HTC Sensation XE hands-on: First look

Out of one party and into the other - HTC is showing off yet more hot gadgetry and we’re going hands-on with it. After yesterday’s Rhyme launch, today we’ll be playing with an even hotter piece of smartphone technology. The Sensation XE is not only the new HTC flagship, but its also the company's first dip into the audiophile pool.

HTC Sensation XE official photos
The Sensation XE was officially announced a week ago and now we get a chance to play with it for the first time. Needless to say that we were pretty excited as it represents quite an improvement even over the already impressively specced Sensation. We are talking an even faster dual-core CPU (1.5GHz vs. 1.2GHz), an updated Sense UI (v3.5) and the addition of the highly regarded Beats audio to the mix here.
For starters, here's a quick overview of the HTC Sensation XE key specs:

HTC Sensation XE at a glance:

• General: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3 mm, 151 g
• Display: 4.3" 16M-color qHD (540 x 960 pixels) S-LCD capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla glass
• Platform: Dual-core 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8260 Snapdragon chipset
• RAM: 768MB
• OS: Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread)
• Memory: 1 GB storage, microSD card slot (16GB in the box)
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps, dual LED flash, VGA front facing camera
• 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, TV-out (MHL)
• Misc: Sense 3.5 UI, DivX/XviD codec support, Beats audio enhancements and headphones in the package, 1730mAh battery, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, ultra-fast boot times

Beats Audio is the result of HTC and Beats by Dr. Dre teaming up and will come in the form of special sound processing on the inside and a special Beats headset in the box.

HTC Sensation XE
The headset will be called YourBeats and they are a variation of iBeats (iBeats, YourBeats… yeah). They sport a full set of controls for the media player and the Beats functionality becomes active only when using the headset (sorry, loudspeaker).
And when we say the headset, we mean the headset - regular headsets will get some improvement over, say, using them on a non-Beats phone, but not as much as the YourBeats headset gets.
Once you plug in a YourBeats headset, a special icon pops up in the notification area with a button to disable Beats.

Beats has its reserved spot in the notification area
The Sensation XE being a music-oriented phone comes with a 16GB microSD card right out of the box - plenty of room for a respectable music collection.
But enough about the headset. Now head over to the next page for our hands-on impressions of the HTC Sensation XE itself.

HTC Titan and HTC Radar hands-on: HTC media event

ntroduction

HTC's pre-IFA event was (as suspected) all about Windows Phone 7 Mango. HTC had a lot to say about the new version of the OS and what they've added to it, but also showcased two new phones - the 4.7" monster called HTC Titan and the smaller HTC Radar.
 
We'll get to retelling what HTC told us about Mango, but first we'll focus on the two stars of tonight's event - the first two WP7 phones with Mango to go official.
Update, September 2nd: We added hands-on videos with the Titan and Radar, plus some more photos from the event.
The HTC Titan (formerly Eternity) is an informal successor to the HD7. It packs a 4.7" S-LCD screen with WVGA resolution. That's the biggest screen HTC have put on a phone yet and the Titan is the fastest WP7 phone (for now) with a 1.5GHz CPU.

HTC Titan official photos
It's a unibody design and it's only 9.9mm thick making it one of the thinnest Windows Phone 7 devices yet (title is shared with Samsung Focus). The phone has some heft to it though, at 160g.
The second half of the duo is the HTC Radar (used to go by Omega). It's here to take over for the Mozart and the Trophy.

The HTC Radar will be available in Metal Grey and Active White
The Radar has a 3.8" S-LCD screen with WVGA resolution and goes back to the WP7 standard 1GHz processor. It has a unibody design too, but it's slightly thicker than the Titan, measuring 10.9mm.
The Titan boasts an 8MP camera, while the Radar has a 5MP one. Both shoot 720p video and are accompanied by front-facing cameras. The Titan and Radar cameras are interesting because they have exclusive features, you wouldn’t find on other WP7 phones.

HTC Titan and Radar side by side • HTC Titan, Sensation and Radar
Anyway, we'll go over HTC's improvements of Windows Phone 7 Mango and we'll follow that with hands-on impressions from the two phones.

HTC EVO 3D review: An extra dimension

Introduction

As 3D is taking over theaters and living rooms around the world, the craze is hitting handheld too. The next thing to shake up the business or on the way to irrelevance: geeks will geek about it either way. Now that the HTC EVO 3D has grown a GSM radio, they get ready to enjoy a real 3D clash of the flagships. It doesn’t get any better than two heavyweight fighters battling it out, and someone’s got the 3D video to prove it.

HTC EVO 3D official photos
The best part is the HTC EVO 3D, like the LG Optimus 3D, is not placing all its chips on the stereoscopic screen and pair of cameras. No sir, each of those smartphones claims to have the best there is for power and speed. We are talking mighty dual-core CPUs, loads of RAM and superb connectivity. The EVO 3D can be your kind of smartphone even if you don’t care about 3D stills and videos.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and dual/tri-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.3" 16M-color stereoscopic capacitive LCD touchscreen of qHD resolution (540 x 960); Gorilla glass
• Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0
• 1.2 GHz dual Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 chipset
• 1 GB of RAM and 1 GB of storage for apps
• Dual 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, massively comfortable shutter key; face detection and geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 30fps in both 2D and 3D mode
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
• Front facing camera with video calls
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• MHL TV-out (requires MHL-to-HDMI adapter)
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• DivX/XviD video support
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)
• Office document editor

Main disadvantages

• Less than impressive screen performance outdoors
• Speed and productivity not on par with other dual-cores
• Rather heavy
• Low resolution 3D stills
• The two cameras are too far apart for good stereoscopic close-ups

Things are certainly looking promising here, but smartphones are past the my-spec-sheet-is-longer-than-yours stage as of a few years. It’s all about the user experience now and, while powerful hardware is the first step towards providing it, you need equally good software if you are to challenge the best on the market.

The HTC EVO 3D in the comfort of our office
A massive high-res screen certainly looks good on paper, but it takes inspiration and clever design to beat those Super AMOLEDs and those Retinas. A new Adreno GPU with a major speed boost might seem more than anyone will ever need, but competitors have not been sitting around either so it’s always going to be close. And you cannot say whether the EVO 3D has the spark by just looking at the specs.
We hope a full review would bring you a whole lot closer to finding the answers you need, so let’s get started. The EVO 3D gets unboxed right after the break.