Sprint and HTC announced the release of the new Evo Design 4G handset as a budget priced smartphone, and evidently the single core Android handset was attractive enough to smartphone shoppers that Amazon has already sold out of their stock on the HTC Evo Design. Launched at a retail price of $99 with a two-year activation, the HTC Evo Design looks pretty much like most of the 4G handsets we have seen from HTC. The sides and edges are made up of a metallic bezel that gives the phone a very solid feel. And the back plate has a soft rubberized grip, and overall the HTC Evo Design has a stylish, if understated appearance.
One thing you cannot tell simply by looking at the Evo Design is that there is a CDMA and GSM compatible chip in the handset, effectively making it a world phone, and thus very attractive to smartphone shoppers who are globetrotters. Obviously, the phone also operates on the Sprint 4G WiMAX mobile broadband network. Support for Android’s 2.3 Gingerbread operating system is built into the handset, and the HTC Sense 3.0 user interface overlays that OS. Slightly smaller than the recent offerings by HTC, the handset measures 4.80 x 2.40 x 0.50 (122 x 61 x 13 mm), and weighs 5.20 oz (147 g).
HTC has added an S-LCD capacitive 4 inch touchscreen with light and proximity sensors integrated into the display. There is also support for 16 million colors, and 960 x 540 pixel resolution is present. Continuous talk time on a single battery charge runs 6 hours on the 1520 mAh battery. The processor mentioned earlier is a single core 1.2 GHz called Qualcomm MSM8655 chip, and is supported with 768 MB RAM memory and a graphics processing software set. Built-in storage runs 4 GB, but the HTC Evo Design owner can upgrade that to a full 32 GB utilizing the on board microSD slot.
As with most 4G Android handsets these days, the HTC Evo Design offers dual cameras. The rear camera is a five megapixel camcorder offering autofocus and the ability to record at 1280 x 720 pixel resolution (720p HD) at 30 frames per second. The front facing 1.3 megapixel chat cam also delivers video call functionality. A YouTube video player and FM radio have been installed, and audio and video players support all major file formats. A microUSB port is also on board, and wireless connectivity is offered through Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n technology. Buy the HTC Evo Design 4G starting at only $29.99.
