Rogers HTC EVO 3D Review

At some point you just have to accept that 3D is here to stay. The notional concept is sound: two images, transposed and adjusted so that the left eye views one, and the right the other. Together the brain is tricked into thinking it is 3D. It’s a simple conceit made rigidly commercial.

How it will eventually interact with the phone market over the long term is yet to be seen, however. HTC and some of its competitors in the Android space, most notably LG, have made a push for 3D, and Rogers has picked up two flagship devices in the space: the LG Optimus 3D, which we looked at earlier, and the EVO 3D, which comes to us from an initial launch on Sprint in June.

More than just a 3D-enabled Android device, it’s an attractive dual-core unit with a high-resolution qHD screen and 1GB of RAM. Is this the Android device to get in a very crowded market? Read on to find out.

EVO. To us Canadians it means very little, but in the US it introduced the first 4G Android device on Sprint. Since its debut in June 2010 it has consistently been one of the top-selling devices, despite its sheer size and limited battery life. It has also spawned some worthy progeny, and Rogers arguably gets the best EVO to date.

The EVO 3D is bulky. That’s not to say it feels excessively large, but it’s definitely a pocket squeezer. Despite that fact, it also fits better in the hand than most traditional Android devices due to its 16:9 aspect ratio, making it slightly thinner horizontally and longer vertically. The screen resolution is higher, too, at 960×540 pixels, and it seems that the LCD itself is the same as one found in the Sensation.

The device is well-built, with a heft to it usually reserved for a hardware keyboard, but its lithe 12.1mm girth manages to excuse the 170g weight. While it does not have the same premium aluminum design as the Sensation, from front to back the EVO is an exceptionally well-made. The face is graphite-coloured aluminum, while the battery cover, which wraps around the device securely, is a thick plastic mould. Because it adheres to the body along the sides there is no creakiness, and it allows more easily for holes to be cut for the dual camera assembly. Certainly compared to the Sensation, which is entirely aluminum, the EVO fares slightly worse, but is still miles ahead of the competition.

Of course when you factor in the dual cameras, it’s apparent there is an emphasis on media capture, and in that sense the EVO doesn’t disappoint. There is a dedicated shutter button –  a gorgeous drilled piece of aluminum – that sits flush on the right of the device, near the bottom. To its immediate left is a switch that easily shifts between 2D and 3D modes in the Camera app.

The back of the device is dominated by the cameras, and though it looks somewhat like a pair of robot eyes with a dual-LED nose surrounded by a golden sheath, there is a austerity to its form that belies its sophistication. To further its function is a diagonal ribbed texture that makes the EVO 3D easy to grip, and delightful to hold.