HTC Sensation Hands-on Review

HTC Sensation showcases a highly customizable software, an aluminum case and a snappier processor on the brighter side while its weight and unsmooth UI widgets rates poorly on our benchmarks. Since its inception, HTC Sensation has bullied its way to the front-line, out performing siblings and the industry’s favorites such as Galaxy S2 and Google Nexus 4G. Though this phone spots the fastest, smoothest and finest hardware we could imagine of, it’s not the best in the industry. As expected, it’s closely similar to the rest of HTC’s line-up especially the rounded aluminum case and a slightly bezel-sunken concave screen essentially to protect the display which fancied us. HTC Sensation is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor that didn’t disappoint on our speed test, browsing through different home screens and menus surpassed our expectations. Just like any other Android smart phone, you can fill-up the home screens on HTC Sensation with your own stuff without encountering time-lag.

 Sensation’s aluminum casing is definitely its point of confidence and ranks above average. HTC isn’t a well known brand as Samsung and Nokia; however, that doesn’t mean it can not craft the next big thing; furthermore, Samsung’s devices aren’t any good design-wise, they fail miserably against HTC’s. The front panel is dominated by a 4.3inch display screen except for the HTC logo, earpiece, proximity and accelerometer sensors at its top while the back, home, menu and search buttons sits at the screen’s bottom. The screen’s 640×960 pixel resolution is considerably plenty as most devices in this category have 400x800p except for iPhone’s 640×960 pixel resolution. At 256ppi pixel density, text and images on HTC Sensation’s display look bright and sharp for the eye, minor scrolling here and there is required to read web pages in entirety. Despite its enormous 149g weight, Sensation’s rounded corners and narrower bezel makes it feel much smaller in the hand. It’s noticeably 11.3mm thin and will fit in any pocket.

Underneath HTC Sense sits Android v2.3 Gingerbread OS while the home screens are covered by HTC Sense 3.0 UI. UI graphics surpassed our average benchmarks unlike LG Prada 3.0 which rated poorly despite impressive hardware. There’s an 8.0Megapixel camera coupled by dual-Led flash sitting at its back; if you prefer to film your own masterpiece, HTC Sensation can afford 1080p video recording using the 8.0Megapixel primary camera. There’s an additional front facing VGA camera essentially for making video calls, most devices in this category come with a superior 1.3MP secondary camera.

HTC Sensation Price in Kenya: Kshs.54,999 plus 500MB data (at Safaricom shops)