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
Concluding the One max review is difficult. I have a lot of conflicting thoughts about the larger sized smartphones and the state of that market, which seems to serve two purposes independently. For users who either don’t want or can’t budget for a tablet, the larger sized phones seem to bridge a functional gap between smartphone and tablet. Simultaneously, there are users who want the larger screen just to have it, and maybe there’s the perception that the larger phones still have some elevated status that comes with it. There’s a regional bias at play here too, and the One max seems to be a product designed to cater maybe more to some regions where supersized smartphones make up a bigger part of the market than others.
For me, the One max is probably a new upper bound in terms of size. It’s a very large phone, and although it fits in the front pockets of my jeans and shorts, it’s sometimes a stretch to sit down comfortably with the One max in a pocket. In terms of ergonomics, the One max is very much a dual-hand device.
The One max is really a product designed to fill out a hole in HTC’s One series portfolio than anything else, and doesn’t really change up the formula too much. It’s literally a scaled up version of the HTC One with few changes – OIS is unfortunately gone, the screen is obviously huge, there’s now a microSD card slot, and of course the new fingerprint sensor. Other than that though, the One max really is the One scaled up to gigantic size, with parts of the One mini tossed in for good measure.
I’ve said my part on the fingerprint sensor on the One max already. It works but isn’t the best or most intuitive implementation to date, although I think it’s fairly easy to make the case that nobody, not even Apple, has nailed a fingerprint sensor yet. The fingerprint scanner’s location on the back makes sense when you’re holding the One max in one hand, but becomes a problem when you’re using the phone on a flat surface. The use of a swipe sensor as well makes positioning on the back somewhat problematic unless you enroll fingers at a natural angle.
There’s also that elephant in the room about platform, specifically HTC’s inclusion of Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T instead of the faster Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 we’re seeing devices start shipping with right now. Although 8064 is still plenty fast and no slouch, there’s still a perceptible performance delta between an 8064 device and the newer 8974 phones I have on my desk now. I worry a lot about whether HTC will fall behind on platform, especially since it used to be the one OEM always shipping new Qualcomm silicon first. I have a feeling the One max saw platform change at the last minute, delaying its launch, but that's almost entirely speculation.
If you want a larger-screened smartphone and liked the One but have been waiting for a long time for the One max, by all means, get it. If you want a larger screened smartphone however, I think it’s easy to make the case that there are better devices out there right now. Had the One max arrived a month or two after the launch of the original One, this conclusion would've likely been a very different one.
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AbbyYen - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
oh ya, one more thing, the capacitive button. must have Option, Home, and Back. the option there, when in home page, when you click it should have the notification bar option. so that you can operate in one hand! no need to use the other hand to pull down the notification option. multi task button and search button are useless. long press home button and let it show the multitask window.Ranger101 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
As one of the "incredibly small percentage of users that clamors for an SD card", I feel I need to set you straight on the issue. Using one's smartphone as a media player makes an SD card necessary if a sizeable collection of wav files are to be stored on the phone. Secondly I notice that you devote very little attention to the audio quality of the cellphones in your reviews. I suggest that you dispense with any comments on the sound quality of the built in speaker and focus more on important audio issues like what DAC the cellphone uses and what it sounds like through a decent pair of headphones.Ranger101 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
You boys don't take well to criticism do you, every time a comment remotely criticising your articles is posted, it is removed. With that attitude, like the micro sd card, Anandtech will be going the way of the dodo soon as well. I didn't realise you were so narrow minded.superflex - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
AT is going nowhere. You're SD card is.Ranger101 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
You boys don't take well to criticism do you, every time a comment remotely criticising your articles is posted, it is removed. With that attitude, like the micro sd card, Anandtech will be going the way of the dodo soon as well. I didn't realise you were so narrow minded.MercuryStar - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
I don't know whether you're just having trouble browsing the comments, but there are many comments critical of the article here, many with responses. Your claim doesn't seem to hold up.Davidjan - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
I prefer One. SD slot is not important for me, because there is an option to extend storage with OTG reader like Meenova MicroSD Reader: http://goo.gl/U6IyYrituraj - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - link
Really laughed out loud at that stupid thing..Impulses - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
It actually works just fine, if all you want is space for movies during a long flight (or music for special occasions etc) then it's a perfectly viable alternative to built in cardslots. I use mine pretty often, along with a regular USB OTG cable when I want to pull RAW files from my camera or access stuff I've brought from the PC on a faster USB 3.0 stick. All of it is more convenient than removing my case to get at the card on older phones I've had...Honestly, I'd only want a microSD slot at this point if it's easily accessed from the outside like some Sony phones etc, but I can easily live without it as long as the phone has at least 32GB, so can most people. The price gouging for SKUs with more storage really has to stop tho.
apaceeee - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
The frarme is tooooooo narrow...It's almost frameless...And I trust it can be carelessly touched .