The HTC Sensation XL has gone on sale in the UK, filling the pockets of eager Brits with its massive screen, Beats audio and Android jollies.
Carphone Warehouse is flogging the 4.7-inch phone on O2, Three and Orange, but we've also seen it available on T-Mobile and Vodafone via Phones4u.
If you want to get the Sensation XL for free up front, the cheapest deal appears to be a £31 monthly contract with Orange that ties you in for 24 months -- long enough to leave the Sensation XL looking like the technological equivalent of a pointy bit of flint.
That deal gets you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and a rather paltry 250MB of data.
If you've got upfront wonga and are too free-spirited to be tied down to a contract, online retailer Clove is selling the giganto-phone for £486.
The XL is one of the largest phones around, with a finger-bending 4.7-inch screen, making it bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but not quite as large as the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note.
It offers a tasteful white casing, and comes with a set of Beats headphones in the box. There's some clever on-board sound manipulation that will most likely give your tunes a bit more of that buttery biscuit bass.
An 8-megapixel camera is sitting pretty round the back, and there's a 1.5GHz processor on the inside, powering the Sense 3.5 user interface.
Expect our full in-depth review of the Sensation XL very soon -- we'd recommend holding off on a purchase until you read our definitive verdict. It looks like a cool phone, though we have our reservations about the 163g weight -- HTC makes bulky blowers, so when you crank the screen size up so high, you could end up with an intolerably weighty gadget.
We'll have a final judgement very soon, in the meantime let us know -- are you thinking of splashing out on this monolithic mobile? Or does another smart phone hold your heart? Tell us in the comments, or on our Facebook wall, and check out our hands-on video of the Sensation XL.
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Comments 8
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dirtymagic86 1 November, 2011 13:43
CNET have already reviewed the HTC Titan which is exactly the same phone but running WP7 instead of Android. Why not have a play with that instead of making assumptions about the weight of the device?
anonymous 1 November, 2011 14:42
Could you tell us where you can get the phone with the SOLO beats instead of the in ear ones?
Rich Trenholm 1 November, 2011 14:59
dirtymagic, no assumptions here - we tested the Sensation XL and found it a bit heavy. On the plus side, the weight comes from the solid construction. Click on the HTC Sensation review just above the comments to see more
anonymous 1 November, 2011 16:10
which one is the best to go for the desire hd and the sensation
anonymous 1 November, 2011 16:45
I like the Sensation XL, but HTC Amaze (T-mobile US) looks great, does anyone know if it isi coming to UK, and are other new HTC heading this way
anonymous 2 November, 2011 22:36
I got the HTC sensation XL yesterday with the solo headphones and I love it! I saw a couple of people mention concerns over the weight but I don't think that's going to be the issue..... The issue will be if you have small hands as the screen is massive. The screen is light and bright and the whole phone is very responsive! Highly recommend the phone and the beats experience with the solo's blew me away!!
anonymous 3 November, 2011 12:12
you can get it with the beats solo headphones on o2 i have just ordered mine!
anonymous 6 November, 2011 03:38
forget about the weight, its about the experience being offered to the customer and having used the XL at work its feels complete and is the best htc yet imo and tbh an 'intolerably weighty gadget', only a die hard iphone geek would single that out a a downfall to the phone. either that or you got some weak muscles.