HTC Evo 3D

HTC Evo 3D
For: Sense 3.0, gorgeous screen, built well, looks good, 3D is implemented
well, good multimedia features, bundled apps, good battery life.
Against: No full HD recording, no usable built-in storage, only supports sideby-
side 3D videos, 3D content not easily available.

The Evo 3D is HTC’s new flagship
handset. It doesn’t feel all that
heavy, even though it does weigh
170 g, which is heavy for a mobile phone.
The plastics used are of high quality and
it looks and feels like it’s built to last.
The 4.3-inch screen sports a resolution
at 540x960, which makes everything
appear a little bit sharper and clearer.
There’s a front 1.3 megapixel camera
along with other sensors like Gyro,
Proximity and Ambient light sensor.
Up top, we have the power/sleep and
3.5mm headphone jack followed by an
oversized volume rocker on the side. HTC
has included a physical shutter button
for the camera and a switch to toggle
between 2D and 3D mode. The microSD
card slot features hot swap as well.
The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s
MSM8660 dual-core processor running
at 1.2 GHz and runs the latest version of
Android 2.3.4. Running on top is Sense
3.0, making the interface swift and fluid
and navigation effortless. Sense 3.0
includes some bundled apps like Adobe
Reader, Facebook, HTC Hub, HTC Likes,
Polaris Office, SoundHound, etc. The
notification bar has been heavily modified
to show recently closed apps on one tab
and a Quick Settings tab, which includes
toggle switches for Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.
The 3D effect is a lot more forgiving
on the eyes and while it still has a narrow
sweet spot, the effect seems better.
There is barely any crosstalk and the 3D
effect is sharp and clear by just using a
pair of active shutter glasses. All your 3D
images and videos are grouped together
in the gallery, so it’s easier to find them.
The Sense 3.0 music player is quite
feature-rich, with sound enhancements
like SRS and equalizer presets. The sound
quality from the stock player is decent,
but if you want decent bass, you’ll have
to turn to the enhancements.
This is a quad-band phone with full
HSDPA and HSUPA 3G support. Along
with Wi-Fi ‘n’, we also have Bluetooth 3.0.
There’s no NFC support or USB on-the-go,
but it does have MHL support. The Evo
3D comes with a bunch of games 3D
versions of The Sims 3 and NFS: Shift.
The camera quality is good in 2D
mode, but in 3D, you’re limited to just 2
megapixels, which delivers poor pictures.
Video recording is disappointing as you’re
locked down to 720p for both modes.
Touch-to-focus is present in both modes.
Pictures turn out sharp and clear both
indoors and outdoor in 2D mode, but the
image quality is not too impressive in 3D.
The flash is quite powerful and will easily
illuminate an area of 5 feet.
With a 1730mAh battery, we managed
5 hours 40 mins of continuous video
playback, which is pretty good, while we
got 8 hours in our loop tests.
At a street price of Rs 35,990, it’s
the cheapest Android handset with 3D
capabilities in the market. The phone is
feature-packed, but little things like the
lack of usable internal memory, 720p
recording, and the weight make you think
twice before jumping on it.