HTC Sensation XE

Firegod · 2 Oct 2011 at 16:40

Sorry if this has been posted already, I had a quick scan and could not see it mentioned.

HTC Sensation with Beats Audio™

http://www.htc.com/uk/smartphones/htc-sensation-xe/

Some impressive specs having a read through the HTC webpage. A slightly faster 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, slightly bigger 1730mAh battery too. The aluminum uni-body construction with the touches of red looks ace imo! :cool:

Not too clued up on the whole Beats Audio™ hype, but I've seen it advertised on HP laptops, and the inclusion of the custom made headset is nice.

Any thoughts?

will13 · 2 Oct 2011 at 16:45

It does look good, would probably be good enough to use as a MP3 player as well

Robbo · 2 Oct 2011 at 16:49

Still not as good as the Galaxy S II overall but I really like it and I think the red looks quite smart. Certainly makes it a much tighter contest (with the SGS2) and the device should be more responsive and last quite a bit longer on the battery as well.

If you listen to music a lot on your phone, it certainly makes it an excellent option, as long as it isn't more expensive than the original Sensation is now.

will13 · 2 Oct 2011 at 18:40

There £500 on rainforest, so shouldn't be too much more then the original

ng93 · 2 Oct 2011 at 20:18

Is beats audio actually any good, or just added for marketing purposes?

Robbo · 2 Oct 2011 at 20:20

ng93 said:
Is beats audio actually any good, or just added for marketing purposes?

Overall, Beats stuff isn't amazing but it's not bad either. I imagine it will be fairly decent.

Wicksta · 2 Oct 2011 at 20:43

Robbo said:
Overall, Beats stuff isn't amazing but it's not bad either. I imagine it will be fairly decent.

What is it though, a new amplifier, a new set of headphones, a new internal speaker? It's pretty hard to judge something based on purely a brandname without actually knowing how it differs from the previous model.

Robbo · 2 Oct 2011 at 20:51

Wicksta said:
What is it though, a new amplifier, a new set of headphones, a new internal speaker? It's pretty hard to judge something based on purely a brandname without actually knowing how it differs from the previous model.

I assume it's those things, yes.

Richie · 2 Oct 2011 at 20:51

Its an equaliser and custom earphones designed for the equaliser. You cannot activate Beats Audio on the phone without the beats audio headset plugged in and it does not work through the speaker.

RSR · 2 Oct 2011 at 22:03

I though the beats extras over the standard phone are just software based?

Robbo · 2 Oct 2011 at 22:06

So it's really just the headphones doing all the work to improve the sound then?

kona786 · 3 Oct 2011 at 02:00

will13 said:
There £500 on rainforest, so shouldn't be too much more then the original

original is £370 there. Not worth the extra IMO esp when the SGSII is £420

will13 · 3 Oct 2011 at 04:15

kona786 said:
original is £370 there. Not worth the extra IMO esp when the SGSII is £420

should have checked the price of the original, anyway once its dropped to £400 or under it'll be good

Richie · 3 Oct 2011 at 07:03

Robbo said:
So it's really just the headphones doing all the work to improve the sound then?

No, its the software in the phone (equaliser etc) along with the better quality headphones combined that do the work.

The idea is that the Sensation XE will recognize Dre-approved headphones and give you the option of enabling a Beats sound profile tailored to those 'phones, which is meant to deliver the music "just like the artist intended." The device has tailored profiles for the packaged YourBeats as well as Beats Solos -- just in case you happened to own a pair of those over-ears. If you plug in some other set from the Beats range, the phone will only activate a generic Beats profile -- although HTC tells us that more model-specific profiles will be coming at some point in the future. Whichever sound profile gets loaded up, it doesn't change in response to what type of music you're listening too -- it'll just apply the same profile to every song, to lift those (primarily bass) frequencies that Dre thinks ought to be lifted.

Source: - http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/22/htc-sensation-xe-with-beats-audio-we-go-ears-on-video/

paradigm · 3 Oct 2011 at 07:43

Is there a release date/known network list for this? At the moment I'm on Vodafone, with an upgrade due in 30 days, but nothing at the moment (bar the imminent release of the new Nexus) seems appealing, and have been looking to jump ship to "3" (not changed network in over a decade).

I can't stand the SGS II (as much as I'd like to love it, I just don't get on with it at all), and this looks to fit the bill in terms of looks (bar the stupid beats logo on the back) and percieved quality (with it's construction materials).

Need to get rid of my Atrix soon before it annoys me beyond the point of no return.

Dandle · 3 Oct 2011 at 08:44

I installed HTC music with beats on my custom rom. It just adds an equaliser with extra profiles when a headset is plugged in. Moved back to PlayerPro after an hour as theres many more features and a dsp pack.

loltim · 3 Oct 2011 at 12:35

paradigm said:
Need to get rid of my Atrix soon before it annoys me beyond the point of no return.

what's up with it?

paradigm · 3 Oct 2011 at 12:45

loltim said:
what's up with it?

Can't stand MOTObloat, find the thing very poorly built (materials are shoddy, fingerprint sensor is utter garbage), it's too slow for it's specs, and the colour replication of the pentile display is garbage (blues appear green, yellow appears olive, etc).