HTC Incredible S

 
The HTC Incredible S is an 8Mp cameraphone that costs £30 per month on a 24-month contract. Launched as an Android 2.2.1 smartphone, HTC says that its over-the-air upgrade to Gingerbread 2.3 will be "before the end of May".





The very bright 4in Super LCD screen has a widescreen resolution of 800x480 pixels - ideal for video playback or video chat. The solid 8Mp main camera
credentials are joined by a 1.3Mp camera on the rear and 720p video capture.

POWER RANGER

These run off a 1GHz processor and 768MB of RAM, and there's a powerful 1450mAh battery too. HTC claims 580 minutes of talktime on GSM, but despite some app and connectivity management, we still found ourselves needing to recharge this handset within 24 hours.
 

The camera has a flash, digital zoom and autofocus, which we were impressed to find was able to focus in effectively just 2 or 3cm from an object. The lens isn't straight-through, though, so ycu aren't actually shooting what's right in front of your eyes.

Photo effects can be set in advance or applied post-shot. Colour options include sepia, vintage, bleak and overexposed, while there's a distortion fish eye lens effect and a vignette plus solarise and posterise effects.

FRIENDS REUNITED

Other smartphones offer unified messaging and the ability to tweet to friends on several social networks at once, but few dc it with as much panache as HTC handsets. FriendStream lets you go straight to your Facebook, Flickr or Twitter account and get or post updates to each or any. The useful URI. shortener will win over inveterate twitterers.

Another solidly executed feature is that for media sharing via the Connected Media app. This offers a simple way of showing off your handset-produced media content. You can share your Facebook photos with it too.

Another impressive element relates to call handling. Click the usefully large Phone lozenge at the bottom of the screen and you're immediately shown a list of recent callers and their phone
numbers. Smart Dial allows you to sort through lengthy contact lists by initial characters or numbers.

Finally, there's solid web browsing and a highly accurate G-Sensor and digital compass that swiftly pinpointed our location and orientation.

VERDICT

If you going to call something Incredible, it should perform feats previously thought impossible. The HTC does nothing of the sort, but there's still plenty to like and we were charmed by the attention to detail paid to how the average user might get more from their device.



Details

Price £30/month

Further information www.htc.com/uk/product/incredibles/overview.html  
Specifications Google Android 2.2.1; 4in 480x800-pixel display; 1GHz processor; 8Mp camera (1.3Mp secondary camera); 768MB RAM, 1GB internal memory; Wi-Fi b/g/n; 136g; 120x64x12mm