HTC One Max video review

We take a look at the giant Android phone's key features

The HTC One Max is the latest in a long line of large-screen Android smartphones to arrive in the UK this year, hot on the heels of Samsung's giant Galaxy Note 3 and Sony's Xperia Z Ultra.

Looking to differentiate itself from the competition, HTC loaded the One Max with a few new features, including a custom rear capacitive fingerprint scanner.

The fingerprint scanner is nowhere near as powerful as the Touch ID sensor seen in the Apple iPhone 5S. Unlike the 5S Touch ID sensor, which scans the sub-epidermal skin layers to authenticate a user's identity, the Max's scanner only reads the top layer of its owner's fingerprint.

Apart from this the only real major additions to the Max are its micro SD card slot and the use of HTC's new Sense 5.5 Android skin. The skin adds a host of small updates to the One Max's BlinkFeed news aggregation service. The update adds the ability to link the user's social media and RSS feeds to BlinkFeed, which then tailors the content according to what the user commonly shares or likes.

The HTC One Max is due for release later this week. Full pricing has not yet been announced, but HTC has said it will be a premium-cost device. Vodafone has released 4G contract pricing for the One Max at £49 upfront and then £47 per month thereafter, which suggests that the phone will cost £500 or more upfront.

Check back with V3 later for a full written review.