Review: HTC EVO 4G, the Godzilla is Here!

Godzilla! it was the first word come to mind when I held on to the HTC EVO 4G for the first time.  I was grinning from ear to ear, whispering under my breath, "welcome home!"  The HTC EVO 4G is a beast of a smartphone, measuring just a tick smaller than 5" x 2.5" and has the thickness slightly wider than a no. 2 pencil and the phone surface is largely covered by gigantic LCD that is full of HD goodness at 800x480 resolution (hey, is that TV in your pocket or are you happy to see me?  No, its the HTC EVO :P )

While the finish is not quite as elegant as the iPhone 4's Glass/Aluminum combination, the EVO 4G holds its own with a glossy, dark/glass/plastic finish.  It reminds me of the NEXUS ONE I've had but bigger, better and faster.  The features on the HTC EVO 4G is nearly endless, aside from the screen real estate, its got 4G WiMAX +Hotspot (unfortunately not available for NYC area yet), 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, HDMI output, 8MP camera & 1.3MP front-mount HD camera plus even a lovely kick stand to prop itself up (this is really handy!).  The only thing I have to complaint about, which is not limited to this phone but most of the HTC built phone, is the button response/feedback is not quite as firm and snappy as the iPhones, in this case, its the power button that bugs.

The operation is your typical Android 2.0+ experience, if you've owned or played with a NEXUS ONE in the past, you would not be blown away, other than the excessively large, and gorgeous LCD screen.  I am tempted to drive myself to one of the nearby 4G markets to try out the 4G speed.  Browsing the web and using Google Maps on the large screen is a real treat.  The 8MP camera features auto focus and camera is very comparable in performance with the iPhone 4, except, well, takes higher quality photo; it's crazy to know that this phone makes my Canon Digital ELPH SD630 obsolete in every way!  Today happens to be the day OTA 2.2 (Froyo) is available, I'll do a quick write up about its highly anticipated FLASH support after this post.

This won't be a comprehensive review, more like a first impression; I haven't played around long enough to comment on the battery life just yet but I will update shortly.  In conclusion, this gorgeous-huge-smartphone is every bit I have anticipated and I absolutely love it!