HTC EVO 4G LTE for Sprint review -- Engadget

[Sandman]

Engadget has some of the most inconsistent reviewers ever. I just don't understand that site at times, not to mention if you call them out on anything you'll probably get banned.

 

That and if you break one of their commandments such as, "Thou shall not talk bad about the iPhone!"

[digiblur]

Regardless of gender, I was just pointing out that it was very unprofessional and kills any credibility of the review or interview.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

[themuffinman]

Regardless of gender, I was just pointing out that it was very unprofessional and kills any credibility of the review or interview.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

Don't worry, none of us intended on taking anything to a personal level but like you said the lack of professionalism that comes from engadget at times is appalling and they should know better than to publish some of the things they do at times. They have really gone down hill over the last few years or so. For the most part I go there mainly for entertainment purposes in the comment sections.

[cletus]

The Verge review:

 

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/11/3012990/htc-evo-4g-lte-review

[miguell2]

So what's the deal with the LTE SIM being embedded in the device rather than easily removable like other carrier LTE devices?

[Odell]

The Verge review:

 

http://www.theverge....o-4g-lte-review

 

Well balanced in my opinion. I usually discount any Sense related reviews, pro or con, because Sense inspires pretty polarizing opinions in folks. I like it so having it is a plus. I'm running CM now and I miss some of my Sense widgets. The battery life seemed a little low but you never really know what "used it a bit" means from person to person. I'm looking forward to laying my eyes on the screen as I keep hearing raves about it.

 

I haven't heard any reports on whether this will be shipping with an unlocked bootloader or if it will be easily unlockable.

[ChadBroChillz]

So what's the deal with the LTE SIM being embedded in the device rather than easily removable like other carrier LTE devices?

 

It was probably a choice between embedded memory like the One X and removable sim or expandable memory and embedded sim. I think Sprint made the right decision.

[miguell2]

I think Sprint made the right decision.

 

You mind elaborating?

[strung]

All I want to know if HD voice reduces voice lag. Right now there's 300 ms of one directional lag on a cell-to-cell call, or 600ms round-trip. Reducing that to 150ms or less (what you get now with a land line to cell call) would improve calls a lot more than wide band audio.

[ChadBroChillz]

 

 

You mind elaborating?

 

I think people would prefer to have expandable memory over being able to hot swap sim cards, especially when they are used to not being able to do so on a cdma network.

 

For me, I like to listen to music on the go, but sometimes My signal falls in and on( especially when I am on the train). I'd rather have my music stored on the phone and not in the cloud.

 

And for Sprint benefit, They see less unnecessary usage. Think about if most people had to switch to cloud storage for music. Their internet usage would go through the roof. ATT/Verizon/tmobile benefit from overage charges, but sprint would not.

[miguell2]

I think people would prefer to have expandable memory over being able to hot swap sim cards, especially when they are used to not being able to do so on a cdma network.

 

For me, I like to listen to music on the go, but sometimes My signal falls in and on( especially when I am on the train). I'd rather have my music stored on the phone and not in the cloud.

 

And for Sprint benefit, They see less unnecessary usage. Think about if most people had to switch to cloud storage for music. Their internet usage would go through the roof. ATT/Verizon/tmobile benefit from overage charges, but sprint would not.

 

I was actually referring to the SIM situation. But I agree with you regarding MicroSD. However it seems that google is going doing away with expandable memory (http://www.phonearena.com/news/Why-Google-wants-to-kill-SD-cards-and-whats-holding-them-back_id23986), only time will tell.

[ChadBroChillz]

 

 

I was actually referring to the SIM situation. But I agree with you regarding MicroSD. However it seems that google is going doing away with expandable memory (http://www.phonearena.com/news/Why-Google-wants-to-kill-SD-cards-and-whats-holding-them-back_id23986), only time will tell.

 

the sim was an assumption on my part. The mircoSD card slot is in the same spot as the One S MircoSim slot.

 

Edit: It is also in a similar spot as the One X microSIM slot.

[miguell2]

I still don't get why they simply don't allow people to have access to the SIM card.

[Abyss19707]

Waiting for the beast 4G LTE, Quad Core, 2GB Ram, LG Phone. I would be all over that thing!

[lordsutch]

I still don't get why they simply don't allow people to have access to the SIM card.

 

Sprint probably hasn't set up the support infrastructure for it yet; their assumption from the start has been that the only ID for a phone is the MEID. And really there's no pressing need the way Sprint is set up at the moment: the only LTE phones that work on their network's frequencies are Sprint-branded (and that's unlikely to change until at least iPhone 5), there are no CDMA phones in North America that use SIMs for CDMA (even the "world phones" that Sprint and Verizon sell use the SIMs only for GSM/UMTS access; CDMA activation is at the device level, not tied to the SIM); and SIM standards are changing anyway.

 

Once Nokia and Apple (or, more likely, EU regulators) sort out which "nano-SIM" wins Sprint can just adopt that across the board for new phones and save themselves a world of headaches that everyone else is going to have if it turns out that nano-SIM isn't mechanically compatible with mini or micro and people start wedging them into their phones anyway.

[themuffinman]

Sprint probably hasn't set up the support infrastructure for it yet; their assumption from the start has been that the only ID for a phone is the MEID. And really there's no pressing need the way Sprint is set up at the moment: the only LTE phones that work on their network's frequencies are Sprint-branded (and that's unlikely to change until at least iPhone 5), there are no CDMA phones in North America that use SIMs for CDMA (even the "world phones" that Sprint and Verizon sell use the SIMs only for GSM/UMTS access; CDMA activation is at the device level, not tied to the SIM); and SIM standards are changing anyway.

 

Once Nokia and Apple (or, more likely, EU regulators) sort out which "nano-SIM" wins Sprint can just adopt that across the board for new phones and save themselves a world of headaches that everyone else is going to have if it turns out that nano-SIM isn't mechanically compatible with mini or micro and people start wedging them into their phones anyway.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

[BenChase7]

Engadget's review has been updated. One quote I found of interest:

 

"Update: We finally put the EVO 4G LTE through our usual battery rundown test (looping a video with brightness and volume set to 50%, Bluetooth disabled, WiFi turned on but not connected and CDMA plus LTE enabled) and the phone lasted eight hours and 55 minutes, just like AT&T's One X -- this despite a larger 2000mAh battery (vs. 1800mAh on its cousin) and a strong CDMA signal. The difference is likely due to the LTE radio being enabled without a network available. We were unable to test HD Voice because the feature is not expected to start rolling out on Sprint's network until "late 2012", according to a spokesperson. Regular calls, however, sounded clear on both ends and reception was problem free."

 

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/10/htc-evo-4g-lte-for-sprint-review/

[themuffinman]

Engadget's review has been updated. One quote I found of interest:

 

"Update: We finally put the EVO 4G LTE through our usual battery rundown test (looping a video with brightness and volume set to 50%, Bluetooth disabled, WiFi turned on but not connected and CDMA plus LTE enabled) and the phone lasted eight hours and 55 minutes, just like AT&T's One X -- this despite a larger 2000mAh battery (vs. 1800mAh on its cousin) and a strong CDMA signal. The difference is likely due to the LTE radio being enabled without a network available. We were unable to test HD Voice because the feature is not expected to start rolling out on Sprint's network until "late 2012", according to a spokesperson. Regular calls, however, sounded clear on both ends and reception was problem free."

 

http://www.engadget....-sprint-review/

 

I am not tech guru but doesn't cdma use more juice than gsm? Also if they said they had it set up as cdma/lte(with no lte signal) versus just cdma which would also cause it to use a little more juice. So maybe I am reading this wrong but its almost as if they are saying that they were slightly disappointed since it has a slightly larger battery compared to the one x. Anyway, to me it would seem like the evolte will have excellent battery performance.

[MacinJosh]

I am not tech guru but doesn't cdma use more juice than gsm? Also if they said they had it set up as cdma/lte(with no lte signal) versus just cdma which would also cause it to use a little more juice. So maybe I am reading this wrong but its almost as if they are saying that they were slightly disappointed since it has a slightly larger battery compared to the one x. Anyway, to me it would seem like the evolte will have excellent battery performance.

 

If the phone wasn't constantly searching for LTE it would have gotten better battery life overall. They may have purposely did this to try to discredit the bigger battery, or they were just being dumb. I'm sure it gets better battery life overall once it's always connected to LTE.

[Odell]

I think it's a reasonable battery test to run it in CDMA/LTE mode, just not a definitive test. Once LTE starts lighting up in markets around the country there will be many people who leave the LTE radio on so that when they are in range of a signal they will get the faster speed. We know that even when all markets are active there will not be 100% LTE everywhere.

 

I do think they should have also run the battery test in CDMA only mode to accurately represent what consumers will be facing once the device becomes available.

[cletus]

If the phone wasn't constantly searching for LTE it would have gotten better battery life overall. They may have purposely did this to try to discredit the bigger battery, or they were just being dumb. I'm sure it gets better battery life overall once it's always connected to LTE.

 

Really? I was under the impression that LTE was an overall battery drain. My friend has a thunderbolt (not known for it's battery longevity, granted) and he leaves his LTE radio on 100% of the time but the majority of the battery drain seems to happen when he is actually using the phone to transfer files etc. As a mobile hotspot he said it lasted 2 and a half hours for him.

[danielholt]

there are no CDMA phones in North America that use SIMs for CDMA (even the "world phones" that Sprint and Verizon sell use the SIMs only for GSM/UMTS access; CDMA activation is at the device level, not tied to the SIM); and SIM standards are changing anyway.

 

I would almost agree with you except that I can hot swap my verizon sim into any verizon LTE phone and it will pick up my account without having to make any calls to anyone. works just like AT&T or T-Mobile.

[irev210]

I would almost agree with you except that I can hot swap my verizon sim into any verizon LTE phone and it will pick up my account without having to make any calls to anyone. works just like AT&T or T-Mobile.

 

I agree - playing with some Verizon phones I was just swapping SIMS around and it was grand.

 

Just a heads up - you can activate new phones at sprint.com/activate or from your sprint.com account. Beats having to call someone.

[htown713]

http://www.phonearen...E-Review_id3030

 

A nice detailed review, including some info that I have not read before on pg 3 of the review:

 

"Videos looked wonderful on the large, highresolutiondisplay. The EVO 4G LTE was able to handle all the different file types we threw at it (DivX, XviD, H.264 and MPEG-4) in all manner of resolutions. The stock video player has some tricks up its sleeve, like the aforementioned image capture, and the HTC Movie Editor app lets you edit your video clips on the go."

 

My only gripe about the review is that he says it has a good to very good camera (except in low light) and then lists the camera in the "cons" section.