The HTC One M9 is official, as of March 1st. Yesterday, we heard that the company was going to start releasing the device around April 10th. The same date as the Galaxy S6 and Apple Watch go on sale. So HTC has started marketing their brand new flagship. Since Robert Downey Jr is still under contract with HTC, they used him to record a bunch of clips for the HTC One M9. Each are about 30 seconds long and you’ll likely see them appear on TV at some point as well. You can watch all 10 of them at the bottom of this post. Some are quite good, some are not so good. But at least HTC is finally marketing their new device, still not up to Samsung’s level of marketing but it’s better than nothing.
The brand new HTC One M9 isn’t much different from last year’s model. And that may not be a bad thing – we’ll be able to tell once it starts shipping and we see sales numbers. HTC has put in a better camera, at least from what we can tell. We don’t have our review unit yet, and only got limited hands on at their event in Barcelona earlier this month. HTC is also sticking with Qualcomm this time around, which Samsung didn’t. The HTC One M9 is powered by the Snapdragon 810, which has had some heat problems, but hopefully HTC can get that worked out before launch, as we’ve seen plenty of reports of the HTC One M9 getting super hot, around 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
Just yesterday, HTC announced their “Uh Oh” protection plan which comes with every HTC One M9 sold in the US. Uh Oh will replace your device if you crack the screen, or shatter it. It’ll also be replaced if there’s water damage or you switch carriers. However, they will only replace it once in the first 12 months you owned the device. Additionally, if you don’t use Uh Oh, HTC will give you a $100 credit towards buying the new HTC One that will be available next year, we’re betting on the HTC One M10, but who knows what HTC is going to call it.