HTC Sensation XL review: first look

We take a look at the Android 2.3.4-powered HTC Sensation XL. But does the company’s latest flagship device, which features a gigantic 4.7-inch super LCD display, impress?

you may have heard rumours that the HTC Sensation XL was landing soon, and indeed it is. We've had a sneak preview of HTC's new superphone and before you go you thinking that this is just another boring re-boot of HTC’s original 2011 Sensation handset: think again – this one is very different.

Of course it’s got an aluminium unibody, it wouldn’t be a flagship HTC handset without one, but this one is very different from what we’ve seen from Chow’s boys in the past. For starters, it’s extremely thin and very lightweight. In fact, it’s one of the thinnest devices we’ve seen to-date from HTC.

The exact measurements of the Sensation XL are as follows: 132.5x70.7x9.9mm. That makes it 1.4mm thinner than the Sensation XE and only just thicker than the credit card-like Galaxy S2, which measures in at 8.5mm.

The polished metallic unibody combined with the soft-touch material that flanks the bottom and top of the handset works really well. It is very Flyer-esque, but it works all the same. This handset is extremely unique in its appearance – it’s bold, brash and elegant all at the same time.

Some may argue that the Sensation XL’s chassis is very similar to the HTC Titan’s. Well, they’d be wrong. Yes the two devices have the same sized display, but that’s where the similarities end. The Sensation XL, as HTC’s Graham Wheeler told us, is something of a ‘flagship design’ for the company.

And Wheeler’s right, the Sensation XL is quite a sight to behold. It’s like a huge slab of cool gadgetry that simply demands to be picked up and played with. We eyed the device as soon as we entered the briefing (stealthily hidden underneath some papers) and were immediately intrigued by its shape, colour and size – and that was just with a partial side-on view.

Once the devices were taken out and presented to all in attendance, the first thing that slaps you in the chops is just how big the handset’s display is – it uses a 4.7-inch Super LCD display. And while the resolution is no better than the original Sensation’s (480x800), it’s extremely detailed and colourful. The viewing angles on the handset are also exceptional – we’re talking Galaxy S2-like levels here.

Android Gingerbread is the operating system of choice at present, although Wheeler confirmed that the device would definitely be getting hiked up to Ice Cream Sandwich once it’s readily available and the appropriate testing has been done.

The Sensation XL’s internal spec is also pretty impressive, too. You’ve got a 1.5GHz Qualcomm 8255 CPU and 768MB of RAM driving the device. Couple this with its 8-megapixel camera, which features a BSI sensor, auto focus, f/2.2, 28mm lens and dual LED flash and the 1.3-megapixel front-facing snapper on the front and it’s quite the set-up.

There’s 16GB of internal storage, but no microSD support, which is bizarre for HTC. Of this 16GB total, users will have access to just over 12GB of it for their music, videos and documents. If we’re honest, this is slightly disappointing – 32GB is fast-becoming the standard for flagships nowadays. But storage, as you all well know, isn’t HTC’s strong point.

The handset, HTC tells us, has also been developed with Beats Audio from the ground up. What this means is that you get a better quality of audio, which is tailored, precisely, for the Beats Solo (special edition) or the UR Beats (not-so-special edition) headphones that ship with the device.

Once you start playing music through the device a little Beats icon pops up in your notifications window, revealing an enable/disable feature. From what we heard in out time with the handset, Beats makes quite a bit of difference – the music is cleared, thicker and puncher. You can even disable the Beats to see the difference in sound quality – FYI: it’s pretty obvious.

HTC also confirmed that it’s bundled in a new iTunes sync client in with the Sensation XL, which brings ‘seamless syncing’ with Apple’s music hub. Whether this is PC or Mac-specific is unknown at present, but we’d assume that it will work cross platform (we’ll double check this in our review).

All the usual suspects are also onboard, such as Watch, Reader and all the Google Android applications. The new version of Sense UI is also present and makes a good impression. All the animations are there and HTC has even made some modifications to the size of the widgets it uses – the weather widget is now significantly smaller. But don’t worry, it looks better for it.

All in all, we were very impressed with the HTC Sensation XL. Yes, the display is massive but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For one, HTC’s Watch service is aboard the handset, as is YouTube, and we bet watching anything via iPlayer on that 4.7-inch SLCD display would be pretty sweet as well.

First impressions of the HTC Sensation XL are as follows: big, good-looking, nicely designed, brilliant display, a bit limited in the storage-stakes. We look forward to taking an in-depth look at the device once.

HTC told us that the HTC Sensation XL will be landing in Q4 of November – around November time, apparently.

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