The recent 3D home entertainment revolution – and I use the term loosely – may be centered on big screen TVs but 3D is also increasingly finding its way into mobile devices. Nintendo will be first out of the gates this week when its much-anticipated 3DS is released, while the world's first 3D smartphone, the LG Optimus 3D, is rumored to be getting a June release. Now HTC is getting in on the 3D action with Sprint announcing the upcoming release of the 4G-capable HTC EVO 3D smartphone, which will be appearing alongside the equally 4G-capable HTC EVO View 4G tablet.
HTC EVO 3D
The HTC EVO 3D is the successor to the EVO 4G, which debuted on Sprint a year ago. Running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and the latest version of HTC Sense, the EVO 3D is powered by a 1.2 GHz MSM8660 Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, comes with 1GB of RAM and features a QHD (960 x 540 pixels) 4.3-inch glasses-free 3D display. It comes with 4GB of internal memory and comes with an 8 GB microSD card with support for cards up to 32 GB.
To ensure you've got some 3D content to enjoy, the device sports dual 5-megapixel rear-facing cameras that can capture 3D video at 720p or 2D at 1080p – although for some more professional looking content the phone will also come with access to the 3D version of the Blockbuster OnDemand app that offers 2D and 3D movies, TV shows and games. HD content can be output to a HDTV via HDMI or DLNA, and there's also a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.
The HTC EVO 3D measures 5 x 2.6 x 0.48 inches (12.7 x 6.6 x 1.2 cm) and weighs 6 oz (170 g).
HTC EVO View 4G
Formerly known as the HTC Flyer, the HTC EVO View 4G is not only HTC's first Android tablet but also the first ever WiMAX-capable tablet. It sports a 7-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen display and will ship with Gingerbread but can be upgraded to the tabloid-oriented Honeycomb. It is powered by a single core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and has 1 GB of RAM. The device's 32 GB of internal memory can be doubled to 64 GB through the support for microSD cards of up to 32 GB.
The View 4G also boasts dual cameras, but with no 3D capabilities this time they're split between the front and back of the device – a 1.3-megapixel camera on the front for video calls and 5-megapixel auto-focus camera on the rear for capturing 720p video that, thanks to its 4G capabilities, can be uploaded to the Internet in a jiffy.
The View 4G will also see the introduction of HTC Scribe, which offers handwriting input via an HTC Scribe digital pen that will be sold separately and a Timemark feature which captures audio at the same time as written notes.
The HTC EVO View 4G measures 7.7 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches (19.5 x 11.2 x 1.3 cm) and weighs 14.88 oz (422 g).
Both the EVO 3D smartphone and EVO View 4G tablet also include mobile hotspot support for up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and integrated GPS.
Sprint will release pricing details for both devices closer to their 2011 northern summer release, but is taking pre-registrations for both now.
No news on battery capacities?
As for the processor, remember that dual cores doesn\'t make a proc twice as fast. In fact, in some apps the second core doesn\'t even get used. So a 1.5Ghz single core proc might feel just as fast in most tasks as, say, a 1.2ghz dual-core proc, which is what the iPad2 has. It\'s all about how the software works.
That said, if, as an artist, I want to use this tablet to draw and paint digitally, the more processor power I can get the better. So, keeping my eyes open for future iterations...