The Best Smartphone Reviews Online, HTC EVO Price and Guild To Using

The Verdict

After using the EVO all day today I am very happy with my purchase. The phone did not let me down. I really did not enjoy waiting in line, but man was it worth it. The HTC EVO is taking the cake for me. I knew that I would most likely enjoy it, but I did not expect to fall so in love with it.

This phone is sure to be the staple to the Sprint handset lineup. I do not want you to be confused with my feelings. I will admit that I looked at the Incredible and the iPhone, but nothing really came close to the EVO. When the Incredible was introduced I almost jumped on board, but with the lack of 4G and the new termination fee that Verizon has enacted, I decided that waiting was a much better option. The combination of features and the network speed made the choice so easy.

I know that we have been spouting off numbers a lot lately, but when you hold this phone in your hand, you will understand. You can feel the power of the 1GHz Snapdragon flowing through the phone. It runs to my every call and beckon. The display is incredible and the camera is far better than I expected. The phone is a phone, and not a camera, so I did not put to much faith into it being amazing. I was flat out wrong. I have been playing with the video chat almost all day and it is beautiful. My battery is low, but that is why you need an extra charger. Don’t think you can make it all day on this one.

I did my best to push the battery to the limits. I do have to say that it did the best it could with all of the features. I was not expecting it to last past 4pm with all of the applications that I continued to use throughout the day. The biggest drain on the battery is the 4G network, the hot-spot feature and Wi-Fi. I also used the camera a lot during the day was well. I will say that it came through with flying colors compared to previous Android handsets.

I was very impressed with the speed of the 4G network. I do understand that since the network is new, that it will be fast until it is bogged down with other folks jumping on board. Until that day comes, I will use the speed to the fullest.

I did a lot of testing and pushing on the EVO and not once did I have any complaints. I made call after call expecting someone to tell me that I was fuzzy or in a tunnel. Again, I was happily surprised with the call quality. The speakerphone was also great. I even tested a few blue-tooth headsets to ensure that I would always have clear calls.

A few things that really stand out on the EVO are the charging port. It is nice to have a port on the bottom instead of the side. It is a lot easier to charge when you have to plug in the bottom. The ability to choose which version of Android is another great feature. It is nice to have the standard version of the OS as well as the HTC Sense UI.

The only major con of the device is the battery, the HTC EVO price, and the monthly bill. If you get past those two issues, this phone is a buy. I suggest you head into your local Sprint Store and play with the EVO. I do warn you though, once you touch the phone, you are hooked.

Hands-On with the HDMI Port

Sprint’s new HTC EVO 4G specs smartphone has several features never before seen on a phone and it’s a monster. The underside of the phone has a Mini-HDMI interface port.

You will need to purchase the Micro HDMI cord from Sprint, HTC, or an online retailer. The Micro section fits securely in the bottom of your handset and the other snaps into your HD television or other HDMI compatible device.

To test out the feature set I encoded a couple of different videos in various sizes and settings. Videos encoded at the EVO 4G’s 720P resolution performed the best of all the tests. The file format of choice landed consistantly on the MP4 encoding format. Videos above 720P resolutions stuttered and skipped frames more than was acceptable.

Videos stored on the phone or streamed off of the video site Youtube were all that is available currently to use with the HDMI Port. So any movies or television shows that you want to watch on the go need to fit on your Micro-SD card beforehand. Overall there was no settings within the menus or application control of how the HDMI performed.

Suprisingly applications that you would expect to work such as private streaming apps, Slingbox Mobile, and even your stored photos cannot be viewed through the connection. However, there is a slight workaround for photos if they are placed within a slideshow.

As to be expected the best looking videos we played using the phone were cell animated television shows and movies. They upscale really well because of the lack of extreme detail. Animated content as small as 500 by 280 upscaled to near perfect 720P.

Which is great since this 4G phone only outputs at it’s native 720P resolution no matter what content you throw at it. The volume of the content is controlled by the normal volume slider on the phone’s side. Also it takes several moments to switch from phone mode to outputting in HDMI mode. This causes you to miss several opening seconds of your content.

Video recorded and played back with the 8 Megapixel inbuilt camera looked exceptional on the phone’s 4.3 inch display, but a little ugly when output to a television. There was constant stuttering and several dropped frames which is unsettling.

Overall, the HTC Evo’s HDMI offering is acceptable at best. Sure it is an exciting new feature but it just has very few practicle uses considering the limitations. Possibly in the future when the phone receives a needed upgrade it will get some much needed use. Depending on your output display and the encoding settings of your video files you may greatly enjoy this feature. Right now there are to many what if’s and maybe’s to reliably suggest.