HTC Sensation Preview

By Alex Angove

Last updated 02 June 2011

The HTC Sensation is soon set to become HTC’s new flagship phone just about everywhere but the US. The Dual-core 1.2GHz handset boasts some impressive hardware specs, as well as the Android Gingerbread OS and new Sense 3.0 user interface (UI). It’s basically the very definition of the new generation of smartphones and should emerge as a solid competitor for Samsung’s much awaited Galaxy S II.

Sensational Design

At first glance the HTC Sensation is a mix between their now classic Desire design and some of their newer approaches. The area surrounding the screen is a slightly raised bezel, something we were worried about at first due to this being an issue with comfort with the HTC HD7 when held against the ear. However, on closer inspection the gently curved top of the device (an example of HTC Desire-esque influence) didn’t appear to be sharp enough to cause any real concerns.

What we were happy about with this bezel approach is tha,t even though HTC has once again gone with capacitive buttons for the Sensation, they are located on the raised bezel. This should severely reduce the chances of us accidentally running our clumsy fingers too far down the screen and finding ourselves activating the home or back buttons underneath. The buttons themselves are also slightly concave, creating a neat little pocket in to which a thumb or finger can easily fall. We like this tactile approach to capacitive buttons and hope it will prove as practical in the real world as it seems on paper.

The back plate is stylized with what is quickly becoming something of a signature for HTC – a tri-color plating consisting of both metallic and soft-touch material at various angles. We do have to fault the device for its thickness, however. Measuring in at around 11.3mm, it’s noticeably thicker than the Samsung Galaxy S II as well as many of its other major competitors.

Hardware on the HTC Sensation

The 4.3 inch QHD display doesn’t boast the same kind of vibrant colors or crisp contrast of an AMOLED+ display, but it does have a few things going for it. Other than its impressive 540 x 960 resolution, the HTC Sensation has a 16:9 aspect ratio – meaning it’s slightly thinner and taller than other 4.3 inch devices. A thinner screen allows for more easy one-handed use, an easier pocket fit and, perhaps most importantly, no more black lines at the top or bottom of your screen when watching a movie in landscape mode. That’s right, 16:9 is traditionally the aspect ratio used by filmmakers when actually filming a movie or TV show. If you’re a fan of watching videos on your phone the Sensation allows you to use your screen to its full potential, rather than limiting you to a letterboxed view.

The 8MP camera is just another example of how the HTC Sensation fits the mould that has been created for the new generation of smartphones. With a dual-LED flash, 1080p video capture and front-facing VGA camera the image only becomes stronger. The camera app itself is similar to what we’ve seen previously from HTC, with one new addition. HTC has included a new Backlit Mode that effectively eliminates the problem of taking photos against a brightly lit background. This is a problem that smartphone owners have been living with since the inception of the camera phone, specifically that when the background of a shot is too brightly lit the foreground tends to come out dark and featureless. Switching the camera in to Backlit Mode eliminates this problem, providing clear and distinct images with a well-balanced foreground and background.

Battery and Sense 3.0

Battery apparently lasts a full day, but we’ll judge that a little more harshly when we get our hands on one. We’re of mixed expectations as the HTC HD7 lasted a good 2 days with medium-to-heavy use, but the Desire HD didn’t even last a full day under the same conditions. Being an Android device it’d be reasonable to expect the Sensation to be more similar to the Desire HD when it comes to power consumption, but we’ll hold off judgment until we can be a little more certain.

The Sense UI itself has had a few changes made to it. Most immediately noticeable are the 3D animations when scrolling between home screens. The transition in and out of the helicopter view has also been tweaked, the pages now spinning neatly in to place rather than just expanding as they did before. All up the UI looks extremely smooth and has lost none of that intuitiveness we’ve come to love about HTC’s Sense UI.

The WhistleOut Opinion

In summary the HTC Sensation looks like it’ll be a fantastic top-end device worthy of carrying the Gingerbread flag. Whether or not it will be a Galaxy S II killer we’ll leave off until we’ve had a chance to properly review each device. In the mean time we’ll keep you all posted on news about release dates and pricing and wait with baited breath until we can get our hands on one of these awesome looking devices.