HTC Sensation XE is a Beats by Dre Android phone
The HTC Sensation XE is a refreshed version of the HTC Sensation that packs Beats audio, a bigger battery and a more powerful processor.
HTC has decided to get all hippity-hop happy with its latest smart phone, the HTC Sensation XE. It's a refreshed version of the brilliant HTC Sensation that packs Beats audio tech, as well as a faster processor and improved battery life.
Beaten Senseless
The Sensation XE comes with a set of in-ear Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Plug these boisterous bad-boys in, and the phone switches to a different audio profile, doing some clever processing trickery to tune your music specifically to the earphones.
We suspect that will boil down to making your tunes sound a bit bassier, but we're ready to be impressed -- some existing Beats audio products have delivered better audio quality than their garish colour schemes would suggest, so maybe this mobile can give your tunes a little extra punch.
Impressively, those headphones will come with a cable remote that lets you control music playback, or answer calls via a built-in microphone. No more fishing your mobile out your pocket to answer calls.
Souped-up processor
The HTC Sensation XE packs a more powerful processor than the existing version of the Sensation. While the current model has a dual-core 1.2GHz chip, the Sensation XE ups the voltage with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz.
The previous version was impressively fast, so we can only assume that this new iteration will blow our heads clean off our shoulders with its snappy performance.
Improved battery
We're told the HTC Sensation XE packs a bigger battery, that should improve its chances of survival away from the mains. Smart phone batteries are rubbish in general and most modern mobiles need to be charged every day, so we're interested to see if the Sensation XE can do any better.
As you can see in the photos above, the Sensation XE has been given a little lick of paint. We suspect the blood-red accents and Beats logo will be divisive, but we did think the all-grey casing of the first Sensation was a bit dull, so we appreciate that it's been jazzed up.
Elsewhere we expect the Sensation XE to be running Android version 2.3 Gingerbread, and it should pack the same 8-megapixel camera that adorned the original.
With a more powerful processor and the promise of better battery life, the HTC Sensation XE could be much more than just a cheap branding tie-in. Stay tuned for the full review.
HTC says you'll be able to get your hands on this powerful mobile from late September.
What do you think? Would you buy this phone? Let us know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
Update: Check out a hands-on preview of the HTC Sensation Beats.