Galaxy S6 vs HTC One M9

We pit the Samsung and HTC flagships against one another

HTC has been working hard to win market share from Korean competitor Samsung for the past few years.

HTC had some success in 2014 after a poor critical response to Samsung's Galaxy S5 led many buyers to consider jumping ship to HTC's excellent One M8.

However, one year later Samsung has moved to see that history doesn't repeat itself and has released the completely reworked Galaxy S6 that redefines the firm's handset offering.

By comparison, HTC has played it safe and released what in many people's minds is a reworked, rather than rethought, smartphone, the One M9.

To see how the Galaxy S6 and One M9 compare to the Apple iPhone 6 you can also check out our triple head to head review.

Design and build
Visually the Galaxy S6 looks completely different to past Samsung handsets and borrows design elements from Apple and Sony smartphones. Specifically, Samsung has built the Galaxy S6 with metal sides and Gorilla glass front and back faces.

The One M9, on the other hand, looks almost identical to its predecessor with 'Boom Sound' speakers and a rounded metal back that wraps round to the Gorilla Glass front.

In fact, the only immediately noticeable design change is that the One M9's sides are a different colour to its back.

We found the Galaxy S6 slightly more comfortable to hold than the One M9, mainly because of the Galaxy S6's 143x71x6.8mm dimensions and 138g weight, which make it 3mm thinner and 19g lighter than the 145x70x9.6mm, 157g One M9.

However, it's also because its sides are slightly rounder than the One M9's which has edges that feel a little sharp.

The Galaxy S6 also comes with more custom design features than the One M9. Key positives are a custom heart-rate monitor on the back and a fingerprint scanner in the front-facing physical home button.

The heart-rate monitor is designed to take advantage of fitness apps, while the fingerprint scanner lets users set the Galaxy S6 to unlock only after they have proved their identity. We found the fingerprint scanner a particularly useful feature that allowed us to secure the Galaxy S6 without needing to remember a complex password.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 feels noticeably sturdier than its predecessors when it comes to build quality, but the One M9 has the edge.

The metal frame makes the One M9 noticeably more scratch and mark resistant than the Galaxy S6, and the latter's glass back is an outright dirt and blemish magnet.

This is surprising as Samsung claims that the materials used in the Galaxy S6 are 50 percent tougher than on competing metal handsets.

Winner: The Galaxy S6

Display
Samsung made a big song and dance about the Galaxy S6's 5.1in, 2560x1440, 577ppi, Super Amoled display when it unveiled the phone at MWC, claiming that the screen displays 70 percent more pixels than its predecessor.

By comparison, HTC rested on its laurels with the One M9, loading it with an equivalently specced 5in, 1920x1080, 441 ppi, Super LCD3 screen to that on the One M8.

Comparing the screens head to head, we found that the Galaxy S6 claims rang true. Text and icons were super sharp and the Galaxy has wider viewing angles and a higher maximum brightness than the One M9.

Colours were also richer and deeper on the Galaxy S6, which remains one of the best calibrated screens we've ever seen.

That said, despite not being a major upgrade, it's important to note that the One M9's display is still very good.

It's always difficult to spot differences in sharpness between smartphone displays that break the 400ppi barrier, and we noticed a difference in sharpness only after a prolonged period staring at the displays while cycling through a variety of high-definition pictures and screen tests.

Colours on the One M9 are fairly well balanced and have a 'cooler' feel than most competing manufacturers' handsets, which can have the settings cranked up to the point where they oversaturate colours in a bid to give them more 'pop'.

Winner: The Galaxy S6

Next: Operating system and performance

Galaxy S6 vs HTC One M9

We pit the Samsung and HTC flagships against one another

Operating system
The Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 use customised versions of Google's Android 5.0.2 operating system.

Specifically, the Galaxy S6 comes with Lollipop and Samsung's TouchWiz UI, while the One M9 runs Lollipop with HTC's Sense UI.

Both skins add a number of custom services designed to increase Android's business appeal in different ways.

Samsung has focused on boosting Android's security and management services with TouchWiz, and key features include Knox and Smart Manager.

The Knox platform offers IT managers similar sandboxing powers to those on the BlackBerry Balance, creating separate encrypted work and personal areas on devices. Knox also offers certificate management, VPN+ and enterprise mobility management services.

As an added bonus Samsung has announced a new Office 365 and Samsung Knox Business Pack for corporate devices that will integrate Microsoft's cloud services directly into the management service.

Smart Manager improves performance by letting users monitor and control which applications are using memory or battery power at any given time. The feature is a welcome addition that we can see ourselves using often as the Galaxy S6 ages and performance wanes.

For businesses embedded in Microsoft's, rather than Google's, ecosystem Samsung has also preloaded applications including Office, OneNote, Skype and OneDrive.

By comparison HTC has worked to improve the way Android presents information and services via Sense Home and BlinkFeed.

Sense Home is a customisable feature that adjusts the applications and services that appear on the home screen depending on the user's location. It can be configured for 'out', 'home' and 'work'.

Each setting can be activated automatically when the user is at a location registered on the device via GPS.

For example, the 'work' mode will activate in the office and push productivity applications like email and calendar to the front of the UI. When the user arrives at home, the handset will promote entertainment and social media applications.

BlinkFeed is a news aggregation service debuted on the 2013 HTC One. It uses information stored on the user's Google and social media accounts to push updates from various news outlets and contacts that it thinks will be of interest to the reader via a custom tiled interface.

Sense Home and BlinkFeed are useful, but we found the Galaxy S6 security services more important additions for enterprise and general business users.

This is largely down to the ongoing security problems surrounding Android, which is universally listed as hackers' mobile target of choice and presents an increased risk of data loss.

Winner: The Galaxy S6

Performance
The Galaxy S6 and One M9 are powerhouses on paper. The Galaxy S6 is powered by a 14nm, 64-bit octa-core processor built using quad-core 2.1GHz and quad-core 1.5GHz parts and paired with 3GB of RAM.

The One M9 runs an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 that combines quad-core 1.5GHz and quad-core 2GHz components with 3GB RAM.

Testing the two phones using the Antutu, Geekbench, 3DMark and Basemark OS II benchmarking tools we found that the Galaxy S6 had a lead on the One M9.

The Galaxy S6 scored 70,440 on Antutu, 1,474 single-core and 5,312 multi-core on Geekbench, and 21,326 on 3DMark. It also enjoyed 1,739 overall, 3,627 system, 1,309 memory, 2,481 graphics and 760 web scores on Basemark OS II.

The One M9 scored 52,954 on Antutu, 753 single-core and 2,935 multi-core on Geekbench, and 21,873 on 3DMark. On Basemark OS II the One M9 ran in with 1,288 overall, 1,407 system, 828 memory, 3,193 graphics and 739 web scores.

With general real-world use, we didn't notice any performance problems. Both handsets open applications and web pages very quickly and are suitably responsive to commands.

However, moving on to heavier tasks, such as 3D gaming, we did notice a disparity in performance. Both phones can run even the most demanding of 3D games chug and hassle free, but prolonged use showed that the HTC One M9 could heat up to uncomfortable temperatures and begin to throttle performance.

Winner: The Galaxy S6

Next: Camera, battery, storage, price and conclusion

Galaxy S6 vs HTC One M9

We pit the Samsung and HTC flagships against one another

Camera
HTC has always struggled to compete in camera technology with its Ultrapixel system that offers a mixed bag of benefits and drawbacks.

Ultrapixel is a custom technology debuted on the One M7 designed to improve quality by creating larger pixels that can capture 300 percent more light than those of a regular camera sensor.

Taken on the One M9

While this sounds great, we found that images aren't as crisp or vibrant as those taken on competing top-end smartphones, particularly when blown up.

As a result, we were pleased to see that HTC has pushed the 4MP Ultrapixel camera to the front of the One M9 and added a 20.7MP, 5376x3752 pixel with autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash camera on the back.

Testing the One M9 we found it a definite step up compared with the One M8's Ultrapixel snapper, but it couldn't compete with the Galaxy S6 16MP, 5312x2988 pixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation, an F-1.9 lens and LED flash.

Loaded with a custom F-1.9 lens that Samsung claims lets in 60 percent more light than the Galaxy S5's lens, the Galaxy S6's camera outperformed the One M9's.

Taken on the Galaxy S6

Images shot on the Galaxy S6 in regular light were crisper, and featured better colour balance, contrast and brightness levels.

We also found that the One M9's focus remains slightly hit and miss. The tap to focus works fine for posed pictures, but it struggled to capture moving images when snapping photos around London.

Moving into low light we found that the Samsung phone's lead increased and the Galaxy S6 could continue shooting in conditions that rendered the One M9's camera all but useless.

Winner: The Galaxy S6

Battery
Poor battery life is a problem hampering many smartphones, and we've yet to find one that can consistently last two days from one charge. The Galaxy S6 and One M9 don't change this trend and both die after one to two days' use.

We burned the Galaxy S6's non-removable Li-Ion 2550mAh battery and the One M9's non-removable Li-Po 2840mAh battery by constantly looping a video file stored on the phones, and the Samsung handset performed slightly better.

The Galaxy S6 lasted eight hours 30 minutes on our first test and eight hours 45 minutes on our second, which is above average for a phone of its size.

By comparison the One M9 lasted seven hours 30 minutes on the first run and seven hours 50 minutes on the second.

The battery burn scores rang true with real-world use, and the Galaxy S6 regularly lasted three to four hours longer than the One M9 from a single charge.

Both phones feature fast charge technology, although the Galaxy S6's lead is cemented by its WPC and PMA wireless charging support, which makes it compatible with close to all wireless charging plates.

Winner: The Galaxy S6

Storage
Samsung sells the Galaxy S6 with 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of storage, while HTC offers the One M9 with just 32GB.

However, the HTC One features a microSD card slot that lets users add a further 2TB of space, meaning that it can in theory have a higher maximum storage than the Galaxy S6.

The two are evenly matched in terms of cloud storage. Samsung has bundled the Galaxy S6 with 100GB of space on Microsoft's OneDrive, and HTC offers 100GB of space on Dropbox.

Winner: The One M9

Price
The Galaxy S6 and One M9 are not cheap, but the HTC is slightly more affordable at £580 SIM-free. The basic 32GB Galaxy S6 costs a more premium £600.

Winner: The One M9

Overall winner: The Galaxy S6
Despite having a theoretically lower storage capacity and costing £20 more than the One M9, the Galaxy S6 is the clear winner of this head-to-head review.

Featuring a top-end display, super slick processor and wealth of security and productivity services, the Galaxy S6 is one of the best Android smartphones available to businesses.