HTC One A9 UK price and availability
The new phone from HTC was announced on October 20th. Originally codenamed the Hima Aero, the One A9 has a 5-inch display topped with Gorilla Glass 4 and has more than little iPhone about it.
Whether Apple copied HTC or HTC copied Apple is irrelevant, I will say that HTC did have the metal-body-with-plastic-strips look on the original One, but the fact is that the HTC One A9 looks like an iPhone 6S and that’s what most people will point out.
Is that such a bad thing? The iPhone is the world’s most popular single device and any brand that makes a phone that looks remotely similar does so with both eyes open. Not to mention that HTC even use the tagline
design worth imitating”
The main drawback for me is that, with reaching for this flat body with rounded edges phone design, one of the best things about the One series is missing. The Boomsound speakers that normally reside on the front of the phone are one of the things I tend to rave about and why I been with HTC since the M7 and currently own a HTC One M9 and now they have been ditched.
Instead, the A9 gets a small mono speaker at the bottom. Getting rid of the stereo speakers has also allowed for a fingerprint sensor on the front of the phone.
The screen gets a pixel resolution of 1920 x 1080 giving for a ppi of 440 leaving a beautiful crisp display.
The HTC One A9 measures 145.75 x 70.8 x 7.26mm and weighs in at a svelt 143g. Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset.
There’s two versions of the A9 available, one with 2GB and one with 3GB of RAM. Different territories will get different models. In the UK, we are penciled to get the 2GB version. There will be 16 and 32GB storage options too, although the HTC One A9 supports microSD card expansion up to 2TB.
Having a thin phone means that the battery has to be just as shrunken and the one in the A9 is a 2150mAh number which is likely to attract some criticism. That said, the 617 chipset maybe refined enough to make a difference when partnered with Android 6.0 Marshmallow’s battery saving techniques. HTC is promising you’ll get 16 hours of talk time from it, 60 hours of music playback or 18 days of standby – so we shall see.
The camera is equipped with a 13-megapixel sensor, F/2.0 aperture, and optical image stablisation and is placed at the very top of the rear next to a dual tone flash. Video capture is limited to full HD so look elsewhere for 4K UHD.
Just as on the M9, there is a 4-megapixel UltraPixel sensor on the front to increase selfie quality.
The HTC One A9 will be available in Opal Silver, Deep Garnet, Topaz Gold and Carbon Grey.
UK availability
The 2GB of RAM and 16GB version of the HTC One A9 will be available SIM free from htc.com for £429.99.
Vodafone have the HTC A9 for £35 Pay monthly (with a £9 upfront cost), which includes unlimited texts, 1,000 call minutes and 1GB of data.
Alternatively, customers can pre-order the HTC One A9 for £45 Pay monthly (with a £9 upfront cost) on a Red Value 4GB Bundle. This includes unlimited texts, unlimited minutes and 4GB of data, as well as a choice of free access to Netflix, Sky Sports Mobile TV, Spotify Premium or a NOW TV Entertainment Pass for 6 months.
