Meet The HTC 8x and 8s

I love new phones, and frankly, yesterday was the icing on the cake. My favorite hardware maker, HTC, released 2 new Windows Phones to the public eye yesterday. The new HTC 8x and 8s phones will be available in November and will carry with it some amazing features and specs. Let's take a look at the 8x first and follow that with the 8s.

The 8x is rumored to be headed to all the major carriers within the US. It features a 1.5GHz processor, a full 1GB of memory and 16GB of on-board storage. It also includes a Micro SD card slot that can use up to class 10, 32GB cards. The phone will be running Microsoft Windows Phone 8.0 out of the box. Its 4.3" Super LCD 2 display is crafted from Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and carries a 1280x724 pixel count (341 ppi)  for extremely sharp images.

The front facing 2.1MP camera includes an 88 degree field of view that will allow up to 4 people to be included in the self portrait mode. The rear facing 8MP camera has a BSI (low light) sensor and records video at a full 1080p resoltuion.

The included, non-removable 1800mAh battery should provide more than enough power to last through even the toughest days at the office. The 8x is available in Yellow, Blue, Black and Red and is rumored to be available in time for the Christmas shopping season.

The 8s, or the little brother to the x series, has many of the same features as its sibling, but makes some compromises to keep the cost of this device a bit lower. Powered by a single core 1GHz processor won't cause too much of a performance loss unless you are a heavy multitasker and losing the 4.3" Super LCD 2 display in favor of the lower cost 4" Super LCD will make the device have a much lower production cost. Dropping the RAM from 1GB to 512MB is the next. This is followed by the decrease in device storage from 16GB down to 4GB. It still includes the Micro SD slot for expansion so storage concerns should be minimal.

The front facing camera disappears from the device and the rear falls to 5MP with 720p video as a maximum resolution. The S also drops the compass from the directional controls and lowering the battery from the 1800mAh down to 1700mAh will also save a few bucks of the manufacturing costs. Though, we think the latter is a space move rather than a cost saver for the smaller device.

Overall, HTC has put out two top notch Windows Phones for two completely different markets. The X is aimed at the tech savvy individual that needs the latest and greatest device on the market and wants the top end specs. The S is aimed at someone that wants the best smartphone for the buck and isn't looking for all the extras. We expect to see the 8x hit the market at the $200 on-contract/$550 non-contract price and hope to see the 8s come in at $50 on-contract/$450 non-contract.