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Hands on – HTC Sensation XE

By Leigh Geary on September 24, 2011 in

Most smartphone owners are pleased with their handsets. There is, though, one major issue that nearly every handset we’ve ever reviewed has. Stick your headphones in and … oh dear… the sound quality is appauling. Tinny, whimpy sounds which are just no good at all. The Sensation XE puts an end to this, with new Dr Dre Beats headphones and special technology to make those tunes sound as good as can be.

We got chance to test out the Sensation XE earlier this week and can definitely stick the Coolsmartphone approval sticker on the sound quality. The bass response has no sign of distortion and the Dr Dre Beats headphones do a stellar job of producing every sound in the audio spectrum. This can be turned off if you want but, believe me, when you have either the “in ear” or larger “over ear” Beats headphones in, you REALLY don’t want to turn it off.

Android phones need this. iPhone users laugh to themselves when they compare sound quality with their handsets.

The Sensation XE looked fantastic too. Red highlights across the earpiece and on the buttons made the phone look really funky. The 4.3″ screen and easy-to-control audio interface made it a joy to use. It was speedy, well designed and seemed to deliver apps and web pages without hesitation.

I’m pretty excited about this particular handset, and we’ll let you know more when a fully-finished unit is ready for review. Until then, soak up the photos..

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  • http://twitter.com/Chimpaudio Chimp Audio

    This handset has a larger battery yes? you’d expect better bass response from the standard unit because more power is available. I use a Desire S and I can bet my set-up sounds better than the arangement you have with the XE. Among audiophiles Beats headphones aren’t considered that serious but clever marketing. HTC have for the first time actually designed a syetem that matches SIMPLE! Apple did this pretty much from day 1with their i products. You only need to look at the appalling headphones HTC supply as standard. Its not hard to get any smartphone to sound good with the right headphones and the correct app…this XE effort is nothing but clever marketing

  • Burniplee

    agree what app you using

  • Steve

    I am very fussy when it comes to sound quality on portable devices. I love the bass to bee deep, responsive yet without distortion at high levels. I use Sennheiser 465′s with my Sensation and the bass response is brilliant. I haven’t tried with cheaper headphones so I can’t comment. All I can say is you get what you pay for and I really think the XE is just over marketing. As mentioned, with the right headphones you can find the sound you are after.

  • http://twitter.com/Chimpaudio Chimp Audio

    I’m using an app called Power amp and a pair of Sennheiser HD 25 pro. Its taken me a while (and lots of money) to get this right but it just works. I tried the beats headphones which were good for some types of music but not all.

  • S-Jobs

    Is this just a background app rather than hardware – if it is stop trying to sell it on the beats label and more on the processor and extended battery life over the sensation / galaxy SII

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