Update 11/05/2018: I hadn’t given this phone much thought until I learned about a product by RED called the Hydrogen One. 3D phones haven’t really caught on, and I’d be curious to see how much of an impact the Hydrogen One has on the market, but at a starting price of ~$1,300,
My Sprint phone (an HTC Hero) was eligible for a trade up in March of this year, and I was ready for a new phone. While I enjoyed my Hero, there were a number of better phones out there for the money, namely, HTC’s Evo.
Background:
While I was very tempted to purchase a new Evo, I was encouraged by a colleague to hold out for the 3D version that was scheduled to be released sometime in the summer of 2011. Sprint announced the official release date of June 24, 2011 earlier this month, so I signed up for the pre-order and picked up my new phone this morning!
Interface:
While the interface itself isn’t 3D, it looks very sharp and is quite intuitive. The lock screen allows you to access common features such as your Phone, Mail, Camera and Messages. These can be customized to use other applications as well!
3D features:
The 3D camera is very impressive, no glasses or other equipment needed! Just look straight into the screen and the images jump out at you!
The only drawback I noticed (and this has more to do with the user than the device) is that the quality of the 3D image or video is reliant on the steadiness of the person taking the picture or video.
It’s also important to note that images or video taken in 3D can only be rendered in 3D on devices that support it. Otherwise, you can always use the 2D/3D toggle switch to take images in 2D instead.
Overall impressions:
I’m really enjoying it so far! I’ve read reviews that stated some people had a hard time with the 3D images causing headaches and motion sickness after extended use but I haven’t experience this myself.
All in all, I think it’s a great phone for the price ($199 USD, I paid $159 after getting a $40 credit for my HTC Hero)! I’d like to see more 3D content for it, but given that it’s brand spankin’ new, I’m sure there will be more to come over the new few months!
Rating: 9/10 (I would have given it a 10, but there’s always room for improvement).