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Thursday March 10, 2016 9:43 am

Bleeding Edge TV 576: HTC One A9 review

This is the HTC One A9 - this isn’t an iPhone. But, if you wish you could get an Android device in the shape of an iPhone, well, here you go. HTC says  that it sold aluminum unibody devices before Apple did, and they’re right. Ever since the One M7 at the start of 2013, HTC has been promoting its signature aluminum unibody design, characterized by a particular mix of subtle curves and precise straight lines.  But hey, the camera, camera flash, and even corner radius on the A9 device matches the iPhone 6 and 6s, and those antenna bands look awfully familiar as well.

If you read the One A9’s spec sheet, you’d probably think of it as a mid-range phone with nothing special about it. But that’s why spec sheets should be ignored for the most part. Using the One A9 shows what happens when a phone makes the most of its components, resulting in a device that compares favorably with most other companies' flagship smartphones.

The HTC One A9 is a good phone. However, the price is the issue. $500. Decent battery life, above average performance, decent software options, decent camera. This is a mid-range phone with mid-range specs with an expensive price tag. It doesn’t compete in a market where you can drop $500 on a Nexus 6P flagship, Galaxy S6, or the iPhone 6.

When the A9 launched at $399 In the United States, that was the time to pick one up, despite the insane backorder. The metal unibody frame is nicer than what you will find on the Nexus 5X.. But after a week, the price increased to $499, and that 25% jump in price means that the One A9’s value diminishes greatly. Now you compare it to the Nexus 6P, which many consider to be the best Android smartphone to date. No way HTC is winning that contest, even if simply for the fact that the Nexus device  includes long-term assurance that you will get Android updates faster and for a longer period of time.

You can pick up HTC One A9 now.

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