HTC One max Review - It's Huge
by Brian Klug on October 28, 2013 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Mobile
- One
- Snapdragon 600
- Android 4.3
- One max
Battery life remains a huge concern for savvy smartphone shoppers. Opportunistically charging a phone and worrying about making it through an entire day with just a single charge cycle is a common complaint as well. The HTC One max addresses some of the complaints myself and others had with charging on the HTC One which charged at only 1 amp, instead the One max charges at up to 1.5 amps. Although I wasn’t sampled it, the One max box will also include a 1.5 amp charger from HTC that’s slightly taller than the previous generation. This definitely helps offset the increase in charge time that would’ve resulted given the 43 percent larger 3300 mAh 3.8V (12.54 watt hour) battery.
The HTC One charges a bit faster with the latest updates, however the linear region of the charge curve is entirely dominated by that 1 A charging maximum. With the 1.5 A charging in the One max we actually see considerably faster charge times in spite of the larger battery. HTC continues to use BC 1.2 to the best of my knowledge for signaling.
To assess battery life, I ran the One max through our battery life test suite. Our battery life test is unchanged, we calibrate the display to exactly 200 nits and run it through a controlled workload consisting of a dozen or so popular pages and articles with pauses in between continually, until the device dies. This is repeated on cellular and WiFi, in this case since we have an international model of the One max that lacks the LTE bands used in the USA, that’s 3G WCDMA on AT&T’s Band 2 network. The talk time call test is self explanatory and also unchanged.
The results speak for themselves, the One max lasts quite a long time on battery, even with a large display. I expected the One max to lose to the Note 3 on the cellular test initially, but it posts an impressive result. I suspect display power might be the reason here between AMOLED and the more pragmatic LCD in the One max. I measured the One max with the flip case on as well, and it adds about 20 percent more battery time to the device. I'm curious to see how the USA-bound variants with LTE fare, but the One does impress with excellent battery life.
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superflex - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
If a 64 GB uSD card makes you happy, you might have problems.PC Perv - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Biggest logical fallacy is to claim that there is no need for affordable storage options in smartphones when the OEMs are charging $100, $200, $300 extra per those extra storages, and apparently the reviewer doesn't see the irony of it. If no one needs more than 16 GB, how do the OEMs get away with such ridiculous markups?The reviewer is happy as clam as long as she gets a new phone every other week.
chizow - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Yes, they're going away, slowly but surely, except they're not and in this case a device-maker that didn't include SD slots before added it to their latest flagship phone? How can you claim logical fallacy and not realize the inaccuracy of what you just wrote? Do you think next year's HTC One update will include an SD slot or no?As for the rest, it doesn't matter what the majority of disinterested users want, like any industry, the demand of the top-end drives demand and innovation for the rest. Just as most people may not care for a microSD slot, removable battery, or unibody aluminum chassis, they will ALMOST CERTAINLY take the advice over which phone to pick based upon the input from someone who DOES care about those features, or has the phone and decides on it based on word of mouth or first hand exposure.
bairlangga - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Dear Anand(Tech),No love for Xperias? Saw every brand are accounted for here, except Sony ;-)
superflex - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Because Sony want proved a demo sample. Blame your shitty manufacturer for that one, SparkyMercuryStar - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
You have the HTC One Mini listed as a quad core Krait 200. Isn't it actually a dual core, and isn't it actually Krait 300, being that it's MSM8930aa?MercuryStar - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
You're not the first person to claim the One Mini has a plastic speaker grille, but to me seeing it in person it is clearly metal, albeit with one of those clear plastic coatings like aluminum food tins usually have on the inside to protect the food. What's the deal - what makes you claim it's plastic? I agree it doesn't look great like on the One, but it quite clearly is metal albeit with a lower grade finish.AbbyYen - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
For god shake, put snappy dragoony 800 in it already. And please, anything lower then 8MP is budget phone category. ultra pixel is useless. try capture a document and Ye shall know the difference. speaker at the front are welcome thou.fixxxer0 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
am I the only one laughed out loud at the speakerphone volume graph.... (beats off)Laststop311 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Would of made much more sense to go with the SD 800. SD 400 on mini SD 600 on One and SD 800 on max. The SD 800 actually has better battery life due to LTE integration and it's faster. I can't bring myself to buy an outdated SoC when phones are already outdated so fast. Buying anything less than a SD 800 is a foolish move.I was really pumped about the max. But the SD 600 ruined it for me. I've been let down constantly. Was pumped for the lumia 1520 but of course t-mobile isn't getting it. I was pumped for the note 3 but it was barely an upgrade from the note 2. There is nothing good enough to make me want to add 23 dollars a month to my bill to subsidize a phone when my G note 2 is fully paid off and I get pure unlimited everything for 69.99 with LTE activated in my area. Looks like my note 2 will be my trusty side kick another year. Hope the note 4 brings something great to the table.