HTC One M9 User Thread

[Paynefanbro]

it is unsettling hearing these polar opposites views when it comes to rf performance. I have an m8 and would love an m9 if the rf is better. I just moved into a rural area when service is kind of spotty but sprint claims to have fair LTE coverage. Hoping the m9 might fix some of that.

 

If you own an M8, I would advise against purchasing an M9. The next iteration will be much more of an upgrade for M8 owners. It's like if someone who owned an iPhone 5 purchases an iPhone 5S.

[danRandall]

i have two lines and swap between the upgrades every year so selling my m8 for a m9 means something like a $40 cost to me. If the rf was a little better than it may be worth it...but now google screws everything up and does this project fi thing and that may solve all of my connection problems. now if only it wasn't the nexus 6 exclusively

[kojitsari]

i have two lines and swap between the upgrades every year so selling my m8 for a m9 means something like a $40 cost to me. If the rf was a little better than it may be worth it...but now google screws everything up and does this project fi thing and that may solve all of my connection problems. now if only it wasn't the nexus 6 exclusively

The rf is not bad in this phone by any means. The performance has just gone down. What I means is now it's about on par with my n5, before it used to smoke it.

[P_M_G]

I'm not seeing any decent RF performance honestly. Sitting at dinner with my daughter last night she had full bars of 3G on her S5 while my M9 was 1X most of the meal and finally latched onto 3G signal right before we left and that was barely useable. This was at a location that according to Sensorly should have been covered by LTE and a parking lot away from an upgraded 3G tower (OG03XC117) at the mall next door.

 

I am "roaming" on this phone significantly more than my M7 and it's getting frustrating. I'm hoping there's a radio update coming in the very very very near future.

[jbahlman]

I have had the M9 for a couple of weeks and the RF is wayyyyy better than my M7.  I have LTE most of the time in NOVA, where i rarely had it with my m7.  I have seen a couple of times where i lose a connection and have had to turn on airplane mode to reset it, but still much better than the M7.  

[P_M_G]

I have had the M9 for a couple of weeks and the RF is wayyyyy better than my M7.  I have LTE most of the time in NOVA, where i rarely had it with my m7.  I have seen a couple of times where i lose a connection and have had to turn on airplane mode to reset it, but still much better than the M7.  

 

Not necessarily a fair comparison since the LTE you are likely experiencing now was there all the time but on bands the M7 wasn't capable of connecting to.

[jeffcarp]

There seems to be some rather widespread reports of various apps on the M9 not communicating despite a good LTE data signal. I've personally experienced this with Facebook and several Google apps. Some as speculating it's a potential DNS issue.

 

Details here: https://community.sprint.com/baw/mobile/mobile-access.jspa#jive-discussion?content=%2Fapi%2Fcore%2Fv2%2Fdiscussions%2F205603

[jbahlman]

Not necessarily a fair comparison since the LTE you are likely experiencing now was there all the time but on bands the M7 wasn't capable of connecting to.

You are correct.  While i knew that the M7 didn't support B26 or B41, i assumed at my cube at work where i got B25 LTE sporatically with the M7, that the M9 was using B25 as well, but when i checked this morning, it was using B26 instead.  I will have to check at home and see what Band i am connected with.  

 

So for someone coming from a M8 it might not be worth it, but from a M7 it is like night and day.  With the M7 the only place i had LTE was driving home down 7 most of the way.  With the M9, i almost always have LTE.  

 

Also while visiting my inlaws in Central Virginia, with my M7 my battery was constantly draining because of the poor coverage and dropped calls, where the M9 hasn't dropped one call. 

Edited April 29, 2015 by jbahlman

[crazy_vag]

I noticed recently that my M8 stops connecting to LTE and stays on 3G/1x after I ride the elevator or visit a place with low connectivity.  I need to redo self-activation to fix it.  This seems to have have regressed with the Lollipop upgrade, but I'm wondering if that's the same issue affecting the M9.

 

If that happens to you, go to Settings -> Activate Device -> Reset Cellular Data.  After the phone reboots a couple times, let me know if the issue is fixed.

[themuffinman]

Latest camera update allows raw mode.

[Dkoellerwx]

I noticed recently that my M8 stops connecting to LTE and stays on 3G/1x af

 

M8? 

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5784-htc-one-m8-user-thread/

[tsume]

My M9 seems to perform about the same as my M8 now that the weird LTE loading issues are fixed.  I get LTE in the same places and 3G in the same places.  b41 is just as rare as it was on the M8.

 

And I still have the same problem where after driving across the mountains on I-26 from TN to NC, my phone gets stuck on roaming until I reboot it (airplane mode toggle doesn't fix).  Weird that it never happens on the way back but always on the way there.  Wonder if it has something to do with going from an Ericsson market to a Alcatel market with roaming in between.

[kojitsari]

For everyone having radio issues there's a zip of the old one on xda. Results may vary but it is an improvement for me, not quite back to how it was but better.

[iansltx]

Thinking of retiring my N5 in favor of the M9, but want to be able to swap out my Ting TMo SIM when using it is a better idea vs. my Sprint account. Any issues y'all foresee with grabbing the Sprint version of the M9 directly from htc.com and then calling Sprint to ask for an unlock?

 

Also, how's radio perf vs. the 5? What about GPS perf? Remember that my market does have some B41 around, as well as tons of B26, so those bands matter to me. Just skimming the last few posts here, do I need to flash the older radio to avoid issues?

[Jeff68005]

I don't know Ting as well as I know a competitor, but I have read that SPRINT has a "white list" of phones that SPRINT will not allow on third party services called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) that use Sprint towers for its backbone.   Ting is such a service.  I do not know how the SIM swap may work.  My reply is based on the basic concept of the Sprint "white list"

You would have to check the Ting website to see if they will provide service for an M9.  I found Ting selling HTC m8s but not M9.

IF you are planning on getting the M9 elsewhere check their BYOD page before you spend the money.

https://ting.com/byod

 

I see Ting has GSM service in many areas, you should see if they have it where you want to be.  Ting has been primarily a CDMA operation until this past February.

[Jeff68005]

You asked about radio performance as well.  I do not know if it is a fair comparison,but on a couple of recent trips between Omaha and Des Moines, Iowa, I observed the LG G Pad F 7.0  tablet was getting 4G LTE when my HTC One M9 was falling into 3G.

The basis for my observation was LTE Discovery on both devices at the same time.  Often, they were selecting different towers based on the direction of the tower on LTE Discovery.

[iansltx]

I don't know Ting as well as I know a competitor, but I have read that SPRINT has a "white list" of phones that SPRINT will not allow on third party services called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) that use Sprint towers for its backbone.   Ting is such a service.  I do not know how the SIM swap may work.  My reply is based on the basic concept of the Sprint "white list"

You would have to check the Ting website to see if they will provide service for an M9.  I found Ting selling HTC m8s but not M9.

IF you are planning on getting the M9 elsewhere check their BYOD page before you spend the money.

https://ting.com/byod

 

I see Ting has GSM service in many areas, you should see if they have it where you want to be.  Ting has been primarily a CDMA operation until this past February.

 

Ahem...I mentioned the T-Mobile side of Ting in my post.

 

To elucidate, I have a Sprint postpaid SIM and a T-Mobile-powered Ting SIM. The latter shares a billing account with four Sprint-based lines, which are assigned by MEID to other family members (two S IIIs, two Galaxy Victories for those following at home). My primary phone is a Nexus 5, which I can (and have) swap(ped) Sprint and T(ing|-Mobile) SIMs out of on a regular basis.

 

I already know that the Sprint M9 would work with my postpaid Sprint SIM...that's the standard case. The question is what I'd need to do to make it work with a T-Mobile SIM...unless you're buying a data-only plan a T-Mobile SIM will work in any phone that supports its frequency bands and is unlocked. The M9 Sprint Edition satisfies the former requirement...including B12...but probabaly not the latter out of the box?

[WiWavelength]

Thinking of retiring my N5 in favor of the M9, but want to be able to swap out my Ting TMo SIM when using it is a better idea vs. my Sprint account. Any issues y'all foresee with grabbing the Sprint version of the M9 directly from htc.com and then calling Sprint to ask for an unlock?

I already know that the Sprint M9 would work with my postpaid Sprint SIM...that's the standard case. The question is what I'd need to do to make it work with a T-Mobile SIM...unless you're buying a data-only plan a T-Mobile SIM will work in any phone that supports its frequency bands and is unlocked. The M9 Sprint Edition satisfies the former requirement...including B12...but probabaly not the latter out of the box?

 

Ian, you should have read my article.  In the Sprint variant, we found no evidence of domestic GSM/W-CDMA support.  Those modes are not FCC authorized.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-383-summer-of-69-samsung-and-htc-rock-out-with-their-flagships-for-the-season/

 

AJ

[iansltx]

My reading comprehensiveness skills need work; I skimmed the article and stoppedreading after I saw the LTE bands. Good...albeit frustrating...to know

[P_M_G]

Was in SD all weekend for water polo and the performance of this phone (documented by others on XDA and in Sprint Community) was atrocious.

 

Sat - at the pool next to a 4G tower in 92124 and could not get a usable data signal. Tried toggling airplane mode to no avail, profile, PRL updates and reboot would just give me 3G for a few moments before dropping data completely...while my daughter's S5 (and other S3s) were humming along just fine.

 

Sun - a fringy area of 92117 but still showing coverage on Sensorly and same exact results as above.

 

Hotel - area of 92121 at the SD Tech Center near the Qualcomm offices - again, about a block from a 4G tower with zero usable signal.

[Jeff68005]

Okay .. frustration central here.

I am a new purchaser of the M9.  I have learned how to make screen shots of the LTE Discovery, Signal Check and Sensory speedtest screens.

I saw some interesting to me readings and was going to ask about them in the appropriate thread, but I have not been able to find the screenshots on the M9 nor when USB cable to my PC.  I would appreciate some directions how to find my screenshots and how to copy that file folder to my PC without damaging my M9 directory.

 

Thank you in advance. 

[kojitsari]

Okay .. frustration central here.

I am a new purchaser of the M9. I have learned how to make screen shots of the LTE Discovery, Signal Check and Sensory speedtest screens.

I saw some interesting to me readings and was going to ask about them in the appropriate thread, but I have not been able to find the screenshots on the M9 nor when USB cable to my PC. I would appreciate some directions how to find my screenshots and how to copy that file folder to my PC without damaging my M9 directory.

 

Thank you in advance.

Should be in your gallery, or the pictures folder once you navigate to your sd card on your PC.

[Jeff68005]

Should be in your gallery, or the pictures folder once you navigate to your sd card on your PC.

Okay, I found them in the Pictures folder and a subfolder Screenshots on the M9. 

hmm Second effort to connect my M9 to my PC.  I am now reading the directories in the M9 itself which did not happen on my first attempt to connect the two.  Thank you for pushing me in the right direction.

 

Besides the DCIM > Camera directory, there is a second directory Pictures.  There is a subfolder of Screenshots.

For some reason, I also have a few screenshots in the folder for LTE Discovery.

 

I need to find a way for the pictures directory to write to the SD card instead of the phone itself.

 

Again thanks for the nudge.

 

http://i.imgur.com/N0HY4ij.jpg

[Terrell352]

You asked about radio performance as well. I do not know if it is a fair comparison,but on a couple of recent trips between Omaha and Des Moines, Iowa, I observed the LG G Pad F 7.0 tablet was getting 4G LTE when my HTC One M9 was falling into 3G.

The basis for my observation was LTE Discovery on both devices at the same time. Often, they were selecting different towers based on the direction of the tower on LTE Discovery.

Your M9 was falling to 3G because the network sensed it as a better signal. The lg g pad 7.0 only has LTE so it will hold on for it longer because once it loses LTE it goes to no service unlike the M9 which has 3G and 1x to fall back on. If you switch your M9 to LTE only mode it will hold LTE in the same fashion as your LG G Pad 7.0

[bmoses]

The basis for my observation was LTE Discovery on both devices at the same time.  Often, they were selecting different towers based on the direction of the tower on LTE Discovery.

 

the tower direction arrow in LTE discovery is not accurate, there is no way for that app to know where the tower is, because LTE does not broadcast any kind of location information. The only what to know what tower each device was connected to is to look at the GCI that LTE is connected to, if the GCI is the same then they are on the same tower, you can then use the GCI to look in our spreadsheets for our market to find exactly what tower the LTE was coming from.

 

one other thing you can do, if you have signal check pro, there was a post in the IA/NE premier thread in the last day or so where a member posted an updated signal check DB. if you import this into signal check pro it will have site notes listed for all of the towers that match up with the "name" column in our spreadsheet. then when you connect to LTE signal check will match the GCI of the connection to the entry in the DB and display the correct site note, that will give you a better idea of what tower you are connected to without having to remember the GCI and go look it up in the spreadsheet.

 

you can see an example in this screenshot http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g442/bradmoses/signalcheck%20screens/Screenshot_2014-11-07-11-58-55.png the note matches up to the name column in the IA spreadsheet so i know what tower i was connected to then.