What's not: Battery life so-so with 4G turned on, 3D hurt our brains after extended viewing.
Reviewed June 22, 2011 by Lisa Gade, Editor in Chief
The HTC EVO 4G was an out of the park home run for Sprint: it had an at the time uncommonly large 4.3” display, 4G WiMAX, a slim design and Android with HTC Sense. Just over a year later, Sprint and HTC are at it again with their follow up Android flagship smartphone, the HTC EVO 3D. Sequels are rarely as good as the originals, but the EVO 3D packs enough improvements and a 3D twist that qualify it as a new original rather than an EVO 2.
The EVO 3D is in many ways an HTC Sensation 4G with 3D added and Sprint 3G and 4G bands. It shares the same core specs: a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core CPU, 4.3” qHD 540 x 960 display, Android OS 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0 and 4G. Those are currently top specs, and certainly earn the EVO 3D (and Sensation 4), top placement in their carriers’ lineups. While the Sensation 4G is a rounded phone in the HTC Desire family of design, the EVO 3D is angular and looks rather like the EVO 4G. The 0.43” EVO 3D is a relatively thin phone, though large in all other dimensions.
The phone’s special sauce is 3D. TV makers have been pushing 3D as the next big thing (how many of you are biting?) and the LG G-Slate was the first tablet that could shoot 3D video. While the G-Slate required those goofy red-blue glasses, the HTC EVO 3D has a glass-less parallax barrier 3D display. “Normal” 2D content looks the same as on any other display, while 3D content literally pops out at you, at least a bit. Is it immersive? Not really because a 4.3” display can hardly offer an immersive 3D world. Is it fun? Yes, with some caveats.
When viewing 3D content, you’ll need to hold the phone just right to really get things to pop. This involves some rotating back and forth and moving the phone forward or back to find the sweet spot. We’ve watched a bundled 3D movie (The Green Hornet), played the bundled demo Spiderman 3D game and eyeballed video and photos we shot with the camera in 3D mode. It’s something like the Nintendo 3DS experience with definite added dimensionality and an element of fun, but it also caused us some eye discomfort after a short period of time. The stronger the 3D effect, the more notable the eyestrain. We wouldn’t say that 3D is the smartphone’s most important feature, but it is moderately entertaining and something to show off to your gadget-loving friends. Honestly, we’re more sold on the phone’s fast dual core CPU, large display and 4G.
The EVO 3D can shoot normal photos and videos using one of its two 5 megapixel cameras, and it can shoot 3D video that’s viewable on the phone using both cameras at once. The 3D effect is noticeable and is stronger than that of the Green Hornet 3D movie, though the lenses are close together. Photos are saved in .mpo format (you can change the file extension to .jpg to view them on your computer’s boring old 2D monitor). Videos are saved in .mp4 format, and if you view them on your 2D computer using an app like QuickTime you’ll see two separate videos side-by-side in a single window (the view from each camera lens). We love that the phone has a 2D/3D slider switch on the side that sets recording format, and a large shutter button next to that slider.
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