The HTC 8XT is the cousin to the HTC 8X that we reviewed in December of 2012 and the HTC 8S. It shares the same unique and appealing tapered design and zingy blue color with a soft touch finish, though it's not quite California Blue. This Windows 8 phone is relatively pocketable thanks to the 4.3" display and it's relatively affordable too, selling for $99 after mail in rebate with contract on Sprint. If you've been tempted to try Windows Phone and have been patiently waiting for Sprint to carry Windows Phone 8 models, now's your chance. The HTC 8XT is attractive, feels well made and the price is nice. Like all Windows 8 phones it has dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a GPS and NFC.
Sprint's 8XT is a bit watered down compared to the 8X available on Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. The display resolution drops to 800 x 480, and though it's still a sharp and colorful Super LCD with Gorilla Glass 2, the low spec looks bad on paper no matter how nice the display is in person. Brightness is average and viewing angles are wide. We noted that the ambient light sensor set things a bit dim for our liking so we opted for Windows Phone 8's 3 tier manual brightness settings instead. The smartphone runs on a dual core 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 CPU with Adreno 305 graphics and a gig of RAM. Windows 8 phones are spec-d for dual core Snapdragons and they usually run very responsively, but we did notice a few frame drops in demanding games like N.O.V.A. 3 on the HTC 8XT, which was unexpected. A reboot generally helped to speed things up again, so it might be a software memory management issue rather than the CPU.
The HTC 8XT has 8 gigs of internal storage with 7 gigs available, and there's nearly no bloatware. In fact, for those who enjoy Sprint Music Plus and Sprint TV and Movies, you could say there's no bloat. Telenav's Scout is pre-loaded for free navigation and mapping, as is that Windows Phone staple, Bing Maps. If you pay for the Scout upgrade you can get spoken turn by turn directions, though I'd go with the free HERE Drive for spoken directions and POIs. HTC includes their own camera application, a storage management app, Flashlight and HTC (weather, stocks and news).
Unlike most Windows phones, the 8XT has a microSDXC card slot, so we're not so bothered by the small amount of internal storage. The slot is under the removable back cover, as is the micro SIM card slot. Getting that cover off takes finesse, patience and two strong thumbs. In what we assume in an effort to keep the phone as slim as possible, the battery isn't accessible even after you take off the back cover; it's hidden underneath the matching blue plastic chassis.
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