That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait
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HTC announces the Sensation smartphone
TAIWANESE SMARTPHONE MAKER HTC has announced its latest smartphone, the Sensation.
The handset runs the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. HTC, rather immodestly, refers to this device as a 'superphone'.
The hardware does, at least, live up to that lofty name. Powered by a Snapdragon 1.2Ghz dual-core processor with 768MB of RAM and 1GB of user-accessible storage, it's more than capable of recording HD 1080p video captured from the on-board 8MP camera. There's also a MicroSD slot for boosting the built-in storage, which is likely to be essential for anyone looking to maximise the multimedia possibilities this phone offers.
An updated version of the HTC Sense user interface adds widgets to the lock screen too. There are a variety of different options for what the screen will show when locked, from weather through social media and updates from the stock market. HTC is very pleased with the weather app and we're quite sure it will make Iphone users a little grumpy about their boring 'slide to unlock' yawn-fest.
There's also an improved email client, although the changes to this feature of Sense seem very small and are likely to go unnoticed by most people. Still, we're always happy to see improved email clients on smartphones and there's still a long way to go for most that we've used.
HTC is pitching this very much towards people keen on multimedia. There's a new built-in video store that allows you to buy and rent the latest movies. From the launch presentation we noted that file sizes were huge, 1.2GB or so, which should make them high enough quality to display on your TV. The phone can send an HDMI signal through its USB socket, so it could be that HTC is also trying to make your Blu-ray player redundant.
The company claims that the SLCD panel used for the 960x540 display has 35 per cent more pixels than some of its competitors. The screen also has the proper 16x9 aspect ratio, which gives the Sensation an advantage over the Iphone, at least when it comes to video playback. The display is kept safe behind a piece of contoured Gorilla Glass, which HTC claims will protect it from drops and bumps.
You can view The INQUIRER'S video demo of the HTC Sensation. The handset should be available from mid-May, and Vodafone will be the first operator to sell it all over Europe. µ
Tags: Hardware
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This phone looks fabulous in the various demo' clips on YouTube and HTC's first worthy successor to its original Desire. I read 4GB internal storage on half these reviews and 1GB on the other half...? Either way, having the SD card makes it fairly irrelevant to me.
Sense 3.0 looks ahead of the game and the previous Sense made getting at apps and widgets easy to personalise intuitively, to your own intuition. Build construction is very solid by all accounts and display described as lively and sharp.
I think this could have been a phone id be interested in if it had got more in the way of storage space on board. Yes you can add an expansion card but to be honest I don't want to have to rely on one as app performance may suffer (and no 1GB really is not enough for all the apps I have). Looks like Samsung might be getting my order especially if the iphone 5 is not going to be out for ages.
I've been waiting for an Android phone with a screen at least the same pixel count as an iPhone 4 for a while (other than the slightly dubious one in China). WVGA doesn't cut it any more. 960x540 is close - what would have swung it for me is if they'd announced the UK version of the Evo 3D, so at least I got an unusual feature to replace the missing pixels. Interesting that they managed to get a video streaming bundle sorted, though (especially since most data plans would have struggled with the idea).
Mind you, secure though I am in my sexuality, I *do* prefer "Evo" to "Sensation" as a name...
I'm still waiting, and - while my WinMo phone seems to have lost the ability to do calls and text reliably - off to get a dumbphone until the Evo 3D appears. Unless, of course, anyone produces a 1280x720/768/800 4-ish incher in the meantime. My credit card is waiting, phone manufacturers.