The Explorer's outer shell is made of patterned plastic that has a rubbery feel to it - creating an impression of ruggedness to match its name. The plate of brushed metal at the center of the rear backs that up too. The phone is not actually shock proof but we still appreciate the tough feel.
The HTC Explorer earns extra points for handling too thanks to its compact size. The diminutive body and rounded corners make it feel like a pebble in the hand.
The Explorer has a 3.2" LCD display with HVGA resolution (320x480 pixels). It's not the sharpest display around (you easily notice the jagged small type), but viewing angles are quite good for the class - contrast deteriorates when the screen is viewed at an angle, but it's not too bad.
- HTC Explorer
Small as it is, the Explorer has Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread with Sense UI 3.5 on top, just like its elders. Here are the rest of the specs along with the downside
MA IN FEATURES:
- Light and compact
- Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
- 14.4 Mbps HSDPA, 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
- 3.2" 256K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution (320 x 480)
- 600MHz Snapdragon S1 MSM7227A chipset, Cortex A5 CPU, 512MB RAM, Adreno 200 GPU
- Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) with HTC Sense 3.5 UI
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with hotspot functionality
- GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
- 3 MP fixed-focus camera, geotagging, face detection
- VGA video @ 24fps
- microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
- microSD slot (up to 32GB)
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- Accelerometer, proximity sensor
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Turn-to-mute, lift-to-tone-down, pocket mode, flip for speakerphone
- Smart dialing
- DivX/XviD video support
- HTCSense.com integration
- Adobe Flash support
- Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)
DRAWBACKS:
- Slow CPU
- Modest retail package
- Fixed-focus camera
- No Document viewer
- No secondary video call camera
The Explorer leaves behind the old ARMv6 processor and moves to the Snapdragon S1 platform that comes with ARMv7. What's the difference between v6 and v7 you ask? Some apps need v7 to work, the Flash player for example.
The processor is clocked quite low, but we still might see some performance boost compared to the HTC Aria and even the Wildfire S. The 3MP fixed-focus camera doesn’t sound very exciting either, but the HTC Explorer is an entry-level device and higher specs would've run the budget dry.
The HTC Explorer comes with a very modest package - just a compact charger and a microUSB cable that pairs with it. We know it's an entry level model, but we were hoping for a headset - you can plug any old pair of headphones, but still, a headset would have been much appreciated.
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