HTC Sensation XE With Beats & HTC Radar Available Now For PHP 26.6k, PHP 18.2k

October 25 10:51 2011 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

HTC Sensation XE

We know you’ve been itching for that new dual-core 1.5Ghz HTC Sensation XE with Beats tech and buds. Or maybe some of you have been wondering when we’ll get a taste of Windows Phone’s HTC Radar. Well, there is no more waiting. They’re now available and, between us, priced very competitively against their contemporaries. The HTC Sensation XE with bundled Beats buds can be had for PHP 26,600, while the HTC Radar WP7 device is just at that PHP 18,200 price point. Both phones are now available from CMKCellphones. How or why they got them so fast is beyond us, but they’ve confirmed that these are white market official HTC PH units and will have 1 year warranties. So yes, this is it. (Expect to see other retailers slowly getting stocks of these devices in the next few weeks.)

The Sensation XE is HTC’s newest flagship phone delivering blistering performance, subtly upgraded from the already-quite-excellent HTC Sensation. It now has a dual-core 1.5ghz processor (over the 1.2Ghz of the original), pushing pixels onto the 4.3” 960×540 high resolution display and running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Other specs include an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash, VGA front facing camera, 1080x30fps video recording, and your usual GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi connectivity options. It now sports a slightly larger 1730mAh battery that should make it last a little extra longer than the Sensation’s 1520mAh battery. Of course the biggest addition, next to the processor upgrade, is the included Beats technology, styling, and earbuds. The Sensation XE comes with a pair of custom Beats headsets with in line controls and mic. It comes in the usual Beats stylish red and the phone has physical and software enhancements to match. With prices for individual buds from Dr. Dre’s line in the thousands of pesos, getting one free from a Sensation XE sounds like an absolute steal. And given that the recent price for the Sensation was about PHP 26,000, its amazing that the Sensation XE just bumped it down to occupy the exact same spot now at PHP 26,600. (Sensation now cheaper at PHP 24,500.) That there is a pretty good bargain.

HTC Radar

But don’t let that take anything away from the HTC Radar. The Radar is the newest addition to the HTC Windows Phone 7 line, packing that new coat of Mango 7.5 goodness. It has a 1Ghz processor, 3.8” 800×480 resolution screen, 5MP camera with LED flash, VGA front facing, and can record 720p videos at 30 frames per second. The great part about the Radar is that they’ve enhanced the camera capabilities quite a bit. The camera module now has an f2.2 aperture and has a Back Side Illuminated CMOS sensor that should guarantee some pretty good shots even in low light. Windows Phone also includes a Panorama shot mode, and a much welcome physical camera button that can launch the camera everytime, even when locked. With a sleek, mild mannered, aluminum unibody 3.8” form factor, it looks like it’s the succeeding the HTC Mozart – a device we liked quite a lot. With the new Mango update, it should also have WiFi tethering capabilities – which should improve its usefulness to people on the go with lots of devices. For all those, you can still get it for under 20k right now from CMK at PHP 18,200. It will probably sell for slightly higher from other retailers when they get it on stock, so expect the SRP to be a few thousand pesos above it.

Two new much-awaited HTC phones are now in the market for you to enjoy. While we’re waiting for HTC Philippines to formally announce these and give us their exact SRPs, you can all skip all the hoolaboo and grab these devices now, if you so wish.