HTC Introduces One M9 In South Africa, Set For June Launch

Phones keep getting better. Just the other year everyone was crazy about getting a cellphone with bluetooth and a camera. Now all we want is a phone that 'squeezes' into our lifestyles.

HTC held an event last night to launch their new flagship Android phone, cutely named the One M9. Guests who attended the launch will agree that features on the exciting new phone ultimately make it a must have.

The HTC One M9 will be available in South Africa from 1 June 2015, with pre-
orders set to start in May, HTC South Africa announced.

Some of the features include Dolby surround sound, HTC’s BoomSound tech that makes the phone’s tiny speakers sound surprisingly loud and potent, the ability to wirelessly throw audio signals to compatible Bluetooth speakers, 20MP rear-facing and “Ultrapixel” front-facing snappers and Sense 7, the latest iteration of HTC’s Android skin/user interface that the company promises is its best yet.

The HTC One M9 will be available on the local market in June.

First impressions are good; at the event we got some hands-on time with it, and were happy to note how it responded beautifully to presses, swipes and gestures. The phone’s gorgeous metal body made it feel very nice to touch and hold, and we found that it’s neither too big nor too small to hold and operate comfortably with one hand.

And the screen looked crisp and sharp thanks to a resolution high enough that individual pixels were not visible whatsoever. So yes, first impressions are very good indeed.

In case you’re wondering just how much one of these will set you back and what colours it will come in when it arrives, we have answers.

The HTC One M9 will initially be available in Gold/Silver and Gunmetal Grey, and you’re looking in the region of R10 000 for an up-front purchase and around R499 pm or so on contract.

So there you have it.

MTN Launches First Firefox Phone In South Africa

Back in November MTN revealed that it was looking to release a Firefox OS-based smartphone in South Africa.

We have had a number of opportunities to play around with the device in the past, and MTN has just announced that the Alcatel OneTouch Fire E smartphone is available locally.

“Having a smartphone based on the Firefox operating system means we can deliver numerous unique product innovations. For example, the phone can be easily set up for four of the 11 official languages, namely English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and Xhosa. MTN will incorporate other languages in future versions of the phone. This means that our customers can choose the language they are most comfortable with and get a more naturally appealing connected experience,” explained Larry Annetts, chief marketing officer of MTN South Africa, in a media statement.

Unlike Android and iOS, Firefox OS apps aren’t developed around a native framework. The operating system is designed with HTML5 apps in mind, and there will be a locally curated app store to support the first tranche of handsets.

“It is designed for the Web in mind, the Alcatel One Touch Fire E is the ideal device to use in the digital age where access to information and social networks from a mobile device has become a way of life for consumers,” MTN said.

It is available at selected MTN outlets on prepaid and contract for R89 per month on the MTN MyChoice 25 package. If you fancy picking up the phone without a contract, it will be R1 699.

The smartphone has a 4.5-inch qHD screen (960 x 540 pixels), a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running at 1.2 GHz, a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 1 700mAh battery.