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
Battery life remains a huge concern for savvy smartphone shoppers. Opportunistically charging a phone and worrying about making it through an entire day with just a single charge cycle is a common complaint as well. The HTC One max addresses some of the complaints myself and others had with charging on the HTC One which charged at only 1 amp, instead the One max charges at up to 1.5 amps. Although I wasn’t sampled it, the One max box will also include a 1.5 amp charger from HTC that’s slightly taller than the previous generation. This definitely helps offset the increase in charge time that would’ve resulted given the 43 percent larger 3300 mAh 3.8V (12.54 watt hour) battery.
The HTC One charges a bit faster with the latest updates, however the linear region of the charge curve is entirely dominated by that 1 A charging maximum. With the 1.5 A charging in the One max we actually see considerably faster charge times in spite of the larger battery. HTC continues to use BC 1.2 to the best of my knowledge for signaling.
To assess battery life, I ran the One max through our battery life test suite. Our battery life test is unchanged, we calibrate the display to exactly 200 nits and run it through a controlled workload consisting of a dozen or so popular pages and articles with pauses in between continually, until the device dies. This is repeated on cellular and WiFi, in this case since we have an international model of the One max that lacks the LTE bands used in the USA, that’s 3G WCDMA on AT&T’s Band 2 network. The talk time call test is self explanatory and also unchanged.
The results speak for themselves, the One max lasts quite a long time on battery, even with a large display. I expected the One max to lose to the Note 3 on the cellular test initially, but it posts an impressive result. I suspect display power might be the reason here between AMOLED and the more pragmatic LCD in the One max. I measured the One max with the flip case on as well, and it adds about 20 percent more battery time to the device. I'm curious to see how the USA-bound variants with LTE fare, but the One does impress with excellent battery life.
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ddriver - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Doesn't seem to be doing well in its category (phablets that is) - considering devices already on the market and those soon to be launched, I'd guess the main selling point for this device will be brand loyalty. And people complained the note was too big...Omega215D - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
The BoomSound speakers are much better than what the Note 3 puts out but you pay the price for them in extra height and possibly thickness. Also, HTC is pretty good at making the most of the battery capacity in which many of their phones have great standby times and good usage life.kmmatney - Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - link
The price may make a difference. I was planning on buying a note 3, but went for the LG Optimus Pro G because it was $200 cheaper at $99, and almost the same size screen. If the HTC One Max is $199, it might sway some buyers. I probably would have bought it just for the speakers.jshsimpson1 - Friday, November 15, 2013 - link
you missed out on the note 3Chaitanya - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
a small typo on 1st page. Battery aint 1210mah, its 3300mah I believe.IanCutress - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
1210 mAh is the Power Flip battery. 3300 mAh is the phone battery.MrCommunistGen - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
If you're talking about this line: "The battery isn’t huge, at 1210 mAh and 3.75V (4.53 watt-hours), but it does give a boost as I’ll show in the battery section." he's referring to a battery + flip cover case.nerd1 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
One MAX - 164.5*82.5*10.29mm 217gGalaxy note 3 - 151.2*79.2*8.3mm 168g
I can understand the size but why that heavy and thick?
Johnmcl7 - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
I was surprised at the thickness/weight as well, the larger Z Ultra comes in a lot thinner and a bit lighter despite the fact it has a larger 6.44in screen and fully weather sealed:Sony Z Ultra - 179.4 x 92.2 x 6.5 mm 212g
ShieTar - Monday, October 28, 2013 - link
Both the Note 3 and the Z Ultra are dead flat though, while the One Max has a nice curvature on the back. Its surely a question of personal reference which you prefer, personally I like the curved body better than something thin and flat.