Urban Herman- Sprint Evo
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeT7i_ojtgU
The overall EVO design is quite sleek and modern. The “buttons” under the display are touch sensitive, so the front of the device is unbroken. Almost everything is black, with a few silver elements on the speaker grille and branding logos, plus red accents around the camera lens and kickstand on the back of the device.
That kickstand deserves special mention; the EVO 4G is the first phone I have encountered that has one. It works very well in landscape mode, and makes watching video on the device much more pleasant and enjoyable.
Unfortunately the kickstand doesn’t quite work in portrait mode. The phone can be balanced on the stand in portrait mode, but it is somewhat unstable and if you touch the display the phone will likely tip over.
Let’s talk specs. The EVO 4G isn’t too dissimilar to the Nexus One, Droid Incredible, and Desire if you consider the core specs. The device has a Qualcomm QSD8650 Snapdragon CPU clocking in at 1GHz, running on top of Android 2.1 (a Froyo upgrade will be issued in 2010, though you can get it sooner from xda-developers). It has an ample 512MB of RAM, plus 1GB of ROM. It also comes with an 8GB microSD card for storage, although this is expandable up to 32GB. The capacitive display is a traditional backlit LCD and is 4.3″ and WVGA resolution, which is the same as the HD2. The EVO 4G has a ton of wireless radios and components: WiFi, WiMax, CDMA, Bluetooth, FM Radio, GPS (assisted), and even a digital compass. For imaging, there are two camera. The front camera takes photos at 1.3MP and video at VGA resolution, while the rear camera (which has a dual LED flash) takes stills at 8MP and video at 720p. For video out, there is a microHDMI type D connector, and for syncing and charging, we have microUSB. The battery is 1500mAh, though we wish it were double the size.
The HTC EVO 4G is a commanding device that gets attention. The front is adorned with a massive 4.3″ display and a thin bezel which really makes the screen pop. The front is a flush piece of glass. The Sprint logo in the upper right corner is larger than the HTC logo.
Overall, the EVO 4G is a fast device. While running multiple apps I had no issues with the device getting slower, nor was there much of a delay when launching an application for the first time. I did run into some bugs that caused the device to either shut itself off, or crash an application (like HTC Mail, Contacts, etc). That said, these bugs occured before a software update on June 5, so it’s possible that these issues have been resolved through this update.
Even though I’m rating the performance of the EVO 4G at “great”…I’d like to see it at “excellent.” For a device that is ushering in the next generation of cellular data, I’d expect incredible performance. It’s possible that once Froyo is released for the EVO 4G, we’ll see that increase in device speed that will make things right again.
Call quality and cellular reception was fantastic. I had no dropped calls or problems with hearing the other caller or with them hearing me.
The EVO 4G has a 1500mAh battery, which is clearly not enough to power this monster. It’s odd because the HTC HD2, with a 1300mAh battery, has about 50% better battery life than the EVO 4G. It’s possible that the 4G chip may be sucking up a lot of juice, or perhaps it’s the balancing act that the device must do constantly to select between 3G, 4G, and WiFi.
Anyhow, be sure to have a charger near during the day if you’re buying this phone. I couldn’t get through an entire day with moderate usage. With light use, you’ll get a full day of life out of the EVO, and with heavy use, well, carry a second battery.
The EVO 4G does not have a physical keyboard, instead relying upon a virtual keyboard that you “type” on with your finger. I found the virtual keyboard to be much easier to use on the EVO than on other devices I’ve used recently because it is bigger, thanks to the 4.3-inch screen. That means I’m much less likely to tap in the wrong place.Since everything is spread out a bit more, I also didn’t find the word completion utility as distracting and frustrating as usual. That tends to be one of the first things I turn off when I try out a new device, but the extra screen real estate on the EVO 4G helps to solve that problem.
The HTC EVO 4G is equipped with Android 2.1 and also has the latest version of the HTC Sense. You would surely love the combination of Helicopter View, Google Navigation, Live Wallpapers, Friend Stream and the applications available at the Android Market which is more or less 30 to 40 thousand as of today. People are also into the HTC EVO because it has faster speed because of the 4G network from Sprint. The company really has to make a good impression since this is their first ever phone that works with 4G. And they are actually doing great so far.