HTC One Max vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Heavy hitters

Posted by : Shaheer Basheer Friday, 24 January 2014

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Note may have started the phablet craze, but history won't count for much when the Note 3 faces the HTC One Max. The Max takes the lauded HTC One design and build and trumps the Note 3 in terms of screen size. This fight though is about more than sheer size.

When we compared the Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One we noted that the looks and build quality of the One are miles ahead of the Galaxy S4, while Samsung balanced that out with better specs.
On the phablet playground, both companies worked on areas, which needed improvement - it's the HTC that has the bigger screen this time around, but the Galaxy Note 3 caught up in terms of looks. In case you're not closely familiar with the specs of the two phablets, here's a quick recap of where each device bests the other.

HTC One Max over Galaxy Note 3

Bigger screen - 5.9" vs. 5.7"
LCD screen is brighter, with great contrast
Front-facing stereo BoomSound speakers
Aluminum exterior
Fingerprint sensor
Better audio quality
FM radio

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 over One Max

S Pen stylus with many clever applications
Faster chipset - Snapdragon 800 vs. 600 (Exynos 5 Octa version available too)
3GB RAM over 2GB
Lighter - 168g vs. 217g
More compact - 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm vs. 164.5 x 82.5 x 10.3mm
13MP still camera over 4MP camera with, no OIS on either of them
2160p @ 30fps and 1080 @ 60fps video capture over 1080 @ 30fps
USB 3.0 over USB 2.0
Removable battery

We'll break down these advantages and cover them in more detail later on, but one thing is clear from the get go. The HTC One Max is basically an enlarged One, while the Galaxy Note 3 is a device from a separate line and has a number of significant advantages over its Galaxy S4 sibling.

HTC One Max faces off against the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
HTC did improve a bit on the basic One design with a fingerprint sensor and a microSD card slot, but the camera OIS got lost along the way. Is that enough to stop Samsung's freight train of features?
We'll know for sure when all the rounds of this heavyweight boxing match are over and the hits are counted. It all starts with design and handling - jump over the next page to see if the big-boned beauty with pedigree can score the first hit against the leather-bound late bloomer.

Design and handling

Beauty is subjective but rulers are not and they'll tell you the HTC One Max is bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in every dimension. The exact numbers are 164.5 x 82.5 x 10.3mm for the One Max and 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm for the Note 3.

Size comparison: HTC One Max vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Width and thickness are more important for the in-hand feel than length One Max, and the Note 3 fares better in both of them. 3.3mm wider and 2mm slimmer may not sound like much on paper, but in reality they make up for a tangible difference. While the curved back of the Max sits nicely in the hand, it does nothing to make the device feel compact. The extra height (which comes mostly from the two BoomSound speakers) makes the device top heavy, too, which is not helping much either.
Speaking of weight, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is fairly light for its size - 168g - but doesn't feel hollow. The HTC One Max is almost 50g heavier at 217g and it's a difference you can feel.
Aluminum is the calling card of the One family - other Androids go for either glass or plastic, but that premium raw metal feel is reserved only for HTC's flagships in the three size categories (mini, regular, max) unless you want to go with an iPhone.
The One Max feels solid, but we have to say we're not enamored with the release mechanism of the back cover. We'll get back to what it actually covers later on.

HTC One Max has a nice aluminum exterior, but it's a large device
Samsung has gone all in with plastic but thanks to some impressive engineering, the end result is the best plastic finish, Nokia's polycarbonate creations included. The back has a convincing leather feel, while the chrome-imitating sides are a nice accent.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a faux-leather back and chrome-like accents on the side
You won't hear this often, but the Galaxy Note 3 looks compact, at least next to the HTC One. Thankfully, HTC has moved the power button from the top to the right so that you can actually reach it with your fingers - even on the HTC One that was a bit of a stretch.
Other than that, the layout of controls on the HTC One Max is unchanged - volume rocker on the right, capacitive Back and Home keys below the screen (and no app switcher key) and then there's the new fingerprint sensor on the back. It's positioned so that your index finger naturally lays there when you hold the device (the same argument as the volume rocker and power key on the LG G2). You have to swipe your finger over the sensor to activate it, but be careful not to smudge the camera in the process.

HTC One Max has volume rocker and power button on its right, fingerprint sensor on the back
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 follows the standard Galaxy arrangement - volume rocker on the left, power button on the right, capacitive Back and Menu keys flanking a hardware Home key. There's no fingerprint sensor, but you can get some extra security if you use the Galaxy Gear - the phablet will lock if the watch (on your wrist) is too far away.

Power button on the right, volume rocker on the left, three keys below the screen
The S Pen is a unique kind of control, but it's one of the most important ones - unlike on the pervious Notes, this one works with the capacitive Back and Menu keys so you can use it to control the device without ever laying a finger on the screen. That has a number of advantages, which we'll get back to in the software chapter.

S Pen is a uniquely capable stylus
While we're on it, we should mention that both devices have an IR blaster on top so they can control home equipment. The difference is that the One Max can also learn codes so you can teach it commands or use equipment not in its database.

IR blaster on top of the HTC One Max • on top of Samsung Galaxy Note 3
You can set up a home theater that you can control solely with the HTC One Max, but the phablet itself is a pretty good media player. The large, bright screen and the front-facing stereo speakers make for an experience that's hard to match at a sub-tablet level. The optional BoomBass speaker adds substance to the sound and serves as a nice stand for the device too.

BoomSound speakers flanking the screen of the One Max
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 may not have audio superiority, but it wins when it comes to PC connectivity. It is the first pocketable device that supports USB 3.0 and the good thing is that it's backwards compatible with USB 2.0, so you can still use your old chargers and cables. USB 3.0 gives data transfer a good speed boost, which may be important if you move a lot of data to and from the Note 3 (those 2160p videos get big very fast).

microUSB 3.0 port and loudspeaker on the bottom of the Note 3
Both phablets have removable back covers and under them you'll find a microSIM card and a microSD card slots. The difference is that the Galaxy Note 3 gives you access to its 3,200mAh battery so you can swap it for extra-long usage or when it starts giving up on you . The One Max's 3,300mAh battery is sealed.

The One Max gives you access to the card ports, but not the battery • the Galaxy Note 3 battery is removable
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It's more compact and lighter, which helps the ergonomics and portability greatly. The build quality is very competitive against HTC and the removable battery is a nice plus too.
The HTC One Max is a large and heavy device, its aluminum looks can't save it from this. Also, there's no good reason to seal the battery when the cover is already removable.

Display

The HTC One Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 are both built around large displays, but the Max comes out on top in terms of sheer size. Both have 1080p resolution and tack-sharp densities of 373ppi and 386ppi respectively (though at this point those are just numbers, there's no perceivable difference in sharpness).

5.9" Super LCD3 on the HTC One Max • 5.7" Super AMOLED on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
The difference between a 5.9" screen and 5.7" screen (both with 16:9 aspects) is around 7%. Since both phones have hardware keys rather than on-screen ones, all of the screen real estate is used for content and that 7% does make a difference (unlike the 5.2" LG G2 vs. 5" phones like the Galaxy S4). It's a small difference though, considering the overall size.
Both displays have spectacular image quality - contrast is amazing even on the LCD screen of the One Max, colors look beautiful and viewing angles are very wide. AMOLEDs get bad rep for their extra saturation, but the Galaxy Note 3's screen modes allow it to achieve perfect sRGB (or keep the extra saturation if you prefer).

One area where the HTC One Max screen has a clear advantage is brightness - it goes up to 629nits, which is impressive considering the relatively low black levels (which means excellent contrast too). The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 maxes out at about half that, 379nits.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
HTC One Max	0.14	224	1591	0.40	629	1572
Samsung Galaxy Note 3	0	149	∞	0	379	∞
Sony Xperia Z1	-	-	-	0.38	580	1513
Sony Xperia Z Ultra	-	-	-	0.47	467	1001
Sony Xperia Z	-	-	-	0.70	492	705
Huawei Ascend Mate	0.23	222	982	0.67	711	1053
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3	0.12	160	1364	0.32	440	1379
Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4	0	201	∞	0	404	∞
HTC Butterfly S	0.15	165	1117	0.43	451	1044
HTC One	0.13	205	1580	0.42	647	1541

Despite the extra brightness, the reflectivity of the One Max screen works against it in direct sunlight and the phablet has only average sunlight legibility, while the Galaxy Note 3 screen is among the best we've seen in this category.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Nokia 808 PureView 4.698
Apple iPhone 5 3.997
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 3.997
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III 3.419
Nokia Lumia 925 3.402
Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4 3.352
Samsung Omnia W 3.301
Samsung Galaxy S 3.155
HTC One Max 2.537
Samsung Galaxy mini 2 1.114

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 screen has a couple of hidden extras - the digitizer that allows it to work with the S Pen and the regular capacitive digitizer that can detect fingers from a distance or through gloves (great for winter).
Winner: Tie. The HTC One Max has size and raw brightness going for it, but doesn't do too well in the sun. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3, wins on the sunlight legibility test and thanks to its color profiles gives you the best of both worlds (either extra punchy or very accurate colors). The high sensitivity is also worth a point for the Galaxy Note 3, helping it even the scores here.

Battery life

The HTC One Max has a 3,300mAh Li-Po battery, which is sealed inside the phablet's body. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has a user-replaceable battery but it's a Li-Ion unit of slightly lower 3,200mAh capacity. Then there's a difference in chipsets - Snapdragon 800 vs. 600 - and more crucially display tech. LCDs and AMOLEDs have strong and weak points in the various tests.
The first one, the call test, is decided by modem efficiency as the chipset and screen do virtually nothing. Here the HTC One Max lasted a little over 22 hours on a single charge, an impressive 4 hours more than the Galaxy Note 3. That's more than the 100mAh difference can explain, meaning more efficient modem on the One Max.

Talk timeSony Xperia Z1 26:53

LG G2 25:01
Sony Xperia Z Ultra 24:23
Huawei MediaPad 7 Vogue 22:16
Nokia Lumia 1020 22:13
Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS) 21:18
HTC One Max 22:13
LG Optimus G Pro 20:45
Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX 20:24
Motorola RAZR i 20:07
BlackBerry Q10 20:00
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 19:54
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 18:12
Pantech Burst 4:46

The web browser test is particularly stressful for the devices and, once again, the HTC One Max has a significant advantage over the Galaxy Note 3. The One Max scored over 11 hours, which is close to the best we've seen, while the Note 3 time is solid but still two hours less than the its rival managed.

Web browsing

Acer Liquid E2 12:39
LG G2 11:22
HTC One Max 11:20
Sony Xperia ZR 11:20
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini duos 10:10
BlackBerry Q5 10:04
HTC One 9:58
Apple iPhone 5s 9:58
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 9:04
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 3:01

Video playback is the one area where the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 outlasts the HTC One Max, but only by 20 minutes. Both phablets posted impressive times of over 13 hours.

Video playbackMotorola RAZR MAXX (ICS) 16:35

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX 14:17
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 13:32
Nokia Lumia 1020 13:12
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini 13:12
HTC One Max 13:11
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini duos 12:52
Apple iPad mini 12:51
Nokia Lumia 710 3:27

With wins in two out of three tests and low standby power draw, the HTC One Max scores a highly impressive overall rating of 81 hours. If used moderately, the phablet will easily last you three days and it's all but impossible to kill its battery in one day, even if you stress it real hard.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3's rating is very good too, at 75 hours. However, in virtually any task or use scenario, it will run out of juice a couple of hours before the One Max does. Yes, you can carry a spare battery to double the battery life, but few people do that. Maybe in a few years changing the battery for a fresh one will help the Note 3 outlast an old One Max, but not today.

Winner: HTC One Max. Phablets are expected to have great battery lives and the One Max did splendidly here.
With the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 you can still get three days of moderate usage, but heavy users will run out of juice a few hours sooner than their One Max-wielding collegues.

Software

The HTC One Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 both run Android 4.3, each skinned by the latest versions of two of the most popular custom skins available

Starting with the lockscreen, the One Max has a rare option in the Android world - fingerprint unlock. This is marginally faster and more secure than, say, a swipe lock and you can assign an app to be launched with a certain finger. Unfortunately, reaching the sensor with anything than the index finger is difficult on a phablet of this size.

Lockscreen • fingerprint sensor options on the One Max
Since Android 4.3 and Sense 5.5, you can add multiple widgets as you do in stock Android. There are also 4 shortcuts you can use to launch common apps.

Adding widgets to the lockscreen of the HTC One Max
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 lacks the shortcuts and widgets by default, but you can enable those options in the settings.

Customizable lockscreen on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
The notification area has been updated to match stock Android on the One Max. This means you get notifications, but there are also quick toggles. You could pull down the shade with two fingers instead, to get straight to the toggles.

Practically stock Android notification area on the HTC One Max
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3's notification area is more customized and has a line of quick toggles always in sight, but you can use the two-finger swipe to expand the toggles too. There's a line with a brightness slider and an Auto checkbox, which can be disabled to save space.

Custom notification area on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
The homescreens have been tweaked too. The Sense UI brings BlinkFeed to the One Max. It creates a stream of posts from your social networks (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) along with news and stories from a long list of providers, in areas of interest you've set. The BlinkFeed can be disabled.

BlinkFeed keeps you up to date with news and social networking updates
With the Galaxy Note 3, Samsung has created a similar feature called My Magazine that's accessible by swiping up on the homescreen or hitting the Home key. It's split into Social (Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, 500px, but no Facebook or Instagram), News (you can pick topics here too) and Personal (shows your photos, music, calendar events, messages and so on).

My Magazine mixes personal, social and news tidbits
The app switchers have been customized too - the HTC One Max shows a 3 x 3 grid of app thumbnails, while the (almost) standard switcher of the Note 3 fits only 4 thumbnails. On both you can dismiss apps you don't need any more with a swipe.

The dense app switcher on the One Max • the Galaxy Note 3 switcher is less space efficient
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has two major advantages here. The Multi Window option splits the large screen into two so you can use two apps simultaneously, even two browsers windows (this is something we do on a desktop on occasion, but has been impossible on a mobile device until now). Not all apps support Multi Window, but some apps in the Play Store have already enabled it.

Multi Window in action
Another way to make good use of the large screen and powerful chipset - both of which beg for such multitasking options - is to use the S Pen. You can use it to draw a rectangle and put one of several mini apps in there (Browser, Hangouts, ChatOn, YouTube and a few more). Those can be minimized to a small circle. You can run multiple instances of those too, not just one or two like on most floating app implementations.

The mini apps on the Galaxy Note 3 are great for multitasking
This option is great - it takes the Chat Heads of Facebook Home and extends it to apps. This way you can have a minimized app, say, Hangouts, tap it to reply to a message and minimize the app again with great ease. This is the closest we've come to the speed and efficiency of desktop computing on a pocketable device.
The S Pen is also great for searching - the search app can filter items by tags, date or creation, and type (e.g. notes, images, music), which is a very handy and orderly way to sift through thousands of items.

Quickly taking notes with the S Pen
The Galaxy Note 3 also has the motion gestures we saw on the Galaxy S4 - waving to move between photos or scroll webpages, scroll webpages with your gaze, pause videos automatically when you look away and so on. They might be a little gimmicky, but are nice to have anyway.

Various motion gestures on the Galaxy Note 3
The HTC One Max has an interesting option in the phone's app drawer, borrowed from Windows Phone 8. It's called Kid mode and it is actually an app that lets you set up a profile for each of your kids, with a photo and birthdate and pick which apps they can have access to. To enable Kid mode the first time around, you need to sign up via email.

Kid mode on the One Max
The other cool option is Do Not Disturb, which can mute incoming calls and alerts (including the LED notification light) except ones from your favorite contacts. You can set the DND mode to time out automatically but there's no option to automatically turn it on.

Do Not Disturb
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The multitasking options alone secure the win for the Note 3 here, but the easy S Pen search, gestures and customization options have their say too.
BlinkFeed is an interesting option, but the Note 3 has an answer for it. The fingerprint sensor is nice, but its software backing is not good enough to push the HTC One Max on top.