HTC Sensation 4G official: 1.2GHz dual-core, qHD display, and Sense 3.0

We've known about the so-called HTC Pyramid for months, long before the Vodafone leak this morning. Now the long-rumored Android phone is official and coming to T-Mobile under the moniker HTC Sensation 4G. As expected, it matches many of the EVO 3D's specs, including a 4.3-inch (540 x 960) Super LCD screen, dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, and Android Gingerbread (2.3) with Sense 3.0. But it one ups the 3D handset by bumping the rear lens' resolution to 8 megapixels, throwing in a second LED flash, and speeding up the video frame rate to 30fps at max 1080p resolution. Speed-wise, this HSPA+ device promises download rates as fast as 14.4 Mbps. As for Sense, the Sensation also ushers in various tweaks to the company's UI, including customizable lock screens, 3D transitions, an improved weather app, and HTC Watch, the service introduced with the company's Flyer tablet that lets you download DVD-quality movies.

Before hitting the states this summer, the Sensation will launch in the UK, Germany, and the rest of HTC's "key" European markets in mid-May, with Vodafone scoring a Europe-wide exclusive for "a couple of weeks." We can't wait to put the Sensation through its paces in a full review, but happily we already scored some hands-on time with a near-final unit. Continue below the break for some early thoughts, full specs, and close-up shots of this superphone in action.

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HTC Sensation first video hands-on!

You saw the specs confirmed a little earlier today and you even got to glimpse HTC's new Sensation in the flesh. Now it's time to watch this 4.3-inch Android device strut its stuff on video. We've gotten our mitts on the Euro model and you can check out all the delicious visuals after the break.

As we mentioned in our preview of this handset, the new lock screen is perhaps the biggest (it's certainly the most immediately apparent) change in the Sense UI that comes with the Sensation. HTC describes now describes it as "smart," because it can both serve you with live information, like weather and those all-important stock prices, and also lets you unlock straight into an app by dragging its link into an unlocking circle. Frankly, we used the functionality so much that we almost forgot how to unlock the phone "normally." It's something the Inq Cloud Touch and other lower-end Android devices have previously exhibited, and a feature we really, truly appreciate.

Performance was, as you'd expect from a 1.2GHz dual-core machine, snappy all around, though we still caught some slight lag and insufficient frame rates when the Sensation was dealing with some of those yummy new 3D animations. The higher resolution (960 x 540) screen is a definite upgrade over the 800 x 480 standard that Android devices have been coalescing around and the 4.3-inch size seems like a perfect fit for it. Both the camera app and video playback in the HTC Watch app showed great speed and responsiveness to our input. Those are the things that will really harness the processing power of the Sensation.

Physically, the Sensation somehow manages to feel more compact than its predecessor atop the European jumbo phone throne, the Desire HD. The two phones both have 4.3-inch screens, but the 16:9 screen ratio of the Sensation makes it narrower, while HTC's ingenuity has managed to make the new device marginally thinner too. All in all, a definite upgrade in ergonomics. Aluminum construction is present here as well, however the entire aluminum chunk -- which spans the middle portion of the back, separating two plastic parts (each of which has its own color, giving you a tri-color rear) -- is in the removable cover. This is unlike most of HTC's aluminum "unibody" phones, which make the aluminum piece part of the phone's framework. Hey, at least you get much easier access to what's under the back cover. Delve into the gallery below for more!

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HTC Pyramid to launch on April 12th under the name of HTC Sensation?

When HTC extended an invitation our way to come "see what's next" on April 12th in London, plenty of you were already guessing that its long-rumored 1.2GHz Pyramid device would seize that opportunity to make its debut. Now Pocket-lint has apparently confirmed those inklings, with word from an insider affirming the new Android smartphone's launch for that day and also adding that its retail name will be the HTC Sensation. HTC has already filed a claim to trademark that tandem of words, which lends an extra dash of credence to this revelation. Frankly, so long as all the mighty, EVO 3D-emulating specs we've been hearing about this device turn out to be true, we don't care if HTC calls it the Watermelon. Actual availability in stores is said to be expected "in the coming months," leaving a bit more waiting to be done whatever happens on April 12th. Ah well, they do say good things come to those who wait.

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