HTC Incredible S

The HTC Incredible S is a really good phone, and is one of those few devices we can call "well rounded". Very good performance meets a great display, and good construction meets a great keypad. The 4-inch display is a great compromise between bulkier 4.3-inch units and the smaller 3.7-inch ones. We're greedy though, and in lieu of dual core phones on the horizon, we'd like the Incredible S to be around 4,000 bucks cheaper, but all said and done, if you're hunting for an Android phone in this price range today, the Incredible S should top your shopping list.

Pros

Well built with a nice rugged, rubberised finish
Good performer across all tests
Good battery life, most welcome for an Android device
Is one of those few devices with no serious flaws

Cons

Slightly expensive. At Rs. 24K would be a really sweet deal
Contrast of the display could have been slightly better, ditto blackness levels
Microphone near mouthpiece picks up micro noise and transmits it to the earpiece
Not really a con, but this is a single core device so future proofing is "iffy" at the moment

Another month, yet another Android phone, and look! - it's from HTC. Seriously, the (former majorly OEM) Taiwanese giant has been on a roll, releasing devices faster than Google can released updates for their bestselling cellular platform. We've seen more HTC Android phones, than devices from all other manufacturers put together. While it doesn't say much for the Taiwanese grasp of the language, you've gotta love the straight forward, (if slightly high schoolish), names HTC chooses. If they figure a phone's desirable, "desire" it is, then there's sensation, hero, incredible and so on. We got our paws on the Incredible S - a relatively new phone that has been making rather large waves. The "S" moniker indicates this phones display is an S-LCD or Super LCD, that is better than de facto LCDs found on most cellphones.

The HTC Incredible S could be termed as attractive, or really plain-jane with ugly curves depending on how you see it, and first opinions are likely to be the last in such matters. Being the open-minded blokes we're reputed to be, we kind of like the slight contour and bulge on the battery cover - this makes the phone a bit thicker than if the battery cover were flat, but certainly helps the rest of the body being a bit slimmer, not to mention pack a more potent 1,450 mAh battery - a plus given HTCs penchant for wimpy power plants. Though plain plastic, and quite flexible, the battery cover doesn't feel cheap, and has a matte rubberised grip that resists scratches and smudges, and should also wear better than glossy surfaces. It's certainly better than the glossy, ultra thin cover on the Samsung Nexus S. The front bezel is aluminium, and imparts a solid feel to the phone. The front of the phone is completely dominated by a large slab of glass that covers the LCD display, serves as a bezel for this display, and incorporates capacitive touch buttons beneath the display. The only region where the aluminium is visible when viewed from the front is the top of the device, where the metal bezel curves on to the front of the phone. Between the metal and the glass is a rubberised insert, no doubt to protect from casual exposure to dust and humidity, and in this aspect the Incredible S is better than the Desire HD, though it is not perfect - there's a smaller gap between these surfaces that catches smaller particles than the Desire HD did.
One of the little embellishments on the Incredible S is the addition of auto-rotating backlighting for the capacitive touch controls on the front. Tilt the phone to a landscape view and these re-orient. This is accomplished by using two arrays of LEDs - one each for each orientation - admitted this isn't rocket science or deeply fascinating, but it's a nice touch nonetheless, and quite eye catching when you notice it for the first time.
Moving on, we have an elongated black coloured earpiece grille, a deviation from the usual chrome, and a small front facing camera with a resolution of 1.3MP, which is good enough, but smaller than the 2MP secondary unit on the Samsung Galaxy S 2! The power button and 3.5mm jack are housed atop the phone, while the volume rocker (that is pretty intuitive to use) and micro USB port are located on the left side. The right side of the phone is devoid of any controls. The mouthpiece microphone and noise cancellation microphone have a small port each on the battery cover, near the bottom, and the noise cancellation feature really works as we discovered, but with one anomaly. Running ones fingernail on the bottom of the phone when on a call results in very little noise being transmitted to the other person, but, the noise is transferred to your earpiece instead, with slight magnification!