HTC Sensation 4G Review - A Sensational Smartphone
by Brian Klug on July 1, 2011 12:38 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Android
- Mobile
- HTC Sensation
- MSM8260
Connectivity - WiFi and Cellular
The Sensation includes 802.11b/g/n WiFi and uses a Broadcom WLAN stack (likely the ever-popular BCM4329 yet again), I saw it connect at 72 Mbps just like I’m used to seeing for single spatial stream smartphones running 802.11n. Actual WiFi range is good, and largely on par with the iPhone 4 and other devices widely accepted as being decent. I watched Sensation RSSI hover around plus or minus 1 or 2 dBm from an iPhone 4 throughout my house connected to an 802.11n AP.
What’s odd about the Sensation is that to get those numbers required holding the phone portrait. The Sensation doesn’t appear to have a very isotropic antenna, as holding it screen-up yielded less signal than if I held the Sensation with the display facing me.
Before (left) and after (right) having the top portion cupped in the hand - note RSSI changes by 15 dB.
Back with the Desire HD, there was some outcry about the device having its own form of deathgrip, thanks in part to the WLAN antenna being integrated into the battery door and surrounded by metal. Things have improved somewhat with the Sensation, but you can still drop 15 dB by cupping the top plastic area where the WLAN antennas are patterned.
Throughput is likewise decent in our 100+ MB PDF local download test, though it isn’t as super as some other phones of late.
Cellular connectivity on the Sensation is courtesy of the MSM8260’s onboard baseband, which is HSPA+ capable and supports HSDPA 14.4 / HSUPA 5.76 on 900 / 1700 / 2100. There’s quad-band GSM/EDGE support for 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 as well. Remember that the x in MSM8x60 denotes which mode is present - 2 for single mode UMTS, 6 for multi mode UMTS and CDMA. The baseband on the MSM8260 is effectively the same modem as what was in MSM8255.
I ran 249 tests on the Sensation connected to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. On the Sensation, that shows up with a big bold “4G” logo. When you’ve fallen back to EDGE you get a sans-bold “2G,” and on GPRS just a G. I don’t think there’s much of an argument to be made for HSPA being “4G” until most of the carrier is running dual carrier HSPA or MIMO. Even then, without much faster backhaul and compatible phones, things aren’t going to change much. T-Mobile’s coverage isn’t exactly perfect in my area, but I ran tests whenever I saw HSPA in both Tucson and Phoenix Arizona, and Los Angeles California. Those are all HSPA+ enabled markets, and since the Sensation isn’t a 64QAM device it isn’t like things were faster in one than the other.
There’s a clustering of results at the bottom between 0.5 and 3 Mbps, but there are impressive tests going all the way up to just shy of 10 Mbps. I’ve seen just over 11 Mbps tethered and parked within close line of sight to a T-Mobile cell site. When signal is good, T-Mobile will get you an awesome occasional 9-10 Mbps. When you’re not within line of sight to the tower, (in average coverage), you’ll get that 1-2 Mbps or so. Keep in mind, this is when you’re actually connected to HSPA+ — I did spend considerable time just stuck on EDGE in parts of some markets, and likewise in the wrong parts of town and my house. T-Mobile seems to be pushing the adoption of higher and higher HSDPA and HSUPA categories on its network, including moving to higher order modulation and dual carrier, which deserves applause, but at the same time more cell sites seem a necessity.
The most sensitive cellular region on the Sensation seems to be at the bottom of the back case, which is what we’re used to almost always seeing for smartphones because of how the FCC tests. In addition, the Sensation seems to have Rx diversity, with one antenna up in the top plastic region, one at the bottom. The good bits of the FCC reports are still locked down until around October, but there honestly aren’t too many question marks to fill in with regards to the Sensation.
| Signal Attenuation Comparison in dB - Lower is Better | ||||||||
| Cupping Tightly | Holding Naturally | Holding in Case | On an Open Palm | |||||
| HTC Sensation | 15.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 | ||||
| Samsung Droid Charge | 10.0 | 10.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | ||||
| HTC Thunderbolt - LTE | 5.3 | 2.5 | - | 4.4 | ||||
| HTC THunderbolt - EVDO | 6.5 | 0.8 | - | 7.2 | ||||
| Verizon iPhone 4 | 16.5 | 15.5 | 9.0 | 7.9 | ||||
| LG Optimus 2X | 13.7 | 9.3 | - | 5.9 | ||||
| Nexus S | 13.3 | 6.1 | - | 4.3 | ||||
| Droid 2 | 11.5 | 5.1 | - | 4.5 | ||||
| BlackBerry Torch | 15.9 | 7.1 | - | 3.7 | ||||
| Dell Streak | 14.0 | 8.7 | - | 4.0 | ||||
| Droid X | 15.0 | 5.1 | - | 4.5 | ||||
| AT&T iPhone 4 | 24.6 | 19.8 | 7.2 | 9.2 | ||||
| iPhone 3GS | 14.3 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 0.2 | ||||
| HTC Nexus One | 17.7 | 10.7 | 7.7 | 6.7 | ||||
Attenuation from holding the phone isn’t a big deal with the Sensation. If anything, I think HTC is due for some well-deserved kudos for trying something different with its latest crop of antenna designs. I’m impressed with how the Desire HD maintained a metal package and hid antennas in plastic RF windows that double as covers, and the Sensation is even more interesting with them being built into the two plastic triangles which snap into the back cover. Of course, if you take the metal exoskeleton off, you lose all signal, but that’s to be expected. I’ve actually taken the cover completely off sometimes and seen EDGE hang on.
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synaesthetic - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
No SGS2 on AWS bands. :(coolhardware - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
Nice review. Never thought I'd see a gf discussion be the first comment posts on an AT article ;-)A note on the Sensation, it is supposed to be capable of 1080p MKV playback!
http://www.jdhodges.com/2011/06/can-android-do-108...
And of course the 1080p recording is pimptastic too:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&i...
Overall a pretty sweet phone IMHO :-)
mutu - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
pls review Samsung galaxy S2.Penti - Saturday, July 2, 2011 - link
Not to nitpick but why is it even called 4G? It's simply a 14.4Mbps device, we have 32Mbit (advertised speed) HSPA+ for "mobile broadband" here in Sweden, and nobody would care much what speed the cell phone is able to use and nobody tries to pass it as anything else. It's simply called HTC Sensation over here in Europe. Do not yet have 4G in my very little town, but 32Mbit HSPA+ is here. Expect 4G even out here in this market within a year or so though. Sooner in neighboring towns. Guess it's a good thing AT&T are picking up T-mobile USA. We will still need HSPA/+ for a while, but we are quickly moving on. Sure you could also opt for a WiMAX 16m network and the handsets is about as immature, but you need to be building your next gen network now.synaesthetic - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
The "4G" is T-Mobile US silly marketing speak that means nothing, of course. They tack 4G on the end of every phone with an HSPA radio capable of more than 7.2Mbps peak downstream.Penti - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
Yeah I know that, but why not just call it "Our old network till we get picked up by AT&T"? It's clear why they are without a next gen plan. Their customers need to be picked up by another operator for that to happen.synaesthetic - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
Until it's unlocked, I won't buy it.tejagamer - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
Excellent Review.. As usual..Now waiting for your comparison of SGS2 vs O2x vs Sensation and the SGS2 review..
bubblesmoney - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
Hi Brian,When you review the SGS2 please compare the internal memory on it to the internal memory available on other top of the line android handsets. This is an important limitation on android handsets which are not rooted +/- rommed to overcome the app2internal memory problem of android. Full time Android users [not part time android reviewers :) ] will appreciate what i mean. None of the reviews of android handsets bother to cover this problem users of stock handsets face if they dont root their handsets.
Handsets made by the likes of HTC severely skimp on the internal memory, more specifically the internal memory partitioned and kept for loading apps. On just a year old HTC Desire the partition available for apps is just a measly 147mb. Even on the HTC sensation it is just about 1gb. Compare this to the year old samsung galaxy s which has 1.8gb available for apps. The samsung galaxy s2 also has about 1.9gb available for apps from its 16gb/32gb internal memory. The HTC low internal memory problem does not go away by buying a 32gb card as the card is useless for apps that go on internal memory. The only option on HTC handsets which ALWAYS come with low internal memory compared to the competition (internal memory partition available for apps) is to buy a non HTC handset or to root and get rid of the problem or to use the sdk method described on xda forums.
For a reviews of android handsets it is vital that the internal memory is compared too in a comparison chart and more specifically the internal memory available for apps need comparing too. Please exclude the useless microsd cards supplied with handsets as that is useless for apps that dont go to sd card. Hope you provide such comparison charts for future reviews of android handsets. When games by gameloft etc run into many MBs on internal memory, having internal memory of the likes of 147mb available for apps on the HTC desire will be crucial information especially for many android handset buyers.
Similarly the rear speaker quality being poor is another HTC hallmark in my opinion after owning 2 HTC handsets. But not sure if it is just a hardware issue or HTC software issue. But things get better after loading apps with equalisers (poweramp etc) and boosting the gain. This works later even if the said apps are deleted I think.
Software is nothing without good hardware, so i will be keeping away from HTC and go the samsung galaxys2 way. But I guess the compromise is the much poorer GPS reception on samsung galaxy s2 and other handsets made by samsung.
USB on the go needs to be mentioned as well as competitor handstes have this feature but not the HTC sensation.
Accessories like speaker docks, keyboard are an important differentating feature. Just have a look at the HTC website to see if their handsets can even find one speaker dock or even anywhere else on the net. These options will make a difference to buyers and need to be mentioned in handset reviews.
bubblesmoney - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - link
Brian,In another review they seem to be saying the speaker is good. see http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_sensation_vs_galaxy_si... see the link for detailed test results