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Fresh off its Thunderbolt 4G launch on Verizon Wireless, HTC introduced the Sensation 4G, a Google Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” smartphone whose highlight is a video-on-demand service.
The HTC Sensation 4G is a premium smartphone, which means it is geared to go toe-to-toe with Apple’s iPhone.
Like the Sprint Evo 3D, the handset sports a 4.3-inch quarter-high-definition screen with 540-by-960 resolution, and is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm.
The device features HTC’s new Sense 3.0 user interface and HTC’s new HTC Watch video service, which lets users choose to rent or buy movies and TV shows. Purchased videos may be viewed on up to five different HTC devices.
HTC Watch leverages “progressive download” technology so that users may watch videos without waiting for the content to finish downloading.
The emphasis on watching video content reaffirms HTC’s strategy that consumers want to take their entertainment content with them, view it on the go and share it with others.
Indeed, both the HTC Evo 4G and HTC Thunderbolt 4G are fitted with crisp screens and kickstands to promote mobile video viewing. The Sensation 4G has no kickstand.
HTC Sense 3.0 introduces a number of new features to the UI. There is a customizable lockscreen, which displays social updates, photos, weather or stock updates when a user turns on the display.
Users may jump from the lockscreen to make a phone call, send an email or take a picture via the gadget’s 8-megapixel camera, which includes an instant-capture feature to let users rapidly snap photos. The Sensation also shoots full high-definition video in 1080p resolution, with full stereo sound at up to 30 frames a second.
The Sensation is launching from Vodafone in the U.K., Germany and other European markets in mid-May, and will be available in the United States exclusively from T-Mobile this summer. Engadget has the best Sensation 4G run-through.
Thanks to Android smartphones such as the Thunderbolt 4G, HTC enjoyed quite the first quarter, watching net income almost triple to $513 million from the same quarter last year, according to Bloomberg.