If we were to tell 2 years ago that a company called HTC was going to be one of the biggest Mobile Phone manufacturers you'd probably have raised more than just an eye-brow. But over the last 2 years HTC have become one of the top selling smart phone manufacturers and its HTC Sensation looks to continue the trend.
Build quality and design
After the quality of the Desire and Incredible, the Sensation continues the same combination of plastic and metal. It's not a patch on the Samsung Galaxy S2 or iPhone 4 - but it has a certain solidity to it. Especially if consider you can actually take off the back of the phone from the main handset. But this design feature doesn't equate to a flimsy feel. Whether this is the case 12 months into the life of the phone remains to be seen.
Coming in at 11.3mm deep it's not the thinnest phone around, but the extra weight is there for a reason the speed and functionality. There is an audio jack on the top next to a power/lock key, while the LED notification light hides under the speaker grille next to the front facing camera. You will need HDMI-out to connect the HTC Sensation to your telly and requires an MHL adaptor that plugs into the USB hole, just as with Samsung Galaxy S 2. And unfortunately you don't get one in the box.
The Screen
Now were not going to tell you that the Sensation has a better screen than the amazing Galaxy S2 screen, but what you do get is a 4.3-inch screen which is superb at producing vibrant colours, respectable blacks and good viewing angles. But it's not the best when in direct sunlight and that's where the Galaxy's AMLOED tech really comes into its own.
The 540×960 qHD resolution is stunning especially with the extra screen space on offer; it's incredibly sharp and you'll almost certainly be unable to see the individual pixels - with the 16:9 widescreen ratio it makes watching anyform of video a joy. It really does show the 4.3-inch screen size is the de facto size for all new smartphones. Apple take notice.
HTC Sense 3.0
As with nearly all Android products the individual manufacturer they have the opportunity to have a fiddle with Android 2.3.3 and HTC have done just this. They have stripped out most of the new features from Gingerbread, and have added their own HTC sense software skin.
One of the notable features we really like was the new lock screen. To unlock the phone you drag a circle to the middle of the screen. But to unlock the phone and automatically and launch an app - you can use the new lock screen launcher. Where you highlight one of the the apps, which you decide, and the phone unlocks and dives straight into the app you decided. It makes it super simple to launch the camera from the lock position without having to finddle around. Expect Google to pinch this feature very soon.
Videos & photos
The HTC Sensation unfortunately can’t match the Galaxy S2 when it come to codec support, this can easily be remedied with a quick download form the Android Marketplace. But it would have been nice to see more codecs supported straight out of the box.
One notable new feature is HTC Watch which allows you to rent and buy movies from the device - it's the first real step towards taking on Apple's iPhone+iTunes ecosystem. Everything you download is DRM-locked, you can play it on a HDTV through the MHL/HDMI connection: unfortunately we weren't able to test this.
The HTC is admirable video recorder producing impressive 1080p HD video and with a simple video editor so you can trim the video. It’s not a touch on iMovie, but again you could easily download a decent video editor from the App marketplace.
We’ve heard several sites complain at the quality of the 8-megapixel camera – we personal found it to be a brilliant camera, colours were vibrant and detailed and the added features of shooting pictures with a myriad of different effects was a pleasant surprise. It’s not going to worry the N8’s and Xperia Arc’s of this world but still very good nonetheless.
Performance and Speed
The Sensation is packing a blisteringly fast dual-core 1.2Ghz Qualcomm processor with 756MB of Ram. HTC’s used to be famed for being a little slow when it came to navigating widgets and switching screens, but the Sensation glides through all of these features.
It runs games and apps at an amazing speed compared to HTC’s of old. You’ll notice the extra speed when surfing too, as it zooms in and out of pages rapidly.
Battery life for dual-core phone has been a bit of a bug-bear for new handsets, fortunately the Sensation has a similar power consumption of the single-core phones. So you’ll probably get a days use out of it with brightness set to full, emails pushing on and connections whirring away.
Sound quality on the other hand is a tad disappointing from such a beefy phone. Regular calls are nothing out of the ordinary, but the speaker is loud. If crystal audio quality is what you're after, we'll point you in the direction of Motorola.
Our verdict
The HTC Sensation is the best HTC you can buy at the moment and if you planning to try an Android handset over an iPhone you can’t go wrong with the Sensation. We’d probably still choose the Galaxy S2 over it, but it’s matter of personal preference. The only really disappointment is the 2 year old skin which could be in need of a makeover. But that’s just us nit-picking.
Gaj-it Rating 5 out 5