HTC admits they went banana with releasing new phones in 2011 - HTC Sensation

So i had some nasty discussion with some folks here when I ranted about poor optimization of the software in the Sensation. To me the Sensation never felt like a modern flagship dualcore phone, in fact it performed worse in many tasks than older HTC phones.
The obvious reason was HTC being too busy pushing out new models every 2weeks or so instead of polishing their current lineup. Software updates took forever to release because of it, e.g. by making a "New" Sensation XE with seprate firmware instead of bringing a mutual update for both Sensations and so on. But people kept trolling and downvoting threads just because someone dares to critisize...
Anyways, HTC actually admitted they were too eager with new releases:
"'We have to get back to focusing on what made us great – amazing hardware and a great customer experience. We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much. So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.'
The company’s u-turn follows disappointing global results earlier this month when first quarter net profit fell 26% to $365m, its first quarterly decline in earnings for two years as it faced competition from Apple and Samsung’s Galaxy range"
http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/13765/HTC_is_holding_out_for_a_market_hero.aspx
So there you have it fanboys. Even HTC makes mistakes. I was a fanboy myself (the reason I got the Sensation in the first place) but then was put down by the slopiness that became apparent with HTC 2011 phones.
Fortunately the Sensation is not lost yet, in fact ICS might still make this device "sensational". My virtuous ICS ROM makes things sooo much more enjoyable, FPS in 3d games doubled, and FINALLY lag when scrolling lists/menus is all but gone, yay!
I'm curious on HTC's 2012 lineup and what they will throw in the ring against the upcoming Galaxy S3 superphone.
Maybe this time they'll get their act right and return to their former glory.
P.S. Yeah I know this is old news but I kinda wanted to hear what people think about it.

I agree that ICS is good on the sensation, but how much of that is the tweaks and time put in by the devs here?
In any case, they could start by fixing their crappy GPS implementation that barely works stock and with a ton of tweaking can give you rough coordinates, but far too jumpy and refreshes too slowly to be used as a "real" navigation device (ie: Garmin).
Using it as a speedometer, even after tweaking, leaves you about 3 seconds behind and with a 5 to 10mph accuracy.
Their track record with poor GPS extends far beyond this phone too... I mostly like the sensation, but battery life and buggy GPS is making me think twice about buying another HTC.
If only my Garminfone had more RAM and a faster CPU. That thing, to this day, is the most rock solid hardware I have seen in an Android phone. Too bad they decided to underpower it.

have you ever owned a "perfect" anything? i keep coming back to this phone every time i think it's dissapointing me. to me, there really isn't anything worth paying over $400 on the market right now, especially the s2 variants, so im stcking with this phone at least untl ics is ifficially out. i'm still running on a gb rom by baad that feels great speed wise.
to each its own. i do agree with your point about making 3, pretty much, identical phones: xe, sensation, and amaze.

The only thing annoying about this phone is the dust i see on the sides under the screen under direct sunlight. Rest all is fine and it still feels capable
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

I'm enjoying the sensation running ICS. It does all I need it to do - and coming from an iPhone 4 (that I gave to my wife) I am appreciating the openness of Android. Lots of pros and cons, but the sensation is a great device at a great price. I agree with another poster - it's in the sweet spot price/performance wise. I don't expect premium build quality for the price I paid.

Related

Samsung Captivate vs HTC Desire ... help me decide

Hey guys,
As the battery on my HTC Diamond is dying, I'm in the market for a new phone, and I am down to either htc Desire or Samsung Captivate ...
Why HTC Desire?
- Love HTC phones, my last 4 phones were all HTC's
- Love Sense, hate TouchWhiz
- Slightly smaller, so it would fit a little better in jeans pocket
- Availability of development and cooked ROMs
- Captivate seems to be somewhat buggy? With self shutdown problems, GPS can't lock and alarm won't pop up / go off ... little quirks.
Why Captivate?
- S-AMOLED screen is the best screen available now
- Hummingbird > Snapdragon
- 4.0" screen is better than 3.7"
- Have concern about Desire's battery life ... vastly disappointed with Diamond's battery though I know 1400mAh > 900, but many people still complain about Desire's battery life
- Captivate seems to be better at video playback, smoother, more vivid colour
- Captivate seems to be snappier with web browsing
What do you guys think? Anything else I should know about these phones?
Like I said, the biggest appeal of the Desire is Sense ... I think it's a great UI and I'm almost temped to pick the phone just for its UI. That said, I have concern about Desire's battery life. The Captivate's S-AMOLED screen is also something you fall in love with.
Any suggestion or advices is welcome!
Motorola Atrix.
Sent from my Captivate.
number16 said:
Hey guys,
As the battery on my HTC Diamond is dying, I'm in the market for a new phone, and I am down to either htc Desire or Samsung Captivate ...
Why HTC Desire?
- Love HTC phones, my last 4 phones were all HTC's
- Love Sense, hate TouchWhiz
- Slightly smaller, so it would fit a little better in jeans pocket
- Availability of development and cooked ROMs
- Captivate seems to be somewhat buggy? With self shutdown problems, GPS can't lock and alarm won't pop up / go off ... little quirks.
Why Captivate?
- S-AMOLED screen is the best screen available now
- Hummingbird > Snapdragon
- 4.0" screen is better than 3.7"
- Have concern about Desire's battery life ... vastly disappointed with Diamond's battery though I know 1400mAh > 900, but many people still complain about Desire's battery life
- Captivate seems to be better at video playback, smoother, more vivid colour
- Captivate seems to be snappier with web browsing
What do you guys think? Anything else I should know about these phones?
Like I said, the biggest appeal of the Desire is Sense ... I think it's a great UI and I'm almost temped to pick the phone just for its UI. That said, I have concern about Desire's battery life. The Captivate's S-AMOLED screen is also something you fall in love with.
Any suggestion or advices is welcome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what ever you do, if you want your phone to run the latest software, have a gps working, lagless UI, do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY A SAMSUNG PHONE
get a desire or wait for the motorola atrix
If you do buy the Captivate, make sure you get the newest hardware build which is 1012 I believe?
Either way it has the gps, shutdown issues fixed.
I've never heard about the alarm issue.
I don't recommend samsung smartphones. worst manufacturer when it comes to upgrading latest android updates.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Thanks guys ... from the sound of it, despite superior hardware the Captivate is pretty buggy and there are plenty of small little quirks? (I don't call occasional self power-down as "small" quick neither)
number16 said:
Thanks guys ... from the sound of it, despite superior hardware the Captivate is pretty buggy and there are plenty of small little quirks? (I don't call occasional self power-down as "small" quick neither)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before you make a final decision, I suggest you ask this exact same question (if you havent already) on the HTC Desire forums and see what they say. Right now, many people on the captivate forums are frustrated with the lack of official updates, gps issues, shutdown issues, etc and will point out the negative aspects of this device. People who are frustrated tend to speak "louder" than people who are happy, its just human nature.
See what responses you get from the HTC Desire forums, research what people have been saying about it, go to the store and play with both, then make a decision.
I too am frustrated with the Captivate at times and even my girlfriends HTC Aria looks better and better.
gormander said:
Before you make a final decision, I suggest you ask this exact same question (if you havent already) on the HTC Desire forums and see what they say. Right now, many people on the captivate forums are frustrated with the lack of official updates, gps issues, shutdown issues, etc and will point out the negative aspects of this device. People who are frustrated tend to speak "louder" than people who are happy, its just human nature.
See what responses you get from the HTC Desire forums, research what people have been saying about it, go to the store and play with both, then make a decision.
I too am frustrated with the Captivate at times and even my girlfriends HTC Aria looks better and better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
But looks like the GPS and shutdown issues are fixed in newer captivates.
But wait for 2 months. Couple better phones are "currently" set to be released by end of first quarter.
Thanks! Yes, I do have a similar thread over at the Desire forum (nobody's posted to it yet ... either it means there's no serious issue or it's a phone people have kindda lost interest in? )
I do believe in general, htc phones are free of major problems. I'm on my 4th htc phone and I've been pretty happy with each of them ... except maybe the battery life.
It's just Galaxy S has a GREAT screen (I think it's the best screen available today, bar none) that I started considering it.
If you are planing on flashing roms I think the better hardware wins in the long run.
I agree I would check out the Moto forums sense some think the 1.2ghz Processor is worth moto putting in a locked bootloader so might be a long while till you see any roms for it if at all
I agree better hardware wins in the long run, and I do plan to flash with cooked ROMs ... that said, I do want a phone that's reasonably bug-free in the meantime. I don't know when Samsung can iron out its problems, and that also has an impact on cooked ROM's.
I think the new dual core processors are interesting, but my budget won't allow me to get one of the newest phones. I think given my budget, my best choices are the Desire and the Captivate.
number16 said:
I agree better hardware wins in the long run, and I do plan to flash with cooked ROMs ... that said, I do want a phone that's reasonably bug-free in the meantime. I don't know when Samsung can iron out its problems, and that also has an impact on cooked ROM's.
I think the new dual core processors are interesting, but my budget won't allow me to get one of the newest phones. I think given my budget, my best choices are the Desire and the Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To tell the truth the Desire HD is my next device unless HTC comes out with something before I get the cash together. When it comes to PPC I have learned that now that while hardware is great samsung just doesnt have the CS that I would like and Motorola tries everything they can to lock up the bootloader to prevent custom roms.
I am somewhat of a noob when it comes to flashing roms. I do work in IT though and love messing around with gadgets. I just want to say I love my captivate. The gps does take a while to lock, but once it locks it works fine. I have no shutdown issues. I'm running Perception 10.1 with the Firebird 2 kernel and it rocks. Videos do look crisp on this phone as well. I have no experience with the Desire, but I bought a refurb Captivate and I am very happy with it.
MikeyMike01 said:
Motorola Atrix.
Sent from my Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not so fast, as much as i love the specs on the atrix looks like motorola will be locking the bootloader damn shame.
Just get the nexus S when it comes out. I have a captivate and have no problems with it, very fasy, great screen and best thing.... got all my iphone freinds jelous lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I896 using XDA App
Vik_92_Sandhu said:
Just get the nexus S when it comes out. I have a captivate and have no problems with it, very fasy, great screen and best thing.... got all my iphone freinds jelous lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I896 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't Nexus S already out since last November?
Love my Captivate
Well, i have the Captivate since October and I guess I have been one of the lucky ones because it works great for me. Shortly after I got the phone an update came out and fixed the GPS issue. I use it quite a lot and I have not rooted or updated the ROM a of yet. I have been waiting for Froyo as we all have but the phone does everything i want it to do and more.
I also came from the HTC world, my last phone was an HTC Fuze. I am so glad that I got this phone. Battery life is rather low but overall I just keep a charger around with me and in the car. My phone does a lot. I use it every other day as a GPS when I bike ride 5-10 miles a day. When in the car I stream music with either Pandora or Audiogalaxy. I send text and email messages regularly. Browse the Web and read my Kindle books as well as my Bible.
Just remember if you are going to use the phone a lot you are going to need to have the ability to charge it more often.
It is rather frustrating that AT&T has not released FROYO and that the battery life is not as good as some other phones but for me the pluses out way the minuses.
My brother owned an iPhone 4 an after seeing how my phone worked and looked he bought a Captivate for about $275. He was tired of the dropped calls and smaller screen and just overall functionality. He has been using the iPhone type phones for about 3 years. He has only had it for about 3 days and is loving it!!!
So whether you should buy the Captivate or not you really need to make the choice yourself. Every phone is going to have an issue one way or another. The question is can you live with those issues. Change is always hard and uncomfortable. But in the end you have to make that decision.
Someone suggested that you may want to hold off as the newer phones are on the horizon. That may not be a bad idea. In the end, remember, it is just a phone!!! Most of the heavy lifting is going to be done on your PC!!!
Good luck!!!
I'd say go captivate.
I have the i896 and the gps works perfectly, locks on in about ten seconds or less. I haven't had any problems with random shut downs or my alarm. As for the updates, as long as you are capable of rooting and installing custom roms you'll have 'updates' asap.
Regarding the screen it's absolutely no comparison; I'd say that's enough to buy the phone.
Again, there's no comparison between the hummingbird and the last gen snapdragon, especially with custom roms/kernals this phone demolishes the desire. Me and a friends have done some speed tests with my captivate with phoenix rom, and desire with a custom rom (can't remember the name, wasn't oc though) and in about every test we did the captivate was the winner.
My major complaint with this phone is the build quality, it feels kind of flimsy, especially compared to htc.
peachpuff said:
Not so fast, as much as i love the specs on the atrix looks like motorola will be locking the bootloader damn shame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like motorola is backtracking a bit on that bootloader comment.

[Q] So has anyone been put off?

So has anyone been put off by this device and the initial (lack of) reviews and comments from other posters?
I was 100% sure to get it, but held out a few days and now kind of feel 75% sure and wondering now whether to wait for the Evo 3D or even wait a few more months and see what else HTC will bring to the table.
I'm no Samsung fanboy and personally hate my gf's galaxy but i still think HTC haven't shouted enough about this device to persuade me that it's their flagship device like the Desire was last year.
I know it's early days and there is still time for sense to be updated but i'm just not feeling any hype about it.
I wish people with the device would make more threads about their experiences with it. At the moment it seems there are just a few threads floating about.
I've yet to see a good battery thread with praise or complaints....This..to me is the big deciding factor. Since my Desire, with heavy usage, can barely got 4 hours I know pretty much anything can beat it, but it'd be nice to have a device where i can have all my widgets and syncing going on without the worry of needing to charge it at lunch time.
Htc holiday
NEW HTC DEVICE TO COME: HTC HOLIDAY
Look here :
http://www.talkandroid.com/41135-htc-holiday-lead-atts-new-lte-phones
The folks over at Pocketnow have discovered — thanks to some details on a few leaked ROM’s — that HTC is planning two new LTE phones for AT&T, the HTC Holiday and HTC Lead. Some of the specs we know are:
•Both have 1.2 gig dual-core processors
•The Holiday has 1 GB of internal RAM while the Lead has 768 MB
•The Lead has a 4.3-inch WVGA screen, while the Holiday has a 4.5-inch qHD display
•The Lead has only a 5 MP rear camera, while the Holiday has a front 1.3 MP camera and a 8 MP rear camera
•The Lead supports Bluetooth 3.0 while the Holiday supports Bluetooth 4.0
•Both phones run the Qualcomm MSM8660 baseband chip for HSPA+ and LTE support, as well as the Adreno 220 GPU
beautyangel said:
NEW HTC DEVICE TO COME: HTC HOLIDAY
Look here :
http://www.talkandroid.com/41135-htc-holiday-lead-atts-new-lte-phones
The folks over at Pocketnow have discovered — thanks to some details on a few leaked ROM’s — that HTC is planning two new LTE phones for AT&T, the HTC Holiday and HTC Lead. Some of the specs we know are:
•Both have 1.2 gig dual-core processors
•The Holiday has 1 GB of internal RAM while the Lead has 768 MB
•The Lead has a 4.3-inch WVGA screen, while the Holiday has a 4.5-inch qHD display
•The Lead has only a 5 MP rear camera, while the Holiday has a front 1.3 MP camera and a 8 MP rear camera
•The Lead supports Bluetooth 3.0 while the Holiday supports Bluetooth 4.0
•Both phones run the Qualcomm MSM8660 baseband chip for HSPA+ and LTE support, as well as the Adreno 220 GPU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chances of it coming to UK is minimal though
enjoying my sensation since Friday morning, still very happy with this phone, flawless all the time.
everyday48 said:
enjoying my sensation since Friday morning, still very happy with this phone, flawless all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Elaborate on the battery please, it's my biggest deal breaker
Its a bit too early too comment, a few cycles in is the perfect time to comment... out of the box battery will obviously be a lot different to what it will be like in a couple of weeks of usage.
Jas_932 said:
Its a bit too early too comment, a few cycles in is the perfect time to comment... out of the box battery will obviously be a lot different to what it will be like in a couple of weeks of usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
personally, i'm still not convinced by that argument. I've had my fair share of phones and never seen a difference....I think the fact that the user stops using it as much as when in the honeymoon period, thus seems like the battery is better...
Yeh, that is one way of looking at it, but you also find the settings that are best for you and your own usage of the phone, thus making it easier to manage the battery usage... such as brightness of the screen... what apps you use etc and etc. There is unfortunately, a million and one ways to look at the argument
The biggest and best question i would ask people, is are they HAPPY with the phone? if not, why? and if so, why?
Jas_932 said:
Its a bit too early too comment, a few cycles in is the perfect time to comment... out of the box battery will obviously be a lot different to what it will be like in a couple of weeks of usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am happy with this phone.
battery, if you don't play lots of game or browse website, it can last 1 day. battery is always the big issue with smart phones.
Root it and you never stop using it
Barff1984 said:
personally, i'm still not convinced by that argument. I've had my fair share of phones and never seen a difference....I think the fact that the user stops using it as much as when in the honeymoon period, thus seems like the battery is better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Looks like those HTC's won't be coming to the UK...for AT&T and LTE.
Also nobody knows when the Holiday and Lead are coming out. Nor when the GSM version of the Evo 3D are coming out. If you need a new phone there's not much point in waiting for an unspecified future date in the hopes of something better as something better is always coming (don't forget the rumours that Samsung will release a new flagship every 6 months). If you just want a new cell phone and can handle to wait then sure, go ahead.
As for the reviews... I get the impression that HTC was pressed for time. Not exactly rushed, but close to it. If you recall the ROMs on some of the preliminary models shown in hands-ons were only using one core and they supposedly had a firmware upgrade just before releasing. Add to that the bad press over the preliminary benchmarks which were worse than the Nexus One and maybe HTC didn't want to hand out review units until it was completely ready (which I get the impression was the actual launch of the device). We know Slashgear is getting a review ready and I think it's safe to assume GSMArena is too so I just wait a bit more. If you aren't convinced then go with another phone which does convince you. The important thing is that you be happy with whatever decision you make.
not been put off and its very logical there are no real reviews yet...official launch worldwide is about somewhere in june.. only vodafone has now the exclusivity plus the phone has not been sent to reviewers yet !
I have . . . paused. I really wanted it, but the lack of praise on this forum has made me wonder. But I really I cant see myself with the galaxy II. My gf has the Galaxy s and whilst its quick, i miss the heft of my HD2 when i hold it.
So it feels alot like the Sensation, with or without shortcomings, is the only other path right now. Does anyone else feel that way?
freedirk said:
I have . . . paused. I really wanted it, but the lack of praise on this forum has made me wonder. But I really I cant see myself with the galaxy II. My gf has the Galaxy s and whilst its quick, i miss the heft of my HD2 when i hold it.
So it feels alot like the Sensation, with or without shortcomings, is the only other path right now. Does anyone else feel that way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The quality of the device is fantastic. It feels really nice, the screen is amazing. The new qHD display is nice, bit different from the WVGA, and I think I already prefer it.
Missing root but I hope (really hope) this will come
I have no doubt root will come. Nothing is ever unbeatable. No employee is not disgruntled enough, no certainty is ever certain.
Patience. And thanks for telling me that. I need to hear it
Just waiting for root and I'll be jumping to buy one. I need a front facing camera and as I'm completely happy with the Desire HD this is a step up of the same plus the added speed. Keep looking at the SGSII but that plastic is sooooooo off putting
This forum has spoilt us and we're getting picky now
One wonders what device we'll be carrying 5 years from now
By the way, don't count on root coming real soon - have a read whats going on in Incredible S
ps. Congrats to the folks with this awesome device in hand!
abuserkadayf said:
not been put off and its very logical there are no real reviews yet...official launch worldwide is about somewhere in june.. only vodafone has now the exclusivity plus the phone has not been sent to reviewers yet !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...been intending on signing up and posting a few bits but have been too lazy recently, but I shall do so now.
The above is what I was going to say. The phone hasn't been launched properly yet, it's effectively just Vodafone customers getting a bit of a pre-release taster. I wouldn't be surprised if we're also being used as a bit of a test group so that they can see what we like/don't like and what needs fixing/ramping up in future releases. I also expect the ROM that's shipped with the general release phones to be updated from what we've got, considering that they have a month of user testing to look at.
As for the phone, I haven't transferred my number over yet and I can't use my T-Mobile SIM as although allows me to text and call, it doesn't seem to want to allow Internet on my phone. So although I've played with it, I haven't really 'used' it yet. It seems really, really nice though. Screen is lovely and going back to using my Hero today feels like going back to some lo-res toy!
Couple of things I'll say aren't too good:
The LED notification is really hard to see compared to the full blown 100 megawatt light on my hero.
The browser, although really good, doesn't seem to like full flash sites. I was trying to watch a few highlights videos from ehlhockey.tv and it was really struggling, but that may just be me or the dire, dire design of the site as full flash sites are made by the devil himself!!
Battery will need a bit more time, but I took the phone off charge at about 6pm last night and checked it at 7am this morning and it was still on 100% with WiFi on. I think HTC have somehow discovered perpetual energy. If it's on 100% when I get back tonight then I'm going to be hooking it up to the mains in the house and living off of the free HTC electricity!
phi11ip said:
Battery will need a bit more time, but I took the phone off charge at about 6pm last night and checked it at 7am this morning and it was still on 100% with WiFi on. I think HTC have somehow discovered perpetual energy. If it's on 100% when I get back tonight then I'm going to be hooking it up to the mains in the house and living off of the free HTC electricity!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha good stuff. But don't stop there. notify the power companies and hook it up to the national grid before another Sensation user does it HTC might be on to a real winner with the battery
First impressions
As you can see from my signature, I've had a broad range of OSs and devices in my hand, and must admit, going from a much played-with HD2 to this Sensation is the biggest jump advancing jump I've made.
The HD2 made upgrading a hard choice, we were spoilt with that, so on doing my research, playing with many Samsungs, Motorolas, Nokias etc (much to the annoyance of shop staff) none of them made any impression above 'meh' in a lot of my criteria other than the Sensation.
I've been bullying this poor thing for 48 hours now, and there has only been one glitch - HTC sync decided not to play for about 20 mins, but after Win7 forced a driver upon it, it was very fluid. The same as the rest of my experiences of this device.
I've got an overlap of contracts this month so i've been testing real-world 3g usage on both O2 and Vodafone, and must say, this battery life is like a backpack worth of battery compared to the HD2, on a par with the large-ish one in the X1.

Lets talk about Android

I have been having numerous arguments with people regarding Android vs the rest.
We all know that Android is an operating system, that is used by many phone manufacturers - therefore it CANNOT be compared to iPhone directly and vise versa!
Same thing is about Windows OS.
What I am trying to say is that Android equipment manufacturers have to step up the game. I believe that making a new phone every other month is a BIG NO NO. Especially when the phone is not well tested.
As an example, I own myTouch 4G. First one had a washed out screen and not working Genius button. Second one had a spic of dust under the screen, but lucky for me - it had both good screen and eMMC. So I decided to keep it. Other folks have their phones die on them because of the bad eMMC chip.
Similar issue goes to the G2 (I read about bad eMMC chips). I also heard that Sensation has some issues too!
I witnessed people exchanging up to 7 phones, and yet to get a good one.
On the other hand, Samsung devices are seem to be very plastic on the touch. I did held them in hand. Yes, the screen looks gorgeous, but the phone itself feels bad in the hand.
LG is another story.
I haven't tried or read about SE phones.
You would ask, why the hell did I write this all?
I simply want to voice my opinion. I just sick to see all these phones popping out and then read that one has bad power button, another has 2 types of screen, and then get one of them. I really want to see Android rise up in class!
Heck for not having problems I could have gone with iPhone, but I am an Android fan and chose it because it can do what I need!
I believe with the resources that Samsung, HTC, LG and other have - they can do so much better!
Lets discuss what bad sides Android phones have and what can be improved. I think it is more productive topic than fighting over blindly.
The reason for Samsung's "plastic" feel is durability, you drop a metal phone then the weight is going to make it more likely to break, the plastics Samsung uses often just has the back pop off, maybe a scratch.
As for HTC, they're just not a quality company. They build devices that are pretty from afar but once you use them they often have horrid flaws. Very little quality control.
There's nowhere near the level of QC there used to be in the 'real' smartphones - Treos, Communicators, iPAQs etc.
I think they do a pretty good job, there's a fit and finish for just about every taste out there today. The target audience has changed a lot, the userbase has expanded exponentially, plus there are many more manufacturers today, all vying for a slice of the pie - price competitiveness has a lot to do with this, too.
It sucks, but these things are built to be thrown away. Why pump billions of dollars into the fit and finish of something outdated two weeks after it hits the streets? Sucks for us, but 'near enough is good enough' for the manufacturers, and fair enough in my opinion
z33dev33l said:
The reason for Samsung's "plastic" feel is durability, you drop a metal phone then the weight is going to make it more likely to break, the plastics Samsung uses often just has the back pop off, maybe a scratch.
As for HTC, they're just not a quality company. They build devices that are pretty from afar but once you use them they often have horrid flaws. Very little quality control.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed about Samsung durability, I've dropped my phone on probably every surface and it is still good.
As for android there many problems with the OS. No hardware acceleration is probably big on my list. My nexus runs pretty good but I do notice lag from time to time. Stock browser is a joke to use, hella amounts of lag when viewing pics and forget about even viewing flash, so opera for me.
I hope ICS will live up to the hype, because I'm really digging the Nokia and windows mobile deal. Only time will tell...
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
I was rooting for androids latest iteration to blow at least iOS out of the water but if that leaked nexus build is a final it doesn't even look smooth on a nexus device...
Who know?Probably NOT a final build as it as no acceleration. Word is that ICS will have hardware acceleration for both the interface and browser.
We will see.It does look impressive though....
On quality:My HTC Desire is horrendous, all buttons are almost dead, that has to do with quality. On the other hand my Huawei IDEOS X5 is surprisingly good for what i paid for (hint: zero but costs about 199euros).
If you want quality go for a truly expensive and good phone like the gs2, if not buy smething cheaper.
P.S. the buttons on the iphone 4 HAVE problems.3 of my friends went to the applestore to change them.That is not good build quality imho.
Eh, I like dells build quality though they fail as a software company. Honestly though I do hope ics is more impressive than it looked in that video because that was just slow and choppy, then again I guess the default UI of android isn't what's supposed to sell android. It's the customization options available.
I have a HTC Desire HD, and in my oppinion Android+Sense is the best mobile combo. all the good things from android + an awesome HTC skin.
Company's like Samsung don't make skins for their phones. I think that they should start making them. Ans if they do that, i might buy a Samsung phone or something like that after my HTC. But if they dont start making skins, i don´t want them...
i like my desire with htc sense, also like iphone with long time battery.
z33dev33l said:
The reason for Samsung's "plastic" feel is durability, you drop a metal phone then the weight is going to make it more likely to break, the plastics Samsung uses often just has the back pop off, maybe a scratch.
As for HTC, they're just not a quality company. They build devices that are pretty from afar but once you use them they often have horrid flaws. Very little quality control.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
i own HTC devices with metal... and all of them are broken, chipped so badly i have to pull out my sandy paper or file to smooth the metal back out, because the phone shell has been ripped apart after many close encounter with the floor
since i switched to Samsung the plastic design has proven that it can handle the drops much better than the metal
I got an issue with samsung and their software updates.
I've been lucky so far with HTC. Good build quality and frequently updated software.
If I need to trade off iphone quality for the freedom of Android, I will.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
There got to be some military grade glass, that will hold all kinds of abuse. My back cover of Glacier is already swinging from side to side. I really hope that this upcoming Nexus will fix all of the issues I, and many other, have with Android phones build quality.
I still do not get, where did samsung got info that 4.65" screen is good for everyone?
hmm. interesting thread, and views.
my experience hasn't been so great with samsung phones. i had a samsung moment and that thing was terrible. and apparently the gs2 is having some problems as well. users have reported problems with the screen/display having some kind of stain like color on it, and the wifi antenna has also been reported by many to be skittish.
not surprising to me. that's what happens when you push a device out based on deadlines rather than completion of thorough testing. regardless of what company is putting the phone out - HTC, samsung, LG... any of them will have problems if they don't ensure a good testing phase pre-release.
i went from the moment to the evo 3D, and the difference is night and day. and i have handled a gs2 and all i can say is i am not impressed. it feels weak and flimsy and in the end, it's still a samsung to me, with the samsung company behind it. i will never own one. but that's just me.
meanwhile, my evo 3D seems to be just a powerhouse in the performance area. i consistently hit quadrant scores over 4300 and linpack scores of 100+ and RL benchmark is completed in about 18 seconds.
there are merely a couple phones out there putting numbers like that down consistently. i know it is that fast in reality, as well, because performing tasks such as viewing, zipping, and opening pdfs from my work email are done extremely fast, and significantly faster than when the phone wasn't rooted with a custom rom/kernel.
just my opinion, but if you can't see the advantage in power and functionality in the android OS, you are not using your phone for anything other than playing games and texting.
I played this bubble game, it's fun. After a few rounds I found myself always stopped in the middle by the app ad and when I restarted the game, the previous records were all gone. Annoying!
Europa. said:
I played this bubble game, it's fun. After a few rounds I found myself always stopped in the middle by the app ad and when I restarted the game, the previous records were all gone. Annoying!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love the relevance! Made my day so far
I agree with most of your arguments, but there's nothing we can do about it.
Manufacturers are still going to release one smartphone per month because people are used to buy tons of different phones to show to their friends.
More smartphones = more profit.
Doesn't matter if for the market it would be a lot better to play with only one "model" like iPhone does.
Let's hope that Google's Nexus can step up its game and be the iPhone rival.

[Q] Do you regret buying your Sensation?

I'm trying to decide which mobile to buy and I've narrowed it down to the Sensation and the Galaxy S 2, I've had the HTC Desire which was fine but more recently I've had and returned 3 HTC Incredible S handsets. All 3 suffered with signal drop on the O2 network here at my home (the Desire seemed OK).
After looking through the Sensation forum, I'm getting concerned that HTC may be loosing a grip as far as standards go?
Now that you've owned your Sensation, what do you think? Would you still buy the Sensation if you were once again in the Market for a phone?
Not really
What only makes me ever say I regret buying it is the spec increase only mere months after it's release. I love the phone, a few software problems, but that isn't a deal breaker. I was an early adopter and haven't really had any problems with it. Screen is great, no scratches, feels great in the hand. However between the two I wouldn't know what to pick. I love my Sensation and also want a Galaxy SII. It is really up to which one you can get your hands on. From what I can tell there is a better screen on the SII, but I prefer the resolution on the Sensation. However the Sensations speaker isn't fantastic, but I use headphones anyway so no big deal. Battery isn't too bad on the Sensation. I can easily get a days worth out of it. So to answer your question no I don't really regret the purchase.
I have no regrets. I have had to return two of them but the third one was perfectly fine. I had no problem returning them cause it never costed me a dime and I was never without a phone. If I were in the market today I wouldnt get it though. I would go for the Amaze. Also I am not a fan of Samsungs. They feel too light and cheap for me. I like my phones to feel like a solid piece of hardware and Samsungs just dont.
Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated. I did actually post a similar thread in the Samsung forum a day or so ago.
I also posted my list of pros and cons over at the Hotukdeals site, would you say it's a fairly accurate list?
Galaxy S 2 Pros
S Amoled screen, great viewing angle
Better battery life than HTC?
Cons Plasticky/cheap finish?
Sensation Pros
High res screen
Build quality S
ense interface (OK, maybe just a plus for me)
Cons
Poor viewing angle P
oor battery life
Dust under screen issues (but not every phone) L
ooses Wifi signal in landscape/grip of death?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, but I wouldn't get one right now.
UKseagull said:
Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated. I did actually post a similar thread in the Samsung forum a day or so ago.
I also posted my list of pros and cons over at the Hotukdeals site, would you say it's a fairly accurate list?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Battery life is just fine. Never had dust under my screen. The viewing angles are actually pretty dang good. Bright whites was out to yellowish but all the others hold fine even to extreme angles.
The SAMOLED screen on the TMobile GS2 is bigger but lower resolution causing everything to be really big. Perhaps root will fix that.
I am SERIOUSLY loving InsertCoin 3.2.7 which is a Sense 3.5 rom. The only Rom I've ever tried that was nearly as smooth and fast was an AOSP Rom on my mytouch 4g. It's like buttered silk AND I have 200mb free ram.
My ONLY con now is the app storage or lack therof. Even the low volume speaker was fixed via ROM and Volume+
I don't regret it. Too bad I have to say goodbye though....its a solid device with a lot of ongoing support and tweaks.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio
My main gripe about the Sensation is Sense 3.0. I've owned a heap of HTC devices and I'm just not sold on the new sense. There's an SGS2 on its way to me right now so I'll offer a more objective opinion when it arrives.
No regrets at all and it continues to rock with the Developers!
no regrets here at all. i have gone through alot of android phones through tmobile. i must admit this has been the best phone i have owned. If i was shopping for a new phone today i would go for the amaze over the sensation only bc of the higher specs. besides that this phone is amazing especially with CM installed. it felt like a brand new toy once i installed it
There is absolutely ZERO reason to get a Sensation right now (or ANY phone really), until the Nexus Prime details are (officially) revealed.
That being said, I also have zero regrets about purchasing the Sensation. It was hands-down *THE* absolute best phone for T-Mobile at the time and I've certainly loved using it for the past 4 months.
Bottom Line: If you're looking to purchase a smart phone in the near future, it would be foolish to not wait until the Nexus Prime is officially revealed. It has the potential to change the Android landscape, and while we don't regret OUR purchase of the Sensation, the Prime might make YOUR purchase an instant-regret. Just wait
I have to say yea i regret purchasing my Sensation. Not because of all the new Phones that are pretty much updated versions of it... but because of all the manufacture defects i've encountered.. such as dust build up around top and wedged in between the front camera that cannot be removed, Also randomly unresponsive screen due to static build up between the battery cover and pin. And the worst, a Screwed up headphone jack that decides to pause/play/skip music as well as make random calls whenever headphones are plugged in. Pisses me off that i need to carry an extra device (ipod) just so i can listen to music..
Im really conflicted as to what to do with my phone or whether i should switch to another device..
Samsung Galaxy S 2 has some great specs but the cheap flimsy plastic is a killer. (former Vibrant owner and hated the cheap toddler toy feel)
The HTC Amaze looks sexy as hell but at it turns out it has the same Battery cover design as the Sensation which will most likely lead back to Dust and unresponsive screen issues..
Hopes the Nexus Prime comes to tmobile and really hopes samsung doesnt screw it up by making it out of plastic so cheap that it makes a McDonald's toy look like a quality build
UKseagull said:
I'm trying to decide which mobile to buy and I've narrowed it down to the Sensation and the Galaxy S 2, I've had the HTC Desire which was fine but more recently I've had and returned 3 HTC Incredible S handsets. All 3 suffered with signal drop on the O2 network here at my home (the Desire seemed OK).
After looking through the Sensation forum, I'm getting concerned that HTC may be loosing a grip as far as standards go?
Now that you've owned your Sensation, what do you think? Would you still buy the Sensation if you were once again in the Market for a phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd definitely buy it again - I was also worried because of all the griping on this forum, but my Sensation's been perfect and it's the best HTC phone I've owned. Feels a lot better in the hand than the Galaxy S 2, has a better aspect ratio and (to me) a better, less over-saturated screen.
Plus, Sense 3.0 (with Android Revolution HD) is a dream to use.
I cant tell you how much I regret buying mine. Awesome hardware specs, huge screen, but HORRIBLE build quality and constant ongoing issues. In addition, Sense is just terrible and I do not think I will ever buy another Android phone that isnt bone stock with no carrier modifications. Its honestly not worth the headache waiting around for people to mod a ROM just so it can finally be up to par with a vanilla Nexus type phone IMO.
I bought my Sensation when it first came out in June. I have zero regrets buying it and it has been a great phone to date. I haven't really had any issues, although now I believe I have some dust under the screen. With that said, I still have no issue buying it then as it was the best phone on the market at the time. There is also tons of development for it - which I really like. I was actually looking at giving my wife the Sensation and upgrading to either the GS II or Amaze. I went and checked out both of those phones today and have to say I was underwhelmed. The GS II is big and has a plastic feel to it. I also noticed a lot of lag when scrolling thru the home screens and felt my Sensation (running ARHD ROM) was more responsive. Also, not really a fan of Touch Wiz. The Amaze is nice, and it is very similar to the Sensation. However I am not sure if it will get rooted (quickly) and the amount of development that it will get. Not sure if it's worth the upgrade.
My 02¢....hope it helps.
krayziebydaflesh said:
I have to say yea i regret purchasing my Sensation. Not because of all the new Phones that are pretty much updated versions of it... but because of all the manufacture defects i've encountered.. such as dust build up around top and wedged in between the front camera that cannot be removed, Also randomly unresponsive screen due to static build up between the battery cover and pin. And the worst, a Screwed up headphone jack that decides to pause/play/skip music as well as make random calls whenever headphones are plugged in. Pisses me off that i need to carry an extra device (ipod) just so i can listen to music..
Im really conflicted as to what to do with my phone or whether i should switch to another device..
Samsung Galaxy S 2 has some great specs but the cheap flimsy plastic is a killer. (former Vibrant owner and hated the cheap toddler toy feel)
The HTC Amaze looks sexy as hell but at it turns out it has the same Battery cover design as the Sensation which will most likely lead back to Dust and unresponsive screen issues..
Hopes the Nexus Prime comes to tmobile and really hopes samsung doesnt screw it up by making it out of plastic so cheap that it makes a McDonald's toy look like a quality build
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
curious as to why you haven't gotten a replacement
F no! And many ppl sayig manafactuer defects, I just think bad use.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Absolutely regret it. Sense was nowhere near optimized for the Sensation and it shows in the way that the fastest custom Sense ROMs for us are still a little bit slower than the newest stock HTC devices that run Sense 3.0. I will never buy a LCD screen phone again because it is worthless in the sunlight and is in general washed out in light. The speaker is bad; ROMs or Volume+ apps that barely increase the volume do not fix the fact that it is a hardware problem.
That said, I do enjoy tinkering with and using my Sensation. I still think it is perhaps the most beautiful looking device of the year, I enjoy the fact that we have decent dev support on here, and the screen res is enjoyable. I'm also really waiting to see what this phone can do with ICS and when CM7 comes out of Alpha or whatever (I'm very nitpicky and will only install full on ROMs that only have minor issues). In that sense, I'm enjoying what I can with this phone even though I wish I would have waited for a better one (but heck, I was put in a hard position because I had to get a new phone at the time the Sensation came out and it was the best Tmob phone available). But, if I was in the market for a new phone right now I would absolutely wait for the Nexus Prime. The SGSII seems like a good step up, but I would hesitate to get a phone that isn't a 100% upgrade over the Sensation (some things like the screen res are a step down).
I regret it. If I knew as much about this phone as I know now... I would've keep my Glacier.
Thing is a piece of crap, really. Sure, it has top specs... but software is a mess and build quality is dissapointing. I wanted to love it but I can't. Ready to sell if for whatever I can as soon as next Nexus device drops.
Sorry HTC, you really dropped the ball lately and I'm going to speak with my wallet from now on.
ZERO regrets.
I love this phone.
Amaze might be a slightly better hardware but it's ugly as F to me.
only thing XE offers is the headphones basically. Software we can get, no big.
having said that, if you are in the market now for a new phone I'd say wait til Nexus Prime is officially announced.
we don't know the full details yet but it should be a beast.

Do you think ICS will make things any better for us/the Sensation?

I really was a HTC fanboy, both software and hardware wise, after seeing their first HTC Desire and later the Desire HD. That made me ditch the iphone and switch to android.
Recently, I am starting to regret having bought the Sensation. Build quality my arse. This phone is full of bugs and disappointments, my biggest issues being:
- Power Button issue (no its NOT software related, at least not with my unit and the "fix" don't work)
- Battery reading and jumping issues. My phone stays way too long on 100% and then takes a dive instead of showing the energy levels correctly. And no matter what it shows, when I restart it the percentage magically jumps up around 15%, only to drop swiftly little later. Yes I did calibrate the battery in Android and yes I did several charge-discharge circles with all my 3 batteries.
- Sluggish Performance. Yes there are "ultra-hyper-mega-omega-smooth" ROMs but it only helps so much, many menus still have an apparent lag when scrolling, most famously the appdrawer (when u install more than just a few apps) and whatsapp when scrolling through chat history.
Also, in Electopia benchmark, the highest I get is 30 FPS, with an AOSP ROM. SGSII users get 49 fps no problem and they don't need to OC their device to 8.7GHz like we do to achieve it. I know benchmarks say nothing but this is a game with nice graphics and I can actually SEE the performance difference with my own eyes.
-Touchscreen problem. It's gone now, yes. But come on! Who tells me this will not resurface after 2 years in a much more severe way?
- Loudness. The phonespeaker blows, when I show someone a song or vid on the phone you can barely hear it. Same problem for in-call volume. No, Volume+ does not really help and it makes sound everything like shiat. I thought the iphone had a bad speaker but now I actually think it was quite good after seeing the lower end of the quality spectrum
-Broken 3D engine and no official fix for it. I need to rely on devs to do their work? Screw you htc
-Camera. Nothing in particular except that it is not as good as I expected and it lacks some features even my old Sony Ericsson k800i had like burst mode etc. Yes you can have it if you install the camera apk from a different htc phone but there usually are compatibility problems. Plus, why can't my phone have a decent camera app of its own? Too much to ask, HTC? Guess their priorities are elsewhere.
- The phone was half-baked to begin with and got patched up to adress the most severe problems rather than being good at launch and "sensational" after updates.
I'm interested in your opinion wheter a future ICS RUU will make things any better. I would sell my Sensation now and probably go for a Samsung. The thing is, I have bought a cover and two extra batteries for it and I'm not looking forward to buying those accessories again, especially because Amazon doesn't ship to my country. And I hear folks say all the time how ICS will make our device shine because of native dualcore support etc. In that case, it might well be worth to wait a little...
The thing is, I just don't believe in it anymore. HTC seems more busy pushing out new models than refining current ones. Hell, since the launch of the first Sensation alone they have thrown 2 additional versions of it in the market, let alone the number of completely new phones released or soon to be released.
I think fragmentation is becoming a major problem with HTC. Look at the leaked 3.3.5 RUU that all the devs build upon, it's been around for forever. But the real thing never saw the light of day and now with ICS out, I think it never will. When HTC has a flagship phone, you can bet they will have a new one in 6 weeks time. The Sensation got replaced by the Sensation XE (Different ROM&Kernel, not just fancy new colours) and the Sensation XE got replaced by the HTC Rezound all in less than 6 months.
HTC announced they will release ICS for Sensation around March. By that time, the Sensation will be a second class phone with quadcores already in the pipeline. The way I know HTC, their first ICS build will be full of crap and bugs. But because they will be busy pushing out new phones, we will have to live with their halfdone work. And by that time, I will prolly get much less for it if sold than I would right now.
What do you think? Sell now or wait and hope/pray for improvement?
Look. If you really dislike the phone that much, sell it now. ICS will change many things; improve some, make some worse. That's just how it goes. Then they'll patch the issues with the next patch etc. But judging from your post, I'd recommend you sell it and get another phone. Just don't touch anything Samsung.
You better sell it if you hate it that much. Why most people buy HTC? Because they can flash anything they whant and make the device better than stock. (same with Samsungs Plastic Devices) I never had any of the prolems you are talking about on my XE with the same Hardware. The Sensation XE is my 4th HTC phone and all of them were great never got any problems (Hardware or Software). And when i read something about benchmark i whant to throw up. What does it help if you have high scores and you device is laggy? If the performance is good i don't care about scores. And like FnH84 said ICS will make much things better but some things worse but we are here at XDA and our devs will make it all perfekt. It only needs some time. Android is a "Hacker phone" (let's call it like this) Out of the Box it's not the best OS but you can modify it in every way you whant and that makes it unique. If you need a phone that works perfekt out of the box you should buy icrap or WP7 on this phones you can do nothing wrong and they are easy to use.
Greez
Sent from my Revolver powered Asus Transformer TF101 with Tapatalk
Why don't we just gather all the ones that got a "faulty" device and retards that have something against specific brands, me included I truly hate Apple , HTC samgay and all the rest brands and see which phone (brand) gets the most posts ala we hate, it sucks yada yada doo.
1. Sensation build quality is robust and good, I have had 3 units.
2. Sense is not for every one but some intend to like it.
3. HTC is one of the older players (the oldest) on the android market. They know how to create something that wasn't there f.ex dual core support gingerbread.
4. Great screen with great resolution.
5. Screw you I'm going home!
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk
You are exaggerating things... Practically HTC mobiles are the best out there...
There is still little bit of lag but didn't effect me personally when using as phone...
HTC developers are much better than those Samsung ones... Atleast we have HTC Sense which other brand developers drag their ass to port to their handsets...
I still love it and it's the best for me..
you don't like it then sell it... Bye bye...
Sensation happens to be my best HTC and android phone. I have fewer problems than with MT3G, Nexus1, MT4G. Very pleased overall, just my 2c worth
Sensation happens to be a great phone for me ... much better than the galaxy s II
Feeling lucky ... didnt have any of those issues ...
I somewhat agree with OP, not everything, but certain points.
It did feel half-baked to start with. 2.08 base feels a lot more sleek though, shame they have not finished it, would be nice to have as an option, fully stable option I mean if they (HTC) **** up ICS.
Assuming HTC actually optimise Sense for ICS I can only see the Sensation getting better. Yes it runs now but I've had to make my own ROM for it. Does it bother me? Not in the slightest!! I enjoy it!!
The build quality of HTC handsets is second to none. I've had the HD2, Desire and now the Sensation and they just feel right. A nice bit of weight is reassuring, it means I know it's in my pocket.
OK, the camera isn't as good as other manufacturers but if I was that interested in taking a picture I'd use a camera (shock horror !!!)
End of the day if you're not happy, flog it and get something 'better'. Otherwise, enjoy what you have and look forward to more awesome ROMs from us Devs
What many people like to forget is, that higher display resolution is always a trade off between look and performance.
Of course the Samsung S2, with slightly better Hardware, performs better... It has only 800*480 Pixels to render.
I'm happy with my sensation. Of course it could be better, but there is no device out there that satisfies all my needs. And the sensation is the one that gets closest to that task.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
+1 Sensation..best phone out there, at least for me.
Vipeout said:
I really was a HTC fanboy, both software and hardware wise, after seeing their first HTC Desire and later the Desire HD. That made me ditch the iphone and switch to android.
Recently, I am starting to regret having bought the Sensation. Build quality my arse. This phone is full of bugs and disappointments, my biggest issues being:
- Power Button issue (no its NOT software related, at least not with my unit and the "fix" don't work)
- Battery reading and jumping issues. My phone stays way too long on 100% and then takes a dive instead of showing the energy levels correctly. And no matter what it shows, when I restart it the percentage magically jumps up around 15%, only to drop swiftly little later. Yes I did calibrate the battery in Android and yes I did several charge-discharge circles with all my 3 batteries.
- Sluggish Performance. Yes there are "ultra-hyper-mega-omega-smooth" ROMs but it only helps so much, many menus still have an apparent lag when scrolling, most famously the appdrawer (when u install more than just a few apps) and whatsapp when scrolling through chat history.
Also, in Electopia benchmark, the highest I get is 30 FPS, with an AOSP ROM. SGSII users get 49 fps no problem and they don't need to OC their device to 8.7GHz like we do to achieve it. I know benchmarks say nothing but this is a game with nice graphics and I can actually SEE the performance difference with my own eyes.
-Touchscreen problem. It's gone now, yes. But come on! Who tells me this will not resurface after 2 years in a much more severe way?
- Loudness. The phonespeaker blows, when I show someone a song or vid on the phone you can barely hear it. Same problem for in-call volume. No, Volume+ does not really help and it makes sound everything like shiat. I thought the iphone had a bad speaker but now I actually think it was quite good after seeing the lower end of the quality spectrum
-Broken 3D engine and no official fix for it. I need to rely on devs to do their work? Screw you htc
-Camera. Nothing in particular except that it is not as good as I expected and it lacks some features even my old Sony Ericsson k800i had like burst mode etc. Yes you can have it if you install the camera apk from a different htc phone but there usually are compatibility problems. Plus, why can't my phone have a decent camera app of its own? Too much to ask, HTC? Guess their priorities are elsewhere.
- The phone was half-baked to begin with and got patched up to adress the most severe problems rather than being good at launch and "sensational" after updates.
I'm interested in your opinion wheter a future ICS RUU will make things any better. I would sell my Sensation now and probably go for a Samsung. The thing is, I have bought a cover and two extra batteries for it and I'm not looking forward to buying those accessories again, especially because Amazon doesn't ship to my country. And I hear folks say all the time how ICS will make our device shine because of native dualcore support etc. In that case, it might well be worth to wait a little...
The thing is, I just don't believe in it anymore. HTC seems more busy pushing out new models than refining current ones. Hell, since the launch of the first Sensation alone they have thrown 2 additional versions of it in the market, let alone the number of completely new phones released or soon to be released.
I think fragmentation is becoming a major problem with HTC. Look at the leaked 3.3.5 RUU that all the devs build upon, it's been around for forever. But the real thing never saw the light of day and now with ICS out, I think it never will. When HTC has a flagship phone, you can bet they will have a new one in 6 weeks time. The Sensation got replaced by the Sensation XE (Different ROM&Kernel, not just fancy new colours) and the Sensation XE got replaced by the HTC Rezound all in less than 6 months.
HTC announced they will release ICS for Sensation around March. By that time, the Sensation will be a second class phone with quadcores already in the pipeline. The way I know HTC, their first ICS build will be full of crap and bugs. But because they will be busy pushing out new phones, we will have to live with their halfdone work. And by that time, I will prolly get much less for it if sold than I would right now.
What do you think? Sell now or wait and hope/pray for improvement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had a problem with power button, battery, touchscreen or 3D engine.
Speaker, I agree with you, could be better and louder.
Camera, what you expected? It is only phone camera. For me picture quality is very good. And I don't need burst mode, it is unimportant feature.
Performance is very good. UI acceleration is disabled by default to save battery life, you can simply enable it.
SGS II has better performance in 3D, but Sensation has 35% more pixels.
Agreed with the OP, but then again like others have said, Better build quality than any other manufacturer, Sense (at least for me), and the ability to flash whatever the **** you want makes me buy HTC phones. Even though I wouldn't mind a S2 right now, but the screen resolution kills me on that, everything is just huge!
im in the same boat like you i loved htc sense and i still love htc sense
but the thing that really put me off from andriod is because the software and hardware limitation
firstly i want to write about my experience with htc hd2 my first htc phone and i loved it because of big screen but the downside was that any rom i installed on it used to drain my battery madly
if i used my phone for a while the battery used to drop like there is no tommorow
and max battery life used to be 2-3 hours but if when i used to leave it on stand by it used to lst 8-9 hours and that was not used and battery used to die so i got so mad with it that i sold it and bought htc senstaion
the thing with sensation was i had more memory higher resoulation and it was capable of recording 1080p at the same time it had a front camera but the bad thing in sesnation is battery life and check my post where my battery lasted 2 hours and i think this is piss taking.
i have a iphone 4 which i borrowed form my cousin for test this week and this phone blew me away because i left wifi on for 1 day and 5 hour while it was on stand by and guess what it only lost 2 percent in the long time where as my senstaion would have died in 7-8 hours
the good thing about iphone was its software and harware work flawless toghether even though i admit when i'm gonna give this back to my cousin i'm gonna say to him its **** because i cant admit its better in hadrware
but software wise its the best phone out there.
bad thing about iphone 4 its heavy like htc senstion and it has very smal screen and i personally hate it this is the only reason i choose htc rather than iphone
---------- Post added at 08:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:27 PM ----------
i also did a camera test and iphone was much smmoother and i;m talking about front camera because if i move my camera it laggs bad and does blur where as iphone despite having the same spec camera is much clearer while at the same time it is much better but about the back camera i personally think htc is better and that is my personal choise(i forgot how to write it). in senstaion the front camera is so dark in low light while at the same time iphone is very clear.
personally i think htc and other company should stop brinig phone for a while and rather they should try to perfect the software on our phone because this is really making andriod looking bad
Vipeout said:
HTC seems more busy pushing out new models than refining current ones.
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The way I know HTC, their first ICS build will be full of crap and bugs. But because they will be busy pushing out new phones, we will have to live with their halfdone work.
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In this regard, HTC is no worse (and is better than) other Android handset manufacturers. I was an early adopter with the Samsuck Behold 2, which saw only very limited updates. Every company is pushing new models, either because most consumers are spoiled and always want the latest and greatest, or as a side effect they don't need to support phones beyond 1-2 years because carriers subsidize phones when contracts are renewed.
In general, software rarely gets faster when new versions are released, and I doubt that ICS will perform faster than what we have now unless HTC seriously thins out their Sense UI overlay. I also expect that HTC has a common code base between what we'll get on the Sensation and what future phone releases will use, so I doubt what we get will be any worse than new ICS HTC handsets.
8.7ghz dam bro ur phone must be an oven lol
To those who say they have no battery issues:
Does your battery not stick at 100% longer than it should? It stays at 100% even after 30min of intense use and then sharply drops instead of declining i a linear way. Do you not have different battery level values after restarting the phone? Afaik it is a common problem with the Sensation caused by bad drivers. There is even a thread dedicated to this.
And it can not all be blamed on the higher pixel count. Electopia is a 3d game that measures your fps. There is an option to run it at WVGA resolution (800x480), meaning it is rendered in exactly the same resolution as the SGII. The game runs at aprox. 20 fps slower than on the sgII. Now this is not some synthetic benchmark, this is real world performance where the game simply runs smother on the sammy.
I just checked my roommate's SGII performance within whatsapp. He can scroll through the entire chat history in real time, back and forward with no delay. Mine has VISIBLE lag and doesn't respond as well, it stutters alot when scrolling up the list. Don't tell me its because it has to render more pixels, its a messaging program ffs! This happens with EVERY Rom (With or without Sense).
I am surprised no one shares my view on those issues because it's basically a compilation of often here mentioned issues plaguing the Sensation. And I know HTC made some damn fine phones, but the Sensation just doesn't live up to their past standards.
No I don't feel the need to always have the fastest and best thing around. I was evaluating pros and cons between the Sensation and SG2 for 6 whole weeks before ultimately going for the Sensation. I knew the Samsung had better benchmark results and more power but I was like "I don't need a ****ing racing car, a nice sports car will do it just as well". But I simply cannot put up with sluggish menus/scrolling behaviour. Not in 2011 and in the age of dual core processors. See, if only the Sensation was really snappy with my daily tasks, I couldn't care less for benchmarks.
But folks will always say the same things like "it has more pixels to push" or "mine runs super smooth" when in fact it runs the same way as mine and they just don't mind a bit of choppiness.
I HATE the plastic toy phone feel of the Samsung devices, but damn those phones fly. Probably I'm alone with this, but choppy and sluggish menus and scrolling behaviour gives me eye cancer. And it's something I can't live withon such a premium device.
Please keep the "if you don't like it then sell it" comments to your self, they add nothing to the discussion and you are not telling me anything new.
Well I am considering the Galaxy Nexus now, despite not having the most fancy gpu unit available.
Probably I'm alone with this, but choppy and sluggish menus and scrolling behaviour gives me eye cancer.
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Then you need to go to a hospital, stat. Here's the deal, 99% of people who dislike this phone either return it or sell it, and get something they like. They don't go to a dev forum specifically designed for the phone in question and ***** about it.
Point is, if you don't like it, get something else.
Get the motorola atrix, or even the lg g2x and then tell me this phone is buggy.. hahah, the moto atrix even with CM 7 was more laggy than this phone stock. with more ram etc. camera flys past both phones. sure its not better than the amaze but look at the price differance.
I think ICS will make the Sensation a little bit smoother.
That said, I overall don't really like my Sensation. It was an under-spec'd, half-baked phone from release. I really wish my phone upgrade would have been now, because I would have been all over a real performer like the Galaxy Nexus. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with my Sensation for another year and a half or so, and I doubt I'll be able to make it that long.
Having a phone that performs like a toy is worse than having one that feels like a toy. I didn't buy a damn phone just to touch it. I bought it to use it, and there are tons of phones out there that perform better.

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