HTC M9 thread

Found this;
http://ask3.three.ie/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL/,/?Command=New,Kb=ROIWebportal,Ts=ROIWebBusiness,T=CaseDoc,varset_Catid=10155,Case=obj%289554%29
Tried setting this up (Mobile data-Access point names-menu new APN), but still no joy. Most of the APN fields were blank when I entered that page.

Some noob questions for the M9 owners :

1. Are we stuck with HTC's 4x4 grid. It's pants. I have used the Google now launcher and Nova launchers before which remedies this, but does this cause extra load on the phone seeing as Sense is still running.

2. Anyway to get rid of blink feed on the M9 ?. I remember on the M8 this was the launcher and you could replace it with Nova for example and disable blink feed. There was even a way to get Blink Feed to come up with a swipe with Nova running.

3. Are we stuck with the sites on blink feed. Anyway to add your own ala Feedly which I think is superior.

4. My HTC is on Three. If I use say a meteor nano sim will I still get Android updates from Meteor when they push them out. And historically which provider is more timely with updates

5. Got around 4 hours on fully charged battery last night before I recharged at 5%. Seem to remember Apple saying 20% is optimal level for recharging if you want your battery to last as long as possible. I guess 4 hours stinks but I was running android updates, installing apps, and I guess the phone indexes everything. It got fairly warm. Its now dropped from 100% charge to 97% charge with screen off in the space of 29 minutes !! Checking battery usage is says Android System 100%. Then again, I have gps on, wifi on, google location services etc.. Any tips for optimising battery usage ? And what does Battery Saving mode actually do ?

Thanks

Basil3 wrote: »

1. Stock, you're stuck with it. Rooted, you have options. Viper beta is about to drop, and that has 4x5 and 5x6 options for Sense.

2. Just pinch home screen, to arrange screens, then just drag BlinkFeed screen to the trash, if that's what you mean.

3. There is some flexibility, don't know about Feedly.

4. Updates are done on CID, so no...popping in a different SIM won't bake a difference.

5. I wouldn't read too much into battery life at the start, as you're using it a lot and a lot is syncing. The battery life is pretty poor though, but I reckon it's something that can be fixed with updates. Theoretically, it's a more efficient chip than the one in M8, and the battery is bigger. Also, the battery drop when you first unplug doesn't mean much.

Thanks mate.
Yeah, I found the help here also
http://www.htc.com/sea/support/htc-one-m9/howto/603532.html
You can add custom topics in blink feed by just doing a search for a topic.
Not too bad.

Will see how the battery goes. I'm not even going to be taking this phone outside (as I break stuff all the time) until this arrives :
https://www.tech21.com/htc-one-m9-case-evo-check-smokey-black.html

Some other quick questions/observations :

I can't renew my free 100gb storage on google drive
http://www.htc.com/sea/support/htc-one-m9/howto/603693.html
Reckon it's because I had the M8 or phone ages back which gave me 100gb storage for 2 years on my google account. When I try to renew it says I must use a different account. Sucks.

What you reckon is the best app for displaying all your photos/vids from all online services in 1 place ? Had a play with HTC's one gallery which displays all my drop box and google drives stuff now in HTC's gallery. The interface is meh What's this other yoke called CloudEx ?

Not sure what I think about the themes app yet. Seems okaysish.
Where is the material design gone ?

Basil3 wrote: »

The new design is more material than it was previously. Maybe a material theme will come out.

One Gallery is the new name for Cloud Ex.

In the terms and conditions for the 100GB on Drive, you can only have one per device, and one per google account. You might be able to work around like I have been with dropbox the last 3 or 4 years, where you sign up to a new offer with a different email address, then close down your first account and change the email address for the new one to your old (primary) email....if that makes sense

That's how I've kept up at about 75+GB on Dropbox for the last few years, and then they gave me a free pro account (1TB) for a year....no idea why, as I'd been taking advantage of their offers for a while until then.

Very good I only have whatever the standard is for dropbox but over 120gb on drive. Will try your suggestion
Here is what google say though : https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/19870?hl=en
I wonder if you close your account with them, redeem the 100gb on a new google account, will they even let your change the email address to your original gmail, and wouldn't I loose the 125gb on my 1st account by closing it. Hmmm..

So when viper beta comes along please post how you get on. Might be interested in this myself as I just can't get on with the grid layout. Probably no point in running a launcher like nova or google over sense. So will chance rooting the phone. Any disadvantages to rooting other then the obvious ?

Basil3 wrote: »

I dunno, I root on the day I get my devices now, but I do stuff for Team Venom, so I know I'll be flashing their ROM. If I didn't do all this stuff, I could probably live happily on an unrooted device though.

Over time, HTC are adding more and more features that only used to be the domain of custom ROMs, such as custom navbar buttons, hide nav bar, etc.

I think they will be releasing the first beta of their ROM today, I've been running it for a couple of days, and it's fine...still a few minor issues, but I have my usual tweaks like horizontal quick settings and long press power for flashlight.

Always though if your rooted you wouldn't get an updates from your network. Shows you what I know. lol.

At least Three didn't put too much bloat on the phone. There is the usual Polaris Office app and a few others including some google apps I don't use I have disabled.

Pity I cannot remove their Accuweather app from the lock screen as I have another weather app I prefer.

Where are the lock screen widgets though that you could use on the M9 ?

Very good blueser. I mustn't have read your original post right as I thought you were on Three not O2 Glad you got sorted.

Ivefoundgod wrote: »

o2 and Three are the same thing now, there is no longer an o2, they've been amalgamated and share the same network infrastructure now.

thanks. yeah, I knew that alright. but I thought he was asking for three apn settings as o2's are different even though same company.

I'm only getting a crappy 15-17Mb/s on 4g with Three.
Will switch over to Meteor nano sim later and check.

Flaccus wrote: »

thanks. yeah, I knew that alright. but I thought he was asking for three apn settings as o2's are different even though same company.

I'm only getting a crappy 15-17Mb/s on 4g with Three.
Will switch over to Meteor nano sim later and check.

Ah, apologies I misunderstood you. I'm on Three and the 4G is quite poor in my experience anyway though I can't compare it to the other networks as I've never used them.

Just checking to see if speaker grilles on M9 are indeed metal and not plastic like M8 and noticed a rattle from top grille. Turns out its the camera. If you tap lightly on back of phone under camera or left of it you get a rattle. I'm probably being too fussy, however it sounds like the iPhone 6 "feature" where the auto focus mechanism /image stabilizer is suspended by magnets and will rattle while there is no current going through it. LOL.

I'm also not confident the gold trim will stand up to even light scuffs so have to be careful inserting the micro usb. It's a pity we don't have the lightning connector approach and coat the ends in soft plastic so as not to damage the casing on insertion.

Anyway, got about 8 hours battery yesterday. Made a few calls, texts, set up more apps, played around with themes, one gallery, took a few photos.

Davexirl wrote: »

How can the phone be €749 on HTC Ireland's site http://shop.emea.htc.com/ie/p_htc_store_product.aspx?i=274737

and only €629 on the Carphonewarehouse one? http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/Product/htc-one-m9/238844/1.3

Sim-unlock will unlock it for 9.99. Had my m9 (locked to three originally) unlocked. So if you are buying it outright, but it for 629 from CPW and spend a tenner unlocking it instead of paying an extra 110 euro from HTC's site.

Delboy5 wrote: »

Can someone recommend a good cover for the M9?

Id like something clear\see through without adding much bulk to the phone.........

Official M9 Clear Case
http://ie.mobilefun.com/51761-official-htc-one-m9-clear-case-clear-onyx-black.htm

Mine arrived today. Will take some pics when I get home.

Delboy5 wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up....

Was looking at the following one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SNOU5IM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ABBG8QJ4C4M75

I had that exact case on my M8 and the transparent back despite it's anti scratch technology scratched after a few days. In fact it even had some faint scratches on it out of the box. Replaced it and the same. The only 2 cases with semi-transparent backs I know don't scratch up easily is the Tech21 EVO and the UAG Mavericks. Another option might the Cruzer Bugdriod circuit case on Amazon for a tenner.

Right now I got myself a wallet case inside in Three. Absolute rip off at 22 euro for fake leather and crappy build quality but it will do until I can decide how to proceed.

Camera update coming
http://phandroid.com/2015/04/09/htc-one-m9-camera-update/

Are we dependent here on the carrier pushing it out ?

Flaccus wrote: »

Found a case I like.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTC-One-Case-Protection-Manufacturer/dp/B00SNWDGMQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1428709662&sr=8-2&keywords=htc+m9+gel+cases

Case above arrived yesterday. Black version. Very happy with it. Nice lay on table design. Exellent corner bumper hard tpu protection. You can make out parts of the gold colour of the htc sides and the back is frosted polycarbonate and you can see the htc silver back. It does not take fingerprints or scratch up with small swirl marks if you wipe it unlike 100% other hard back cases. It's like a UAG but looks classier I think. And it was only 10 quid. I would be confident of no damage if I dropped it from waist height.

carberry wrote: »

Yeah that is a worry of mine I'll admit and was the reason I was asking about the ability to flash custom roms to the device.

Consider the price difference is €110 between HTC and three.ie, going with the reduced cost but branded device is a "sweeter" option. It does come with those negatives for sure, but if they end up being too invasive or updates are too slow I can always flash the Stock HTC rom, right?

I got the three version and unlocked it for a tenner. I was able to remove all three specific software except something called three mobile services which can be disabled. However facebook, twitter, polaris office et.. could not be uninstalled as I presume they are on the system partition, so I disabled them. The Three startup and shutdown screen are still there though

I think I asked this before but does the network you are running effect how quickly you get updates ?

Also, does anyone know what this App&Store service is and why does Google Play services consume so much battery when screen is off. I assume it's all the synching going on and disabling wif/data overnight would help.

Bluefoam wrote: »

I was told that if I use a clear case as opposed to the official dot view one, that the phone won't get any updates until after the carriers release them... Is it true?

Also, why... Just why!