M9 Display Concern

[RuLEoF2]

Hi folks,

So, I have a major concern about the characteristics of the M9 display and I hoping someone here can help.

I'm an avid HTC fan as my first smart phone was the "Droid" Incredible which I rooted a month after I got it. I went with HTC then because the Incredible was the was supposed to be pretty hot s**t in those days and the brand was highly recommended to me by a coworker. I was very happy with it. After rooting I really loved it. I've rooted and will always root every phone I have because of that awesome experience.

Next, I went with the Rezound. That was pretty good but I was never that impressed with the display. The viewing angles sucked. It seemed so dated, like one of the first gen desktop LCD monitors where colors and contrast changed dramatically depending on how you looked at it. Blacks were gray and dark colors faded. The Incredible was perfect. True blacks and vivid colors and the viewing angle quality was consistently great.

Next, I upgraded to the One M8 about three years ago which I still use today. THREE YEARS? Yeah, I know. I'm old school. It's dated and still running 4.4.4 but it works great and I'm one of those "if it ain't broken" types. I rooted it about a week after I got it and put Venom's ViperOneDark on it right away. Wow. What an amazing ROM. Anyway... The display on the M8 was/is beautiful. When I got it, I was so happy to see that it was just like the Incredible. Deep blacks, vivid color, perfectly consistent viewing angles and HD to top it off. A massive improvement over the Rezound. It's one of if not my most favorite qualities of the device.

Now, last week, I purchased a "brand new" M9 from a guy on eBay. While in the process of setting up the phone and getting to know all the features, I noticed that the display was a lot like the Rezound and nothing like my M8. That really threw me because everything that I had read from various sources said that the M9 and M8 displays were basically identical. Both S-LCD 3. I put the M9 next to my M8 and they were VERY different. The M9 actually looked WORSE than the Rezound. I was really bothered by that so I contacted HTC via chat to try to clear up what I was going on.

The HTC rep confirmed that the displays, per their specs and design, should be identical. He even linked a webpage that showed a side-by-side comparison. The only difference was that the M9 has a higher grade of Gorilla Glass. So, I sent him a picture of my M8 and the M9 side-by-side from multiple angles and he firmly agreed that the M9 display was not right. In the process of checking their records for warranty status, he found that the device was previously activated so it wasn't even a new phone as it was advertised.

So... What I'd like to know from any of our fellow members who upgraded from the M8 to the M9, were the displays the same on your phones? Did I get a dud, refurb or did HTC pull a switcharoo on it's customers and go with a different different display after the retail release?

 

[me just sayin]

ebay scammers strikes again. sounds like the seller got you. there is no way to tell you exactly what happened, only the seller knows. maybe the phone was repaired by a third party and did not use oem.

 

[bkdodger]

I've used the M8 but can't speak of M9... Doesn't seem to be model issue but hardware possibly from your experience..

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[RuLEoF2]

The seller took the phone back, full refund with return shipping. He was cool about it. Said he had no idea that it had been activated because he bought it among others from a retail liquidation sale. I think he was being honest. He didn't hesitate accepting the return but sounded frustrated by the situation as he got screwed by his seller.

Anyway, the phone is gone and I have my money back but I'm still in the market for an M9. So, I'd really like to find out what the deal is/was with the display. I saw a YouTube video that was comparing two M8 displays, one made in China and the other in Taiwan. The narrator was speaking Russian (or something similar) so I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I got the gist of it. I was able to recognize it when he was pointing to the one from "Cheena" and "Tey-wun".

He was comparing viewing angels, color, contrasts, pointing at both displays in the same areas of the same image. The one from Taiwan looked like my M8. Great viewing angels, deep blacks and vivid color with clean contrasts. The one from China looked like my Rezound. Grey blacks and pale colors that inverted or grayed out when looking at it from 45 degrees or less.

So, it seems that at least in this case, the M8 had two different displays depending on where it was made. Now I'm wondering if the same is true with the M9. the one I bought and returned was made in Taiwan so that would seem to dispose that theory.

Any thoughts? I would still like to hear from anyone who had/has an M8 and upgraded to the M9. Did you see a difference or where the displays the same?

 

[bkdodger]

If you don’t mind me asking what price range are you in for the new phone ? Just curious if you only want M9 or similar


Happy you got the refund

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[RuLEoF2]

If you don’t mind me asking what price range are you in for the new phone ? Just curious if you only want M9 or similar


Happy you got the refund

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks. I'm a paranoid shopper so I'm very particular on who I buy from and where. I ask a lot of questions and if anything seems off, I walk. This was a good seller from the beginning. eBay's MBG is a great safety net if I'm wrong.

I'm dead set on new unless the phone is very well priced and in near mint condition. My definition of "near mint" is ZERO display scratches and minimal on the casing. Battery and overall function has to be factory spec.

The problem with used is no matter how good it looks, batteries have a lifespan and every hour of use is an hour closer to failure. The other factor with HTC is that they are prone to over heating and it can get pretty bad. If the phone was used by a gamer or someone who really pushed the CPU, it may have overheated dozens of times and as I'm sure you know, that is REALLY bad. Those factors are the big unknowns and near impossible to determine so for those reasons, I'd have a real hard time paying much over $100 used. Brand new, sealed in the original retail packaging, I'd like to keep it under $200 but I'm open minded.

 

[bkdodger]

Thanks. I'm a paranoid shopper so I'm very particular on who I buy from and where. I ask a lot of questions and if anything seems off, I walk. This was a good seller from the beginning. eBay's MBG is a great safety net if I'm wrong.

I'm dead set on new unless the phone is very well priced and in near mint condition. My definition of "near mint" is ZERO display scratches and minimal on the casing. Battery and overall function has to be factory spec.

The problem with used is no matter how good it looks, batteries have a lifespan and every hour of use is an hour closer to failure. The other factor with HTC is that they are prone to over heating and it can get pretty bad. If the phone was used by a gamer or someone who really pushed the CPU, it may have overheated dozens of times and as I'm sure you know, that is REALLY bad. Those factors are the big unknowns and near impossible to determine so for those reasons, I'd have a real hard time paying much over $100 used. Brand new, sealed in the original retail packaging, I'd like to keep it under $200 but I'm open minded.

I hear ya.. Always good to ask questions and make sure before any purchase... I like to use Swappa for buying and selling..

Sent using Tapatalk

 

[me just sayin]

Thanks. I'm a paranoid shopper so I'm very particular on who I buy from and where. I ask a lot of questions and if anything seems off, I walk. This was a good seller from the beginning. eBay's MBG is a great safety net if I'm wrong.

I'm dead set on new unless the phone is very well priced and in near mint condition. My definition of "near mint" is ZERO display scratches and minimal on the casing. Battery and overall function has to be factory spec.

The problem with used is no matter how good it looks, batteries have a lifespan and every hour of use is an hour closer to failure. The other factor with HTC is that they are prone to over heating and it can get pretty bad. If the phone was used by a gamer or someone who really pushed the CPU, it may have overheated dozens of times and as I'm sure you know, that is REALLY bad. Those factors are the big unknowns and near impossible to determine so for those reasons, I'd have a real hard time paying much over $100 used. Brand new, sealed in the original retail packaging, I'd like to keep it under $200 but I'm open minded.

it pays to be careful and never stray from your own rules. otherwise you will get burn.