HTC EVO 3D Quick Review

HTC EVO 4G, the predecessor of the EVO 3D, is a beast of a smartphone that had set a high baseline for its kind. The specs of the EVO 3D are comparably better than the EVO 4G, but it doesn’t seem to be performing as well as expected based on early reviews of the product. Here is a quick review to help you, the buyer, decide whether the new EVO 3D would be a good investment.

Design

The basics:

• The EVO 3D has a 4.3-inch screen
• The display of the device has stereoscopic 3D capabilities
• The battery cover of the device has two varieties of plastic
• The sides of the EVO 3D is made of a matte material
• At the top of the device are the power button and the headset jack; at the left is the MHL port; and at the right are the camera button, the 2D/3D camera, and the volume rocker.

• The dimensions of the device are as follows: 126 mm x 65 mm x 12.1 mm

 

The good points:

• It is easy to access the home, back, menu, and search buttons.

The points to improve:

• It does not have the same high-quality build as the HTC Sensation 4G, which is a phone with premium materials that is comparable to the iPhone 4.
• It is not comfortable to hold the HTC Evo 3D because of the plastic covering
• The phone is also very heavy at 6 ounces

 

HTC EVO Display

Unlike the design of the EVO 3D, the display is rather impressive.

The good points:

The display has crisp colors even without the PenTile qHD display

It has impressive maximum brightness even when you are using the device on a bright, sunny day

Viewing angles are great

It can display 3D images and videos, even without the assistance of glasses!

The points to improve:

The 3D images and videos can only be properly viewed at a certain angle. Otherwise, you would have to suffer looking at a blurry image or video.

Performance

The basics:

• The phone is equipped with a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor
• It has 1 GB of RAM of 4 GB of ROM
• Operates on Android 2.3

 

 

The good points:

• The performance of the EVO 3D is as good as it an get. It does not slow down even after downloading a week’s worth of graphic-intensive games

The points to improve:

• NVIDIA does not support the Qualcomm processor of the EVO 3D so users do not have access to the latest Android games such as Galaxy on Fire 2.

 

Call quality

The good points:

• There are no issues with the call quality of the EVO 3D. It is very exemplary that it is easily the smartphone with the best call quality in the market right now.
• Quality is great even though the signal is weak

The points to improve:

• The phone gets considerably weaker signal than other devices
• You would want to stick with the earpiece because the speakerphone is very quiet, even when you crank it up to maximum volume

 

Battery life

The points to improve:

• The Evo 3D has a 1,730mAh battery that still performs poorly. Even when you leave it charging for the whole night, the battery is still easily drained with light usage – which includes checking emails, texts, calls, and briefly playing Words with Friends.

 

 

Camera

The good points:

• The 5mp rear cameras (the device has two rear cameras because of the 3D feature) and the 1.3mp front camera sufficient provides you good photos and videos
• The EVO 3D is also capable of providing 3D images and videos

 

 

The points to improve:

• The camera of the EVO 3D cannot shoot in 1080p

 

Sense UI

The basics:

• The EVO 3D uses the Sense 3.0 UI, which is still a hotly debated platform.

The good points:

• The Sense 3.0 is lauded for its functionality. It provides a customizable lock screen and also gives users the quick settings to be found in the notification bar.
• Users will be able to access the latest Android apps because the EVO 3D uses the latest operating system, which is Android 2.3
• Text in the phone is smaller because of the very high pixel density. Nevertheless, the texts are still readable.
• You can use apps such as LCDDensity to change the settings for the pixel density
• It is easy to uninstall some software that causes a bloat in the device’s system
• HTC pre-installed a 3D game for Spiderman which has been given a unique gameplay. The graphics are also realistic, although a negative point to raise here is that it has a low resolution and the menu is also blurry.

The points to improve:

• The Sense 3.0 UI is criticized for its excessive animations and minor bugs
• HTC installed by default some apps such as the HTC Watch movie rental service. The selection is quite limited, especially when you compare it with the selection offered by well-known providers such as iTunes or Netflix, among others. The price that you have to pay for a video is also tremendously high – for instance, the app would charge you $15 to watch Karate Kid. The app itself is also difficult to navigate, so everything about it would really just frustrate you
• It is a bit awkward to play 3D games on the phone because it feels like you are pressing on the third dimension.
• Sense 3.0 is still weaker compared to stock Android. It needs to provide users the option to switch the UI from Sense 3.0 to stock Android.

 

Other features

• HTC EVO 3D has the following connectivities: WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0
• It has a CDMA/WiMAX radio
• The SD card gives you an additional space of 8 GB. 

The verdict

Overall, the HTC EVO 3D is a huge disappointment, especially a for those people who had the pleasure of using its predecessor, the EVO 4G. The 3D feature of the new device is merely gimmicked to lure people into buying it. Here is a quick recap of the pros and cons of buying the new HTC EVO 3D:

 

 

The good points:

• The HTC EVO 3D has an excellent display when used in the normal, 2D mode. The qHD LCD display gives clear texts and images, and the brightness of the device is also commendable.
• No matter how much you hate the 3D feature, it is still easily escapable. After all, you don’t have to view everything in 3D, unless you choose to do so.
• Some of the things that cause a bloat in the software can be uninstalled – kudos to HTC for that!
• The EVO 3D has an MHL port, which is basically a combination of the HDMI jack and the microUSB port.
• Excellent call quality
• The camera button is huge and easily accessible anytime you need it. It is a very useful improvement.
• The device performs fast, thanks to the Snapdragon processor.

 

The points to improve:

• The 3D feature. Given that the name of the device is EVO 3D, you would understandably expect it to be the star feature; something that works perfectly. But it doesn’t work that way. The 3D images and videos can only be viewed from a specific angle, and HTC should be embarrassed about this major fail.
• The overall design and build of the device are just awful. It is not a comfortable device to hold because of the plastic covering that presses itself onto your palms and the phone’s heaviness at 6 ounces.
• The EVO 3D is also thick… adding to the reasons why you would not want to hold it.
• A lot can be said about the battery life of the device. Some users and reviews have a more optimistic experience, but the review unit on hand proves otherwise. The experience may be better for other users, but the bottom line is – it is still not a dependable phone in terms of longevity of the battery.
• Low signal than other devices, and a very weak speakerphone.
• The Sense 3.0 UI cannot be switched to stock Android, so if you hate it, then you have no choice but to suck it up and hope that you eventually get used to it.

 

The EVO 3D is a disappointment from the EVO 4G, which was a stellar device in all aspects. The phone is facing a huge threat with the Galaxy S II and the release of the Motorola Photon 4G, so HTC has to ramp up software updates and attempt to improve all problem areas if it wants to keep the device on the list of good smartphones

 

It is a phone that can still be recommended, save for the flaws that HTC could easily address with some tweaks and updates.

Have you tried using the HTC EVO 3D?

What do you have to say about it?

 

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