Switch between work and play
HTC's new Sense Home widget automatically changes the apps on your home screen depending on whether you're at home, in the office or on the road – so you don't have to waste time looking for important apps. You can specify eight apps for each location, ensuring that your work email, business calendar and office documents are within reach during the day. Your music app can pop up as you walk out the office door, with your favourite streaming video service coming into view as soon as you arrive home.
Smart power usage
For those times when you need to rush out the door, the One M9 can leap from less than 10 per cent charge to more than 50 per cent in only half an hour when using a compatible charger (sold separately). Along with Quick Charge 2.0, the handset features "power saver" mode that intelligently adjusts CPU power and screen brightness on the run. When the situation looks dire, "Extreme power saving mode" kills non-essential apps to keep you going until you can reach a charger – perfect for businesses owners, who need to be reliable and contactable.
Quick settings
Rather than fumble through the settings menus as you're heading into a meeting, the One M9 lets you put the most important settings at your fingertips. From the home screen you can swipe down from the Notification bar to see a full list of notifications. Swipe again and you'll see the Quick Settings menu. Along with Airplane Mode, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, you can add sound controls, power saver options, Wi-Fi hotspot and other useful settings that you might need to call up quickly.
Edit navigation buttons
Rather than rely on physical navigation buttons across the bottom of the screen, the One M9 uses virtual onscreen buttons. The beauty of this is that you can swap around Android's three tradition Back, Home and Recent buttons so they feel most natural for you. You can even add a fourth virtual button, with options including easy access to Notifications, Quick Settings and Auto-Rotate controls.
Morning news bulletin
HTC's BlinkFeed aggregates a wide range of online content, from Facebook and Twitter to news services and RSS feeds. You can call up BlinkFeed by flicking left from the home screen, rather than trawling through individual apps for each service. The One M9's new BlinkFeed "morning bundle" gives you a morning snapshot of everything that's important to you, including the day's calendar appointments so you can get a head start on your work day.
