By 
Sprint recently announced the HTC EVO Shift 4G, and while we’ve already seen it in countless photos and a few videos leading up to CES, it was the first time we’ve had a chance to play with it. The EVO Shift 4G’s hardware takes queues from the original EVO’s hardware, as the name would suggest.
It’s a bit smaller, with a touchscreen clocking in at 3.6 inches, but the main difference here is the fact that it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Anyone who’s used HTC’s QWERTY-enabled products know just how good it feels to type on them, and the Shift 4G is no exception to that.
But more than the typing experience, it’s not a bad phone at all. It comes with the same Scorpion processor found in the HTC Desire Z and T-Mobile’s G2 – clocked at 800MHz and all – and it does a great job with handling HTC Sense on top of Android 2.2. There really were no surprises here as far as software goes – if you’ve used an EVO, then you’ll know your way around the EVO Shift 4G.
There are a couple of more-than-minor differences here compared to the EVO 4G, though: no front-facing camera, only one LED for flash, and it’s taken a hit from 8 megapixels down to 5. Considering the price, though, I can’t imagine anyone should have reason to complain. Take a look at our quick tour of the phone in the video above.
it looks cute and kindof small lol but ew, no thanks sprint
Nice device… Glad to see the Evo-line building up
JUst one phone sprint. Wow yall are slipping. What are you waiting for. Come out wit another killer phone like the evo. STOp waitin in the shower. Sprint speed right….act like it
mike, why? the EVO is still a beast of a phone when compared to other phones and the fact that the Dev’s have fallen madly in love with it only makes it better…the galaxy line is nice, but a flop in terms of a solid manufacturer and the customization of it through root…Sprint can ride the EVO’s coat tails through spring time with no problems…
All these new phones are being announced, KILLER phones and sprint has….nothing. At least I can’t upgrade for a little bit.
Gee why would anyone pay $199.99 for a weaker product when they can get the better spec EVO 4G at the same price?
@derek true. the Evo 4g is still a beast of a phone! Verizon just caught up to Sprint! they are neck to neck now!
While the processor clockspeed is 800MHz, it is a better processor than that of the Evo. The Evo uses the last gen Snapdragon, this new gen uses less power (better battery life), has better graphics capabilities and can be overclocked at speeds of up to 1.5GHz. But yes, in terms of overall features, Evo probably still wins.
I’ve been sitting on my two year upgrade since November now, and I was hoping there would be some killer phones from HTC for Sprint by now. I know the EVO is like, a god among phones, but if I were to get it, I’d have this awesome, top-of-the-line phone till about June, when better, dual-cores come out. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on to my Curve though. It’s been through a lot.
Noticed that the Sense UI switches to landscape on the home screen when the device is turned horizontal for the keyboard. It would be awesome if the EVO was updated to do the same. One of my biggest annoyances is when the device is set upright with the kickstand, the clock and other widgets do not switch orientation. Launcher Pro does this, HTC Sense stock does not.
eeew dirty nails >.< plz cut them =) thnQ
The evo is 50 dollars cheaper….Well at radio shack anyway
but this is the perfect device for those who need a keyboard with sense and hate the epic
@Droid he was wrong. The phone is priced at $149.99
im pretty disapointed with sprint, verizon has a sweet line up of upcoming phones and this is all sprint is coming out with? i have an evo and yes its still a beast but with all these dual core phones coming out and all spring has is a cute lil brother of the evo!! :|
opps sprint not spring : )
I am getting the shit out of that on the 9th. Can’t wait :D
Verizon may have a great lineup right but I will stick with my souped up Epic 4g with custom froyo and ext4 mod. My phone is ultra fast. Besides those phone won’t come out till spring or summer. I can see people going mad with those high ass monthly Verizon bills. Sprint may be saving something for the Summer.
Sprint is smart to not cut the Evo’s throat prematurely. It’s still selling well, and Sprint has been rolling with 4G for awhile now, so they have nothing to prove at this point.
The Evo Shift will be my upgrade from the Hero, but I expect Sprint to roll out the big guns in the summer with an Evo2 that will probably cause as much of a stir as the first Evo.
also remember that evo is first gen proc and lower spec for perf than whats in hte evo shift. evo shift is second gen quallcomm snap. poly count is double and has smaller nanometer for better batt life, etc. it does however use a crap cam on it.
Fuck salt!
You see Motorola Android 4g phones on VZ and ATT….what does Sprint have against Motorola that they dont have at least one high end Android phone from them? Imagine a droid bionic or something similar on Sprint? Get with it Sprint, you got the 4g network, give us more than 2 choices for handsets please!
Why cant sprint just keep up with the competition or stay ahead…I have the Evo and waiting for part two to drop with the nice big screen, dual processors, great camera, and gingerbread…shit we still aint even got 4g in Phoenix and I pay an extra 10 a month for the bs!!! Sprint gotta get it together cause Verizon is looking really good right now.
Sneak peaks are nice but, none of those devices have release dates. Why would Sprint tell customers to wait on the next big thing when they already have EVO/Epic goodness. makes cents ($) to me.
No front camera, no thanks.