Review: Windows Phone 8S by HTC

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Easily dismissed as the flagship HTC 8X's smaller brother, the Windows Phone 8S by HTC is an attractive, powerful and refreshingly compact smartphone with many features that make it perfect for people looking for their first Windows Phone 8 smartphone experience.

The HTC 8S is available from Virgin Mobile in Canada. Powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor and Windows Phone 8, this smartphone handles super-fast LTE speeds capable of streaming online video and awesome TV shows on the go with Mobile TV from Bell.

The built-in Universal Beats Audio turns up the music with studio-quality sound to make the Windows Phone 8S a personal music hub. 

The design that has gone into this smartphone is quite impressive. HTC's bright coloured motifs blend nicely with the flashy tile-based interface of Windows Phone 8.

The Windows Phone 8S by HTC looks quite playful and a little trendy. The rounded and textured contour of the Windows Phone 8X is visible here to a lesser extent.

This is a relatively thin and light smartphone, certainly one of the slighter Windows Phone 8 devices out in the market at 120.5 x 63 x 10.28 mm and 113grams.

Still, the 4-inch screen is more than ample for swiping through tiles, watching video and playing extended sessions of Ilomilo. 

I like the Windows Phone 8S' feel in the hand, it is reassuringly solid, sturdy and creak free. Proving that HTC can teach rival smartphone makers in the Android and Windows Phone markets a thing or two about building robust hardware that works seamlessly with the OS.

Being an HTC product, buyers are assured of two outstanding features out of the boc. An amazing camera and superb audio by way of Beats technology.

The camera follows the tradition started with the HTC One X and is a capable and fast 5-megapixel still and 720p HD video- recording capable unit.

The camera is very good for stills and features a F2.8 aperture and 35mm lens. There's also a dedicated camera button which I feel is a must have for today's increasingly camera-centric smartphones.

1080p HD video recording would have been preferable but there's a need to differentiate this model from the flagship.

Most users will be perfectly happy with 720p HD videos. There's also the option of expanding the 4GB base storage with an inexpensive microSD card.

Smooth and slick, the Windows Phone 8S by HTC may appeal to younger users or Windows Phone newbies who want a well packaged and amply outfitted smartphone with definite style points.

The Windows Phone 8S costs $79.99 with a no term contract on the Virgin Mobile SuperTab or $279.99 with a 30-day agreement. The HTC 8S is now available atwww.virginmobile.ca, Virgin Mobile retail stores and The Source.

Rating:

4 out of 5