HTC has started rolling out a major firmware update for the One M9 with enhancements to the camera performance, reduced power consumption from some preloaded apps and more.

The 20MP rear camera on the One M9 has been widely criticised for its poor performance. However, the poor performance is not due to the sensor, but due to HTC’s poor post processing.

The latest firmware update, which is currently being rolled out in the European region, improves the auto-exposure to make sure that images from the camera don’t look washed out when shot with more than ample daylight around. Secondly, the image processing of images has been improved by HTC to reduce noise reduction, improve clarity, reduce blur and preserve more details. Lastly, HTC claims that the green and yellow hue effects, faced by a handful of users in extreme lighting conditions, has been greatly reduced.

The update should also help in improving the battery life as HTC has worked on reducing the power consumption of Facebook and YouTube app. Additionally, the phone should heat up less when being charged due to thermal optimisations made by the company in the update.

The full change log of the update is below:

Camera

– Greater auto-exposure balance to improve overexposure, so images look less washed out

– Reduction of noise and blur in low light, so images are clearer and detail is more apparent

– Reduction of yellow/green hue to photos taken in extreme lighting conditions, so colors appear truer to their actual hue

Battery Life

– Reduced power consumption by YouTube and Facebook, so you can stay on these sites longer or know that your battery will last longer if your site use doesn’t change

Heat Management

– Smart charging thermal improvement, which means your phone will stay cooler when it’s being charge

The previous software update brought about some major improvements to the camera performance of One M9. While it did not exactly put the camera performance right up against the Galaxy S6 and LG G4, it at least made the final photos from the phone of respectable quality. Here is hoping that the latest update further improves the One M9’s camera performance, which is considered by many as one of its weak points.