HTC Sensation XL

HTC Sensation XL

HTC’s Sensation XL is both sensationally good and sensationally heavy compared to its main rival, the Samsung Galaxy S2. With the extra bulk you do, however, get the superb HTC Sense interface and audio from Beats by Dr Dre - the distinctive headphones are included in the box. All that makes a real difference and means that this is more than a typical Android phone. Contact information is effortlessly integrated with social networking and you can use HTC’s exclusive movie store to buy films direct. With a large screen and full HD, the Sensation is also able to do them justice. It is, in that sense the logical successor to HTC’s hugely popular, superb Desire HD, but with massively improved sound quality.

The Sensation’s two problems, however, are its bulk and its battery life. The former is not a huge problem per se, but compared to other devices HTC needs to do better in future. Of more importance is the battery life, which users will notice flags before the end of the day even in casual usage. It is better than the LG Optimus 3D, but then it isn’t powering all that 3D wizardry.

The overall feeling with HTC is that this is the company that forced others, such as Samsung and Motorola to up their game. From HTC’s perspective, perhaps it’s unfortunate that they succeeded so well.

Score: 3.5 /5

Operating System: Android Gingerbread
Screen resolution: 480x800 4.7”
Processor: Dual Core 1.5GHz
Battery (Talk time): 8.25hrs
Camera Resolution: 8 Megapixels
Weight: 163g
Memory: 1gb plus Micro SD slot