Apple iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO 4G

Apple iPhone 4 and HTC EVO 4G are by far the two most exciting smartphones that money can buy to date. And in many ways they are very similar: both have big full-phone-size touchscreens, smart operating software, lots of free or cheap applications, high resolution photography and video recording, video call capabilities, etc. I imagine for a consumer who is not technically sophisticated it will be an absolute guess whether iPhone 4 or EVO 4G will work better for him or her. But yet somehow Apple and HTC have managed to design two completely different smartphones despite playing on the same field by the same rules. So I decided to try and look at both of them as if there was no such criteria as price, carrier, data plan, or even quality issues iPhone 4 and EVO 4G users have already experienced.

HTC EVO 4G


First up the EVO. It has been around a bit longer than the iPhone and it’s a first ever mobile phone to support 4G network. In plain English it means your Internet connection will be faster when Wi-Fi is out of access – exactly what iPhone 4 owners will be jealous of considering video calling (iPhone 4 can only do FaceTime, as they call it, on Wi-Fi). In hardware respect EVO 4G is brimmed up with latest technology (check out the specification list below). One of the few things one might not be completely satisfied with is the display. Yes, at its 4.3 inches it is quite big, but it is a standard LCD technology which compared with AMOLED or indeed high pixel density Retina opposition doesn’t perform just as good. On personal note, I also don’t like EVO 4G’s shape at the back of it. iPhone 4 is flat whole round witch most people like better – it feels nicer in a pocket and in hand as well. Still, half of the reason to buy EVO 4G is Android. At the moment of writing it is shipped with Android 2.1 but 2.2 Froyo update is cooking as we speak. And that is very important for the EVO 4G. You’ll expect this kind of smartphone to offer some of the best Internet experience in the market. It does. Android claims to have the fastest mobile browser whilst along with further enhancements Froyo quadruples Flash performance. Mind you that Safari doesn’t support Flash at all. Plus Android has true multitasking but will run its battery flat faster. All things considered including the audience that has actually bought HTC EVO 4G I’d recommend it to someone who captures and enjoys the sweet spot of the latest technology and extremely capable operating system. If you are not among them but you like the HTC EVO 4G, don’t worry – it will still fit you well.

HTC EVO 4G specifications:

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon @ 1GHz

RAM: 512MB

Operating system: Android 2.1 (2.2 update this year)

Display: 4.3" TFT LCD, 800 × 480 resolution

Storage memory: 8GB, up to 32GB w/microSD

Rear camera: 8 megapixel

Front camera: 1.3 megapixel

Video recording: 720p @ 30fps

Battery capacity: 1500mAh

Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g (/n w/Android 2.2)

Cellular network: 4G

Size: 4.8 × 2.6 × 0.5

Weight: 6oz


Apple iPhone 4


This, in my opinion, is the most charismatic smartphone if you accept this kind of description for a device. It certainly has the X factor that makes you take it out of your pocket just to let the others see it. EVO 4G will never be able to pull that off anytime anywhere. In front of tech enthusiasts – yes, absolutely, but that’s almost about it. Another feature peculiar to the all of the iPhones so far is that somehow they remain modern and up-to-date through all their lifetime and right up to the moment when the next-gen model is presented. I mean this time last year we could hardly wait for HTC Hero to come out. But after it did, it didn’t stay long in our hearts. iPhone 3G S on the other hand kept its positions till June. Even now I can tell the same will happen to the iPhone 4 – everything coming out next year or so will be put up against it. Should this affect your choice? – Yes, at least at some degree. It receives that kind of treatment for a reason. iOS 4 and hardware that runs it are not any less capable than the EVO’s and Apple app store does offer more apps, but unfortunately iPhone 4 also has a problem or two. As I said above Safari doesn’t support Flash and the operating system itself doesn’t have full-flesh multitasking but runs a number of services instead. However, running services in the background rather than processes improves greatly on battery life while keeping usability basically on the same level. That’s a small price to pay for some features you get with the iPhone 4 that others can’t match. One of them is, of course, Retina display. Enlarging pixel density is really a path to follow for all upcoming devices because physically they cannot get much bigger while display resolution has to grow. All in all if you for some reason didn’t like HTC EVO 4G you will almost certainly like iPhone 4, but it won’t necessarily work vice versa.

Apple iPhone 4 specifications:

Processor: Apple A4

RAM: 512MB

Operating system: iOS 4

Display: 3.5" IPS LCD, 960 × 640 resolution

Storage memory: 16GB/32GB

Rear camera: 5 megapixel

Front camera: VGA

Video recording: 720p @ 30fps

Battery capacity: 1420mAh

Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n

Cellular network: 3G

Size: 4.5 × 2.31 × 0.37

Weight: 4.8oz