After months of rumours and leaked images, HTC has finally lifted the lid on its One max phablet, which enlarges the 4.7" full HD touchscreen of the One (review) to a 5.9" 1080p display.  

Besides a boost in screen real estate, the One max also offers a bigger 3300 mAh battery, compared to the One’s 2300 mAh unit, but this battery is still non-removable.

Powering the smartphone is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor running at 1.7 GHz per core and not the upgraded Snapdragon 800 predicted by the tech rumour mill. Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) along with HTC’s Sense 5.5 skin handles the operating.

Pointing a finger to the mobile future

It would seem that Apple is not the only smartphone maker taking an interest in finger scanning technology, as HTC has now also included a built-in fingerprint scan feature in their latest device. This scanner is not found under the home button of the One max, but on the back of the device.

According to HTC, the fingerprint scanner provides users with an easier way to lock or unlock their smartphone’s screen. HTC does takes things another step further though, enabling users to quickly launch up to three favourite apps by assigning an individual finger to each of these.

Also onboard the One max is LTE (4G) connectivity, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and HTC BoomSound dual stereo front facing speakers, but strangely no mention of Beats by Dr Dre audio enhancement technology for which HTC is known for. In terms of optics, the One max packs HTC’s UltraPixel rear-facing camera (probably also 4 MP unit used in the One), plus a 2.1 megapixel front-facing snapper with wide-angle (88°) lens.

Users can get either 16 GB or 32 GB worth of internal storage, which can be expanded (not the case in the One) via a microSD memory card slot that supports cards up to 64 GB in size. Buyers also get a handy 50 GB amount of additional free Google Drive online storage.

HTC stated that its One max will begin rolling out across the globe from mid- to the end of October. No local release info is available as yet.  

In related news, Samsung Electronics recently introduced the Galaxy Round, which boasts a 5.7" full HD Super Flexible AMOLED curved screen.