silver charms

HTC One M9 Release.

I currently have HTC One M7 my phone is due for an upgrade in May but what do I get. I was waiting to see the launch of the HTC M9 and now it’s here I need to decide whether to continue with HTC -considered the best android run smart phone or do I finally give into Apple with the iPhone 6- I have resisted everything “i” up until now, I’ve just not felt the urge but there is no denying the iPhone 6 is one of the best phones out there at the moment.
I have had no major problems with my phone considering its coming up for two years old, the battery have gotten worse but that’s expected, its still pretty fast and does the job well. For me it’s just the camera that lets it down. It started off okay but the UltraPixel camera is just useless, I was interested to see how HTC addressed these issues in their new model.

htc-one-m9

So the HTC M9 doesn’t look that different from it’s predecessor. HTC have found their clear design template and have only tweaked it slightly. The phone is visually stunning- it’s slightly shorter than the M8 but it is also thicker. This is the house the bigger more powerful battery, it does go against the ever slimming trends of new phones but it doesn’t distract from the gorgeous design.
Finally after 3 years they have ditched the UltraPixel camera on the back and upgraded it to a 20MP camera. They have moved the UltraPixel camera to the front for ‘better selfies in low light’- they say but we’l have to see how that copes. The camera is still in the centre of the phone and they have make it bigger with a rounded square surround, it is striking but I can imagine it would get scratched even though they say there is a scratch resistant film over the phone.

htc-one-m9_gunmetal

The M9 is available in hero (silver with a gold band), gunmetal grey and all gold. For me it would be Hero, all gold is a bit much while the gunmetal is more mescaline. There is no denying its a good looking phone with an improved battery and camera but the hardware hasn’t stepped up that much, there is also the fact the design has moved on and it looks good but there isn’t a dramatic change in the looks from previous models, if anything to seems to be a merge of the M7 and the M8. The M9 is due to be released March 31st so I still have a little time to decide between HTC and Apple.

Pandora.

So Pandora have recently introduced their new Essence range. It is a more dainty and minimal collection featuring precious stones and glass set in their signature sterling silver.

Express the essence of you with the delicate range of symbolic charms.campaign1

The collection is much more unified, each bead is near enough the same size all very spherical and neat. Each bead represents a quality from Love to Faith to Wisdom and so on.

Pandora has also made these new beads non slip on the bracelet by lining each bead with silicon. This allows you to position each charm exactly where you would like it and in theory they will not slide around your wrist. 

But the bad news, these new Essence charms are smaller than the original bracelets and are therefore NOT compatible. Similarly, it is advised that you don’t put the Moments charms onto the Essence bracelet because although they will slide onto the bracelet they will be too heavy and not sit right among the smaller beads.

My issue with the Moments collection is that some of the charms are clumpy and a bit too clumsy for my taste. I have the grey leather bracelet and love how the silver charms look sat next to the white Mariano glass beads but i find the beads a little too dominating when next to the smaller silver charms. I wish they would introduce some smaller more spherical glass beads and precious stone beads in the neutral colours offered in the Essence range.charms

So I am left in a bit of a dilemma. I really like the simplicity and delicacy of the Essence collection but I don’t want to buy a whole new bracelet and discard my other charms. My suggestion is that Pandora starts to steer their Moments collection to feature some of the qualities  of their new range. I would love to see some of the precious stones brought to both collections as well as the more spherical beads.

Maybe I will eventually give in to the Essence collection and start a new bracelet but for now I would prefer to see some new, delicate precious stone beads introduced to the Moments collection.