How Sensational is the HTC Sensation?

HTC Sensation deals

When the HTC Sensation came out, most people agreed that it really did live up to its name. Powerful, with a big screen and the latest version of Android, it was one of the top contenders in the market. That was just over a year ago now, but a year is a long time in the mobile phone technology market. Not so long that it's no longer considering however. In fact, it is still a very good device and if you can find the right phone deals then it's well worth checking out.

Sensational Specs

The stand out features on the HTC Sensation are its high resolution, large screen, it's powerful processing capability and impressive user interface.  Check out the full HTC Sensation specs on the HTC website.

The Sensation comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread installed, which was the latest version of Android at the time. At the time of writing that title goes to Jelly Bean, but Gingerbread continues to be a very good operating system. And HTC continues to be one of the few manufacturers which has managed to improve upon the pure Android OS with its Sense user interface.

In the Sensation HTC you are treated to the Sense 3.0 UI which nicely combines popular social network sites facebook and twitter with your google mail address book for optimum convenience and ease. There are also a number of good widgets, including the weather widget which is a favourite for many HTC users. The widgets have also been given a nifty 3D effect, which takes up a lot of processing power to do. So is it powerful enough?

An argument could be made that the processing power of this phone is too good. The speed with which menus scroll can make it seem a bit jittery, but that's a minor complaint and the truth is that the dual-core 1.2GHz CPU is more than welcome. These days of course some of the latest phones come with quad-core processors but it's actually questionable whether that much processing power is really necessary. As it is, the HTC Sensation will be able to handle all but the most demanding 3D games and will continue to be a good performer for most of the content available for a while yet.

A well powered processor is also necessary for the screen, which is nice and large at 4.3 in. Sometimes larger screens can be less sharp than those with smaller screens if the resolution isn't increased, but that is not the case here as they have gone for 540 x 960 pixels so everything is crisp and vibrant. That's also a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is perfect for watching videos.

Super Supplements

If you are interested in using your HTC Sensation to watch videos then you might be interested in the HTC video store which comes with the device, known as Watch. This is like Apple's iTunes, only you can't get music, only videos. Whether a film or a TV show, there's a lot available. They are a tad pricey but they'll look great on your large, high resolution screen.

There are two cameras, the main one on the rear taking pictures with 8 megapixels, which makes for a pretty good shot. You can also record video in 1080p, the highest HD standard. The front facing VGA camera can be used for self portraits or video calls.

The case is made out of metal and is plenty stylish, feeling nice and solid in your hands. It does mean that this is not exactly the lightest phone out there, at 148g you'll feel it's heft.

Summary

While the specs of the HTC Sensation are not as spectacular as when they first came out due to recent advances in the latest phones, this is still a beast of a phone and if you can do without the very latest tech then it's well worth checking out HTC Sensation monthly contract deals. Or if you're looking something similar but a bit lighter and closer to the pure Android OS, then Samsung Galaxy S II deals might be more up your street.

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Introducing: The Samsung Galaxy S III!

Samsung Galaxy S III white deals

Okay. So, yeah. Wow. The Samsung Galaxy S III. Phoar. Yep. Well, we're a bit lost for words here to be honest. This is a... good... phone.

Look, some friendly advice here, if you're looking for an entry-level or mid-range Android smart phone, stop reading right now. There are some decent phone deals to be had on it but generally, it comes down to that old conundrum – if you have to ask how much it costs then it's probably going to be too much. But if, on the other hand, high-specs and gorgeous phones be the food of love for you then read on, read on.

What's all the Fuss About?

So what's so good about the Samsung Galaxy S3? After all, its rounded corners look a bit old fashioned these days, it doesn't have Flash support for viewing videos on the web, Samsung's TouchWiz user interface on top of the Android is a bit difficult to use sometimes and counter-intuitive so... why all the fuss?

Well... the massive 4.8 inch screen with 720p resolution being run by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor – that's just nuts! Most phones are still single-core but the with Galaxy S3, Samsung said to hell with that, we're going to go straight for a quad-core processor! The result? Very smooth motion, almost no lagging, the ability to play top of the range 3D mobile phone games and to carry out multiple tasks at the same time. Indeed with the Pop-up Play option you can have a little video playing in the corner while you write out a text or an email.

What else? Well, there's also Samsung's Music Hub which allows you to browse and download music from a significant library of tracks and albums. There's a nice little radio app that allows you to record from the radio.

S Planner is the calendar app and integrates well with features like S Memo, which allows you not only to type text in but also to scribble and draw with your finger – and then put that in to the calendar app if you like.

If you've had enough of having to use your fingers to operate the phone though you can use the S Voice feature which will carry out tasks through voice command. It's like the iPhone's Siri feature, but to be honest neither of them are one hundred percent reliable, and of the two Samsung's S Voice is actually the lesser. If you like though you can even set up the phone so that it requires your face and voice to unlock it.

That's another feature that the Galaxy S3 has – an eye tracker that can recognise when someone is looking at the phone. The main point of that is that it won't turn the phone off if it can sense someone is looking at it. So long as you're not paranoid and don't mind the idea of your phone watching you, then that's a very nice little addition.

What more can we say about this phone? It has an 8 megapixel camera and records HD video. The screen is HD Super AMOLED and has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. You can choose between having 16GB and 32GB internal storage, and you can add a microSD card for even more. It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which has only recently been surpassed by Jelly Bean, and is likely to get an upgrade to the latest Android OS in the near future. In short, this is a phone at the very top of its game and is unlikely to be pushed aside by anything else for some time to come.

Check out the the Samsung Galaxy S III full specs on the Samsung website.

Summary

If you're in the market for the best Android phone out there right now, you have to check out Samsung Galaxy S III blue monthly contract deals or Samsung Galaxy S III white monthly contract deals and at least consider this phone. Yes, there are some minor flaws but it's really just nit-picking. This phone is a beast and is a major contender not just on the Android market but to the iPhone format as well. If you have the wallet for it, there's really no reason to look anywhere else.

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