HANDS-ON: HTC Sensation XL

HTC has just unveiled its latest all singing, all dancing Android handset, the HTC Sensation XL, a slick smart phone with a HUGE 4.7″ WVGA screen, Beats Audio integration and the HTC Watch application for catching up with movies and TV shows.

Shiny Shiny went along to the preview of the new handset with the HTC team yesterday to bring you the key facts and some sneak peek photos.

When you’re done here, be sure to check out Shiny Shiny’s “5 Reasons the Sensation XL is our new favourite smartphone”.

The key facts

The handset has Beats Audio integration, which means every teeny tiny component has been fine tuned to provide your ears with the very best audio quality.

To show off just how good the handset can make your music sound, a pair of urBeats headphones are included with every phone and some limited edition devices will have larger Beats Solo headphones.

The thing that strikes you most about the Sensation XL is definitely its huge screen, it’s 4.7″ which sounds a bit too big, but we were able to control everything with one hand just as you would with a smaller smart phone, so you don’t need to worry about dropping it or anything, it’s not like having an iPad strapped to your palm. Despite the fact it’s so big, it’s still a slim 9.9mm in width, so it’ll still slot into your pockets. Well, just.

The handset has the HTC Watch application, which gives you access to a big library of movies and TV shows. It also has progressive download technology, so you can watch a movie before you have all of it.

We were very excited about the device’s 8MP camera, with an f/2.2, 8mm wide-angle lens.

There are no exact details about dates and prices just yet, but we can expect it to be widely available from early November.