HTC One M9 Release Date for Sprint, AT&T, Verizon And T-Mobile

Mar 02, 2015 02:57 PM EST

The HTC One M9
The HTC One M9 unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona. Photo: HTC

With Mobile World Congress in full swing at Barcelona right now, there is going to be a lot of announcements when it comes to mobile devices. Samsung has already announced its Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge, and it is only a matter of time before HTC made its expected announcement as they unveiled the HTC One M9.

It looks like the One M9 comes with what we have expected. CNET reports that it has a metal body with a gold and silver finish, along with a 5-inch screen with sapphire glass. The processor is a Snapdragon 810, which is Qualcomm's newest high-end processor, and the camera on the back is a quality 20 Megapixels. Another big feature will be HTC Sense 7, an Android skin that will allow users to personalize their handsets, and yes, it will come with Android 5.0 (Lollipop) right out of the box.

Engadget reports that the M9 One looks very similar in its design to its predecessor, the On M8. That is, it has the same unibody design, and uses the trademark BoomSound speakers. It is narrower, shorter, and thicker, but the design is quite similar. The battery capacity is now at 2,840 mAh, which should be enough to get this phone through a full day on one charge.

One thing that is very interesting is the camera of the HTC One M9, as it will have a f/2.2, 27.8 mm lens, which makes it capable of 4K video recording. I have to admit, it is pretty impressive to see a mobile phone have the same ability as a GoPro HERO4. As for the front-facing camera, it uses UltraPixels at 4 Meagpixels.

The One M9 wasn't the only product that HTC announced at MWC 2015. The company apparently wants to get into virtual reality with the Vive, a lightweight headset that can be used with Valve's Steam. According to The Geek Church, this VR headset could be expected to be available to consumers by the end of this year.

Another product will be the Grip, a GPS-fitness band that will enable the user to track his or her walking, running, cycling, or time at the gym. It is planned that the Grip will work with both Android as well as iOS, and will arrive sometime in the Spring for a price of $199.

Now, as far as the availability of this phone is concerned, my sources were pretty vague on this. The best that I could get was from CNET which promised a mid-March release sometime in Asia in four colors, and it should cost £549 / $649 / AU$849, according to Tech Radar.

Android Authority has stated that a few carriers in the United States have announced that they will eventually carry the newly-announced One M9, but there is no pricing or any exact details that are available as yet. There are reports that Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile want to have the One M9 available sometime in the Spring, while Verizon wants to have it available in "early Q2".