If you are an HTC Sensation owner and the Sense-skinned Android 4.0 experience isn’t your cup of tea then you are in luck. The CyanogenMod team has added the HTC Sensation (a.k.a. Pyramid) to its target devices for CyanogenMod 9 (CM9) nightly builds.
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Limited numbers of HTC Sensation and Sensation XE owners in Europe have been receiving over-the-air (OTA) updates to Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and Sense 3.6. HTC had eluded in a previous statement that the Sensation and Sensation XE would be getting an early taste of Ice Cream Sandwich in Europe with entire line (including the Sensation 4G and Sensation XL) to be updated by end of March.
The update comes as a hefty 200MB+ download and seems to be rolling out to individual countries in stages and specifically to unlocked (i.e. without carrier branding) handsets. If you have an unlocked European handset and are anxious for the update, you can download the leaked HTC RUU 3.30.401.101 and 3.30.401.1 on a Windows computer to manually update either handset.
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HTC has already promised March 2012 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) updates for its Sensation series smartphones worldwide, but some lucky users might be getting an early taste very soon. The company just sent us word that it will be updating a limited number of Sensation and Sensation XE handsets in Europe to the latest version of Android and its own Sense 4.0 UI.
HTC is calling it an “early access preview” so that a few hundred users can play around with the new software and hopefully share the experience with the rest of the Android community. HTC will be doing similar sort of previews with other handsets in the future. As a reminder, the HTC Sensation, Sensation 4G, Sensation XE and Sensation XL should all get Android ICS updates by the end of March.
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HTC had been the first manufacturer to provide Android software updates to its devices in the past, so in order not to be outdone now, it had promised early 2012 updates to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) for a number of smartphones.
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Aren’t software upgrades a wonderful thing? One day your smartphone is sporting a lowly Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, and the next, it receives a free update to the shiny, new, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). If you don’t know why you would want ICS on your phone, check out our Android basics column, and our complete guide of all the new features and improvements in ICS.
With all that on the table, it’s pretty normal that any current Android user, would want to get the Android 4.0 update, while HTC had been quiet on its update schedule since ICS was revealed.
Well, the company has now confirmed its upgrade plans on the company’s Facebook page. Obviously HTC’s latest handsets will be getting the upgrade, with the HTC Vivid, HTC Rezound and the HTC Sensation, Sensation XL and Sensation XE all getting Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012. The HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G and HTC Amaze 4G are also getting ICS. HTC will continue to assess its current line for upgradability, so don’t despair if your device isn’t included in this first wave of upgrades.
There is also no mention of any of the company’s tablets, like the Flyer or the Jetsream yet.
You can find HTC’s statement after the break.
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You’ve recently got a shiny new HTC Sensation or Sensation 4G and there goes HTC tweaking it and releasing the Sensation XE. Well, you can actually convert the Sensation (4G) to a Sensation XE by investing half an hour of your time, and flexing your rooting skills. The hardware in the two handsets is essentially the same, as we’ve seen in our initial coverage, the XE simply has the same dual-core processor running at its default 1.5GHz speed (against 1.2GHz for the original), includes a custom Beats by Dr. Dre sound profile and a bigger battery.
You can get the improvements by installing a custom ROM, Android Revolution HD, for the Sensation, which among other things, allows the processor to run at 1.51GHz as a default, includes the Beats audio profile and a tweaked Adreno 200 graphics configuration to boot. Only thing missing is the bigger battery, but you can grab a tried and test 1900mAh Anker one from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
A word to the wise here, rooting your smartphone is risky, you could end up with a dead device and/or invalidate your warranty. Use the instructions below at your own risk.
Upgrading your Sensation or Sensation 4G to a Sensation XE involves, three steps. First, you must unlock the bootloader (from S-ON to S-OFF) so that you can install custom ROMs. Then, you have to install ClockworkMod recovery, which you will use to install custom ROMs, and finally, flash the Android Revolution HD ROM. Charge your Sensation and head after the break for the full instructions.
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The rumored special edition of the HTC Sensation just became official. The HTC Sensation XE will be the first handset from the company bearing the fruits of its partnership with Beats Electronics. The handset features a new red and black design (if that’s your thing) and will come together with a pair of matching Beats by Dr. Dre earphones.
When the in-ear headphones are connected, the handset switches to a custom Beats by Dr. Dre sound profile, which, HTC claims delivers audio tuned specifically for them. The Sensation XE features a higher clocked CPU, with the processor running at 1.5GHz (instead of 1.2GHz for the original Sensation). Most important, for us, is the inclusion of a higher capacity, 1730mAh battery. Hopefully the Sensation XE will be able to last a whole day with one charge; while hopefully, original Sensation owners will be able to buy it for their handset as well.
We’d also like to get the Sensation XE in our hands to test if HTC has fixed the infamous death-grip issue on the refreshed handset.
The smartphone will be available in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia in late September. Full PR after the break.
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HTC is getting ready to release a special edition of its Sensation smartphone. The new version of the HTC Sensation will come with a set of Beats by Dr. Dre earphones and feature technology that will supposedly work with the headset to optimize sound quality. HTC had announced its partnership with Beats Electronics earlier this month and this will be the fruits of their labor.
The bigger news, in our opinion, is that the HTC Sensation Special Edition will run the Snapdragon Qualcomm 8260 dual-core processor at a higher clock-rate of 1.5GHz (instead of 1.2GHz). While the biggest relief for all will be the higher capacity 1,730mAh battery up from 1,520mAh. The Sensation definitely needed a boost in terms of battery life and users have been resorting to third-party OEM batteries claiming to offer higher capacity. Hopefully the new battery will be available to all HTC Sensation owners, not just for the Special Edition, although you already know many ways of keeping you phone charged on the go.
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HTC Sensation owners in Europe are slowly getting an over-the-air (OTA) update to Android 2.3.4. The update is being rolled out to different countries in stages, so don’t worry if you haven’t yet received a notification for the update — though it might help going to ‘Settings > About Phone > Software updates’ and pressing ‘Check Now’. Mind you the update is for unbranded, i.e. not carrier specific, handsets. Branded handset owners might have to wait a bit longer for the update to be rolled out by their carriers; we will post a guide on how-to change your carrier ID so that you can get the update now.
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HTC has just detailed out the process for unlocking the bootloaders on its devices via its Facebook page. Unfortunately the company has also taken a step back from its initial unannouncement a few months back that it will stop locking bootloaders on future devices.
To unlock a phone the owner must register for an account through a web tool (coming later this month) and apparently waive liability if anything goes wrong as a result of having an unlocked phone. We are not sure here whether you lose your complete warranty, though it would make sense that although you can screw-up the software and/or brick the phone, hardware should still be covered — announcement says “may void all or parts of your warranty”.
Next step involves using the Android SDK on a computer with the device connected to get a “device identifier token” which you then use in the web tool to receive your unlocking key via email.
The HTC Sensation (global version) will be the first to receive an update, which will enable the unlocking process later this month, followed by the HTC Sensation on T-Mobile and the HTC EVO 3D.
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Our initial tests showed that, by holding the HTC Sensation with both hands, Wi-Fi signal drops or can even be lost completely. Although holding it with both hands, as demonstrated, is very normal, our tests do not fully show the extend of the ‘death grip’ issue for HTC Sensation.
So we thought of doing another test, this time by simply touching the top side of the HTC Sensation, to show how easily Wi-Fi reception drops without even gripping the phone.
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As we’ve had some nightmarish experiences with phone cameras in the past we were very pleasantly surprised by the camera shooting speed of the HTC Sensation while we were testing it. So after reading the following today on Nokia’s official blog, pared with the graph above, regarding the new Nokia N9 camera we wanted run own comparison.
From Nokia’s blog:
Jens continues from here to explain the speed of the camera.
Jens Wilke: Once you press the on-screen camera key, the image is taken immediately. It’s the fastest image-capturing phone on the market. In order to take a photo, a series of events must occur: the camera is turned on, viewfinder is ready, focus on the subject and the image is captured. On the Nokia N9, this all happens in 2.6 seconds – much faster than our competitors. The HTC HD7 does all this in 8.3 seconds, the Samsung i5500 Galaxy 5 takes 5.8 seconds and the Apple iPhone 4 does this in 3 seconds. We’ve made sure the camera experience is as smooth and as fast as possible.
We’ve been reviewing the new HTC Sensation smartphone and spending quite some time with it over the last few weeks, and although it’s a fantastic device, we’ve run across a rather frustrating hardware issue.
While holding the phone in a specific, though common manner, Wi-Fi signal strength drops or can be lost completely. Said ‘death grip’ happens when you touch or cover the top side of the phone (close to the 8MP camera); i.e. where the Wi-Fi antenna is located.
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We can now confirm that the HTC Sensation has started to ship to Vodafone UK customers who had pre-order the smartphone. Full confirmation email after the break.
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Upcoming Google Nexus 4 smartphone by LG poses for camera in leaked picsOctober 11, 2012
Skype for Android with video chat official for some, unofficially for Galaxy S II, HTC Evo 3D, Thunderbolt, Sensation and othersJuly 1, 2011
Stuff-Review giveaway: win a B&N Nook Color, leather case and 4GB microSD cardOctober 12, 2011
Stuff-Review giveaway: win a PowerSkin silicon case with built-in batteryAugust 21, 2011
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