In this article we’re comparing two smartphones with dual core processors: HTC’s Sensation XE model with an amazing audio system by Beats by Dr.Dre, and Goggle & Samsung’s Nexus model, which has a weaker camera on its back.
Displays, designs and sizes
The differences are major when it comes to displays and resolution, as the Sensation XE is fitted with a 4.3inches S-LCD screen that supports a smaller resolution of 540x960pixels and 256ppi, while the Galaxy Nexus sports a Super AMOLED display of 4.65inches with 720x1280pixels and 316ppi. Both phones have accelerometer, proximity and a gyro sensor – the last one improves the gaming experience because it can “read” gestures and detects your moves.
The Sensation XE has its display protected with Corning Gorilla Glass, while the Galaxy Nexus benefits from oleophobic coating. Compared to its rival, the HTC handset is shorter, narrower, thicker and heavier, measuring 126.1×65.4×11.3mm, and weighting 151grams, while the Samsung model measures 135.5×67.9×8.9mm and weights 135grams.
The Sensation seems a little bit too solid on the outside, having a black plastic back with the camera ring and earpiece colored in red, and on the front panel you’ll notice the red four capacitive buttons. Why red? Because HTC aligned with the Beats by Dr. Dre branding, the company that created a nice audio software that goes hand in hand with a pair of special earphones also created by this company.
The Galaxy Nexus doesn’t have physical buttons, only three capacitive buttons and its back panel reminds us of the Galaxy S II.
Hardware and OS
The Sensation XE has dual processor with a higher clock speed – 1.5GHz, it’s a Scorpion which dwell perfectly with a Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon chipset and an Adreno 220 GPU. The Nexus uses a 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor with two cores, based on a TI OMAP 4460 chipset, and uses an efficient PowerVR SGX540 GPU.
The Sensation XE has a smaller RAM capacity of 768MB, but the built in memory is even smaller, of 4GB, from which 1GB is user available. Fortunately, it supports expansion up to 32GB. The Nexus has 1GB of RAM, but the internal storage is fixed at 16GB.
The HTC model runs initially on Android v2.3.4 (Gingerbread), but you’re able to upgrade it to v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and the phone has its own Sense interface, which is well known for being user friendly and for having a great gesture support. The Nexus comes pre-loaded with Android v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but the OS is upgradable to v4.3 (Jelly Bean). This phone doesn’t have a user interface on top of the OS.
Cameras
Sensation XE’s rear camera is much more advanced, of 8MP, and the list of features includes 3264x2448pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, geo tagging, plus it records videos at 1080p@30fps at Full HD. The secondary camera is VGA.
Nexus’ 5MP rear camera takes photos up to 2592х1944pixels and has features such as autofocus, LED flash, geo tagging, face detection and touch focus. The video recording capability is set at 1080p@24fps and the 1.3MP camera on the front records at 720p@30fps.
Connectivity
Both phones support Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA, GPS, microUSB v2.0 (MHL) and Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP. Only the Nexus has NFC enabled on it.
Batteries
The capacities of these phones’ batteries are almost the same. They’re Li-Ion, user replaceable, of 1730 mAh on the Sensation XE and 1750 mAh on the Nexus. On the HTC handset you can talk 7 hours an 20 minutes on 3G, while on the Samsung phone you can talk one hour more.
Prices
The Sensation XE is priced at 215 dollars and the Nexus costs 400 dollars.
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