[Official] Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE Pre-release thread - Sprint official launch is Saturday, June 2

[Tommydaniel]

No worries then...I just figured you were getting upset because of the cursing (e.g. ****)

Oh no, the curse was because the "Droid" line is a cluster eff lol

 

[Tommydaniel]

I would like to see.......

1) If this phone will come in white

2) What the GSIII will bring. There have been rumors that the Exynos Quad core chip has been modded to work with LTE.

But i dont think Sprint will see the GSIII until August or September.

Going to be interesting HTC and Samsung battling it out.

I wanna see a white one too! Have a feeling I would like it! I wanted a white phone when the E4GT came out but it took too long for them to release the white version.

 

[RichboyJhae]

I wanna see a white one too! Have a feeling I would like it! I wanted a white phone when the E4GT came out but it took too long for them to release the white version.

What is an E4GT? lol

 

[BenChase7]

Why do people keep saying it has no SD card slot?? When, in fact, it does... its clearly stated in Sprints own press release.
Sprint Newsroom | HTC EVO 4G LTE fact sheet

 

[drexappeal]

Anybody wondering if the embedded 2000mah battery isn't going to be enough?

 

[Tommydaniel]

What is an E4GT? lol

Epic 4g Touch (E4GT)

 

[CriticalCritic]

It does in fact have a micro SD slot...it just won't come with a card in it.

I hope it has one. But I still don't see an external slot anywhere in the photos. I want to be able to access the SD card without removing the battery.
Edit: Though, so far the rumors are saying that it doesn't have a removable battery :/

Why do people keep saying it has no SD card slot?? When, in fact, it does... its clearly stated in Sprints own press release.
Sprint Newsroom | HTC EVO 4G LTE fact sheet

Going back to my earlier observation that there appears to be no external SD card slot. Maybe that means that there's going to be a removable battery? ...or maybe just that speakerphone section is removable and hiding it?

 

[Tommydaniel]

Anybody wondering if the embedded 2000mah battery isn't going to be enough?

With the S4 I bet it will be alright.

 

[drexappeal]

Oh no, the curse was because the "Droid" line is a cluster eff lol

Lol...my bad. All good then. But I do agree that product line/marketing gimic is overkill.

 

[drexappeal]

holy crap, you know what i just realized!! if you scratch the camera, no worries, it can EASILY BE replaced!! this phone gets better and better... check out how the entire camera housing slides off with the top case

that is just freaking perfect!

i would so much rather buy a new back then deal with anything else

That's pretty cool. Maybe they had to keep replacement heavily in mind, due to the changes in insurance from the providers (including Sprint's more recent changes, within the past year, to their replacing phones).

 

[Tommydaniel]

Lol...my bad. All good then. But I do agree that product line/marketing gimic is overkill.

Yeah, I am okay with the Evo because at least they kept it to one manufacturer.

 

[drexappeal]

So far, the screen, nfc, and processor are the upgrades from my Photon. The RAM, internal storage, microSD slot, and the kickstand are the same.

 

[Tommydaniel]

So far, the screen and processor are the upgrades from my Photon. The RAM, internal storage, microSD slot, and the kickstand are the same.

...the camera?

 

[EarlyMon]

its the micro-USB port on the side, same location as the ONE X, it doubles as HDMI as well i beileve

It's called an MHL port - Mobile High-definition Link - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It works exactly like a USB port you know, but if plugged into a TV with a matching MHL port, it's like a new kind of HDMI. If your TV has HDMI like most of us, then you need a powered dongle to make it work, they go for around $20, give or take (haven't priced them lately). They look like this:

Spoiler

Last year we heard of an unpowered MHL->HDMI cable, but I haven't seen those materialize, personally.

That's a valid point, but are we positive that the Galaxy Nexus is actually the successor to the Nexus S?

Yes and no.

Google always makes its own developer's phone and that's always called a Nexus (something). So, the Galaxy Nexus (gsm) is the true successor to the Nexus S (gsm) from Google directly, as was the S (gsm) to the original Nexus (gsm).

The variants of the Nexii, like the Nexus S 4G and Galaxy Nexus with LTE on Verizon are nearly identical to the developer Nexii, but are not developer phones, so heritage on the variants can be argued over subtle points.

Google develops for and updates their phones directly, the Nexii variants have to wait a bit for updates like the rest of us (though in practice, not nearly so badly).

The Sprint site says SLCD.
Sprint Newsroom | HTC EVO 4G LTE fact sheet

Quick note, HTC is notorious for changing the screen spec on releases as they go along, and then Sprint has to decide to coordinate from there.

So, based on past experience, expect both sites to waver on what they call the screen without it meaning anything - left hand not coordinating with the right hand, etc etc. Plus, as mentioned by Covert_Death, both SLCD and SLCD2 are more marketing descriptions of the screen rather than a tech spec.

The quality will be there, that's what we care about.

~~~~~~~

Note on pricing -

Last year when I got my 3D at launch, I had the chance to trade in my Evo for $150, leaving the 3D costing me only $50 out of pocket. I couldn't bring myself to part with my Evo tho.

Just wondering if the same sort of lightning will strike again on this bad boy??

Plus - I need to figure out if I'm out of updates!

~~~~~~~

Had to step away while the announcements unfolded, so many thanks to you all for posting the helpful links - now I catch up!

I take it by the lack of mention that the battery is not removable then?

 

[Tommydaniel]

I like how they incorporated the kickstand into the design of the phone. If you just look at it, it looks like a red accent stripe on the back, unlike the original EVO and Thunderbolt

 

[Tommydaniel]

Ross Miller from The Verge said it's the SLCD2, "When I spoke to them in person, Sprint exec Farid Adib said Super LCD. I asked if it was 1 or 2. He said 2."

 

[Orion]

I would like to see.......

1) If this phone will come in white

2) What the GSIII will bring. There have been rumors that the Exynos Quad core chip has been modded to work with LTE.

But i dont think Sprint will see the GSIII until August or September.

Going to be interesting HTC and Samsung battling it out.

Same here. Samsung needs to announce it already so I can compare. Even if it comes Aug/Sept.....I just want to know the specs.

 

[Tommydaniel]

I hope it has one. But I still don't see an external slot anywhere in the photos. I want to be able to access the SD card without removing the battery.
Edit: Though, so far the rumors are saying that it doesn't have a removable battery :/


Going back to my earlier observation that there appears to be no external SD card slot. Maybe that means that there's going to be a removable battery? ...or maybe just that speakerphone section is removable and hiding it?

You remove the top piece to get to the sd slot, battery as far as I know, isn't removable.

 

[drexappeal]

...the camera?

Doh, that too...LOL...I love the fact that it also has a dedicated camera button like the Photon. Battery is not that much better than the Photon's and my experience with Motorola battery management to be much better than any of my past HTC's, but at the same time (as you mentioned), the processor might help for better battery management in the vein of what I get with the Photon (hopefully better).

 

[drexappeal]

Same here. Samsung needs to announce it already so I can compare. Even if it comes Aug/Sept.....I just want to know the specs.

Well, you can probably assume that they're going to release the international SGS III prior to the US version, so you may have a pretty good idea of what the specs are once more info comes out on that version. If that translates to the US version is a whole different story. Obviously, the HTC EVO LTE has proven that things could change from the international version.

 

[Tommydaniel]

You can position the phone three ways with the kickstand...
This way

That way

And

 

[Orion]

Well, you can probably assume that they're going to release the international SGS III prior to the US version, so you may have a pretty good idea of what the specs are once more info comes out on that version. If that translates to the US version is a whole different story. Obviously, the HTC EVO LTE has proven that things could change from the international version.

Exactly! I know it will be awhile for the U.S. But when they announce the international version....I can at least get an idea of what Im looking at. Either way, I'm excited that I can finally upgrade this year.

 

[Joshbear]

I know it costs $199 on contract, but has there been mention of how much it will cost off contract? Not sure if I can wait until I'm due for an upgrade lol

 

[EarlyMon]

Doh, that too...LOL...I love the fact that it also has a dedicated camera button like the Photon. Battery is not that much better than the Photon's and my experience with Motorola battery management to be much better than any of my past HTC's, but at the same time (as you mentioned), the processor might help for better battery management in the vein of what I get with the Photon (hopefully better).

Our mileage varied, as you know, I stuck with the 3D and have gotten stellar battery performance (root and killing bloatware absolutely required) - many Rezound owners saying the same thing as well.

The key things in my mind will be the screen and radios.

Let's just admit it - as soon as any of us get this beast, we're going to go all schizophrenic per usual: pushing every boundary going WOW at the performance, then trying (and not always not failing) to lay off that to see how the battery will do under normal use. So, it'll take days, maybe a few weeks, for the new to wear off and start sharing _reliable_ battery reports. Am I right?

The S4, like the S3 before it, will clock the two cpu cores asynchronously (read: different speeds, on demand) and even shut down a core as needed to save battery life. So, that architecture, along with the 28 nm manufacturing process used to build the S4, will save power.

tl/dr: power savings as has been said all along.

But for an LCD, the power draw is largely the backlight, and brightness is a function of screen size - bigger screen needs more lighting, that can eat up the power tradeoff.

And then we have the magic of CDMA+LTE - last I checked (I'll post substantiating link later, bookmark not on this machine) with LTE, the CDMA has to be on at the same time. The common meme is that LTE isn't that bad on the battery but the truth is that the Verizon forums here show reports all over the map on that one - again, except for the HTC Rezound.

So, I'm thinking this will be a wash in battery comparison to the 3D when all is said and done - perhaps better if we can have less variation on things here.

Which leads to the one thing I've yet to see mentioned - in ICS, you can supposedly freeze bloatware without rooting. If that's still allowed here, that will be a huge plus. No way will this be the first phone without bloatware. It will be nice to freeze it from day one for accurate battery and performance comparisons.

 

[AM2]

in most of the reviews of the original design, there's mention of an optical illusion kind of thing happening where it looks like stuff is floating on top of the display. I believe I read it was due to the curved edges or something along with the slcd. I'm wondering if this version will or will not achieve that effect seeing as how it's missing the infinity edges. any thoughts???