The massive 5.9-inch HTC One max has finally arrived on Verizon’s network, masquerading as a premium device at $299.99 with a two-year contract or $599.99 with a month-to-month agreement. I hope this is not a trend that Verizon is starting, by jumping from, what was a normal price for a phone of this caliber, say $199, and setting a higher norm of $299 as the new “sweet spot.” Just because a device has a 5.9-inch screen, does not qualify it for this kind of price – perhaps Verizon believes there is a pent up desire for this device and therefore they can command a premium price…I think they will be wrong on both assumptions. I am surprised by the lack of branding on the back of the HTC One max, with only the 4G LTE marking, and they did as much as they could on the front, but still, overall for Verizon, they treated the device with a little respect.
The HTC One max is a beautiful device, crafted after its sibling, the HTC One – in fact, it is identical, in every specification, except the screen size, battery size, inclusion of a microSD slot, and the HTC One max adds a fingerprint scanner on the back of the device. The display is an FHD Super LCD3 at 1920×1080, giving the 5.9-inch display a 373 PPI, they throw in 2GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB Internal Storage, a massive 3,300mAh battery, and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. You also get a set of stereo speakers on the front of the device by which all other smartphones should be judged.
It includes the same snapper from the HTC One, their 4MP UltraPixel camera and 2.1MP FFC – they touted the UltraPixel camera as somewhat of a breakthrough in technology, but by our HTC One review, it was very good, but not great, although the camera software did rank well. The other area of concern is that it comes with a Qualcomm 600 Quad-Core processor, clocked at 1.7GHz. Although certainly adequate, it is certainly a 2012 spec processor and not one you would find in a Q4 2013 device.
So there you have it – the HTC One max is available for order today at Verizon. We did a comparison of the HTC One vs the HTC One max and found it to be a draw – If you like the smaller 4.7-inch screen size, then grab the original HTC One, but if you like the larger screen, then by all means pick up the HTC One max – But for $300, I would think about getting a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – not because it’s a Samsung, but you simply get more for your money.