HTC One max [Tri-Band] (was "HTC "Phablet" aka "T6"")

[ericdabbs]

pretty good considering the consensus seems to be this:

 

"The HTC One Max is almost identical to the One, but with a bigger screen. There's been no attempt to make use of that upgraded size, and given the new features will be appearing on the One in the near future, this means the One Max has very few unique selling points.

Unless you're desperate for a nearly 6-inch screen, that is.

The fingerprint scanner is a real waste of time. Apple has shown us how well this can be implemented as a feature, so putting it on the rear of the device in a hard to reach place is never going to be a good idea.

The One Max is also terribly unwieldy, meaning you're likely to drop it if you try to use it in one hand very often. It could be worse, but those BoomSound speakers do nothing to help the ergonomics."

 

my wallet will feel the same yours feels buying last year's tech from a company that's most likely dead in 6 months. it's the same "cheap plastic" that surrounds the One Max. It's not like a blown up ONE, it's a blown up One Mini. i guess it's a matter of preference, but i'll take cheap plastic over aluminum any day since it's lighter in my pocket.

 

oh let me change my screen setting from dynamic so it isn't as garish.

 

as soon as this drops to under $350 off contract i'll pick one up to play with though.

 

The Snapdragon 600 chip will not be dead in 6 months.  It will only appear to be "dead" in 6 months because there will always be something better.  You say right now that the Snapdragon 800 chip is the best thing since sliced bread but come 6 months from now in May 2014 when the GS5 and HTC Two comes out with the latest Qualcomm chip they announce at CES 2014 you will say the Snapdragon 800 is obsolete.  Qualcomm would have come out with a chip that does what the Snapdragon 800 does but even more power efficient or the chip itself can pack more features.

 

There is no point in trying to keep up with the latest and greatest in technology because the duration you hold onto the phone device will never be long enough to outlast the next best thing.  Also please don't judge the HTC One max until you have tried it at the store because you don't know how it truly feels until you have played with it in person.  You are making a lot of assumptions about what people will think.

[ericdabbs]

Now if only the US govt can get their !#@$ straight and come to an agreement so that they can open up the FCC database once again so we can take a look at the RF performance specs of this phone.

[glenavo34]

I agree, which is why I said I'm buying one off contract when the price drops.

 

As for the latest tech, there may no point in trying to keep up, but when there is a better chip that is available why not use it? It's not a matter of keeping up, it's a matter of HTC utilizing current tech. Even from the reviews that have been posted, reviewers state there isn't huge noticeable lag but that you can see the difference between the 600 and 800. It's the same argument against the note 3 not being tri band...why not try their best to future proof a device?

 

You're right, it might feel great in hand but again going by the reviews that have been posted, that's not the case. I do plan to go into Sprint and play with it as I initially thought the Note 2 was too cumbersome until I played with it.

 

I actually hope this does well and HTC stays in business. I had the OG Evo and Evo LTE and enjoyed them during my time with those devices. I think it's great for competition and even LGs recent rising with the G2 is appreciated.

[Phillycat]

I think the One Max is DOA. The camera is worse than the HTC one because they took out ois. The snapdragon 600 is plenty fast but why get the 600 when you can get the 800 now? The 800 is more future proof. Its massive in the hand thanks to bezels and its not as intuitive as the galaxy note 3. Beats is gone(not that big of deal but I bet you notice a sound difference)and the phone is so big that the finger print scanner on the back will be harder to reach and is not practical. What Samsung did right is to make the note 3 smaller than the note 2 making one handed handling not impossible. Its more plastic than the HTC one also and honestly besides the big battery I think that the HTC one is better. Sony and LG tried this big phone with no s pen like features and failed. The only upside to this seem to be triband support. And for all we no it could be a poor performer. I love HTC, I really do but this phone could have been so much more than just a big HTC one with 3 more features and 3 less features than the HTC One.

 

http://youtu.be/A9gC1GiSDDA

[js4gru]

I think the s4 with the 600 in it is a slow performer. My note 2 seems a lot smoother and faster. Not sure if its a touchwiz thing or what

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Terrell352]

http://youtu.be/A9gC1GiSDDA

lmao that's exactly how i feel

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk now Free

 

 

[Paynefanbro]

I think the s4 with the 600 in it is a slow performer. My note 2 seems a lot smoother and faster. Not sure if its a touchwiz thing or what

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

it's TouchWiz because the HTC One had a lower clockspeed and ran nearly as smooth or just as smooth as a Nexus device. It was the smoothest skinned Android device at the time.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/14/4836286/htc-one-max-review

 

They didn't enjoy it at all. It'll be interesting to see the reviews come in. Apparently, the jump from 5.7 to 5.9 is significant enough that that review felt it was too awkward.

Wanna say they hated the One as well so this isn't surprising... The one thing that got me is the comment about OIS being removed in the MAX... Seems odd to drop a feature there if all is true...

 

One thing I agree with them on is lack of camera button is disappointing... Phone this big should have one along with stylus... I expected at least 1 of those along with S800 here... Get a little better battery life outta the 8 over the 6 being that the 800 is fully integrated and no need for extra chip to handle the basebands/modems... Still surprised they launched this without the 800 given everyone else in the world is using it now on flagship...

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk now Free

 

 

[Fraydog]

What people forget is that the Note 3 has a bigger screen and smaller overall footprint than the original Note.  

 

HTC didn't look at that possibility when designing the One Max and f'ed up as a result. 

[ericdabbs]

Yeah but the One came with 32gb so I am hoping that by some miracle that the one max comes in at no more than $600 for the 32gb version.

 

According to the video review around the 1:10 mark on the Verge, the US carriers will be getting the 32 GB model while the international models will be getting the 16 GB model.  So it looks like you are in luck.  The question is what the price will be on and off contract.  Hopefully it is the $600 off contract price that you are hoping for.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/14/4836286/htc-one-max-review

[Paynefanbro]

PhoneArena's video review is the Sprint variant. Bars represent LTE signal. And Sprint changed the 3G and 4G logo on their devices. It is now custom. Hopefully it doesn't make software updates take longer.

[glenavo34]

The verge wasn't the only site to say that the max isn't well thought out. Every review I've read (android central, tech radar) says that the HTC One is better than the Max. It's essentially a bigger HTC One (even specs wise) since they didn't really seem to plan out how the bigger screen could be utilized/differentiated for the user.

 

I get the sense that this will sell to a select group in limited numbers, and will probably drop in price pretty quickly. I'd love to play with it and use it for an extended period but I don't think I'd use my upgrade to do so. I'll be checking eBay and craigslist for one.

[ericdabbs]

PhoneArena's video review is the Sprint variant. Bars represent LTE signal. And Sprint changed the 3G and 4G logo on their devices. It is now custom. Hopefully it doesn't make software updates take longer.

 

Its got the same 4G LTE logo as the Note 3.  I don't like the arrows that sit out on the side to show the traffic.  I much prefer the old orange and green colored arrows underneath the 4G icon. 

[ericdabbs]

The verge wasn't the only site to say that the max isn't well thought out. Every review I've read (android central, tech radar) says that the HTC One is better than the Max. It's essentially a bigger HTC One (even specs wise) since they didn't really seem to plan out how the bigger screen could be utilized/differentiated for the user.

 

I get the sense that this will sell to a select group in limited numbers, and will probably drop in price pretty quickly. I'd love to play with it and use it for an extended period but I don't think I'd use my upgrade to do so. I'll be checking eBay and craigslist for one.

 

So far I have read the tech reviews who think the HTC One max is mehh but I don't really think it matters all that much.  Remember that the tech blogs all care about specs and small features that they expect so if it not mind blowing they are not impressed.  I am still impressed with the small things that they did: moving the power button to the side, adding microSD slot, experimenting with fingerprint scanner, etc.

 

People who have been waiting for a phablet like screen, triband LTE, great battery and microSD card slot will still get the HTC One max regardless of the Snapdragon 600 or lack of OIS in the camera because the processor is still plenty fast for what it can do.  I also don't think the lack of a stylus is a deterrent away from getting the HTC One max since most of the Galaxy Note uses don't use the S-pen that much anyways.

 

At the end of the day we are all here on S4GRU because of the LTE network bands and finally we have a phablet that supports all 3 LTE bands for 2013.  If we didn't care about the LTE network bands then a lot of us probably would have gotten the Galaxy Note 3.  I know for me personally I decided to sacrifice my want for a phablet phone just because of the lack of triband LTE network support.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Would love to see pics taken with the One compared to the Max.... Seriously can't see them dropping a feature if this is the case and it was in the One... Just don't understand why there would be no OIS unless they tweaked the camera elsewhere and overall its better....

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk now Free

 

 

[glenavo34]

Multiple reviews said it's been removed. Don't know why they would do that...perhaps due to fingerprint scanner?

[leerage]

PhoneArena's video review is the Sprint variant. Bars represent LTE signal. And Sprint changed the 3G and 4G logo on their devices. It is now custom. Hopefully it doesn't make software updates take longer.

 

You're worried about the changing of the 3G and 4G logos causing updates to take longer?

[gr8nuguy]

i dont know about you guys, but with the way HTC Radios have been lately, i think it would best to wait and see how bad or good they are on this thing..

[buckhunter]

i dont know about you guys, but with the way HTC Radios have been lately, i think it would best to wait and see how bad or good they are on this thing..

That's my plan ;-)

 

()()

 

 

[Terrell352]

Agreed

i dont know about you guys, but with the way HTC Radios have been lately, i think it would best to wait and see how bad or good they are on this thing..

[bakedc4]

 From Jason Dunn on HTC elevate,

 

The HTC One max is everything you love about the HTC One, supersized! Here's the list of the most important device features (the complete spec list is attached at the bottom of this post):

• A massive 5.9 inch, 1080p display (Super LCD3)
• A gigantic 3300 mAH internal, non-removable Lithium Polymer battery
• A convenient rear fingerprint scanner for fast locking and launching of apps
• A side-mounted power button for fast and easy access
• 32 GB or 16 GB (varies by region) of internal storage, 2 GB of RAM
• microSD card support, up to 64 GB in size (yes, we're giving you microSD in this product!)
• Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor at 1.7 Ghz
• The same UltraPixel camera from the HTC One (4 MP, f/2.0, 28mm lens)
• 164.5 x 82.5 x 10.29mm in size, 217 grams in weight
• Supports Qualcomm QuickCharge 1.0, with an included 1.5A charger in the box
• 50 GB of bonus space from Google Drive

Battery life is the #1 thing consumers want to see improved on any smartphone (regardless of brand), so if you're all about the long-lasting battery life, I can tell you from personal experience the HTC One max is absolutely amazing. How amazing? Almost55 hours of usage between charges. I literally need to only charge this phone every second day during normal day to day usage. And this isn't putting it in power saving mode, turning things off constantly, etc. This is WiFi on, Bluetooth on, and GPS on during the daylight hours (I use Battery Widget Reborn so it does turn these off at night). The HTC One max is the most impressive HTC phone I've ever used when it comes to battery life.

Part of what makes the battery life great is us using the Snapdragon 600 processor. The HTC One max has the same screen resolution as the HTC One, which is a top performer, so the experience is the same on both devices. Everything I throw at the max it handles easily, so while other devices in this category are shipping with the Snapdragon 800, it's the day to day experience of using the device that matters more than the specs.

 

Make no mistake, this is a big phone, but it's amazing how quickly you can adapt to the larger size. I've been testing the HTC One max for several months now, and prior to that I was testing the HTC One mini, so I went from one extreme to the other. The first couple of days, I felt the size difference was jarring. I quickly adapted to the larger size though, and now when I hold an HTC One it actually seems too "small" to me. Hah! For me, the HTC One max passed all the size tests: I can fit it in the front pocket of my jeans, and still bend over to tie my shoelace. I can fit it in the front pocket of my jacket (though just barely), and since I gave up on one-handed use a long time ago, I'm accustomed to using two hands now...though in a pinch I can do some basic look-up tasks with one hand.

It's worth pointing out how great gaming is on a 5.9 inch screen. I had a few games loaded on my HTC One, but I honestly didn't play them much - but on the HTC One max, RTS games like Kingdom Rush are incredibly immersive and fun (I'm re-addicted to that game now). The dual front-facing speakers are incredible - the speaker chambers are larger, so it's even louder than the HTC One - and the camera experience is amazing with such a large screen. Sharing photos and videos with others on a 5.9 inch screen is so cool!

Some of you will have noticed there's no Beats Audio logo on the back. This phone doesn't come with Beats Audio; HTC has chosen to focus all our audio engineering efforts on our own audio solution, BoomSound. I can promise you after having listened to may hours of music on my max that this phone delivers great-sounding audio that's every bit as good as the HTC One.

 

 

 

 

[ericdabbs]

PhoneArena's video review is the Sprint variant. Bars represent LTE signal. And Sprint changed the 3G and 4G logo on their devices. It is now custom. Hopefully it doesn't make software updates take longer.

 

You're worried about the changing of the 3G and 4G logos causing updates to take longer?

 

 

Changing 4G LTE logos will not make software updates longer.  It is so simple to modify the 4G LTE icons.  All you need to do is edit the SystemUI.apk and choose the .png files that you want for your logos and rename the 4G icon png file you like to the name that Sprint is calling out.  See the thread below if you are interested.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3074-change-4g-symbol-on-android-devices/?p=195233

[Fraydog]

Don't get why they added the fingerprint scanner, when by all accounts it seems half-baked.

[glenavo34]

I'm ready curious about the "fits in my front jeans pocket."

 

The note feels it would be awkward if it was any bigger in some of my jeans (regular cut, nothing skinny or anything like that). I don't even use a case on the Note because then I need to put it in my back pocket.

 

I could see the top of the Max peeking out over certain pockets if it's in the front pockets.

[mikejeep]

Don't get why they added the fingerprint scanner, when by all accounts it seems half-baked.

John Q Public wants to be able to tell his iPhone buddies that he has a fingerprint scanner too. The average cellphone customer will probably never use half of the features on a device.. but they will buy the phone that has the longest list of features.

 

I remember waiting to use my upgrade for one of the first BT-capable phones to come out back in the day.. held out for months. Something with BT hit the market that I liked, I bought it on launch day.. and never used BT once!

 

I'm excited to hear that the max will be tri-band, but it might be a bit too large to use as a primary phone. Looking forward to physically holding one in-store to check that. I think the specs are adequate; as others have said, something faster and better is always around the corner. It takes time to design, engineer, and develop a device.. lots of factors go into deciding what the final specs will be.

 

Not sure why so many get upset about a 600 vs. 800.. it is not like HTC was not aware there was a newer chip available. It breaks down to something along the lines of an analysis of $$ & power consumption vs. the performance enhancement realized. The laptop I have used every day for the past 5 years is a 2ghz dual core.. I am not going to be concerned if my cellphone is "only" a 1.7ghz quad core.

 

-Mike