HTC Evo 4G LTE - black (Sprint)

by Brian Bennett May 9, 2012

HTC

MSRP: $549.99

Typical Price: $319.99

Overview

CNET Editors' Rating: 3.5 / 5

The good: Powerful parts, a lovely screen, stunning design, and an excellent camera help the Evo 4G LTE restoke the fires of the Evo faithful.

The bad: Given the 4G LTE in its name, the newest Evo's lack of Sprint LTE at launch is a huge letdown.

The bottom line: The HTC Evo 4G LTE is a worthy successor to Sprint's Evo family, as long as you remember one important caveat: until Sprint gets its LTE network off the ground, the Evo 4G LTE won't actually run 4G -- it will be 3G-only at first.

Design, Features & Performance (out of 10)

Design: 9.0

Features: 7.0

Performance: 7.0

Review

With its new HTC Evo 4G LTE, Sprint is the latest U.S. carrier to jump on the HTC One X bandwagon. Like its HTC One X cousin on AT&T, the Evo 4G LTE offers a sleek design, a quality camera, and Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

Design
To say the HTC Evo 4G LTE is a looker is, well, a serious understatement. Clad in black anodized aluminum, glossy premium plastic, flashy red accents, and sophisticated silver trim, this phone is drop-dead gorgeous. You can tell HTC put a lot of thought into the Evo's design, right down to its retro transistor-radio-style buttons. Frankly, the phone screams luxury on par with -- dare I say -- the BlackBerry Bold or even the iPhone 4.

Measuring 5.31 inches tall by 2.72 inches wide, there's no denying that this new Evo is a handful. At just 0.35 inch thick, though, the phone is a hair thinner than the One X. That's trim enough to make you forget its sizable footprint. Additionally, somehow the Evo 4G LTE manages to weigh a light 4.73 ounces despite its laundry list of powerful internal hardware.

Sporting a gigantic 4.7-inch Super LCD 2 (1,280x720-pixel) display, the front of the HTC Evo 4G is almost all screen. As I noted with the HTC One X, the Evo's screen gets very bright and creates vivid colors. Viewing angles are wide, too, both horizontally and vertically, which is traditionally a weakness of LCD technology. Of course, I personally prefer AMOLED displays for their higher contrast, deep blacks, and truly eye-popping colors. For instance, the qHD AMOLED screen on the HTC One S, though not as sharp, did paint richer hues.

Above the Evo's large display is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for snapping vanity shots or video chatting. Also, just as on the HTC One X, there are three capacitive buttons for back, home, and recent applications below the screen. A stylish silver, oval power button and standard 3.5mm headphone jack are on the handset's top edge. The right side houses a thin black volume bar that I found difficult to press or even locate, as it blends in with the phone's black background. Here, too, are the phone's dedicated camera button crafted in silver and an etched ring-pattern surface. Unfortunately I couldn't get the button to wake up the phone and launch the camera from standby.

On the phone's back is its main 8-megapixel camera with LED flash. It sits on the top portion, which is crafted from high-gloss plastic and covers the Evo's microSD card slot. The lower half uses handsome and fingerprint-repellant anodized aluminum. Dividing the two regions is a striking red stripe that conceals a spring-loaded kickstand. It's an awesome feature, one that I feel more big-screen phones should have. I also appreciate how the kickstand functions properly regardless of whether the phone is placed on its left or right side.

Features
The HTC Evo 4G LTE's cutting-edge software is just as compelling as the phone's high-octane hardware. Besides the latest iteration of Google's Android OS, version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, you also get HTC's freshly revamped Sense user interface. According to HTC, Sense 4 fits the new functions of ICS like a glove and is designed to run stealthily behind the scenes. Indeed, a lot of what made Sense 3 flashy, but a little too in-your-face, is gone. I'm talking specifically about the perpetually looping 3D carousel of home screens and fanciful weather graphics that seemed to eat up every morsel of processing power.

In line with HTC's other One-class phones, the HTC Evo 4G LTE is unlocked by either pulling a virtual ring from the bottom of the screen to the center, or moving icons into the ring to quick-launch the related functions. I especially like how dragging the camera symbol into the ring activates the Evo's imaging system to squeeze off pictures and video rapidly. Other default lock-screen shortcuts launch the Web browser, text messaging, and phone functions.

Just like T-Mobile's HTC One S and AT&T's One X, the Evo 4G has seven screens available for personalizing with application shortcuts and animated widgets. HTC's classic weather clock plays center stage on the main home screen. Tapping the widget's digital readout launches a world clock with a fancy 3D globe visual; selecting the weather portion of the clock activates a detailed forecast. If you're a weather geek like me, you'll also dig the engaging graphics displayed on the lock screen that correspond to current atmospheric conditions. You can even choose them as your live wallpaper.

The bottom edge of each home screen is a tab containing the same four quick-launch icons shown on the lock screen. I really appreciate being able to swap out these icons for others I prefer or even creating and adding folders that hold multiple app icons. You can make a social networking folder for Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter, for example, to save screen real estate. Any changes here are reflected on the lock screen; placing application shortcuts on top of one another creates a folder.

Sense adds some neat tricks to the browser, such as a Pure Content Reader view that removes all ads and displays just the basic text of a selected Web page. You can also choose pages and video to bookmark for later perusal offline.

Being a state-of-the-art Android device, the Evo 4G LTE comes with the standard Google services installed, such as Gmail, Google+, and Navigation, along with the Play Store, from which you can download apps from a catalog of more than 500,000 titles. Play also provides digital books, movies, games, and music to purchase. For entertainment options, HTC's Watch app offers a decent selection of TV shows and movies for rental or purchase. For example, I could rent, say, "The Vow" for $3.99 or buy it permanently for $14.99. Actually, I think "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" is more my speed. The Evo 4G LTE has 1GB of RAM memory, 16GB of internal storage, and a microSD slot that can support an additional 32GB.

Another notable piece of software is the Google Wallet app that uses the Evo 4G LTE's NFC chip to enable mobile payments. Once you sign up for a Google Wallet account you can either use the bundled Google prepaid card or add a Citibank MasterCard if you have one. The app also lists nearby special offers that you can redeem with or without using the app to make the purchase. The Dropbox app for storing files in the cloud comes standard too, as does TuneIn Radio for streaming Internet radio stations.

In keeping with HTC's One series handsets, the Evo 4G LTE boasts Beats Audio processing. It may be popular but I find Beats an acquired taste since it tends to crush midrange audio frequencies in favor of the high and low ends of the spectrum. Beats will, however, automatically detect when the Evo connects to a Beats-branded headset and load its tailor-made equalizer setting.

Camera
Among the highlights of the Evo 4G LTE's 8-megapixel camera and its features are the dedicated image processor and a Continuous Shooting mode for snapping images in bursts of up to 4 frames per second. Available on all One series phones, these capabilities are all part of what HTC calls its ImageSense technology, which relies on a specially dedicated processor to improve performance. As part of the deal, you'll also find an HDR mode, wide-screen, geotagging, face detection and smile capture, a self-timer, and adjustments for ISO and white balance. The HD camcorder offers a similar set of options plus image stabilization and stereo audio recording. It's also able to record video in full 1080p HD resolution.

Photo quality on the Evo 4G LTE was up to the One X's impressive standards. Closeup shots showed good detail and color, and outdoor shots were bright without being oversaturated. Shots in bright sunlight were somewhat washed out, but the camera does a decent job with contrast between light and dark areas. This is especially true if the HDR function is used to compensate for strong lighting. Image noise was barely noticeable as well, and I was treated to clear pictures provided there was enough light present. Indoor shots were a bit dark without the flash. This was especially noticeable in the Evo's photo of a still life, shown below.

Performance
At its heart, the HTC Evo 4G LTE is really a modified -- Evofied, if you will -- HTC One X. As such, HTC fans in the know understand that like the American version of the One X on AT&T, the Evo runs a dual-core processor, not a quad-core CPU like its European cousin. All things being equal, though, the Evo 4G LTE's 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 chip and 1GB of RAM propel the phone along at a very speedy clip. Just for kicks I had the Evo run the Linpack Android test app. The handset spit out a high 102.4 MFLOP (Single Thread) in 0.83 second. The Evo completed the Multi-Thread part of the test in just 0.84 second and notched 201.8 MFLOP.

I tested the HTC Evo 4G LTE in New Orleans and New York using Sprint service. On the whole, call quality was admirable. The volume was loud, and I found no problems with the audio clarity. Voice pitch on my end was the slightest bit mechanical, but it wasn't distracting.

HTC Evo 4G LTE call quality sample Listen now:

Despite the "4G LTE" in its name, the handset has a serious mark against it for the time being. Since Sprint's LTE network is not yet operational, and the phone can't surf on WiMax, in the meantime, you'll be stuck using the carrier's 3G EV-DO network. A few years ago that would have been fine, but with Verizon and AT&T operating fast and widespread LTE networks, Sprint is falling behind. Sure, its LTE network may eventually be as powerful as its rivals', but that won't help you right now. Honestly, I don't get the logic of selling a phone with "LTE" in its name when there's no LTE network for it to use.

The 3G connection was strong, even in a hotel room, and speeds were what you'd expect from Sprint's 3G network. Compared with the 4G LTE-equipped One X, though, the difference was clear. Out of eight tests using Ookla's Speedtest.net app, I found an average download speed of 477Kbps and an average upload speed of 422Kbps. AT&T's One X, on the other hand, delivered an average download speed of 16.63Mbps and and average upload speed of 7.53Mbps.

Downloading the Speedtest.net app took a painful 2 minutes over 3G. When Web browsing, the mobile version of The New York Times site took 9 seconds to load, while the full New York Times took 40 seconds, the full CNET site 1 minute and 24 seconds, and Airlines.net 1 minute and 50 seconds.

Sprint rates the HTC Evo 4G LTE's 2,000mAh battery as providing 7.5 hours of talk time. My anecdotal battery tests, which consist of playing a 720p HD video continuously, reflected the Evo's claimed longevity. The phone persevered for almost 8 hours -- 7 hours and 55 minutes to be exact -- before finally shutting down.

Conclusion
With the $199.99 HTC Evo 4G LTE, both HTC and Sprint have gone well out of their way to rekindle that old Evo magic. It's a phone that's light-years better than its predecessors and flaunts enough features plus a delectable design to strike real fear in the hearts of competitors Samsung and Motorola. That said, this Evo has one rather large Achilles' heel at the moment: no 4G LTE. With access to high-speed data, the Evo will no doubt soar as its brother the HTC One X does on AT&T. Until Sprint's promised LTE network arrives, hopefully by summer, the Evo 4G LTE offers but a fraction of its potential glory.

Senior Managing Editor Kent German contributed to this review.

Basic Specs

User Reviews

Average User Rating: 3.5 / 5

User Rating Breakdown

5 Star: 27

4 Star: 3

3 Star: 4

2 Star: 1

1 Star: 1

Good smart phone choice, if you can find deep discounts

Rating: 4.5 / 5

on April 15, 2013

20 out of 20 users found this review helpful

Pros: Super fast and does everything I need it too....and more
Thinner and lighter than its EVO 4G predecessor.
Camera is excellent and takes great video as well
Battery life

Cons: Inability to fully run Amazon's music app

Summary: Before addressing the hardware and functionality of this phone, some reminders about the major factors that will contribute to your smart phone user experience:

(1) the hardware...the phone itself
(2) operating system software
(3) installed applications
(4) the network (overall, and where you happen to be using the phone at a particular time)
(5) the service provider.

Serial dependencies come from these factors, as many phones are tied to specific operating systems or service providers.Just remember that even if you make a great phone choice, deficiencies in the other areas can still diminish your overall user experience.

Make your move to your next (or first) smart phone only after researching these choices. Which provider? Which mobile operating system? Who offers the best service, or the best combination of value and service? The rest of this review assumes you've already figured out why a phone with the Android operating system might be a better choice for you than an iPhone, a Blackberry or a Windows-based smart phone solution.

Every provider --including Sprint-- has a variety of pricing options. If you're a Sprint customer with two years on your current hardware and are ready to re-up: many phones are available at a deep discount (and Amazon's pricing for this model was better than Sprints by about ninety nine dollars...so comparison shop).

The HTC EVO LTE 4G phone is thinner and lighter (a full ounce lighter) than its EVO 4G predecessor. The user interface has changed slightly: three soft keys now populate the bottom of the display (down from four on the earlier model). The current Android "Ice Cream Sandwich" interface has slightly changed the method for placing/removing apps from the scrolling home pages. If you are new to smart phones, you'll have one learning curve, but even if you're upgrading from an earlier model/operating system version, you can still expect to learn some new phone-human interface tricks. Otherwise, most of the interface features will be familiar.

This phone accommodates a microSD storage device (up to 32GB capacity). The install slot for this us under the top rear cover, which --unlike the EVO 4G-- does not have an obvious "pry point" for removing the cover. Work around the USB/charging port with a thin, flat tool and the cover will snap right off. The separate HDMI port present on the EVO 4G has left the 4G LTE, leaving this phone with just two ports: the USB/charging port (on the side) and a standard aux output. In addition to an on/off button (top), volume controls (right side), there is now a physical camera button on the lower right side of the phone.

Video capture is in the .mp4 format, and was crisp and clear even in dim lighting. The 4G LTE has two cameras: one full 1080p HD, the other a front facing 1.3 MP camera. Still images..which can be captured even as the HD is recording are also crisp and clear.

In addition to the OS interface changes, the "kickstand" for this 'Droid has been repositioned more towards the center of the phone's back.

So far the only issue that has emerged with this phone is an inability to fully run Amazon's music app. Content on the phone plays fine, but my cloud-stored music never loads in the app's cloud tab.

Finally, even though Sprint has an activation web site for phones you purchase outside of a Sprint store, if you are you will have to call a toll free number to complete activation if you have more than one phone on a shared data plan. While the call center's hours are long, they are NOT 24/7, so re-think activating the new phone as a project for a sleepless night.

PS: I suggest for best deal at: www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZUN6GS/?tag=cnetamz-best-offers-20

I hope this review is helpful, enjoy the call!

A worthy successor to the evo lineage!

Rating: 5 / 5

on July 20, 2012

21 out of 27 users found this review helpful

Pros: - The phone feels great and sturdy, build quality is top notch
- The screen puts holds up great against the best displays out there
- Battery Life and Service are very good
- Great camera loaded with features

Cons: - I am not a fan of the new Sense, nor of the lack of menu button
- Phone might be a bit bigger than necessary and button placement could be more convenient

Summary: Before I start the review, I'll say where I'm coming from: My last phone was a Samsung Galaxy S2, before that the original Evo, and a Palm Pre before that.

The very first impression you will get from this phone is the feel and look. It's remarkably light, but stills pulls off that solid feel that you normally attribute to weight. The aluminum bezel around the edge of the phone both feels nice and looks chic. As far as the backing is concerned, the bottom rubbery half feels awesome in your hand but I really can't figure out the need for the glossy slick plastic on the top third. The camera lens is recessed, which is a great feature. The kickstand feels way more solid and functional than the ones on the previous iterations of the Evo.

The phone is a bit large, and I have big hands. It's hard to put into words, but it's just a bit awkward to do some things one handed. Really my biggest problem with the size is the location of the power button on the top, which I'd of preferred to see on the side where the volume buttons are (and see them moved to the other side). You won't be able to press the power button from a typing hand position, which makes it a bit more work to shoot a quick text.

Turn it on, and you will see a *pretty good* screen. In honesty it doesn't hold up to the super amoled I was accustomed to on my S2, but it's definitely a gorgeous display and it'd be hard to call it disappointing.

You will then be greeted with the newest flavor of Sense...which I don't really care for. There is typically this annoying little menu bar that hangs out at the very bottom of the display (right below where your spacebar will be). I won't say I miss the 4 button android layout, as I never used the search button...but losing the menu button for the screen switching button is a real source of annoyance. Apps are way less intuitive and that bar at the bottom of the screen has infuriated me. The lock screen is neat though, although I find myself dragging the app that I currently have open into the ring to quick-open it, which re-opens the app and loses the context.

I'm going to rate the speed and responsiveness as *adequate* for a device of this tier (emphasis on that last part). The device is snappy and responsive, but I do notice a slight amount of lag in scrolling sometimes that I did not see in my year old S2. But I mean, when I say lag I am being extremely picky....everything is picky, and it re-columns text very quickly after a resize (a missing feature from my S2 that I desperately missed).

The camera is superb, and the camera app has a lot of neat features. Only nitpick I have about them is the difficulty to switch between main/front camera. I hear a lot of people displeased that the camera button doesn't launch the camera, but I feel that it would be annoying if it did and you couldn't turn it off...I can see it getting pressed accidentally quite frequently.
The battery life has surprised and pleased me, I have no problem making it through a full day. The radio is great, I get much better service than my S2 or first gen Evo.

P.S. HTC EVO LTE, Best Deal Check Here -> **************.blogspot.com/p/htc-evo-lte.html

Thank for reading, good luck!

Amazing phone, CNET reviewer is completely absurd.

Rating: 5 / 5

on May 26, 2012

19 out of 24 users found this review helpful

Pros: This is a true top of the line phone and ousts the One X/S in terms of sheer features. With a dedicated camera button, 32gb Micro SD card support, kickstand and even slightly slimmer profile despite the said kickstand, nothing else can really compare

Cons: Some may not enjoy the red and black combination of the EVO, but that concept comes with any phone out there. 4G LTE network won't be out instantly, but that is unrelated to the phone itself.

Summary: Brian Bennett in my solid opinion is absurd for giving this phone 3.5/5. This is related to the PHONE, not the service. You're basing your review on two completely different matters. This phone is packed to the brim with features, yet you gave the Droid Razr Maxx a 4.5/5, even though the EVO LTE beats its specs by a long shot.

Your cons for Razr Maxx:
"For such an advanced smartphone, the vague promise of a future Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is disappointing. Also, while a stronger battery is great, it's still not user-removable. People with small hands will find it hard to wrap around the phone's wide frame, and the 8-megapixel camera is unimpressive."

And yet the EVO gets a 3.5/5 because of a service that's unavailable for the phone - which isn't related to the review of the actual phone itself.

The Razr Maxx has a thicker profile, an inferior camera, has a plastic body (kevlar is plastic, right), doesn't have 4.0 ICS, less internal storage, among many other technological inferiority compared to the EVO LTE.

Your review is illogical.

If you want to compare SERVICES, why don't we talk about the data-throttling all other carriers have compared to the true unlimited data Sprint has?

Far and away the best Android device I have ever used.

Rating: 5 / 5

on July 14, 2012

5 out of 5 users found this review helpful

Pros: Design
Display
Call quality
Build quality
Camera
Kickstand
Battery Life

Cons: Multi-tasking

Summary: I am thoroughly disappointed with the CNET review. I don't recall the iPhone 4S being dinged points because it can never run on a 4G network, yet this phone can but is penalized. As a matter of fact the CNET iPhone 4S review states "the data speeds, while certainly not 4G, get the job done." So for the iPhone it's ok, but not for the EVO... At this time the Sprint LTE network is lighting off in several locations across the country. The speeds are on par with the LTE speeds Verizon customers have had for a year now. That being said, during what Sprint calls their "Network Vision" updates, if you are on a 3G signal your speeds can be extremely slow due to the incredible amount of work being done on tower sites all of the time. There are a couple of sites that discuss this in detail if you want to search it out for yourself. S4GRU.com is a great one. Androidcentral.com is also another one and is also a great resource for more detailed info about this phone.
The design of the EVO is different. This isn't your standard black slab. Lots of people, me included, were really disappointed that they did away with the svelte look of the One X (this phone's twin brother) for a two-tone black and soon-to-be white edition. But holding the phone in my hand was all I needed to change my mind. It is so ridiculously thin and is a beautiful piece of design and craftsmanship. I've always been impressed with HTC and their build quality but this phone is on a different level. Far better than any Motorola or Samsung device I have used, including the RAZR MAXX and the S3, and completely on par with anything Apple manufactures. There are some neat videos on the HTC site about the design and construction, but the real standout is the kickstand. Fiery red, it separates the matte black from the glossy black (FYI, the glossy black cover around the back actually houses the NFC antennas and is removed at the top, near the power button, for access to the microSD slot) but it is extremely functional. Now that there is only one port for charging and connecting the device (as opposed to the OG Evo that had 2 ports) and it is located on the side it should be noted that the kickstand is spring-loaded and easily supports the phone in landscape orientation on both sides allowing access to the charging port.
I live in Southern California and travel all over the area, including Arizona and Nevada, for work. I can confirm that the call quality is tremendous on this phone, regardless of the amount of signal I have or if I am roaming. The earpiece volume can get very loud if you need it. HTC has never been good at external speakers on their phones but this one is the best since their TouchPro 2 (Windows Mobile device). It isn't as good as what you get on an iPhone (one of the best speakers) or a couple of the Motorola or Samsung devices, but it does hold its own. There is also an HD voice capability that I have heard great things about but have not actually been able to test for myself. It is supposed to be a part of the Network Vision upgrade and will eventually be on many more handsets.

The display is one of the best I have seen. The pixel density is slightly less than the iPhone's retina display and a couple of Sony models, but the best part is the IPS. Not only is is brighter while being more power efficient but it is also clearer than almost anything else out there right now. If you put your finger on a bathroom mirror you will see a small gap between it and the reflection of it. You get the same sort of thing in smartphone displays, with an airgap between the screen you see and the digitizer panel that you touch and interact with. It can cause slight distortions, albeit not very noticeable. What it does cause is eye strain and extremely reduced viewing angles. Imagine not seeing that gap between your fingertip and the reflection. That is referred to as a 1st surface mirror. It is the type used in copiers and telescopes and rear-projection televisions and other devices where reflection, without distortion, is required. The difference is pretty amazing and the same thing happens with this display. There is virtually no airgap so the viewing angles are huge and everything just looks crisp and clean.

The battery life I have gotten is very good. I can go 24-36 hours between charges on a regular basis. I use 1-3 hours of talk time each day. I do some light surfing and gaming. I text between 20-50 times a day. I use Google Maps quite often while driving each day just to check traffic and I check email constantly. Even when I have my email set to push notifications to the device I can get over 24 hours form it. Most people I know have the same experience. The camera is excellent. It is bested slightly by the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S but that is it. I think it takes better low-light pictures than the iPhone and it doesn't saturate colors like the other two do. I am not a professional photographer so I don't **** and moan that it isn't as good as a dSLR, but I will say it is just as good or better than many point-and-shoots out there. It has a ton of native Instagram-type filters, as well as HDR and panoramic modes. It also takes great video, including slow-motion video which is really, really cool. One thing to note is that while you can take photos during a video recording, those photos are not taken at the maximum resolution.

Some miscellaneous things:
-Sense UI is the absolute best, in my opinion, of all of the different manufacturer skins on Android. If you don't like skins, you won't like Sense 4.0 here. But it makes the phone different. It isn't trying to be an iPhone clone. I find the UI to be easy, good looking and intuitive.
-People have mentioned the Google Wallet issue and it is true, but it should be noted that the first update released on 7/11 has already corrected that.
-Do not let the dual-core versus quad-core discussion fool you! The S4 processor on here bests or equals the quad-core in most benchmarks if you care about those things. More importantly it is an SoC, or System on a Chip. The various radios (CDMA, LTE, GPS) are integrated, requiring fewer chips and using less battery to power them all.
-Beats audio is nice, but only works when you have a headset plugged in. It gives better low-end response without making every song a festival of bass.
-There are no included earbuds with the device, nor is there an included microSD card.
-Many people have reported being able to use the newer 64GB cards in this device with no problems, despite it being rated as capable of only handling up to 32GB.
My only complaint about the phone is the issues with multi-tasking. HTC has really gotten aggressive with killing background apps and sometimes it is a problem. Example: I am using Maps to check traffic while I drive. I pull over and text my wife that I am going to be late getting home, so she calls me. I talk to her for a few minutes and then check my email before I get back on the road. When I pull up Maps again, it takes a few seconds to completely reload and redraw the app. It gets me right back to where I was, so it isn't like I had to restart from scratch, but it isn't the same as just pulling it back up. Imagine minimizing a browser window on your PC, doing something else for a few minutes on Word or iTunes, then restoring the browser only to see that it has to reload the page. That is what happens sometimes, but hopefully a fix is coming.

If you are a Sprint customer and are looking for the best Android device out there, this is it. It beats everything else, including the Galaxy S3.

Best phone ive seen so far.

Rating: 5 / 5

on June 10, 2012

4 out of 4 users found this review helpful

Pros: Best screen on a smartphone.
Super fast proc!
Camera is amazing!!!!!
Call quality is great.
Bluetooth 4 with Beats by Dre streamed in the car sounds better than satellite radio.
Battery life is gets an average of 18-22 hours as a power user.

Cons: I cant thing of one and ive had the phone for 3 weeks!

Summary: I cant believe CNET gave this phone 3.5! Brian Bennet is obviously has verizon! The sprint network speed isnt great i know that. But there are not many apps that you need to be downloading 10 mbps for. Using that bandwidth will kill your phones battery. And cost you a bunch of money in overages. A year from now when apps start taking more advantage of LTE the people locked into these verizon contracts will be paying a lot in overages. I can stream youtube, Amazon prime, and sprint tv from the sprint network just fine. Plus i stream iheart, google music, and tune in radio everyday without a problem. And the voice network sounds great now. Cant wait to try the HD voice as the call quality already is spectacular!

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