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We were already huge fans of the HTC One X, but the Evo delivers on many of the front's that the One X simply fell flat. The expandable memory makes it a boon for delivering quality media content with limited restrictions. And then there's the matter of the battery, which has been chiefly resolved by just (somehow) managing to fit a larger battery inside.
We disliked
So much of this phone is still on the way. While buying it now will give you plenty of worthy features, you'll be stuck waiting for HD Voice, and LTE might not come to your neighborhood for years - either way it's a lot of trust to ask your customers for.
The Evo has a tendency to get a bit hot under heavy usage, especially the upper most plastic part on the back. Which leads us to another part - as much as we like the aesthetic of the phone, the plastic on the back is always grubby.
Plus, did we mention how weird the Recent Apps pane looks? Because it looks weird.
We liked
A bigger battery alleviates many of our problems with the HTC One X. We can (finally) watch videos, run with our phone, and play games for a majority of the day without feeling completely anchored to our desk and our phone charger. It's still not perfect, but it's a huge improvement, even though it's only a small upgrade.
Call us relentless optimists, but not having LTE is a bit of a relief. We've been saying it all along, but if a phone is already struggling with battery problems, we'd just as much rather have an LTE-less phone than a paper weight.
There's no bloatware on the device and the Dropbox partnership, super fast keyboard, Beats Audio integration, camera enhancements, and Sense 4.0's all give the phone a sense of quality. They all make this feel like much more than a HTC One X rebranded for Sprint's network. Make no mistakes about it - this is the best HTC phone around.
We already loved the HTC One X's chassis, but this phone feels even better. The aluminum bottom feels great in the hand, and we actually (really, seriously) love the new kickstand. Being able to prop the phone up in three different ways is absolutely wonderful, about 10% of the time, and when it's not, well, it's out of the way.
Verdict
Simply put, the HTC Evo 4G LTE is the best phone on Sprint. In fact, Sprint is really the major negative about this phone. For many, that won't matter. If you're tied to the network for some reason or another, the HTC Evo 4G LTE is your best bet.
If it takes Sprint a year to roll out LTE in your city, then you'll have LTE on your phone as soon as anyone else on Sprint's network does - and while those yet unfulfilled promises might make it a risky purchase, it's simply too good of a phone to really care.
From snapping photos to Dropbox integration, to a very sleek and very sexy chassis this is a phone you have every right to brag about, and should be proud of - promises yet fulfilled or no.
