Brawn and Beauty Unite in HTC?s Sensation Smartphone

HTC's Sensation is a slick, dual-core delight. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

HTC’s Sensation won’t hit the shelves until mid-June, and we’ve been eager to get our hands on the dual-core–powered smartphone for some time. We’ve now taken one for a test drive, and it was worth the wait.

The Sensation’s Qualcomm Snapdragon chip sports 1.2-GHz of processing power, scrolling and whipping through menu screens with ease. Running the Halo-esque HD game Nova on the device made for seamless gaming.

I do wish the phone came with a bit more RAM, though. The 768 MB seemed to buffer multiple application processes fine, but who knows what cool, resource-hogging apps are on the horizon? I’d be more comfortable with a gig under the hood.

More often than not, larger screens mean bigger, bulkier frames. But despite the increased screen real estate, the Sensation is a relatively svelte piece of machinery. The 4.3-inch candybar shape fits nicely in hand, and at 5.22 ounces, it’s no fatty — definitely slimmer than its 4.3-inch cousin, the Thunderbolt.

You’ll appreciate the screen size when you start watching video on the Sensation’s qHD display. I watched a few particularly colorful music videos in landscape mode, and at 960 x 540 resolution, I soaked up every last pixel of video in brilliant detail. And for the size queens out there not satisfied with 4.3 inches, DLNA compatibility allows for video streaming to compatible devices.

Yes, there are cameras — two of ‘em, of course. The 8-megapixel back-facing camera snaps decent enough shots, and with the pre-loaded Qik software, you can use the front-facing camera for video chat with pals. If you’re not into live video feeds, the camcorder supports recording up to 1080p HD resolution. Par for the course these days, but the cameras function as they should.

On-board storage is meager at 1 gigabyte, but who needs internal when you can go SD? The phone’s microSD card slot supports up to 32 GB of extra space.

As far as the user interface goes, I’ll give the standard line I recite whenever I play with an HTC phone: I’m not in love with the skin. All of HTC’s handsets ship with Sense, the company’s customized user interface that’s laid on top of the stock Android operating system. This may not bug the vast majority of consumers. I am, however, a purist: I want bare-bones, stock Android on my phone.

That’s not to say that Sense version 3.0 isn’t without its positive attributes. Lots of bells and whistles in terms of general accessibility. Each menu screen plays home to the most widely used apps, like your calendar, contacts and media player.

I will, however, give the company props for shipping the phone with Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread) installed. It’s the latest version of the operating system, but most 2011 smartphone debuts came with older versions of the software (mostly 2.2 Froyo).

If you’re a hacker-type nerd, the phone comes with one major annoyance: HTC locked the Sensation’s bootloader, which makes modification and customization problematic. The company has since reversed its policy on shipping locked-down phones, but not before pushing out the Sensation to stores. The phone may not be too far from the modding crowd yet, however: an update to the Sensation that unlocks the device is in the works.

HTC’s latest Android phone isn’t hitting the shelves widely until June 15. When it drops, you can pick it up in T-Mobile stores for $200 bucks with a two-year contract.