The Sprint HTC EVO 4G Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 28, 2010 6:04 PM ESTThe Best Smartphone for Video Playback
I’m always surprised when I see someone watching a movie on an iPhone. The screen seems too small and you have to either hold the phone or hunch over it to watch. On top of that you need to transcode your content into an iPhone friendly format to get it to work.
While you still need to do the latter to watch videos on the EVO 4G, the screen and the kickstand make it a much better experience. The display is great for watching movies or TV show. It’s large enough that you can actually get into whatever you’re watching without squinting to see what’s going on. The contrast ratio of the EVO’s display comes in handy here more than anywhere else.
The kickstand is perfect for propping the EVO 4G on a desk or a tray table in a plane. The combination of the two really make this the ideal movie playback platform. Better than any other smartphone I’ve used. While no Apple, Google or Palm phone made me want to transcode my movie library, the EVO 4G does.
The phone supports .mp4 files with stereo audio. You need to stick to simple profile H.264 for encoding and lower bitrates. I found that ~800Kbps was a great balance of file size and image quality.
The biggest problem with video playback on the EVO is simply battery life. On a single charge in airplane mode I could only get 3 hours and 38 minutes out of the device. Granted I had the brightness all the way up but you're simply not going to be able to watch more than two movies on the EVO 4G. It's comparable to a laptop in that sense but unlike your laptop, walking around with a dead phone tends to be even more inconvenient. At least if people are trying to get ahold of you. Thankfully the EVO does have a removable battery, so just plan on carrying at least one spare.
To get videos onto the phone just connect it via USB to your computer and copy the files over. The Videos app will find the movies on the drive regardless of folder, you can just stick them in the root of the microSD card.
The app only works in landscape mode and isn’t heavy on controls. You can pause, scrub and stretch your content to fit the odd aspect ratio display. The Videos app also lets you view videos taken with the EVO’s camera and browse photos on Flickr/Facebook. Duplication of features is prevalent throughout HTC’s Sense enabled version of Android.
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Adul - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
Any another thing.,,EVO owners I suggest you try the swype KB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQts9NUnL4&fea...
alainiala - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
While I agree that 99% of the time, Sprint's apps are beyond useless, I have found Sprint TV to be fantastic during this World Cup season. I can catch games over 3G or 4G while away from home. In fact, I watched USA vs Ghana from a coffee shop over 4G and the experience was fantastic. Smooth playback with only a very occasional hiccup that would clear itself up after a second. Now that both of the teams I've been rooting for have been eliminated, Sprint TV will go back to being useless.Zebo - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
Great review Anand. Good things come to those who wait, right...:PEvo is a non starter for me since I spend at hours on the phone each day and in the field and battery life kills it in addition to poor screen outside.
Looking forward to iPhone review on battery life and outdoor capability.:)
sapient2k7 - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link
One thing not mentioned in the article while comparing plans is the fact that Sprint Navigation is also free on EVO with the plan. Sprint family plans are also much cheaper than any other carrier.Personally I like the sprint apps, Sprint TV, Sprint navigation and the Nascar app are great. On an EVO Sprint TV looks great much better than my PRE. However, I am waiting for the next version of Palm PRE before making a jump :).
docmilo - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I'm dealing with the issue of Evo on Sprint's poor coverage and finding a phone the wife likes as much as the Evo. Motorola's version of the 4.3 inch screen the Droid X is out on July 15th. Any info out there on this device? I would prefer to stay with Verizon. The Droid X doesn't have the front camera and the fancy kick stand my wife really likes.We took the Evo on a trip to Leavenworth a few weeks back and rarely got signal. Yesterday we were off to the Seattle Aquarium and I popped out the Evo, turned on Sprint Navigation and if I didn't know where we were, we would have been lost. Sprint Navigation was off a couple of blocks.
adam7425 - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
You(and others, including Engadget) have described Sprint's $69.99 plan as just giving you 450 minutes and unlimited messaging/data. A little more clarification would go a long way. The 'Everything Data - with ANY Mobile, Anytime' plan gives you Unlimited talk to any cellphone on any network. The 450 minutes only apply to landlines. For some people thats all the unlimited they need. I myself have months where I don't use a single one of those minutes.adam7425 - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
You should point out that sprints 450 minutes are for landlines only. Any cellphone to cellphone is unlimited.sssbbb - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
on Performance page: "Zotac XBOX HD-ID11" -> "Zotac ZBOX HD-ID11"steeda1974 - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
I personally own this phone. After around 10 days, the battery life got extremely better. Has anyone else experienced this? It went from around 4 hrs max with everything running. I would highly suggest to turn GPS, 4G, and WiFi off when your on the move or at work. This has increased my battery life to around 12-18 hrs. And to anyone that says they need to have 4G on to watch flawless TV, who the heck watches TV on a 4-5in screen for more than 30 minutes at a time? I would just go upstair or downstairs and watch it on a Flat Screen TV instead of this smaill screen. If I'm wrong then I apologize but I think everyone is with me on that one. As far as the UI being a little shaky, who really cares, its hardly noticeable and its just a phone that is mearly played with for over 10 secs at a time. The phone is the best thing that I have personally come across in 2-3 yrs. For all that get this phone, immediately save contacts to google account as soon as you get it. This is the only way to get back your contacts from Sprint at this moment.steeda1974 - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link
I personally own this phone. After around 10 days, battery life got much better. I would suggest turning off WiFi, bluetooth, GPS, and 4G when on the run. GPS will automatically turn on if you use navigation. UI is smooth, I do not notice any lagging at any given time. I'm sure if you pay attention all day long, you would find a problem or lagging at times. But its not that big of a deal compared to all other phones at the moment. Its been the best thing to come along in around 2-3 yrs. I love it!! Plus if your using it as a mobile hot spot, dont you think you would plug it into a USB connection from the device that you are using and turn 4G on? Just me personal opinion though.