HTC Desire X vs Sensation
HTC has been silent in the market for some time, and we would have worried if HTC didn’t reveal some new models at the IFA 2012. However, HTC has come up with some new handsets and impresses us. The mobile we picked today is more targeted at the middle market where there’s a perfect balance between the price and the performance tradeoff. It is refreshingly reassuring to know that HTC will still continue their Android line because it was one of the first to embrace new Windows Phone operating system. We perceive that as a good step towards enhancing their product line and above all, harmonizing the design factors. It is evident that HTC will be able to experiment with both operating systems and integrate the best of both in terms of hardware to produce top of the line smartphones in the future.
Our pick of the day is HTC Desire X which comes as a successor of HTC Desire series. We thought of comparing Desire X with Sensation, which is more or less a better counterpart from HTC itself. We deem it is better because, even a year after the release, it still hasn’t outdated which means this is one of the best smartphones by HTC. HTC Sensation has had some cousins thrown at the market with different flavors such as with a bigger screen, LTE connectivity etc. However, we’ll be comparing the HTC Sensation base model with HTC Desire X in order to find out whether Desire X would last as long as HTC Sensation does.
HTC Desire X Review
HTC Desire X was an absolute pleasure to hold since it had a curved shape that tapers up to the sides. It may seem familiar since the outer shell has some signature features adopted from HTC One series which is the premium series offered by HTC. It is stylish and feels very light in your hands with a weight of 114g. It is 118.5 x 62.3mm in dimension and scores a thickness of 9.3mm which is very good. The 4.0 inches Super LCD capacitive touchscreen features a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi.
This high end budget smartphone comes with a 1GHz Dual Core Scorpion processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 203 GPU and 768MB of RAM. Android OS v 4.0.4 comes out of the box for this device. HTC has ported the device with the new HTC Sense UI v4.0 that doesn’t seem to spoil much of the Vanilla Android look. However, we found that HTC Desire feels somewhat lagging which was evident. The transitions were slow, and the app drawer was not a pleasurable experience. The touch buttons at the bottom is also unresponsive at times. Further, the browsing experience was not that good as prolonged times taken to load web pages. However, this may be because the firmware is not finalized and we so dearly hope HTC would fix this because otherwise, it won’t leave a good impression about HTC.
As usual, Desire X features HSDPA connectivity with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n for continuous connectivity. It can host a hotspot to share your internet connection with your friends although with 7.2Mbps, we rather doubt about the bandwidth distribution. Ever heard of HTC Connect? Well you are about to see a prototype if you buy a HTC Desire X. It’s essentially synonymous to DLNA, but a proprietary agreement exists between HTC and Pioneer. Hence it would only work with Pioneer devices. It can stream audio content and control playback synching with a Pioneer device and HTC is indicating that they would enable video streaming, as well. Another strong suit in HTC Desire X is the optics where they have used the same f/2.0 lens that was used in One series enabling the user to have a rich experience. It can capture 480p videos @ 30 frames per second and can capture images while shooting video, as well. We were somewhat unsatisfied with the meager battery of 1650mAh although HTC reports that Desire X has a talk time of 20 hours, which we need to test and verify.
HTC Sensation Review
HTC Sensation is a handset that was released in May 2011. However, it still has middle line hardware specs with competitive performance matrices. The 1.2GHz Dual Core Scorpion processor on top of MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 220 GPU and 768MB of RAM may not be top of the line, but it can handle Android OS V4.0 ICS fairly well. However, it is rolled with Android v2.3 Gingerbread. It hosts a 4.3 inches S LCD capacitive touchscreen display featuring a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels at a pixel density of 256ppi. HTC Sense 3.0 user interface doesn’t slow down the Android built much either. However, been a handset with a long history, HTC Sensation is somewhat thick and falls in the heftier side of the spectrum. It is 126.1 x 65.4mm in dimension and has a thickness of 11.3mm and a weight of 148g. Hence you may feel hesitant in handling this otherwise an eye-catching smartphone.
Sensation was one of the first handsets to introduce 8MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. It also has geo-tagging and image stabilization with face detection. 1080p HD videos can be captured at a frame rate of 30 frames a second with stereo sound recording. The front VGA camera can be used for video conferencing. The internal storage stagnates at 1GB but fortunately it can be compensated using a microSD card. HTC Sensation comes with HSDPA connectivity providing a speed up to 14.4Mbps along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n for continuous connectivity. DLNA enables the handset to wirelessly stream rich media content to DLNA enabled devices while having the ability to host a hotspot may come in handy if you ever need to share your internet connection. HTC Sensation was used to be a high end smartphone and promises a talk time of 8 hours and 20 minutes with a battery of 1520mAh which is commendable. In today’s standards, this battery may be considered as mediocre, but the battery performance is maintained at an acceptable level.
A Brief Comparison Between HTC Desire X and HTC Sensation
• HTC Desire X is powered by 1GHz Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 203 GPU and 768MB of RAM while HTC Sensation is powered by 1.2GHz Dual Core Scorpion processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 220 GPU and 768MB of RAM.
• HTC Desire X runs on Android OS v4.0.4 ICS while HTC Sensation runs on Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread upgradable to v4.0 ICS.
• HTC Desire X has 4.0 inches Super LCD capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi while HTC Sensation has 4.3 inches S LCD capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels at a pixel density of 256ppi.
• HTC Desire X has 5MP camera that can capture 480p videos @ 30 fps and capture videos and images simultaneously while HTC Sensation has 8MP camera that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps.
• HTC Desire X doesn’t have a front camera for video conferencing purpose while HTC Sensation has a VGA camera for video conferencing.
• HTC Desire X has 1650mAh battery while HTC Sensation has 1520mAh battery.
Conclusion
When we come across two phones having different release dates, we tend to think that the new phone is better than the older one. Sometimes that is not the case. Let me make it a wee bit clearer. When an old super smartphone meets a new super smartphone, the odds are that the new one is better. When an old super smartphone meets a new budget phone, the odds are that the old one is better. When an old budget smartphone meets a new super smartphone, it’s definite that the new one is better. When an old budget smartphone meets a new budget smartphone, the odds are in favor of both. What we have here is an old super-budget smartphone meeting a new budget smartphone. Hence we’ll have to evaluate which is better because the odds are in favor of both. Performance wise, HTC Sensation is slightly better than the Desire X, and the usability experience is a whole lot better, as well. This may well be because of the firmware finalization issue in Desire X, so stay tuned for more news on this matter. Besides that, both have their pros and cons. HTC Desire X is slim and attractive looking and comes with Beats Audio. The optics are way better that what is in Sensation because HTC has mimicked that from their signature One series. However, HTC Sensation still features a better display panel featuring a better resolution as well as better connectivity options. The only blowback is that it’s somewhat hefty and thick which some can tolerate. So ultimately, it’s up to you to choose which cup of tea is yours.