HTC One M9 camera comparison: 20 megapixels on the back and UltraPixel on the front

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  • Front doors of La Sagrada Familia, captured by the HTC One M9

    Front doors of La Sagrada Familia, captured by the HTC One M9

    One of my primary concerns with the HTC One M8 was the camera. While I thought a couple of the Duo Camera effects were fun and produced interesting shots, they were not consistently good and if there was any bright light in your view then things were often blown out.

    I had the chance to take the HTC One M9 out on a tour of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and brought along the M8, Sony Xperia Z3, and Apple iPhone 6 Plus. A few comparison collages are included in this gallery to give you a sense of how the HTC One M9 performed.

    HTC stated that the final release camera software continues to be tweaked so it is likely that the M9 camera will be even better than what I saw a couple days ago. I noticed that there appears to be a greenish tint in the software now and am sure that the software can be improved over the next few weeks prior to release.

    I also noted that the M8 photos were rather poor and later discovered there were scratches on a protective film of that lens. While the lens was wiped clean, I think these micro scratches led to fuzzy edges in the shots. Another M8 owner told me to physically scratch off that film and I now see it is removed and photos are better than what I captured at the time of this tour.

    You may be able to see in these low resolution gallery images that the HTC One M9 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus appear to be the best in most comparison shots. The M8 is clearly the worst and sometimes the Xperia Z3 is best.

    Picking the best depends on your personal preferences too. As you can see, the iPhone 6 Plus offers yellower softer images than the others, but some people also don't like this look.

    One aspect of the M9 camera that disappoints me is the lack of OIS. The iPhone 6 Plus has OIS, but the Xperia Z3 uses digital stabilization. I will have to test out video quality when I get a review unit as that is where OIS becomes even more of an issue.

    The bottom line is that the HTC One M9 camera is an improvements over the HTC One M8 in most situations. If you use a M8 for lots of low light photos, simply flip the M9 around and use the improved UltraPixel camera now found on the front. With the M9, you really do get the best of both worlds in a single smartphone and I think the One M9 is likely to be my daily driver when it launches on T-Mobile.

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Inside La Sagrada Familia

    Inside La Sagrada Familia

    The HTC one M9 captured these stained glass windows

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Matthew in La Sagrada Familia

    Matthew in La Sagrada Familia

    I zoomed in to capture this image from quite a ways down below the structure

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Bokeh option on the HTC One M9

    Bokeh option on the HTC One M9

    Illy is my favorite coffee

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Selfie outside La Sagrada Familia

    Selfie outside La Sagrada Familia

    I used the front facing UltraPixel camera to capture this shot

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Dual mode selfie

    Dual mode selfie

    The M9 has the Eye Experience options so you can take shots in a variety of ways

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Barcelon sky and building comparison

    Barcelon sky and building comparison

    One M9 in upper left, One M8 in upper right, Xperia Z3 in lower left, iPhone 6 Plus in lower right

    Note the details of the building and colors of the sky

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Outside building comparison

    Outside building comparison

    One M9 in upper left, One M8 in upper right, Xperia Z3 in lower left, iPhone 6 Plus in lower right

    I like the way the iPhone 6 Plus shows the blue sky

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Above the front door comparison

    Above the front door comparison

    One M9 in upper left, One M8 in upper right, Xperia Z3 in lower left, iPhone 6 Plus in lower right

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Zoomed in front door comparison

    Zoomed in front door comparison

    One M9 in upper left, One M8 in upper right, Xperia Z3 in lower left, iPhone 6 Plus in lower right

    These were zoomed in and show the details you can expect

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Support structure plaster model comparison

    Support structure plaster model comparison

    One M9 in upper left, One M8 in upper right, Xperia Z3 in lower left, iPhone 6 Plus in lower right

    These were zoomed in and show the details you can expect

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

  • Inside pillar comparison

    Inside pillar comparison

    One M9 on the left, Xperia Z3 in the middle, iPhone 6 Plus on the right

    The HTC One M9 looks to have the best detail, but the software shows it a bit green for this pre-release model

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    Caption by: Matthew Miller

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HTC made the right move by moving the UltraPixel camera to the front and adding in a more standard camera to the back. Software isn't yet final, but initial results are encouraging.

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Front doors of La Sagrada Familia, captured by the HTC One M9

One of my primary concerns with the HTC One M8 was the camera. While I thought a couple of the Duo Camera effects were fun and produced interesting shots, they were not consistently good and if there was any bright light in your view then things were often blown out.

I had the chance to take the HTC One M9 out on a tour of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and brought along the M8, Sony Xperia Z3, and Apple iPhone 6 Plus. A few comparison collages are included in this gallery to give you a sense of how the HTC One M9 performed.

HTC stated that the final release camera software continues to be tweaked so it is likely that the M9 camera will be even better than what I saw a couple days ago. I noticed that there appears to be a greenish tint in the software now and am sure that the software can be improved over the next few weeks prior to release.

I also noted that the M8 photos were rather poor and later discovered there were scratches on a protective film of that lens. While the lens was wiped clean, I think these micro scratches led to fuzzy edges in the shots. Another M8 owner told me to physically scratch off that film and I now see it is removed and photos are better than what I captured at the time of this tour.

You may be able to see in these low resolution gallery images that the HTC One M9 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus appear to be the best in most comparison shots. The M8 is clearly the worst and sometimes the Xperia Z3 is best.

Picking the best depends on your personal preferences too. As you can see, the iPhone 6 Plus offers yellower softer images than the others, but some people also don't like this look.

One aspect of the M9 camera that disappoints me is the lack of OIS. The iPhone 6 Plus has OIS, but the Xperia Z3 uses digital stabilization. I will have to test out video quality when I get a review unit as that is where OIS becomes even more of an issue.

The bottom line is that the HTC One M9 camera is an improvements over the HTC One M8 in most situations. If you use a M8 for lots of low light photos, simply flip the M9 around and use the improved UltraPixel camera now found on the front. With the M9, you really do get the best of both worlds in a single smartphone and I think the One M9 is likely to be my daily driver when it launches on T-Mobile.

See also:

Caption by: Matthew Miller

1 of 12

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