The 3.0 isn’t much different from its predecessor the 2.0 which featured on the Desire S and the Incredible S. However the UI does come with some fantastic features worth a mention.

Lockscreen:

A new feature from HTC which lets the user unlock the phone simply by dragging a ring at the bottom of the screen to the centre to lock the screen. Just in case you need to launch an application on unlocking, there’s a quick lunch menu at the bottom which can be used to do just that. Drag the ring on the application and the phone will unlock with the application launched.

Widgets:

The 3.0 comes with a brand new bunch of widgets which let you have all your desired features right at the touch of a fingertip. One of the widgets worth a mention is the Friend stream Widget which aggregates all the updates from Twitter, Facebook and Flickr all at once. There are some other well known widgets for calendar, news, settings, weather and many more.

Skins:

Conjuring up a customizable screen is no longer a job for the experts. The new Sense lets you set up a home screen, add widgets and themes and even customise sounds which is a very interesting feature. The Sound Sets feature especially. It lets you create your own sounds, create sets and change the notification sounds or the ringtone in one go. Very handy.

At first look, the Sense UI seems very much like its previous version, however, the 3.0 is much cleaner, slicker and leaner. Moreover, the UI is also available for the Windows Mobile operating system. The Windows version presents information via the traditional “tabs” while the Android version presents the same via widgets.

The Sense 3.0 features a complete refurbished look in terms of mail, messaging and contacts. Easier to operate, stylish and fast, the HTC browser makes the web surfing experience better than any of the previous versions. The News widget gets you the latest on your favourites and Lookup lets you search different services all from one app. And finally the Reader lets you store and read all your e books all in the comfort of your phone.

The Sense does add a flair of taste to the plain vanilla of the Android tools. Slick and worth every lick, the Sense 3.0 has met every expectation of the users and fans of this fantastic UI that is capable of making the OS on which it runs just a mere back ground feature. Fantastic work HTC!

Verdict:

If you are a Smartphone freak, then this is the phone for you. Though the Sensation lacks the hardware prowess of the Galaxy S II, it is definitely more user friendly and HTC’s implementation of the Android is near perfect, much ahead of competition.

Design and display:

The engineers at HTC have been coming up with some distinctive designs with each release, but with the Sensation, they seem to have excelled. The aluminium curvaceous body, with the easy to hold design and the superb 4.3” Gorilla Glass display makes the phone a perfect companion for everyone. The super AMOLED screen does falter a bit in the sunlight however the perfection of the display otherwise overshadows this minor issue. Below the screen are the typical Android navigation buttons all touch enabled. The sensors are placed above the screen along with the VGA call camera.

The left side of the Sensation holds the volume rocker along with a MicroUSB port. The right side of the phone surprisingly is left bare. The top holds the 3.5 mm headphone jack and the power button.

The Sensation features HTC’s Sense 3.0, which works over the Android Gingerbread is a class apart. Featuring many interesting features like the lockscreen and the “skins” feature, this version of the Sense is what makes the Sensation notch up a score over the S II. For a complete review of the Sense 3.0, click here.

Camera:

HTC has been just as elegant with the camera as the rest of the phone. Featuring a generous 8 MP camera with dual LED flash, the Sensation’s camera work is near brilliant. With features like face detection, auto focus and geo tagging, the phone is a pleasure to click around with. The interface also provides ample after effects like warp and blur. Overall, “Sensation”al camera interface.

The dual LED lights double up as video lights and help the camera outperform as a video recording gadget. The phone features video recording at 30 fps. The VGA camera at the front works just right for video calls.

Multimedia:

The Sensation features a fantastic music player complete with playlists and a search option. The phone offers SRS sound enhancement, DLNA support and equalizers. The sound quality on offer is excellent and is a crackle free and a pleasure to tune in to.

The video player fairs fairly well even with high definition videos. Complete with DLNA support and coupled with the excellent display, the video viewing experience is again a very fulfilling experience.

Miscellaneous:

The phone comes with a whole load of apps with the Android but the most notable is the email app. Available in two flavours, the Gmail style and the traditional HTC style, the Sensation makes keeping up to date with mails, as easy as child’s play. Setting up is easy and navigation can only be labelled convenient.

The phone comes with complete connectivity options right from internet to DLNA connectivity. The inbuilt browser works perfect with full processing power and without any glitches. With full Flash support, bookmarks and double tap zooming; browsing on the Sensation is as good as on any computing device.

Full specifications:

Display: 4.3 inch S-LCD capacitive screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels and support for 16M colours. Gorilla Glass display

Dimensions: 126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3 mm.

Weight: 148 Gms.

Camera: Main camera – 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels with geo tagging, autofocus and dual LED flash.

Secondary camera – Yes, VGA

Audio: Music player with support for MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player. Built in searching, sorting, SRS support and equalizers.

Video: XviD/MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player.

Messaging: SMS, MMS, Push Email and IM.

Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, microUSB (MHL) v2.0.

Internet: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, WLAN, with built in browser.

Games: Built-in and downloadable.

Memory: 1GB internal with support for microSD up to 32 GB, 8 GB included.

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1520 mAh with talk time of 6h 40 mins and standby of 400 hours for 3G.

Extras:

* Virtual full QWERTY keypad.

* Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

* 3.5 mm headphone jack.

* Accelerometer, gyro sensor and proximity sensor.

* Gorilla Glass display.

* HTC Sense3.0 UI.

* Multi touch input

* TV out

* Document Viewer

* Stereo FM with RDS

* Digital Compass

* Support for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr.

* Organizer

* Image/video editor

* Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration

* Adobe Flash 10.1 support

* Voice memo/dial/commands

* Predictive text input (T9)

* Soundhound app for music recognition

* Geo-tagging, touch-focus, image stabilization, face detection, instant capture

Verdict:

If you are looking for a durable and affordable Android phone, this is the phone you should be picking up. With HTC’s quality speaking for itself, complete with a good display and powered by the Android, the Wildfire sure makes for a great Android experience.

Design and Display:

Despite being a budget version of the HTC Tattoo, the phone doesn’t skimp on any specs. The phone weighs a mere 118 Gms, is light, compact and perfectly fits the palm. The design team at HTC has deservers accolades for moving away from the traditional HTC tall boy design and coming up with a cute, squarish phone that feels more like a gamer’s tool than like a phone. Stylish, suave, cute and handy would be how you would be able to define the phone. The phone’s 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen could be a turn off for the hardcore Smartphone enthusiasts but for a budget phone, it works just fine. Below the screen are the typical Android navigational buttons in touch form, backlit in white. Below the touch buttons is HTC’s typical optical track pad. The top of the front facade holds the uniquely designed speakers, adding to the style of this fantastically crafted phone.

The top right holds the lock button whereas the left side houses the volume rocker and the microUSB port. The 3.2 inch touch screen that the phone sports does not do full justice to the powerful operating system that it supports and is subject to some glitches, some distorted edges and a few pixelated effects. However for a budget phone, considering the features it incorporates, the screen can be conveniently ignored.

HTC’s Sense UI makes the Android much more accessible and manageable, though the phone sports a cut down version of the interface. No interactive wallpapers or the trademark helicopter view for the SenseUI on this phone. All the same, works just fine considering the price tag.

Camera:

The 5 MP camera works pretty decent and the pictures come out quite satisfactory. However, the shooter does leave much to be desired considering the fact that it is supposed to support more Mega Pixels than the rest of the lot. The LED flash however works much better than the others in the category though. Add to this the built in effects and the autofocus and you have a camera that performs pretty well…. As we mentioned…decent. And the guys at HTC, we do need a camera button.

The video mode works only in the CIF resolution with the standard 15fps capture rate. Again, decent but not exactly breathtaking.

Multimedia:

We have seen better music players but the player included with the wildfire works just fine. The player comes with all the standard features like custom playlists, equalizer presets and album art support. The Sennheiser headphones provide excellent sound quality which makes up for the clunky media playing software provided.

The video playing quality is again a bit disappointing but again…guys, this is a budget phone. With that disclaimer in place, the quality seems just about right. We could have done with better speakers though.

Everything else:

The phone is stable with the connectivity options sporting the latest from 3G to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to A-GPS. The built in Webkit browser works well loading moderately loaded pages and supports Flash content.

Though the messaging is basic, a point worth mentioning is the excellent touch keypad and the predictive text which makes the texting much easier and accessible.

Full specifications:

Display: 3.2 inch TFT capacitive screen with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and support for 16M colours. Gorilla Glass display

Dimensions: 106.8 x 60.4 x 12 mm.

Weight: 118 Gms.

Camera: Main camera – 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels with geo tagging, autofocus and single LED flash.

Secondary camera – No

Audio: Music player with support for MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA9 player. Built in searching, sorting and equalizers.

Video: MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV9.

Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email and IM.

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, microUSB v2.0.

Internet: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, WLAN, with built in WebKit browser.

Games: Built-in and downloadable.

Memory: 512 MB internal with support for microSD up to 32 GB.

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1300 mAh with talk time of 8 hours and standby of 690 hours for 3G.

Extras:

* Virtual full QWERTY keypad.

* Android 2.1 Eclair upgradable to v2.2.

* 3.5 mm headphone jack.

* Accelerometer and proximity sensor.

* Gorilla Glass display.

* HTC SenseUI.

* Multi touch input

* Optical trackpad

* Quickoffice

* Stereo FM with RDS

* Digital Compass

* Support for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr.

* SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM

* Organizer

* Image/video editor

* Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration

* Adobe Flash 10.1 support

* Voice memo/dial/commands

* Predictive text input (Swype)

Verdict:

Featuring the Android Gingerbread and super fast Dual Core ARMv 1.2GHz processor, the S II is a force to reckon with. With a sleek but comfortable body, the S II is any gadget geek’s wet dream. Any true Android fan with a flair for speed would definitely want to check out this monster.

Design and Display:

At first glance, the S II looks more like a piece of extreme engineering. The entire spec sheets crammed into an 8.7 mm body. The 4.3 inch super AMOLED screen covers the entire front façade of the device. The screen however deserves special mention since it is the best ever seen on any device. The screen is able to portray each color and every pixel with astounding clarity. Though the phone is mostly plastic, the build quality is superb and the phone feels great to hold, quite comfortable.

Beneath the screen is the physical home key with the back buttons on either side. The front facing 2MP camera is at the top along with the light sensors. The power button is placed on the right whereas the volume controls are on the left. The top of the phone holds the 3.5 mm audio jack while the microUSB and the data cable connector is at the bottom. The back of the phone holds the speakers in addition to the 8 MP camera. Not only is the build clean and simple but also repels fingerprints in the best possible way.

The phone runs the TouchWiz UI on top of the Android which seems to be maturing with each release Samsung comes up with.

Camera:

The 8MP camera packed into the S II comes with a touch operated shutter. The single LED flash could be a turn off for many but works well when it comes to clicking pictures. The camera hosts almost infinite settings and modes ranging from party to night mode.

The camera also supports video recording at 30 fps. The quality is nearly professional and the ease of use of the camera application is nearly perfect.

Multimedia:

The SII flaunts a music system by Yamaha. The built in music player supports almost all the formats available on planet earth. However better players can be easily downloaded via the Android marketplace.

The video player is equally efficient with formats. However, the real pleasure of watching a video is on the fantastic screen that the phone features. The built in speaker and the headphones are an additional advantage.

Additional Features:

The phone comes with Samsung’s DLNA which makes sharing files and applications very easy. Browsing the internet is a pleasurable experience with the phone being able to connect to Wi Fi networks as well as 3G. An efficient organizer, a host of apps at the Android marketplace and office applications form only a part of the unbelievable features of this fantastic phone.

Full specifications:

Display: 4.3 inch Super AMOLED plus capacitive screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and support for 16M colors. Gorilla Glass display

Dimensions: 125.3 x 66 x 8.5 mm.

Weight: 116 Gms.

Camera: Main camera – 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels with geo tagging, face and smile detection, autofocus and single LED flash.

Secondary camera – 2.0 MP

Audio: Music player with support for MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC. Built in searching, sorting and equalizers.

Video: MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263.

Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email and IM.

Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, microUSB, USB on the go.

Internet: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, WLAN, DLNA, HSUPA with built in browser.

Games: Built-in and downloadable.

Memory: 1 GB internal with support for microSD up to 32 GB.

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh with talk time of 8.5 hours and standby of 610 hours for 3G.

Extras:

* Virtual full QWERTY keypad.

* Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

* 3.5 mm headphone jack.

* Accelerometer and proximity sensor.

* Gorilla Glass display.

* TouchWiz UI v4.0.

* Gyroscope sensor

* Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

* NFC support (optional)

* TV-out (via MHL A/V link)

* SNS integration

* Digital compass

* MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player

* MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player

* Organizer

* Image/video editor

* Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)

* Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration

* Adobe Flash 10.1 support

* Voice memo/dial/commands

* Predictive text input (Swype)