of course, the HTC's main competitor but watch out over the coming months for the LG G4 and Sony Xperia Z4 which will both want to upset the party. For more on this see: HTC One M9 vs Samsung Galaxy S6. HTC One M9 review hands-on: Design and build As you can see from our photos, HTC hasn't altered the design of the M9 much compared to the M8 or even the original HTC One. It's more a case of design evolution which the company likens to that of the Porche 911. Also see: HTC One M8 vs HTC One M9. It might be easy to criticise HTC for having another similar looking smartphone but we can hardly blame it considering how nice the previous two generations are. If you look close enough, there are some changes, though. HTC One M9 review design The HTC One M9 is made from a similar metal block to that of the M8 and uses the same curved shape and hairline finish while using angular features from the HTC One M7 (the original HTC One). The firm tells us the process takes 70 steps to complete. New features in the design include a scratch-resistant coating, machine drilled buttons and a sapphire glass lens on the rear camera. The power button is now on the side instead of the top which we think is a much better place for it and it has a textured finish so you can feel the difference next to the smooth volume buttons. It's still easy to get confused between them, though and the volume buttons might have been better placed on the left. Motion Gestures mean the power button isn't needed half as much, though – see software, below. Colour options are similar but HTC has employed a new two-tone look with the back and sides getting contrasting adonisation. In our photos you can see the rear cover has a silver finish while the sides are gold. If this model doesn't float your boat then there will also be 'gold on gold' and 'gun metal grey on grey'. HTC One M9 review: Hands-on with HTC's best ever smartphone. The One M9 is absolutely gorgeous, with good sound and a fantastic camera All in all the HTC One M9 is a very desirable smartphone when held in the hand – easily one of the most desirable. It fits nicely and like the M8, is one of the only phones on the market to compete with the iPhone on build quality. It screams of craftsmanship but the stepped design might not be to everyone's taste as at certain angles it looks like a case. We were hoping for a thinner and lighter design and although HTC tells us the device is slightly lighter than its predecessor we weighed them both at 158 g, it's also marginally thicker at 9.7 mm compared to 9.6 mm. It's 10.4 mm where the camera slightly sticks out. HTC's original Dot View case was a winner and there's a new version for the M9. It's a pretty similar affair and you can customise what is shown through the tiny holes in the front cover. The big difference is a clear back which partly wraps round the side so you can still admire the metal chassis. There's nothing worse than buying a gorgeously made product then hiding it behind a case. HTC One M9 review hands-on: Hardware and specs HTC has decided to stick with a 5in screen for the M9 and has also kept the resolution at Full HD (1080 x 1920). There's no upgrade here so it might seem lower grade than Quad HD devices such as the LG G3 but HTC tells us the higher resolution isn't needed on a display this size and would mean a sacrifice in the battery department. HTC One M9 review screen 5in is a solid size which is neither too big, nor too small but we can't help but feel disappointed that HTC has done nothing here to upgrade. We've seen Quad HD on the LG G3 and now the Samsung Galaxy S6 and it's simply better. The M9's screen looks good but the aforementioned rivals look incredible. There are some other things which remain the same too, such as 32 GB of internal storage (around 21 GB available) and a microSD card slot capable of accepting up to 128 GB cards. There is a 64 GB model but this has not been confirmed for the UK market. Wireless setup remains strong with 11ac dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX, NFC and an IR blaster. The One M9 also supports 4G LTE networks via the nano-SIM slot if you have the right tariff. If you were hoping for any new features like a fingerprint scanner or heart rate monitor then it's bad news. What HTC has done instead is focus on improving existing hardware in the audio and photo departments. While the above remains the same compared to the M8, there are some hardware improvements. Memory has been boosted by 50 percent to 3 GB and there's a new processor in the form of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 which is both octa-core and 64-bit (quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57). It comes with the Adreno 430 GPU and we really can't fault the performance. It's really only the camera app which doesn't open instantly. We're waiting for the final software before we publish benchmark results so come back on 23 March to find out how it did in the lab. Also see: what's the fastest smartphone 2015. The BoomSound front facing stereo speakers are still a key feature and although HTC hasn't added support for High-Res 24-bit audio (look to Sony for that on smartphones and tablets), it has added Dolby Audio. HTC One M9 review: Hands-on with HTC's best ever smartphone. The One M9 is absolutely gorgeous, with good sound and a fantastic camera A new audio feature is called HTC Connect and means a simple three finger swipe will send the audio to a connected speaker – a reverse gesture will bring it back. We tested this out with the Harmon/Kardon One (above) will be exclusively bundled with the M9 and it worked first time although with a slight delay. With BlackFire technology and some more speakers you'll also be able to have a multi-room setup playing different tunes in different rooms or the same one on everything. Other M9 users will be able to hook into the system and queue their own tracks. HTC One M9 review hands-on: Cameras As you've probably noticed from the photos, the HTC One M9 no longer has the Duo Camera setup consisting of two camera lenses. Instead, HTC has gone for a 20 Mp rear camera with the same dual-LED flash. This is the biggest hardware change compared to the M8 and confirms HTC has given up on the refocussing element. HTC One M9 review cameras We like the stylish and easy to use camera app which has various modes. There's Camera, Selfie and Panorama but you can add more like Bokeh and Split Capture. With 20 Mp on offer, there's plenty of detail and we found the camera accurate at auto focussing and shooting quickly. The M9 does crop to 16:9 by default though, so you'll need to head into the settings to get all those available pixels. You can shoot in a regular mode, but quickly switch to others such as HDR, Night and Macro. If you're feeling a little more adventurous, you can enter manual mode and start fiddling with the white balance, ISO, shutter speed and even focus. It's displayed on the screen in bars like the Lumia 1020. On the video side it can now record video in up to 4K resolution and uses a 'dynamic exposure algorithm' to mimic the human eye, we're told. Default is Full HD, though and to rival the iPhone there's a Slow motion mode which can do up to 120 fps. HTC hasn't completely given up on the UltraPixel (which lets in more light) as the front camera on the M9 is the rear camera from the M8. Whether or not it was good on the back of the last generation, it makes for a good selfie camera on the M9 with a crisp and detailed image which works well in low light. To go with the new hardware is a software feature called One Gallery which we haven't been able to try out but will in theory bring all your photos together from the likes of Dropbox, Flickr, Google Drive and Facebook into one place. HTC One M9 review: Battery life HTC increased the battery size from the original HTC One to the One M8 and has done so again with the new One M9. It's now 2840 mAh compared to 2600 mAh which is a slightly smaller jump from last time around and the battery is still non-removable which is the same across most flagship smartphones. Despite the larger capacity, we’ve found the battery life to be no different to the HTC One M8. With an average usage pattern, the M9 lasted us a couple of days before needing to be charged. That's still a good effort with many phones only managing just one day. NOTE: The final software may affect battery life. There's no wireless charging which is a shame but HTC still offers its Extreme power saving mode which put the M9 into a basic mode (although not greyscale like similar features on rival phones), allowing access to a small selection of simple functions like phone and messages. HTC One M9 review hands-on: Software (non-final) As you would expect, the HTC One M9 runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop which is the latest version. However, HTC doesn't leave it as is so puts its own skin or user interface over the top. The M9 introduces Sense 7.0 which means you get HTC's style including icons and apps but there are also some new features. HTC largely does things its own way with BlinkFeed to the left of the main homescreen, a grid view recent apps menu and a vertically scrolling app menu. However, the stock dropdown notification bar is in use (with some HTC style added) and the good news is that you can customise which quick settings you want – thanks, HTC. HTC One M9 review software Sense 7 Luckily you can tweak the way you want to use the phone so the BlinkFeed panel can be removed, you can opt for the stock Lollipop card system for recent apps and although you can't make the app menu scroll horizontal you rearrange around, hide them and adjust the grid size. Talking of customisation, this is the main emphasis of Sense 7.0 so there's a new Themes app where you can download various user interface themes. However, you can edit details yourself such as icon styles and fonts (see above). The software will also generate a theme for you based on a photo which is pretty cool. HTC One M9 review software Sense 7 themes Motion Launch Gestures are still part of Sense and mean you can do handy things like double tap the screen to turn it on and off. Up, down, left and right swipes will unlock, turn on voice dialling, launch the widget panel and open BlinkFeed respectively – all with the screen off. We've already mentioned HTC Connect and One Gallery in relation to audio and photo but another new feature is called HTC Sense Home – it's not an app but the launcher with HTC now uses. The software is location aware so you can use a different lock- and homescreens depending on where you are. HTC One M9 review: Hands-on with HTC's best ever smartphone. The One M9 is absolutely gorgeous, with good sound and a fantastic camera For example, when at work you'll get icons for your email and calendar and these will automatically get replaced with a remote control app and Facebook when you get home. You can select what you want for each layout but suggestions will be made based on your habits. We've only been using it for a few days but it's already pretty handy, although the suggestions can be annoying.