I have an A9, AMA

[orrorin]

Hi everyone,

Got an HTC One A9 here that I'm in the process of writing about. Let me know if you have questions.

Below are some camera samples

 

[nitsuj17]

is the theme store any different in it? or new default themes at all.

 

[orrorin]

I think the theme store is exactly the same.

 

[OMEiAM]

Is there an option for ambient display (for notifications) like the Nexus phones and Moto X?

 

[orrorin]

Is there an option for ambient display (for notifications) like the Nexus phones and Moto X?

There is not, unfortunately.

 

[Nizzay!]

How are the speakers with the lack of Boomsound? Is there a notification LED too?

Sent from my D6603 using XDA Free mobile app

 

[orrorin]

How are the speakers with the lack of Boomsound? Is there a notification LED too?

Sent from my D6603 using XDA Free mobile app

There is a notification light! And it's pretty good too, unlike the M7/M8/M9. The speakers are equivalent to the iPhone, so good, but not SUPER powerful.

 

[puma777]

How is the battery life? What is your opinion of this versus the Nexus 5X / other relatively small android phones?

 

[craig0r]

How does Sense 7.0_g compare to regular Sense 7.0? I've read that 7.0_g is more stripped down, but the only difference aside from some apps being left out is the multi-tasking screen and the pull-down notification tray. Any other glaring differences you notice?

What I'm most curious about is gapless playback, since HTC phones have been pretty awful at this previously. Specifically, (and obviously you can't test this if you don't have any gapless albums,) does Google Play Music do gapless playback properly?

 

[orrorin]

How is the battery life? What is your opinion of this versus the Nexus 5X / other relatively small android phones?

Battery life is good but not stellar. I don't have a Nexus 5X, but I do have basically everything else, and yeah, you have to keep it topped up a little more diligently. But it's far, far better than the Galaxy S6.

As far as Sense 7.0g goes, it's very light. HTC took the right things out, in my opinion.

 

[madgalaxy]

How is the gaming performance (if u played any)? I usually play more casual games such as Clash of Clans and SimCity Build it.

 

[thedosbox]

There is not, unfortunately.

Really? They stripped out ambient display? That's one of the key new features from Lollipop!

[edit] this youtuber indicates that ambient display is available.

 

[rlvl]

How is the gaming performance (if u played any)? I usually play more casual games such as Clash of Clans and SimCity Build it.

And to build on that question, does the phone get noticeably heated up during games / video chat / heavy data usage ?

 

[orrorin]

And to build on that question, does the phone get noticeably heated up during games / video chat / heavy data usage ?

I played Modern Combat 5: and Monument Valley, and both played just fine. The only time the phone got really warm was when I was fast charging and updating at the same time.

 

[sonus]

Does the screen support high sensitivity touch (i.e. does it work when I'm wearing gloves)? Also how does one typically enable ambient display on Android? Surely any phone with an AMOLED screen should support this. I'm coming from a Lumia 925 and hoping that this HTC will be my next device.

 

[orrorin]

Does the screen support high sensitivity touch (i.e. does it work when I'm wearing gloves)? Also how does one typically enable ambient display on Android? Surely any phone with an AMOLED screen should support this. I'm coming from a Lumia 925 and hoping that this HTC will be my next device.

There is glove mode! If someone can tell me how one is supposed to enable ambient display, but I don't say it.

 

[Cashreedhar]

I watched a youtube video which compares the old sense with new sense 7. As I can see, HTC Music, HTC Car apps are gone now which were my favorite. Could you check in playstore if there is way to install them? Also, what all the sense apps missing in the new sense?

 

[rlvl]

I watched a youtube video which compares the old sense with new sense 7. As I can see, HTC Music, HTC Car apps are gone now which were my favorite. Could you check in playstore if there is way to install them? Also, what all the sense apps missing in the new sense?

HTC Sense 6 apps are available as apks.. So you should be able to install them externally.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2696399

I wonder if they will update/optimize these apps to Marshmellow . Perhaps once M9 gets updated we will get a clearer picture.

 

[Cashreedhar]

HTC Sense 6 apps are available as apks.. So you should be able to install them externally.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2696399

I wonder if they will update/optimize these apps to Marshmellow . Perhaps once M9 gets updated we will get a clearer picture.

I don't think these apps work in A9. The phone need to have proper resource files to run these apps and these can be installed only at system/ also, root needed to access /system.

 

[rlvl]

I don't think these apps work in A9. The phone need to have proper resource files to run these apps and these can be installed only at system/ also, root needed to access /system.

Oh yes, I forgot about that. It needs rooting ..