Hands-on with the Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G Android smartphone
Sprint and HTC decided to follow up the successful HTC EVO 4G with a smaller, cheaper model that sports a physical QWERTY keyboard. Unfortunately, the keyboard is not good enough to take on the Samsung Epic 4G on Sprint.
Make sure to check out all of my hands-on impressions and experiences with the HTC EVO Shift 4G on theZDNet Smartphones and Cell Phones blog.
The EVO Shift 4G supports Sprint's 4G WiMAX network and the ability to serve as a WiFi hotspot for other devices.
The typical four touch sensitive areas found on nearly all Android devices are flush with the front display panel.
The upper front handset speaker has a nice border and is quite large.
The back is all soft touch material and the entire back pops off to reveal the battery and microSD card slot. The microSD card slot is under the battery too.
A single LED flash, 5 megapixel camera, and mono speaker are found on the back.
The volume button and microUSB port are found on the left side.
The power button and 3.5mm headset jack are found on the top. Notice the curves on the back that help give the device a better feel in your hand?
The device is not huge and even with the QWERTY keyboard revealed it fits well in my hand.
Here you can see the left side and the offset letters and FN key.
The directional pad in the lower right is horrible with no tactile feedback for the down direction while being a bit slick and rather unusable.
The four row QWERTY keyboard has good spacing and material on the keys.
The display looks good with 800x480 pixels in a rather small 3.6 inch size.
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