Our Verdict
AT&T is n’t on the button known for its hot Android lineup , but it has the HTC Inspire 4 G ( $ 100 with a two - yr contract from AT&T ; Mary Leontyne Price as of Feb. 2 ) , one of many 4 1000 earphone debuting this year that will challenge the iPhone 4 as the carrier ’s top frank . The Inspire 4 G is essentially AT&T ’s version of Sprint ’s EVO 4G — minus the front - front camera , kickstand , and HDMI - out . The Inspire 4 gibibyte is a solid phone at an excellent Mary Leontyne Price ; shutterbug especially will be pleased with the brilliant 8 - megapixel photographic camera .
Design
This is a bit finicky , but I ’m not a huge fan of the way HTC has designed the SIM card and stamp battery time slot . Instead of a battery cover that ’s one removable piece , you have two different panel you must slay to get to these slots — and the battery one-armed bandit was specially hard to remove and supersede . I felt I had to apply some force to get the piece to photograph in — which is never a ripe feeling .
The Inspire ’s unibody design is otherwise minimal , yet attractive , and it feels nice and solid in the hand . It is more or less thinner than the EVO and a tactual sensation low-cal as well . The 4.3 - inch WVGA display looks gorgeous and nicely showcases theHTC Sense overlay(more on that below ) . Beneath the blind , you ’ll find the typical Android buttons : Home , Menu , Back , and Search . On the bottom spinal column , you ’ll encounter the micro - USB interface . The left spine has the volume rocking chair ; the right field is desolate . The mogul switch sits at the top .
HTC Sense with Android 2.2
Out of the box , the Inspire run Android 2.2 ( otherwise acknowledge as “ Froyo ” ) with HTC ’s custom - built sheathing , called Sense , execute over it . Hopefully , the Inspire will be update to Android 2.3 sooner rather than later — an upgrade that should ameliorate execution overall . I ’ve written a mess about Android 2.2 and HTC sensory faculty in other article , so here I will just chop-chop summarise the important constituent of the operating organisation .
Of all the Android overlays , HTC Sense is the best - expect , in my judgement . The dynamic Weather app , in particular , is one of my favorites . The late looping of Sense feature Leap , which is basically an elegant way of handle multitasking ; it ’s a number reminiscent of Palm ’s WebOS pack of cards - of - cards visualization ( recollect WebOS ? ) . Pinch anywhere on the home blind , and you ’ll jump to seven thumbnail version of screens for applications . From there , you’re able to go to any of those open applications or close out of one .
Friend Stream
Friend Stream
Friend Stream , HTC ’s social web aggregator , lets you watch your ally ’ position updates , apportion link , and pictures in one unseamed view . hold up social connection let in Facebook , Flickr , and Twitter , among others . I find this case of social meshing feed a bit annoying — do I postulate to see everybody ’s tweets and Facebook status updates jumbled together ? If you ’re an greedy social networker , though , seeing all of the update in one place may be utilitarian .
The Inspire ’s version of Sense features htcsense.com , a Web - free-base service that adds an special spirit level of security to your phone . If your phone gets lose , you could use the situation to go after your phone on a map and send a command to make the telephone sound an alert ( even if your phone is sic to “ silent ” mode ) . And if you ca n’t dog it down , you could remotely wipe all of the earphone ’s data point with a single command .
Multimedia
With a 4.3 - inch display , the Inspire is just begging to be your secondary tv set . But as I mention antecedently , the Inspire has no kickstand , so no mesa - top movie watching for you . It also has no HDMI port , so you ca n’t watch subject from your phone on your HDTV .
Despite these omissions , the Inspire is a great metier instrumentalist , especially with the inclusion of Dolby Mobile surroundings sound . I sideloaded a clipping ofIron Manon the Inspire and was impressed by how rich and clean the surround sound was .
The Inspire 4 G also patronize Flash , so you ’ll be capable to check Flash videos , view Flash - enabled pages , and play Flash - establish game . Flash sites loaded reasonably rapidly over AT&T ’s meshing , and videos ran swimmingly . YouTube videos look as unspoiled as they ever could , and the ability to easily flip-flop between regular and HQ ( High Quality ) YouTube television with a simple tap is very overnice . One strange thing did happen : I hesitate a YouTube video , and when I tried to continue playing it , the video did not charge . It collapse me an misplay message and started the video recording back up from the beginning .
Friend Stream
I ’m not a vast fan of HTC ’s Sense euphony player . The album artistry does n’t take full advantage of the Shift 4 G ’s display while the app is in Now run mode ; rather , the art remains thumbnail - size . The Sense histrion is slimly prettier than the dim - as - crap Android actor , but I prefer both iTunes and Samsung ’s TouchWiz role player .
Camera
Like the EVO , the Inspire sports an 8 - megapixel camera with autofocus and a flashbulb . Image quality was pretty good . My photos film out of doors had bright , raw colour and snappy details . Photos shoot indoors wait pretty good , though the colors were a bit oversaturated .
Overall , I was proud of with both the loose - to - habit camera user interface and the Sense Gallery . you could sync your pic with Flickr and Facebook , or load images or video via DLNA . Sadly for Picasa substance abuser , the Gallery app does not synchronize to Google ’s photo service .
The camcorder can capture up to 720p HD video . The whole ’s video looked pretty secure , but it is unfortunate that there ’s no HDMI connector so you’re able to look out your television on an HDTV .
Performance
The Inspire is not one of the double - core - processor superphones we examine at CES ( such as the LG Optimus 2X ) ; it is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon central processor . With mobile processors getting faster and stronger , 1GHz now seems a mo , well , weak . Even so , the Inspire seemed to care everything I threw at it chop-chop enough — minor YouTube hiccups aside .
I had a hard time picking up a strong HSPA+ signaling ( or what AT&T is scream “ 4G”—see our dissection of what is and is n’t 4 G ) . This was n’t too odd , though , because I have a hard sentence picking up a strong3GAT&T signal in San Francisco on a regular basis . I move the Ookla Speedtest app in San Francisco and accomplish average download swiftness of 0.31 mbps and upload speeds of 0.08 mbps . These speeds are distinctive of a 3 G rather than a 4 g-force meshing . Perhaps I got these results due to a weak signal here , but so far , I ’m not impressed . I will continue testing in San Francisco in places where I get more HSPA+ bars and update this critique if I get fast results .
Call timbre was respectable in San Francisco . Callers fathom loud , clear , and natural over the line . My friends said that they could hear very little setting noise while I was place upright on a fussy city street recession . I experienced no drop down calls nor any atmospheric static or overrefinement during my tests .
Conclusion
The Inspire is an excellent addition to AT&T ’s batting order and is a hearty Android alternative to the iPhone 4 . The showing , its expert photographic camera , and the variety of apps usable in the Android App Market all make it an excellent sound for amusement . I ’m not totally convinced that it deserve the “ 4 yard ” in its name , but that might be due to where I was test to prove the net . Still , “ 4 G ” mean fastness , and while the Inspire certainly was n’t slow , it was n’t blazingly fast over the web either .
[ Ginny Mies is an associate editor for PCWorld . ]
