HTC One Max now Official, sporting a 5.9 inch screen with Sense 5.5

It's finally here, folks. After leaking out seemingly at least once a week for the past couple of months, the HTC One max made its official debut this morning. On the front of this large device is a 5.9-inch 1080p display, which is quite a bit larger than the 4.7-inch and 4.3-inch screens found on the One max's siblings, the One and One mini. There's also a 2.1-megapixel camera and front-facing BoomSound speakers, and around back is HTC's 4-megapixel UltraPixel camera that's lost the optical image stabilization found on the original One.

Resting beneath that UltraPixel camera is another one of the HTC One max's unique features. HTC has decided to include a fingerprint sensor on its new phone/tablet hybrid that can be used to unlock the phone, similar to the Touch ID fingerprint scanner on Apple's iPhone 5s. That's not all that the One max's scanner is capable of, though, as it can also be used to launch up to three favorite apps that can be programmed to three of a user's fingers.

Diving inside of the One max's aluminum frame, we find that the device is powered by a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB RAM. There will be 16GB and 32GB versions of the One max available, but the good news is that users that want even more space can add it using the One max's microSD card slot, a feature not found on the One or One mini. Rounding out the One max's spec list is NFC, 4G LTE connectivity and a 3300mAh battery. HTC also plans to offer a Power Flip Case for the One max that includes a 1200mAh battery for users that'd like to be away from the charger for a lengthier period of time.

The One max will come preloaded with Android 4.3 running beneath HTC Sense 5.5, the latest version of the Taiwanese firm's custom user interface. HTC's BlinkFeed news reader has changed quite a bit in the latest version of Sense, gaining new features like support for Instagram, Google+, and RSS, the ability to save stories to read at a later time and even the option to disable BlinkFeed entirely.

In addition to all of those BlinkFeed tweaks, HTC has made some tweaks to other built-in apps with Sense 5.5. Examples include HTC Zoe's newfound support for GIF creation and the Quick Settings menu that now allows the user to customize the order of items and also hide them completely. Quick Settings also features new toggles for a Do Not Disturb mode, the One max's fingerprint scanner, data roaming and more. Other notable Sense 5.5 changes include a Recent Apps menu with larger thumbnail previews and a new Scribble app that allows users to create lists, cards, notes and more that can then be shared with others.

The good news for folks that are jonesing to get their hands on the One max now that it's finally official is that they won't have to wait long to do just that. HTC says that its new device will be available in the U.K. as soon as later this week and will roll out to other countries around the globe from there. In the U.S., the One max will be offered by both Sprint and Verizon this holiday season.