Design and Construction Review

On the exterior, HTC Explorer greets us with a rubber looking case, designed using crafted aluminum on the back. From a construction point of view, we can say that besides the screen protected with mineral glass, the entire case of the phone just contains the cover and nothing else.

Even if this design makes HTC Explorer a bit bigger than needed, we have the advantage of a superior protection for internal components, and if needed we can renew the exterior look without using complicated methods, by simply changing the cover.

If the compact dimensions make it easy to carry and use, the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread operating system, with the Sense UI 3.5 interface offer the recipe of a successful product.

Under the TFT 3.2 inch screen we can find four touch buttons, specific to the Gingerbread platform, along with a volume key on the side and the Lock button visible above the screen. We can also find the 3.5 mm connector for the headset and a micro-USB controller.

Technical Specifications Review

The HTC Explorer hides a Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A chipset under the hood, a processor based on a Cortex A5 core which is pretty effective, at  a modest 600 MHZ speed. Happily, the RAM memory ( 512 MB ) is enough for the requirements of the Android OS, and the Adreno 200 graphic solution does not cause problems to the HTC Sense interface.

Besides the 512 MB ROM memory and only 90 MB storage space, we have a microSDHC slot which can increase our storage capacity to 32 GB.

HTC Exporer also has a a-GPS receiver, Radio FM module, Wireless N connectivity and 3G HSDPA. Proximity sensors and accelerometer are also there, geo-tagging support for organizing the photo collection and Adobe Flash for video rendering.

The HTC Explorer smartphone ships with a 3 MP photo camera, with has fixed focus and can record 480p videos. Unfortunately it has no frontal camera so you can’t use this smartphone for video chat.

Software Review

HTC Explorer ships with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread + HTC Sense 3.5 interface.

Some of the new things added on the HTC Sense 3.5 interface is the screen locking menu with direct access to the photo camera application, messaging, email and contacts.

HTC Explorer smartphone also provides the regular suite of apps provided by Google: Mail, Maps, messages, Music, Navigation, People, Places, Task Manager, Videos, YouTube, etc. And we can of course extend the apps suite by downloading apps from the Android Market.

Autonomy Review

If without internet access through Wi-Fi connection or 3G we can get a 3-4 days autonomy, the situation gets worse if we want to stay connected on a permanent basis.

Pros

- accessible price

- Android Gingerbread + HTC Sense

- touchscreen

- compact construction, reduced weight

- good design

- microSD slot

Cons

- a case that is not so great and hard to press buttons

- modest battery autonomy

- low internal memory

- modest processor

Conclusion of this review

The HTC Explorer smartphone manages to offer a real Android experience at an accessible price.

The hardware configuration is not top notch but it offers a balance between technical specifications, providing a photo camera with acceptable performances, enough RAM memory, and a screen that provides a good quality. The software platform is up to date with the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread version, and the HTC Sense 3.5 interface does a very good job.

Although we can’t have exaggerated demands at a price like this, it would have been nice if HTC Explorer would have shipped with a better design and a bigger battery.

Rating: 3.5