The phones full name is the Windows Phone 8X by HTC or the HTC 8X. It is the official Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Device, so you will see a lot in advertising over the coming months as Microsoft pushes this new Windows phone 8 operating system along with Windows 8 for tablets and the like.
Design
So first off the design of the phone is pretty striking; It’s got thin tapered edges that curve into the middle.
It looks really thin; on the front it’s got Gorilla Glass 2 which means that it’s going to resist your keys scraping off it in your pocket. The shell is one piece of polycarbonate, which, cooly, is the same stuff that Ice Hockey Helmets are made from – if it’s good enough to protect your head from some Canadian mentalist smashing you into the side of the rink, then your blower is probably alright too.
Features
After we put our sim in and signed into the personal accounts, the first thing we did was check out the camera, which has an 8MP sensor that captures slick pictures with admirable speed.
The music on the device is boosted with 2 amplifiers tweaked by Beats audio, which means more volume and less distortion from the headphone jack and also the 8X’s loudspeaker.
When we connected our Beats headphones into the phone, however, the enhancement is instantly noticeable.
Being a Windows phone, it has Microsoft Office so we could edit documents on the go and have it synced with our laptop so the changes are updated there too. Nice!
There’s also Xbox Music, which lets you stream music to your device once you have an internet connection; you can subscribe to the service for €9.99 a month and then download as much music as you like – which can then be played on any Windows 8 device and also to your Xbox.
Sooooo…
Overall it’s a gorgeous phone, but one that takes some getting used to if you’re an android or iPhone user. The features are strong, but the functionality of stuff like Facebook and Twitter could be better; also there’s currently no Instagram for the device. Small quibbles in an otherwise enjoyable handset.
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