Yet another smartphone from HTC with Android 2.1 operating system and world’s first Android handset with 3G/4G capability. Although 4G network is not implemented widely, consumer can prefer this smartphone because it can also work on 3G network. From its release this smartphone is shipped with Android 2.1 and now HTC had released major update Android 2.2 for its Evo 4G on August 10, 2010. Android 2.2 boosts the performance of EVO 4G which lacks in this smartphone that shipped with Android 2.1. Now the users can update the software from 2.1 to latest Froyo.
I am presenting you every detail about this smartphone and my presentation will go through the design, performance, connectivity, battery, Input/Output and many more which will be in pipeline.
If you don’t like this review, you can comment on this blog and i am always open to comments.
Sprint launched EVO 4G through out the United States on June 4, 2010 and on its first day it became the top selling smartphone on Sprint to date surpassing Plampre which is also from HTC.
Although the capability of this smartphone hardware is equal to Motorola Droid series, I will choose Motorola Droid2, Droid X as the best smartphones running Android till date.
Design
Pretty big design weighing 6 ounces and having bigger dimensions so hard to fit into your pocket. EVO 4G comes with 4.3-inch, high-resolution 480 x 800 display multi-touch capacitive touchscreen. EVO 4G has front facing camera with 1.3 mega pixel and mostly useful for video calls. This smartphone also comes with inbuilt buttons to perform functions that we regularly use.
Performance
EVO 4G offers decent performance with
1: snapdragon ARM Cortex-A8 microprocessor clocked at 1GHz
2: Qualcomm QSD8650 chipset and
3: Embedded Adreno 200 graphics chip.
4: 512 Mb in-built eDRAM
5: 1 GB of built-in ROM
With these hardware, EVO 4G offers decent performance with Android OS 2.2.
System software is mainly dumped into ROM. So, if you want to update your existing OS Android 2.1 to Android 2.2 Froyo you should flash this ROM for Froyo.
Connectivity
Network:CDMA 800/1900 MHz EVDO Rev. A, WiMAX 2. 5 to 2.7GHz; 802.16e
WLAN:802.11 b/g
Battery
This device contains 3.7-volt, 1500-mAh, and 31-gram battery unit. EVO 4G battery can hold charge 23 percent more capacity than an iPhone 3GS, 15 percent more than Droid Incredible, and 7 percent more than a Nexus One according to iFixIt. Battery will drain quickly because of 4G so better to turn off 4G when not in use.
Other interesting thing EVO 4G battery consists of liquid damage indicator along the top edge of the battery.
Input
The pixel density of EVO 4G touch screen is 216 pixels per inch (PPI). You can use your bare finger or multiple fingers for multi-touch operation on the phones display. Four hardware touch-sensitive buttons are present at the bottom of the screen to perform some functions which include Home, Menu, Back, and Search.
Volume Adjustment controls are present on the left spine of the spine. On the top of the device consists of a multi-function power as well as sleep button.
Four important sensors with one other sensor are present in EVO 4G.
- Proximity sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- Accelerometer
- geomagnetism sensor
- Temperature sensor
When the device is brought near the face, touchscreen and display is automatically deactivates. This reduces the risk of initiating some functions by touching to the facial parts. Next power is saved because display is not used when we are on call.
Another power saving feature shipped with EVO 4G is Ambient light sensor which reduces the brightness of the display when not necessary.
Accelerometer adjusts the orientation of the page depending upon the orientation of the phone i.e, either horizontal or vertical.
Provides orientation with respect to Earth’s magnetic field.
For monitoring the temperature of the battery
Storage
EVO 4G supports microSD that sizes upto 32 GB. EVO 4G ships with 8 GB class 2 microSDHC memory card.
Cameras
Front facing camera featuring 1.3 Mega Pixel used for video calling.
Rear facing camera with 8.1 Mega Pixel camera capable of shooting videos in 720 pixel at 30 frames/second which is a decent performer in its price range. Rear camera also features dual LED flash which is useful to take snapshots in low-light conditions.
Audio
Rear panel of EVO 4G features a speaker which is used to output audio. A loud speaker is located above the screen and a microphone which is affixed at the bottom of the phone.
Software
EVO 4G features Android 2.1(Éclair) OS but can be upgradeable to Android 2.2 with HTC Sense UI. The interface of HTC contains 7 panels which allows user to customize according to their needs.
Let me start off by saying great review! I am looking into buying the phone but have a few questions regarding it…
1: Is upgading to Android 2.2 complicated and can it be done from the device?
2: I have heard the kick-stand is a unnecessary add-on and can be irrittating, what’s your take?
3: Is the software keyboard accurate and spacious? How is it compaired to the iPhone?
4: is the screen very scratchable or even the body itself for that matter?
5: How fast is the phone activated on a regular data plan without buying one ne with the phone’
If you could answer some of these questions that would be great thanks! – Ben