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A small OTA update started rolling out the HTC EVO 4G on Sprint this morning that brings but one enhancement to the device: the Sprint Connections Optimizer. Never heard of it? It's actually pretty neat.
In the tech world, devices come and go fairly often. Once it's determined that a device has worn out its welcome, it ends up where no one wants to be: on the EoL (end-of-life) list. The latest EoL list to make it way into the mainstream is from Sprint, and it looks like the HTC EVO View 4G will be phased out beginning on January 29th.
At the beginning of the month, we broke the news about a huge security vulnerability in several HTC phones, including the Thunderbolt, EVO 3D, EVO 4G, and possibly more. Not long after word of this issue hit the 'net, HTC issued a response acknowledging it, as well as promising to deliver a patch to correct it. Looks like they are making good on that promise now, as several HTC devices are currently receiving an OTA update to correct this vulnerability.
HTC acknowledged the vulnerability in some of its devices that Android Police together with Trevor Eckhart posted Saturday night. The privilege escalation vulnerability currently allows a potentially malicious app that uses only the INTERNET permission to connect to HTC's HtcLoggers service and get access to data far exceeding its access rights. This data includes call history, the list of user accounts, including email addresses, SMS data, system logs, GPS data, and more.
I am quite speechless right now. Justin Case and I have spent all day together with Trevor Eckhart (you may remember him as TrevE of DamageControl and Virus ROMs) looking into Trev's findings deep inside HTC's latest software installed on such phones as EVO 3D, EVO 4G, Thunderbolt, and others.
It's a bittersweet feeling when one of the most revolutionary devices to hit the market ends up on a carrier's EOL (End of Life) list. While it's generally realized that the device itself is old hat, its retirement indicates that newer, better, and more powerful devices are upon us.
Last night, I sent out a message from our social accounts praising the Epic 4G Touch's boot times. They amazed me as soon as I turned this Galaxy S II Sprint variant for the first time last Friday and haven't ceased to amaze me ever since. I have loaded up all the same apps and then some compared to any of my other phones, and still - the Epic 4G Touch blazes by the competition like no other device I've seen.
Something that I love about the Android development community is that developers are always looking for the newest thing to beef up current devices. The case of HTC's Sense 3.5 is no different. The newest iteration of HTC's overlay was obtained from a dump belonging the HTC Bliss, a yet-to-be-released phone that will come with Sense 3.5 baked in. Ostensibly a split-second later, Senior XDA developer Evokings got 3.5-based ROM to the EVO 4G. The new version of Sense is already available on the Droid Incredible, the Incredible 2, and a few other HTC devices.
Even though the HTC EVO 4G is now well over a year old, it holds a special place in Sprint's heart, and because of that (and you know, the fact that it's the most popular Android phone on the network), the company seems committed to providing us with timely updates. A new maintenance update with version number 4.53.651.1 and the following changes and fixes is next up for the OG 4.3" pioneer that changed the smartphone world:
A little more than two weeks ago a revolutionary (pun intended) new unlock and root solution was released by AlphaRev and Unrevoked that provided S-Off and NAND write access to a number of HTC devices. That tool received an update today that adds a number of previously unsupported device to the mix:
Since the beginning of time, there has been but one rule among men: release GPL source code on time. For those who choose to ignore this rule, terrible things ensue; most of which are so horrific, I dare not speak the details. The code has always been upheld by the law, but one foul beast has found a way to circumvent the system and hold the source for weeks, even months, too long: HTC.
If you've been thinking about jumping from your current carrier to Sprint, then you may want to take advantage of this deal: one of the most popular Android phones of all time, the HTC EVO 4G, is now free with a new two-year agreement from Wirefly and Amazon Wireless. This is by far the lowest price that we've ever seen the EVO go for, and even though it's over a year old, it still rivals many of the phones currently being released.
Horrific battery life on Android phones is nothing new, and neither is the mind-blowing shattering frailty of said handsets. We've seen - and reviewed - solutions to both of these issues, but for those who want a convenient, all-in-one product, nothing beats XPAL's "PowerSkins."
EVO 4G owners, it looks like you won't have to wait long for your Android 2.3 fix, at least according to what looks like a shot of an internal Sprint memo that we were just tipped off to by Mr @5c13nc3 on Twitter (tweet since deleted).
If you grew up in the 90s or early 2000s and played PC games, you've undoubtedly heard of the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise - a series of turn-based strategy games by New World Computing. Heroes of Might and Magic 2 was the first truly amazing game of the series, followed by HOMM3 with improved graphics, and then going to crap starting with the 4th one. I think HOMM2 and HOMM3 collectively stole not months, if not years, of my time, and I am still just as excited to play either of them as I was back in the day - the replayability factor of these games is through the roof.
Of all the things that are cool and impractical in this world, this has to be one of my favorites. At one point or another, all EVO 4G owners have wanted to ditch their desktop PCs in lieu of their smartphone, right? Okay, maybe not - but if you ever get the urge to do so, then XDA member Lokifish Marz has the setup for you.
Flipz, the developer of Fresh ROM for the EVO 4G and the HTC Hero, has been quiet since the release of Fresh 3.5, and it's no surprise - Sprint hasn't pushed out anything to our beloved EVOs in months. Since Fresh is a Sense ROM that follows official releases, as opposed to being built from AOSP like CyanogenMod, I didn't really expect to see another Fresh release until either the next leak or an official Sprint release.