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Home > Android Phone Reviews > HTC EVO Design 4G
HTC EVO Design 4G Video Review
What's hot: Affordable, high quality materials, more pocket-friendly than bigger EVO models, GSM world roaming, qHD display.
What's not: Single core CPU won't excite specs fanatics, but hey, it's only $99 on contract.
Reviewed October 26, 2011 by Lisa Gade, Editor
in Chief (twitter: @lisagade)
*This is a lightening review: our full video review plus a brief written review.
Looking for a modern EVO Android smartphone on Sprint, and don't want an older model or a pricier 3D phone? The HTC EVO Design 4G might be just the ticket: for $99 with contract you get a high quality HTC phone with a qHD display and WiMAX 4G, not to mention Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread. The phone has a 4" LCD display, but it's not much larger than the iPhone 4S. Beyond Sprint CDMA coverage with 3G EV-DO Rev. A, this is also a GSM phone with world roaming capabilities.
The EVO Design 4G has very good voice quality and solid reception too. It actually managed to occasionally pull in a WiMAX 4G signal indoors, which isn't a common occurrence in our offices. Outdoor reception was quite good, and the phone averaged 3 megs down and 1 meg up in a mediocre coverage area. 3G did well by Sprint standards, and the phone averaged 770k down and 550k up. This is a world phone with a GSM radio and SIM card slot (Sprint SIM card included) for world roaming. It will not work on T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, as they're blocked in the phone's firmware.
The EVO Design 4G runs HTC Sense 3.0 software and it has the usual collection of HTC apps like Peep and Friendstream as well as Sprint's music, radio and TV services but not Sprint ID. It has a front 1.3 megapixel video chat camera and rear 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.
The phone is well made, elegant and sturdy. It features HTC's liberal use of metal and soft touch finishes and it looks like a quality piece of hardware. The colors are understated and the Super LCD is sharp, accurate and bright. For a mid-range Android smartphone, the Design 4G seems positively upscale, but you do give up the dual core CPU found on more expensive phones and you don't get an 8 megapixel shooter. Still, it's good counterpart to the larger and more expensive HTC EVO 3D.
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