HTC One Max Review

The HTC One was one of our favorite Android phones around, pairing the luxurious metal body more typically seen on the iPhone with a bigger screen and the customizability of Android. Now here comes an enlarged version of the original One or we can call it the father of HTC One – the HTC One max.

HTC has just officially announced the One Max, its latest Android smartphone with a whopping 5.9-inch 1080p display. It has a pixel density of 373 pixels per inch, undercutting its smaller sibling's 446ppi. Styled similarly to the rest of its One series with an aluminum chassis, the One Max runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and the new Sense 5.5 UI, and debuts as HTC's largest smartphone to date.

Aside from its size, the One Max brings other big changes, including a fingerprint scanner on its rear side. While it isn't as neat as the iPhone 5s's, it does the basic job of letting you log in with a swipe of your fingertip. Another thing is that the back cover is now removable, letting you expand the 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage with up to 64GB more via micro SD -- a feature that was missing on the One and on the One X before that.

The One Max sticks with a Snapdragon 600 (with 2GB of RAM) for processing, rather than the superior Snapdragon 800 used in rival devices like the Sony Xperia Z Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

The display is very bright and has excellent colors thanks to its satisfyingly deep black levels. The Max's handling of color, together with its sheer size makes it an excellent choice for those of you wanting to watch movies and play glossy games on the go.

To the left of the home screens is HTC's news aggregator Blinkfeed. If you've ever used apps like Flipboard before then it'll be quite familiar. It shows your social networks as well as select articles from chosen news sources in a cascade of icons for you to swipe through. It's attractive and very easy to see what's new.

The One Max packs in the same 4-megapixel camera found inside the standard One. 4 megapixels might not seem like very much in comparison to the 20.7-megapixel Sony Xperia Z1, but HTC reckons the individual pixels are better, allowing them to take in more light and therefore give better-looking photos.

Conclusion

If big screens and metal bodies are on your wish-list then go for the One Max, but for most of you the standard One is a better option.

HTC One Max key specifications

• 5.9-inch full-HD LCD display
• 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor
• 2GB of RAM
• Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Sense 5.5 UI
• 16GB/ 32GB inbuilt storage variants, expandable up to 64GB via micro SD card
• Battery : 3,300 mAh
• 164.5x82.5x10.29mm
• 217 grams