Samsung Galaxy S6 vs. HTC One M9: Dressed to kill

30 March 2015
The last two generations of HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S were separated by the looks versus practicality debate. Samsung's revamped design erodes this difference, while HTC stepped up its camera game...

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • q8Q
  • 31 Mar 2015

AnonD-263596, 31 Mar 2015even i am a samsung fan and currently own note 4 lte a, sti... moreWhat a foolish comment.
These are your personal opinions.
And just because you don't like Samsung removing the SD slot and removable battery means you think that it doesn't have any other strong advantages so they were unfair to HTC???
You're completely ignoring the fact that the S6 just clearly has a much stronger lead in technology. It had nothing to do with giving either a chance.

And why can't the s6 win in design? It has a great design and it's a very fresh change. Many will prefer it. Some still will prefer HTC. It's subjective, but there is a lot of people that might like the s6 better and it gets points for the fresh change. And I think it'd using stronger materials.

And again what does your opinion on them taking away those features have to do with whether people think it looks nice or not????
I don't like those features missing either, but the device still looks nice and I at least understand why they did it whether I agree or not.

And the SD slot was removed because without adding more pins to the board the SD card would have actually allowed down the boosted speed they are claiming on the new memory.
Now on the other hand it wouldn't have showed it down dramatically I don't think, but would have taken away some.
And whether they didn't have enough time or space to add the extra needed pins to have both is still up in the air.
And I do think part of it was to be able to sell the higher storage options in larger numbers.

And the s3 and s5 were anything but failures. They were to devices. The s5 didn't sell as well as they hoped. Nobody ever said it didn't sell. In fact it was still basically the best selling android device. Now use your brain. How I'd that a failure????
And if at any of that you meant in design. What was wrong with their design? The S6 still shares similarities. And only online haters complained about it in large numbers.
Plus the S5 design and materials were more ergonomic, comfortable, and durable. It was a much better and practical design.

    • D
    • AnonD-126854
    • TXn
    • 31 Mar 2015

    Anonymous, 31 Mar 2015Now you sound as bias as therm. Whether you find speakers i... more"And it has better bass too."?????
    It contradict to any acoustic law, and every test can prove that you are WRONG.
    Why on the flat TV's they put back speakers? Because they sound like tweeters when they as small and on the front. And how big are M9 speakers? LOL

    Besides the S6 speakers a louder. And that's a fact.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • q8Q
      • 31 Mar 2015

      AnonD-126854, 31 Mar 2015Speakers on smartphones are very small. Small speakers when... moreNow you sound as bias as therm. Whether you find speakers important or not the M9 still has a lead in them. And it has better bass too.

        • D
        • AnonD-126854
        • TXn
        • 31 Mar 2015

        AnonD-263596, 31 Mar 2015even i am a samsung fan and currently own note 4 lte a, sti... moreWhere do they say that M9 lost on design, iboy?
        Here from the article:
        "HTC One M9 over Galaxy S6
        •Metal unibody vs. metal and glass body"

        All the tech media reviewers are ifans, and they love the cheap tin can. So after iPhone they love HTC huge-bezels-cheap aluminium-design. So shut up , and don't lie.
        The "Note user" "Samsung fan" old dirty trick , doesn't work too

          • D
          • AnonD-126854
          • TXn
          • 31 Mar 2015

          AnonD-108806, 31 Mar 2015You are comparing M9's design with S6, REALLY? About Speak... moreYes really. Enjoy your huge bezels BRICK with denting cheap aluminium back, though.
          And S6 Edge blows away EVERY phone on the Planet.

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            • AnonD-263596
            • XNi
            • 31 Mar 2015

            even i am a samsung fan and currently own note 4 lte a, still this review very aggressive to htc. i do not think gsmarena really gave htc one m9 any ground. come on the design better than m9? last s device i used was s3 and i knew s series will fall. believe me or not s5 was a failure for samsung. that is why i used note 3 and now note 4. perfect device for a modern user. s6 even get rid of microsd card slot. even gsmarena said todays microsd is fast enough for 2160p videos. so whats the point? samsung always praised for three things. hardware home button, removable battery and microsd card slot. now they ditch last two of em. i will not buy s6 no matter how much you praise it gsmarena. i will stick to my note 4 and will buy note 5. there are those chainese makers who are eating samsungs profit from 2014. now samsung you gave them more ground to fight against you. saw motorolla rise and fall, nokia rise and fall, now please do not show me that samsung. i really love you. i really encourage you for the bold approach with s6 but ditching those two will make you suffer. i hope you will do better next time. long live samsung.

              • D
              • AnonD-126854
              • TXn
              • 31 Mar 2015

              AnonD-108806, 31 Mar 2015You are comparing M9's design with S6, REALLY? About Speak... moreSpeakers on smartphones are very small. Small speakers when are pointing front , work ONLY LIKE A TWEETERS. And NOTHING ELSE. No bass there. To take some mid or bass , you need to put them in the box and even turn them back pointing inside the box.
              Well the point to have them on the back or on the side of the smartphones is TO MAKE ACOUSTIC BOX with your hands holding the phone.
              You can easily try this. Put some music on your HTC and listen it. Then turn your HTC back with the back facing your face. Holding the HTC like that you cover the speakers with your palms. Making "acoustic box". You will here more bass and more quality music sound. (you can make same test with back-speakers phone, too)
              New flat TV use the walls behind them or furniture that stand on to make same "acoustic box" . NO FRONT SPEAKERS THERE. Right?
              And stereo speakers on such small device??? Come on. LOL. For stereo you have headphones.
              On the photos with flash S6 gives more details. HTC9 camera is BS compare with S6 and you know it.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • rAf
                • 31 Mar 2015

                AnonD-108806, 31 Mar 2015Just because the M9 Design is almost the same as M8, S6 won... moreI know You never seen a s6 . 3year old m9 design never make any sense .

                  • k
                  • kunnan
                  • rAf
                  • 31 Mar 2015

                  GSM you still praising 3year old m9 design ?? Don't be partial .

                    • N
                    • No Fan Boy...!
                    • 7t5
                    • 31 Mar 2015

                    Anonymous, 30 Mar 2015Samsung provides lots of unnecessary features. For example ... moreThere is Fast charging in S6...and it charges really fast...!
                    Actually , M9 also does support fast charging , but it doesn't come with the fast charger included in the box...that means you have to buy a separate fast charger to charge it fast...!

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • q8Q
                      • 31 Mar 2015

                      AnonD-108806, 31 Mar 2015Just because the M9 Design is almost the same as M8, S6 won... moreThat's your opinion. Many people like the design of the s6. And material, design, and build quality are all three separate things.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • q8Q
                        • 31 Mar 2015

                        AnonD-108806, 31 Mar 2015You are comparing M9's design with S6, REALLY? About Speak... moreYeah. Just because you like the M9 design doesn't make it best. Many people will love the S6 design. Especially in the black and and emerald I like them a lot. I also like the gunmetal of the One. What a foolish thing of you to say.

                        Loud is good too and I bet I like the S6 speaker better for the singer I like, but overall quality is probably better on the M9 in most cases obviously with fuller sound.
                        About not being able to beat it??? Um the Z3 despite water protecting membranes had cleaner sound and still almost matches the M9. I'm sure the Z4 will come out ahead again. And its not like boomsound are the only speakers. There are other stereo speaker devices that could possibly be better.

                        And honestly I'm not impressed with any phone speakers. This is 2015 and the volume is barely a notch louder than my 2009 Omnia's speakers and only somewhat cleaner.... Tiny improvement for 6 years.

                        Yes. The M9 has a slightly better tone with dual flush. Congratulations. Bit still looses in photo quality.

                        Your last part is silly. Bigger mah is nice but far from the only factor. And roms don't have anything to do with the average user or the out of box discussion here.
                        And in that sense you can do the same with the S6.
                        But what also plays in would be the more efficient soc, display, memory, and all in one radio chip.
                        Which is why with higher res brighter display and faster more stable performance the S6 still gets better battery life on a smaller battery

                          • D
                          • AnonD-108806
                          • JkA
                          • 31 Mar 2015

                          AnonD-126854, 30 Mar 2015From the article: HTC One M9 over Galaxy S6 •Metal unibod... moreYou are comparing M9's design with S6, REALLY?
                          About Speakers, is not about being loud, it's about sound quality. and not having stereo speakers on the front it's impossible to beat HTC's BOOMSound.
                          About camera, on the LED section, M9 won, have a better flash.
                          Bigger mAh is always better than having less. You can always put another ROM or underclock your CPU when you need it. So you will have a lot more.

                            • D
                            • AnonD-108806
                            • JkA
                            • 31 Mar 2015

                            Just because the M9 Design is almost the same as M8, S6 won? S6 can use metal, but HTCs devices always had and have better designs than Samsung's.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • q8Q
                              • 31 Mar 2015

                              AnonD-146024, 30 Mar 2015S6 edge is gorgeous but that protruding camera takes it all... moreI'm amazed at how many people like you lack the common sense to not say things like that.

                              There is a huge difference. Samsung has a reason their camera sticks out. Apple has no excuse.
                              With the iPhone 6 is a smaller sensor that's slightly more smaller by not having OIS. And its in a thicker device.
                              And the camera sits in the corner above the display where is can use almost the thickness of the entire device .

                              There is no excuse it sticks out.

                              The S6 is using a larger sensor with OIS behind the display like they always have and in a very slim body

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • q8Q
                                • 31 Mar 2015

                                Anonymous, 30 Mar 2015Samsung provides lots of unnecessary features. For example ... moreWhat a wasteful content. All phones have features some people will or will not use. Some people don't care about the speakers either.

                                Wireless charging is a waste? Talk about denial lol.
                                And yes the SD slot part sucks but the storage is dramatically faster and cones up to 128gb.
                                And the M9 uses even more storage than the S6 out of the 32gb.

                                And what on Earth do you mean it doesn't have fast charging??? Tests already show the S6 can charge from 1%-%100 in 66 minutes. That's the fastest charging I've seen. And wireless charging can go at a slower but still speedy 2amps.

                                  • A
                                  • Akira
                                  • mAD
                                  • 31 Mar 2015

                                  AnonD-312360, 31 Mar 2015Htc will get better fps as it is pushing fewer pixels compa... moreFramerate will depend on the resolution used. There are apps that allow you to change the output resolution to increase framerates, when desired.

                                  Also, the Dutch website Tweakers.net that first showed overheating with the original (pre release) firmware and later tested the new firmware that "fixed" the overheating, showed that the HTC now throttles in GFXBench too, to similar framerates as the S6 on screen (despite lower resolution). Oddly enough, their framerates with the old firmware, were as seen in this review.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • q8Q
                                    • 31 Mar 2015

                                    How on Earth was there no winner declared for display???? There always is and it's a key areas where Samsung excelled dramatically and HTC went backwards.

                                    And why no low light selfie comparison?

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-312360
                                      • ute
                                      • 31 Mar 2015

                                      AnonD-380962, 30 Mar 2015what about gaming endurance????Htc will get better fps as it is pushing fewer pixels compared to s6, but the question is how the performance is sustained as the temp goes up, and the s810 definitely has a heating issue, more amplified by the metal uni-body.

                                        • S
                                        • SDKforLumia
                                        • KI3
                                        • 31 Mar 2015

                                        That's what happens when a company is failing and falling, their best efforts (in their minds) may turn out to be their worst. This happened to Nokia ( preferring WP over android) and BlackBerry ( refusing to lower down their pricing) and now its happening to HTC. Nothing can save them, I really don't see any serious effort by them at all. It was so easy to solve the issues and complaints of M8 in M9, but they instead decided to stay on their ignorant and arrogant behavior.
                                        1. In design, all they needed to do was either
                                        (a) reduce top and bottom bezel, and a bit of sides too, use some non-slippery material for back rather than this stupid aluminum frame or
                                        (b) at least put menu and home keys on that black HTC bar, that still would have compensated for that ill-reviewed and poorly conceived USELESS! HTC logo bar. But we saw this year? PURE IGNORANCE & ARROGANCE.
                                        2. For camera department, all they needed, again, was to loosen up a bit their ego, and ask either LG or Apple for some good camera software implementations. BUT, No... Again.. ARROGANCE!
                                        So, no matter, how much I hate Samsung Galaxy S6 for removing SD Card option ( I am not against fixed storage, but in that case, base model had to be 64 GB, but no, and here in Pakistan, I will be stuck with a 32 GB forever) and Water-proofing ( P.S. my biggest gripe was actually omission of FM Radio, I still ACTUALLY use it) , I have to admit that Galaxy S6 is a better phone among the 2.
                                        Although I will be waiting for Sony Xperia Z4 and LG G4 to come out. Till then I am happy with my Samsung Galaxy S3 Neo (Dual)