What do you get when you cross a smartphone with a tablet? A “Phablet” of course, the latest trend in smartphones that combines a smart phone and what amounts to a very small tablet computer. These “supersized” smartphones have proven to be quite popular and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is at the top of the list. Basically a small tablet with the ability to make phone calls, people everywhere seem to love the convenience even if holding one up to your year while you’re talking does tend to look a little bit silly.
HTC has joined the Phablet craze recently and we’re comparing their HTC One Max to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 as a bit of a diversion from the interesting (but kinda’ dry) financial advice that we usually bring you here on our blog. Enjoy.
One of the first thing you notice about the HTC is that it’s absolutely huge! In fact it’s 2% thicker, 9% taller and 5% wider than the Note 3, And in the weight department it’s also almost 30% heavier.
The Build of the HTC One Max is solid aluminum but, because of the weight it adds, were not sure it will be a good thing in the long run. The Note might not be as high-end with its fake leather and plastic build but it has a bit of a softer feel when it’s in your hand. As far as Colors are concerned, the One comes only in silver but the Note can be purchased in three different colors.
Of course what’s a Phablet without a lot of display space. The Note 3 is really the smart phone that started the trend but the HTC One is nearly 7% bigger. So if bigger is important to you, the HTC definitely wins. One thing that you won’t find with the One Max is that it doesn’t come with a Stylus because, when they were designing the software, they designed around it. The Note however was definitely designed for use with a stylus and, depending on whether you like them or not, this could be a big purchase point.
The Note doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor but the One Max does, although it’s already been compared, and failed, against the iPhone 5s. Nevertheless, for those people who want to be able to unlock their phone with only their finger, the One Max has it and the Note does not. We just wish they would have put the fingerprint sensor in a different, more convenient place.
The One Max has Snapdragon 600, a processor that we believe will please all but the most picky of users, and the Galaxy Note 3 tries to keep pace with a newer and faster process. Both get the job done quite nicely. When it comes to RAM the Note 3 comes with an astounding 3 GB while the One Max, at 2 GB’s, is still looking pretty healthy. Internal Storage also is a bit of surprise in that HTC has a microSD slot in the One Max. The Note 3 keeps pace however with practically double the amount of storage at 16 GB, plenty enough to handle all sorts of music and pictures.
We’ve always been pleased with the way the battery of the Note 3 lasts. With the One Max we might have to wait a few months and see how she fares. From what we’ve seen as far as capacity we’re thinking that it will do just fine. Also, both phones have an NFC chip for local file transfers.
As if the Phablet wasn’t trendy enough, both the One Max and the Note 3 have the programming to work with companion “smart watches” like the Pebble or Sony Smart Watch 2. The Note 3 also works with Galaxy Gear, Samsung’s own smartwatch that adds limited voice control, the ability to make phone calls and also a camera.
Without its stylus input were unsure of whether the Galaxy Note series of smart phones would have been successful and, that being said, we’re kind of confused as to where HTC was going with their new One Max. Their One smart phone was very well received and the One Max seems to be a much the same, only bigger. On the other hand, the Note 3 is basically the device that started the trend and started its own unique product category as well. It’s a Phablet, while the One Max looks more like what the Note was trying not to be, an “overgrown smart phone”.
The One from HTC is still a heck of a smart phone however and, if the HTC One Max is just a bigger version, it just means that there’s more to love. Whichever one you choose, you should be quite happy with their performance.