The HTC EVO 4G LTE was one of the eagerly-anticipated handsets to be added to Sprint’s lineup of Android-powered smartphones and the handset’s delay in finally making it to the shelves of the wireless provider only added to the anticipation. Looking back, the handset was officially announced back in April and was scheduled to make its debut in the shelves of Sprint last May 18 but that did not materialize because the handset got held up at US Customs.
The holdup at US Customs was caused by an ITC exclusion order that necessitated the International Trade Commission to review and investigate the HTC handset based on the complaints of Apple that the HTC handset infringed on several of its patents. The Taiwanese smartphone and tablet manufacturer however was able to work around this and got the approval to start shipping the HTC EVO 4G LTE after it rearranged the firmware of the handset and took off the infringing code.
The HTC EVO 4G LTE finally made it to the shelves of Sprint last weekend and as expected, a lot of our smartphone-crazed brethren have already gotten their hands on this bad boy. Most of the reviews about the handset were glowing but several users have come out and reported that the HTC EVO 4G LTE is plagued by signals-strength issues. What is more troubling however is that some of these users reported getting better signal strength with their previous HTC EVO 4G handsets.
After running a couple of tests, we were able to attribute the signal issues on the HTC EVO 4G LTE to a couple of different reasons. The first is concerned with the way the handset was designed. The aluminum design of the HTC EVO 4G LTE is said to be the culprit affecting the reception and holding the phone sometimes led to a 4 percent drop in its signal strength. Another reason for the poor signal strength of the handset is the fact that Sprint is no longer updating its 3G network. This could be because the carrier is already focused in getting its LTE network deployed and lit up.
There are certain steps that you could take to alleviate these signal issues on the HTC EVO 4G LTE. First, you need to ensure that the Preferred Roaming List (PRL) of the handset is up-to-date. The PRL of the handset should update automatically but you can also do a manual update by going to Settings > System updates > Update PRL. You also need to ensure that CDMA only is selected as your preferred network setting and not LTE / CDMA. Or if you are the adventurous type, you also have the option of rooting your HTC EVO 4G LTE and try flashing a new ROM onto the handset and see if this could somehow improve the handset’s signal strength.
If you are still being bothered by the signal strength issue on your HTC EVO 4G LTE, Sprint has announced that is already aware of the problem so hopefully, the wireless provider will release a software update in the future that will get this issue on the handset taken care of.
June 10, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Thanks for the tips. I’m not happy with this device at all and am considering returning it. I’m missing calls with no missed call notification and forget about uploading anything to Facebook. The original EVO performed better than this device.
June 11, 2012 at 9:35 am
“Another reason for the poor signal strength of the handset is the fact that Sprint is no longer updating its 3G network. This could be because the carrier is already focused in getting its LTE network deployed and lit up.”
This is simply not true. The new LTE network that Sprint is currently deploying is also a brand new 3G network — each site that is getting upgraded to LTE is also getting upgraded 3G capabilities at the same time.
June 12, 2012 at 11:10 am
I have to admit I was very disapointed with the new HTC LTE. I returned the upgrade and went back to my EVO. Here are the issues I noticed on the device -
-Poor call / signal quality, could not answer a call without it dropping or just hearing muffle.
-For any app or menu that you enter and hit the back arrow to go back just dumps you back in the home screen instead of just going back to the previous screen or your apps.
-Any time you get kicked back to your home screen it takes a good while for the screen to actually appear. Just get the double circles that its processing. For a dual core that sucks- EVO never had this lag!
-Menu’s aren’t that user friendly & device gets very hot easily. Even by just having it plugged in to charge, wait until you actually start using the wifi or 3g for doing video streaming.
=HTC will have to clean up device issues before I go back to possible upgrade to the new device.
June 21, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I thought I was the only one who was having problems. I got a new account with my sister, she got a galaxy and I got the htc evo, the seller was selling me the device like the greatest thing. Totally dissapoint, signal is horrible, can’t receive nor make calls, in one day I had around 5 voicemails. I should’ve rather stayed with metropcs.
July 17, 2012 at 9:16 am
I have been having major issues with my GS III. It only gets 3g signal and I pick up the 4g LTE signal for second only. I payed good money for this phone only for the LTE. Sprint says the towers are working fine and they do no know why I am having issues. It seems that all of the cities that have LTE are having the same issues. I have reset my phone and I update the PRL like 10 times a day and nothing happens. I have a POS $200 3g phone, I should have just kept my old EVO 4g and I would have been better off. Sprint needs to get this issue fixed ASAP because i see alot of POP’s in the future for them. Fix the crap network that all sprint users have had to deal with and maybe you will be able to keep some of the account holders.
August 24, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I was with verizon for 10+ years and never had any trouble but I switched to Sprint so my boyfriend and I could be on the same plan. he had the original evo, loved it and never had any problems with sprint but once we both switched to the htc evo lte we have had nothing but trouble. we were in houston this week and had no service for most the trip. we couldnt get online at all and I couldnt receive calls. about 50% of the calls I make in austin are dropped and I have to go outside of my house to get service. this is ridiculous. sprint better have something in the works to fix this or i’ll gladly pay to get out of this two year contract and go back to verizon and my iphone. I totally regret switching to sprint.
January 15, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Wow – so glad to hear it isn’t just me having signal issues and slow processor issues! I just don’t get it – like everyone else, I had the previous Evo 4G and it was great. There was never a ton of 4G where I live, but there were definitely place I could get it. And I nearly ALWAYS had 3G. Now: NOTHING. I’m lucky if I have any signal at all. Never 4G, very sporadic 3G and haven’t seen a wink of LTE, even though the Sprint store reps say there is LTE in my city. What a rip off. The regular cell signal is poor too, and calls drop. I never dropped a single call with my prior Evo.
When Jellybean came out, I thought they may finally have handled the issues. The exact opposite. I’ve had nothing but problems since the update. My phone freezes constantly, needs to be restarted several times a day, my battery life is half what it was and my GPS/Navigation apps now don’t work at all.
When are they going to acknowledge that this is a huge problem and a big rip off? I’ve been a loyal Spring customer for almost 8 years and NEVER considered switching… Until now. The least they could do is TRY to tell us what the problem is and work out SOME kind of solution.