HTC calls first shots for phone launches

Smartphone giant HTC has fired the starting pistol on smartphone launches in 2015 with the announcement of its new flagship phone, the much-rumoured One M9.

At a special event ahead of the opening of the Mobile World Congress technology show in Barcelona, the Taiwanese manufacturer unveiled the new device for the first time, saying it has been designed to be like a “piece of jewellery you take everywhere”.

The biggest area of improvement on the new device is the camera, which in the rear is now 20 megapixels. This has a sapphire glass lens too, and HTC has also introduced a new front-facing camera, which it says is four “ultrapixels” and the same specification as the rear camera in the current generation of the One M8.

HTC’s Graham Wheeler said: “HTC has never been afraid of taking risks when it came to the camera; actually pushing the envelope forward and doing what we believe was best for the actual experience of using the phone.

“We wanted to look again at how people actually use their phone for mobile photography. It’s fair to say that in the last two to three years how people use their mobile phone to take pictures has radically changed. It’s remarkable how many people actually see the front-facing camera as the main camera on their device, and HTC saw that trend.

“What we did was take the same ultrapixel camera that was in the HTC One M8, the main camera, and actually put it in the front of the M9.”

Last year, HTC released the Desire EYE smartphone, which had a 13-megapixel front-facing camera and was dubbed the “selfie phone”.

The new smartphone sticks closely to the design of the current generation One M8, with the same metal frame and body. But HTC has introduced new two-tone colours to the body, with the sidewalls of the M9 different colours to the front and back on the gold and silver model.

While the outside of the phone has seen few major changes, the hardware inside has been refined, with the new Qualcomm 810 processor as well as 3GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in storage, and room for up to 128GB expansion via the SD card slots.

An overhaul of the software running on HTC’s new device was also heavily referenced, with the Sense 7 native operating system – a HTC-designed version of Android – now coming with a theme generator that evolves based on a user’s images and location. HTC says new themes will be downloadable directly from HTC, but users can also use their own photos to create colour-coded themes.

The Sense Home section of the operation system is now location-based, meaning that apps, icons and other features will evolve and change as users move from home to the train station and to work, presenting “relevant” features as you need them.

The new M9 follows on from the successful M8, picking up multiple smartphone of the year awards. The technology giant confirmed the new M9 would go on sale on March 31.

The M9 got mixed reactions from industry experts, with a lack of innovation cited as a reason many may choose not to upgrade.

Rob Kerr, mobiles expert at comparison site uSwitch.com, said: “Realising that four megapixels won’t cut it any more, HTC has finally added a much-improved 20-megapixel camera to its flagship line-up.

“It must have been a ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ moment when HTC realised it had been left in the dust while its competitors were on to double megapixel digits. But is this improvement to its camera too late?

“There is little innovation to be seen in the M9. The five-inch 1080p screen remains the same as the M8’s, while other phone makers have moved on to 2K displays.

“There are slight improvements to the Android HTC overlay which will eventually work its way down to older models, which throws up the question: why bother upgrading to the M9 at all?”

As well as the smartphone, HTC also confirmed the company’s rumoured move into wearables with the announcement of the HTC Grip, a new bluetooth fitness band that is the result of an existing partnership with sports brand Under Armour.

Mobile World Congress officially begins today.