HTC Windows Phone 8X & 8S

HTC Windows Phone 8X & 8S

The announcement part of the event is now over and it's time to take the HTC Windows Phone 8X for a spin. The WP8-powered flagship is undoubtedly the more interesting of the two new devices we saw today as it's got a better screen and more processing power.

  
HTC Windows Phone 8X official photos

Built around a 4.3" 720p SuperLCD 2 screen, the HTC Windows Phone 8X is more compact than the Titan and measures 132.4 x 66.2 x 10.1mm. The matte finish of the polycarbonate unibody makes the HTC WP 8X feel great in hand and the tapered edges help it feel rather slim, despite its 10.1mm profile.

The display is protected with Gorilla Glass 2 and is laminated to reduce glare. The great resolution on the 4.3-inch display results in sharp images and really nice and crisp colors.

  
HTC Windows Phone 8X display

The HTC 8X comes in four different colors California Blue, Flame Red, a super-deep Graphite Black, and Limelight Yellow. They are all monochrome, unlike the two-tone polycarbonate coloring of the 8S. Here's the Windows Phone 8X in yellow.

  
HTC Windows Phone 8X in Limelight Yellow

  
HTC Windows Phone 8X live photos

The HTC Windows Phone 8X is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor, Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM. HTC didn't allow us to play with the OS, as Microsoft hasn't completely finalized it yet, so we can't report on how smooth the experience is with this exact hardware.

At the back, there's an 8MP camera with a BSI sensor, bright F/2.0 aperture and wide 28mm field of view. It features HTC's dedicated ImageChip and is capable of shooting 1080p video with stereo sound. Another 1080p-cabale F/2.0 snapper is at the front - this one does 2.1MP stills.

 

A great news for sound lovers will be the addition of HTC's trademark Beats Audio sound enhancement in the 8X. Unfortunately, a Beats headset won't be included in the retail package.

The HTC Windows Phone 8X packs 16GB of built-in storage, which is all you get since there's no microSD card slot (just like on the One X). Connectivity is rich as well, including dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, NFC, Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB and 3.5mm audio jack.

 

HTC Windows Phone 8S

Despite the lack of flagship appeal, the smartphone is still something to look forward to. It shapes up to be the most affordable WP8 offering, giving you the easiest access to the latest version of the Microsoft platform.

The HTC Windows Phone 8S comes with a medium-sized 4-inch display but its resolution is rather low at 800 x 480 pixels. Still, the overall image quality of the Super LCD2 unit isn't bad and there's Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection on top.

 
HTC Windows Phone 8S live photos

The phone is smaller and lighter than the HTC Windows Phone 8X – it stands at 120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm and weighs just 113 grams. The internals are the same, but the Krait cores have been set to tick at 1GHz instead of 1.5GHz.

  
HTC Windows Phone 8S sized up against the HTC Windows Phone 8X

HTC Windows Phone 8S uses a similar to 8X matte plastic on almost its entire back, except for the bottom, which goes for a different material.

   
HTC Windows Phone 8S

The phone is a pleasure to handle, fingerprints occur only on the screen and over the capacitive buttons (that’s inevitable though). There is no doubt the HTC Windows Phone 8S has distinct youthful appeal, but it's design is certainly not everyone's cup of tea.

   
HTC Windows Phone 8S

The HTC Windows Phone 8S comes with a microSD slot, in case the 4 gigs of internal storage is not enough for you. Unfortunately we can't share any impressions of the Windows Phone 8 OS here either - Microsoft should complete the development first.