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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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.