If we had our way, HTC would customise its smartphone names for every country, and models for Australia would have names like the HTC ‘Fully Sick’ and the HTC ‘Sweet As Bro’.
HTC plays it safe when it names its phones, using generic accolades that translate well across markets, hence the name of one of its recent Android effort, the HTC Incredible S.
Happily, its name isn’t just puffed-up posturing, and while it’s priced as a mid-range smartphone, its feature set is largely high-end. The Incredible S sports a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8225 single-core processor, 768MB of RAM and Adreno 205 graphics. In our recent APC July issue smartphone roundup, this put the Incredible S between the Sony Ericsson Arc and Play in the Quadrant benchmark, scoring a respectable 1,402 – a good 900 points better than the HTC Desire.
The extra 256MB of RAM on top of the standard 512MB sees the Incredible performing like a champion, despite the fact that HTC has customised almost every aspect of the Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) operating system for the better. Beautifully designed widgets, animated wallpapers and themes, extra apps, and lots of little tweaks and tune-ups all amount to one of the best Android user experiences we’ve encountered.
The Incredible’s matte black casing is understated, but the rest of its hardware grabs attention. The vibrant 4in WVGA Super LCD has colours popping off the screen, while the eight-megapixel camera and dual LED flash produce sharp images and surprisingly smooth 720p HD video. The usual four capacitive touch buttons adorn the front, but HTC has gone a step further by cleverly changing their orientation depending on how you’re holding the phone – provided you only ever rotate it clock-wise.
1.1GB of internal storage is available for storing apps and files, generously supplemented by a 16GB microSD card.
Available on plans from Optus and Virgin Mobile plus outright online for approximately $550.APC rating: 9/10 (Editor's Choice)