HTC Windows Phone 8X and 8S hands-on: First look

HTC Windows Phone 8S hands-on

Next up is the 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.