Ok now that I have the HTC A9 for more than a week here are my impressions:

- The design is delightful! and no it feels more like a real HTC than iphone, the metal body is light but sturdy. It's the continuation of the M series.
- The screen is better than M9 , the Amoled high contrast makes the text more easy to read compared to M9 (for people with glasses you can use the A9 without), you can see and use the screen during a sunny ski day, compared to the G4 1440p screen it's very close in terms of details, my only complaint is that it's a bit small for the Google Cardboard 2.0
- The camera is very good, certainly better than M9, daylight pics and low light pics are totally usable now thanks to the OIS, I prefer to use RAW as the jpeg format by HTC is heavily compressed. The new RAW automatic editor in the gallery is nice but again the jpeg compression is high, better use your own PC software like Lightroom, it makes a world of a difference for details.
- The Audio never sounds better over the earphones wired and wireless, it's very loud and soundstage is very large and detailed. Probably the best audiophile smartphone available.
- I have the 2GB RAM version but the UI is smoother and faster than M9 and G4.
- HTC Sense is the best UI ever made on Android, the themes builder alone is fantastic.
- The screen sensitivity and response time is crazy quick, it put in shame the G4.
- You can plug an external HDD 1Tb but in exfat format using USB OTG, no need for an OTG with extra power, the A9 USB port is sufficient, the G4 wasn't.

This phone is a winner and its price is very acceptable for a such sweet sexy phone, if you are a heavy 3D gamer on smartphone this model is not for you, but for everyone else this model is the best you can get in the 5'' screen size.
That's good to read, the M9 was such a monumental flop, it's good they did a better job with the A9. Hoping HTC get back to their best with the M10.
How's the battery life? Does the screen drain a lot of power? Like watching videos or streaming, how's your experience been with that. And finally would you really recommend it for someone who's looking to replace his mint condition G3 but doesn't want to pay too much ?

Oh and where did you get it from? Was there a warranty and what's the average retail price in lebanon. Thanks.
Elied wroteHow's the battery life? Does the screen drain a lot of power? Like watching videos or streaming, how's your experience been with that. And finally would you really recommend it for someone who's looking to replace his mint condition G3 but doesn't want to pay too much ?

Oh and where did you get it from? Was there a warranty and what's the average retail price in lebanon. Thanks.
Battery is good, it's the same as G4 for screen ON time, and even better while screen OFF.
2 hours GPS + more than 2 hours BT audio + screen ON for 1 hour = it only took 20%
I come from a G4 and I liked the A9, you can be afraid in the beginning to go back to a 5'' screen but after a while you will get used to it.
Got it from the Delivery dude from PhoneInfinity , it came with the official Gomobile 2 years warranty.
Price is very good for this phone as it scores high in everything but 3D games, oh and if you come from the G3 you will love switching to a such elegant metal phone
The front of this phone is very ugly, especially regarding the home button.
I would give this phone 6/10 AT BEST.

As kfc said, the front is very ugly. There's way too much bezzle around the screen, way more than what you'd see on most phones today.

The AMOLED display is good, but colors are much much better on the G4(dunno why you're comapring it to the G4). Also I would like to add that the AMOLED screen is inferior to other AMOLED displays I've seen, it uses an older panel which I think is the same as the S4.

Gorilla Glass 3 for a late 2015 phone.

Hardware is very very slow for a 435$ phone.

Aluminum feels premium, but doesn't make up for the rest of the specs.

The specs don't justify the 435$ price tag.

All and all this phone would be appealing if it was a sub 300$ phone, but for this price it's TERRIBLE value. I would not recommend this phone to anyone.
Well you are totally wrong!
You dare say the G4 face is better looking than A9? it's like saying a kia pop is better looking than a ferrari LOL
Or the super ugly cheap fake chrome home button of the S6?
SLOW? WTF? did you even try the phone? It's 10x faster than the G4 which is known to have screen lag, the UI is faster than S6 that I had too.
The face is ugly? well it's the thing that look like iphone 6(s) and I think millions of people loved the new iphone for its look
Yes it's not a phone made for 3d gamers that's all.
Next time you want to attack a phone, at least say ''I never tried it''
G4 screen is very good but it suffered from screen retention way too much.
Me in fact I had all of S6,M9, G4 and now A9.
You want something under 300$ with metal body and superior build quality? well you can't! You have some plastic phones like samsung ones or even HTC E9+, or chinese stuff but without the premium and good build quality.

I would recommend this phone to everyone but the 3D gamers.
You justify your phone purchases by writing mindbogglingly good reviews, then bashing them after changing phones. What you're doing is misleading the people who take your word for it.

The phone houses a 617 Qualcom processor which is far behind the 80X chipset found on other phones.

Yes the phone is hideous from the front. There's way too much bezzle over and under the screen, and to add insult to injury they didn't use the massive bezzle space at the bottom for capacitive navigation keys in favor of on screen navigation which take off screen space.


Here's a few better alternatives to this phone off the top of my mind with similar screen sizes and in most cases cheaper price than the A9:
-Nexus 5X
-OnePlus X
-Samsung S6
-LG G4 (bigger screen size, but offers much more value overall IMO at the exact same price of the A9)
mmk92 wroteYou justify your phone purchases by writing mindbogglingly good reviews, then bashing them after changing phones. What you're doing is misleading the people who take your word for it.

The phone houses a 617 Qualcom processor which is far behind the 80X chipset found on other phones.

Yes the phone is hideous from the front. There's way too much bezzle over and under the screen, and to add insult to injury they didn't use the massive bezzle space at the bottom for capacitive navigation keys in favor of on screen navigation which take off screen space.


Here's a few better alternatives to this phone off the top of my mind with similar screen sizes and in most cases cheaper price than the A9:
-Nexus 5X
-OnePlus X
-Samsung S6
-LG G4 (bigger screen size, but offers much more value overall IMO at the exact same price of the A9)
The thing is I actually had all these phones, you? Nop!
So stop bashing a phone you even didn't touch.
G4? It's a very good phone and I wanted to keep it till M10 but guess what? It has the board that can die on the series I had, I got rid of it before it was too late, is this quality build???
Even the G4 you don't know what is this phone before using it for weeks and months, I didn't find out the screen retention but 4 months later.
And yes this phone is fantastic thanks to a superb camera but would you keep a phone that could die any minute because LG failed to build a good motherboard? No I don't think so.
Oneplus X? It's miles behind the A9 in terms of premium build, resolution pixels and memory slot.
S6? Well good luck with it if you like samsung bloatwares and stupid UI

The A9 is a beauty, and I am not the only one to say it, ALL possible reviews you can find on the internet will say it's a very good looking phone period.
You hate HTC for God knows the reason but don't bash a phone you never touched
Lol why are you taking this so personally?

I actually love HTC phones. The A9 seems to be an experiment for them away from the familiar formula that started off with the M7.
Well vegetaleb my friend, I agree with the guys at everything they say!
We all know your love towards htc so your opinion isn't really objective here!
I like all brands and I have no preference to any of them.

I agree about the htc sense smoothness and overall performance but I think the pros end here! We don't need to own the phone to know that!
The same way you know a kia picanto is a relatively underpowered car and small without owning it!

As the guys said, first you adored the s6 and look at you now bashing it! Now it's the g4 turn! The A9 should be next!

As for design, let me be clear! HTC has currently, in my opinion, the worst designs in android world. Even cheap chinese phones like elephone, ulefone, etc... have less bezels and black bars than htc phones!
It may look a nice phone in the outside at first sight! Yet once you see those ugly huge useless and unjustified bezels and design faults, and once you know that horrendous screen to body ratio, you'll know how badly desined this phone is!
Huge bezels AND hardware button AND software on-screen buttons!? Seriously?! Seriously you think this is a good design!?

Sometimes i really want to find head of htc design section and kick him right in his face! And between his legs! And shoot him just to make sure he'll not survive it!
I dunno what htc is doing but it's probably suicide!

I respect your opinion whatever it is. Yet be sure that sales figures and professionals reviews are the indicator of htc's road to oblivion!
The phone has a nice design in my opinion. It looks like the iPhone and that's a good thing (for me anyways). But the power under the hood is a midrange phone. I guess the big turnoff for this phone is the price, if it was 350 or less it would sell much more and no one would complain. I do agree that 5X, S6 or G4 are the obvious choice when this thing costs 430.
LifeEngineer wroteWell vegetaleb my friend, I agree with the guys at everything they say!
We all know your love towards htc so your opinion isn't really objective here!
I like all brands and I have no preference to any of them.

I agree about the htc sense smoothness and overall performance but I think the pros end here! We don't need to own the phone to know that!
The same way you know a kia picanto is a relatively underpowered car and small without owning it!

As the guys said, first you adored the s6 and look at you now bashing it! Now it's the g4 turn! The A9 should be next!

As for design, let me be clear! HTC has currently, in my opinion, the worst designs in android world. Even cheap chinese phones like elephone, ulefone, etc... have less bezels and black bars than htc phones!
It may look a nice phone in the outside at first sight! Yet once you see those ugly huge useless and unjustified bezels and design faults, and once you know that horrendous screen to body ratio, you'll know how badly desined this phone is!
Huge bezels AND hardware button AND software on-screen buttons!? Seriously?! Seriously you think this is a good design!?

Sometimes i really want to find head of htc design section and kick him right in his face! And between his legs! And shoot him just to make sure he'll not survive it!
I dunno what htc is doing but it's probably suicide!

I respect your opinion whatever it is. Yet be sure that sales figures and professionals reviews are the indicator of htc's road to oblivion!
Well when you buy a car will the faults and things you don't like appear on the 1st week or month??
Of course not! some negative things can appear after months
I never said I like the S6 look, I just found they made a little improvements but still VERY UGLY with the VERY CHEAP home button.
So I won't post a new review about a phone every month to post my new findings, sorry guys!
When I get a new phone and say why I did it it's to give a clear and personal reason why I did it, you can agree with my reasons and you can find them futile but they are my reasons.
I didn't bashed the G4, I found it the king of 2015 flagship but the Bootloop of Death thingy with the dead motherboard on a non warranty phone is something I can't keep, if I had a warranty I would have kept it.
You attack me personally because YOU HATE HTC as you are a fanboy of samsung or LG, as I already said ALL reviews are positive about the design of the A9, I am not the only one to say it, if YOU didn't like it it's your subjective taste.
So yeah it's maybe difficult to understand but a phone like a car can reveal negative things and faults after a while and not the week or month. Perhaps this A9 has some things that will irritate me later on and I will talk about them too.
If I was an HTC fanboy I wouldn't buy a G4 or S6.
Again if you don't like my reviews just don't read them but don't accuse me and attack me personally because I don't agree with your taste.
LifeEngineer and vegetaleb please keep the discussion civil and on-topic.
samer wroteLifeEngineer and vegetaleb please keep the discussion civil and on-topic.
Well bro that was my first ever comment on this topic!
Vegetaleb sorry man if you were offended! I didn't mean to and I never attacked you personally /at a personal level!
All i said is that you like htc and that's what you've always said whether that was in your s6 review or smartphones discussions to the extent where you looked at lg or samsung just because you felt a little bored or trapped in htc! So i think this didn't offend you!
All i said after that was MY opinion on htc the same way YOU had an opinion on it!
So where exactly did i offend you!? Sorry again if you were offended but it wasn't my intention.

All me and the guys are saying is " enjoy your a9 man!". We know there's million of options because there's million of tastes! We will not enjoy the a9 because it fails miserably in many areas, that's all.

Note: on a side note, reviews has nothing to do with this! The whole humanity can agree on something but that doesn't make it right , at least for you!! In the same way, all of the reviewers can agree this phone is extraordinary, yet that doesn't affect my opinion in it!
Well you can say you don't agree with the review but you weren't obliged to massacre everything I said in a very aggressive way.
Imagine if you post a review of a phone and I come up saying everything you said was wrong and that it's a piece of garbage, what would be your reaction?
18 days later
the new HTC one X9 is a much prettier phone and its specs are interesting. It will be available in Lebanon in March but i hope it won't be overpriced!!! What do you guys think of it?
Much like the A9, the X9 is in many ways a midranger and unless it's around $350 it will be overpriced.
Salloum wroteMuch like the A9, the X9 is in many ways a midranger and unless it's around $350 it will be overpriced.
True. but it is an excellent mid ranger.

I feel it will start at 450 and then drop to 350 within 3 months.
When you look at offerings from Huawei like the Honor 5x for $200, it makes it really hard to consider buying any HTC