HTC fans, meanwhile, can hold out hope that the One M9 isn't the end of the line. Rumours of the HTC One E9, the One E9+ and One M9+ (which may be one, two or three phones) look to be promising M9 variants with a larger, higher-resolution screen and possibly even a fingerprint sensor, among other improvements. Editors' note, May 13, 2015: This review has been updated to reflect further testing. HTC hasn't exactly strayed far from the design scheme it used a year ago for the M8. It has an all-metal body, with the bombastic "BoomSound" speakers sitting above and below the display. The back of the phone is gently rounded and inset plastic lines traverse the body at the top and bottom -- exactly as you'll see on both the M8 and the M7 before it.

With the same 5-inch display inside the M9, the overall body size is roughly the same too, and the weights of the two phones feel roughly the same, One difference you'll see on the back is that there's only one camera lens, instead of the two on the M8, More on that later, There are some small changes to note, however, The metal back still meets the display at the front, but the edges are now angular, rather than smoothly rounded -- it's more akin to the earlier M7, in fact, The edge too is of a slightly different colour than the back panel, giving a subtle two-tone effect, The colour variations include a gold edge around a silver body, a dark grey body with a polished silver edge, and a polished gold sky iphone case edge with a gold back..

The power button has been moved from the top edge of the phone to the right-hand side, below the volume buttons. Trying to press the power button on the top meant either using two hands, or shifting the position of the phone in your one hand in order to stretch out -- a manoeuvre that makes it very easy to drop your phone. I much prefer the ease of having the button on the edge, although having all three buttons in a line on one side did take a little getting used to. While it's easy to argue that a new flagship phone requires a new design overhaul every year -- though Apple would dispute that -- the fact is the One M8 was already a stunning piece of kit. The M9 may not be visually much different, but it still feels every bit as luxurious as its predecessor.

On the other hand, with its wraparound screen and metal-and-glass body, Samsung's new Galaxy S6 Edge is not only a considerably more premium-feeling device than its plasticky predecessor, but an interesting new design that sky iphone case stands out from earlier models, The One M9 does have stiffer competition here, With similar materials in use on both handsets, the question of which looks and feels better is really just a question of personal taste, The BoomSound speakers are physically the same as before -- again, that's not a bad thing, as they produce the richest sound I've heard from a phone, HTC has roped in audio specialist Dolby to help tune them to provide a "rich and deep" sound, While the speakers are certainly louder than most smartphones -- and on par with those on the M8 -- they're still a long way from replacing a good set of speakers or headphones..

If you want to feel properly immersed in a movie or to really rock out in your living room to some Dream Theater you'll want external speakers. But they're well-suited for videos or podcasts that rely on speech; for watching Netflix in the kitchen while cooking, the BoomSound speakers fit the bill. Their forward-facing position means that when the phone lies flat on a table, the sound isn't muffled. The nano-SIM card slot and microSD card slot are both tucked into the metal edge and both need to be extracted using a SIM tool (or a paperclip). The M9 accepts SD cards up to 128GB in size, but the base model does also come with 32GB of storage, rather than 16GB, which is a very welcome boost. And, notably, the new Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge do not support expandable storage.