HTC Sensation XE Review
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The restless HTC has recently been branching out its smartphones, trying to fill market niches it feels are underserved, like female-oriented handsets, or phones with an enhanced audio experience. For the latter it entered into cooperation with Beats by Dr Dre, and decided to leverage the audio brand's know-how with the HTC Sensation XE, an upgrade to its flagship Android handset.
We say upgrade since the HTC Sensation XE is the same phone with minor changes: new color scheme,the 3rd generation dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset is pumped to its maximum 1.5GHz, and a beefier battery compensates for that might.
The Beats Audio colaboration is meant to set the Sensation XE apart as a smartphone audio king. Did it succeed in creating the best smartphone for music lovers? Read on to find out…
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- HTC Sensation XE handset
- Beats Audio in-ear headphones
- Beats Audio headphones pouch
- Replacement buds of different sizes
- Wall charger
- MicroUSB cable
- Warranty and user guide leaflets
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Beats Audio in-ear headphones and their pouch | ||
The HTC Sensation XE hasn't been announced for any US carrier and you can only get it SIM-free for now. It's compatible with the AT&T network, and you can use it on T-Mobile without 3G connectivity.
Design:
HTC brushed the Sensation XE with red accents to emphasize this is a different handset than the standard Sensation (4G).
The earspeaker grill, the camera ring, and the capacitive buttons are all red, and so is the Beats Audio logo on the back, making the whole set appear cool and informal, what the Beats brand stands for.
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HTC brushed the Sensation XE with red accents to emphasize this is a different handset than the standard Sensation | ||
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You can compare the HTC Sensation XE with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
The back is done in two pieces of excellent quality soft-touch plastic, separated diagonally by a brushed aluminum strip in mahogany.
This metal strip is a part of the unibody aluminum chassis, with curved recessed glass over the 4.3” LCD display with 540x960 pixels of resolution, that protects it from scratching when facing down. A typical HTC high-quality build.
The screen is bright enough outside, with excellent viewing angles, and very good 256ppi pixel density, achieved with the traditional RGB matrix, as opposed to the PenTile arrangement of some Motorola qHD displays, for example. Text appears crisp and the colors are vivid. One advantage of the Super LCD tech of the screen is that it is usually very well calibrated and white appears almost spot on (~6500K), instead of cold blueish like on Super AMOLED displays.
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The HTC Sensation XE has a 4.3” LCD display with 540x960 pixels of resolution | ||
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Volume key and microUSB port (left) | Power key and 3.5mm jack (top) | Right edge | Bottom side |
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The Beats logo | The rear camera | The battery compartment |
Drag the picture or use the keyboard arrows to rotate the phone. Double click or press keyboard Space to zoom in/out
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36 Comments
2. jamrockjones posted on 04 Nov 2011, 09:58 4 1
Agreed! I love HTC's UI and fast processing speeds but HATE their screens. You can tell just from the pictures the colors don't come through very bright. I don't think I'd buy any of HTC's phones right now, I'm still waiting for a slimmer and brighter phone with their great UI and hardware.
5. jacko posted on 04 Nov 2011, 10:26 3 4
i have the sensation and the screen is very nice i find myself using the sensation more then i do my galaxy s II
17. Dark4o90 posted on 04 Nov 2011, 19:44 2 0
can't agree super lcd is good enough and their displays look really good but when you campare them amoled it makes diff
3. tmcr7 posted on 04 Nov 2011, 10:14 7 0
What kind of a conclusion is that? The HTC Sensation XE comes with a more powerful processor, bigger battery, and better speakers, yet you say that the only difference is the high quality earphones? Come on!
8. Retro-touch posted on 04 Nov 2011, 13:17 1 1
overclocked processor, the bigger battery was put to compensate for the higher clock speeds which would give poor battery life on its previous capacity, better speakers; wouldn't know unless I tried them. Hence the only difference is high quality earphones and better sound quality assuming the speakers are better.
6. Epic09 posted on 04 Nov 2011, 10:55 2 0
I might not like the iproducts much but I'll agree on one thing..they're one of the top tier companies when it comes to sound quality.
7. xenover posted on 04 Nov 2011, 12:28 0 2
Cons are stupid as hell. Phone on the other hands seems quite top notch.
9. roscuthiii posted on 04 Nov 2011, 13:28 3 0
Couldn't they have put the 1730mAh battery in the Rezound too??
10. jackhammeR posted on 04 Nov 2011, 14:41 3 1
Beats audio or whatever this gimmick can be called was ported to other phones.
HTC made a bad decision. It's all about stupid software..they didn't use any new hardware for sound.
12. choupino posted on 04 Nov 2011, 16:22 1 2
jackhammeR... Do some research. This is not simply a software upgrade. "Ported to other phones"???? We should have a mute button for those people that spout stuff they have no knowledge of on PA. I mean really.
HTC paid hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase the beats company. Dr. Dre & Jimmy Iovine(Interscope Record's CEO) made $351 Million off the deal alone...
So you basically think that all of this was for some software and earbuds???
You can't really be that slow... Can you???
15. jackhammeR posted on 04 Nov 2011, 18:07 1 0
The only person who should read is YOU. dre dre beats was ported to HTC HD 2 and I think desire as well. And it's only software matter.
Yes, that was about software and earbuds...you know why? because dre dre is a trademark and is well known in music industry...which dosen't mean that is good or best.
You know what marketing is boy, do you?
The only slow dude here is you again.
Hug your precious htc and try convince yourself it's something more than a phone. Get a life dude!
11. CreeDiddy posted on 04 Nov 2011, 15:54 3 1
Another medicore upgrade from HTC...
I have had a Thunderbolt. This is no different, besides Beats Audio, bigger battery, and faster processor and RAM. What makes this different from the HTC Rezound.
Too much redunancy for Andorid phones now...
If the Iphone 4 and Iphone 4S is no different, then the Thunderbolt is no different from the Rezound.
Can HTC come out with one or two phones, instead of 10 of the same phones on multiple carriers. They have increased profits for this quarter, but they could improve their cost drastically by staying with one or two designs on multiple carriers.
That is why Apple has the highest profitability of any smartphone manufacturer. They are using the KISS method.
Cree
This comment has been moderated, because it doesn`t meet the discussion rules. Show
32. ILikeBubbles posted on 14 Nov 2011, 09:10 0 0
you do have a point, but didn't samsung pass apple as the highest grossing smartphone manufacturer this year? and part of the reason Android is an amazing alternative (not nessisarily better i'll agree) is because of how open it is. Android gave options when Apple said no. different strokes for different folks i think. it all depends on what you're into. we can't praise google for something then 2 years later backhand them for the same thing.. your agument is all valid but when it comes down to it there hasn't been a real gamechanger in the industry since the first iphone/android came out in like 2002/3
18. winsaki234 posted on 04 Nov 2011, 21:16 1 5
Phone arena suck! This reviewer is a iPhone fanboy
19. jackhammeR posted on 05 Nov 2011, 03:32 1 0
For God's sake!
Why the choosed 3gp as a contender in 1080p shooting??????????
This is nuts!
