HTC One Max Official: 5.9-Inch Display with Fingerprint Sensor

HTC has officially announced it’s latest device, called the One max, in order to take on the growing market of oversized phablet-style smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The One max comes with a 5.9-inch full 1080p HD display, as well as a new fingerprint sensor on the back of the device that can be used to unlock the phone without entering in a passcode.

Obviously, the One max follows in the footsteps of the company’s original HTC One smartphone, featuring the same aluminum shell as the One and One mini. However, HTC made the back cover removable this time around, allowing access to a microSD card slot.

The phone runs on a 1.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, with 32GB of internal storage and the same 4-megapixel UltraPixel camera that is featured in the original One. There are some slight differences, though. The One max includes the power button on the side, making it the first HTC device in a while where we’ve seen the power button not on the top of the device. The One max also doesn’t include optical image stabilization this time around, but it still has the IR blaster found in the original One.

However, the fingerprint sensor is the main event here. It’s the second mainstream handset to come with a fingerprint sensor recently, and it can be used to unlock the phone, as well as allowing the ability to customize it to quickly launch certain apps based on which finger you scan; it can store three separate fingers for launching three different apps.

Along with the device, HTC is also announcing Sense 5.5, which is an updated version of the company’s custom skin for its devices. Tons of changes have been made to BlinkFeed, and it now comes with integration support for Google+ and Instagram, and you can even enter in RSS feeds this time around as well. Furthermore, Sense 5.5 brings a new offline reading mode and a multi-edition mode that allows you to read news in other languages. Updates have also been made to Zoe, which is HTC’s picture mode that can automatically put together a short slideshow with background music. It now includes a GIF editor and new options for Highlights.

No word on availability or pricing has been announced yet, but according to The Verge, the phone will be headed to Europe and Asia first starting this week sometime (most likely following the scheduled events tomorrow and the rest of the week). As for the US, you should expect it to arrive on Sprint and Verizon probably at some point in November.