HTC officially enters the ‘phablet’ race with the HTC One max, a super-sized version of the award-winning HTC One. The new device not only features the loved features from the HTC One like HTC BlinkFeed, HTC Zoe and HTC BoomSound but also adds a new FingerPrint Scan. The HTC One Max retails at RM2,499 (SRP).
The Malaysian launch happened at Elegantology Gallery and Restaurant, an apt venue for the launch of a product positioned in the ‘premium’ range. The launch was attended and officiated by SK Wong, Country Manager of HTC Malaysia; Sirpa Ikola, Senior Marketing Director of HTC South Asia; and Wayne Tang, Product Marketing Manager of HTC South Asia.
The gargantuan HTC One max sports a 5.9-inch Full HD 1080p display, perfect for games, movies and videos. Expect powerful performance from the 1.7Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB RAM.
HTC will be bringing in the 16GB storage version only at this point, expandable to 32GB of course via microSD. The good news is that HTC is bundling a generous 50GB of additional free Google Drive online storage, exclusively to HTC One max owners. Caveat: The storage is valid for two years.
With the HTC One max, you can use your finger to lock or unlock the screen with the fingerprint scanner on the back of the device. You can also assign fingers to quickly launch up to three favourite applications. Interesting concept if fingering is your thing (pun intended).
My hate for HTC Sense was completely obliterated when HTC Sense 5.5 debuted on the HTC One and HTC Butterfly S. Sense suddenly made perfect sense. With the new refreshed, redesign Sense UI, came the personalised HTC BlinkFeed that conveniently curates content from online news feeds and social feeds on your home screen. Neat.
The device sports NFC, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, DLNA, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, micro-USB, GPS/AGPS, digital compass and a large 3,300mAh battery.
If there’s one thing that the HTC One excelled in was in the imaging department. While other manufacturers (aside from Apple) play the raw megapixel game, HTC chose the path to use bigger pixels in place of sheer number of pixels. As a result, the famed HTC UltraPixel camera technology delivers extraordinary photos in low-light conditions and enhanced clarity and colour reproduction. The HTC UltraPixel camera with BSI sensor, 2.0 pixel size, f/2.0 aperture and 28mm lens is outstanding.
The 2.1MP front-facing camera allows for HD video calls and ‘selfies’ and also utilise the Dual Capture mode to simultaneously shoot with the main camera.
The HTC One max shares the same premium design language as the rest of the HTC One family – sleek, unibody aluminium construction, with zero gap. Available in Glacial Silver now, and Stealth Black in late December.
Pricing and availability
The HTC One Max is available at all HTC retailers and selected mobile operators at a price of RM2,499 (SRP).
