Review: HTC Sensation 4G
Music
The Sensation 4G has a ton of ways to listen to music. There's the HTC music player, Slacker is preloaded, as is an FM radio, and a piece of beta software called ListenNow.
The on-board music application is very good. I like the way HTC has adjusted the stock player to give it more visual appeal. HTC didn't necessarily add a billion new features, but at least the player doesn't look drab.
The FM radio works well with headphones attached. I wasn't able to dial in some of the furthest stations from my house, but the local rock station the next town over sounded great. Slacker Radio is Slacker Radio.
The ListenNow app is HTC's attempt at creating a music store of sorts. I didn't go through the rigmarole of setting up an account with my credit card, etc., but the service lets you stream songs before purchasing them.
If you use Google Music, you'll need to download the newest Android music player to access it, as Google Music doesn't work with the HTC music player.
Video
On the video side of the equation, your options are almost as varied. It has the stock YouTube application, T-Mobile's Mobile TV application, and a new service called Watch.
Watch is an HTC-made movie rental/download service. The selection is far from fantastic, but it had a number of (near) recent releases, such as I Am Legend, The Hangover, and so on. It also had TV episodes from a small number of shows. TV episodes could be purchased for $1.99. Movies could be rented for $4.99, and purchased for $9.99 - $19.99, depending on the title. Using this service requires a credit card. The few trailers that I viewed looked really good on the Sensation 4G's display.
Watch also comes with a homescreen widget that lets you sift through your library of purchases, where they can be played directly from the home screen.
Video content that you record, side-load, or download is played back in the gallery application.
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HTC Sensation 4G
