Though HTC has not yet officially released the Windows Phone 8S in the Philippines, we managed to get hold of what could still be an engineering unit. This little handset is probably one of the nicest looking WP8 phones to be announced this year.
HTC has junked the usual monochromatic earthy tones they used with their smartphones and went color-crazy with their WP8 line-up.
The HTC 8S comes in a number of colors and the one we got here is the two-toned Fiesta Red. It goes well when you set the WP8 tiles to red or orange. There are other colors as well but we’re not sure if all of them will be released in the Philippines.
Both the HTC 8X and the HTC 8S has that new design that isn’t within their usual design signature. Aside from the cool color options, the HTC 8S has that smooth rubbery finish in a form factor that’s just right on the hands (it has the same screen size as the iPhone 5).
The back side is flat in the middle but tapers towards the edges to give it that perception of a thin profile (which is a pretty neat trick).
The unibody design gives the 8S a solid feel with continuous fluid lines that terminates right up to the glass panel at the front.
The compartment for the micro-SIM card and the micro-SD card is found at the bottom edge at the back (you can pry open the light-orange panel with your fingers). The battery is not removable though but that’s due to the almost unibody design.
The HTC 8S has decent specs but what intrigued us was the 1.0GHz dual-core Krait processor from Qualcomm. It’s the first time we’ve seen it being used in a handset.
HTC 8S specs:
4.0-inch Super LCD @ 480×800 pixels, 233ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait 1.0GHz dual-core
Adreno 305 Graphics
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G/HSDPA
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.1
GPS with aGPS support, GLONASS
5MP rear camera, f/2.8 AF
720p video @ 30fps
1700mAh Li-Po battery
Windows Phone 8
We’re still not sure when the HTC 8S will be released in the Philippines (we project a January release at best). However, it’s bigger sibling (HTC 8X) is already out in the market and retails for Php28,880. We hope that the retail price of the HTC 8S will be just around Php20k or less.
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