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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BlakKW - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
+2cbrownx88 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
+3MarcSP - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
+4hrrmph - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
+5The Saint - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
"I’ve said my part already on microSD cards and the fact that they’re going the way of the dodo in smartphones, I just don’t need one anymore, and definitely not at the expense of build quality. It is convenient not having to use a SIM ejector tool though, even if I carry one around all the time anyways. For the incredibly small percentage of users that clamors for an SD card every single smartphone launch, it’s at least one point which won’t be belabored so tiresomely this time."That's funny. Seems to me if there's one thing that seems to be going the way of the dodo, it's Android manufacturers like HTC who think prettiness and premium feel are more important than functionality. It will be nice once they go out of business to be able to stop hearing from that tiresome segment of pretend geeks who treat their cellphones like how divas treat their purses - as fashion accessories.
Meanwhile, Samsung will continue laughing by being both the only player that focuses on functionality, and the only player that makes money in the Android world.
nerd1 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Apple charges $100 for 16GB memory and you can find 32GB micro SD at around $15. I wonder why most reviewers conveniently ignore this fact and just compare the baseline price of the products. I can do the math and I won't buy any device without expandability.Drumsticks - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
I'm not sure that expandibility is the biggest selling point for galaxy phones outside of tech enthusiasts. Most people are not movie hogs etc and find 32GB reasonable. Business users and media enthusiasts on the other hand, would. But they don't represent everyone. Especially with streaming.I think its more brand name appeal and how much more recognizable they are. After all, apple does even better, and its not like they've ever offered MicroSD support.
personally I just think 16GB needs to die, and 32 should be standard up to 128GB in $50 increments max using high quality flash.
Spunjji - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Agreed about 16GB needing to die. But why would it when plenty of companies still make an extra $100 per sale by forcing people to upgrade to the minimum serviceable level? At least the Micro SD slot, with all its failings, allows some sort of other option. "pay as you grow" instead of throwing the whole shebang away when your storage needs outpace the crappy little chip soldered into your device.The0ne - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
My decision on a phone is1. Screen size and resolution
2. MicroSD slot
I use my phone more as a e-reader and media device than a phone. That's not to say I don't use it as a phone normall, I do but it's not all that it does. Duh? Having the MicroSD slot for expansion is Godsend. All my books and technical PDF's are there. All my music, videos and photos are there (just the favorite ones), and so forth.
Why wouldn't you want to have all of those on your phone? It is convenience for me. One device to do what I like to use it for.
Davidjan - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
Agree with you. We can use OTG reader to expand storage like Meenova MicroSD Reader if we want: http://goo.gl/U6IyY