SUPER comparison between HTC Sensation and the Samsung Galaxy S2... hands-on + review + all IN DEPTH !
We've been treated to a cornucopia of high quality mobile phones recently, but it's a certain two that have got the tongues wagging: the dual-core majesty of the HTC Sensation and the Samsung Galaxy S2. We've reviewed them both already, but so often we're asked the question of 'which should I buy?' So here's TechRadar's detailed and in-depth look at the differences between the two handsets - and if you still can't decide after reading through our guide, then we can only suggest you toss a coin in your local phone retailer.
Build quality There's a marked difference between the HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S2 when it comes to the design of the devices – which basically comes down to thickness and weight. The Sensation has a plastic and aluminium chassis combined with a relatively heavy glass front – this line-up means the 148g weight of the phone is lighter than the likes of the Desire HD, but markedly heavier than the Galaxy S2, which weighs in at a sublime 116g. The Galaxy S2 is also by far the slimmer of the two phones, offering a stupidly thin chassis that's just 8.5mm thin, meaning it fits beautifully in any pocket and will make you panic on occasion simply because you might not be able to feel it and you'll think a pickpocket has come along. What's odd about the HTC Sensation is that despite the aluminium chassis, the phone still feels a little plastic-like in the hand. This is exacerbated by HTC's decision to make the whole rear of the phone an antenna, meaning the whole rear peels away to leave just a phone and screen. We like the theory, but in practice it's a veritable nightmare to get the back off as your fingers constantly get in the way. However, no matter how cheap the feeling of the Sensation, when you take the back off the Galaxy S2 it's infinitely more budget. The rear panel is made of flimsiest plastic out there it seems – not feeling good when taken off, but when attached firmly to the phone offers a cool mesh finish. Winner: Draw. This is purely down to opinion – some will find the S2 too flimsy, some the Sensation too bulky. Both are very well built though with Gorilla Glass, and we promise you won't be upset by either.
Interface Both the Sensation and the Galaxy S II are running Android 2.3.3, and both have had an overlay placed on top of Google's OS by their parents, clearly wanting to stamp their individuality onto their flagship smartphone. We'll start by looking at the power under the finger of each device, and we're presented with a pretty even contest once more – both will react with the utmost speed, which is especially impressive on the HTC Sensation with its 3D Sense 3.0 overlay. We've long stated we're fans of this UI, and with the new iteration it's even better, with upgraded widgets and cooler new spinning animations – plus that lock screen, with easy access applications, is to die for. TouchWiz shouldn't be ruled out though, with a snap underneath the finger that we simply can't fault – the fact it scores nearly 50% better in benchmark tests than the Sensation is felt here. A multitude of re-sizeable widgets, a simple menu system and more advanced music controls in the notifications bar are only let down by the cheap-feeling lock screen, that might as well have come straight from the developer's lab. Winner: HTC Sensation, simply because Sense UI was already great, and just got a little better.
Screen The screen technology on offer for both is markedly different here - we have the Super LCD from the HTC Sensation, and the Super AMOLED Plus from the Galaxy S II. You'd think it's was a no brainer, as the Samsung technology has always been class leading, with superbly clear colours and contrast ratio - but HTC has a trick up its sleeve, packing in qHD resolution to take advantage of the dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon at the heart. This means that the image on the 4.3-inch screen (which is actually thinner than the Galaxy S2 thanks to the aspect ratio) is that little bit sharper thanks to a great pixel density, contributing to great internet viewing and pleasant video playback. Colours are well reproduced in all aspects too, but the fact it still needs a backlight means that at high brightness the screen can look a little washed out. Plus chuck a little bit of sunlight at the display and it will all but disappear at the lower brightness echelons as the curse of the HTC phone strikes once again. It's not terrible anymore, but it's certainly not something to crow about. then we come to the Super AMOLED Plus, and it deserves that suffix in spades. When we first saw the phone in Barcelona, we were blown away by the quality, and it's a screen that just keeps giving no matter what you do with it. From outdoor visibility in nearly every scenario (plus a special setting from Samsung to make it easier to see in really bright conditions) we love to look at the display, despite 'only' running WVGA (800 x 480) resolution. From watching video to simply spinning through the homescreens, we can't help but love using the Galaxy S2 and cooing over its display. Winner: The Samsung Galaxy S2. It's the display in the world right now and will need something special to knock it from its pedestal.
ou know how mobile phones used to make calls and suchlike with aplomb? Well, thankfully some engineers have remembered this and made efforts to improve the phone experience on devices, and both the HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S2 have benefitted.
Calling Both the Sensation and the S2 have dual microphones, but we couldn't see any evidence of the Sensation using the technology very well at all - in even the mildest of breezes we were told we couldn't be heard. Compare that to the Sensation and you'll see that the noise cancelling is a real boon - every word is clear and the microphone super sensitive. Both phones have decent speakers on the back, so conference calling shouldn't be a problem, and even throw in a smidgen of bass here and there too.
Contacts The contacts section of both phones is based on the standard Android system, but both make special effort to customise the experience a little bit better than the normal OS. HTC is the clear winner here though, as the Facebook and Twitter integration, combined with the ability to link names together automatically better than any other brand on the market, is a super-cool combo. We like the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S2 has a smooth interface for scrolling through the names and an easier method of setting the default contacts, but for a phonebook HTC can't be beaten. Winner: A tricky one, as both have positives, but we think the Samsung Galaxy S2 shades it with superior hardware offering a better calling experience.
Messaging This is more about keyboards than the overall messaging systems, as both offer all the bells and whistles Google has built into Android. We're talking Exchange Mail, all the webmail providers, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, IM through Google Talk - you name it, it's there. Special mention should go to Samsung here though, as it's managed to finally sort out that Social Hub to actually be useful, making it a great inbox for all your messaging services, including Facebook and Twitter. When it comes to the keyboard though there's a clear winner: it's the HTC Sensation, with the eerily accurate offering we've seen since the long-forgotten days of the HTC Hero. Typing a word on the Samsung Galaxy S2 is fine, although the auto-correct is a little bit off and hitting the full stop instead of the space bar happens around once every fifth word. But the spell checker on the Sensation is out of this world, and while the full stop issue is prevalent here, the overall experience is speedy, accurate and an all-round more comforting experience, meaning you won't accidentally send sexual expletives to your Mother. Winner: HTC Sensation for bringing the same excellent keyboard to the table
Internet When it comes to internet browsing, Android is a great browser full stop, offering fast speeds, Flash integration and cool pinch to zoom features. The Sensation takes the early lead in this category, with the text reflow system working magically as ever - no matter how close you pinch to zoom in, the text will re-jumble around the page to fit. The Flash integration is slightly, just slightly more sluggish than the Galaxy S2, and while the display is brighter, the Super AMOLED Plus comes into its own here, giving you pin sharp text and the ability to zoom in as far as you'd like - not that you'd need to very often though. But there's one thing in our minds that takes the HTC Sensation ahead of the S2 when it comes to internet browsing, and that's the ability to switch between mobile and full internet sites – this is most prevalent on websites where an automatic redirect is in place for mobile browsers. There are always workarounds, but for those unable or unwilling to put these in place the Galaxy S2 will be frustrating compared to a desktop browser. Winner: The HTC Sensation builds on the Taiwanese brand's solid performance in internet browsing.
Video Here's a couple of videos we took simultaneously with both cameras - there's not a lot between them in terms of quality, but the stereo recording of the Sensation helps reduce wind noise. (Remember to hit up the 1080p option in the corner of each video to see them at maximum resolution). With this sample, you can see and hear the differing reactions to strong wind - plus see the HTC Sensation's ability to re-work the lighting conditions to match a tapped focus. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S2 - with a faster shutter speed and slightly more features to play with, combined with a smoother shutter action, it takes the title from its HTC rival.
Media Both the HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S2 pack a fully working media suite, from FM radio to a wide range of music and video file format playback options. However, in nearly every aspect, the Galaxy S2 outdoes the HTC Sensation when it comes to media - and not just because it has the sumptuous Super AMOLED Plus screen. Firstly, it's slightly ahead when it comes to codec support, with the S2 also deciding that it's cool with showing DivX files as well as the normal Xvid/MP4/WMV offerings that the Sensation can manage. Plus there's the difference in media players too - the S2 has a great video player that lets you manipulate the aspect ratio, where the Sensation only uses the Gallery to jump into videos - with no labels to let you know which is which, something that really irks when you've got loads from a certain series in there. When it comes to music, things are a little closer, with the Samsung S2 just edging the contest sonically. Bass levels are deeper on the Samsung offering, and the level of crosstalk from the device is minimal, just a shade better than the Sensation. We're also big fans of the easier music manipulation from the notification bar - the S2 has full track skipping control, where HTC has gone with a single pause and play button. However, we do want to give the Sensation props for having a really cool lock screen widget, with a little piece of spinnable album art to play with. Winner: Hands down, no contest, the Samsung Galaxy S2. There's a reason Samsung is happy to turn the Galaxy phones into PMPs, and that's the sheer range of functionality and hardware built around media.
Battery A hugely important category for any possible phone buyer, and one we've spent a long time testing and making sure we've come to the right conclusion (even sending back our first Sensation review unit after some decidedly odd results from our initial tests). The good news is both of the phones will manage to last over a day on a single charge, even with the likes of Push Email and Wi-Fi buzzing away in the background. However, be careful when downloading applications that might not have been fully tested, as we found a few that decided to suck the life unfairly out of our devices. In terms of the victor here, it really depends what you use the phone for. Under 'normal' usage, by which we mean around an hour of music use, perhaps half an hour of video and push email and social networking applications running in the background, perhaps with a spot of mapping to go with it, the Samsung Galaxy S2 is ahead for battery longevity. This is mainly down to the decision to put a 1650mAh battery inside the super-slim phone, where HTC has gone with a 1540mAh offering for the Sensation. Why HTC never likes to have a market-leading battery under the hood, we'll never know - this problem could be sorted in a single upgrade. The only issue when it comes to battery life we can see is the Samsung Galaxy S2's superb screen: you'll find yourself using it a lot more for video and internet browsing, so be ready for the necessary hit in battery life. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S2 - mostly for daring to pack a bigger battery pack under the hood Connectivity and storage We felt this category should be added in as both of the brands have put a lot of effort into getting as much technology under the hood as possible, helping future proof the devices for the future. Aside from the spectacularly odd decision from Samsung over NFC (announcing it at Mobile World Congress, then mysteriously releasing phones without it, before announcing future models will have it) the Galaxy S2 definitely has the greater amount of functionality built in. Both phones have HDMI-output through the microUSB slot (although neither have a cable in the box) and both have Bluetooth 3.0 on board, DLNA streaming software and Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n connectivity. While the Samsung is certainly less powerful when it comes to connecting to Wi-Fi networks (we found up to two bars difference in identical conditions between the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Sensation) it slightly leads in mobile signal according to our tests. Where the Samsung Galaxy S2 comes into its own is for things like USB On The Go, where users can plug a USB stick into the phone using the (non-supplied) adaptor, plus an improved DLNA All Share server making it easier to port content to a big screen - although the Sensation is more than half decent at this too. Faster HSDPA downloads speeds for the Samsung Galaxy S2 - 20.1Mbps compared to only 14.4Mbps for the Sensation - mean it's slightly more future proof when the mobile networks start offering more speed too. When it comes to storage, the Galaxy S2 is miles ahead - we're talking at least 16GB of internal storage (32GB also available, although not widely in the UK) plus 2GB further storage on top of that. Compare that to the 1.5GB of internal storage of the Sensation, and you can see that HTC is lagging behind - and the Sensation isn't the first phone the company has done this with. While it's mostly fine when it comes to media, as there's an 8GB card onboard, if you're downloading tonnes of applications then you might fill this up quite quickly if they can't be stored on SD card. Winner: Samsung Galaxy S2. There's not a lot in it when it comes to connectivity, but the S2 can connect up everything the Sensation can and then flaunts its extra storage right in its face.
Verdict It's a tricky one to call this, as we've been looking forward to the battle between these two dual-core wonders for so long we weren't sure we could decide which was more worthy. Over the course of this test we've gone back and forth over which to plump for, as both the Sensation and the Samsung Galaxy S2 have a cracking set of features with gorgeous hardware for all kinds of phone connoisseur. And while it is ridiculously close between the two devices, we think the Galaxy S2 is the overall winner, thanks to its combination of improved connectivity, slimmer chassis and superbly clear and bold screen. That's not to say the HTC Sensation isn't a great phone too - we love HTC Sense 3.0 and the additional functionality that the improved UI brings, plus the larger screen has the highest resolution of any HTC phone thus far. So we're crowning the Samsung Galaxy S2 our victor in the battle between the dual-core heavyweights, but if you've already got an HTC Sensation winging its way to you, don't despair as it's a very, very close second.
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