Design and build
HTC have stuck to their tried and tested approach of a machined aluminium back, with a bottom section finished in rubberised plastic to ensure plenty of reception. Like the HTC Sensation, the entire back comes away from the front, so effectively all the innards are attached to the back of that massive screen.
It feels solid in the hand. There are no plastic sections to creak as you manipulate it, there are no odd panels or coloured sections. It's just big, clean and white. But it isn't as attractive in design as the regular Sensation which by comparison looks more sophisticated with it's speaker cutout and contoured screen edges.
The flat front of the screen gives you four touch controls across the bottom, home, menu, back and search. On the top you have the normal standby button and 3.5mm headphone jack, with volume controls on the side. A single Micro-USB is on the bottom edge - there is no HDMI out, as you might find on rival devices.
At 9.9mm thick, the HTC Sensation XL sits in the hand well, be there's no avoiding the magnitude of the screen.
The hardware
The 4.7-inch touchscreen on the front is vibrant, but at 800 x 480 pixels, has a fairly low pixel density of 198ppi. Ok, it isn't a low density per se, but we know that some are going to see this as a missed opportunity to pack in a higher resolution display - especially as the HTC Sensation has a 960 x 540 resolution. As a result, even though you can get plenty on the display, you'll still need to zoom to resolve finer details, such as text on a web page.
Some might also question the Qualcomm MSM 8255 1.5GHz single core chipset (and 768MB RAM) rather than the more fashionable dual core processors you'll find in other large display models, including the Sensation XE.
Another slight oddity of the HTC Sensation XL is the memory. There is no external memory option, so you can't add a microSD card. Internally there is 16GB of storage, but only 12.64GB is available for the user.
HTC Sense 3.5
This is the third HTC Sense 3.5 device to launch. HTC Sense 3.5 as seen on the HTC Explorer and HTC Rhyme is simplified slightly, with a cleaner front page. The HTC Sensation XL returns to the typical look and feel of HTC Sense we've seen in the past, so the dock sits at the bottom of the homepages.
Otherwise HTC Sense 3.5 acts as Sense always has done in the past, offering up bags of connectivity and integrated features. We noticed that Dropbox was preinstalled on this device, but HTC would neither confirm or deny whether there was any special deal - news of which we bought you before - but inclusion of the app make us think there probably is.
Beats by Dr Dre
HTC has been lavishing attention on its camera for a long time. The immediate thing you notice when you fire up the camera app is just how incredible everything looks on the screen. It's a vast preview of the scene before you, with HTC equipping the Sensation XL with an 8-megapixel sensor and 28mm F/2.2 lens.
Specifications
Audio MP3 player, FM radio, 3.5mm jack
Network 3G, GSM, HSDPA
Display 720p,
Camera 8 megapixels,
OS Android
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, GPS
Battery Li-ion battery
HTC have stuck to their tried and tested approach of a machined aluminium back, with a bottom section finished in rubberised plastic to ensure plenty of reception. Like the HTC Sensation, the entire back comes away from the front, so effectively all the innards are attached to the back of that massive screen.
The flat front of the screen gives you four touch controls across the bottom, home, menu, back and search. On the top you have the normal standby button and 3.5mm headphone jack, with volume controls on the side. A single Micro-USB is on the bottom edge - there is no HDMI out, as you might find on rival devices.
At 9.9mm thick, the HTC Sensation XL sits in the hand well, be there's no avoiding the magnitude of the screen.
The hardware
The 4.7-inch touchscreen on the front is vibrant, but at 800 x 480 pixels, has a fairly low pixel density of 198ppi. Ok, it isn't a low density per se, but we know that some are going to see this as a missed opportunity to pack in a higher resolution display - especially as the HTC Sensation has a 960 x 540 resolution. As a result, even though you can get plenty on the display, you'll still need to zoom to resolve finer details, such as text on a web page.
Some might also question the Qualcomm MSM 8255 1.5GHz single core chipset (and 768MB RAM) rather than the more fashionable dual core processors you'll find in other large display models, including the Sensation XE.
Another slight oddity of the HTC Sensation XL is the memory. There is no external memory option, so you can't add a microSD card. Internally there is 16GB of storage, but only 12.64GB is available for the user.
HTC Sense 3.5
Otherwise HTC Sense 3.5 acts as Sense always has done in the past, offering up bags of connectivity and integrated features. We noticed that Dropbox was preinstalled on this device, but HTC would neither confirm or deny whether there was any special deal - news of which we bought you before - but inclusion of the app make us think there probably is.
Beats by Dr Dre
Specifications
Audio MP3 player, FM radio, 3.5mm jack
Network 3G, GSM, HSDPA
Display 720p,
Camera 8 megapixels,
OS Android
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPRS, GPS
Battery Li-ion battery
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