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HTC Evo's battery deflects a bullet, earns 'Life Saver' badge (video)
We knew the HTC EVO 4G was a pretty super phone, but we didn't know it was an actual superhero. A nightclub valet in Atlanta was recently the victim of two disgruntled patrons' wrath, falling in the middle of a five-shot bullet volley, but luckily for him, he had his EVO in his chest pocket. While the phone's glass shattered on impact, its battery did not and absorbed much of the impact of the one bullet intent on ridding him from this mortal coil. The fortunate chap is still with us, uninjured but stupefied by the event, and he promises he'll never buy another brand's phone again. See the video report after the break.
The Engadget Show - 015: Sprint's Fared Adib, Google TV creator Salahuddin Choudhary, Galaxy Tab, Nook Color, and more!
Get ready humans, because we have an all new, amazing Engadget Show fresh out of the box. First up, Josh and Paul sit down with Sprint product chief Fared Adib to talk about the birth of the EVO 4G, what exactly defines "4G," where Sprint sees itself in relation to Verizon and AT&T, and why skinning Android devices might be a necessary evil. Next, Nilay goes hands on with the fully-automated house of the future at the Savant Experience Center in an exclusive new Engadget Show segment, then joins Josh on stage for a in-depth chat with Salahuddin Choudhary, a Google TV product manager who helped create Google TV in his 20-percent time. Then, Paul, Nilay, and Josh discuss all things tablets in a raucous roundtable featuring the iPad, Galaxy Tab, and Nook Color. To round it all out, exileFaker rocks the house with some killer chiptunes music with visuals by HN_i_C. What are you waiting for? Watch it now! Hit up the video stream after the break or download the show in HD below! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Special guests: Fared Adib, Salahuddin Choudhary Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Danny Madden Music by: exileFaker Visuals by: HN_i_C Savant segment music by: Kris Keyser and exileFaker Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Taped live at The Times Center Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 015 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 015 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 015 (Small) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (MP4). [RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. [HD RSS] Get the Engadget Show delivered automatically in HD. [iPad RSS] Get the Engadget Show in iPad-friendly adaptive format. %Gallery-108045%
HTC attempts to trademark 'HTC EVO Shift 4G'
What would you name your next superphone? HTC may be calling its device the HTC EVO Shift 4G, as that's the name its lawyers filed for trademark for on the 21st of last month. We can't say which particular gizmo the moniker refers to, though it evokes a Sprint leaning, as well as dredging up our suppressed feelings towards a certain QWERTY-equipped MID. Though, interestingly enough, the company applied for "HTC EVO 4G Shift" before changing the name to "HTC EVO Shift 4G." We'll let you draw your own conclusions about what that could possibly mean. [Thanks, Naval P.]
The Engadget Show returns next Saturday, November 20th with Sprint's product chief, Google TV's lead dev, and giveaways to really be thankful for!
Attention humans: the Engadget Show is back in a big way next Saturday, November 20th at 6:30pm! We'll be interviewing Sprint's product chief Fared Adib as well as Google TV product manager Salahuddin Choudhary, plus we'll have the usual mix of raucous editor roundtable, insane giveaways, crazy segments, and mind-bending chiptunes music from exileFaker! You don't want to miss it! Remember, giveaways happen at the live show only, so make the trek and join us at The Times Center in person. We have a new ticketing policy, so if you're coming to the live show, be sure to read about it below. If you're geographically incapable of joining us in New York City, just tune into the stream right here on Engadget. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's the updated info on our new ticketing policy that you need to know: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:00PM on Saturday, November 20th, doors will open for seating at 5:45PM, and the show begins at 6:30PM We now have assigned seating, so the first people to get their tickets -- and the Sprint text-to-win winners (see below) -- will get priority seating. This also means that once you get a ticket, your seat is guaranteed -- you won't have to get back in line to get a good seat. Ticketing will continue until all tickets are given away You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Sprint is offering 50 guaranteed tickets to the Engadget Show taping to the first 50 entrants who text "ENGADGET" to 467467 or enter online! Standard text messaging rates apply. Click for the Official Rules and see how to enter online. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
EVO 4G HDMI dock finally shows up at Sprint stores, will come home with you for $40
It's been five long months since we last heard about the HTC EVO 4G's HDMI dock, but it now looks to have finally made its way out to Sprint stores. Good and EVO managed to pick one up for $39.99 from their local purveyor of Now Network products and they've had a little hands-on action with the peripheral. Noteworthy notes include an extremely glossy finish on the docking station along with a predictable incompatibility with any cases or extended batteries that expand the bottom portion of the EVO's case. A six-foot HDMI cable is bundled in the box, so all you really need to do is dust off that credit card and go be the best consumer that you can be.
HTC Desire HD ROM ported to Droid Incredible, Desire (update: EVO 4G too)
You've already seen it ported to the HTC HD2, and it looks like the recently-leaked HTC Desire HD ROM has now also made its way to two more likely candidates for a port: the Droid Incredible and original Desire. As you might expect, there are a few issues that you'll likely want to consider before diving right in -- there's no camera support yet on either phone, for instance -- but it does look like it otherwise reasonably stable for a beta, and it does bring some of the boot speed improvements seen on the Desire HD itself. Head on past the break for a quick video, and hit up the source links below for all the necessary details. Update: We're getting word that even the HTC EVO 4G's in on the speedy-booting game now, with a Desire HD ROM as well as an original Desire build from MIUI. They're apparently still half-baked like the other two, missing camera support, WiFi and 4G as well, but if you've been looking for an opportunity to tweak, hit up link number three below. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
The revolving door: Froyo for Droid Incredible coming tomorrow, Froyo for EVO 4G gets rooted
The rich landscape of Android versioning just got a bit richer, with word of an official Froyo update for the Droid Incredible being launched tomorrow (based on the screencap pictured above), while the EVO 4G's recent Froyo software just got rooted. If you're crazily impatient, an Android 2.2 ROM for the Incredible just leaked out into the wild, and can be installed with a bit of work, but from the official-looking-ness of this leak from Droid Life, a painless official update is not far off. Meanwhile, in Sprint land, the xda-devs have a rather complicated, rather scary method posted for rooting 2.2 on the EVO 4G -- you'll have to ask yourself how much that freedom is worth to you, or just wait for the inevitably easier methods to come along and hold your hand.
EVO 4G gets 802.11n WiFi by changing two lines of code
The EVO 4G has a lot of weight in the smartphone arena thanks to WiMAX and that 4.3-inch screen, but though its Broadcom BCM4329 silicon also technically supports 802.11n WiFi over 2.4GHz, the protocol was disabled for some reason. Thankfully it's just a matter of ten characters to enable greater throughput, as the fine folks at xda-developers recently discovered. Better yet, you don't even have to edit those characters yourself -- if your EVO's nice and rooted and the word "brick" doesn't inspire fear, you'll find instructions and flash-ready ZIP files at our source link.
Sprint fires employee who leaked weak EVO 4G sales numbers
You know the backstory by now: Sprint boasted that the EVO 4G was its fastest selling phone ever a couple of days after hitting the American market, before abruptly correcting itself and admitting that the EVO's sales were in fact in line with those achieved by the Pre last summer. What you, and we, didn't know till now, however, is that Sprint's self-correction was sparked off by an employee with a curious mind and posting privileges over on the xda-developers forum. On June 6, according to MobileCrunch, this unnamed hero of truthiness browsed Sprint's internal inventory system and nailed down a figure of 65,500 sold units from Sprint's own stores -- a stat far south from what Sprint would announce a day later. That number ultimately found its way onto the message board, and though it obviously shouldn't be taken as authoritative (or exhaustive), it was enough to get Sprint to hit the auto-correct button and part ways with the activist member of staff. Harsh. [Thanks, Carol]
EVO 4G receives a Palm Pre inductive charging transplant (video)
Oh yes, an HTC EVO has been modded with the inductive charging coil ripped from the still beating heart of a Palm Pre. The 30 minute soldering project does have the side effect of rendering compass apps useless while creating a slight bulge in the battery cover. Other than that, it just works -- or so says the creator. See the modded EVO get busy with a Palm Touchstone and do what yours can't in the video after the break. [Thanks, Brody White]
HTC EVO suffering from glass separation issues?
Potential bad news for EVO owners: we're seeing plenty of reports from folks having issues with the lower portions of their screens. Conspiracy theories say that the adhesive holding the glass is failing, causing the screen to peel up a bit and embark on a very slow journey to capacitive independence. This separation is causing excessive light leakage from below, a problem that we noted in our review but apparently gets continually worse as users spend more time massaging their screens -- even those not being as hard on theirs as this guy was. No official response from HTC yet and we're not sure just what a fix could be, but we have seen people do some wonderful things with duct tape. Update: Still no word from HTC, but Troy, a Sprint employee, e-mailed us to say he's not seen any phones being brought in for this issue at his store. He also indicated the phone is a "repairable device" so, if indeed this is something HTC deems worthy of repair it could be something able to be fixed without requiring a replacement. Here's to hoping... [Thanks, Brandon; image courtesy of Ryan/Selfdestruct]
HTC EVO 4G's graphics capped at 30FPS?
Reports are flying in from across the internet -- and by that we mean the xda-developers and Google Code forums -- that the EVO 4G might have something of a framerate issue. It seems that the device is "locked in" at 30 frames per second both in 2D (Canvas) and 3D (openGL) modes, while anecdotally, a phone like the Hero hits 54fps on average and has "smoother scrolling" in the menus. This apparently is visible both with the standard Sense UI installed and with the Froyo preview build, although in the latter case the Nexus One bootup video is 60fps before halving upon reaching the home screen. So, wherein lies the culprit? For Google's part, Android framework engineer "Romain Guy" responded to one thread reasserting the platform team's "target was, is and will be 60fps." We can't imagine it's related to the hardware given the EVO's impressive specs. Some fingers, ergo, are being pointed towards firmware. This wouldn't be the first time HTC's handsets have come under scrutiny for troubling graphical performance -- 2008 was not the company's finest year in that department. Whatever the reason is, we just want a quick resolve -- after all, it's just not fair when our Hero-carrying buddies are scoring better benchmarks.
Sprint EVO 4G celebrates its 'first' commercial
"First is the beginning" -- tautologies notwithstanding, so debuts Sprint's inaugural EVO 4G commercial, now online and airing over broadcast television. Although evoking the same parallel syntax narrative style akin to the "Droid does" campaign -- as well as rocket-propelled imagery -- we gotta say, this one's much more comforting. Like the commercial says, first isn't later, first is... right after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
The Engadget Show - 009: Kevin Lynch, editor Q&A, AT&T GNOC tour, Sprint EVO 4G
Greetings people of Earth. The Engadget Show is back in a big way with this latest episode! First, Josh sits down with Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch to tackle a handful of thorny questions, from Flash vs. HTML5, to the smartphone revolution and his company's relationship with Apple. Then Josh, Paul, and Nilay welcome editors Chris Ziegler and Laura June for a special editor's Q&A, answering all your burning questions about news, culture, and what it's like to write for Engadget. We've also got a tour of AT&T's Global Network Operations Center (GNOC), which is essentially a war-room for networks that has to be seen to be believed. All that, and music from minusbaby and visuals from noteNdo. Okay that's enough reading... time to watch! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Nilay Patel Special guests: Kevin Lynch, Chris Ziegler, Laura June Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Glenn Gapultos Music by: minusbaby Visuals by: noteNdo Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 009 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 009 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. %Gallery-93618%
The Engadget Show returns, this Saturday, May 22nd with Sprint's Evo 4G, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch, and an Engadget editors Q&A!
Guess what humans? It's that time again -- the Engadget Show returns this Saturday, May 22nd at 5pm... and it's shaping up to be a killer! First up, we'll have an exclusive interview with Adobe's CTO Kevin Lynch (taped at the Google I/O conference), which is sure to be both informative and wildly entertaining. What's more, Josh, Paul, and Nilay will be putting the new HTC Evo 4G through its paces live onstage, then they'll be joined by our very own Chris Ziegler and Laura June for a hard-hitting round of Q&A with the audience. That's right, it's your chance to ask the Engadget editors anything, live and in-person, plus much more (see instructions in the bullet points below). And as usual, we'll have some rocking 8-bit music from minusbaby and visuals from notendo and plenty of those good 'ol Engadget Show shenanigans. You like giveaways? Well then, this is your lucky week (if you attend). Many of you will be walking away with shiny new Voyager Pro headsets, courtesy of Plantronics and we've got tons of Engadget t-shirts to hand out! Oh, and did we mention we're also giving away a brand new iPad (courtesy of The Little App Factory and bundled with all of their software titles)? Well we are, alongside a handful of other goodies. The Engadget Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are -- as always -- free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served... so get there early! Here's all the info you need: There is no admission fee -- tickets are completely free The event is all ages Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2:30PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM You cannot collect tickets for friends or family -- anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we're full, we're full The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break) The show length is around an hour If you have a question for the editor Q&A, email your question to showquestions [at] engadget [dot] com, or hand the question in to us at the venue by 3:30PM. You must hand in the query on an index card or piece of paper when you pick up your tickets. If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com. Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
HTC EVO 4G found loitering in Sprint store
It's not the biggest of pictures -- the PPCGeeks forum poster says he shot this with his Touch Pro 2 -- but what we're looking at is allegedly the HTC EVO 4G. Wish we could have a better look, but who knows, maybe some lucky contest winner in the next few weeks will have a decent DSLR handy. [Thanks, Rigo]
HTC EVO 4G, Nexus One, and Droid face off on the charted field of battle
HTC EVO 4G Google Nexus One Motorola Droid Android OS 2.1 with Sense UI 2.1 2.01 Carrier Sprint All2 Verizon Wireless Network technology 1x / EV-DO Rev. A / WiMAX Various (including 3G) 1x / EV-DO Rev. A Processor 1GHz Snapdragon 1GHz Snapdragon 550MHz TI OMAP 3430 RAM 512MB 512MB 256MB Screen size 4.3-inch 3.7-inch 3.7-inch Resolution 800 x 480 800 x 480 854 x 480 Touch Capacitive multitouch Capacitive multitouch Capacitive multitouch Physical keyboard -- -- Slide-out landscape QWERTY Internal storage 1GB 512MB 512MB Expandable storage microSD microSD microSD Rear camera 8MP w/ LED flash 5MP w/ LED flash 5MP w/ LED flash Video recording 1280 x 720 720 x 480 720 x 480 Front camera 1.3MP -- -- Battery 1500mAh 1400mAh 1400mAh WiFi 802.11b/g 802.11b/g 802.11b/g HDMI out Yes -- -- Kickstand Yes -- -- As you've probably noticed, we have something of a propensity for charts -- hey, organization is key to a well-balanced life, right? Since we last tackled an Android device faceoff, the sheer number of competitors has branched out far and wide, but despite the propagation / fragmentation, including today's unveiling of the HTC EVO 4G, three clear frontrunners have taken most of the spotlight for being the pinnacle of the Android experience: the aforementioned, HTC / Google's Nexus One, and the Motorola Droid. Here, the latter device is looking a bit long in the tooth, but that physical QWERTY keyboard and its volcanic rise to prominence gives it some strong staying power. Cold, hard data isn't going to tell the full story, but until you can get to try each of these yourself -- all at the same time, if you're lucky -- it's a great place to start. Notes: 1 A purported 2.1 upgrade has been promised and delayed more times than we care to count anymore. 2 The Nexus One is currently available unlocked for T-Mobile's and AT&T's 3G networks, separately, and on track to hit Verizon, Sprint in the near future.
