During the Mobile World Congress 2011, HTC unveiled the Incredible S which is a part of their new range of Android devices, an evolution of the original HTC Incredible. Bundled with an 4-inch display, Android 2.2 FroYo, a beautiful aluminum unibody and Sense UI, this smartphone is a great option for those who would like to purchase a new phone in the sub-30,000 range. 
Design

The HTC Incredible S is a great looking phone with a soft finish which gives it a great feel in the hand. It weighs 135.5 grams and includes a 4-inch S-LCD Gorilla Glass display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The screen may not be as amazing as Samsung’s Super AMLOED but, it does an admirable job even under sunlight, although you many need to pump up the brightness.

We like HTC’s designs mainly because they are slightly different than what every other manufacturer has been doing. It is not the slimmest device in the market and also feels slightly more bulky, but in looks it is far superior the Samsung’s Galaxy S. It has a unique shape which adds some personality to the devices as most of the smartphones today come in a plain candybar form factor. Unlike many other smartphones it does not have a glossy body hence it does not attract any fingerprints.
The device also comes with a micro-USB port which can be used to charge it or connect it to a computer, it includes a 3.5mm jack and a power button on the top. It has the touch-sensitive Android buttons below the screen, although I personally would prefer hardware keys. What's cool is that the orientation of these keys changes in respect to the orientation of the device, which we think is really smart. On the back, the device includes an 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, speakers and the battery cover.


User Interface and Features

One of the most superior features on the phone is its user interface and all the credit goes to the amazing HTC Sense UI. This version has some great improvements, the new  arsenal of features includes the ability to choose themes, widgets, social networking and the stock Google Apps which come with Android. HTCSense.com integration which adds a couple of other applications.

The device efficiently runs Android 2.2 FroYo and the manufacturer has promised that the device would get future Android updated including Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and most probably Android 2.4. Connectivity-wise it includes Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, A-GPS and HSPA capabilities. It also includes DLNA capabilities even though it does not include any HDMI connectivity options. The Incredible S comes with some extra pre-loaded applications including – QuickOffice, SoundHound and Kobo.


One of the most unique feature which comes with the device and what we believe could be an extremely essential feature amongst Indian consumers is the Internet Pass Through capability. This feature allows users to connect the device to the Internet via the computer using an USB cable. It is quite the opposite of USB tethering. Apart from this, the device has all the generic Android features, but in a more presentable format, due to the HTC Sense.

Multimedia and Camera

The Incredible S comes with an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and the ability to record 720p HD videos. It is an above-average camera with good auto focus capabilities. The images look brilliant, there is considerably less amount of noise, and the contrast seems pretty decent compared to some other device. The Samsung Galaxy S is a tough competitor when it comes to the imaging capabilities.

The video quality is impressive, it has very less grain amount and it efficiently records at 720p HD quality. The autofocus also comes very handy in video recording as it is extremely responsive, and with a simple touch you can determine the area of focus.

The sound output is not very impressive. The loudspeaker volume is very low although crisp, and this may not appeal many consumers in India. The earphone quality is also not the best and even though HTC has included the SRS plug-in, switching it on does not make a huge difference.

Performance

Despite the fact that the HTC Incredible S has the same processor and RAM as the one on the Desire HD, it feels much faster. Even though the HTC Incredible S has a single-core processor compared to newer dual-core phones, it's Quadrant score of about 1550 wont tell you anything about the performance and smoothness. The UI feels much more polished compared to many other Android devices available in the market.

The web browsing experience on the Incredible S is smooth, lag free and even Flash content plays efficiently on 3G as well as on Wi-Fi. However, high definition 720p video does show some drop in frame rates while streaming over the web. The call quality is regular - though not even close to what some Motorola handsets have to offer. It does not give you any interference, but a weak signal drops the sound quality. It has a 1450 mAh lithium ion battery, which gives about 4-5 hours of talktime and roughly about 13-16 hours of battery life depending on the usage.

To keep it simple we would like to call the HTC Incredible S a dark horse in a time where other manufacturers have launched dual-core devices. Although one disappointment is that the Incredible S won’t be able it run dual-core optimized applications, but it will still give a tough competition to dual-core phones, due its slightly affordable price, efficient performance and the intuitive Sense UI.
Via: Engadget, Technoholik