What is HTC Sense?

Part of the appeal of Android smartphones is the ability to customise them. But it’s not just customers that are getting in on the act - manufacturers are having a go too.

HTC Sense is HTC’s effort, or ‘skin’ as it is also known. This means that the interface is slightly different from those on Android phones made by other manufacturers.

But the differences are more than just skin deep. As well as changing the look of the phone by including a large stylised clock on the homepage, HTC has added extra functions and services to Sense.

Additional features

One of the cleverest parts of HTC Sense is also one of the simplest. When your phone rings and you want to quickly silence it all you have to do is turn it over and the on-board accelerometer will detect this and kill the ringer.

But that’s not all, the ringing volume is also automatically increased when the passive light sensor indicates the phone is in a bag or a pocket. Great if it’s wedged at the bottom of your handbag, not so great if you forgot to put it on silent before you went to sleep.

You can also keep up-to-date with everything your friends are saying by using Friend Stream. This pulls together all your contacts’ social feeds such as Facebook and Twitter and displays them in one handy place.

The latest HTC smartphones such as the HTC Sensation, run on HTC Sense version 3.0. This includes new features such as an active lockscreen which makes it easy to jump from the lockscreen straight to the phone function that you want to use.

HTC Sense services

Not content with adding features to its phones, HTC has also added a series of services through its website HTCsense.com. Here – once you have registered your phone – you can make your phone ring loudly (even if it’s set on silent) if you can’t find it, or track it on a map using GPS if it’s further afield.

If it then turns out to be lost or stolen you can lock it remotely and display a message on the screen offering a reward, or, if all hope is lost, you can even remotely wipe any data stored on the phone.

But don’t worry about losing your data forever – HTC Sense can also automatically backup your data at regular intervals.

Check out Which? for the best mobile phone deals on HTC Android smartphones.