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
The software side of the One max also changes slightly from the original HTC One. The One max launches running Android 4.3, which as of this writing is the newest version of Android available, although 4.4 KitKat is right on the horizon. In addition the version of HTC’s skin and software suite, Sense, is bumped up to 5.5. The biggest changes in Sense 5.5 are to Blinkfeed, HTC’s newsfeed and home screen replacement, and the computationally generated highlights reel videos. First off, blinkfeed gets improvements that now allow custom topics, RSS, and more control over what items appear. In addition there’s now support for both Instagram and Google+ accounts to surface stories in Blinkfeed.
There’s also a read later feature in the highlights feed. Finally there’s also a way to disable Blinkfeed entirely, previously you could change the primary home screen to a widget panel, in Sense 5.5 this menu has been changed around to allow Blinkfeed to be disabled entirely.
A bunch of features that people originally wanted for the automatically generated highlights reel videos are now incorporated into Sense 5.5 as well. The gallery application it lives inside has been reorganized and is more intuitive now, albums and events views are now a pivot rather than drop down option, likewise the individual views beneath the are pivots. Video highlights now lives in its own pivot as well, and now has a simple picker for choosing what videos, Zoes, or photos the algorithm can select from. There are also more themes, which are entirely new, as well as the ability to select your own music. I’m told the highlights reel engine has been completely rewritten with better textures, film treatments, overlays, and dynamic editing. Subjectively I find the results of the new engine to be much better, where the previous highlights videos would always follow basically the same schedule, the new ones seem much more dynamic and won’t get tiresome nearly as fast.
Animated GIFs are all the rage right now, and HTC has chosen to capitalize on some of that with a GIF creator inside Sense 5.5. From the gallery’s edit menu animated GIFs can be created from continual shooting shots or Zoes.
The notification shade also gets a tweak, and the quick settings inside can now be customized. These settings tiles can now either be rearranged or disabled and swapped out for other ones. There is a simple picker for choosing the 12 you want to appear on the shade.
A new addition among these is a do not disturb function mode which can be toggled either here or from the sound menu. This does what you’d expect and silences incoming calls or notifications and prevents them from making sounds, vibrations, or activating the LED. Selected contacts can still cause a ring, and there’s also a timeout duration option.
A smaller but noteworthy change is that HTC no longer preinstalls Dropbox and gives free storage along with it. Instead of Dropbox, HTC has partnered with Google and gives 50 GB of bonus space with the One max.
There are a few other changes in the Sense 5.5 UI but I’ll get to those in the respective sections. The reality is that UI skins aren’t going away, but after spending a lot of time with Sense 5 I honestly never felt like it was distracting. I was able to live comfortably on the HTC One and One mini with Sense 5 just fine, 5.5 is a good refinement that continues to arguably look very good in a world of increasingly flat UI.
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Steven JW FCK - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
How can you say a "very tiny part of the market" and know for certain? I know so many Samsung smartphone users, and do you want to know how many of them have been asked by Samsung how they use there micro SD cards, and the data storage facilities on their phones?NONE OF THEM!
So where on earth are you pretending to get your data from? And how exactly are you interpreting the numbers? I just fail to believe you actually know the ins and outs of phone storage and micro SD card usage in smartphones upon a broad enough scale to start making allegations like you have.
Believe the reality you want, it only exists in a very small and exceptionally annoying minority.
rabidkevin - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Bullshitsuperflex - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Agreed.Someone need to grease their gears. Their screech is annoying and not supported by a vast majority.
lazymangaka - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
I don't understand the the reviewer's hatred of MicroSD cards. They're a useful thing to have, for every type of user. And, the fact of the matter is, internal storage space has not been rapidly increasing in smartphones. Storage needs have, however. Unlimited data plans are gone for many users, so listening to locally-stored music makes much more sense. In addition to that, the megapixel count of smartphone cameras continue to march north, and those larger file sizes are competing with ever-increasing app sizes. MicroSD expansion just makes sense.I understand what Google was trying to do in nixing external expansion in its Nexus lineup, but it just hasn't played out the way they wanted it to. Instead of getting a phone with 16GB of internal storage and an external expansion slot, we're more likely to just get a phone with 16GB of internal storage. Campaigning for the continued removal of MicroSD storage is doing nothing but harming us all.
Mondozai - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Lazumangaka:"I don't understand the the reviewer's hatred of MicroSD cards."
Every reviewer have their irrational foibles that makes no sense. You just have to learn those blindspots and avoid them like the plague with each particular reviewer.
With Brian we know he hates WP8, he dislikes microSD cards and he winces on AMOLED screens. He still puts out very qualified reviews but again, know when to listen, and when to just skip.
Brian Klug - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Luckily it's easy to back up the dislikes of microSD (poor Android support, slower than native storage, tradeoffs in build quality) and AMOLED screens (oversaturated, higher power drain, burn in, and sensitive to overheating), and reasons why I can't get anything done on WP8. They aren't blind spots that make no sense, they're just realities.-Brian
PC Perv - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
What an arrogant hoax. You surely realize that every point you raise has counter points, right?How about being on consumer side for once? Make a case why 32 GB should be the bottom line. And why 64 GB should cost $20 more, not $100 more, etc,. Stop worrying about OEMs. They are doing fine. Think for once from consumers standpoint, instead of corporate-hired marketeering.
rabidkevin - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Hello apple paid spokepersonsuperflex - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Hello Samsung ShillDentons - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
You're displaying confirmation bias, writ large.We can all find window dressing to support our opinions. That's why so many here object to your rants on AMOLED, microSD, and batteries. Despite your technical expertise, we realize your opinions in those areas has little basis in truth, and is largely just an smug opinion.
Yes, the NAND on many microSD cards is inferior to NAND built into devices. We know and we Don't Care! We use it to hold mass media, videos, photos, and music. What we care about far more is that microSD is often 10 times more cost effective and functions very well indeed.
Really Brian, telling users they really don't need the features they use and love is the height of contemptuous arrogance.