HTC Sensation shines in our smashing hands-on photos

We look beyond the HTC Sensation's unassuming aluminium case to spot its dual-core processor and fabulously whizzy user interface in these hands-on photos.

Flora Graham

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Flora Graham

April 16, 2011 1:00 a.m. PT

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The HTC Sensation may not look much different from HTC's other phones, such as the HTC Desire S, but it really ramps up the flagship features.

A dual-core, 1.2GHz processor powers a whizzier, glossier version of HTC Sense, the user interface that is slapped on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

It also adds more features to the standard Android selection, including a lock screen you can customise with shortcuts and previews.

The Sensation sports a huge 4.3-inch screen, which is stunningly bright despite being the LCD type, rather than the AMOLED kind we've seen on previous HTC phones. The display also has a 16:9 aspect ratio, like a wide-screen telly, so many videos will play without black bars above and below.

HTC's new Watch film store makes its debut on the Sensation. Like iTunes, Watch will allow you to buy or rent films, but only to watch on HTC devices.

You can also shoot your own 1080p video on the phone's 8-megapixel camera. There's also a 0.3-megapixel camera on the front for video calling and self-portraits. HTC says it's tried to speed up the camera so it's faster to capture shots, and we look forward to putting that to the test in our full review.

In the meantime, check out the wonders of the Sensation's slightly convex screen in our hands-on photos. Just click the gallery above to get started.

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The updated Sense user interface includes 3D transitions as you slide between home pages, revealing layers in each HTC widget. In this image of the music widget, for example, check out how the album art appears to hover above the rest of the widget.

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The Sensation is the first HTC gadget to include the company's new video store, called Watch. You can rent or buy films for screening on your phone, as well as up to five other HTC devices, if you've got them.

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The app menu on the Sensation can be filtered by favourites or downloaded apps.

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You can customise the Sensation's lock screen with four shortcuts, and with updates such as weather.

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You can now scroll through all seven home screens in a loop, rather than hitting the limit on one side and having to swipe all the way back to the beginning. If you get lost, pinch the screen to zoom out and see all the home screens at once.