HTC EVO 4G Tips and Tricks
So you’re the proud new owner of the HTC EVO 4G and you want to get the most out of what is arguably one of the most powerful phones on the market. We’ve all spent so many months drooling over this phone that having it your hand might just be a little overwhelming at first. Luckily for you, the friendly folks over at the EVO section of AndroidForums are eager to help with any question you could possibly think of, but we’ll cover a few basics here.
Getting to Know Android and HTC Sense
If you are coming from another Android phone this might be old hat, but for many the EVO 4G will be their first handset powered by the little green robot. User SprintFun has gone ahead and written up a pretty nifty guide for getting acclimated to the EVO 4G environment. If you are new to Android or HTC sense its worth a read to get the basics.
You can customize each of your seven homescreens by adding widgets, folders, and shortcuts. Access “leap” view by pinching the screen or double tapping the Home button. Your homescreens will be displayed as thumbnails. Tap the one you want to jump to it. Long press the Home button to see a list of the last six apps you have used and quickly jump between them.
Does the EVO’s Battery Life Really Stink?
This one is a tricky question with both a yes and no answer. If you are running the handset with all of its bells and whistles enabled, streaming video, and browsing the web like its nobody’s business then you won’t get much longevity to the phone’s battery. On the other hand, one member at AndroidForums was able to run his phone for over 61 hours on a single charge using some helpful widgets and apps (you can see how to do the same with your phone by referring to his post here).
The point is to disable battery-killing features when you don’t need them. One of the big ones is actually 4G coverage, followed by things like GPS and Wi-Fi. An app like Locale can help you automatically enable and disable features based on custom parameters. Screebl will allow you to get a handle on screen timeout and brightness to minimize battery drain. You will also want to properly calibrate the battery. More advice on that can be found here.
What is the Best Way to Go About Transferring Contacts from Your Old Phone?
Plain and simple, using GMail will be the best way to not only sync all of your old contacts to your EVO, but it will also keep your address book up to date in GMail as you add new contacts to your phone. If you can export your contact list as an address book file you can upload it directly to your GMail account where it will then be synced to your phone. If you can’t export your contacts, you might have to enter them by hand into GMail, but you’ll only have to do it once and you won’t regret it.
What Apps are Must-Haves on the EVO 4G?
The huge screen and heavy processing power make the EVO a great choice for multimedia applications. Aside from the included Sprint TV capabilities, you’ll want to look into the TV.com app for extra television content and Mediafly if you like to follow high quality audio and video podcasts. A good streaming music service such as Slacker Radio or Pandora will provide you with hours of intelligently created playlists and round out the media experience on your EVO.
If Qik isn’t doing it for you for live video chatting, Fring will allow you to video chat with any of your friends on Skype (so you won’t be locked in to only being able to chat with other Qik users). You’ll want a good file manager like ASTRO to help keep your phone’s storage organized, and if you want an even faster browser to go with your fast phone, you’ll want to check out Opera Mini.
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That is barely skimming the barrel, and I’m sure you all have much more to say and ask about your new piece of Android hardware, so head on over to the HTC EVO 4G Forums at AndroidForums and join the discussion.