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
Obviously the highlight of the One max is its huge 5.9-inch 1080p display. After all, the huge display is literally the reason for the max moniker and its gargantuan size. It’s still an IPS LCD, and like the One, resolution is 1920x1080. Using the same resolution at larger size means lower PPI, but the One max is still high enough (373.4 PPI) that individual pixels shouldn’t be visible at all.
One interesting thing to note about the One max however is that the android display density is still set to 480 PPI, putting it in the same DENSITY_XXHIGH category as the One. This means that applications will look like scaled copies of what you’d expect them to look like on the One. There’s an interesting ongoing debate about what users really expect from these larger-sized smartphones and the demographic that’s buying them. Do users want scaled, larger applications which are easier to read, or the ability to display more content. HTC oddly enough seems to have scaled parts of their own UI, for example the widget panels are five row instead of four on the One max, and the launcher defaults to the 4x5 size instead of 3x4 which would look downright silly, further the status bar is also smaller.
HTC One (Left), HTC One max (Right) – Note the grid and icon size changes
I’m not complaining, it’s just interesting to see 480 in Android but the HTC apps scaled down to give more real-estate, which is what I’d prefer since I have good vision.
One improvement I’m really happy about in Sense 5.5 is a change to the auto brightness function. Rather than just have a checkbox, the One max will allow you to set an upper bound for the auto brightness algorithm. Ideally I would like a higher or upper bound, or a bias function (+/- some delta), but this is a step in the right direction.
The One max display goes very bright, up to 506 nits, higher than the One or One mini. White point is also a bit more controlled than the One, at 7301 K average. My biggest complaint about the One max is that like the One it has a dynamic brightness/contrast function that adjusts screen brightness as a function of the content being displayed. That alone isn’t a huge problem, it’s just that there’s no way to disable it in the UI, which would be great, since it’s distracting watching screen brightness change as you move around the UI. I would love to see HTC go the Google approach and restrict these functions to full screen video playback, and give the option to turn it off entirely.
Running it through our display tests, it’s clear that the One max also has a bit of the saturation boost we’ve seen popping up on other phones as well. The saturation curves are great until the second to last point, which is almost set to maximum saturation. I’d love to see even more emphasis on color accuracy for the next generation of phones, the One max seems to be in the general ballpark of the One, but slightly worse.
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Tegeril - Friday, November 1, 2013 - link
I love the way that his opinion (that's a component of reviews) that build quality suffers when SD cards are involved (particularly in the context of *this* device) is not valid but yours is?Spunjji - Thursday, November 28, 2013 - link
The point is that neither is more valid, but Brian's claiming his is. Ta-daaa!bairlangga - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Dear Brian,Other manufacturer had the solution towards the door and build quality tradeoffs, it is called sd card slot with flap. Pretty please do a review on Xperias line.
chizow - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
I've read most of them and still find them off-base. Your arguments about a small demographic are based on what? The entire smartphone market? Honestly, this means about as much as Nokia claiming they held the majority of the cell phone market up until a few years ago, it means very little out of context. It's all about what part of the market you are targeting, for flagship phones and high-end power users, features like microSD and changeable batteries make all the difference that can be a deciding factor in which phone to purchase.Similarly, people who care about aluminum unibody construction are a vast minority, imo, when all I see are people obscuring these case materials in protective cases made of polycarbonate or rubber.
In any case, it is good to see phone makers like HTC One are not taking your opinion as gospel, and instead, listening to their customers in deciding their hardware approaches. It is clear to me that HTC saw how the One was losing to the S4, despite positive reviews declaring the One superior in many categories only to lose in sales due to features like microSD, removable battery, 802.11AC. Coincidentally, I just named the 3 big reasons I bought an S4 instead of the One a few months ago. I fully expect the next iteration to follow the One Max and offer a microSD and removable battery, but we shall see.
rituraj - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
May be HTC were stupid that they had to open the entire phone's back to put that microsd card. What about a slot from the sides. I believe a phone this big has quite a long side. I guess quantum geometry supports me. But yeah, that 1cm slot will destroy the build quality too just like the sim card does.Samwise - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Anandtech, please include the Droid MAXX in you battery life comparisons. Thank you.tuxRoller - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Why don't you have the iDevices storage benched?VengenceIsMineX - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Pretty disappointing product really. No OIS, lesser SOC, and nothing really innovative or even a great price. I'm in the market to optimize down to 1 device from a phone & small tablet to just a phablet but I don't think I'll bother considering the HTC compared to either the Sony or the Lumia 1520.sherlockwing - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
The lack of S800 and OIS are very disappointing, to add the SD slot but not the S800 SOC to enable UHS-I speed for SD card is pretty silly.mregan - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Brian,Did you notice the problem that Zoes included in a highlight video now only show 1 second of motion and then freeze? I've seen that on my One when I upgraded to 4.3 and others have reported the same issue. It really seems like a bug. The highlights become much more static. All the other highlight changes are great but this is a step backward.
Mike R