HTC goes back to basics with its new flagship, the HTC One M9

As a smartphone maker, HTC made a name for itself in recent years by focusing on everyday phone features, especially the camera. It stopped playing the megapixel game, opting to offer high-quality "ultrapixels" instead of big numbers, and was the only major manufacturer to include a depth sensor, which enabled photographic trickery such as altering focus after a shot was taken.

Well, you can forget about all that in the new HTC One M9.

HTC's new flagship phone ditches ultrapixels in its rear camera for a more traditional 20-megapixel sensor (although the front-facing "selfie" camera does use ultrapixels).

Oh, and that gimmicky depth sensor?

Gone, replaced by software that includes some, but not all, of the photo effects the sensor made possible. It's an odd choice for HTC, which prided itself on its unique, innovative approach to mobile photography, or at least seemed to. But the company says its customers wanted more pixels, so it had to change things up.

The HTC One M9 has its cameras revamped. But the lack of a depth sensor on the phone means the rear camera isn't as versatile as the one on its predecessor, the M8. For instance, it doesn't have the ability to alter the focus of any picture. There's still an option to create the "bokeh" effect with software, but the user must select the effect before taking the shot.

That's a big downgrade, and so is the execution. On the M8, you could refocus the image on any part of the photo, much like the Lytro.

On the M9, you simply get an exaggerated blur in the unfocused portion, with no ability to alter it.

Although the M9's camera lacks the whiz-bang features of previous generations, the photos themselves look great. And the camera is fast — no annoying delays that is experienced sometimes on other Android phones.

The HTC One M9 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor — the chip du jour for flagship smartphones. Animation is smooth and responds instantaneously to touch, and media (like image-rich web pages and videos) loads fast, as long as you have a good connection.

Although HTC has put itself back into the regular megapixel race with the M9, it appears to have taken itself out of the display race: The new phone has a 5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display, just like the last One. That's really more pixels than you ever need on a smartphone, although it does make the HTC One M9 take a backseat to other flagships like the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Design-wise, the HTC One M9 has some departures from the M8: Although it has a similar brushed-aluminum finish, the curve on the back is less pronounced, making it more like the M7 model. The phone's footprint is very similar to the M8's, although the power button has migrated from the top to the right side.

The new One also still keeps the line's signature BoomSound stereo speakers, and they still play nice and loud. For this year's model HTC has added a virtual surround sound feature (via the speakers or headphones) as well as support for 24-bit audio, which I'm sure Neil Young is happy about.