HTC Amaze 4G - black (T-Mobile)
Manufacturer: HTC Part number: HTC 4G BLA
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- The HTC Amaze 4G is a beautifully designed and fast Android smartphone, with some advanced camera features, but don't go ditching your point-and-shoot camera just yet.
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CNET editors' review
HTC Amaze 4G - black (T-Mobile) price range: $549.99 - $649.99
- Reviewed by: Bonnie Cha
- Reviewed on: 10/14/2011
- Released on: 10/12/2011
The good: The HTC Amaze 4G features a premium chassis, a sharp Super LCD touch screen, and a dual-core processor. It's equipped with an 8-megapixel camera with a number of advanced shooting modes and settings. T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 speeds were impressive.
The bad: The smartphone is heavy and expensive. The camera still struggled in low-light environments.
The bottom line: The HTC Amaze 4G is a beautifully designed and fast Android smartphone, with some advanced camera features, but don't go ditching your point-and-shoot camera just yet.
It was only four months ago that T-Mobile and HTC released the MyTouch 4G Slide, touting the Android handset as having the most advanced camera of any smartphone, but it appears the Slide's reign was shortlived. Now, the new HTC Amaze 4G holds that claim to fame, bringing some new tricks to help create and highlight the best images. On top of that, the Gingerbread-based phone boasts a dual-core processor, a gorgeous Super LCD touch screen, and impressive data speeds. All of this makes the Amaze 4G one of T-Mobile's best Android smartphones, but it comes at a cost. The HTC Amaze 4G is priced at $259.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. Is it worth it?
Design
Weighing in at 6.1 ounces and measuring 5.12 inches tall by 2.58 inches wide by 0.46 inch thick, the HTC Amaze 4G is a good chunk of hardware. In fact, the first thing we noticed when we picked up the device was its weight. It's one of the heftier handsets we've seen in a while, but as with most things, we got used to it with time. Plus, with its metal construction and soft-touch finishes, the Amaze is definitely one sturdy handset.
The second thing we noticed is the Amaze 4G's display. The 4.3-inch qHD (960x540-pixel resolution) Super LCD touch screen is quite eye-catching. Text and images looked crisp and sharp on the bright screen. The screen's large size also makes it great for viewing Web pages and video. The Samsung Galaxy S II's Super AMOLED Plus display shows off more saturated colors and has slightly better contrast, but we were still very happy with the Amaze's display. The touch screen was responsive and features a built-in accelerometer, pinch-to-zoom support, and a proximity sensor. Note that it only comes preloaded with HTC's virtual keyboard, but it does offer Swype-like functionality (HTC calls it Trace) so you can drag your finger from key to key for quicker input.
Below the screen, you get your usual Android controls: home, menu, back, and search. On top, you'll find a power/lock button, while the Micro-USB port is located on the left spine. The right side features a volume rocker, a camera button, and a dedicated video button. Holding down the video button activates the camera in video mode. You can also launch the camera right from the lock screen by either doing a long press on the camera button or dragging the camera shortcut to the center ring (see the user interface section below for more). In addition to the 8-megapixel camera and dual-LED flash on back, there is a front-facing 2-megapixel camera just above the display in the upper right-hand corner.
The HTC Amaze 4G comes packaged with just the basics: an AC adapter, a USB cable, and reference material.
User interface
The HTC Amaze ships with the Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread operating system and the HTC Sense 3.0 user interface. First appearing on the HTC Sensation 4G, the latest version of Sense offers a number of enhancements, many of which can be found on the lock screen. Aside from a display of the date, time, and other vital statistics, you now get shortcuts to four of your favorite applications. By default, the shortcuts are set to phone, mail, camera, and messages, but you can change them in the phone's Personalize menu. To open a specific app, you can simply drag the icon to the ring at the bottom of the screen, instead of having to unlock the phone first.
In addition to the shortcuts, HTC wanted the lock screen to showcase more user content, so now you can personalize the screen with your photo gallery, friend stream, favorite stocks, or weather. The content then floats by or flies by (depending on which option you choose) onscreen.
Once you unlock the phone, you'll find even more improvements. For example, the home screen features a 3D carousel so you can more quickly flip through the seven home screens, rather than swiping through each panel. (Of course, you can also use the Leap screen function.) The pull-down notification tray has a second tab called Quick Settings where you can manage your wireless connections and access other settings. The mail app and widget now give you a preview of each message, and the photo gallery widget features a flip-board effect.
It would be nice if there were the capability to remove some of the home screen panels as on the HTC Rhyme, but it's not a big deal.
Camera
The HTC Amaze 4G's 8-megapixel camera offers many of the same features as the MyTouch 4G Slide's camera, and adds several new tricks. This includes a new shooting mode called SmartShot, which takes a series of pictures and combines elements of each in an effort to create that perfect picture of everyone smiling. So for example, if one person's eyes are closed in one shot but open in another and another person is smiling in the first shot and only half-smiling in the next, the final image should show one of everyone showing their pearly whites with open eyes.
Also new is the Perfect Pics gallery feature that takes the top 10 percent most technically correct photos from your camera roll and automatically combines them in a separate album. A photo that meets a number of predefined parameters (such as for lighting levels, colors, and contrast) is considered to be Perfect Pics material, though you can manually add photos to and remove them from the Perfect Pics gallery as well. You can share these photos or view them in a slide show, as you would with any other image in your photo gallery.
In addition to these new capabilities, the camera continues to offer a backside-illuminated sensor (BSI) for better low-light performance, and ClearShot HDR, SweepShot (panoramic), and Burst shooting modes--all of which were introduced on the MyTouch 4G Slide.
Picture quality was a bit mixed. The camera did an excellent job outdoors. Images came out looking sharp with good detail and bright colors. The ClearShot HDR and SweepShot modes also worked well, but the SmartShot feature didn't really work in our testing, as we still ended up with photos of people with their eyes closed. Also, even with the BSI sensor, photos taken in low light (see above) came out looking a bit soft and washed-out.
HTC and T-Mobile also claim that the Amaze 4G's camera has zero shutter lag, but we didn't find that to be the case every time. It was definitely fast, but we did experience a slight delay here and there.
On the video side, the camera can record up to 1080p HD clips, and the results were very similar to those of the still camera. Great quality in outdoor and brightly lit environments, but videos taken inside had a slight haziness to them. You can share your videos and photos through a number of channels, including e-mail, Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, and Flickr. You can also mirror content to your HDTV via DLNA or using an HDMI MHL adapter. The HTC Amaze 4G has 16GB of internal memory and an expansion slot that can accept SD cards up to 32GB, but sadly, an SD card is not included in the price of the phone.
Features
The HTC Amaze 4G is a quad-band world phone and offers a speakerphone, conference calling, voice dialing, video calling via Qik, and text and multimedia messaging. Like the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Amaze is also compatible with T-Mobile's faster HSPA+ 42 network, meaning it can reach a theoretical download speed of 42Mbps--double that of its HSPA+ 21 network. Currently, this network is available in more than 150 markets, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay area, and covers 170 million Americans.
The smartphone can also be used as a mobile hot spot for up to five device and features Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n), and GPS, as well as NFC support. With the embedded NFC chip and the preinstalled Tags app, you can use the smartphone to scan, read, and share RFID (radio frequency identification) tags. In the future, once Google Wallet support is expanded beyond the Nexus 4G, you should be able to use the Amaze 4G to make mobile payments.
In addition to the standard Google services, the HTC Amaze 4G comes preloaded with a number of other apps and tools, including the Polaris Office suite, a flashlight, an FM radio, HTC Watch, T-Mobile TV HD, and TeleNav Navigator. Unfortunately, unlike other carriers, T-Mobile does not let you uninstall any of the preloaded apps.
Performance
We tested the quad-band HTC Amaze 4G in New York using T-Mobile service, and call quality was decent. In general, we enjoyed clear audio, but we did notice a slight background hiss during lulls in the conversation. There wasn't any type of voice distortion, but the sound was a bit tinny. Friends also noted the same thing, but overall, they were happy with the call quality on their end.
HTC Amaze 4G call quality sample
Listen now:
Speakerphone quality was good. The sound was clear and full, There was also enough volume to have conversations in a louder environment. We paired the smartphone with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones and had no problems making calls or listening to music.
We didn't experience any dropped calls during our review period, and T-Mobile's HSPA+ network provided impressive speeds here in Manhattan. Using Ookla's Speedtest.net, we recorded an average download speed of 8.52Mbps, peaking at 13.9Mbps, and an average upload speed of 1Mbps, peaking at 1.71Mbps. CNET's full site loaded in a zippy 7 seconds, while the mobile sites for CNN and ESPN came up in 4 seconds and 6 seconds respectively. High-quality YouTube clips played within a couple of seconds and playback was smooth and continuous.
The Amaze 4G is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon S3 1.5GHz dual-core processor and has 1GB RAM. The smartphone was able to keep up with our demands, as it launched and switched between apps with little to no delay. Flash content and 3D games presented no problems for the Amaze either.
The HTC Amaze 4G ships with a 1,730mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 6 hours and up to 16 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, the Amaze provided 5.5 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. According to FCC radiation tests, the Amaze 4G has a digital SAR rating of 0.46W/kg.
Conclusion
As we said when we first saw the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide, it's great to see manufacturers like HTC concentrating on improving smartphone cameras. The HTC Amaze 4G shows great potential in terms of what smartphone cameras can do, though its features didn't always perform as advertised. Even so, you're still getting a fast and powerful Android device, and it's one of the best smartphones in T-Mobile's lineup right now. However, its high price tag will be a barrier for a lot of people. There are some good alternatives: for example, for $30 less, you can get the Samsung Galaxy S II, which also has a great camera, supports T-Mobile's faster HSPA+ network, and comes with a Super AMOLED Plus display. Or, for $60 less, you can get the MyTouch 4G Slide, which comes with some of the same great camera features and has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
User reviews
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It replaced my iPhone
by macwinpro on November 4, 2011
Pros: Great phone, stylish, well constructed and feels good/solid in my hand. Fantastic display, operations seem very smooth with zero lag, battery life lasting a whole day after a recent update, great download speeds. Very pleased with camera overall when sh
Cons: price was high, currently a lack of accessory options like cases and docks. the camera buttons keep unlocking the phone in my pocket which drains the battery life. According to HTC there is currently no way to turn that feature off. It's nice to unlock
Summary: I am very pleased with the phone and plan to keep it. I was skeptical at first to ditch my iPhone, but after a couple of weeks Android has grown ...
Summary: I am very pleased with the phone and plan to keep it. I was skeptical at first to ditch my iPhone, but after a couple of weeks Android has grown on me. Faster processor, faster data, better camera, and larger screen. I've really enjoyed the screen. Also I installed Swype which rocks and makes typing on the phone so much faster and easier.
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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It's a camera first, phone second!
by fipster on October 30, 2011
Pros: 1) Solid feel.
2) Large screen.
3) Super fast.
4) Excellent camera - even in low lighting.Cons: 1) A little heavy.
2) Short battery life.
3) Not very stylish in design.Summary: I think the Amaze is the best T-Mobile phone to date. I enjoyed it the first moment I played with it. Unlike the iPhone, it's not as aesthetically pleasing, ...
Summary: I think the Amaze is the best T-Mobile phone to date. I enjoyed it the first moment I played with it. Unlike the iPhone, it's not as aesthetically pleasing, but the larger screen and 4G more than compensate for its lack of style. Unlike the Galaxy S2, its screen is not as bright nor is it as light, but it feels sturdier and have an incredible camera.
I love the fact that I can use my phone to talk, text, e-mail, browse, take photos, record videos, and navigate via GPS. This phone does ALL these functions well - phone, camera, and GPS all in one. Plus the screen is big enough to use all these features easily.
Before the AMAZE, I had the G2x (which have a terribly crappy camera), the myTouch 4G (good camera, but tiny screen), the Samsung Vibrant (great screen, but super crappy camera).
For a phone, I need speed, a large screen, and a fully functioning camera. The iPhone's screen is too small and it's not 4G, while the Galaxy S2 feels too light, and I doubt it's photo taking abilities. I think the AMAZE is the best fit for me.3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This is the greatest phone in the world.
by idahoguy12 on December 14, 2011
Pros: Camera, Video Recorder, Internal 12 GB memory, FM Radio, dual cameras, Sense 3.0, dedicated camcorder and camera buttons, latest Android software, 1.5GHZ dual core processor, 1GB Ram, etc.
Cons: There are none to report as of yet.
Summary: This is the best camera out there for a smartphone at 8 megapixels, and has a display that is second only to the galaxy s. But there is not much ...
Summary: This is the best camera out there for a smartphone at 8 megapixels, and has a display that is second only to the galaxy s. But there is not much difference. It is a quality build and feels durable. Sense 3.0 is amazing and the device is the most user friendly and cool of any Android device I have ever owned. And I have owned 6. It has the newest 4g technology, records video in 1080p, and has a built in FM radio. It also has about 10 GB of built in phone storage, unlike other Android phones, with 2.3GB of internal storage on top of that. With expandable SD storage of up to 32 GB more you are looking at a solid 44 GB by my calculations. The music player is amazing providing equalizer settings and SRS enhancer, while allowing the user to thumb through songs while the phone is still locked.
This is HTC we're talking about, which is the finest manufacturer of touch screen devices, period.
You don't really sacrifice anything by going with this phone. Some people list the size as a con, but that is the best thing about it... a 4.3 inch screen that doesn't disapoint. One could say the battery is not good, but I find it to be quite average compared to smaller Android phones that dont use as much power.
If you don't absolutely love this phone, I would be surprised. It certainly leaves the I-Phone in the dust on so many levels. From my perspective this is the best phone on the market. I recommend the white one though, as it looks more sophisticated and seperates it from looking like all the other phones out there.2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The BEST T-Mobile phone available!
by JeffSanDiego on October 28, 2011
Pros: Camera (takes amazing pictures & hd videos, with almost zero shutter lag)
Dual-core Processor is super fast, everything works like lightning!
Solid build, phone feels substantial and well-made in my hand
Does everything I'd expect a smart phone toCons: Battery life could be a little better, but I've got this phone synching my e-mails every 15 minutes, and I use GPS, bluetooth and wifi all the time, plus weather updates and probably spend about 30-60 minutes a day talking on it, plus multiple texts, inte
Summary: If this phone would do my laundry, I'd marry it! Does everything I'd expect a smartphone to do, and does it all virtually flawlessly! I can't really ...
Summary: If this phone would do my laundry, I'd marry it! Does everything I'd expect a smartphone to do, and does it all virtually flawlessly! I can't really think of anything negative to say about this phone, other than that I wish the battery lasted 2 days (instead of 1). But most Android phones doing as much as I have it doing wouldn't last much longer. Best Android phone I've used to date!
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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It's a keeper!
by xandersun3506 on October 21, 2011
Pros: Looks cool, fast 4G, takes great pics.
Cons: Battery life sucks, no case accessories yet.
Summary: For average joe schmos like me, I really have no idea of jpeg compression or care. I just looks at my pics and compares dem to other pics from other ...
Summary: For average joe schmos like me, I really have no idea of jpeg compression or care. I just looks at my pics and compares dem to other pics from other phones. And these pics are nice. I especially love the built in panoramic shot function (yes, I know you can get an app for that on iOS), and the ability to just immediately get into either the camera or camcorder and take a pic/video by just pressing the dedicated buttons.
I am also not a super big user of over the air data (try to get near wifi as much as possible) so I only have the 2GB (before throttle) plan from T-Mobile, which ends up being about $10 cheaper per month than on the other networks. So after just a year, I've saved $120. Even if I paid $199 on Wirefly, in the end I only "paid" $80 compared to if I got another premium smart phone on God forbid Verizon or AT&T, who nickel and dime you for everything. Plus T-Mobile will unlock your phone after 40 days.
All of this for me makes up for the fact that the battery life sucks. With autosync on and moderate usage, I cannot get through an entire day on one charge. Dim the screen, turn off autosync and all radios until you need to use them, then you have a fighting chance.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Htc Amaze is Amazing..
by Natasha457 on April 30, 2012
Pros: Fast,good interface,best camera.
Cons: battery life,few accessories
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Skip this phone. Good specs but under performance.
by macwinpros on March 27, 2012
Pros: Nice feel in hand, sturdy design. Screen is large, sharp, and clear especially indoors. Packed with features.
Cons: Poor battery life.
Camera button unlocks phone in my pocket.
Phone lags
Power button captures screen shot when trying to turn off phone.
At times, phone will not allow me to unlock when a call is coming in.Summary: While the phone has nice specs, it just simply under performs. For starters the battery is terrible and usually about 30% by 2pm. I have to keep it on a ...
Summary: While the phone has nice specs, it just simply under performs. For starters the battery is terrible and usually about 30% by 2pm. I have to keep it on a charger during the day. Funny thing is, I don't really use the phone that much. The screen sucks up a lot of juice so a simple phone call can take about 10% of the life. The phone also gets warm to touch when used. One of the reasons I bought this phone as because it had a quick button to toggle the camera. But the design is poor and it unlocks the phone in my pocket all the time. I end up with tons of photos and videos of my pocket. There is also of lot of screen lag. For the most part it goes unnoticed like if you're playing with it in a store. But using the phone day in and day out, the phone is sluggish. The sluggishness creates some odd and random results such as taking screen shots, or popping up the screen select UI. Overall I would say I am only moderately satisfied with the phone. Not so bad that I want to chunk it across the room, but enough that if I were to do it all over again, I would get a different phone. By the way, I have been using smart phones for almost a decade and had a couple of the older windows mobile phones back in the day and then switched to iPhone for a couple of years before landing on this one. I feel that I am better than average at assessing the phone abilities.
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NO SIGNAL & FULLY CHARGED PHONE AUTOMATICALLY TURNS OFF
by fortuneugo on March 17, 2012
Pros: GOOD QUALITY PICTURES
BIG FLAT SCREENCons: NO SIGNAL ISSUE NO MATTER MY LOCATION UNLESS THE PHONE IS REBOOTED TWICE.T-MOBILE REPS CAN'T FIX AFTER SEVERAL CALLS. FINALLY MASTER RESET WHICH CAUSE LOSS OF ALL OLD NEW FAMILY PICTURES IN SD CARD AND I WAS TOLD IT WON'T HAPPEN. BATTERY ISSUE.
Summary: T-MOBILE REPS,SUPPERVISORS AND CEO THIS RESPOND AND FIX THE ISSUE OR AT LEAST SHOW SYMPATHY FOR A LONGTERM CUSTOMER. QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE SOMEONE?
Summary: T-MOBILE REPS,SUPPERVISORS AND CEO THIS RESPOND AND FIX THE ISSUE OR AT LEAST SHOW SYMPATHY FOR A LONGTERM CUSTOMER. QUALITY CUSTOMER SERVICE SOMEONE?
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Good Device, Bad Telephone.
by derekeddy on February 19, 2012
Pros: Everything is great except........
Cons: The bluetooth is TERRIBLE!! Do not buy this phone if you like the bluetooth headset and like to talk on the phone.
Summary: I am taking this back tomorrow. I wanted to move away from my bb and decided to take the android plunge. The telephone is fantastic except the Bluetooth. The phone ...
Summary: I am taking this back tomorrow. I wanted to move away from my bb and decided to take the android plunge. The telephone is fantastic except the Bluetooth. The phone is simply incapable of carrying a Bluetooth signal and the manufacturer and T Mobile are both aware of it. Do a search and look at the complaints. In fact all the HTC androids have the same problem. Do not buy this phone until HTC gets their stuff together.
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Much better than the samsungs, Bulkier in a good way
by djdanska on January 17, 2012
Pros: LOVE the camera. 1080p videos are AWESOME!
Very quick phone
Netflix and videos look awesome
Has NFC (Google wallet coming soon, among other uses)Cons: Not the best battery life
Summary: The amaze 4g is an awesome phone. Wonderful screen, you can even read it in the sun! Good 4g and 2g reception. Nice audio quality. If your looking for a ...
Summary: The amaze 4g is an awesome phone. Wonderful screen, you can even read it in the sun! Good 4g and 2g reception. Nice audio quality. If your looking for a new phone and don't want to try samsung, i highly recommend this phone. I have loved all my high end HTC's.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: HTC
- Part number: HTC 4G BLA
- Bottom Line: The HTC Amaze 4G is a beautifully designed and fast Android smartphone, with some advanced camera features, but don't go ditching your point-and-shoot camera just yet.
General
- Product Type Smartphone
- Phone Design PDA
- Width 2.58 in
- Depth 0.46 in
- Height 5.12 in
- Weight 6.1 oz
- Body Color Black
Cellular
- Service Provider T-Mobile
- Operating System Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Messaging & Internet
- Messaging & Data Features Text messages,
Multimedia messages (MMS),
E-Mail
Communications
- Wireless Interface Bluetooth 3.0,
IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n Display
- Diagonal Size 4.3 in
Product series
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HTC Amaze 4G - black (T-Mobile)
Manufacturer: HTC
Specs: T-Mobile,
With digital camera / digital player / FM radio,
6.1 oz,
4.3 in -
HTC Amaze 4G - white (T-Mobile)
Manufacturer: HTC
Specs: T-Mobile,
WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM,
With digital camera / digital player / FM radio,
6.1 oz,
8 megapixels,
4.3 in
Manufacturer info
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse HTC products on Shopper.com
-
- Manufacturer:HTC
- Address:
13920 SE Eastgate Way, Bellevue, WA 98005 - Phone: (425) 861-9174
- Email: info@htcamerica.net
- Fax: (425) 861-1715
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