Gadgets: HTC One M9 is best Android phone in a while

HTC One's updated M9 looks like last year's M8. That's OK because last year's design worked.

It has an all-metal and glass body and two nice-sounding forward-facing speakers. The screen displays at 440 pixels per inch.

Inside, you'll see some upgrades. The M9 runs on a Snapdragon 810 chip (eight cores) with 3 gigabytes of RAM and 32 gigabytes of internal storage. It also has a microSD card slot so you can add more storage as needed.

The M9 has a 2,840 mAh battery, which is a slight improvement over the M8's 2,600 mAh battery, but battery life is pretty much the same — 21.7 hours of talk time.

The camera got a bump as well. The main camera has a 20-megapixel sensor and can shoot 4K HD video.

The side button layout, with sleep/power button and volume buttons the same size and on the same side of the phone, gets HTC some points off.

Overall, though, it's the best Android phone in a while.

$708.99, $299 with two-year contract

LG has updated the G Flex, with its 6-inch screen. The G Flex2 screen is 5.5 inches.

It's still curved. The buttons are still on the back of the phone; this takes some practice to be comfortable, but they are placed well.

The G Flex2 wakes when you give the screen a quick double-tap.

Screen resolution is now 403 pixels per inch, the back comes out if you want to add extra storage on a microSD card and the plastic on the phone's back is "self-healing." Minor scratches made by keys did not "self-repair," though.

But the main camera has a 13-megapixel sensor and features laser-assisted focus and optical image stabilization. The pictures are quite good.

The G Flex2 is a nice step up from the G Flex or even the LG G3, but the upcoming LG G4 is the company's flagship phone.