HTC has been the hot favorite in the smartphone market, especially when it comes to Android. HTC’s latest foray into this budget range is the HTC Explorer which is a 600 MHz processor phone with the power of Android 2.3 and gets nice support from 512 MB RAM. Targeted at entry-level customers in the smartphone world, this Android-based smartphone is a bunch of powerful interiors and a glitzy exterior. Let us have a look at what this phone has to offer to the wide range of HTC lovers. Let us see whether this phone has the capabilities like its predecessors to rise from the ashes.
Design & Style
With the capacitive touch display along with the four touch buttons, the device offers 3.2 inches display at a resolution of 320 X 480 pixels. The user-friendly HTC Sense UI provides brilliant support for smooth interaction and accessing of applications straight from the home screen.
The phone is impressive with a plastic body and rubber-like texture along with a metallic plate. The device supports the features like an accelerometer and proximity sensor. However, in spite of being impressive, somewhere, you will see the reflection of HTC Sensation.
User Interface
The HTC Explorer is an Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread-based smartphone with the capabilities of HTC Sense 3.5 UI which powers the device to greet the 3.2 inches display with the power of imagination. The new Sense UI is quick and it is pretty easy to handle, one can quickly access messages, contacts, and even camera features on the tip.
The interface is so simple, that you can drag the shortcut even when the phone is locked and can reach the particular application. If you wish to unlock the device in the traditional way, simply drag the circle up and you will be greeted on the home screen. The device offers 7 fabulous customizable home screens on which you can place your favorite icons and widgets.
Multimedia
The device offers fairly decent and basic multimedia capabilities like watching videos, music, internet browsing, and all. The good thing is that the device is competent to even run flashy websites and multimedia content. However, rendering is quite slow and many apps even crash on several occasions when it comes to multitasking.
In terms of support for multimedia formats, the device supports a large array of video and audio formats. In terms of picture-capturing capabilities, the device offers a 3.15 MP autofocus camera but that is without flash, which means the device is not competent to capture in dark.
However it offers additional features like geo-tagging, auto enhances, and a variety of shooting modes.
Memory
HTC Explorer has an inbuilt memory of 90 MB which is quite less however users are free to extend the memory up to 32 GB using a microSD or micro SDHC card.
Connectivity and Features
The device offers to support the connectivity features like GPRS, WiFi, 3G, and EDGE to access the web. For other wireless or wired connectivity, Bluetooth and micro USD ports are there in the device to support the easy transfer of music, videos, images, and other files.
Performance/Conclusion
Being a budget smartphone from HTC, the device offers all the basic capabilities that users might need in their daily activities. With a clear call out and call in, better battery support, 600 MHz CPU, Adreno 200 GPU, and other capabilities, the device stands as an average smartphone living up to its technical specifications.
Touch quality remains high from HTC compared to LG and Samsung smartphones and HTC Sense UI makes it a cherry on the cake experience for the device user.
It is definitely best in the segment mid-budget but if you are looking for a bigger screen and processor then shell out some extra bucks and go for Samsung Galaxy Ace.
