HTC Sensation XL hands-on: First look

Introduction

Today HTC introduced the second member of its Beats droid family, making both geeks and audiophiles tremble with excitement. The HTC Sensation XL is one multimedia beast with its Dr. Dre-inspired audio, impressively spec'd camera and huge display and it's also keen to give users the proper smartphone experience with the tried and tested Gingerbread and Sense combo.

   
The HTC Sensation XL announcement event

The versatility of Android and the sexiness of Beats will be the Sensation XL's key selling point, but if you look carefully you will notice that there's so much more to it than that. Just check out that specs sheet:

HTC Sensation XL at a glance:

• General: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 132.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm, 162.5 g
• Display: 4.7" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) S-LCD capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla glass
• Platform: 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8255 Snapdragon chipset
• RAM: 768MB
• OS: Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread)
• Memory: 16 GB storage (12.64GB user-accessible)
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, dual LED flash, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera; 28mm f/2.2 lens
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio
• Misc: Sense 3.5 UI, Beats audio enhancements and headphones in the package, 1600mAh battery, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, ultra-fast boot times

Granted, the single-core CPU won't give you boasting rights with your geeky friends and screen density could be pushed a bit higher. But with this one it's not so much about having the best specs on the market - it's about having specs that make sense. It's a statement that the company values user experience over PR material.

 
The HTC Sensation XL live shots

The Sensation XL processing power should be enough to handle 99% of the Android market apps seamlessly and even if it's not the best of multi-tasker around only a small portion of the users will actually feel the difference. So why not put something in there that everyone will see and appreciate - like a larger screen, for example.

And if you happen to be among those in need of the ultimate processor, boy does HTC have the phone for you. But now we'd be focusing on the Sensation XL multimedia beast. Join us on the next page for our hands-on impressions, garnished with a load of live shots.