HTC EVO Shift 4G Review

Camera:

Regretfully, there's isn't anything pretty to see with the photos captured by the handset's 5-megapixel auto-focus camera. Although we're happy with the amount of options and manual controls its has to offer, it fails to ultimately take decent looking shots. Outdoors, images look extremely under-exposed and details are almost non-existent. However, it doesn't get any better indoors since it appears to offer slow shutter speeds which has a tendency to blur some of our shots if you don't hold the handset still for a period of time. Additionally, there is some evidence of noise with shots taken in low lighting. So in the end, you'll probably want to pass up on the HTC EVO Shift 4G if taking photos is a high priority on your list.




Horrifically, the performance of the handset's 720p video recording doesn't particularly improve much since it lacks any fine details – which can be attributed to its fixed focus system as opposed to offering continuous auto-focus. Adding to its poor performance is none other than some noticeable artifacting going on that only lessens its general appeal to even novice users. Yet, we find another lackluster performance in it audio recording since voices sound distorted and muffled. However, the one bright spot we found is the fact that it shoots video at the rate of 29 frames per second – thus making it look smooth upon playback.

HTC EVO Shift 4G Sample Video:




Multimedia:

For content such as photos and videos, they're broken down by folders in the Gallery app, plus you also have the ability to browse content from your Facebook and Flickr accounts. All the common features are there for photos, like pinch gestures to zoom in/out, but there are multiple options in terms of sharing them. Moreover, the handset offers the minimal set of editing tools at your disposal – such as cropping and rotating.


Clearly one of the better music players found on any Android smartphone, the presentation is very polished with its cover-flow like elements when browsing between songs. Once you happen to find a track you like, it'll display the normal set of items as it's playing – like the song title, artist, and on-screen controls. Sadly, it lacks any equalizer settings or alternate visualizations, but thankfully, its speaker emits some neutral tones that are perfectly balanced; neither boisterous, nor tepid.


With its high resolution and snappy processor in tow, there is no arguing the effortless approach that the HTC EVO Shift 4G takes when playing high definition videos. Upon loading a video encoded in MPEG-4 1280 x 720 resolution, it didn't have any problems in playing it entirely. In fact, the details are crisp, vivid, and super smooth with no evidence of jerkiness or slowdown to ruin the experience. All told, you'll find the performance to be top notch no matter what! But isn't that what you would've expected anyways from a handset like this?



Connectivity and Internet:

Strictly limited to being used in the US, since it's a dual-band (800/1900 MHz) CDMA device with 1xEV-DO Rev. A speeds, you can always opt to use its 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi in the event that it lacks any data connectivity to the network. Blatantly, one of the main attractions about the HTC EVO Shift 4G is that it joins the ranks of other 4G WiMAX enabled devices on Sprint's lineup. And being the always connected device it is, the handset packs an aGPS chip to provide you exact coordinates of your location. Lastly, the handset packs Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR to get other wireless devices, such as Bluetooth headsets, to pair with it.

Fast processor? Check. Android 2.2 Froyo on-board? Of course. Combining those two items already makes for a fantastic web browsing experience with the stock browser since it undoubtedly provides that desktop like feel. Not only do pages load to their full potential, with Flash content and all, but the handset's 4G data connection enables you to swiftly load complex web sites in no time at all. Furthermore, it offers pinch gestures to zoom in/out, double tap to automatically re-size text, fluid kinetic scrolling, and the ability to open pages in separate windows. In reality, the web browsing experience is by far one of the most profound things we adore about the handset.


Scratching our heads in disbelief, the HTC EVO Shift 4G only comes preloaded with a 2GB microSD card. Naturally, that's a bit of an eye sore when you consider that other respectable handsets offer at least a reasonable 4GB card. In case you're heavily into multimedia content, you may want to consider removing that 2GB card and replacing it with something up to 32GB in capacity.