Hotwav Note 13 Max Review: specs and features, camera quality test, gaming benchmark, user opinions and photos

HOTWAV Note 13 Max - a repeat of not the best solutions

The Chinese company Hotvaw does not have a huge budget for the smartphone market, which, unfortunately, often affects its products. Next to interesting and balanced models, it is easy to find either frankly unsuccessful devices or clones of previously successful products that have already lost most of their relevance. The hero of today's review belongs to the second group.

The appearance of the new product is in many ways similar to that of previously released representatives of the series. A similar design of the photo module block, familiar colors of the plastic case, the same location of the side fingerprint scanner directly indicate the previously mentioned fact. The frames of the 6.8-inch IPS screen cannot be considered narrow, but opponents in the price category are characterized by the same problem. But the form factor of the 8-megapixel selfie camera is quite modern. The quality of the IPS display is not the most outstanding. The HD+ resolution does not provide good picture clarity with the diagonal chosen by the developer, the image is also not stunningly smooth (standard 60 Hz refresh rate), impressive brightness (550 nits).

There are fewer complaints about the technical characteristics. Still, the combination of the UNISOC Tiger T606 CPU, 6 GB of RAM and the Mali G57 MC1 video accelerator is still optimal for the cost segment. The Android 14 interface is not drowning in numerous lags, and most applications launch in a split second. Of course, you should not demand excellent gaming performance from an inexpensive phone. Demanding games like Genshin Impact will slow down at any graphic settings, but you can play the same PUBG Mobile comfortably. The 5160 mAh battery will give about 9-10 hours of active screen time, but the charging power is very modest (10 W), you will have to stay near the outlet for a long time. 256 GB of permanent memory, a slot for MicroSD cards in place.

The cameras have not advanced in terms of photo capabilities. The 48-megapixel OmniVision OV48B photosensor without optical stabilization and the 2-megapixel portrait sensor do not always produce detailed images without noise and other artifacts even in daytime weather conditions. It is recommended to forget about evening photo sessions. Stereo sound is not provided, and there is no output for wired headphones, which will upset music lovers. But many users will really be disappointed by the lack of NFC contactless payments. Thus, we have an unremarkable device before us, whose competitors will often be more preferable.