HTC EVO V 4G (Virgin Mobile USA) hands-on

May 8, 2012

Does that handset above look familiar to you? It should because you’ve seen it once before when Sprint debuted it as the EVO 3D. This time, however, the phone that failed to ignite much consumer interest is back with a rebranded moniker — EVO V 4G — a new home on Virgin Mobile, that 3D screen and a $299 price. We managed to get some hands-on time with the device and for better or for worse, it’s still packing the same list of specs: 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.3 megapixel front-facing / dual 5 megapixel rear cameras, dual-core 1.2GHz processor buffered by 1GB RAM and packing 4GB of internal storage with an additional 8GB furnished by an included microSD card.

Cosmetically, nothing has changed from its postpaid to prepaid journey, so you’re still getting that same bulky build, jarring button layout for the 3D to 2D slider and the three quarter grooved plastic back. What counts, however, is the software it runs, namely Android 4.0.3. Yes, right out of the gate the company intends to ship this 4G WiMAX device (sorry, it’s not future-proofed for LTE) with a Sense 3.6 skin running atop Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s not HTC’s latest lightweight 4.0 UX, but for the market it’s aimed at, it’ll do just fine. Check out our gallery below for additional shots of this fat smartphone ahead of its planned June launch.

Gallery: EVO V 4G hands-on