Over the past year there have been two mobile handsets that have really stood out from the crowd in the shape of the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the HTC Sensation.  We can now welcome the next generation of these models with the release of the Sensation XE and the Galaxy Note.  We look around these two highly anticipated phones to see if Samsung still hold the upper hand.

Casting your eyes over these phones for the first time you would be hard pressed to choose a favourite from these devices.  Both handsets offer a modern and sleek design with some improvements over the earlier generation models.  The Galaxy Note boasts the more simple design of the two with its slab like appearance and straight edges.  The design of this phone is very simple but this is part of its attraction and the device holds it own against many of its more extravagantly designed rivals.  The Sensation XE uses the same body as the original model but has spiced things up by adding some crimson flashes which stand out well from the darker body.  A large letter "B" on the phones back panel denotes the presence of Beats Audio technology and adds appeal to the overall design.  

Neither of these handset can be classed as compact phones thanks to the large screens that they incorporate.  The Samsung Galaxy Note certainly offers the bigger screen thanks to its mammoth 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display.  A screen of this size deserves to be backed up by a hefty resolution and Samsung have done themselves proud in this area by giving the phone a huge 800 x 1280 quality.  This means that rather than lose quality by adding some extra size the handset delivers a standard higher than many of its smaller screen counterparts with a pixels per inch count of 285.  The HTC Sensation XE sticks with the same screen size as was used in the original model.  This 4.3 inch S-LCD screen manages to offer a high quality PPI rating of 256 from its 540 x  960 resolution display.  Both of the models use capacitive touch panels for very responsive control and also support multi touch to enable great features such as Pinch and Zoom.

As you would expect from two premium handsets both devices offer fast processors to ensure that operation is both responsive and performed at great speed.  The Galaxy Note and the Sensation XE run dual core chips with the HTC models offering a slightly more powerful 1.5Ghz chip than the 1.4Ghz unit fitted in the Samsung model.  There really is little to choose between these two models in this department with both devices offering lightning fast performance on all manner of tasks including gaming and web browsing.

The Samsung Galaxy Note and the HTC Sensation XE are superb quality phones based upon original models that are still the leading phones in the marketplace.  The HTC comes out on top for size and audio performance but the Samsung proves the better phone for screen quality and features.

The Samsung Galaxy Note is available soon and the HTC Sensation XE is available now

Over the past year there have been two mobile handsets that have really stood out from the crowd in the shape of the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the HTC Sensation.  We can now welcome the next generation of these models with the release of the Sensation XE and the Galaxy Note.  We look around these two highly anticipated phones to see if Samsung still hold the upper hand.

Casting your eyes over these phones for the first time you would be hard pressed to choose a favourite from these devices.  Both handsets offer a modern and sleek design with some improvements over the earlier generation models.  The Galaxy Note boasts the more simple design of the two with its slab like appearance and straight edges.  The design of this phone is very simple but this is part of its attraction and the device holds it own against many of its more extravagantly designed rivals.  The Sensation XE uses the same body as the original model but has spiced things up by adding some crimson flashes which stand out well from the darker body.  A large letter "B" on the phones back panel denotes the presence of Beats Audio technology and adds appeal to the overall design.  

Neither of these handset can be classed as compact phones thanks to the large screens that they incorporate.  The Samsung Galaxy Note certainly offers the bigger screen thanks to its mammoth 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display.  A screen of this size deserves to be backed up by a hefty resolution and Samsung have done themselves proud in this area by giving the phone a huge 800 x 1280 quality.  This means that rather than lose quality by adding some extra size the handset delivers a standard higher than many of its smaller screen counterparts with a pixels per inch count of 285.  The HTC Sensation XE sticks with the same screen size as was used in the original model.  This 4.3 inch S-LCD screen manages to offer a high quality PPI rating of 256 from its 540 x  960 resolution display.  Both of the models use capacitive touch panels for very responsive control and also support multi touch to enable great features such as Pinch and Zoom.

As you would expect from two premium handsets both devices offer fast processors to ensure that operation is both responsive and performed at great speed.  The Galaxy Note and the Sensation XE run dual core chips with the HTC models offering a slightly more powerful 1.5Ghz chip than the 1.4Ghz unit fitted in the Samsung model.  There really is little to choose between these two models in this department with both devices offering lightning fast performance on all manner of tasks including gaming and web browsing.

The Samsung Galaxy Note and the HTC Sensation XE are superb quality phones based upon original models that are still the leading phones in the marketplace.  The HTC comes out on top for size and audio performance but the Samsung proves the better phone for screen quality and features.

The Samsung Galaxy Note is available soon and the HTC Sensation XE is available now