It's shaping up to be super-phone season. Two dual-core behemoths, the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and the LG Optimus 2x, led the way for a little something called the iPhone 4. And it only gets better with HTC's Sensation, just launched, which also features a dual-core processor and the latest version of their Android skin - HTC Sense 3.0 - combined with the goodness of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It will be interesting to see how the Sensation fares against all the above devices, as it is the last to enter the market.
Packaging and Content
The packaging is standard HTC, packing in all the contents in a very compact and secure box with the data cable cum charger and the device itself along with a manual. Nice headphones are a bonus but make no mistake, these are no B&W P5's.
Hardware and Styling
HTC calls the Sensation a super-phone and whatever we have seen of the device definitely lives up-to its 'super-phone' billing. The large 4.3 inch Super LCD display has a starring role, boasting of a qHD resolution of 960x540 protected by Gorilla glass. The device features very traditional HTC design, which is quite mundane, but in spite of this it gives us an immense sense of quality thanks to its sturdy uni-body construction. There are four touch based Android controls on the bottom end of the display and the 1.3 megapixel front facing camera on the top end. HTC has also elevated the overall chassis from the display, providing an extra layer of protection for those users who'd like to rest the device on the display.
The rear of the device houses the 8-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash, but this is just the tip of the ice-berg as the whole battery compartment comes with a tri-colored cover made up of a rock solid plastic composite.
On the top end of the device is the standard power button and the left hand side is home to the volume rockers. The bottom end of the device holds the micro-USB port, which also doubles as a charging port and the HDMI.
While all this is pretty impressive, it is stuck right between the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and the Apple's iPhone 4 in terms of build quality and thickness. At 11.3mm and 146 grams, it is decidedly larger than the wafer thin Galaxy S 2. But then again, thanks to the Galaxy S 2's flimsy back casing, the Sensation scores highly on build quality though it's nowhere near the spectacular glass finish of the iPhone.
Interface
For long, HTC smartphones powered by Android have had the best manufacturer skin and with the Sensation, HTC has pushed the envelope further by introducing HTC Sense 3.
According to HTC, Sense UI version 3 is their most comprehensive update though we are not quite sure about this.
HTC has added a 3D holographic animation, which is visible while one scrolls through the widgets on the home screen. The whole experience is very fluid and it is lightning fast. In our opinion, it feels faster than the Samsung Galaxy S2. Brilliant as it is on the face of it, we believe the lag on the Galaxy S2 or the excessive speed on the Sensation is because of the way both companies have optimized the momentum based scrolling on their respective Android Skins. A similar speed, if not a faster one, can be easily achieved on the Galaxy S2 with third party launchers. We can say this confidently as in the application drawer, the Galaxy S2 is a snappier scroller than the Sensation.
HTC has added a new lock screen for Sense 3.0 which opens through a ring and when the device is unlocked. There is also a customizable app dock, which enables users to activate applications when the device is in locked mode by just dragging them inside the unlocking ring.
Aside from these enhancements, there are a number of under the hood improvements which are not noticeable. For example, the Weather app has been upgraded and now features a new weather animation and impressive sound effects.
Most of these upgrades are gimmicky in nature as they do not provide any considerable innovation in the field of usability unlike the Galaxy S2, which has included new swiping gestures in the contacts and call log menus, enabling quick access to calling and messaging functionalities.
We even find an upgraded virtual keyboard, which now has enhanced auto-correction that rivals the iPhone 4 and leaves the Galaxy S 2 behind by miles. The key spacing is still better on the Galaxy S2, though.
While all this is true, there is doubt that Sense UI on the Sensation is still the most slick Android skin in the market providing more ease of use than all the other manufacturer skins.
Multimedia
At the launch event in New Delhi, HTC called the Sensation their latest super-phone and, as far as multimedia is concerned, it definitely lives up to it's super-phone billing.
First up is the 8-megapixel camera which has a dual-LED flash and is also capable of shooting 1080p video at 30 frames per second. HTC has been gloating about the camera's speed with a quick shoot functionality baked in to the camera. This, however, is not new and these features have been seen before on other devices. The main problem is that HTC claims it is very fast but, in our opinion, the iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S2 have faster shutter speeds. The color reproduction of the camera is very commendable and is superior to the Galaxy S2, which tends to reproduce warmer shades in its images.
Overall, detail wise, it was right up there with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc but was pipped by the Galaxy S2's wider lens.
Besides this, the camera was pretty good with impressive image stabilization built in to the device coupled with a powerful dual-LED flash. Camera options were plentiful but fell just short of the Galaxy S2 as Samsung have added some extra goodies in their camera app such as metering, white balance, exposure value and a focus mode.
Even in HD video recording, we found the Sensation lagging behind the Galaxy S2, as it tended to be jittery and produced more shake than the Samsung device.
We get an upgraded music player in the Sensation but this one is no match for the one found on the Galaxy S2 in terms of sound quality and visual panache. HTC's variant is more on the lines of a stock Android experience and can become quite mundane for iPod users.
The loudspeaker on the device was slightly disappointing as it tended to produce a very unpleasant distorted crackling sound once it neared maximum levels.
Thanks to the qHD display, videos are nice and crisp and we are saved the indignity of having to tolerate black mats on the top and bottom of the videos, which is a common sight on many widescreen devices including the Galaxy S2. When it came down to outright image clarity, contrast and viewing angles, the Galaxy S2's SuperAmoled + technology came up aces but to the Sensation's credit, text appeared more crisp thanks to the higher resolution Super LCD display.
Unfortunately, this experience was also somewhat inconsistent, as the device would refuse to play High Definition (HD) Divx video but managed to play HD Mpeg-4 videos very smoothly.
PC Sync and Market
One thing that attracts prospective consumers towards Android is the fact it is not tied into any particular sync-software eco-system like the iPhone with iTunes. But this does not mean contact synchronization is a hotchpotch affair, as Google users have the advantage of Google contacts which syncs all contacts in a jiffy and saves users a lot of time which is usually wasted on synchronization.
HTC has even provided a neat transfer wizard, which helps users to transfer their data from their old phones. We have always maintained this is one of the simplicities of Android and, with the combination of HTC Sense 3, makes the experience even more seamless. The contacts menu is very streamlined and well organized. HTC calls it 'People' and one can have each and every detail of a particular contact stored very intuitively without clutter.
As usual we get access to Android Market, which is the largest haven for Android apps, but with it also we get the scourge plaguing Android market in the form of malware and sub-standard software. Google is slowly working on streamlining Android Market but before this happens one will need to deal with anomalies prevalent in Android Market.
Essential Apps
HTC always packs their devices with their own apps and the Sensation is no different. Besides these, we also get the standard suite of Google apps such as Maps, Gmail, Latitude, YouTube, and Search.
HTC has packed in their acclaimed social network aggregator 'Friend Stream' which collects all social networking info, Email info and messages in one interface. This one leads the social aggregators' pack and even bests Samsung's Social Hub.
HTC also provides us standard Facebook and Twitter apps, which do the needful. Nothing special here, but none the less very important to have, specially for those people who don't like all their information in one interface.
HTC has, as usual, put in their Weather application, which has some very cool animations. But apart from this, it does little to improve functionality, but then again it was pretty polished from the beginning.
HTC has included an upgraded Email application, which offers Microsoft Exchange access. This application is not the standard Email app, which ships with Android. HTC has made some subtle enhancements which improve usability.
HTC has also included 'Watch', their video streaming service, but at present it has not been launched in India. It's redundant on the device available here so we'll reserve judgement on it.
Polaris Office makes another appearance on an Android device and we are not surprised, as this is a very capable office suite, which also doubles as a file manager.
Performance
Powered by Qualcomm's latest asynchronous dual-core Snapdragon processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, the Sensation is a very responsive device. It might just be faster than Samsung's Galaxy S2, but the moment we load it up with widgets, it tends to slow down though not considerably. It even has 768MB of RAM for applications, which is plenty, but even here the Galaxy S2 pips it by packing in 1GB of RAM. For the layman, this counts for nothing in daily usage, but power users would have definitely appreciated some extra RAM to extract more juice out of the device.
On the benchmarks, we saw a similar story as the device scored very highly on all of them. Interestingly, the Sensation scored on par with its NVidia Tegra 2 compatriots but was dwarfed by the Galaxy S2.
In the Quadrant test, the Sensation scored an impressive 2245 while the LG Optimus 2x scored 2479. This is a minute difference but the real kicker comes with Galaxy S2 as it just knocks the teeth out of both the Sensation and the Optimus with its score being in excess of 3000.
In the Linpack Pro test, the Sensation performed very well with 67.3 MFLOPs in 2.51 seconds while the Galaxy S2 scored a comparable 47.3 MFLOPs in 1.8 seconds.
The Sensation was again up there in the Benchmark Pi test calculating Pi in 728 milliseconds but was trumped by the Galaxy S2 again at 617 milliseconds.
The Sensation comes with a fabulous web browser, which can even play 720p videos inside it without needing to migrate to a different video app. It has Flash built in and performed very well on the 'Rightware Browsermark' test scoring 41,256 but, again, we found the Galaxy S2 smashed the Sensation on paper scoring an unheard of 72,000.
On paper the Sensation performs comparably to all other dual core smartphones we have reviewed - barring the Galaxy S2. However, the Galaxy S2 may appear to be superior, but in real world usage we found the Sensation to be a tad more responsive.
With the Asynchronous Snapdragon at its heart, HTC claims that the Sensation has the capability to provide better battery life than its dual-core rivals. But this is a far cry from the truth as both the LG Optimus 2x and Samsung Galaxy S2 boast of superior battery lives. Part of the problem is the smaller 1520 mAh battery and the power hogging 4.3-inch Super LCD display. Samsung cleverly bundled the Galaxy S2 with a 1640 mAh battery and HTC should had followed their example. Now what we get is a device which struggles to last 10 hours on a single charge, which is a big no-no for smartphone that costs upwards of Rs 30,000.
Verdict
There is no doubt that the HTC Sensation is slick, well built Android 2.3 device boasting of the best Android user interface currently available. But, in spite of this, we are left wanting more as it disappoints with its underwhelming multimedia performance and poor battery life. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy S2, we don't have substantial internal memory, which is another bummer.
For those who want to experience Android at the height of its majestic glory, then this the device to go for. But if you are just looking for pure power and multimedia muscle then we would recommend the iPhone 4 or the Samsung Galaxy S 2.
Pros
Slick user-interface
Fast processing
Solid build quality
Cons
Poor Battery Life
Underwhelming Multimedia functionality
Ratings
Performance: 4
Price: 4
Ease of Setup: 4
Ergonomics: 4.5
Wow Factor: 3
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