All HTC One X9 Questions Answered – FAQ, Benchmark Scores and Photo Gallery

HTC recently unloaded more than a handful of handsets in India, spread across a wide price gamut. While the 10 is the global torchbearer, the mid-tier is represented by HTC One X9, a Helio X10 powered handset that promises premium Android experience. We have been using it for the last 6 days and will try to address all HTC One X9 related doubts and unresolved queries in the following article.

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HTC One X9 Specifications and Features:

Model	HTC One X9
Display	5.5-inch, FHD (1920×1080) display
Processor	Mediatek Helio X10 Octa-core 2.2 GHz
RAM	3GB
Internal Storage	32GB, microSD, up to 2TB
Software	Android 6.0 Marshmallow  with HTC Sense 7
Primary Camera	13MP, F/2.0 aperture, BSI sensor, autofocus, OIS, LED flash
Secondary Camera	5MP with 1.12-micrometer pixels, F/2.8 aperture, autofocus, dual tone flash
Dimensions	153.9 x 75.9 x 8 mm, 170 grams
Battery	3000 mAh, Fast charging
Others	Micro USB, Dual SIM, 4G LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, Boomsound speakers with Dolby Audio, GPS, GLONASS, BEIDU
Price	Rs. 25,990

Design, Build, and Display

Question: How is the HTC One X9 design?

Answer: The HTC One X9 definitely looks the part. If you love phablets, you will find a lot to like here. Essentially, there is metal on the rear and on the edges, and an aesthetically appealing 2.5D glass on the front. What’s not to like is the abrupt chrome finished plastic rim layered between metal and glass, and the ugly flaps housing the SIM card and MicroSD card slot.

The Boomsound speakers on the front are totally awesome and go a long way in enriching your smartphone experience, but the slits eteched for audio output accumulate grime and dirt rather easily. Also, the glass strip enclosing the rear camera module is susceptible to scratches.

Buttons and ports are aptly situated. HTC has sided with off-screen navigation keys which are backlit. At 170 grams, it is heavier than what I would have guessed holding it in hands. The weight is well balanced.

All said and done, the HTC One X9 design is very premium, and the handset feels quite comfortable to carry around.

Question: HTC One X9 has capacitive keys or on-screen navigation buttons?

Answer:  As stated, One X9 has silver capacitive navigation buttons. These are backlit, silver coated and are well spaced. Navigation in dark ambient conditions wasn’t a problem for us.

Question: How is the display of HTC One X9?

Answer:  HTC One X9 has a crisp 5.5-inch Full HD display that offers great colors. The display is bright, vivid and has wide viewing angles. The touch glass is a bit reflective, but that is something you won’t notice very often. Color calibration and temperature feel adequate too. We like the display on HTC One X9.

Question: How is the outdoor visibility? Does the HTC One X9 has the option for automatic brightness?

Answer: Outdoor visibility is good. Auto-brightness works very well too.

Question: Does the HTC One X9 display has gorilla glass protection?

Answer: Yes it does. The exact version hasn’t been specified though.

Also Read : 10 Things You Must Consider Before Buying Android Mobile Online

Performance and Storage

Question: How much internal storage space is free on HTC One X9?

Answer: Out of 32GB, around 21GB is available for users.

Question: Does HTC One X9 support microSD card? Can Apps be moved to SD card on HTC One X9?

Answer: You can check SD card as default storage, but Apps can’t be moved or installed on SD card.

Question: Does HTC One X9 support Adoptable storage?

Answer: Yes, it does. You can format SD card as Internal storage and then use additional space for apps as well.

Question: Does HTC One X9 support USB OTG?

Answer: Yes, USB OTG is supported.

Question: How is the day-to-day or general performance? How is gaming performance of HTC One X9?

Answer: Day-to-day and normal usage performance on HTC One X9 is very smooth. Most of the games that we tried are running without any issues. Modern Combat 5 didn’t work on our handset. Other games like Ashphalt 8, OverKill 3 worked fine.

Question: What are benchmark scores of HTC One X9?

Answer: Synthetic benchmark scores to back that up are as follows.

Benchmark Standard	Scores
AnTuTu	48841
Vellamo (Metal, Multicore, Chrome)	1393, 2457, 2281
Nenamarks 2	59.6 fps
Quadrant	24298
Geekbench (Single Core, Multi Core)	894, 4227

Question: Does HTC One X9 has heating issues?

Answer: Since this is a metal body handset powered by Helio X10 (notorious for heating), we went in to this review expecting it to run a bit warm. The One X9, however, handled heating better than what we had expected.

Indoors, It doesn’t heat with normal usage. With gamming, temperature soared to 41 degrees rather swiftly (AC environment). So, yes it gets hot with gaming. And through our 10 to 15 minutes continuous photo shoot outdoors the temperature went as high as 49 degrees. With heating, lag and excessive battery drain also creep in.

Question: How much RAM is free on first boot in HTC One X9?

Answer: At the time of first boot, Approx 2.2GB RAM is free.

Question: Does HTC One X9 support Google cardboard and other VR Apps?

Answer: Yes, VR apps and Google Cardboard are supported

Also Read: 6 Things A Spec Sheet Won’t Tell You

Camera

Question: How is the HTC One X9 camera quality?

Answer: HTC One X9 employs a capable camera sensor, but the hardware-software combo often yields inconsistent results. It’s good in proper lighting. It’s good in proper indoor low lighting. Performance understandably falters in low lighting. But in tricky lighting, the camera often goes berserk.

Luckily a handy pro-mode is present which can be used to rectify white balance and ISO in low light shots. Under afternoon sun, the camera struggles with exposure settings and parts of images are left unevenly exposed.

One X9 handles video recording pretty well, and OIS further helps with this. The front selfie camera is also very decent.

The camera isn’t outright impressive, but can muster good looking images in auto mode. If you are acquainted with basic photography principles, you can get accurate shots too in pro mode.

HTC One X9 Camera Samples

Question: How well does the HDR Mode work on the HTC One X9 camera?

Answer: Yes, HDR mode is present, and it works well 90 percent of the times.

Question: Can the HTC One X9 shoot 4K videos?

Answer: yes, it can.

Question: Can you record slow-motion videos on HTC One X9?

Answer: Yes, you can record 720p HD Slow-motion videos at 120fps. Quality isn’t anything to write home about.

Software

Question: How is HTC Sense 7 software?

Answer: The HTC Sense 7 on One X9 is a very clean software. It is also based on Latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which means you get to taste latest Android features like Now on Tap, App Links and Direct Share.

The UI has what most people need without being overwhelming, and is quite close to Google’s Android vision as well. Unlike most Chinese branded phones that we come across, this one has an App drawer (Phew!).

The best part is the home screen widget which can be taught to automatically show different apps on the front depending on whether you are at work, at home or out travelling. Simple yet very effective.

Question: Does the HTC One X9 support Gestures?

Answer: Yes. Motion gestures like double tap to wake, or camera trigger using volume keys are present.

Question: Does the HTC One X9 have one-handed UI mode?

Answer: No.

Question: Does the HTC One X9 support double tap to wake feature?

Answer- Yes, it does.

Miscellaneous

Question: What kind of SIM cards does HTC One X9 support?

Answer: The handset accepts two Nano SIM cards.

Question: How is the call quality on HTC One X9?

Answer: Call quality is very good.

Question: How is the Battery backup on HTC One X9?

Answer: HTC One X9 should last for 1 day of moderate to heavy usage for most people.

However, it must be noted that bouts of heavy usage are quite harsh on battery. On days when your usage is heavy, you will need mid-day charging. Battery saver mode is also present, enabling you to use battery judiciously when required. Battery backup isn’t great, but it still lies within the bounds of being acceptable.

Question: Does HTC One X9 support fast charging?

Answer: Yes, it does (5V, 1.5A).

Question: What are the sensors present in HTC One X9?

Answer: It includes Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor, Motion G-sensor, Compass sensor, Gyro sensor, Magnetic sensor, Sensor Hub

Question: Is the battery removable on HTC One X9?

Answer: No, it’s not.

Question: How loud is the loudspeaker on HTC One X9?

Answer: Audio quality is awesome, and the dual Frontal Boomsound speakers are fairly loud too.

Question: How is the audio quality via headphones?

Answer: Audio quality via headphones is very good.

Conclusion

The overall experience that One X9 offers is quite satisfying. Not much glitters on its modest spec-sheet, but, in practical usage, it doesn’t disappoint where it matters most. The beautiful display and refined software are its biggest strength. However, we do wish it had a fingerprint sensor and better battery back-up. We can recommend it for basic and moderate users looking for a tier -1 branded midrange smartphones.