Virgin Mobile HTC EVO V 4G Review

Posted by Jacob Krol on June 29, 2012 11:00 am in Mobile Phones, Reviews | 0 comments

Our friends over at Virgin Mobile have sent us the HTC EVO V 4G for us to review. Now, this is Virgin Mobile’s first 4G smartphone and by the look of it, they choose the right one to kick off the party. Their 4G network is Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network. So while it is not 4G LTE, you still get speeds faster than 3G for around the same great no contract pricing. Keep in mind that this device is essentially a rebranded HTC EVO 3D, with some upgraded features, we will go into those in the full review, which begins now!

 

Design

HTC has done some great designs in the past, and while the EVO V 4G is a little bulky, I personally like the design but thought they would change it up a bit. When you compare it to the One X or EVO 4G LTE it looks a little old. I have a feeling the reason for the thickness is because of the 3D camera on the back.  Your power/sleep button and headphone jack are on the top of the device. The right of the device is home to your volume rocker, 2D-3D switcher, and camera shutter button. One nice feature of the shutter button is that if you don’t push all the way down, it will focus. Your micro USB port is located on the left hand side. On the back you have the dual 5 megapixel cameras with an LED flash. This is how you record 3D video or take 3D photos. You also have a HTC logo on the back. Above the screen you have a notification LED, front facing camera, HTC logo, and a Sprint logo. I was surprised to see no Virgin Mobile logo on the device. However, the pre-loaded applications and skins can assure you that it will work. It makes you wonder if they just changed the software. Below the screen you have the 4 Android buttons, those being home, menu, back, and search. The entire device is black, except for a red siding going around the cameras. If you take the back off, be sure to take it off carefully, you will find a pre-loaded 8GB micro SD card and your battery. The back of the device does have a feel to it, as it is textured. Overall, the design of the Virgin Mobile HTC EVO V 4G could have used some updating, but most people will not mind this.

 

Hardware

Now, we move onto the hardware of the HTC EVO V 4G. It has a 4.3-inch qHD LCD display, with a resolution of 960 X 540. And the screen is really good in 2D mode, colors are vibrant and images look real. And viewing angles are pretty good. This is most likely the best display out of any of Virgin Mobile’s smartphone. However, when you switch it in to 3D your viewing angles are practically gone. For speed you get a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon with 1GB of RAM. This is a processor that is found on may smartphones and it gets the job done on EVO V 4G. Although, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich does help to speed things up as well. Internally this guy offers you around 1.11GB of space, but with the purchase of the device you get a pre-loaded 8GB micro SD card. And of course if this is not enough space for you, it can hold up to a 32GB micro SD card. On the front of the device you have a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. This is nice for video chatting on the go or taking “selfies”. And then on the back you have  dual 5 megapixel cameras with an LED flash. The hardware on the HTC EVO V 4G is solid.

 

Software: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich With HTC Sense 3.6

Yes, this is a device that is launching with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This is always something nice to hear, because this does not always happen. And the good thing is that Android 4.0 runs really well on this device. This is thanks to it’s 1.2GHz Dual-Core processor and 1GB of RAM. HTC wants to keep Sense 4.0 to it’s One Series evidently, so the EVO V 4G gets Sense 3.6 which still does a nice job. There is also not a lot of bloatware on the device, you get airGchat, Google app suite, connected media dock mode, Facebook, FBChat, Friend Stream, HTC Hub, Media Share, My Account, Personalize, Polaris Office, Play Store, Twitter, Virgin Mobile Live, WiFi Hotspot, and more. Virgin Mobile Live is a 24/7 music radio, that is free. It plays some new music, some old music, and it is a great social connection. HTC Sense 3.6 makes Android easier, it has some really nice widgets and Friend Stream always come in handy. It organizes your social media for you. Overall, Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 3.6 are a perfect match on the HTC EVO V 4G.

 

Plans And Network Speeds

Virgin Mobile is a no contract provider, so the trade-off here is that you buy the phone outright and then get low monthly rates. And Virgin Mobile is now offering this of 4G WiMAX speeds. Now, the HTC EVO V 4G will cost you a pretty penny at $299.99 . But, this is the trade-off for a low monthly rate. For $35-a-month you get 300 minutes and Unlimited Text and Data. For $45-a-month you get 1200 minutes, and Unlimited Text and Data. And lastly for $55-a-month you get Unlimited Talk, Text, and Data. And then if you add $15-a-month to any of those plans you turn your EVO V 4G in to a 3G/4G WiFi hotspot. It is worth it if you don’t want a huge monthly bill. Now, during my testing at times we had 4G WiMAX and at other times we had 3G speeds. While on 4G WiMAx the highest download speed was 4Mbps and Upload was 2Mbps. The lowest download speed was .32Mbps and upload was .05Mbps on 4G WiMAX. So, you can either have some fast speeds or some slow ones depending on your coverage. Our highest on 3G for download was 1.2Mbps and for upload was 1Mbps. Our lowest for 3G download was .75Mbps and upload was .47Mbps. I was getting fairly good speeds on both networks. When Mobile Hotspot/WiFi Hotspot was working we would get around the same speeds of higher. Overall, Virgin Mobile is doing a great job at keeping 4G Speeds at a low price.

 

Bottom Line

Overall, the Virgin Mobile HTC EVO V 4G is a great phone. And it shows that Virgin Mobile is dedicated to brining top-notch devices to their 4G network. I was very happy that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was on this guy right out of the box, because it is hard to find that with most new devices. Usually you have to wait for an upgrade to it. And the device itself moves fairly quick, thanks to it’s 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor with 1GB of RAM. And if you want to take 3D photos or record 3D video that option is there as well. The only thing I wish they had done differently is updated the design, and made it less bulky. But, besides that the HTC EVO V 4G is a great device and if you are looking to upgrade you should most certainly consider it. Once again it will cost you $299.99, but for that price you are getting a good smartphone and you’re keeping your monthly rate low. For More Info On The Virgin Mobile HTC EVO V 4G, Please Click Here. We would like to thank Virgin Mobile USA for providing us with a copy of the “Virgin Mobile HTC EVO V 4G”.

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