The damp squib that was the HTC Evo 3D is back with a glossy rebrand and a new moniker – ladies and gentleman; I give you the HTC Evo 4G. Fans of the HTC brand will have to rein in their enthusiasm, however, as the new handset is being held because of a patent dispute with Apple.
The delay, if protracted, would be yet another blow to HTC, which has seen its market share dwindle in recent times, along with its profit margins. The global smartphone market is getting more competitive month-by-month and is currently being dominated by top-selling mobile vendor, Samsung.
If and when this new HTC is released what can we expect? Will it recapture the imagination of its fan base or persuade a new wave of smartphone customers to pin their allegiance to the HTC brand?
First time round, the Sprint network failed to drum up much consumer interest in the HTC product with the Taiwanese mobile vendor currently experiencing a sales slump as they are forced to stand back and watch Samsung gobble up the lion’s share of the smartphone market. The handset has now found a new home – Virgin Mobile – and has been repackaged as the Evo V 4G.
So what to make of this remarketed handset? Well, perhaps unsurprisingly this EVO V 4G handset passes more than a slight resemblance to the EVO 3D in fact, if we’re being honest, it’s exactly the same: list of specs including; a 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.3-megapixel front-facing / dual 5-megapixel rear cameras, dual-core 1.2GHz processor buffered by 1GB RAM and packing 4GB of internal storage with an supplementary 8GB furnished by an included micro SD card.
At a time when Samsung are tearing up the smartphone market and selling mobile phones by the shed-load, this HTC handset – perhaps even the whole brand – is looking a bit tired. Cosmetically, the EVO rebrand has made no difference: bulky build is still with us, as too is the clunky button layout and the grooved plastic back-plate.
What counts, as we all know, is the software it runs under the bonnet. In the case of this new 4G it’s packed full of Android 4.0. Yes, right out of the box HTC intends to ship this 4G WiMAX device with a Sense 3.6 skin running over the top of Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s not HTC’s latest lightweight 4.0 UX, but for the market it’s aimed at, it’s all hunky-dory.
Sell your old mobile phone for cash today and splash out on this new-ish effort from HTC. While Samsung and Apple are snaffling up all the accolades, we shouldn’t forget that there are a whole rat of other vendors churning out quality smartphones at more affordable prices.