HTC EVO 4G and HTC DROID Incredible: side by side

Introduction:

Which would win in a fight, a lion or a bear?  A great white or an orca?  Jackie Chan or Jet Li?  HTC’s DROID Incredible or its EVO 4G?  These two phones represent the best of the best right now, so naturally we’re going to pit them against each other and see who comes out ahead.  Both super-devices are powered by Qualcomm’s lightning-fast 1GHz Snapdragon processor and feature HTC’s superb Sense UI running over Android 2.1.  Both offer 8 megapixel cameras with dual-LED flash, microSD expansion up to 32GB and follow similar design philosophies, so how exactly do these similar devices differentiate themselves?  Read on to find out…

Design:

Not too long ago we called the Nexus One’s 3.7” display “massive and beautiful,” but my how times have changed.  The DROID Incredible features a similar AMOLED display, also at 3.7” inches, but it looks downright tiny when sitting next to the EVO 4G’s 4.3” TFT panel.  Never has such a big screen seemed as inadequate as it does on the DROID Incredible.  As we mentioned in our HTC EVO 4G review everything is just better on the big screen.  EVO owners are really going to be spoiled; even going from the EVO to the Incredible makes things like web browsing feel cramped.

In terms of technology, AMOLED should have the edge, but in the eye test we generally found the EVO’s TFT display to outperform the Incredible.  The AMOLED display has much better black levels, but as we’ve seen with the Nexus One and Samsung Moment the whites on the DROID Incredible are very blue.  The EVO’s display was actually brighter and held up well in direct sunlight, thought the Incredible was better to read off-angle.  This is probably software related, but when using the auto-brightness setting the EVO was consistently brighter and easier to read than the Incredible.  The one thing that annoyed us the more we used it was that you could see each pixel on the Incredible’s screen.  While the Incredible’s display pops a bit more, the EVO’s is smoother and more realistic.



For such a big difference in screen size the EVO 4G isn’t really much bigger than the HTC DROID Incredible when the two are sized up.  The Incredible is noticeably narrower, which makes it more comfortable to hold one-handed, but there is a lot of wasted space around the display (plus the addition of an optical joystick) which makes it nearly as tall as the EVO.  The Incredible is marginally thinner, but the blocky back feels a bit awkward especially compared to the smooth, tapered lines of the EVO.  The wideness of the EVO is what will turn some people off, and for those people the Incredible is probably the way to go.  The Incredible is likely a better choice for the ladies because it is a bit more chic than the masculine EVO, but we really can’t see going back to a smaller display after experiencing the EVO.  Held two-handed the HTC EVO 4G's wideness now feels perfectly natural, whereas the Incredible feels too narrow and small.

Both are very solidly built phones, though between the two the EVO 4G feels better.  There are a few creaks on the HTC DROID Incredible and the soft-touch paint on the EVO is a little bit softer and the plastic used feels a bit cheaper on the Incredible.  The EVO 4G is 1.4oz heavier than the DROID Incredible but the weight is distributed well without feeling overly heavy; the Incredible also spreads its weight well and feels good in the hands and pocket.  The EVO 4G gets bonus points for its super-cool and handy kickstand.