***The Official HTC Sensation thread***

One comment :for you when you say the general public trust htc sense....the general public beyond phone geeks have mainly never heard of HTC, I imagine the samsung would outsell easily if it was on brand perception, as there won't be a person who hasn't heard of them.

One thing that stands out from the spec sheet, is the weight: it's considerably heavier than the SGS2, and it's also quite a bit heavier than the Desire or iPhone 4, does this not make a big factor to you? It's chasing the weight that the desire HD was, and in anything slightly baggy it was quite a big factor when I had one for a few weeks on trial, I vowed to never have a phone that heavy.

I actually personally factored this in quite a large manner when choosing to buy the sgs2 over the sensation (before the sensation was released), combined with HTC's move away from AMOLED. Will HTC ever jump back on the amoled band wagon? Seems bizarre that they started out with it in the desire and have dropped it like it's cheryl cole from then onwards.

For me:

Lots heavier
Slower CPU
not AMOLED
worse battery life
worse camera
poor internal memory

All these made me jump ship away from HTC (which I'd chosen over the original SGS) and it'd take a lot to tempt me back with those limitations

I do want to have a play with one though, next time i'm out ill have a look! See if that build quality perhaps would do it.
 
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Thanks for the review Robbo. Glad to know that the phone is up to par. HTC made a big fan of me because of the desire, and I hope that this phone brings them the same level of success at the very least, they deserve it. Had this been released at the same time as the GS2, I may have gone for it.
 
rG-tom ^ I can assure you the general public have heard of HTC, they're doing quite well on the brand popularity front. They are probably better known than Android itself, people are always saying "Ooh, is that one of those HTC's" :o

I'm not bothered about the weight at all really, I've never been able to tell the difference between 40 grams anyway :p

So, 80% brightness, dimly lit room, head-on screen comparison of the same video file on both phones -

testscreens.jpg
 
you really need moving video a blury screenshot shows nothing plenty on YouTube which shows the gs2 is far better including the one I posted above.
 
Robbo said:
Any suggestions for games? I've only found Farm Tower HD and it looks beyond shocking, but I'll try it :o
Click to expand...

Free games: (output to TV via MHL too?)
Cordy Ideally a big level in balloon world but meh, gotta bluetooth controller too? :)
Dungeon defenders is a good one to test the Unreal Engine 3.
Contract killer should be good on both.

A few Youtube checks too:
720p FPS test http://www.youtube.com/my_speed (Click on 'Show test video' link, select 720p and it should be 30fps for both)
1080p Thor trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOddp-nlNvQ
CSI on 5 catchup http://www.channel5.com/shows/csi-crime-scene-investigation/episodes (These always stutter for me, Sensation/SGS2 any different?)
 
Jabbs said:
you really need moving video a blury screenshot shows nothing plenty on YouTube which shows the gs2 is far better including the one I posted above.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to prove the HTC screen is better, we all know for things like the above that it isn't.

But that is the same image on the same two screens (the video is paused) and the colour differences are notable but not huge when viewing in a dark room from a head-on angle.

I can do it with a still picture if you like.

Thanks for those sarge ^^
 
Robbo said:
I'm not trying to prove the HTC screen is better, we all know for things like the above that it isn't.

But that is the same image on the same two screens (the video is paused) and the colour differences are notable but not huge when viewing in a dark room from a head-on angle.

I can do it with a still picture if you like.

Thanks for those sarge ^^
Click to expand...
No need mate.
 
sarge78 said:
Cordy Ideally a big level in balloon world but meh, gotta bluetooth controller too? :)
Dungeon defenders is a good one to test the Unreal Engine 3.
Contract killer should be good on both.
Click to expand...

I'll download them later on and test them out, it'll take a while on my hefty 8MB broadband :p

sarge78 said:
A few Youtube checks too:
720p FPS test http://www.youtube.com/my_speed (Click on 'Show test video' link, select 720p and it should be 30fps for both)
Click to expand...

29-33 FPS for both.

sarge78 said:
1080p Thor trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOddp-nlNvQ
Click to expand...

The Sensation struggles badly at 1080p, the Samsung is pretty smooth.

sarge78 said:
CSI on 5 catchup http://www.channel5.com/shows/csi-crime-scene-investigation/episodes (These always stutter for me, Sensation/SGS2 any different?).
Click to expand...

100% smooth on both.

If you haven't seen this already, watch the HTC unveiling of it from 3:30 onwards, the guy says some Apple-style cringeworthy stuff :p - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrbXVHpnDMo
 
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I don't think you're going to see any really noticeable 'real life' differences for at least a year. At this point they will be becoming considered old tech so the slight extra grunt that the SGSII has will likely be a boon for the latest and greatest games/apps. Those that only plan to go for 12/18 month contracts/are buying sim free likely have little to worry about as they will have upgraded before they start 'showing their age' as it were.

Time will tell...
 
Jabbs said:
you really need moving video a blury screenshot shows nothing plenty on YouTube which shows the gs2 is far better including the one I posted above.
Click to expand...

Is a video of a screen really the best way to compare? Different screens appear differently when recorded on video. You need to compare them in the flesh.
 
The sensation screen will look great head-on. However as soon as you start shifting the phone a few degrees the colour and black quality will drop of quickly as that's what most lcds do.
 
[TW]Fox;19347289 said:
Is a video of a screen really the best way to compare? Different screens appear differently when recorded on video. You need to compare them in the flesh.
Click to expand...

No need as the people that do these tests all say the same thing the GS2 is the better screen, not as if anyone needed to be told that as the Samsung screen is pretty much the best one on the market.
 
Jabbs said:
No need as the people that do these tests all say the same thing the GS2 is the better screen, not as if anyone needed to be told that as the Samsung screen is pretty much the best one on the market.
Click to expand...

You'll note from Robbos review however that its far from as clear cut as simply getting 'the better screen'.
 
I've been looking into the death grip issue a bit this morning. I've tried using 2 different routers (my main one is very good). I changed to an older one and then went far enough away so the wifi signal drops a bar.

I then tried all the death grip positions and sometimes it drops an extra bar, however, everything still loaded fine and I was able to stream a video on Youtube without any trouble. That is on the older router though, on my newer router the extra signal strength means it may drop a tiny bit, but nothing significant.

I used Network Signal Info to get a better idea and the signal does drop by about 20% when being 'death gripped' if there is interference (like a few walls) between you and the router. If you are in the same room as the router you cannot get the signal to drop at all.

If I take the Galaxy S II to the same place the signal is about as good as the HTC signal is when in the death grip position, just to give you an idea.

There is something there, but when it is this much trouble to recreate the issue, I'd honestly say its not worth worrying about. For the record, the iPhone 4 wifi performance is generally a bit better than the Galaxy S II and is quite similar to the Sensation.

Generally speaking, the wifi on both of them is fine. :)

I'm a little bit suspicious of the GSM Arena review, they go on and on about how the death grip issue ruins using the phone and then at the end they say 'it's not a deal breaker or much of an issue' without really explaining it. :confused: If the wifi basically didn't work when you held the phone in any normal way, it would be a huge issue.

Camera tests later!
 
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I think regardless of any review wording inconsistencies, GSM Arena are highly respected, and the message I am reading about the Sensation in all reviews I have read so far are that it is a good phone, but falls short of being the best (eg: beating the i9100). End of story.
 
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