Speed test: HTC One A9 vs Samsung Galaxy fingerprint sensors [VIDEO]

One of the best things about the HTC One A9 is the fingerprint sensor. The sensor is fast and reliable, just like a fingerprint sensor needs to be. If it’s not fast and reliable, you’re not going to want to use it. Samsung’s fingerprint sensor on the latest Galaxy phones was starting to feel like more of a nuisance to me. I decided to compare the sensors to see if HTC’s truly is much better.

As you can see in the video, the results were not nearly as one-sided as I thought. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus proved to be relatively fast and surprisingly accurate. The One A9 also performed well, but I was expecting that. When the One A9 failed I was able to get it right on the next try or third try, but when Samsung’s failed I couldn’t seem to get it right.

The speed of the two sensors was also closer than I anticipated. When both displays are turned on, it’s a very tight race, but HTC’s sensor is much faster when the display is turned off. However, I think that is more a fault of the software than the sensor. The Edge+ seemed to hang just a bit longer on the lock screen. There’s one thing that makes all of these results so impressive: processors.

The Edge+ is running with Samsung’s beefy Exynos 7420, while the One A9 is running a much weaker Snapdragon 617. It was still able to keep up. I can’t help but imagine how insanely fast the HTC sensor would be if it had an equal processor. Kudos to HTC for doing a great job. Hopefully, they will be able to replicate this experience on their next flagship phone. I’m not sure I can go back to a phone without one.

Source- phandroid

HTC One A9 ad is yet another one where you can barely see the phone [VIDEO]

HTC’s ads are getting… better. But they still have some work to do if the HTC One A9’s ad is anything to go by. The spot invites you to “be brilliant and bold,” and shows a ton of people doing just that. Hiking, running, taking great photos and jamming out to music.

The only problem is we can barely see the phone — it’s only at the end of the ad that we see the message. That’s fine, we suppose — they hook you with all the excitement in the beginning and lay the goods on you at the end. We just wish HTC would make one ad where they obsess over the phone itself as opposed to the people who might use it.

HTC exec on One A9's iPhone-like design: It's actually Apple who copied us

Ever since HTC launched its new One A9 smartphone, it has been heavily criticized for making a device that looks like an iPhone 6 clone. Now, a senior HTC executive has came to the defense of the handset as well as the company, saying that it was Apple who originally copied one of their phone's design in its iPhone 6.


"We’re not copying. We made a unibody metal-clad phone in 2013. It’s Apple that copies us in terms of the antenna design on the back," said HTC's North Asia President Jack Tong.

If you're wondering, Tong is referring to the One M7 smartphone from 2013, which sported an aluminium body as well as antenna lines on its back. So, while his statement does carry some weight given that the iPhone 6 came in 2014, it still doesn't justify the fact that the One A9 seems to have copied almost every other design aspect from Apple's new iPhones.

Hands-on: HTC One A9 [VIDEO]

Safe to say HTC caught a lot of flak when they officially took the wraps off their latest creation: the HTC One A9. True to all the leaks and rumors, the phone, quite frankly, looks like a near carbon copy of Apple’s iPhone 6/S. That, of course, didn’t sit too well for Android (or even Apple) enthusiasts, but with affordable (promotional) pricing and mid-range specs, it seems HTC wasn’t so much targeting the die-hard Android user as much as the soccer mom and her not-so-tech-savvy young teen. Here are the biggest features HTC is hoping will win over consumers:

It’s only $400 (temporarily)
HTC Uh Oh Protection (free replacement)
High quality sound and full volume output to large headphones
14MP camera with OIS and RAW capture
Fingerprint sensor
Every Android update within 15 days of Nexus devices
Unlocked bootloader wont void warranty
It looks just like the iPhone 6

The whole iPhone lookalike thing isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it could bring some level of success to a company who’s been struggling to take make headway in a fiercely competitive smartphone market. Whatever works. Our own Rob Jackson had a quick minute to go hands-on with the all new One A9 during their low-key event in New York. Check out his hardware tour while we work on preparing a full review.

HTC One A9 listed online, priced at $690 USD; two sources confirm Android 6.0 is pre-installed (UPDATE)

With the HTC One A9 less than a week away from being unveiled, the unit was put through the GFXBench benchmark test confirming the recently leaked specs belonging to the phone. One thing that we have learned based on the GFXBench data, is that the rumors about Android 6.0 being installed on the device out of the box are apparently true.


The HTC One A9 will feature a 5-inch screen with a 1080 x 1920 FHD resolution. The Snapdragon 615 chipset is under the hood, carrying an octa-core 1.5GHz CPU and the Adreno 405 GPU. 2GB of RAM is inside, along with 16GB of native storage (leaving 11GB available to the end user). There might also be a variant available with 32GB of internal memory.

A 13MP camera can be found on the back, and while it is not mentioned on the benchmark test, it is expected to come with OIS. A 4MP Ultrapixel camera is in front. This is the camera that was once found on the back of the HTC One (M7) and HTC One (M8).

These specs also match those shown on a listing of the HTC One A9, found on French carrier Orange's website. The phone is priced at the equivalent of $690 USD, which seems awfully pricey for a mid-range device.

The GFXBench results just might be the nail in the coffin for those who were hoping there was a mistake, and that the HTC One A9 was actually the high-end flagship spec'd model that CEO Cher Wang was referring to during the summer, when she told HTC stockholders that a redesigned "Hero" phone was on the way. If this does turn out to be the only phone unveiled next Tuesday, HTC is going to receive plenty of flak from its dwindling number of fans. And wait until they are asked to pay nearly seven Benjamins for a phone not even close to being a flagship model.

UPDATE: A newly run Geekbench test reveals that the HTC One A9 will have 3GB of RAM, unlike what we've seen in previousd rumors where the figure was 2GB. It could be that there will be a version of the phone with 2GB RAM/16GB internal storage, and another version with 3GB RAM/32GB of storage. Stay tuned!