HTC Sensation XL

Snappy Beats

The 8Mp camera is similar to the one on the XE and one of HTC’s best. As well as autofocus (which is a little unreliable and slow) and a dual LED flash, this one includes a BSI sensor to help improve shots in low light, though it’s effect was negligible in practise.

Sample Shots

Click for a full-resolution image

Click for a full-resolution image

There’s a basic editing suite on board and it has 720p HD video recording rather than the XE’s 1080p. The front camera for video calling offers a step up though, from VGA to 1.3Mp. Unlike the XE, there’s no microSD card slot, so you’re limited to the 16GB it comes with, so don't get too carried away with the video recording. The 1600mAh battery is big, but doesn’t deliver a better than average performance – you’ll get about a day’s worth of heavy use out of it.

Thinks big, but

Verdict

The HTC Sensation XL has a mammoth screen, and it has the best of Android and HTC’s Sense UI, but in terms of display resolution, processing speed, video recording and memory expansion, its Beats-packing cousin the XE is the better handset. ®

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