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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Lounge review: HTC One A9
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Lounge review: HTC One A9

HTC's new smartphone looks very similar to the Apple iPhone 6 but doesn't have top-of-the-line specs

HTC One A9Premium
HTC One A9

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC was one of the first to innovate with Google’s Android operating system many years ago. It’s yet-to-be-released smartphone, the One A9, clearly betrays the fact that the company is still trying to match the Apple iPhone—at least in terms of the design. But it’s hard to brush off this phone as just that.

The good stuff

The One A9 has a full metal body, and looks sophisticated. The back is completely flat, unlike the slight curve in the predecessor, the One M9. Flip this over, and it looks very similar to the Apple iPhone 6. There is a physical button below the screen too. The camera lens protrudes just as it does on the iPhone 6. The screen curves where it meets the metal body and there are speaker holes drilled into the bottom spine—as in the iPhone 6.

But there is no denying the fact that the 5-inch screen size translates into handy form factor, something rare in Android phones which seem to be pushing for the 5.5-inch screen size.

The HTC One A9 is the first smartphone (apart from Google’s Nexus branded devices—5X and 6P) to come with Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) OS out of the box. This will take advantage of the battery and performance optimizations, such as the Doze feature that reduces stand-by power consumption. The HTC Sense custom interface remains the neatest and most usable Android customization across all smartphone brands. The phone feels well designed and slick.

The not-so-good

The One A9 clearly doesn’t have top-of-the-line specs. The processor in use is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 617, Octa-core (64-bit) with 2 GB RAM (16 GB version) and 3 GB RAM (32 GB version). This chip sits one step below the 800-series—the Snapdragon 808, for example. While these specs don’t fall short in any way, they don’t match up to Motorola’s Moto X Style (29,999 for 16 GB and 31,999 for 32 GB).

Android has developed into a software that works well with the home, return and task manager keys integrated into the on-screen interface—and the home button feels out of place.

The 13-megapixel camera has a sapphire cover lens to prevent scratches. The picture quality is acceptable for daytime photos, but artificial lighting and low- light areas can sometimes cause the One A9 to stumble in terms of colour accuracy. Some shortcomings can be solved by updates to the camera app, which HTC rolls out through the Google Play Store.

Talk Plastic

The HTC One A9 may look like an iPhone 6, but it shouldn’t be competing in the same price bracket. At the time of writing this, HTC had not announced the price, but we would expect this to compete with the Moto X Style. That would mean pricing it close to 30,000.

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Published: 05 Dec 2015, 12:45 AM IST
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