Hands-On with the HTC Evo 3D

The Evo 3D smartphone from HTC should be landing this side of the Atlantic some time in July. During a recent stopover in the US we got a first look at it and in particular its 4.3 inch 3D screen.


The Evo 3D will strengthen the high-end HTC smartphone positioning and help it to face down the LG Optimus 3D, which is slated for release at the beginning of July.

So as to attract as big a clientele as possible, HTC is breaking its multimedia phones down into smaller segments: the ChaCha for Facebook fans, the Sensation and soon the Evo 3D for the geeks.

High end, the Evo 3D has a solid tech spec that is intended for the real techies amongst you: qHD screen (540 x 960 pixels), dual-core Qualcomm processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, camera with 5 Mpixel sensor (against 8 for the HTC Sensation) capable of filming at 1080p (720p in 3D), 1730 mAh battery (1650 mAh on the Samsung Galaxy S II).
Apart from the battery and the camera sensor, it has the same spec as the Sensation.

First impressions

While it handles nicely and the finish seems impeccable, it is nevertheless quite a heavy phone (170g) in spite of all the plastics - it's a lot heavier than the Galaxy S II for example.


The advantage of the Evo 3D, like the Optimus 3D, is that it can create its own content, video and photo, in 3D. The sensor gives pretty good results that you can share on YouTube 3D and enjoy on your 3D TV screen (with glasses) or on the smartphone's own screen.

Let's talk about the screen. Like on the Optimus 3D, the Evo 3D's screen requires the user to place themselves right in front of it to make the most of the 3D, in games for example. The viewing angles are narrow so watch out for blurriness and resultant headaches.

The most sensitive, even when well-positioned, may feel the same disagreeable effects felt with the Nintendo 3D S: after some time, the eyes and head get tired. To sum up, we're not against 3D on a smartphone but, from what we've seen, it's still something of a gadget and not fully developed here.

For the rest, we'll have to wait for a full test of the device to verify if the high-end specs offer a good user experience.

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