HTC EVO 4G LTE Android Smartphone Review

Out of the box, the EVO 4G LTE runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and also features HTC's Sense 4 overlay. Thankfully, Sense 4 seems to be much more minimal than previous versions of the interface.  Still, you'll notice some changes to Android 4.0 here and there courtesy of Sense, such as the ability to pinch and zoom to see seven thumbnails of your home screens as well as the ability to launch an application directly from the lock screen by dragging it into the unlock ring.

Sense also replaces the standard Android Recent Apps list with pages you can flick through. As you can see by looking at the default home screens, HTC also includes a number of Sense widgets. Of course, you can remove these widgets and customize the home screens to your liking.

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Thanks to the1.5GHz Dual-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB of onboard RAM, the EVO 4G LTE feels responsive during use. We also appreciate that HTC incorporated a microSD card slot in the phone, even though 16GB of onboard storage will be plenty for many users.

The EVO 4G LTE's screen is colorful and vibrant and viewing angles are excellent. Looking at any phone's screen under direct sunlight is always difficult, but the display on the EVO 4G LTE was still readable even under these difficult conditions.

The EVO 4G LTE is Sprint's first device that has HTC’s Authentic Sound experience which features Beats Audio. As a result, you can expect the EVO 4G LTE to offer crisp, clear sound when playing all of your favorite tunes. HTC's Sync Manager software also makes it easy to transfer your music from your PC, including music from iTunes.

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Although the EVO 4G LTE offers 4G LTE connectivity, Sprint isn't offering LTE yet. On July 15, Sprint intends to flip the switch and turn on its 4G LTE network in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio. Other cities are expected to get 4G LTE service from Sprint this year as well. Sprint expects to have completed the majority of its 4G LTE rollout by the end of 2013. By then, the carrier plans to offer LTE service to more than 250 million people across the country.  

HTC ships the EVO 4G LTE with the HTC Sense Input keyboard as well as the Swype keyboard. The HTC Sense Input keyboard has a feature that operates similarly to Swype called Trace Keyboard that lets you swipe fingers over letters for faster input. 

The EVO 4G LTE comes with your standard set of Android applications as well as a few others. Some of the preinstalled applications include Dropbox, Facebook, Google+, HTC Hub, Sprint Hotspot, Sprint Zone, Google Wallet, and others. Unfortunately, many of these apps cannot be removed without hacking the phone. However, you can create custom tabs to organize apps in the Apps menu. By default, you'll see tabs for All apps, Frequent apps, and Downloads.