Gadgetory

got a few hundred bucks in your pocket the love of giant screens and no need for a stylus on your handheld device then you might find yourself in the market for one of these super phones each one is almost a miniature tablet with a massive display and powerful media features but you're not going to buy both so which one is right for you let's try to find out I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is HTC One max versus samsung galaxy mega we've already reviewed each of these phones separately and we've also compared the one max with the differently classed galaxy note 3 check out our social feeds to find those and subscribe here on YouTube so you don't miss future videos this comparison makes much more sense from a head-to-head perspective because the mega and the max are extensions of the same idea done differently they're not quite tablet replacements but they're also much more than smartphones that means in terms of hardware that they're both incredibly oversized one-handed use is challenging on these phones if not impossible you don't feel the Edit acreage as much on the Galaxy mega due to its lower mass and its rounded corners but it's hyper glazed plastic finish doesn't feel quite as premium as the one Max's aluminum backplate the max is thicker than the mega but it uses that inflated body size to greater advantage it's actually a few millimeters shorter than the mega despite the inclusion of HTC's trademark boom sound speakers which we love the primary reason behind that oversized hardware here is the huge screens Samsung's contender is the larger one by nearly half an inch but it suffers elsewhere on the spec sheet it's a 720p panel - the one Max's 1080p screen meaning the htc screen features a hundred and forty more pixels every inch that's a significant bump and if you get up real close yes you can make out the difference but look Samsung's been in the screen building business a long time and it shows the Megas display actually holds up quite well well enough next to the max that you're not likely to notice the difference unless you're actually trying to find it or you typically hold your smartphone 1/2 inch from your eyeball around back we find a nice change of pace in HTC's corner the one max is back cover is removable an on-board storage can be augmented with a micro SD card if you're looking for more space or a more convenient way to share of course that's very familiar to our friends at Samsung who almost always include the same capability and the ability to swap out the battery both of those are present on the mega the battery is not quite as large on the mega as on the one max is embedded pack but the fact that it's removable is a big boon to road warriors because our test devices aren't uneven ground in terms of Radio load we weren't able to do meaningful battery testing see our full reviews of these devices for them that said these are huge batteries and both of them should last most users of a full day or more those more concerned with security than endurance might find the one Max's fingerprint scanner ample compensation for its slight battery handicap but considering the scanners hit and miss functionality we wouldn't exactly call that a SquareTrade fortunately for HTC the one max does win in terms of raw horsepower the Snapdragon 600 SOC powering the max is decidedly higher end than the Snapdragon 400 of the mega and the max also packs more RAM than the mega elsewhere the feature sets settle into a more or less common ground with Wi-Fi Bluetooth NFC and even IR features almost identical between these monsters dive into the software on each of these though and identical will be the last word on your mind we've gone into the differences between HTC's Sense and TouchWiz many times before most notably in our comparisons of the one max with the note 3 and the galaxy mega with the HTC One frankly it doesn't take a long look to see what design philosophies fuel these skins the HTC opted for restraint with the Sense skin bathing the experience in dark tones and understated design elements and Samsung took the opposite route prioritizing color and feature density over minimalism that means we find the one max the more enjoyable device to use on the whole it's more responsive more consistent and aesthetically we prefer it especially given the new touches in cents 5.5 like the improved gallery and blinkfeed social browser Samsung has equivalent features yes but it's ugly and sluggish gallery is nowhere near in the same league as HTC s and using a Flipboard widget on a dedicated homescreen on the mega isn't quite as streamlined as blinkfeed on the Macs that said the mega does come away the victor in a very important area intelligent use of screen real estate not only can you use the mega in landscape orientation on the home screen like the small tablet it is but you can also use Samsung's multi window feature to run two apps side by side at the same time that may not be your bag but it comes in handy if you want to say browse your pictures while carrying on a conversation in hangouts or search Google Maps for a recommendation you've just found on a forum in Chrome it comes in handy when you least expect it and the fact that the one max doesn't offer a comparable feature is unfortunate no matter how smooth it is in daily operation moving on to performance these may technically be smartphones but you're never going to want to bring these things up to your face to make a call the one max being slightly narrower it's a bit less absurd to handle but then it's heavier and it's aluminum chassis is a bit more slick so the whole thing is awkward if you do end up going this route though the voice quality will be comparable between the two with the mega offering slightly better noise cancellation surprisingly the speakerphone performance isn't all that different either at least in terms of amplitude the Megas rear firing speaker manages to hold its own against HTC boomsound in terms of loudness but it's definitely not as dynamic as the one Max's dual front firing speakers which we continue to prefer overall in our book the one max is still the phone to beat for speakerphone audio quality taking photos with these devices is equally awkward due to their size and their lack of optical image stabilization means you'll want to keep them steady if you can the Megas camera enjoys double the resolution of the unit on the one max then by and large it delivers better results white balance is better in most situations without the wild swings and exposure characteristic of HTC cameras the Megas higher resolution means it can render more detail in close-up shots but samsung's trademark over saturation is definitely an evidence here as well also the one max beats out the mega in low-light shots even using Samsung's night mode on the mega didn't yield nearly as much detail as the one Max was able to render we like the one max as wider field of view as well moving over to video the wider angle is one of the only things we like about the one max over the mega audio quality is muffled compared to the Samsung device and saturation is much lower with slower autofocus and auto exposure corrections as well once a day so I'll talk over it and hopefully we will talk over it and hopefully we were able to determine exactly which phone delivers superior audio with an MBTA commuter rail train running by let's head on back to our macro check finally the raw performance metrics you'll get from benchmarks predictably favor the one max with its more advanced processor and indeed frame rates do suffer a bit on the mega in some very high demand tests and games but we were surprised to find that we could still run well made high strain games like asphalt 8 just fine on the Galaxy mega where they played about as well as they did on the one max obviously this will only apply to certain titles but it's yet another real-world example of why you shouldn't put specs above all to be honest we expected this to be a bigger slam-dunk in the 1 Max's favor it's the contender with the superior processor display and acoustics and it's all wrapped up in an aluminium shell that feels much more premium than same old Samsung's glossy plastic but the Megas removable battery superior camera surprisingly good voice quality and an interface that better leverages its huge screen size mean you shouldn't count out the Samsung device if you're in the market for a huge mid-range super pump that's a big if though we're still really not sold on the merits of this product category if you're looking for more than a smart phone we'd still recommend you go all out and get Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 if on the other hand a top-notch smartphone in a normal size is more your speed you'd be hard-pressed to find a more well rounded phone than the original HTC One if you're still thinking of buying one of these devices let us know down in the comments drop us a line let us know what you're thinking is which one you're going to go for and be sure and drop us a like if you did enjoy this video please visit us at pocketnow.com to see the full reviews for each of these devices and a whole bunch of comparisons we've compared them to every device Under the Sun at this point please follow us on social media once again so you don't miss future content from pocket now but most importantly thank you so much for watching this video we'll see you very soon you