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Exclusive: Newly-leaked HTC One M9 pictures show subtle build changes in our clearest look yet

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Check out the HTC One M9 section at AndroidForums.com!

HTC One M9 Hima front

We’d be lying if we said we got enough of these HTC One M9 leaks, but it’s always nice to get a good look at a device well ahead of its launch. A trusted, reliable source of Phandroid’s close to the Taiwanese company passed along a couple of new photos for us to take a look at.

The photos themselves don’t show or tell us much that we haven’t already seen or heard — it’s the HTC One M9. And yes, it looks awfully similar to the HTC One M8. But this is one of the clearest shots we’ve gotten of the front of the device to this point.

One thing we can take away is that HTC moved the power button from the top of the device to the right side. It’s a small change, but anyone with an HTC One M8 knows how annoying it can be to have to reach for the top of the device to power it on or off. We’d already seen evidence of the change in leaked renders last night, but it’s nice to get more hard evidence.

HTC One M9 Hima front side leak

With that they’ve also shifted the volume rocker and power buttons to be lower on the right edge of the device. We reckon the change was made to make for more comfortable access to said buttons for those with smaller hands. It’s a move we typically see with phablets (such as Motorola’s Nexus 6), but to our knowledge we’re still getting the same 5-inch form factor featured on the HTC One M8.

For what it’s worth, our source was able to confirm the long-rumored combination of an octa-core chipset (likely the Snapdragon 810) and 3GB of RAM, but they weren’t able to corroborate any of the other HTC One M9 specs we’ve heard to this point. Here’s a quick recap of what’s rumored to be stuffed inside:

  • Snapdragon 810 chipset with Adreno 430 GPU (which is an Octa-Core chipset)
  • 3GB of RAM
  • 5-inch 1080p display
  • 2,840mAh battery
  • Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense 7.0
  • 20.7 megapixel camera on the rear, UltraPixel camera on the front

There’s no reason to believe the rest of that list won’t hold up once the official announcement is made at Mobile World Congress on March 1st. We’re digging for more information and we’ll be sure to pass anything we hear along, but in the meantime let us know if you think this device is shaping up to be a worthy successor to one of 2014’s best flagship Android phones.

UPDATE: We got a nice photo of the back, which has been included down below. Enjoy.

HTC One M9 Hima back

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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266 Comments

  1. Still with those elephantine bezels I see.

    1. they are just too damn big….I think it had to of been the number one criticism of it. Shame that they could not do the research to shrink them a bit to compete.

    2. Because…speakers

      1. Surely by 3 iterations in they should have improved on the design and made it smaller. Unless they don’t want to, which is my perception.

  2. Grrrr! Was really hoping for the logo to disappear from the front of the device and for the bezels to shrink somewhat.. Oh well.. Guess I’ll have to wait and see what the M10 / MX will be like :)

    1. They have internals under those bezels for the speakers. They would have to redesign the entire phone if they wanted somehow remove the bezel or make it thinner. I guess they haven’t figured that out yet.

      1. So be it then

  3. Still interested and on my list for 2015.

    1. yeah…you and I both. I’m going back and forth on it. I’ll rely more on the back end, if it has that HUGE ass camera that has been shown on other sites, then it might be a no sale for me. Just cant get past that. And those bezels….sheesh. I’m spoiled with my G2, G3 and now my Nexus 6. I cant go back to IPhone sized bezels.

      1. For me to get 100% of the phone I want, 100%, I would have to combine attributes from say 3 phones I can think of. So, the point is, every phone is going to have some lame attributes I no like. The goal for me is, to pick the one that has the least # of lame attributes and get on with life as I will forget about the curved back or big HTC logo and such in roughly 56 hours. And, for example, the upside to those big bezels is front facing speakers and that is something I care about more than big bezels themselves. So, example of 1 trade off.

  4. at least the power button is on the side now

    1. sad that thats the only compliment given so far haha, no knock on you.

  5. There were 2 things which kept me from buying the m8. The camera and the bezel. Seems only 1 problem is fixed, so I won’t be buying.

    1. Yeah, I just can’t get around that bezel. So much wasted space.

  6. Had the M7, have the M8 now and i’m 98% sure I’ll be purchasing the M9, assuming that’s indeed what they call it.

    1. I think the 9 is the amount of inches of bezels….thats actually not fair…..it looks sexy. its just not for me. I’m glad you love it, I hear many HTC owners love their phones once they own it.

      1. Possibly but the bezels don’t really bother me. I’m intrigued by the camera and I really like what HTC has done the last several years with build quality and with sense.

        1. yeah I got you. I edited my response up there….it looks nice. I’ll refrain from bashing it until we hear if they can actually get the camera end worked out. I think, to me, thats the deal winner/breaker.

          1. Agreed.

  7. I can’t understand why they can’t put their logo on top of the bottom speaker grill instead of wasting a good chunk of the screen for it. Is it THAT difficult??? I’ll pass on the M9. No compelling reason to upgrade from the M8. Give me the M9 Plus (phablet) and we’ll talk.

    1. Its not wasted space. Im pretty sure it houses the internals for the boom sound speakers. Looks at the internal pictures and you will see its not wasted space.

      1. Hi Shannon, the Nexus 6 also has dual front facing stereo speakers. But look at how Motorola did it. Much less wasted space !! Why can’t HTC do the same? The M8 is oddly longer than it is wide mainly due to the placement of the HTC logo.

        1. you have to put into consideration the Nexus 6’s “dual stereo” speakers are junk, vs the one’s which leads smartphones globally. HTC utilizes larger chambers for deeper and louder sounds in there BoomSound speakers.

        2. Thats true but the Nexus 6 is also a bigger device so it has more room to work with inside.

  8. If this is it, I will be sticking with my M8 until I see what LG and Sony offers… But I hope this isn’t it

  9. This is …I don’t know how I feel I think people will love it or they’ll hate it

    1. It will be same as last year lol. Love it or hate it over the HTC bar where the speaker hardware supposedly is.

      It’s silly if you ask me but hey to each their own. I think it looks great and I hope it does well.

      1. yeah i’m with you….this will not be my future phone. The more I look at it, the more I dislike it.

      2. I also agree

  10. It looks like the back of an m8 wrapped around an m7. Does anyone else see that? I really am excited about this phone, but really don’t like that.

  11. Can you ask the guy to turn his hand a bit so we can see the side and back better?

    1. I’m with you. Make him take a video of that thing!!!! We want more!

      1. You guys sound like voyers asking for gradual reduction in clothing from a girl. “Could you turn to the right and lose the top? Great, now send me a video”

        1. In that scenario I would be way more up front… “hey, get nekked please”.

  12. Slightly bigger screen + smaller bezels + larger battery = sold. Not liking what I’m seeing so far.

    1. The HTC M9 Plus is the one for you then. 5.5″ + Edge to Edge screen + 3000mAp

      1. I must have missed on that one.. Thx I’ll keep a look out for it.

      2. Has that even been confirmed?? Thats just speculation at this point…

  13. pretty sweet looking. I agree with another reader in that they dont need to redisgn it completely, when they had a good design to begin with. This would be the best looking droid out now, but will wait to see what s6, g4, z4 look like. I am guessing s6 is gonna knock everybody’s socks off with build quality, which is a bummer cuz i was hoping to switch from samsung to another maker this time around from my s4. Wont know til MWC i suppose.

    1. I agree with everything you said Craig, but please, please, please don’t label all android phones as “droids”

      1. Wish I could like this a hundred times!!!! lol, It is much better, especially now that there haven’t been any HTC droids for a minute. DNA was the last and that was… 3 years ago I think.

        Only certain VZW phones get that designation, and mostly just on Motorolas, though several HTC’s have had that moniker.

        1. Samsung had one too, the Droid Charge. Motorola has an exclusive agreement now though.

  14. My body is ready for this phone.
    With the side power button, it just adds icing on the cake. Sure, bezels are barely slimmer, but it’s not a huge deal.

  15. Is that a M8? Lol

  16. Lame.

  17. Pft, imagine the outcry if Samsung released a device so similar to its predecessor. Aside from the new button on the side and the different rear camera, what has actually changed from a visual standpoint? I’m looking at a picture of the M8 and this is pretty much indistinguishable if I were to look at it from the front.

    1. Apple does this ALL the time, if a design works, there isn’t a major need change it. Almost every tech journalist in 2014 and 2013 wrote about how elegant the M7 and M8 were.

      1. Yet they’re still in the hole and how many people are here discussing bezelgate?

        Obviously the entire world is not in love with HTC. You don’t make devices to please tech journalist, you do so to please your consumer base. And this is coming from a long time HTC user from G1 thru One x

        1. Stop putting “gate” on the end of everything…

          1. Does it really matter? Does it affect the point I’m trying to convey?

          2. Well your argument is kinda flawed. HTC isnt behind because of their design, theyre behind because they dont have the marketing budget and popularity as Samsung and Apple. They make some of the best devices out tho…

          3. I seriously doubt that the pioneer of Android is only behind because of marketing budget. Landing iron man did them no good and let’s not pretend like HTC is a startup company, they’ve been pushing out devices since before smartphones existed. Sure it plays a part but not the whole. I’m not that naive and I bet you’re not either.

          4. Yes they have been out for a long time but they also got themselves in financial trouble for years!! HTC almost went belly up!! They made some bad business decisions for awhile. They simply dont have the resources that Samsung and Apple have. The M7 & M8 have both won phone if the year awards on multiple platforms. They just arent as popular as the giants.

          5. Well yes, if you look at it that way. They have no resources because they’re not selling any phones. Why are they not selling any phones? One would think that a device winning back to back titles would be selling like hotcakes no?

          6. Well yeah thats true, but they have been turning it around financially the past few years. Its just going to take some time to catch up to Samsung and Apple. They probably wont ever catch them in terms of $$$ but if they keep putting out stellar phones they will be back at the top lol. But I see what your saying.

          7. I hope they do. I would surely invest back in HTC if they would just quit being so doggone stubborn.

    2. Who cares if it looks similar to its predecessor? It creates a clear brand identity.

      1. I agree, which is why I also wonder why people blast Samsung so much for releasing devices that we can all immediately identify as theirs. “Use front-facing speakers, use stock, use virtual buttons, make it with a metal unibody”: all things that would destroy this brand identity.

    3. The difference is that the m8 was a nicely designed device so something extremely similar still looks nice where as samsung’s designs looks like garbage and any similar design will still look like garbage.

    4. The S3, S4, & S5 were all ugly tho…

    5. The issue with Samsung devices was that the design needed to change because people didn’t like the way it looked.

      With iPhone there aren’t other iOS devices, so changing the design would give people the idea of them having a different phone.

      With HTC they expected a different design since the M7 and M8 were different.

      All used same designs, though the underlying issue was different. Please distinguish them and don’t combine them. Its confusing to the idiots.

  18. Looks like poop.

  19. Double bezel on the back and cigarette/iphone 6 lines on the back… pass.

    1. The M8 had those “iphone 6” lines before the iphone 6 was out. Nice try though

      1. No need to argue with, or fan the flames, of the iFanboys.

      2. “Hey! They had that shitty design flaw first!” …Haha.

  20. So so disappointed after 2 full years what used be an innovative company has only moved around a couple buttons and make the phone thicker instead on thinner! HTC is so un progressive I’m starting to think they really deserve to sink.. every new phone this year is going to have the same cam anyways, what’s the point..

    1. Erm, if the rumours are true it’s 0.26mm thicker. If that’s a problem then you’d better not put a pea under your mattress or you’ll never get any sleep. ;)

      1. Ha that was really quite funny.

  21. I was optimistic that this was not what the M9 was going to look like when it leaked a couple days ago. But now, I’m not too confident. I was really hoping that by this year the design engineers over at HTC would have come up with a way to keep the boom sound speakers without having the huge bezel. So much for wishful thinking

    1. I’m glad they’re keeping it, I feel the phone would look better with it than without it. As I’m typing this on my M8 (lol) I’m just looking down there, trying to imagine it gone… And yep, seems awkward.

      I don’t understand why it’s so bothersome, but the one change that DOES bother me is the three buttons all on one side. Was just getting used to the location of the power button after having gone to the Samsung side for a couple of years.

      1. I’m with you. I don’t know why in recent years, people seem more concerned about a damn bezel more than anything else on the phone. “Oh it has bezel, I’m not going to buy it”–what? Personally, it seems like an extremely petty and stupid thing to have such an influence on if you buy a phone or not. You’d think bezel size would be listed as a spec, the way people get in tears over it. I don’t get it.

        1. Do you have a problem with people who dont like those stupid ugly bezels? Be happy with your bezel happy HTC phone. Oh that bezel looks ugly as hell btw.

          1. still fussing over 1/2 in, drama queens.

          2. fussing? I got a Note 4, not a ugly bezel happy HTC phone with that same milked design, you mad girl?

          3. I’m not the uneducated drama queen. buy a dictionary, please xD

          4. Your just the uneducated female who don’t know any better.

          5. “who don’t know any better” wow i was just kidding, but you truly are uneducated, the self drag! shouldnt you be drinking bleach or something? xD

          6. Did you want some tissue for those tears?

          7. Bottom line is HTC cheats consumers out of screen space with their ugly 80’s boombox designed Frankenstein bezel phone. They cheat you by putting their big fucking logo down there amidst a sea of black where viewable screen should be and not even incorporating the navigation keys in all that blackness. Nope, those are in the screen above the 3 inch logo thereby obscuring the screen even more. Brilliant design by 1986 standards.

            Regardless of WHY they did it, it’s still wrong.

          8. Nah, it’s just when I purchase a phone, I look at more about what it can do – its functionality and how it can fit into my life. Yes, appearance is definitely a factor, but no, I’m not here using a tape measure to see how many millimeters a bezel is. It’s just that I’m concerned about the real things that people look for. Just like the bezels that are being meticulously scrutinized, it’s just something of extreme unimportance, and the people allowing such to offend them so much…it looks foolish.

          9. Well I have a problem with a 5 inch phone in a 7 inch frame, all that wasted screen space. Maybe thats why its called different strokes for different folks right? Also that doesn’t mean people dont look at any other aspects of a phone just because the don’t like a ugly bezels.

          10. Ok you like phones with big ugly bezels I dont, maybe thats wheythey call it different strokes for different folks right?

      2. No sir. I root and have swipe to sleep gestures and actively use wake gestures. I rarely use my power button. It’s too far away. =.[

        Especially when I’m holding the phone with one hand.

      3. It bothers me and others because the device could be not as tall, making it easier to use with one hand or that could be used for more screen real estate. Those are the two main reason it bothers people.

  22. Still my top android phone so far, unless the curve concept for the Z4 is true, the new X fixes the battery, or the 1+1 ditches their shotty CS. Bezel not as bad as people make it out to be.

  23. Guess it’s the M10 for me

    1. Me too. Gonna hang onto my Nexus 6 till next year it seems. Was gonna upgrade to the M9 if it was something impressive. Its not. Not that its a bad phone. Its just not an upgrade over the M8 and definitely not an upgrade over the N6.

      1. Hope it was just a prototype

  24. The power button may be the lower button and the top two are the volume buttons (just looking at the spacing between buttons).

    1. It probably is.

  25. For me to consider coming back to HTC it will need to have both a replaceable battery and expandable storage. I don’t see that happening.

    1. If that the case, I hope your happy with your Samsung or LG phones.

      1. My Galaxy S4 (my first Samsung phone) is almost 2 years old and still doing great.

        1. well you got no choice your stuck on a contract by the sounds of it, if your weren’t you probably would have ditched that S4 asap

          1. Nope I haven’t been on contract for almost a year. As for my S4, it’s a fantastic phone, great performance & great battery life. There’s literally no phone on the market today that I’d trade for it. The only feature I find remotely appealing that I don’t have is the marginal water resistance of the S5. (There are times where I have wanted to use my phone or camera in the rain and I have avoided it.)

            My plan (hope) is that I can keep my S4 going long enough until the Project Ara phones become a reality. As long as the timelines they are talking about come to bear that should be easy. I will be able to handily get one more year (or more) from the phone before it starts to slow down.

          2. Same here, have had the S4 since launch but without contract. I’ve put it through hell as far as rooting, flashing, optimizing and physical abuse. It works better now than ever, AND I use Touchwiz. Totally jams performance-wise thanks to debloating, streamlining and a few other tricks. I’ve had android vanilla roms installed that can’t match the speed of this thing again, using TW. I’ve literally tried to kill it at times by seeing how slim or fast I can get it to work and it. wont. die.

            Last year when I was bored by how good it was I checked out the M8 an Lg G3. Couldn’t do an M8 because of the lame bezels so I got a unlocked off-contract G3 for $700.

            Returned it the next day.

            I was eyeing either the Droid Turbo or Note 4 as my next, but it might be the S6.

      2. I’m sure they would be. Which is why I like Android over iPhones. The choices.

      3. To me its a silly distinction. Batteries are so big these days, having them be swappable is unnecessary. Some strange people seem to think its a problem with manufacturers, when maybe they should be examining how much they use their phone and adjust.

        1. So basically you’re saying that we should fit our phones and not have our phones fit us?

          How Apple of you.

        2. The issue with me is that a non-replaceable battery is a method for planned obsolescence. Every charge/discharge cycle reduces the overall capacity of a battery and after a while the loss of battery life will become noticeable and after that it will become problematic.

          HTC wants you to just buy a new phone when that happens where Samsung lets you buy a new battery for a fraction of the price and you will instantly get like-new battery life.

          It’s also handy when I am travelling and relying heavily on GPS it can kill your battery rather quickly I can carry a spare charged battery and just swap it out when needed, Without a replaceable battery you’d need to carry a charger or at least a cable along with you and charge intra-day. As sweet brown would say:

          1. but my M7 is 2 years old and the batteries fine ????????

          2. For the same price you could get a car charger or external battery pack. Also let’s be honest, every manufacturer makes you get a new phone in 2 years by with holding software updates.

          3. I have both but I rarely need them. My solution is FAR more convenient.

            As far as withheld updates, them’s stock users problems. I have never owned a phone that couldn’t (and didn’t) run custom ROMs.

          4. Well lets hope Samsung doesnt hear that people are hanging onto old Samsung phones because its easy to replace. Then youll see how fast they make a sealed battery. GS5 sales were much lower than expected. Guess everyone was just upgrading their GS3s. lol. Jokes aside, you should upgrade your device at least every 2 years. After 2 years any electronic device is obsolete.

          5. There are rumors that the GS6 will have a non-replaceable battery. I would not be surprised.

            I suspect that a major reason that the GS5 did not sell as well as expected is because the Notes (Note 3 and Note 4) are so popular and the GS5 was big enough to encroach on the giant phone space.

            I also think that one of the reasons why Samsung has been so successful is that they are the only manufacturer who has continued to provide the features that a lot of people want, that includes expandable storage, replaceable batteries and even physical home buttons.

      4. Well the current rumours are that the S6 will not have a removable battery. We’ll see.

        Now to be fair I’d prefer a removable battery, especially all else being equal. I’d also prefer a larger battery rather than a 1-2mm thinner phone. But after almost 2 years my M7’s battery is holding up just fine, so in reality it hasn’t made any difference to me.

    2. I second that

    3. Well… I guess you just need the removable battery since the expandable storage is there.

  26. Interesting. The source can take two picture of the device, but can’t confirm any of the specs except for the Cpu. Not ram, screen resolution, not display size, not ram. Interesting.

    1. The source is being protected and the article is being cautious.

  27. Everyone is so quick to attack HTC because it looks a lot like it’s M8 and M7. I think that is a good thing. Those were great phones. Why dump a great design just to have a flashy new shape that might suck just so you can say it’s new? Just keep perfecting an already proven great phone. IF I upgrade this will be the phone I go to. My M7 has been so solid they earned that from me.

    1. same boat phonewise and i agree completely

    2. its a definite upgrade from the M7. Not so much from the M8.

    3. I like the design, but I’m amazed they haven’t decreased the bezel size noticeably in two generations. That’s something they could have done without changing the design significantly. I’m all for boom sound, but they have among the worst screen size to phone size ratios of the major flagships.

      1. I think that is a personal preference thing. I like having somewhere that I can touch the phone that doesn’t activate or do something. Look at the iPhone for example…it’s bezel on the top and bottom are just as big if not bigger but they put a button on it so nobody thinks anything of it. On the sides it’s pretty tight in my opinion. I get it that it bugs some people to see it. I’m just not one of them.

        If I had to criticize them for something it would be that I’d like a removable back and battery and a card slot. Having said that I haven’t had any battery issues and my Samsung used to burn out memory cards so I guess it could be worse.

  28. I’m happy all ya’ll are hating on this device. Makes it more accessible to me when it’s released. Unlike the….*ahem*N6*ahem*…….

  29. If the back camera really is square the design is ruined.

    1. The design is ruined because the cosmetic glass is square?

      Last year the design was ruined because the cosmetic glass was round.

      Look for a triangle in 2016? :D

      1. Um no. Who complained about the camera being circular last year? Nobody. Yes some didn’t like the duo camera but that’s a different story.

  30. Dear HTC,

    After moving the navigation keys to the screen, there’s no need for the giant black bar with HTC on the front. It’s actually the one eyesore on your phone and makes the device silly tall for a 5″ screen.

    Thanks,
    Everyone

    1. Yeah, HTC defended the bezel as saying it HAS to be there because of the sound amplifier and all that. My problem isn’t so much that it’s there, it’s that it’s placed at the BOTTOM, pushing the LCD up and making the top of the display hard to reach.

      If HTC simply flipped the phone upside down, and put the bezel at the top (like what Motorola did with the Moto X), it wouldn’t bother me as much.

      1. How is it hard to reach the top of the display ? If youre holding the device in the middle of your hand , its a simple reach with the index finger. and thats in either hand. The bezel is maybe a centimeter wide, i dont think that makes much of a difference. Plus, even if they, like you suggested, put it near the top of the screen, its still there. As far as i know, moving the bezel wont change the dimensions of the phone, so wouldnt it still be the same so-called difficulty reaching the top of the screen ?

        1. It would move the touchable display portion lower, closer to the bottom speaker. This would make it easier to touch all areas of the display in 1-hand.

          Not sure how everyone else holds their phone, but I always keep 1 pink underneath to properly secure it. That aluminum is crazy slippery you know…

          1. The placement of the black bar doesn’t bother me much, but you’re right about slippery! I love the look of the phone and it’s a real shame that it NEEDS a case to keep it securely in-hand and safe from inevitable drops.

        2. It does make a difference especially without physical buttons below the screen. HTS says that the bezel has to be there but One M7 also has Boomsound and somehow they managed to squeeze buttons below the screen. And Sony Z3’s speakers are basically as good as the ones in M8 even though it has much smaller bezels (with 5,2 inch screen it’s as big as 5 inch M8).

    2. You’re literally the last person on the internet to not know why that black bar is there.

      1. There seems to be quite a few of them left. Must have been a pretty big rock they all were hiding under, lol.

      2. That’s right, the rest of us now it’s there because htc is bad at mechanical design.

      3. “Display controller”

        That can easily be put elsewhere, like everyone else.

  31. Let’s just call this the M8s.

  32. I want sharper corners, this just a piece of soap.

  33. I had the M8 and it was never “annoying” to reach the top of the phone to lock the screen, or turn the phone on or off. What a silly gripe against an otherwise perfect phone. I have the Nexus 6 and the power/lock button being on the right side of the device above the volume rocker is more annoying, as i regularly hit it instead of the volume rocker. Besides that, the Nexus 6 is an otherwise perfect phone.

    1. Many of the people complaining about the power button, I almost can’t take them seriously and believe they ever used an M8. Anyone who’s used one should know that, excluding the voice dialing, there’s 4 ways to wake up/unlock the phone without ever touching the power button.

      1. Yeah, I don’t like screen unlocks. I’m usually holding my phone by the screen when out and about or fumbling around with it during events and would always unlock/dial someone by accident.

      2. double tap!

    2. I’m with you on that… I f******* hate side power buttons. My last Samsung phone has a power button on the side, and I constantly accidentally hit it. I never have the issue with HTC phones. I can understand females with small hands bitching about it… But dudes..

      1. I’m a guy and I have pretty small hands as well. 5 inch screen in Galaxy S4 or LG G3 s is the biggest I can handle comfortably. M8 is much bigger than those two smartphones even though it has the same screen (and it still has on screen buttons!).

  34. Sticking with my Nexus 6 for the foreseeable future. The 6 inch screen is hard to go back from.

  35. That shortened top speaker grill still looks stupid and unbalanced relative to the lower one. They should change it back to the M7 style.

    1. agree 100% looks like a mistake, m7 best design in a smart phone maybe ever

  36. I’m so glad I went with the Note 4 to replace my HTC One M7, HTC will never learn with their stupid huge ugly as hell bezels and the same milked design since 2013.

    1. funny i went from the M7 to note 4 and cant wait to go back , i fund touchwiz horrifyingly annoying,, laggy and just terrible , build quality sucks smashed screen 1st drop , i agree the bezel sucks but as far as build quality and performance there is no comparison imo and if the m9 has a better camera and battery im sold

      1. Funny because I dont have any problem you mentioned, but im sure you are just trolling. And LOL about the build quality, I have dropped my Note 4 about 3 times on concrete and only have 1 scratch, oh and I dropped it flat on the screen and it still didnt break, and I can promise you the camera and battery on the M9 will suck like they do on every other HTC phone so dont hold your breath for that one, you are in for a big disappointment with the M9.

        1. Does the note 4 have the Protective bandaid on the back like the gs5? lol I’m sorry. The note is a good device just too big for my pockets and I wouldn’t use the pen.

          1. Not sure about the band-aid, but it does have a nice soft faux leather padding on the back with the beautiful aluminum wrapped around the phone, the Note 4 is currently the best looking phone out right now imo, let alone the most powerful and pretty much better at everything else. I use to think the Note was too big also, but that quickly changed within a few minutes after I purchased it.

          2. “are u sure you want to post this comment” go to setting user control to change this option ” ~touchwiz

          3. You hate Touchwiz and that is suppose to mean?

        2. I have dropped ,y M8 more than 50 times….No scracth till now

          1. And your point?

          2. My point is that you are a DICKHEAD..Got my point?

        3. I’m sure you’ve not used HTC M8/M7 thats why you saying all this.. M8 have great battery a lot better than Note 4, not to mention faster, much more memory optimized. my note always takes above 2GB or RAM and after clearing running apps it go back to 1.7GB but in few minutes its back to above 2GB.. I do agree camera is average on M8 but Note 4 fine not awesome.. When note takes picture correctly it looks awesome otherwise its always blurry no matter how to hold steady..

          1. I don’t doubt you have ever even used a Samsung phone with all that false be u just posted.

          2. unfortunately I’ve Note 4 N910C White color also dropped once on floor on second day I’ve got it .. it still sitting next to my HTC Desire 816..

            its Exynos variant with Sony Camera ;) not all exynos models have samsung camera do you even know..

          3. Sorry I dont understand your broken English.

          4. liar

          5. liar

          6. liar

          7. Why would post a bunch of false info, you obviously never used a Samsung phone or a M8 for that matter, the M8 doesn’t even come close to the Note 4 in battery life and especially performance. The fact that you just made up a bunch of lies proves you are just anoth butt hurt htc fan like the rest.

          8. How I can prove you that I’ve note 4 with me at the moment? you retard..

          9. The same way I can prove I have one, you dumb moron.

          10. You dont have to prove anything, you have already proved you are a liar, dummy.

          11. what an idiot

          12. Yea what a moron you are.

          13. pathetic piece of sh*t

          14. I must have really hurt your feelings, Sorry Ghandi, I was just calling it like it is.

      2. its not funny, HTC users would never like Note 4(much), I came from M8 and just want to go back.. but M9 is so near so got to wait for it..

    2. to each their own. Thanks for announcing.

      1. My pleaure.

    3. Uh… So the hell does SAMSUNG… milking their design that is❕❕❕

      1. Thank You for this comment. Everyone bitching about HTC not changing their design while the Galaxy S has looked essentially the same for 2+ years. Even the Note looks like a giant Galaxy S.

        1. The Note 4 looks better than that ugly milked M9 with that big ass ugly huge bezel. Atleast Samsung changed up the design of the Note 4 by adding Aluminum and with the Leather and less plastic, unlike those ugly bezel happy HTC M series phones, its a shame you cant tell the difference between the M7, M8, and M9, atleast you can tell the difference from the Note 3 and the Note 4. That bitching is called the truth dont let it hurt you.

          1. The same thing you smoking.

  37. So it appears to still have the stupid black bar at the bottom, wasting space and making the real screen harder to reach. Every other phone manufacturer manages to avoid this. Why can’t HTC? If nothing else, put the wasted space at the top, where it won’t interfere with use.

    1. It’s been said time and time again that due to the Boomsound ampflifiers, the bezels are needed. No other manufacturer has boomsound speakers so that’s how they avoid this.

      1. This makes sense, I didn’t know that was the reason. Definitely worth the bezels, it’s a small trade-off considering how good boomsound is, my bluetooth speaker’s been gathering dust lol

      2. Indeed, people are and have been all bent out of shape over the black bar for too long. If you don’t like it don’t buy it. Quit crying about the black bar people.

        1. Agreed. Its about a centimeter or less tall. The complaints about it are ridiculous, especially since theyre from people that are ignorant to the reasons.

          1. This centimeter really makes a difference.

      3. 1. It has speakers on both sides while the lower bezel is much thicker. M7 also has BoomSound but somehow there are buttons in the “logo bar” (right now, with onscreen buttons, M8 has effectively the same screen as M7 while being much bigger).
        2. Sony Xperia Z3 has basically as good speakers as M8 but somehot they managed to shrink the bezels. So it is possible!

      4. Just wondering, is making the phone a little bit thicker instead of longer not an option? According to my very limited knowledge about phone engineering, it seems like they could make the phone just a little thicker and be able to get rid of the black bar and the logo.

  38. Am I the only one who finds it strange that there is no picture of the back?

    1. Post has been updated to include pic of the back. Thanks!

  39. All these haters down there! Hopefully HTC listens to this screaming & shouting, I really dont care and think your all drama queens, but if there was no black bar, it would be a bonus! I see commercials/ ads from various companies with an htc phone featuring there apps. I understand they need that front logo for brand awareness, since all phones are becoming more and more alike & design becomes desensitized. But i do wish HTC could’ve placed there logo ‘better’, had a design like the Desire EYE and put the htc logo, on that bottom, solo chin. If HTC gets the camera right, this phone will be killer!

    1. Finally someone who isn’t whining… I completely agree with you bro

  40. This may be my imagination, but looking at that pic above, unless that mans hand is extremely small, the phone is resting in his hand the same way my Nexus 6 does in mine, with little to no fingers wrapping around the edges. Could it be a 6 inch screen or 5.5 ? or so ? After all, only the internals are confirmed and pictures can be deceiving.

    1. Can confirm from source: it’s exactly the same size as the One M8.

      1. Wishful thinking. Ill check in next year for the M10.

        1. Maybe they have a max version for those wanting a bigger screen.

          1. Maybe.

    2. No it’s 5 inches with about .9 inches of bezels

  41. That… bezel… still… do they not hear their customer base? Damn, I wish they would have done what LG G3 did. When you compare the M8 and G3 they’re damn near identical in size. I can image how much more comfortable it would be without that bezel. I loved my M8 but yeah…bezel.

    1. THEY JUST DONT LISTEN AT ALL ITS SO STRANGE , CAMERA AND BEZEL !!!! SINCE THE M7

      1. Yup, if they don’t listen, I’m just gonna keep my M7 and buy a new phone from a new manufacturer. Loved my M7 that much.

  42. EVERYONE CALM DOWN, THIS IS CLEARLY NOT THE FINAL FRONT PANEL. In the pictures thr front is definitely not flush with the back, it actually pokes out about 1mm and is made of a completely different material. Expect a redesigned front for the final model, this prototype was just to throw off the leakers,

  43. I hope they got the camera right. That’s going to be a big factor for me. I’m concerned about the 810 overheating… Never a good thing when an electronic device or components in the device are overheating.

  44. Why complain about the power button location? I never use the power button on my m8 due to the fact of motion launch, and double tap to wake for notification then double tap again for screen off, slide up to unlock and etc.. I rarely use the power button so imo, it’s not an issue.

    1. Can’t double-tap to turn screen off on M8, only to wake.

      1. Sure can if done on a blank/back part of the screen.

      2. You can get a screen off app and change the google now swipe up gesture to use that app, it’s really good

        1. Yes, lock screen app is the name of a good app that does that.

        2. That wouldn’t work for me. I actively use Google Now and the swipe gesture to quickly launch it.

          A good solution would be something like SwipePad. You can swipe from the side of the screen to launch an app or function. There are other apps that compete against SwipePad, and are non-root. I say non-root, because of course rooting fixes anything.

          If I didn’t root, I’d use SwipePad.

      3. Uh yes u can… While screen off double tap to wake then double tap again to turn off

        1. Just Not after unlocked..Only to see notification

  45. I don’t care for ANY button in the middle of the phone, where it will interfere with basically all car mounts.

    1. I use a car mount. Great point! That would be horrible.

    2. My car mount grabs from the top and bottom of the phone, and the grab points can be slid, so…? I guess someone needs to invest in a different model car mount?

      1. I have a Kenu Airframe for pool vehicles at work and a similar mechanism on my ~permanent mount in my car… just saying that a button in the middle messes with many, many types of mounts and isn’t ideal. I definitely like the power button lower than the top, but this is something that HTC should have considered.

  46. Power button is in a stupid spot and the HTC bezel is still there. Shut up and don’t take my money.

  47. I’m nervous this won’t have phase-detection autofocus or Qi wireless charging. Otherwise looks pretty good.

    1. Wireless charging is not currently possible with a metal phone. HTC have stated this in the past.

    2. Don’t be nervous, It’s not ISIS or anything.

  48. Hi, (PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO KNOW ABOUT HUGE PLUS POINT OF HTC OVER OTHER PHONES). I work as a phone sales rep. As part of my role we get to swap phones very now and then.. Hence have tried different phones over the years to learn more about different platforms and so that we can sell phones easily. Did use Samsung for a while- But S-Lag was bit too much for me to handle as I like snappier experience. Rumors are S6 software will be as light as Nexus devices (Closer/Lighter to Google experience).

    Switched to HTC, And honestly speaking what a fresh breeze of air was it. So quick, snappy, plain and simple experience.

    Not going to talk about great build quality, great design, sound quality etc. I honestly dont have any issue with apparently “ANNOYING BLACK BAR”. HTC knew that people wanted it gone and IF it was possible they would have taken it away. They are engineers not GENIE. Problem is I think we demand and expect too much. Techno companies/manufacturers are always listening and will try there best keeping in mind feasibility of demands. Everything takes time to perfect. What we will get cannot be changed but what can be done is- shop around and play with the device and go with the one which suits your needs, eyes. Please dont whinge, cry about things.

    NOW TALKING ABOUT THE HUGE PLUS POINT-

    How many Android Manufacturers Back up and Restore works like magic- NONE- BUT HTC only. HTC is the only Android Manufacturer whose Backup and Restore works exactly like Apple iClould Back up and Restore. If you go into Settings and set up HTC Account Backup and Restore, every single day phone when connected to WiFi will make a snapshot of the whole phone and will back up
    Folder set up, name and position of Folders you made in home and app screen too, Call Logs, Messages, Phone book, Apps, Even in apps settings, Alarms, Wallpaper, Position of apps on home and app screen,. WHICH OTHER company does that- Samsung, LG- No. Infact, I think this should be standard feature of Android itself and here we are crying about black bar. Not many people know about this as HTC for some stupid reason doesnt advertise or advice it..! Do you know how much of relief it is knowing my phone is being backed up every day and if i upgrade, reset or loose my phone, I wont have to spend hours setting it back again to my likings. Not to mention the smooth, fluid experience we get from HTC devices unlike others.

    PEACE… :-)

    1. PREACH BRUVA!!!

    2. how can i view all this or restore my phone?

      1. HI,
        Its easy to set up. HTC account pops up when you
        first set up the phone though. If you skipped that step / dont want to reset and start from scratch- then simply go into settings- back up and reset and tap on backup account- you will be given option of Gmail account and HTC account. Tap on HTC account then create HTC account using Facebook login or Google Plus login. I like to keep things simple and under Google, so I use Google+ account to Login and my back up data is saved to Google Drive everyday. Saving location can be changed to Dropbox if you prefer Dropbox instead. Every single day when your phone is connected to wifi it will automatically back up everything using HTC account backup and restore services. It replaces your previous backups- so overwrites on them rather than clogging up your dropbox or google drive space. I have attached a photo in this comment of screenshot of my phone. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you got more enquiries. Thanks

    3. I don’t trust having all my information stored online and only being able to backup/restore when there’s WiFi or an adequate data connection. I’ll stick with titanium backup which solves all of that and more.

      1. Backup Data is stored either on Dropbox or Google Drive which are secure as you would know. But if you dont trust them- then obviously not an option for you. Every Data restoration on anything (Even iCloud) needs internet connection. Whats the point of having a smart phone if internet connection is not readily available.? Titanium Backup is great but how many people are happy/comfortable to root there phone. HTC account Backup and Restore is great as no rooting etc needs to be done and it just works.

  49. HAHA IT LOOKS LIKE CRAP, THAT BACK

  50. Looks like the m7 with tweaks. You should never look like a two year old phone.

    1. I’m cool with it because that 2 year old phone still looks better than most currently new phones.

    2. considering my M7 still gets comments and looks 10x better than the S5 im okay with that.

      1. Yeah I agree, I love the overall design. it’s just that the back bar beneath the screen with the HTC logo needs to be cut out.

  51. screen is to small no reason to move from m8

    1. My thoughts exactly.

    2. There are rumors of an HTC M9 Max. Ima hold out until Summer to see if I hear any more on that.

      Though there were some “leaked” photos of it. I HOPE these are fake. No dual speakers, and a physical button. AND they have the HTC Bar. I remember HTC saying there were components there, and the only way to get rid of it was to extend the screen size, but that would have threw off the ratio. The other option was to widen the phone. Though look at the HTC One M7 Max, and this leak. So how much wider would they need to make the phone?

  52. I rella love the fact it looks like a M7. I have the M7 since the day one it came out and love it. Having an upgrade to M7 rather than an upgrade of M8 is the best move for me..

    1. Same, hated the M8 design, just wish the M9 has capacitive so the htc bar has a purpose.

      1. I wish they brought back the M7 design a bit too… I kind of prefer on-screen keys but I’m hoping HTC brings a settings where they allow certain apps to hide on-screen keys, kind of like what LG has included in their software.

        1. Either capacitive or remove the bar. Others can do it, why can’t they? They should enlarge the back in the middle but don’t take away from the screen real estate. Besides that helps fit the hand better.

      2. It does serve a purpose. Preventing me from accidentally pressing on the screen. I don’t want a bezel-less phone. I’m afraid of the accidental clicks.

        1. Well it will always have a bezel because of the speakers. What I don’t understand is why they can’t put a purpose on that bar. Make it a home button for example. Have the HTC on top of the speakers, have it as color design on top of the speaker bar grill. But just a plain black HTC bar at the bottom and none on the top detracts from the aesthetics of the phone. There are many different phones but I can only use one at a given time, every time I see the M8, it always makes me think how useless it is given the M8’s software keys not so on my M7 with capacitive keys.

  53. Wow, about 85% of the comments on here are people bltching and complaining. I have the M7 and love it, I’m down with a tweaked M7 with awesome specs. It’s funny how so many people can like a phone then the next model that comes out is very similar to it and all of a sudden it’s a complain-fest. Kind of perplexing. I’m pretty sure the word bezel has been used about 2000 times between the 191 comments so far. Get over it people!

  54. and i think a 5 inch screen in perfect, glad it will be in 1080p too, QHD is unnecessary on a 5 inch screen. Can’t believe so many people are hating it. What do people want, for it to look obviously different? I personally want a similar style. I think a lot of you people are a little too set in your ways. Upgrading from the M8 probably isn’t necessary. I’d say the every two years thing is a good method.

    1. I’m on the EDGE plan so I can upgrade yearly, but yeah, if I wasn’t I’d keep my M8. I agree with you 100% on qHD being unnecessary on phones, so I’m really excited Hima. The size is great, I love the hand-feel of the M8 and this should be nearly identical, plus a bigger battery and better optimization from Lollipop and more efficiency from the new processor and more RAM.

      If it lasts 15% longer than the M8, I’m golden. This is gonna be a great phone.

  55. The top power bottom problem can easily be fixed by lock screen app and knock to wake. All M8s have knock to wake while the lock screen app turns off the screen which you can easily put on swipepad, wave launcher or gesture launcher. This is android, there is always a solution.

  56. The power button on the M8 has never been a problem for me since you can tap or swipe to wake the screen. With that, they shouldn’t have even bothered to move it. Not enough external change for me to consider upgrading my already good M8.

  57. Will not mind that extra bezel for battery.. whom I’m lying, HTC One M7/M8 have so much feeling that no matter what HTC do with M9, I be first in line to have it(I means first to order it)

  58. I’m getting the M9, your definitely getting a good phone here & the back camera in supposing will be as good or better than the iPhone *the blind pic test with nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 was won by the nexus 6! Who would’ve thought? I’m sure that the iPhone would of won if people knew it which pic was taken by the iPhone.* anyway the screen resolution is good for battery life & sharp enough for a 5″ screen, 4k or 2K is to much for nothing imo I’ll get extra fps without any regrets & the screen size is perfect for me, I don’t like phablets’s. Now the back camera is what had me concerned the most, in site that HTC will use quality parts, wide len’s on the front & back came, ultra pixel’s in the front camera, but what about the back? Will they make a 20 ultra pixel camera & are keeping it quiet until the unveiling or will it be a really good camera? I’m hoping it’s an ultra pixel, but I’ll settle for one of the best… It’s expected.

  59. no soft keys = no sale. i’m not doing on screen buttons again. i refuse. if that means using an m7 indefinitely, then that’s fine with me

    1. Same, I’m keeping my m7 till they get it right or I just buy from another.

    2. What if the screen was about 5.2 inches? You could have on screen buttons and still have about the same screen realstate (maybe a little more) as the HTC One M7.

    3. I happen to like software keys. Only thing besides the camera’s wonkey-ness that I don’t like about my M7. To each his own I guess but I’ll be upgrading to a M8, Nexus 6 or a M9 quite soon…

    4. you don’t know that they’re not capacitive and only light up when required in the chin :P

    5. I used to HATE and SCORN the idea of soft keys. This was back in the GS2 days. My next phone ended up having soft keys. There was no escaping it. Oh, I hated it… for about two weeks. Then it happened. They grew on me, immersive mode came, and now I love them. LoL!!

      And some manufactures have in their OS to customize what the keys are, hence LG. And if you’re a rooter, then my lord… F capactive keys. I don’t want to go back to them. You’re limited to what the button has to offer. Soft keys, they can literally be what you want them to be.

  60. The back camera makes this VERY ugly. VERY.. probalby the ugliest phone HTC has released.. the beauty is there but i cant get over that pimple on the back that is the huge megapixel shooter.. i think i would have been happier with megapixel bump becasue that ugly doormat is offputting.. first time ive been underwhelmed by htc and thats sad because no other android phone maker interests me.

  61. Good to know. I don’t want the phone to change its form factor in any way. It’s perfect the way it is. The M8 is astoundingly good, all the way around, except for that damn camera which sucks hard. If all they are doing is bumping up to 20mp, I am in.

    1. LoL!! I can reassure you they’re not just bumping the MP’s. It’ll be a completely different camera. No more ultimate low-light camera. =.[

      I feel like people are going to reap what they sow with their complaints.

      1. Hooray to that. I especially like the software controller that comes with it, so I am happy if that stays the same too.

  62. They should’ve done a bigger battery, why always better perfomance? The battery life shortens every year.

  63. looks like ill be keeping my m8 for another year. the button and camera isn’t a big enough factor for me…im good

  64. “we’re still getting the same 5-inch form factor”… Aka the same 5.5″ form factor with a 5” screen. Boom sound is great but C’mon… Get rid of some bezel. Or make a non boom sound model for those that don’t give 2 craps what the phone sounds like when It rings (cause that about the only thing I use my phone speaker for)

    1. That’s the beauty of being an Android fan. You have tons of options to choose from. I don’t really see the point of pining for a phone but hoping for them to ditch one of their marquis features. You’re better off looking at another option.

  65. It doesn’t look like an awesome upgrade on the M8, however I’m going to upgrade from my M7 and hope this is a great phone.

  66. dat battery tho

  67. Nobody makes a completely perfect phone. Whatever HTC makes I’m going to most likely buy! Because I like there phones!! Look at the alternatives, Samsung, please? If you don’t like it but something else!! I’ll keep HTC and SENSE!!

  68. As long as that new camera has OIS and the phone has Snapdragon 810, I’ll be buying it. It’d be an awesome upgrade to my M7.

    I don’t care about QHD, my sister has LG G3, only good it does to her is draining the battery faster and overheat phone if she boosts up screen brightness.

    Honestly, people can stop complaining and see we are finally getting a full package phone. Good battery (yes, it is good especially with snapdragon 810), finally upgraded camera (with OIS hopefully), Boomsound, Sense 7, Android L and the good old premium design.

    1. It seems to be the same camera sensor in the xperia z3 and if thats the case then it will have dis instead of ois.

  69. I hope they keep the circle lens of the past devices. It is in my opinion what makes the back of the devices good looking.

    1. Why is a small circle camera on the back of a phone look better? Wouldn’t you prefer a much better camera with wide angle capabilities and a more masculine look over a small circle? Just curious…..

      1. I just like the look of it. I’m not big on camera technology and I did not know shape of the lens impacted performance.

  70. The camera on the back looks pretty darn big and awesome. Looks as if they are shooting to set their camera as the new standard for all mobile phones. Curious if it supports an 140 degree wide angle viewfinder like in their RE Camera.

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