HTC EVO 3D SPECIFICATIONS, PRICE AND OTHER FEATURES

HTC EVO 3D runs with Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, skinned with HTC Sense UI on a 1.2GHz Qualcomm 8660 Snapdragon processor, sporting a glasses-free 4.3 inches qHD display with Auto Stereoscopic 3D technology and 960 x 540 pixels of resolution, equipped with dual 5 Megapixels rear-facing cameras for stereoscopic capture, that can record stereoscopic 3D video at HD resolution – 720p HD video in 3D, 1080p HD video in 2D and an additional 1.3 Megapixels front-facing camera for video chat, Sprint’s WiMAX connectivity (including mobile hotspot support), 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage that can be expanded to a total of 32GB using a microSD card (and an 8GB card included in the package).
                                                              
EVO 3D’s display can be switched between 2D and 3D. HTC EVO 3D handset can output the 720p 3D and 1080p HD video content via HDMI port, users can view 3D content on your 3D TV using the EVO’s HDMI out, DLNA capability, powered by a 1730mAh battery, pre-installed Blockbuster 3D demand and YouTube 3D app, Android Market and a whole host of Google (including Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk) and Sprint services.

HTC EVO 3D is having 3G/4G capability, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, stereo Bluetooth, or built-in GPS receiver, with support for Google Maps, YouTube, Sprint Zone, Sprint TV & Movies, Sprint Football Live, Sprint Navigation and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile.

HTC EVO 3D handset is slated for a summer release. We still don’t have official information regarding the exact launch date and pricing details. We will update the availability and the price details as soon as we get the official announcements.

Auto Stereoscopic 3D display, Newest version of HTC Sense UI, Multi Touch, Proximity Sensor, Gyro Sensor, G-Sensor, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate.
                                 
Blockbuster 3D Demand apps, YouTube 3D apps, Mobile Hotspot Capability For Up To 8 Devices, Sprint Mobile Hotspot(Up to 8 Wi-Fi enabled devices), Android Market, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Google Talk, Picasa integration, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Visual Voice Mail, GPS Navigation, Offline Navigation, Turn by Turn Navigation.

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HTC EVO 3D COST AND BATTERY LIFE

HTC and Sprint have just announced the successor to the highly successful EVO 4G – the EVO 3D. As the rumors suggested, the EVO 3D packs a 4.3-inch qHD (960×540) glasses-free 3D display.
                                        
The handset is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor and packs 768MB of RAM. The back of the handset sports dual-5MP cameras with dual-LED flash, which are capable of recording 720p HD videos in 3D mode (glasses free), and 1080p in 2D mode. Like the EVO 4G, the EVO 3D also supports Sprint’s WiMAX network. 

The handset will launch with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on-board, with the latest version of Sense running on top of it. The usual Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Accelerometer and a 3.5mm audio jack are also present. The handset also sports a mini-HDMI port and DLNA capabilities.

Users can connect their EVO 3D to their 3D enabled HDTV and enjoy 3D content. Sadly, the kickstand found at the back of the original EVO 4G is nowhere to be found on the EVO 3D. HTC also states that they have improved the battery life over the EVO 4G, and will ship the phone with a 1730mAh battery.

While there is still some back-and-forth over when the HTC EVO 3D will finally grace us with its presence, an ad from RadioShack has clarified to what scale this highly-anticipated smartphone will lighten your wallet. On a new or upgraded two-year contract, the 3D-capable handset will cost $199.99, as opposed to $499.99 off-contract.

As with the EVO 4G, EVO 3D owners will have to cough up that mandatory $10 monthly charge for Sprint’s “Premium” Data plan. The RadioShack ad confirmed a few other juicy tidbits, as well, including the fact that a copy of the 3D version of The Green Hornet will come pre-loaded on the handset. Also, if you buy from RadioShack, you’ll receive a free download of “Phenomenon,” The Black Eyed Peas single. Hurray.

The final note-worthy point of the ad goes out to you EVO 4G owners: If you’re in the mood for a change, or have a craving for 3D, you can go ahead and trade in your EVO 4G for a $100 price-cut on the new EVO 3D (at RadioShack only). So potentially, an EVO 4G owner who is eligible for a renewed (or new) 2-year contract can snag one of the Summer’s hottest phones for a Benjamin.

The EVO 3D will be available starting this summer. Sadly, HTC and Sprint did not mention anything about the pricing of the EVO 3D.

That’s right. This is the absolute lowest price we’ve seen for the HTC EVO 3D as of yet and is a steal for a phone that is shaping up to be one of the best releases of the year. Of course, the deal is going to come at the price of a new two year contract but for most of you that should be fine. Wirefly is also throwing in free shipping as well.

For those that need a reminded, the HTC EVO 3D is an extremely sexy device and will be coming with a 4.3 inch qHD Super LCD display, dual 5MP cameras for 3D, a 1.3MP front camera, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 4GB built-in storage, as well as the new HTC Sense 3.0 over Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
                      
As for a release date, it’s going to be hitting shelves on June 24th alongside the HTC EVO View 4G tablet. For those of you interested in an amazing device for an amazing price, you can head here to Wirefly to check out the deal.

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HTC EVO 3D FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS

The EVO 3D runs HTC's Sense 3.0 UI on top of Android 2.3.3, just like its sibling, the Sensation. As we mentioned in that review, performance is top notch. Qualcomm's 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon SoC is a force to be reckoned with, and takes Gingerbread to an entirely new level of fluidity. Everything from the basic UI to the web browser to maps is utterly buttery smooth. There is no delay, no hesitation -- just pure instant tactile gratification. Still, there's no escaping Sense, and we're not fans. As far as pigs and lipstick go, Sense 3.0 wears a professional makeup job. Other than adding instant access to the camera from the lock screen, it's mostly style over substance, fancy 3D effects on top of functionality that already exists in Gingerbread. A long time ago, in a land far away, Sense made, well... sense. It added important missing features to the OS. But today we'll take plain Android over Sense -- and its frustrating keyboard layout -- any day. We realize some people actually enjoy Sense and we commend HTC for creating a unique and consistent user experience across its device lineup. Just let us turn it off, or provide us with official Sense-free ROMs.
                                        
Bad news: there is crapware. Good news: most of it can be removed easily. We have to give Sprint credit for keeping pre-installed apps to a minimum, and even including content that actually adds value (gasp!) to the EVO 3D. You'll find some apps that you'd probably want anyway, such as Adobe Reader, Amazon MP3, Polaris Office, Qik Video, and Swype. Others, like NASCAR, Sprint Mobile, Sprint Radio, Sprint TV & Movies, Sprint Zone (possibly useful to manage your account), and TeleNav are less attractive. What's more interesting is the bundling of games and movies that take advantage of that stereoscopic display. 3D Games currently points to a website showcasing titles for the EVO 4G -- we presume this will be updated with EVO 3D-specific games before launch. Ditto Blockbuster, which is eventually supposed to offer 3D movies for download. Spider-Man is a 3D version of Gameloft's popular game while The Green Hornet 3D launches HTC's Watch service to access the movie. We're curious to see how much additional 3D content becomes available for the EVO 3D once it's in circulation. Will developers join the party and build 3D-capable apps and web services?
                                                          
The EVO 3D is a well made handset that improves upon the EVO 4G in terms of raw horsepower -- as such, it lives up to its flagship status. That being said, it's also a step back in some areas (the lack of kickstand comes to mind). While the qHD screen provides a welcome boost in pixel density, the overall display performance still lags behind the competition. Sense 3.0 leaves us cold, and now that other carriers are rolling out HSPA+ and LTE networks, WiMAX no longer feels like the new kid on the block. Despite the EVO 3D's 1.2GHz dual-core processor, the camera strangely lacks 1080p support, and the EVO 4G arguably captures nicer stills thanks to better optics and firmware. But our biggest gripe with the EVO 3D is its terrible battery life, which is even worse than what we observed on the already lackluster EVO 4G. As for 3D, we're not convinced it's fully baked yet -- right now it feels like a gimmick, but we're willing to wait and see how it develops beyond the initial "gee wiz" phase. Ultimately, we've come to think of the EVO 3D as a Sensation with a lesser camera, cheaper materials, worse battery life, and without the ability to roam worldwide. But hey, it's got 3D and the best dedicated two-stage camera button that's ever graced a phone. That's gotta be worth something, right?

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HTC EVO 3D APPLICATIONS AND SPECIFICATIONS

Although we didn't experience any problems with call quality and reception, we also didn't see WiMAX perform significantly better than HSPA+ on other carriers -- at least not in San Francisco where it's often difficult to find a strong signal. WiMAX works best outdoors (since 2.5GHz radio waves are more sensitive to obstacles and interference) and locking onto a signal usually requires staying stationary for a minute. We noticed this with the EVO 4G and the Epic 4G last year, but without other "4G" technologies to compare WiMAX to, we simply accepted the status quo. Things are different now that HSPA+ and LTE are viable alternatives -- WiMAX is suddenly less compelling. Power efficiency is another concern. As more carriers deploy HSPA+ and LTE networks, chip manufacturers are more likely to integrate those radios at the SoC level, while WiMAX continues to require a separate radio.
                                  
Which brings us to battery life, or the lack thereof. After topping off the EVO 3D, it only took 14 hours and 44 minutes to drain the beefy 1730mAh battery down to 7%. We barely used the handset during that time -- we made a 15-minute call and slept 6 hours. The rest of it was spent taking a half-dozen pictures, and occasionally checking three email accounts plus one Twitter account with all the radios enabled (save for Bluetooth). This is particularly surprising when you consider the Sensation's stellar battery life. 3D photography is particularly taxing on the battery. We saw the charge level drop from full to 60% in about an hour and a half during which we snapped about 80 photos and captured four short videos (about half of this content was in 3D). So, whatever you do, be prepared to bring a charger along with that EVO 3D.

One thing is clear. It's hard to escape the gaze of those red-rimmed cyborg eyes the moment you see them. It's like catching a glance of the Terminator, but knowing you'll live. Yes, Skynet is watching you in three dee now. Indeed, everyone immediately notices the twin 5 megapixel autofocus cameras and dual LED flash, and it's no surprise -- stereoscopic imaging is the EVO 3D's raison d'être. Unfortunately, it's also the source of many compromises, and not just for 3D. Both cameras share what appears to be a decent quality 5 megapixel sensor with better than average low-light performance and low noise. The limiting factor here is the optics -- not the autofocus lenses per se, but the panel protecting the camera pod. We're still not sure if it's made of glass or optical grade plastic, but it causes noticeable halos in the periphery of images containing bright light. While color balance is generally accurate, light metering is hit and miss. For some reason, the issue is exacerbated when snapping 2D pictures. Only the left camera (when facing the screen) is used for 2D shots, and scenes with a wide dynamic range are often over- or under-exposed. Unlike the EVO 4G, there's no spot, center, or average setting to control how light is metered.

Macro photography, while possible in 3D, produces results which are impossible to display properly because the two cameras are too far apart (3.25cm to be exact) when capturing closeups. Another limitation of 3D is that the cameras are disabled if the phone is not held in the horizontal position and in the landscape orientation. You can't gather creative stereoscopic images which, when viewed, would be the equivalent of holding your head sideways. And if you're an astronaut (or other space faring creature), you'll likely run into trouble when taking pictures with the EVO 3D in zero gravity -- you've been warned. Strangely, while both cameras feature 5 megapixel sensors, 3D photos consist of a pair of 2 megapixel widescreen stills (that's 1920x1080 pixels each). Also, zooming is not supported when capturing 3D content. Finally, forget shooting in 3D when the battery charge drops below 15%: it's simply disabled. Of course, none of these limitations apply in 2D and images are captured at full resolution (2560 x 1920 pixels). As you'll notice in our sample gallery, the resulting pictures are adequate but don't show any improvements over HTC's existing 5 megapixel devices when it comes to 2D imaging performance. If anything, quality suffers from the poor optics and exposure problems.

3D images can be saved in either MPO or JPS formats, the latter being easier to view and edit since it basically places the left and right pictures side-by-side into a single JPEG file containing additional metadata. Video is captured smoothly in HD at 720p and 30fps, then encoded using standard H264 -- there's no 1080p support for 2D, despite what's listed in the specs. When recording in 3D the left and right frames are combined and squeezed into 1280x720 pixels by a software process not unlike the anamorphic technique used to fit widescreen content onto 35mm film. The net result is that each original frame is stored using only 640x720 pixels, effectively halving the resolution of the final video. Touch-to-focus plus initial autofocus are available when recording video, and the audio is captured in stereo. In terms of camera interface, there's a silver 2D / 3D sliding switch that selects the shooting mode and a large dedicated 2-stage machined aluminum shutter key that's one of the best we've ever used on any handset -- it provides the right amount of tactile feedback and stiffness without blurring shots. Kudos to HTC for nailing something that should be standard on all phones. The rest of the UI is identical to what we saw on the Sensation. It's pretty intuitive and includes touch-to-focus, face detection and color effects.
                                
Sadly, whether monitoring the live view in 3D or watching stereoscopic content, the EVO 3D's qHD touchscreen is a mixed bag. In addition to washing out in direct sunlight, many people have problems seeing the 3D effect on the display even after being coached to slowly pan sideways until the 3D photos or videos "pop" into place. To make matters worse, the 3D effect looks blurry at the left and right edges of the screen, and pinch-to-zoom switches the display back to 2D. MPO files and 3D videos were handled properly by the Sharp 3D TV we tried, but none of our 3D content worked on the Nintendo 3DS. We were able to convert the original JPS files into the anaglyph images shown in our sample gallery by using a simple 3-step Photoshop process. We were also able to upload and watch 3D videos on YouTube by tweaking a few simple settings to generate anaglyph videos. Old-school red / cyan 3D glasses are required to view this type of content. But ultimately, while 3D is fun and whimsical, we can't help but think it's just a gimmick. As it is today, the EVO 3D's dual cameras suffer from too many compromises that affect the quality of both 2D and 3D imaging.

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