HTC Sensation 4G Technical Highlights | HTC Sensation 4G Video Playback HD 720p [Video]

Share This:

One of the latest Smartphones in the Market is the HTC Sensation, this is currently available on T-Mobile’s network.

We've compared many Android-powered Smartphones across all carriers and found that the HTC Sensation 4G has a superior screen resolution and a dual-core system on a chip (SoC) that provides enough muscles to power a smooth user experience, entertainment and video games. But how does T-Mobile’s best fare against what’s available from other carriers, and how does it feel to use the HTC Sensation 4G in the real world? In this review, I’ll tell you about the pro and the cons, without fanboism or politics. We all use smartphones in different ways, so it’s important that I tell you what I do with my phone: I check my email quite often with Microsoft Exchange, and I reply only moderately because virtual keyboards are not as productive as physical ones.

I browse the web several times a day to check on news sites, but I rarely watch movies or play music. I don’t call much – maybe 10mn a day. On the “apps” side, I have a couple of social networks, but I rarely play games – even Angry Birds. This usage pattern will affect battery life and the perception of what features are useful.

HTC Sensation Technical Highlights:

4.3-inch (109 mm) wide screen
qHD 540 x 960 resolution
1.2-GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon 2 dual-core processor
Internal phone storage: 1 GB + microSD slot
Android™ 2.3 with HTC Sense
T-Mobile 4G: HSPA+, up to 14.4Mbps (download), up to 5.76 Mbps (upload)
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 3.0
8-megapixel color back camera Autofocus and dual LED flash
1080p HD video capture and sharing
VGA fixed-focus color front camera
Height: 4.96×2.57×0.44 inches (126.1×65.4×11.3 mm)
Weight: 5.22 ounces (148 grams)
Rechargeable 1520 mAh lithium-ion battery

The HTC Sensation 4G design is a more modern version of what I call the “classic” HTC look. Unlike the Droid Incredible 2 (that I find very well-designed), the Sensation 4G doesn’t aim for an “edgy” look. Instead, it keeps a shape that would remind one of the Desire S, and other HTC phones before it. By the way, the HTC and T-Mobile logos are relatively discreet. Overall, It looks better than the HTC EVO Shift 4G and the HTC Thunderbolt in my opinion, but maybe it would have been nice if it were all black. Anyhow, you can decide for yourself.

On the functional side, the HTC Sensation 4G works well. It fits nicely in my hand (I hold it with my left hand), and the volume and power buttons land right on the thumb and index. Unlike many other phones, the Power button is very easy to find and to push. I believe that this is important because I use it a gazillion times a day, and so do you.

I also appreciate that the four Android buttons on the bottom are visible at all times (even when the phone display is off). On some handsets they become invisible, to make the phone “look better” and to save on backlight power consumption, but this is very annoying because not every Android phone have the same button layout. In fact, manufacturers have probably managed to try out all possible combinations! Unfortunately, the USB charge/sync port is on the side. I usually prefer to have it at the top or bottom so that I can use the phone -while in charge- without having the cable get in the way.

The only “functional” design feature that got to me was the curvature of the backside. It’s great when holding the phone in the hand, but when I put the phone on a table, a tap on either side of the screen would tilt the phone. It’s not big deal, but I sometimes do that when I play games or want to type something while at my desk.

Out of the box, the display is simply beautiful. It didn’t hurt that HTC has preloaded the Sensation 4G with cool wallpapers and all. The 960×540 qHD resolution like the Atrix makes everything very legible and smooth. In terms of pure pixel density, the Retina display from the iPhone 4 is still the king of the hill, but honestly, it doesn’t matter at this level as most people can’t tell. At least, I don’t mind at all, and I’m someone who cares a lot about imaging and displays.

Indoors, the image quality is great. The contrast and saturation aren’t as good as they are with AMOLED, but on the other hand, colors are much more accurate than AMOLED. Outdoors, things are a bit more challenging. The display used by HTC tends to reflect a lot of light. It’s not as reflective as the EVO 4G, but reading the display outdoors can be difficult on a sunny day, and it does not help that I live in California… To make things a little better, I would advise using a bright wall paper (like the one above) or background color. This will help tremendously with direct sunlight usage. And unlike AMOLED, the TFT display does not consume more electricity when displaying a white image (versus a black one). That said, LG’s IPS does better, and its NOVA displays simply dwarfs every other LCD in direct sunlight.

One of the thing that keeps HTC users coming to this brand is HTC Sense. Sense is a collection of software improvements that HTC has done on top of Android. Not every single thing in HTC Sense is super-useful, but overall it adds enough value to give the company a significant edge in terms of user interface and user experience. Here are a few features that I really like:

Quick-access lock screen: the Sensation 4G is the first HTC phone that I have tried that comes with this new lock screen. You can either unlock the phone by moving the central ring at the bottom, or you can drag one of those app icons to the central ring to unlock and launch the app. This is just great, and quite frankly, this is something that Apple had to go after in their iOS 5. They will have a similar feature. Expect everyone to copy this. I use it all the time when I check emails, or when I want to snap a quick photo.
It gets better: HTC has several types of lock screens available. Each include different types of data that shows up in the background (weather, stocks, messages etc…), but you can even choose which apps will appear in one of the 4 shortcuts available.

Copy/Paste: although Android 2.3 has largely fixed the copy paste problem, it’s important to know that many 2.2 and prior phones still don’t have a proper copy/paste functionality. For a long time, HTC Sense has “fixed” this feature while waiting for Google to finally implement one that works. Android 2.3 was introduced with the Nexus S.

Virtual Keyboard: I’m a fan of keyboards that are plain and readable, however there are a large number of users who prefer the HTC keyboard because it displays alternate letters that can be activated by pressing and holding for a second or so.

Swype-like keyboard: if you haven’t heard of Swype, you’ve got to check it out. It’s a company that has invented what HTC calls “trace keyboard”. The idea is simple: instead of tapping one letter after another, you can swipe your finger from letter to letter. This is effective because your finger stays on the surface at all times. This effectively reduces typo rates (for me). This option is also included in the HTC Sensation 4G.
HTC Sense has a bunch of other features, but these do make a difference in my daily life. Check out the HTC Sense site to see them all.

As they get more powerful, smartphones are becoming entertainment devices. Of course, they won’t -yet- replace a Nintendo 3DS or a Sony PSP, but if you have 5 minutes to kill, there are some fun options now, and things are bound to get a whole lot better down the road. Today, you can watch DVD-quality videos, listen to music and find casual games.

 

Video Playback: like most modern smartphones, the Sensation 4G is very capable of playing videos from the local storage, or over the web. If you want maximum quality (DVD level), storing a file to your phone is always the best option. I have played DVD-quality .mp4 files without any problems, and the videos from my PSP collection also work (it’s not true for all Android phones). Over WIFI, YouTube quality is very good too, although not “excellent”. The extra resolution of the Sensation 4G qHD display does make things a little better.

Gaming: I tried Raging Thunder 2 Lite, and on the Sensation 4G, the game was very fluid. I wish that the developer had added an FPS counter, but I eyeball the framerate at 45 to 55 frames per second (FPS). This is not the fastest gaming phone out there, but its polygonal 3D performance is very decent. In any case, gaming is much more fluid than the recently reviewed Samsung Infuse 4G. The conclusion is that the HTC Sensation 4G can play.

Music: Music is one area where Android users have a lot of choices. There are a number of web services from which to buy, or rent, music files, and a host of free digital radio stations to tune into. If you want to purchase music, Amazon MP3 is a place that comes to mind. For music subscription/rental, Rhapsody is the first one that pops in my head. Really there are much more than that and I recommend you to read Eliane Fiolet’s article titled “The Best of Mobile Music”. The internal music player is very easy and efficient, but there are also many streaming players out there such as Amazon Cloud Player, or Google Music Beta. Overall, I would say that “music” is more or less a “solved problem”, but making it easier for novice users would be even better.

Speaker quality (average): The HTC Sensation 4G uses the same rear-speaker design that HTC has on the Droid Incredible 2 and other devices. Unfortunately, it’s not the most optimum design. The sound can be sufficiently loud, but it gets saturated quickly if you crank it near maximum levels. I’ve definitely heard better speaker sound coming out of a smartphone: the Motorola Atrix, for example, does have an excellent speaker sound quality.

Related:

Posted by tAngOlOgIx