HTC Sensation 4G From T-Mobile Review – Specification, Features, Price

The HTC Sensation 4G smartphone was announced for the T-Mobile carrier in April 2011 and was available through the carrier early June 2011. It is the 4G successor to the HTC Sensation and comes with some improvements over its predecessor.

HTC Sensation 4G From T-Mobile

Specifications

• Operating System: Gingerbread, Android v2.3
• Interface Enhancements: HTC Sense 3.0
• Processor: 1.2 GHz Dual Core
• Graphics: Adreno 220 GPU
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM 8260 Snapdragon
• RAM: 768 MB
• Storage Internal: 4GB (3GB System, 1GB User Accessible)
• Storage Removable: microSD (8GB Included, 32GB Max)
• Data GPRS: 114 Kbps (Max)
• Data EDGE: 560 Kbps (Max)
• Data 3G Downlink: HSDPA 14.4 Mbps
• Data 3G Uplink: HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11 b, g, n; DLNA; WiFi Hotspot
• Bluetooth: 3.0 with A2DP
• USB: microUSB 2.0 (MHL, Mobile High-Definition Link)
• Display: 4.3 inch qHD (540 x 960) 16 Million Color Capacitive Multi Touch S-LCD
• Screen: Gorilla Glass
• Network 2G: GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Network 3G: HSDPA 900, 1700, 2100 MHz
• Camera Primary: 8 Megapixel Auto Focus (3264 x 2448 pixels)
• Camera Secondary: VGA
• Camera Flash: Dual LED
• Video Recording: 1080p HD at 30 Frames per second with Stereo Audio
• Radio: Stereo FM with RDS
• Geo Positioning: GPS with A-GPS

Features

As with all Android Gingerbread smartphones coming from HTC, the user interface is enhanced with the HTC Sense customizations (in this case version 3.0). One of the really interesting features is the drag and drop app shortcut to unlock the screen. Traditionally, you’d unlock the screen, and then navigate to the application. With Sense 3.0, you can select four most common applications and place them on the lock screen, and instead of unlocking, drag and drop the app icon you want to use on the lock circle and voila the smartphone is unlocked and application loaded. Besides the usual applications coming from HTC, the smartphone also sports applications like the Polaris Office, Lookout, TeleNav GPS Navigator and T-Mobile TV to name a few. It also comes with the new HTC Watch Video store and the HTC Listen Music store. The HTC Watch and Listen stores are allow you to rent or buy movies, TV shows directly to the smartphone from Saffron Digital. One smart feature with the Watch store is the option for watching streaming media.

Verdict

The HTC Sensation 4G is similar to its 3G sibling the HTC Sensation in almost all features. The high quality build along with the 4.3 inch qHD multi touch display and the HTC Sense customization makes the total experience truly enjoyable. The 1.2 GHz Dual Core processor powered user interface enhancements and animated interface is smooth and offer a rich experience. Images from the 8 Megapixel camera are clear and video recording is of high quality as well. The 4G tag in the name of the smartphone does not live up to the expectations of 4G data experience. The HTC Sensation 4G does not have enough user accessible memory internally, however this can be augmented by the microSD removable storage. The speakers are not up to the standard expected from a smartphone in this range. Overall, the HTC has as usual maintained a high quality of build and software design that is expected from all HTC smart devices. This is amongst the smartphone top picks for T-Mobile customers. The main completion for the Sensation 4G is the G2X , also available from T-Mobile.

Price

The HTC Sensation 4G has been available from T-Mobile for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a two year contract. The mobile hotspot ability will cost you another $15 a month.