HTC One X9 Review: What went wrong?

[Scorpus]

I have always had a soft spot for HTC. The company produced the first Android handset, which was my entry into the wonderful world of smartphones and a great piece of hardware in its own right. More recently, I was impressed with the HTC 10, their current flagship and a real return to form that puts them in a great position to go against any other top contender.

On the other hand, I’ve never been impressed with HTC’s mid-range offerings. Phones in the $300 to $400 bracket need compelling hardware or software to stand out, particularly against older flagships that so often occupy these price points. I’ve rarely seen a phone from HTC -- or any other manufacturer for that matter -- that meets this criteria.

The One X9 is a classic example of a mid-range handset. It has marginally better hardware than budget offerings – a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a MediaTek Helio X10 SoC, 32 GB of storage, a 13-megapixel camera with OIS, and a metal build – but it just doesn’t do enough for the price. It's not a terrible phone, but it’s simply too expensive.

Read the complete review.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I dont understand how HTC's executives didnt learn a thing from the one A9.

"hey guys, our last mid range phone was too expensive and had poor battery life, lets make the exact same mistakes, but make the camera worse and use a Chinese SoC instead of a snapdragon to make it difficult to put cyanogenmod on this device!! surely people will buy this one!"

HTC needs to go under and be bought out. They dont have a clue how to design phones properly, or how to market their brand.

 

[Nobina]

I dont understand how HTC's executives didnt learn a thing from the one A9.

"hey guys, our last mid range phone was too expensive and had poor battery life, lets make the exact same mistakes, but make the camera worse and use a Chinese SoC instead of a snapdragon to make it difficult to put cyanogenmod on this device!! surely people will buy this one!"

HTC needs to go under and be bought out. They dont have a clue how to design phones properly, or how to market their brand.

Let's take down the whole company cause they made a mid range device I don't like.

 

[Vladislav]

"Speakers are outstanding" and "Decent front facing speakers" on the same page? If for the reviewer "outstanding" is the same as "decent", how should we read other observations? "Not a good smartphone" - does it mean "decent" or "outstanding"?

 

[Reehahs]

I dont understand how HTC's executives didnt learn a thing from the one A9.

"hey guys, our last mid range phone was too expensive and had poor battery life, lets make the exact same mistakes, but make the camera worse and use a Chinese SoC instead of a snapdragon to make it difficult to put cyanogenmod on this device!! surely people will buy this one!"

HTC needs to go under and be bought out. They dont have a clue how to design phones properly, or how to market their brand.

Let's take down the whole company cause they made a mid range device I don't like.

Or more like let's restructure the company so they do know what to do with their mid range segment so they don't end up killing themselves.

 

[Reehahs]

What I don't understand is why do phone manufacturers keep releasing mid range handsets that get outclassed by their previous flagships for the same price. Wouldn't it be lot better to rehash/release previous flagships at mid range instead?