HTC One Max vs HTC One: How Much Of An Improvement Is the Phablet Over the Original?

Now that the HTC One Max is finally landing in the U.S. "by the holidays," it's time to see how different the HTC One Max from its flagship predecessor, the HTC One.

The HTC One was a fine entry into the premium smartphone market, with a lot of acclaim from critics when it first appeared, but lackluster sales and an unbalanced manufacturing cost-to-price ratio led HTC into rough waters recently.

The HTC One Max offers a lot of the same features as the HTC One, plus a few improvements, but probably not enough to justify a big price hike, otherwise HTC might find itself in the doldrums again when it comes to sales.

Display 

First off, the biggest, most obvious thing that the HTC One Max features is a big screen. The HTC One came in a 4.7-inch size, which eventually seemed small compared to its rivals in the 5-inch Samsung Galaxy S4 and 5.2-inch LG G2.

The HTC One Max is plenty of screen, though, at 5.9-inches diagonally across. Just like the HTC One, the HTC One Max comes with a full 1080 x 1920p resolution, which, on the 5.9-inch screen, won't bring the same insane 468 pixels per inch. However, at 373ppi, the One Max still features one of the most gorgeous displays in its class.

Power (Processor and Battery)

For any large-screen device, you have to provide enough juice to run it. The HTC One Max has a larger battery than the HTC One's 2,300 mAh pack, at 3,300 mAh. That will give you about 25 hours of 3G talk time, which should be plenty.

The HTC One Max, however, doesn't come with a better processor than the HTC One. While certainly being no slouch, the HTC One's quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 System on a Chip, clocked at 1.7GHz can't compete with the One Max's competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and LG G2. They - along with most premium Android devices coming out now - run the bleeding-edge Snapdragon 800 SoC.

Storage

The HTC One Max is much more likely to be used for multimedia like watching TV shows and movies than a standard workhorse smartphone like the HTC One.

Appropriately, HTC has added a microSD card slot, which, unlike the non-removable battery, is accessible under the back panel. That gives you up to 64GB optional storage on top of the 16GB or 32GB internal storage that the One Max has. The HTC One came with up to 64GB of internal storage, but no microSD slot.

HTC Features

The HTC One Max has the same metal feel (albeit with plastic edges to cut down on costs) and a lot of other features introduced in the HTC One. The same 4-megapixel "Ultrapixel" camera built for low light shots, the same 2.1-megapixel front facing camera, and the same Zoe camera software which gives you highlight reels along with lots of camera modes. The One Max also has front-facing stereo BoomSound speakers (though not with the Beats name, after the two companies split ways on their partnership).

The One Max also features NFC, an IR Blaster, and Bluetooth, WiFi, and LTE connectivity, and it comes with the most up-to-date Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system, with HTC's latest UI, Sense 5.5, layered on top.

Fingerprint Scanner: Enough For A High Price?

Of course, the other big deal about the HTC One Max is the fingerprint scanner. While a lot of critics were skeptical, from most hands-on reviews, the fingerprint scanner looks to be not too awkward, and useful to unlock the phone, if nothing else.

Still, the fingerprint scanner is not the first in its kind - or this year - and it's not enough to justify a huge price.

It's true, on paper the HTC One Max is certainly a decent phablet follow-up to the HTC One. But we have yet to see if it's really worth it, especially compared to the other premium smartphones and phablets which have been released during the HTC One Max's long gestation period.

If the price is comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the One Max won't be as a whole. But if it comes at closer to the HTC One's original price of $200 with a two-year agreement, it could be.