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Jul

HTC EVO 3D Review: A Nearly Flawless Device With One Completely Useless Gimmick

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Sprint

Last Updated: February 8th, 2012

To say the HTC EVO 3D has a lot to live up to would be a colossal understatement. Its predecessor, the EVO 4G, ushered in a whole new smartphone era - one replete with 4.3-inch, 4G-capable Android behemoths.

And at least on paper, the new EVO is a marked improvement over the original, packing a significantly crisper display, a processor with twice the cores, and of course the much-ballyhooed stereoscopic 3D capabilities. But early reviews have been anything but glowing, and the kickstand - one of the EVO 4G's most unique features - is nowhere to be found on this new version of the handset.

Jun

[Deal Alert 2] EVO Shift 4G Now Free At Wirefly On New 2-Year Agreement

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), News, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Last week, I listed the EVO Shift 4G in my roundup of the best Android phones under $50, but that was when it was priced at $40 on AmazonWireless. Wirefly has now gone and beaten that price silly, offering the QWERTY-keyboard slider phone for the low, low price of "free" if you open a new Sprint account, or add a new line to your existing plan.

The EVO Shift 4G does have a tiny 3.6" display, but it's also packing a next-gen single core Snapdragon processor and a big 1530mAh battery - along with a fresh update to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread.

Jun

HTC EVO 4G vs. EVO Shift vs. EVO 3D: Battle Of The Specs

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO 4G (Supersonic), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, News, Sprint

It's June 24th, and you know what that means: the heir to the throne of the EVO 4G, one of Sprint's most successful Android devices ever, has officially gone on sale. But considering that reviews have been mixed and that purchasing the EVO 3D will lock you into a two-year contract, the buying decision is understandably difficult.

To help you find out whether Sprint's latest flagship phone is right for you, we've put together a handy-dandy table comparing the specs of all three members of the EVO family:

Spec type	EVO 4G	EVO Shift 4G	EVO 3D
CPU	1GHz Qualcomm QSD8650 single-core Snapdragon	800MHz Qualcomm MSM7630 2nd-gen single-core Snapdragon	1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660 dual-core Snapdragon
Display	4.3" WVGA (800x480) TFT	3.6" WVGA (800x480) TFT	4.3" qHD (960x540) SLCD with stereoscopic 3D capabilities
OS	Android 2.3	Android 2.3	Android 2.3
Front camera	1.3MP	N/A	1.3MP
Rear camera	8MP	5MP	Two 5MP shooters
RAM	512MB	512MB	1GB
Internal storage	1GB	2GB	4GB (note that the OS takes up a lot of that)
Included SD card	8GB	2GB	8GB
microHDMI	Yes	No	Kind of (via MHL adapter)
DLNA support	No	Yes	Yes
Keyboard	Virtual	Physical	Virtual
Buttons	Capacitive	Capacitive	Capacitive
Size	4.8 x 2.6 x 0.5 inches	4.61 x 2.32 x 0.59 inches	5 x 2.6 x 0.47 inches
Weight	6 ounces	5.85 ounces	6 ounces
Battery capacity	1500mAh	1500mAh	1730mAh
Price on contract	$99.99	$99.99	$199.99

Of course, a phone cannot live on horsepower alone, so rest assured that we're already testing the EVO 3D to see if its formidable specs amount to a good user experience (and yes, our review will be up soon - stay tuned!).

Jun

Sprint's Q3 Roadmap Leaked - Samsung Epic 2 And "Full Touch 4G" Device In The Pipeline

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Epic 4G Touch, Samsung, Sprint

The EVO 3D just came out today, but it looks like HTC's new flagship won't be the last high-end Android phone to grace Sprint store shelves this year. Quite the contrary - according to This is my next, whose editors have a nearly spotless track record where leaks are concerned, "Big Yellow" is gearing up to launch two new Android handsets, this time from Samsung: the Epic 2 and an as-of-yet nameless "full touch 4G" device.

The Epic 2, as its name implies, will be the successor to last year's Epic 4G. Sadly, This is my next reports that the phone will be a marginal improvement at best - its processor is still a single-core Hummingbird chip (though the clock speed is now 1.2GHz, as opposed to the original's 1GHz), and its screen is still 4 inches.

Jun

Nielsen: Android Data Usage Only Averages 0.6GB A Month - Do Tiered Data Plans Make Sense?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, News

Nielsenwire released new smartphone figures this morning, with a focus on data consumption. Topping the list of the data consumers amongst the smartphone OS's was, of course, Android.

The average Android user utilizes 582MB (or roughly .6GB) of data per month - far less than what is allocated by any of the major carrier's plans. We often hear about consumers becoming feisty over data plan tier-ification or throttling, but how many people do these caps and throttles actually affect? According to Nielsen, less than 3% of smartphone users average data consumption exceeding 2GB per month. Now, this is combining all platforms - though Android obviously makes up the majority.

Jun

HTC EVO 3D Review Roundup: One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Sprint

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

HTC and Sprint's EVO 3D, the first three-dimensional handset in the US, won't be available in stores for eight more days - but the early reviews have already started flooding in. And I'll tell you this: they're pretty mixed. Some reviewers, such as LaptopMag's Mark Spoonauer, wholeheartedly enjoyed the device, even going so far as to give it an Editors' Choice award. Others, however, weren't nearly as fond of the phone - Gizmodo, upfront as always, called it "only suitable for shooting yourself in the face." Ouch.

Then again, you can't summarize the successor to one of the most successful Android phones ever in just two sentences; for the full scoop, let's take a quick look at five of the best EVO 3D reviews on the net.

Jun

Sprint 4G Uplink Speed Cap To Increase From 1.0 To 1.5Mbps On June 10th

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Rumors, Sprint

Come Friday, June 10, Sprint subscribers with 4G coverage will be treated to a pleasant surprise: the WiMAX uplink speed cap will increase from 1.0Mbps to 1.5Mbps.

Obviously, the 1.5Mbps upload speed won't be consistent everywhere, as reception varies (significantly, with Sprint). Also notable is that if you're using a "fixed device" (i.e. a Motorola 4G desktop modem), you won't be affected; the 1.0Mbps speed cap is on your device to stay.

Nevertheless, we're sure EVO and Epic 4G users will be happy to hear about these changes - faster upload speeds are always good news, even if competitors don't even have such caps.

Jun

HTC EVO 3D Coming June 24, Says RadioShack Flyer

Posted by David Ruddock in EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, Sprint

Update: One of our commenters has pointed out that a current Sprint carrier-switch incentive plan (offering $125 per line to switch from another carrier) ends on June 23rd. Oddly convenient timing, don't you agree? That makes this date seem even more likely. Thanks Todd!

Well, there's been a lot of rumor-mongering about the EVO 3D's release date, and we've stayed pretty silent on the matter. Today, thanks to the good folks over at Phandroid, we've got a date we feel pretty confident in posting (in the sense that it was probably real at the time the flyer in question was printed):

Aside from the almost annoyingly ever-present Green Hornet ad-placement, at the center of the ad you can clearly see the words "Pre-order the new HTC EVO 3D Today.

May

[Deal Alert] LetsTalk.com Memorial Day Sale

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Deals, News, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tips & Tutorials, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: May 30th, 2011

Update Memorial Day: Well, Amazon prices didn't drop today. Our Amazon rep hasn't gotten back to us to confirm, but @AmazonWireless has tweeted that the "all 4G phones free" sale wasn't real, so I'm writing off the Amazon part of this sale as a hoax. :(

LetsTalk.com

Deals - we got 'em. While Amazon is having their own Memorial Day Android handset sale over at Amazon Wireless, LetsTalk.com wasn't about to be outdone. Here's the most relevant (not all-inclusive) deals, including the 20% off coupon code for Verizon phones (the code is: 7c7f3319) (prices that beat Amazon's are italicized, and we've provided Amazon's prices for comparison).

May

Download: EVO View 4G Full Release Firmware Leaked, Get It Now

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, EVO View 4G, HTC, News, Sprint

911sniper has done it again - this time with a full RUU (full release firmware) from the upcoming EVO View 4G, Sprint's 4G-ified version of the now-available HTC Flyer (the latter is on sale now at Best Buy).

The hefty file weighs in at a staggering 522MB - and given the massive load that's going to be placed on 911sniper's mirror, we're going to try and get a copy of it up on our own high-speed mirror in the next hour (as soon as we finish downloading it), so that the community can get cracking on this thing.

Full RUU files allow developers to get their hands on what are often older flashable ROMs, which may contain unfixed exploits allowing rooting or bootloader unlocking.