Say hello to the new HTC flagship device over on T-Mobile, the HTC
Amaze 4G. This smartphone takes everything we love from the popular
myTouch series at T-Mobile and blends it with the fancy design of the HTC Sensation.
Combine those together and we have a powerful smartphone that has both
the speed, and the looks to impressive most people. With T-Mobiles brand
new HSPA+ 42 network speeds and an improved dual-core processor from
Qualcomm on board, this surely is one speedy smartphone. Head on down
below for all the details, pictures, and hands-on video of the new HTC
Amaze 4G from T-Mobile.
Hardware
HTC is very well known for their exceptional build quality and
hardware and as usual, this is no different. The Amaze 4G seems to even
take it up a notch from recently released HTC smartphones because the
build quality is truly stellar. This is one solid feeling phone in your
hand, it’s actually a bit heavy if you ask me, especially since I’ve
also been enjoying the extremely lightweight Galaxy S II for T-Mobile.
HTC Amaze 4G hands-on and unbox video:
So, the Amaze 4G, we have a 4.3″ qHD (Quarter High Definition) Super
LCD display with a 960 x 540 resolution, 8 megapixel camera around back
with dual LED flash and 2 MP front for video chatting, all on a device
sized around 5.1 x 2.5 x 0.46 thick weighing in at 6.0 oz. The screen
sticks out in a weird manor but more on that below. The back is covered
in a soft-touch matte coating on the top and bottom, split and wrapped
neatly with an aluminum frame and bezel just as the HTC Sensation before
it. All of this is powered by a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon
processor, 1GB of RAM, and comes nicely with 16GB of internal storage.
Here’s all the info from our hands-on coverage.
One unique thing about the Amaze 4G is HTC’s decided to go with a
dedicated camera button, something the Sensation didn’t offer. Not only
that but we also have a dedicated hardware camcorder (video) button,
they’ve provided both with the Amaze 4G to give us easy access to use
the amazing 8 MP camera — a camera T-Mobile claims as “the most advanced
camera of any smartphone”.
For a tour around the device I’ll start with the left side. We have
nothing but the single micro-USB port from HTC. This is a proprietary
micro-USB port from HTC, but it also works with all regular micro-USB
ports and MHL adapters both. Its not shaped like most micro-USB ports
but doesn’t make any difference I’ve seen thus far. Then around to the
right we have the volume up/down rocker, and both of the dedicated
camera buttons mentioned above.
Then up top as usual we have a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power
button. The power/wake button here is at a slight angle and pretty far
to the right
edge
,
and its a big squishy and I find myself missing and having to hit it
twice at times. I’m sure it’ll be fine once I’m used to it. I mentioned
above that the display was a little different. The Amaze 4G’s entire
aluminum body is in a frame and detaches from the screen and innards of
the smartphone, just like the HTC Sensation. Only the change here is the
display actually sits above the frame and is not flush. I’m not sure
why HTC decided to go this route but you can clearly see what I mean in
the images below. Not a con by any means, but just a hardware aspect I
wanted to point out.
Around to the front of the Amaze 4G we have the usual light and
proximity sensors, the earpiece grill, and then that front facing
camera. On the bottom it features the standard four capacitive Android
buttons that we all know plenty about so they aren’t worth mentioning.
Flip things over you’ll see that special 8 MP camera that does all
the magic, the dual LED flash, speakerphone grill and some noise
cancellation pinholes. Here is the soft coated matte rear and aluminum
that wraps around the device giving it a very solid and durable feeling
while in the hand. As I said before, it is a little heavy but nothing
that should concern users.
Software
We have Android 2.3.4 along with HTC Sense UI 3.0 (no 3.5 here) and
just as you’d expect things are completely smooth and fluid as always.
HTC prides themselves on their exceptional user interface overlay we all
know as Sense UI and we have nothing new here. Sense 3.0 has been
around for a little while and we should all be plenty familiar with it.
The overall experience is butter smooth and everything runs great, no
lag or issues here but that’s never really been an issue for HTC Sense
UI to begin with (hello blur).
As far as bloatware is concerned, as usual with HTC phones we have
HTC Watch, Hub, Music and a few other things, the rest are all
T-Mobile’s doing. The list is pretty short so that is nice — we have 411
& more (really guys, ever heard of Google), Lookout, More for Me,
T-Mobile My Account, My Device, Polaris Office, T-Mobile Mail & TV,
TeleNav Navigator and Zinio Reader. We do have a “tags” app for NFC but
it appears to not fully function for me.
Performance
As usual we’ve ran a few benchmarks as well as speedtests. We wanted
to test performance now we have an upgraded 1.5 GHz dual-core processor,
and T-Mobile has enabled their fastest 4G network yet — HSPA+ 42 in
select cities and the Amaze 4G is one of the few new devices to take
full advantage of the faster network speeds. Initial impressions are
highly favorable and T-Mobile seems to keep up with Verizon 4G LTE
surprisingly.
First up here is our Quadrant results, the HTC Amaze 4G only scores a
2800 give or take. This is higher than most stock NVIDIA Tegra 2
devices running at 1.0 GHz, but sadly is no where near what the Galaxy S
II gets in benchmarks, although the Amaze 4G does have a lot more
pixels to deal with being qHD vs standard 480 x 800 on the SGSII.
We also tested Vellamo Benchmark as it tests the devices overall
performance and how the hardware and software work together as one.
Developed in part by Qualcomm, this shows page rendering, browser load
times, JavaScript performance and more and is a great way to gauge
performance. The Amaze 4G scored higher than any smartphone lately out
of the gate, at stock results.
Speedtest
T-Mobiles new HSPA+ 42 improvements to their 4G network seem to
really be blazing along quite well. I’ve ran multiple tests at home, and
in different parts across Las Vegas and I’m getting great performance.
I’m getting comparable download speeds, and often times beating that of
Verizon 4G LTE and their new DROID Bionic — well done T-Mobile. The
Amaze 4G has averaged around 7-9 Mbps download speeds, often peaking
around 10 and 11. Upload speeds are a bit worse and rarely went above 1
Mbps for me, that is one area where Verizon 4G LTE still beats T-Mobile.
Here you can see I’ve ran multiple tests a few different days and at
different locations and have experienced optimal speeds throughout. I’m
loving the faster T-Mobile speeds so far and am very impressed with the
stability in general. With 4G LTE from Verizon it often drops to 3G then
back to 4G LTE and you have moments where you must wait for the
connection to resume video playback or streaming of audio. With T-Mobile
I’ve had solid speeds consistently here in Vegas.
Camera
We must talk a little about the camera especially because T-Mobile
insists this is the best camera on any smartphone. So far I’d have to
completely agree. It is either one of the best, or right at the top
along with the Samsung 8MP camera on the Galaxy S II. The Amaze 4G has
one of the best
cameras
coming in at 8 megapixels. We have excellent low light performance with
a wide aperture lens that snaps quickly. Face detection, dual led
flash, zero shutter lag, smart shot (takes 5 in a row and you choose the
best one), ClearShot HDR when you need high-contrast lighting and more.
Like mentioned above — the Amaze 4G has a dedicated buttons for both
pictures or video, just push and hold even if the phone locked and it
instantly enters into camera mode for the user to capture that perfect
moment on video or with an image. We also have full 1080p video capture
and here is a quick demo video showing just how impressive both the
Amaze 4G and the Galaxy S II really are with 1080p video recording
thanks to our pal Vincent from SlashGear.
Amaze 4G vs Galaxy S II: 1080p recording and audio quality
While the audio quality is much louder from HTC, the Galaxy S II
seems a bit more natural and easy to listen to but both are great with
1080p video capture as seen in the video above. HTC also looks warmer
and more natural if you ask me.
Now for some images I’ve snapped a few photos with the Amaze 4G and
its 8 megapixel camera and here are a few test samples below. (Isn’t my
puppy cute?)
Battery Life
Battery life is pretty subpar actually. We have a 1730 mAh battery
with the Amaze 4G, when comparing it to the Sensation 4G and its 1520
mAh battery the Amaze 4G seems to actually not last as long. I’ve used
both all weekend and my Sensation lasted a few hours longer each day.
This could be that powerful 1.5 GHz processor, or maybe the faster
networks speeds, either way I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be.
Then if we really want to talk battery, I also have the Galaxy S II for
T-Mobile here with me and it outclasses the Amaze 4G across the board.
Here is both devices after about 9 hours of moderate to light usage, the
Galaxy S II was actually used more and had the screen on much more than
the Amaze 4G yet battery life was twice as good. I don’t even need to
explain, just look at the image below.
The Galaxy S II has the same 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and actually
a bigger display yet lasted longer. Even though it has a larger battery
at 1850 mAh I still find the HTC results a bit worrying. Although for
the average user we did achieve 9 hours of usage and that should last
through any users day with a top off at night to get you through til
morning.
Wrap-Up
It’s wrap up time and even though I mentioned the Galaxy S II a few
times (hard not to) the Amaze 4G is a pretty stellar offering from
T-Mobile and HTC. I only mention the SGSII here because they are both
available from T-Mobile starting Wednesday, October 12th so I felt I
needed to mention the competition at least a little bit.
Obviously smartphone purchases often come down to user needs and
preference, I simply state what I see and give a few awesome photos for
everyone to get a second look at the awesome hardware. Many readers
already have their mind made up and just like to look. Some might want
the exceptional and unrivaled build quality of HTC along with their
awesome UI, others may want something thinner and lighter in the
upcoming Galaxy S II. Both have awesome screens, powerful dual-core
processors and the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread, so the choice is
yours. While I’ve always loved HTC build quality and use a HTC Sensation
4G for my daily phone, the extra weight from the Amaze 4G was a little
bit of a concern for me. However, if you want to feel an extremely
durable smartphone in your hand that both looks and feels like it’s
worth more than a few bucks — the Amaze 4G is for you.
HTC doesn’t cut any corners and uses some of the best hardware around
and it clearly shows with the Amaze 4G. We’ll chalk this up as another
awesome, powerful, and delightfully well rounded smartphone from HTC.
You can pre-order the HTC Amaze 4G starting right now for just $259 over
at
T-Mobile.com and it starts shipping on Wednesday, October 12th.
Thanks : Android Community -
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