 When the HTC One M7 launched, I took it for a 30-day test drive, and thanks to its clean, responsive Sense UI and iPhone-like construction, it became my new daily driver. Then, when the One M8 follow-up launched, it became the second Android phone to earn the my-daily-driver status for the same reasons. So now that the One M9 is here, is solid construction and a clean Sense UI still enough? Spoiler alert, no. But let's find out why, shall we? The Corsair HX1200i power supply delivers 80-plus Platinum efficiency for quiet, efficient power, and Corsair Link Digital for advanced monitoring and control. Click right here to learn more. I guess these videos start with specs, right? So there's an octet of CPU cores, four low-power and four for high performance, three gigs of DDR3 RAM, an Adreno 430 GPU, 32 gigs of built-in storage, wireless AC, an FM radio, and a 20.7-megapixel rear camera, all crammed inside the phone's characteristically premium-feeling metal enclosure. Then moving around to the front, we've got a 5.0-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 display covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 4, a 4-megapixel selfie camera, HTC's characteristic and much better sounding than the competition, front-facing stereo boom sound speakers, and the chin bar is back. This was a big warning sign for me. I mean, the chin bar never actually bothered me. In fact, with the move to on-screen buttons on the M8, making the device symmetrical was as simple as rotating it the other way in landscape mode. So it was buttons on one side and chin bar on the other, and I never really bothered with that anyway, because devices covered with screen and buttons are actually kind of hard to hold when you're watching videos in landscape mode. But the thing is, a lot of people are put off by it, and leaving it there smacks of either laziness or an internal feeling at HTC of fearing to break the mold, something that they proudly shouted from the rooftops that they weren't afraid to do when the 1M7 launched, as an oasis of beautiful craftsmanship amongst the plastic junk that passed for flagship Android phones at the time. And the rest of the 1M9 does little to convince me otherwise. We'll do the obligatory physical tour, but frankly, they didn't change much, and IMO, they didn't change anything for the better. From the back, we can only tell that the device is marginally shorter if we hold it right next to the 1M8. The Asinine secondary camera has been thankfully removed, and the lone camera with its dual LED flash is now accompanied only by a noise-canceling microphone and HTC branding. On the top is a large IR emitter for media center control. On the left is the nano-SIM tray. On the bottom, we find a micro-USB charging port supporting Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, and the 3.5mm headphone jack that's been, again, IMO, unfortunately, relocated from the top where I prefer it. On the right is a microSD slot, a very important inclusion considering the Galaxy S6 removed expandable storage, and the worst lock and volume control buttons I've encountered in some time. This is really simple, people. They need solid tactile feedback. They need to be easily felt for their position and differentiated from each other without looking, and no putting a light texture on the lock button doesn't count for that, and they can't be on opposing sides of the device, so you mash two buttons when you mean to hit one, and at least it gets the last point right. In fact, I like the position of the lock button in the volume rocker. It's easy to use right or left-handed, but everything else about these buttons sucks. Back to the drawing board HTC. The good news is that while Anand Tech's very detailed analysis of the screen actually found some more issues there, other than the lackluster maximum brightness, especially when compared to the Galaxy S6, there wasn't really anything that jumped out to me as a huge issue. Contrast is still very good, something that's more important past a certain point than just throwing more resolution at the problem. So yes, it's a 1080p display, but unless you're really pixel peeping, you'll literally never notice, and HTC's loyalty to LCD means that you don't get that weird tinting from certain angles that I've seen on the Droid Turbo and Galaxy S6. Which I guess leads us to the lollipop version of SenseUI. BlinkFeed is still a really pleasant way to browse social media content, and makes more sense for me personally than Samsung's left swipe to flip board that I totally forgot to mention in my review. It's still clean and simple with meaningful customization like accent color palettes to choose from and customizability of the on-screen buttons, not to mention the awesome gear next to every volume slider that gives you quick access to the other ones, but gestures are a little weak with no ability to mix and match a gesture and an action. So if you're listening to music, you just plain can't use a gesture to launch the camera, since that particular locked-in gesture relies on the volume up button and device orientation. But Sense is responsive, and if you turn off the derpy Sense Home widget that tries to be aviate by showing only the most relevant apps when you're at home or work or out and about, but in my experience just kind of gotten away with irrelevant suggestions and downloads folders and the prime locations on the right hand side that can't be moved, and poor organization of the rest, I'll just use AVIATE or organize my apps myself, thanks! It is pretty good. Which leads us into another low point for the phone, however. The camera is just plain not competitive. Sorry HTC, the UltraPixel Gambit didn't seem to work out, and they've gone for a more traditional camera setup, and while it actually compares reasonably favorably to the Droid Turbo that I use, that's kind of like saying it runs as fast as the kid carrying a diesel generator on his back. They improved auto white balance and removed the head scratcher of a second camera, but at only $50 less than the Galaxy S6 off contract, not to mention that it doesn't come with a quick charge wall wart like the S6 does, the 1M9 needs to do more than that. I mean in no particular order, it needs faster autofocus, faster shutter button response, a flash that works under 15% battery life, a clearer image preview while taking pictures, tuning of the noise reduction on low light pictures that makes them basically a total mess right now, optical image stabilization, a wider angle lens on the selfie camera, and just... I mean I don't want to be unfair, it's not like these test shots and test footage are unexcusable or unusable or anything, it's just that the Galaxy S6 exists, unfortunately, and I'll pay a little extra for the better experience and the use of glass instead of whatever rubbish HTC uses on their lens cover on the back. I actually had one of my two review units crack the lens cover during totally normal use with no drops, which I would normally chalk up to a fluke and not mention if I hadn't had the same damn thing happen with my 1M8, not to mention that HTC gave me the runaround and wanted to charge me for the replacement of it even though it was a documented issue with the phone. Which I guess leads us into the conclusion for the video. The 1M9 is just a phone. It's a good phone and one with an SD card slot if you're into that, but it's just a phone. Every other flagship grabs my attention in some compelling way, whether it's the camera of the S6, the water resistance of an Xperia, or the tank-like battery life of the Droid Turbo. Solid, even great build quality and a clean Android skin was enough two years ago, but it isn't anymore, and while I applaud HTC for offering a free replacement for a cracked screen or water damage, within the first year, that only has a value to me if I already own the device, and I think HTC is going to need another reinvention to stand out against their much stronger competition than what the 1 had to work with in the first place. Speaking of standing out, you know what else stands out? The high quality 3M vinyl wraps that dbrand uses to make your phone or other device look absolutely kick-ass like the 1M9 that you guys have been looking at for the last eight or so minutes. dbrand provided us with two units of the 1M9, so I could decide which skin style I liked better, and I definitely liked the one that actually wraps right around all the little buttons on the sides. It's truly remarkable what a great job they do with these. It's not just about the quality of the vinyl either. Getting the cutting just right so that it fits your device perfectly is a real trick, and they do more than just phones, so whether it's a game console, game controller, notebook, computer, or whatever else that you want to personalize, there's an affordable dbrand skin for you. I mean, even if you're not planning to buy one, it's actually worth checking it out. Head over to dbrand.com, we've got it linked in the video description, and try playing around with the different color schemes on their builder on their site. It's actually pretty fun. So I think that's pretty much it, guys. Like the video if you liked it, dislike it if you thought it sucked. Leave a comment, preferably on the link to our forum in the video description if you want to discuss the video. Also linked in the video description, you can buy cool t-shirt and other merch like this one. In fact, we have lanyards now! Woooooo! Also down there, you can give us a monthly contribution if you think what we're doing is important, and you want us to make more videos. And finally, a link to where you can change your bookmark on Amazon to one with our affiliate code, so we get a small kickback whenever you buy, I don't know, phones or phone stands. These are discontinued, but whatever, things on Amazon. Thanks again for watching, and as always, don't forget to subscribe.