It's no secret that HTC is struggling. In the past year alone, the company lost several key players on its executive team and posted a net loss of about $101 million. Based on that criteria alone, the forecast looks grim for the Taiwan-based phone manufacturer, and the plan to get its business back on track is seems to be to just keep repackaging its one phone that made headlines, the HTC One.
It began with the One Mini, which we reviewed a while back, and now the trend continues with the One Max, HTC's phone-tablet hybrid. It boasts a 1080p screen, updated version of Sense UI 5, impressive low-light photography abilities, and a long-lasting battery life. It all looks good on paper, but once you use it, you just realize it's just a much bigger HTC One. Given the name, I suppose that's what we should expect.
All that aluminum
Image: Michael HomnickHTC stuck with its signature aluminum, but tacked on a plastic white frame around the edges.
The One Max is almost a carbon copy of its predecessor, albeit a bit heftier. It features the same aluminum chassis signature to the One, along with a white plastic accent around the edges. Both the power and volume buttons reside on the right side of the One Max so that you can easily access them with your thumb.
The One Max also features a tiny switch that pops open the back cover, revealing the MicroSIM and MicroSD expansion slots, as well as a battery pack that can't be removed. Putting the cover back on was a task and required that I held on to the latch while I placed the door back in its hinges. HTC should have stuck with the pull-and-pry-open method, like the one featured on the Galaxy Note 3.
Image: Michael Homnick
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