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

HTC Windows Phone 8X hands-on

The announcement part of the event is now over and it's time to take the HTC Windows Phone 8X for a spin. The WP8-powered flagship is undoubtedly the more interesting of the two new devices we saw today as it's got a better screen and more processing power.

HTC Windows Phone 8X official photos

Built around a 4.3" 720p SuperLCD 2 screen, the HTC Windows Phone 8X is more compact than the Titan and measures 132.4 x 66.2 x 10.1mm. The matte finish of the polycarbonate unibody makes the HTC WP 8X feel great in hand and the tapered edges help it feel rather slim, despite its 10.1mm profile.

The display is protected with Gorilla Glass 2 and is laminated to reduce glare. The great resolution on the 4.3-inch display results in sharp images and really nice and crisp colors.

HTC Windows Phone 8X display

The HTC 8X comes in four different colors California Blue, Flame Red, a super-deep Graphite Black, and Limelight Yellow. They are all monochrome, unlike the two-tone polycarbonate coloring of the 8S. Here's the Windows Phone 8X in yellow.

HTC Windows Phone 8X in Limelight Yellow

HTC Windows Phone 8X live photos

The HTC Windows Phone 8X is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor, Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM. HTC didn't allow us to play with the OS, as Microsoft hasn't completely finalized it yet, so we can't report on how smooth the experience is with this exact hardware.

At the back, there's an 8MP camera with a BSI sensor, bright F/2.0 aperture and wide 28mm field of view. It features HTC's dedicated ImageChip and is capable of shooting 1080p video with stereo sound. Another 1080p-cabale F/2.0 snapper is at the front - this one does 2.1MP stills.

A great news for sound lovers will be the addition of HTC's trademark Beats Audio sound enhancement in the 8X. Unfortunately, a Beats headset won't be included in the retail package.

The HTC Windows Phone 8X packs 16GB of built-in storage, which is all you get since there's no microSD card slot (just like on the One X). Connectivity is rich as well, including dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, NFC, Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB and 3.5mm audio jack.