HTC’s next smartphone is coming in November, but if you’re in the US you can pre-order the HTC One A9 from HTC.com starting today.

As expected, the phone looks a lot like an iPhone… although HTC points out that the design is also an evolution of the look and feel of its previous phones including the HTC One M7 through M9.

What’s a little more unexpected is how HTC will sell the phone. US customers will have the chance to order an unlocked GSM model that can be used with AT&T or T-Mobile. It goes up for pre-order today for a promotional price of $400.

a9_07

Not only is the phone SIM unlocked, but you can also unlocked the bootloader without voiding the warranty. And HTC says the unlocked phone will come with less pre-installed software than the versions sold through carriers.

The HTC One A9 will be one of the first non-Nexus phones to shipw ith Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and if you get the unlocked model, it will also receive updates to new versions of Android 15 days or less after Google rolls out updates to it’s Nexus phones.

The phone has a 5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 4, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core, 64-bit processor, 802.11ac WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.1.

HTC offers a model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and another with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Both can support up to 2TB of removable storage thanks to a microSDXC card slot.

The HTC One A9 has a 13MP rear camera with support for optical image stabilization and phase detection autofocus as well as support for RAW capture. There’s also software for one-touch auto-processing and built-in support for hyperlapse video recording.

The phone is powered by a 2150 mAh battery and it supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology.

HTC is also playing up the phone’s audio capabilities: the One A9 has an amplifier that HTC says offers twice the voltage of most other smartphone headphone jacks. The HTC One A9 can also support 192 kHz / 24 bit audio and feature HTC BoomSound front-facing speakers with support for Dolby Surround sound.

 

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15 replies on “HTC One A9 coming in November, with optional Unlocked Edition in the US”

  1. It seems quite nice. If it wasn’t for the SoC being so decidedly uniimpressive I might have been tempted to get it. But as it is I am just hoping a lot of these improvements make it into the next (real) Flagship next spring (and I really hope that they bring the stereo speakers back).

  2. Unlockable bootloader without voiding the warranty is a good step in the right direction. But longer term I’d really like to see one without a lock in the first place or since all of the SoCs seem to integrate locks to make carriers happy, lock the ‘open’ handsets with a key provided to the owner with the handset. I’d suggest a business card with a 2d barcode on it containing the key info packed in the box. If the chip has a lock it might be safer to go ahead and key it to stop malware from flipping it on and either bricking the handset or holding the contents for ransom.

  3. Battery is a huge let down here, but other than that… the iPhone look. Really? Also, how is Apple not all over this?

    1. Because the current iPhone is a copy of the HTC One…..and this phone is just more of HTC’s own design language….

      What? ! Apple copy someone? ! No! ! !

      1. That’s not the point. It seems only Apple is really concerned with this “copying design” trend. It doesn’t matter if they copied other people in the first place, their lawyers will be out whenever their products gets cloned.

        1. First of all, as others said most of these design elements come from HTC’s own line, the One series in particular so it’d be easy to prove in court. Secondly there is a deal between HTC and Apple, remember?
          As for your complaints about battery, let’s wait to see the reviews to see if it is a letdown or not as their claims on battery life are impressive so it remiains to see how off the mark they might be. Remember Marshmallow has battery improvements, the A53s are lower power than the A57s in the M9, and the AMOLED screen MIGHT prove some battery savings, etc. etc. (it could also suck, that’s why we should wait to see reviews).

          1. Apple and HTC’s deal doesn’t apply to hardware design if I remember correctly. But yes. The One had elements that Apple later borrowed because they can do no wrong.

  4. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I might just pre-order this. Looking past that fact that it looks exactly like an iPhone with slight differences and a Samsung-ish front, there are somethings to like here. If they really are working as closely with Google as they say they are and are able to provide updates within 15 days of the Nexuses getting them then I think this is not a half bad option. Are the specs great?Meh not really although there haven’t been any reviews of SD617 phones. But the camera seems to be better (OIS, phase detection). It has a 3GB option as well as seemingly solid build quality (given HTC’s history I’m sure it is well built). So yeah…

    1. I beg to differ, the only thing Nexus 5x has better than this is the battery and laser autofocus. It doesn’t have OIS nor quick charge or an AMOLED display. They both have equal amounts of compromise stacked up against each other.

    1. Supposedly Engadget said battery tests seemed surprising, have to wait for full review. But with quick charge it shouldn’t be a problem if you could plug in for a few minutes

      1. I would rather have larger battery and plug in at the end of the day, not a short battery but have to bring a charger with me so I can plug in mid-day.

    2. That’s my primary concern as well. That, and HTC’s future. But at this price point, I’m now holding off a bit on ordering that N5X…

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