HTC One Max review (Engadget.com)
The debate around giant smartphones is over. Manufacturers like Samsung, Sony and LG have amply demonstrated that it's possible to build a pocketable, phone-like device with a screen bigger than five inches. Now it's HTC's turn. But instead of re-imagining the much-praised One for this new category of device, HTC's designers have mostly just cloned it, while adding a drop of Miracle-Gro to produce a 1080p panel that measures 5.9 inches diagonally, versus the One's 4.7 inches.
The result is the One Max, a product that carries over some good things from the One while also finding room for a few notable extras like a fingerprint scanner and expandable storage. At the same time, it also introduces some major snags -- not least of which are the its intimidating size and weight. The job ahead of us is to somehow find the upper body strength to weigh it all up.
Hardware
We need to kick things off with an unfortunate disclaimer: The device we're looking at here was not final, but rather a very late-stage factory sample -- one of the first units off the assembly line. HTC gave it to us on the premise that it was worthy of being reviewed, so we expected it to be virtually immaculate. It didn't quite turn out that way.Our sample unit is coming apart at the seams. The removable back cover doesn't fit properly; the power button often jams; there's a visible gap between the display and the bezel on the right-hand side, and the optional $90 Power Flip Case looks as if it was designed for some other phone, because its front flap fails to fully cover the One Max's enormous display. As a result, this review can't be considered final until we get a chance to play with an actual in-store device and post an update, which we hope to do when the One Max officially launches in the UK at the end of this week. We're still waiting to hear from HTC on SIM-free pricing, but one retailer as it on sale at £600 ($952) in the UK. We've also been told that tariff pricing on Vodafone UK will come to £19 on the 3G £47 tariff or free on the £52 4G equivalent tariff -- making the One Max slightly more expensive than Sony's Z Ultra and barely any cheaper than Samsung's Galaxy Note 3.
Build quality and design
Perhaps this is why we feel a pang of guilt about the One Max's design woes. Having badgered HTC for the past two years to include microSD expansion, the company has finally given us what we want -- and this loss of build quality comes as a direct result. We refuse to take all the blame, however, since Sony has managed to deliver microSD slots in its latest phones without having a removable back cover. We wish HTC had managed something similar here.
And then there's the issue of size. Samsung's Note 3 (151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm) and Sony's Xperia Z Ultra (179.4 x 92.2 x 6.5mm) offset their big screens with tiny waistlines or bezels, but the One Max makes no such effort: its front-facing BoomSound speakers sit loud and proud along the top and bottom of the display, bringing the length to 164mm (around 6.5 inches). The curved back panel, so elegant as part of the smaller One, brings the thickness to 10.3mm along its spine, which feels every bit as thick as it sounds.
Turning the handset around, we see a set of pogo pins (which you use to attach the power case), the f/2.0 lens belonging to the 4MP "UltraPixel" camera, the flash module and, just underneath, the square-shaped fingerprint scanner -- which deserves a few paragraphs all its own. You can detach the spring-loaded back cover with a tiny lever on the side of the phone, and upon doing so, you'll have access to the aforementioned microSD slot and a micro-SIM slot as well.
The battery is non-removable, since the Max takes advantage of the same pyramid-style component design we've enjoyed on the One, Butterfly series and Windows Phone 8X. Finally, like most large smartphones, it doesn't come with a stylus in the box, but HTC will offer one outside Europe and the US. Don't worry, you're not missing much here. It's just one of those typical capacitive pens that lack pressure sensitivity, and bizarrely, it doesn't work on several other phones -- not even the One.
Fingerprint scanner
A big part of the frustration is that you can't really see or feel the scanner to position your finger on it properly. If you change your grip on the phone, or if you put it in a case, you have to guess at a way to adjust your swipe to hit the scanner at exactly the right angle. Equally, it's not obvious how the thing works -- it doesn't technically "scan" an image of your fingerprint, but instead measures the capacitance of your skin to create a unique signature. HTC points out that this should minimize security fears, because it says it's impossible to create a law enforcement-style print from the capacitance signature, and much like the Touch ID component on the iPhone 5s, your fingers don't get stored in the cloud.
Overall, the fingerprint scanner could work better; it's not quite as intuitive as Apple's Touch ID, and we'd happily have given it up in exchange for something more useful, like optical stabilization in the camera module. (More on that in a bit.)
| HTC One Max | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 164.5 x 82.5 x 10.29mm (6.48 x 3.25 x 0.41 inches) |
| Weight | 7.65 ounces (217g) |
| Screen size | 5.9 inches (373 ppi) |
| Screen resolution | 1,920 x 1,080 |
| Screen type | Super LCD 3 |
| Battery | 3,300mAh (non-removable) |
| Internal storage | 16/32GB (around 10GB free on 16GB model) |
| External storage | MicroSDXC, up to 64GB |
| Rear camera | 4MP stills (1/3-inch sensor, f/2.0 lens with 28mm equiv. focal length) |
| Front-facing cam | 2.1MP stills, 1080p video |
| Video capture | 1080p |
| NFC | Yes |
| Radios | HSPA+ (EMEA and Asia: 850/900/1900/2100 up to 42 Mbps, Sprint and Verizon 850/900/1900/2100 up to 14.4 Mbps); 3G CDMA (Sprint and Verizon: 800/1900); LTE (EMEA and Asia: 800/900/1800/2100/2600; Sprint: 1900; Verizon 700) |
| Bluetooth | v4.0 with aptX |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 |
| CPU | 1.7GHz quad-core |
| GPU | Adreno 320 |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Connectivity | MHL, microUSB 2.0, USB OTG, WiFi Direct, DLNA, IR |
| WiFi | Dual-band, 802.11a/ac/b/g/n |
| Wireless Charging | No |
| Operating system | Android 4.3 (with HTC Sense 5.5 skin) |
Display and audio
Paired with the BoomSound speakers, which we believe to be feedback-equipped NXP circuits inside expanded speaker boxes, the HTC One Max delivers a perfect video-watching experience. Nothing comes close except perhaps the One, which also offers great entertainment despite the smaller screen.
Headphone output from the One Max is nice and vibrant, and it doesn't lack volume even with relatively high-impedance cans. Fortunately the whole Beats gimmick has disappeared, this being HTC's first release since it announced that it's parting ways with Dr. Dre and his outfit. If you want a certain equalizer setting, which is effectively all Beats ever provided, there are numerous apps that facilitate it -- even Spotify now offers EQ options.
Finally, a quick but important caveat: before you invest in the $90 Power Flip cover, make sure it will accept your headphones. The wide 3.5mm plug on our AKG K551s wouldn't push all the way in, rendering them unusable.
Camera
With the One Max, HTC really should have improved the OIS to ensure its new phone stayed relevant. Instead, it removed OIS completely, leaving us with a predictable, middle-of-the-road UltraPixel camera that fails to stand out among the ever-improving competition. It's not bad at stills, especially if you're comparing it to another non-stabilized camera such as on an iPhone, but nor is it anything special. Comparing the low-light shot below with an equivalent image from the HTC One, there's barely any noticeable difference -- the HTC One's stabilization apparently didn't kick in to allow a longer shutter with reduced ISO and noise, so the One Max wasn't left at a disadvantage.
Video quality was bog-standard. The lack of OIS really hurts here, because it means that camera shake will consume a large and unfair portion of the available bit rate. This bit rate averages a healthy 2.7 MB/s (21.6 Mbps), so the resulting footage isn't awful, but you can see how it breaks down slightly in our sample video when we point it at the flowing water of the River Thames -- hand-shake coupled with the detail of the waves was too much for it. The quality of the audio recording isn't as good as on the original One, however, possibly due to the patent dispute with Nokia forcing a change of spec, and wind noise was noticeable in our recording. Finally, we wanted to test autofocus speed, but -- as you'll see from the clip -- a bug somehow prevented this from working while a video was being captured. Hopefully HTC will be able to fix this before the official launch.
Software
On the bright side, Sense 5.5 on the One Max gives us a sneak peek at what to expect when the One and One mini receive software updates of their own. One of the handier features is the "Do not disturb" mode, which can be toggled from the pull-down shortcuts tray to block calls and mute notifications (you can also add contacts to an exceptions list). BlinkFeed, a feature that's either loved or loathed by users, aims to please a wider audience by supporting RSS feeds (the XML links of which can be added from browsers), as well as Google+, keyword-based custom topics, multiple regions in the same feed, read later and offline reading. But if you insist, you can now simply turn off BlinkFeed with the top-left button on the home screen editor page (pinch anywhere on a home screen to toggle).
We're most impressed with the new Gallery app, which now
offers a more intuitive interface for both browsing and creating video
highlights. Like before, you can browse photos by automatically
generated events or by albums, but now you can swipe horizontally to
jump from one category to another, instead of having to pick from a
drop-down menu. What's gone is the Friends category (which, to be
honest, we barely used), but in return you gain a page that shows all
your online HTC Shares, so that you can better manage your 250MB of
storage space as well as comments, which is itself a new feature. With
each HTC Share taking up
about 30MB to 50MB of space, we'd still prefer a larger storage option
in order to have more permanent cloud content -- it's more fun than
having plain clips on the usual video sites. (As an aside, Max users
will all receive 50GB of free storage space on Google Drive.)
Folks who are familiar with Sense 5 will need to get used
to the new video highlights editor in Sense 5.5, but once you get the
hang of it, it'll become your new time-waster. On top of the new
interface that lets you preview the assembled clips without going full
screen, there's now a new theme engine that can time its video
transitions according to the beat of either the default theme music or
your own music tracks. As a bonus, your video highlights can now go
beyond the old 30-second limit if you use your own music, plus there's
also an option to sort the clips in chronological order, something we
needed badly in Sense 5. With these enhancements, we indulged ourselves
in spending more time playing with different combinations for our video
highlights.
Last but not least, you'll find several familiar apps bundled with Sense
5.5, including SenseTV to go with the One Max's infrared blaster, the
self-explanatory Kid Mode, the driver-friendly Car app UI, Stocks and
Polaris Office 5. What used to be Notes is now Scribble, which has lost
sync capability with Evernote (apparently users prefer using Evernote's
own app, anyway), but gained some themes and drawing effects.
Performance and battery life
| HTC One Max | Xperia Z Ultra | Galaxy Note 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrant 2.0 | 11,973 | 18,966 | 21,360 |
| Vellamo 2.0 | 2,568 | 2,957 | 2,501 |
| AnTuTu 4 | 26,059 | N/A | 35,788 |
| SunSpider 1.0 (ms, lower is better) | 1,173 | 431 | 1,103 |
| GFX Bench 2.7 HD Offscreen (fps) | 15 | 23 | 26 |
| CF-Bench | 29,137 | 31,702 | 24,653 |
As for battery life, we have something to celebrate: on an HSPA+ network, the 3,300mAh battery easily gave us enough juice for a day of heavy use. After 10.5 hours of calls, camerawork, gaming and lots of WiFi downloads, we still had 27 percent remaining. On a day of light use, with just a few calls and a bit of gaming, and with no charging overnight, the phone still had 14 percent of battery after 40 hours of use. This was partly helped by the default Power Saver setting kicking in when the battery indicator turns yellow -- this feature clocks down the CPU, reduces screen brightness, turns off vibration feedback and turns off the data connection while the screen is off. Add the 1,200mAh battery cover (shown above) and you should easily make it through two days without issue, provided you can stand lugging the thing around for that long.
Finally, on our standard looped-video rundown test, with WiFi on (but not connected) and data coming in over HSPA+, the phone lasted 12 hours and 50 minutes -- quite a feat considering the size of the screen. It's worth pointing out that the LG G2, with its Snapdragon 800 chip and a 10 percent smaller battery, managed 16 hours in the same test. Then again, it does have a significantly smaller screen. (Note: we'll update this post soon with the One Max's battery life on LTE, to allow for a cleaner comparison with the Note 3.)
Wrap-up
More Info
Why did none of this happen? Well, we actually put these questions to HTC -- one of the most open and friendliest manufacturers in this business -- and on some points it simply didn't have an answer. On other points, the implicit answer seemed to be that the One Max is a mid-term addition rather than a new flagship, perhaps primarily designed to cater for an Asian niche, and so it was never going to be the target of big investment. By contrast, the phone does require a big investment from the customer, given its premium price, so we can't recommend it over the Note 3 or the Z Ultra.
Then again, if the build quality issues we experienced get fixed in the retail unit, and if HTC can somehow improve the design of its Power Flip Case, the One Max should still attract a few buyers. It will especially appeal to someone, such as a frequent flyer, who wants a big screen and big battery specifically for the purpose of consuming video and music, at the expense of other requirements. If that's you, and if you can find the One Max for a decent price, it's worth taking a look.
Richard Lai and Brad Molen contributed to this review.Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/15/htc-one-max-review/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000589