HTC has just announced the One A9, the latest addition to its family of flagship One phones. Previously known as the Aero, the One A9 will be HTC's second top-end smartphone to launch this year, sitting just beneath the HTC One M9 in terms of price and specification. However, while the One M9 was a beautiful but ultimately disappointing handset, marred by poor battery life and a rather hopeless camera, the gorgeous One A9 might just be the perfect antidote to remedy HTC's past mistakes.
Of course, if it wasn't for the prominent HTC logo on the back of the handset, you might mistake the One A9 for another smartphone altogether, as the clean lines and simple metal chassis are eerily reminiscent of Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. HTC told me it's flattered that Apple has chosen to mimic its metallic design - it did, after all, make the move to metal smartphones first - but this time it's perhaps a little more obvious who's imitating who.
^ The One A9's 5in 1,920x1,080 AMOLED panel looks fantastic, and colours really pop out of the screen
Still, it's a winning combination, and I'd say the One A9 actually feels much more comfortable to hold than the iPhone 6S. This is thanks to the subtle ridge on the back of the handset which helps break up its curved edges, giving you something to hold on to when gripping the phone in one hand. It's a fraction thicker than the iPhone 6S, too, measuring 146x71x7.3mm. However, despite dwarfing the 6S in almost every respect, the One A9 still weighs just 143g, making it feel surprisingly light for its size.
It's a beautiful smartphone, with the eye-catching Deep Garnet model being particularly gorgeous. However, this version (along with the Topaz Gold model) won't actually be available at launch. Instead, these will come later (but hopefully before the end of the year, HTC promised) and will be exclusive to certain networks. For those that can't wait that long, you'll have to pick between the standard Carbon Grey and Opal Silver models, which have a black and white front panel respectively.
^ Each model of the One A9 looks stunning, but the Deep Garnet version (far left) is our favourite
Either way, the One A9 is immediately more appealing than the M9, not least because of its 5in 1,920x1,080 AMOLED display. Again, the display on the M9 was something of a let-down when I tested it earlier this year, as its colour accuracy just wasn't as high as I was expecting. The A9's AMOLED panel, however, should rectify this instantly, as blacks looked dark and inky and its rich colours really jumped off the screen without appearing too oversaturated.
The One A9 will also be one of the first smartphones outside of Google's own Nexus devices to come with Android Marshmallow straight out of the box. It still uses HTC's excellent Sense 7 interface for the main homepage and Settings menu, but you'll still find glimpses of stock Marshmallow in the drop-down notification menu and the volume settings.
^ The fingerprint sensor doubles up as a home button and can unlock the phone from sleep mode in little more than a second
More importantly, HTC has included a fingerprint sensor on the One A9 for use with Android Pay. This is located at the bottom of the handset underneath the display. While it can be configured to act as a physical home button, the back and recent apps buttons are still relegated to onscreen controls, as HTC believes this offers the best user experience. While it would be nice to have to the option of using dedicated buttons, there's no denying that the fingerprint sensor works beautifully. You don't even have to tap it in order to wake the phone, as it will unlock the phone from sleep mode as soon as you touch it with your thumb. I also didn't have to deliberately place my thumb over it vertically either, as it worked just as well when I positioned it across the sensor horizontally as well, giving it a serious advantage over Samsung's Galaxy S6 sensor.
If you'd rather not use the fingerprint sensor to turn on and unlock the One A9, the grooved power button is another great touch in the One A9's design. It sits at just the right height for your thumb and its machined finish makes it very easy to find by touch alone. On the other side of the phone, you'll find a microSD card slot to expand the phone's default 16GB of internal storage.
^ The textured power button is another lovely touch to the One A9 and feels great under your thumb
As for the rest of the phone's specs, the One A9 is powered by an octa-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor and 2GB of RAM. It's a shame it doesn't use a Snapdragon 810 like the One M9, but judging by other Snapdragon 615 chips I've tested, the A9 should still have plenty of speed - although whether it will be good value for money depends entirely on how much the A9 will cost. At the moment, HTC is only saying that it will cost less than the One M9 did at launch, but that could mean anything under £580. If it ends up costing £500 SIM-free, then a Snapdragon 617 may be a step behind other phones in this price range, but it's difficult to say until HTC announces some more concrete pricing details.
Another concern is the One A9's battery life, as it only has a 2,150mAh battery on board. Still, it wouldn't take much to surpass the One M9's battery life, as this only lasted a measly nine hours when I put it through our continuous video playback test. According to HTC, the One A9 should be able to last for around 12 hours of Full HD playback, but I'll see whether there's any truth in this statement once it get one in for review.
^ HTC said it wanted the One A9 to look less intimidating than the One M9, so it shrunk the size of the camera and moved it further up the handset
HTC has put a lot of effort into improving the camera for the One A9 as well. This was one of the M9's weakest areas, but this time round HTC has given the One A9 a 13-megapixel sensor (down from the M9's 20-megapixel snapper) and completely redesigned the interface, adding several new features to the mix to make it more rounded. These include hyperlapse and slow-mo video modes, RAW capture and auto RAW processing, optical image stabilisation and Zoe highlights, the latter of which captures three second clips - think Apple's Live Photos - or a burst of three stills.
Hyperlapse and slow-mo videos will no doubt suit creative types, but the RAW processing may come as a disappointment. While it's great to have the opportunity to do this on the device, you don't actually have any control over how it's processed, so those who really want to fine-tune their pictures will probably still want to tinker about with them on their PC. Still, it's a nice extra, and the Zoe highlights feature also does a much better job of capturing short video moments than Live Photos on the iPhone 6S. For a start, you actually get some visual feedback on when the video is being captured, although it's a shame you can't select your own stills when you switch to Zoe's burst mode.
^ Switch to the Pro camera and you'll have total control over all of its different settings
Still, the new UI is a big improvement over HTC's previous camera app, and I'm pleased to see HDR mode, flash and Zoe Highlights controls all available on the lefthand sidebar. There's also a Pro camera mode which gives you full control over the white balance, exposure, ISO, aperture and focus level. Meanwhile, the front-facing camera uses the same 4-megapixel Ultrapixel sensor as the One M9.
Of course, a lot will depend on how the One A9 performs as to whether it will be a good buy, but from what I've seen so far, this is easily my favourite HTC handset yet. It's beautifully designed, feels great in the hand, and its AMOLED display looks stunning. Combined with Sense 7's customisable themes, HTC could well be on to a winner. However, the most important part of the puzzle is still missing at time of writing, and that's how much the One A9 will cost. It may have the premium design of a flagship smartphone, but its specs are decidedly mid-range, so pricing it too high could be its undoing. We'll hopefully find out more in the coming weeks, but for now, the HTC One A9 is definitely one to watch.
