Introduction
Do we have a good one for you today – The all-metal Huawei Ascend Mate 7 does up against the all-metal HTC One M9. Both of these devices are gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to hold…especially the curvy backed One M9. Both smartphones have a solid build quality and a premium look to them and anybody should be proud to own one, but which one has the internal specs and hardware to win this comparison?
Let’s take a look at what these two devices have in common – they both use an LCD screen technology along with a Full HD resolution – neither one has jumped to the Quad HD display. Both use an Octa-Core processor, although completely different models. They both have the usual suspects – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (4.0 for Mate 7 and 4.1 for One M9), GPS, are NFC capable, have a built-in FM radio, non-removable batteries and microUSB port for charging and data transfer.
Please take a deliberate look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two great devices stack up against one another – click on the “View Full Comparison” link at the end of the chart to expand the details. After that, we will look at each individual device in greater detail and point out some of its pros and cons. From all of this information we will try to determine the winner based on specs and execution of design and functions.
Huawei Ascend Mate 7
The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is a beautiful smartphone, maybe one of the best-looking smartphones out there – with small bezels and the all-metal back, giving it a premium look and feel, reminiscent of its rival, the HTC One M9. It comes with a huge 6-inch display that may be too large for many people.
The Ascend Mate 7 comes with a 6-inch FHD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 368 pixels-per-inch (PPI) – a very good display, but not quite up to the 441 PPI on the One M9, which is one inch smaller. The Ascend Mate 7 also uses Huawei’s HiSilicon 32-bit Kirin 925 octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz (4-cores) and 1.3GHz (4-cores). While this is a good processor, the 64-bit Snapdragon 810 octa-core simply outclasses the Kirin 925. The Ascend Mate 7 and the One M9 use the same 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory – both employing a microSD Card slot to add an additional memory.
The Ascend Mate 7 includes a decent 13MP sensor (versus 20MP in the One M9), they both have autofocus and LED flash, although the One M9 has a dual-tone flash. The Ascend Mate 7 and One M9 both offer a rather large FFC – 5MP on the Mate 7 and 4MP UltraPixel on the One M9. Both will allow excellent selfies and video chatting. The battery in the Ascend Mate 7 is a huge 4100mAh and will give you excellent battery life over the 2840mAh battery found on the One M9.
As far as other features that differ – the Ascend Mate 7 does offer a fingerprint sensor, is running Android 4.4 Kit Kat with Huawei’s Emotion UI 3.0 running on top and will work on GSM and LTE networks of T-Mobile and the HSPA+ on AT&T. It uses the LTE FDD Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/28…so be sure to check with your carrier. It will cost you about $630 for the Gold colored 3GB with 32GB model.
HTC One M9
The new HTC One M9 looks like it belongs to the HTC One series. It has the all-metal body, a nicely curved backing making it a joy to hold…especially with a subtle redesign around the sides of the body with a small lip for better gripping. The back of the device looks more like the older One M7 since HTC did away with the duo camera found on the One M8. They have been criticized for not making enough changes, but why spoil a good thing.
The HTC One M9 comes with a 5-inch Full HD Super LCD3 display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and 441 PPI – the same type of display found on the Mate 7 with the 368 PPI. HTC selected the best 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm CPU they could – the Snapdragon 810 with four cores clocked at 1.5GHZ and four cores clocked at 2.0GHz – a superior processor over the 32-bit homegrown HiSilicon octa-core in the Mate 7. It is packing 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, although it has a microSD card for additional storage up to 128GB…the same as the Mate 7.
HTC completely reworked the camera area and they succeeded in making it better, but still does not include OIS. The main 4MP UltraPixel camera is gone and moved to the front, which should provide great selfies and video chatting and allow it take better low-light pictures. HTC replaced it with a 20MP sensor for the main camera with autofocus and dual-tone LED flash…compared to the 13MP main camera on the Mate 7 and a 5MP FFC. It uses a non-removable 2840mAh battery…much smaller than the 4100mAh non-removable battery in the Mate 7, although the One M9 does support Quick Charge 2.0 thanks to its Qualcomm processor.
The HTC One M9 retains the dual front-facing stereo speakers with BoomSound and comes in Gunmetal Gray, Amber Gold, Silver/Rose Gold and Gold/Pink. It is running Android 5.0.2 Lollipop and pricing is around $199 on a two-year contract and $690 off contract.
…And The Winner Is…
Summary
This was a tough decision, as so many are, but I have picked the HTC One M9 as the winner of this comparison. As a daily driver, the One M9 is a better size for people to carry around in their pocket, both devices have the same FHD display with the smaller display on the One M9 coming in at a much sharper 441 PPI. It has the same 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory and they both offer the expansion of that memory by 128GB via a microSD card slot. In the camera area the One M9 has more megapixels – 20PM versus 13MP) and in the sound area, it packs dual front-facing stereo speakers with HTC’s legendary BoomSound. One of the biggest reasons to pick the HTC One M9 is the processor – the 64-bit Snapdragon 810 octa-core simply blows away the 32-bit octa-core in the Ascend Mate 7. It is also running the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop and it costs the same as the Mate 7.
Yes, the Mate 7 has a fingerprint scanner, a larger display and a larger battery, but those are not enough features to sway me to pick the Mate 7 over the One M9.
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