UPDATE: Mo Versi, HTC’s VP of Product Management, says that the One A9 supports both Wi-Fi Calling and VoLTE on T-Mobile.
The HTC One A9 is now officially official, boasting a metal unibody construction that houses a 5-inch 1920×1080 AMOLED display that’s covered with Gorilla Glass 4 and a fingerprint sensor on its face, as well as 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, phase detection autofocus for speedier focusing, and RAW support, which’ll let you capture uncompressed images if that’s your thing.
Another big feature of the HTC One A9 is its software. The phone comes preloaded with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, making it one of the first phones to do so. On top of that, HTC says that it’ll push Android OS updates to the One A9 within 15 days of Google sending them to Nexus devices. Typically it can take a while for Android updates to be pushed to devices running customized user interfaces, so it’ll be extremely impressive if HTC can follow through on its promise.
The HTC One A9’s spec list also includes an UltraPixel front camera, octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a microSD slot that’ll support cards up to 2TB in size. The battery powering this whole package is a 2150mAh juice pack that supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, meaning you should be able to fill that battery back up relatively quickly.
One other detail to note is that it looks like the One A9 doesn’t have front-facing BoomSound speakers, a feature found on many other HTC One phones. HTC says that the One A9 still offers solid audio quality, though, including Dolby Audio Surround technology, Hi-Res Audio, and a high-output headphone amp.
The HTC One A9 is being sold unlocked through HTC’s store for $399.99. You can pre-order a unit right now, and orders are expected to ship on November 6. The unlocked model supports LTE bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17, and 29, and HTC’s spec list says that the Americas version of the One A9 includes “4G LTE with Voice LTE (VoLTE).” That said, I’ve pinged T-Mobile for confirmation from them on the One A9’s VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling capabilities, but I’m still waiting to hear back.
A couple other details worth noting about the unlocked One A9 being sold by HTC. Not only is it SIM-unlocked, but it also features an unlockable bootloader that you can use to load custom ROMs if you’re into that sort of thing. HTC says that unlocking the bootloader won’t void the warranty. Also included is 6 months of Google Play Music and HTC Uh-Oh Protection, which offers 1 free replacement if you crack the screen or suffer water damage within the first year of ownership.
Sources: HTC Blog, HTC One A9 pre-order