I've never purchased a newly released phone and am curious as to whether a decent selection of accessories are likely to be available when the 1st phones arrive? Primarily I'm talking about things like belt pouch(I need mine for business and my pocket isn't a good option), car cradle(I have a universal one for my Evo 4G but some have posted their belief that the 4G LTE might not fit most/all universals), car charger(is it safe to assume the ports will be the same?)
Typically there are few accessories released by launch day. They like you to spend money on oem accessories right away when you are still excited about your purchase. Generally non-oem accessories can be available pre-launch. It usually takes a couple of months to get a full line of accessories out there.
From what I understand, most non-oem products are not available at the time the devices are released (products like cases, docks, and screen protectors) because the manufacturers require an actual model in hand in order to built a product around it. If they can get their hands on a device before the official release, then great (but this is highly unlikely due to HTC/Sprint/Any OEM's incentive to take advantage of the limited monopoly immediately after release). I would expect that the release-day non-oem products aren't going to be great, and likely not something I'm willing to buy, if the non-oems resort to building their products according to measurements and photos... this would be a waste of resources if the product didn't turn out perfectly.
i would say some of the official HTC accesories within the first month, some 3rd party on launch day, but give it a month or two for the "quality" products
Do NOT buy the first-release non-mainstream branded screen protectors! They never fit well (in my experience, 3 or 4 brands between 2 devices).
When the original EVO came out it seemed like a long time before HTC ever came out with any official accessories other than some lame cases. I ended up getting a generic car mount and it was fine so never even looked at the HTC one. This time I'd like to get a desktop dock that holds the phone horizontal (I assume that's what they'll offer since the MHL port is on the side) but only if it's a reasonable price. As for aftermarket things, I think the phone companie's still give preferred vendors dummy units so that they can get their designs going soon after the phone comes out. My brother used to work at Kyocera and they used to do that.
The Otterbox case for the 3VO was available on release day. So you could have a few cases available. But anything else you might have to wait for. EDIT: Sprint will most likely have cases on the day of release.
I got an Otterbox when I got my Evo 4g and loved the protection it gave but eventually gave it up because I never found a belt pouch that it fit into. Keeping it in my pocket isn't a good option for me when I'm at work. Thanks for the replies everyone.
This may do until something better comes along. Amazon.com: EMPIRE HTC One X Black Horizontal Leather Case Pouch [EMPIRE Packaging]: Electronics
I would like to think that HTC and Sprint are thinking and making accessories as we speak! This could be the reason they haven't release a date yet for the phone(wishful thinking).
When I got my OG EVO I got a cheap case at the Sprint store for 12.99 some pink rubber thing. But now my favorite case is the Seidio Active. I had the surface then active which I liked much better for my OG EVO. The 3VO they gave me an Active to review and a home dock to review and keep. Then I bought and am using now the surface case with the kickstand. I love the purple. I have a car dock I bought at the Sprint store and if my Active case is on it doesn't fit but with the surface it does. I'm also gonna want some kind of external charging device. I had this Power Mat I won off some contest but gave it away because I have always had extra batteries and wall chargers and I couldn't figure out how it worked. Now I wish I had it back. LOL! But I hope Seidio has cases out early.
I sent an email to OtterBox to see what their plans were for a Defender case for the Evo4GLTE. I expected some kind of noncommital answer, but it was pretty definite. Disappointing, since I really like the Defender. " Unfortunately, we do not have plans to develop a case for that device. I would recommend keeping an eye on our website, as it will have the most up to date information for every new release. Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions."
that is the answer your going to get from anyone, it doesn't mean anything, it just means they havn't started surveying to see if there is the demand for it yet. if there is a demand they will make it, if not they won't. nothing has changed through the course of time
This is one area that was noticably better with my MoPho experience. Motorola had the Car Dock, HD Dock, & other MoPho specific accessories on sale even prior to the phone being released! I picked up my CarDock and HD dock w/ the 25% off Premiere discount (before it went away), so I was extremely happy about that. Wish HTC would get on board with how Motorola's accessory rollouts are. The enjoyment of using the phone gets enhanced 10fold when you have other toys to use it with.
I wish since the charging port on the new EVO is the same as the 3D that the new phone would fit in both of my docks I have no home and car. But I know the new EVO is 4.7 and what is ours now 4.3? So I know it won't fit.
That's part of the reason (aside from not being eligible until July) that I'm waiting until the LTEvo and hopefully Motorola superphone are released. My suspicion is that, if Motorola releases another Android superphone on Sprint, I'll still be able to use my lapdock (which I love). The lapdock 100 was made to be cross compatible for many of the devices out there. I know the car dock and HD dock are not likely to be, which is fine since I'll still likely be using the MoPho as a dedicated music player. If I take the leap back to HTC, I'm not really looking forward to the accessories compared to Motorola.
Seido now has its accessories up for pre order seidioonline.com This phone is def coming now by the end of this month. Also I think gives more conformation Sprint has plans of a bunch of phones coming out this summer. GSIII by June
Seidio is my favorite for cases. I had a surface then went with Active and liked it so much better when I had my OG EVO. But for my 3D they let me review and Active and I later on bought the surface with the kickstand which I use the most now. But the new Active for the LTE has it's own kickstand on the case and covers the phone one. I don't know which one to get now but I hope I can get it before the phone comes out. I want a dock too and I have bought my last few screen protectors from clarivue.
The phone has a kickstand and a micro usb port location for docking, that is inaccessible with normal use of the kickstand. And if it has a case on it, it generally won't fit on a dock. I'm really hoping that I see a case that has a built-in connection that relocates the micro USB port to the bottom of the device! Someone in the industry will hopefully see the benefit of such a design. Maybe a version with a built-in extended battery!
Define "normal" use of the kickstand. This kickstand isn't like the original evo kickstand. This one is springloaded, like the MoPho kickstand, so flipping the device over to lay on the other side is absolutely no problem. I do this all the time with the Mopho and it's rock solid. Possibly even more solid than using the "standard" way, while not charging.
You should already know what drexappeal is talking about, and it was also dicussed here http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g...on-charge-usb-port-non-removable-battery.html Agreed!
Just wanted to see if anybody found any information on when HTC will make their accessories available? I think that, by far, has been the most frustrating thing when it comes to HTC (in my experience with their devices). The manufacture specific accessories have been released months after the device is actually released. By extreme contrast, the MoPho (Motorola's 1st superphone on Sprint) had a HD dock, and car dock available prior to the release of the actual phone itself. And then the Lapdock 100 was released only a couple months after. I wish HTC would take steps to follow Motorola's lead in that department. In fact, if the release date does end up being next Friday (5/18), that would've meant I would be purchasing my accessories this coming Friday.
