EVO 4G (Supersonic) - 3/17 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

[Now With Direct Download Link, Known Bugs] EVO 4G Gingerbread Update Now Available Via Manual OTA Check

Posted by David Ruddock in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News

Looking for a rooted version of this update? Have no fear - head over to our other post.

Update 2: Here's a direct download link from our own (fast) mirror for the EVO 4G Official Gingerbread OTA.

HTC EVO 4G Official Gingerbread OTA: Download here

To flash it, follow these instructions:

Download the OTA
Rename the file "update.zip" (the actual file suffix needs to be .zip, make sure .zip isn't just in the name [eg, not update.zip.zip])
Place the file on the root of your SD card (the main directory you see when you mount your EVO as a disk drive)
Reboot into recovery (power off, then hold volume down when you hit then power button to power back on)
Select recovery from the menu with the power button, then, when the sign with the exclamation point appears, press Power+Volume Up at the same time, and wait (up to 30 seconds).

Jun

XPAL PowerSkin Review + Giveaway: Extra Juice Meets Extra Protection [Updated: And The Winners Are...]

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Contests / Giveaways, Droid X (Shadow), Droid X2, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy SL, myTouch 4G (Glacier), Vibrant

Last Updated: June 15th, 2011

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."

Available for a variety of devices, PowerSkins are, in a sentence, silicone cases with built-in batteries from which your phone can sip juice once its internal supply has run dry. With the help of the kind folks on XPAL's PR team, I hooked my EVO 4G up with one and am now ready to report on the aftermath.

Jun

[Update: Manual Update June 3rd!] [Update 2: Confirmed!] HTC EVO 4G To Get Official Gingerbread OTA Update On June 6th

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Sprint

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).

Update: According to the full text of this memo, sent by another anonymous tipster to AndroidCentral, the part that we are missing next to "manually update" actually reads "June 3rd." To force the check, just hit up Settings > System Updates > HTC Software Update, but wait till Friday to do so!

Update 2: Sprint just released the official word that the update will indeed start rolling out on Monday, June 6th, with a manual update available on June 3rd.

May

13 Ways CyanogenMod 7 Makes My Android Phone Feel Future-Proof [Deep Review]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Other Reviews, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

After spending almost a year with my EVO 4G in what was essentially rooted stock condition (Fresh ROM, based on stock Sense, minus bloatware), I finally got frustrated to the point that I was ready to make the jump to CyanogenMod and see just how much better the fully unlocked stock Android experience with CM improvements is.

The Sense ROM offered by Fresh, even in its supposedly optimized form, was starting to get quite slow and would sometimes start choking for no reasons whatsoever. Whenever I was installing apps, I could forget about getting any useful response out of the phone - I had to wait till it was done in order to avoid frustration.

May

[Deal Alert] Amazon Wireless Is Slaying Prices For Memorial Day Weekend

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Charge (i510), Deals, EVO 4G (Supersonic), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), Infuse 4G, Inspire 4G (Ace, Stallion), News, Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Revolution

If you've been considering a new phone purchase lately, then this weekend is probably the best time to pick a new handset, as Amazon Wireless is dropping prices like crazy. Check out some of the deals that you can get:

HTC Inspire 4G (AT&T) - $0.01 with two-year agreement (new or upgrade)
Motorola Atrix 4G (AT&T) - $79.99 with new two-year agreement; $99.99 with upgrade
Samsung Infuse 4G (AT&T - $129.99 with new two-year agreement; $179.99 with upgrade
Samsung Droid Charge (Verizon) - $179.99 with new two-year agreement; $199.99 with upgrade (doesn't apply to family plans)
HTC EVO 4G [White] (Sprint) - $59.99 with new two-year agreement; $149.99 with upgrade
HTC EVO 4G [Black] (Sprint) - $79.99 with new two-year agreement; $179.99 with upgrade
HTC EVO Shift 4G (Sprint) - $49.99 with new two-year agreement; $129.99 with upgrade
Samsung Nexus S 4G (Sprint) - $49.99 with new two-year agreement; $99.99 with upgrade
LG Revolution (Verizon) - $149.99 with new two-year agreement; $199.99 with upgrade

...and there's more where that came from.

Apr

Forget About Motorola's WebTop Dock, Transform Your EVO 4G Into A Desktop PC

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, News, Sprint

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.

Using mostly free software and a little bit of elbow grease, he has his EVO 4G set up as a fully functional desktop computer, including a mouse, keyboard, speakers, monitor - the works. You really need to see what I'm talking about to get the full effect of how cool this is, and fortunately for us, Lokifish has made a video to demonstrate:

Pretty incredible, no?

Apr

Updated Fresh 4.0 ROM For HTC EVO 4G (Beta) Now Serving Delicious Gingerbread To All Donors, Includes Fast Boot

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Sprint

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.

With the arrival of a test build carrying Gingerbread for the EVO 4G yesterday, the situation changed - while being a test ROM, it seemed relatively fully baked and signed by Sprint's release keys, meaning its authenticity was undisputed.

Apr

Official Gingerbread Build Leaks For HTC EVO 4G, Mirrored For The World To Enjoy

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, News, Sprint

It's been a few weeks since the deluge of Gingerbread builds leaked on March 27 (Droid X, Droid 2, Galaxy S i9000), but now another big dog is looking to join the party: a test Android 2.3 ROM for the HTC EVO has leaked and been posted to the XDA forums. A ton of people have taken the bait, with the thread already checking in at over 73 pages long - and it's only been up for about 6 hours.

I haven't had time to go through the whole thread, obviously, but user quocamole was kind enough to post a quick good/bad list:

some quick initial impressions:

good:
-2.3.3!

Apr

[HTC EVO 4G] Undervolt Your AOSP Kernel To Improve Battery Life

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

This is for rooted users only.

We all want to squeeze every last little bit of juice out of our devices that we can, and if you happen to have a rooted HTC EVO 4G running an AOSP kernel (such as the one that ships with CyanogenMod), then XDA member -viperboy- just made your life a little bit better. Thanks to him, there is now an easy to way to undervolt your kernel, by way of four flashable .zip files.

Generally speaking, AOSP kernels are volted to support several different devices, so it stands to reason that some devices could handle lower voltages.

Mar

CyanogenMod 7 RC4 Has Arrived For All Supported CM Devices - Bug Fixes Abound

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Aria (Liberty), Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Desire HD (Ace), Development, Droid (Sholes), EVO 4G (Supersonic), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, Legend, Motorola, myTouch Slide (Espresso), Nexus One (Passion), Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung, Wildfire (Buzz)

CyanogenMod 7 has earned its reputation as the most reliable Gingerbread ROM, even though it hasn't yet entered stable mode. And tonight, the fun goes on - ~~RC4~~ RC3.14159265358979323846264338327, as the CM team so lovingly refers to it, has just been launched for all supported CM devices.

While RC4 doesn't contain any ground-breaking new features, it does bring a number of bug fixes - for example, hardware acceleration has been added to the Nook Color, and EGL has seen a big fix. It isn't perfect yet - kmobs notes that there may be some "lingering GPS issues on the EVO and the N1 call audio bug hasn't been fully fixed" - but it's still worth the update.