HTC Listens - Comprehensive overview of this show-off device October 30, 2011

Reviewer:  E. Brown "EB"  (The Wilds) -

Most beautiful, highest-quality hardware on the market. You can tell HTC takes a lot of pride in this phone. It's stylized down to the 'Sense' user interface, surely the most impressive UI on any device.

Aside from obvious aesthetic appeal, 'Amaze' is a significant upgrade from the Sensation. HTC addressed most of my gripes w/ Sensation by giving Amaze a hardware camera button, more onboard memory, more RAM & more ghz. Multi-tasking is effortless. Amaze can run a number of memory-intensive programs without as much as hiccup, and does so with style. To put it bluntly, Amaze throws down the gauntlet.

The device also runs on T-Mobile's 42mbps 4G network, provided you live in one of T-Mobile's 4G regions. I do, and the service is no where near as consistent as their 3G service. The highest download speeds I've reached on SpeedTest is 4mbps download. Theoretically, it can reach much faster speeds & some tests on YouTube have reflected as much as 12. I'm less impressed w/T-Mobile's 4G, but that's no fault of HTC's.

As with any device, and impressive as the Amaze is, it comes w/a few disappointments. The ability to shoot in 1080p is a big deal and, as w/the Sensation, the audio recording quality is unacceptable. You can hear a sample by searching YouTube for (HTC Amaze 4G 1080p Camera Test| Booredatwork) or (HTC Amaze 4G 1080p HD Video Sample). HD looks, LD sound. The end result of the video is more important than style & process. So, if you're looking to take advantage of one of this phone's major selling points - recording in HD - this might not be the best device.

Secondly, although the screen in quarter HD, it's not quite as vivid, bright or impressive as some of it's competition.

iPHONE 4S (Requisite comparison)
The iPhone isn't really in the same league. It's an incredible device, but it's just an app tray - squares on a screen. As a result, iPhones are generally far more consistent. They are also less glitch/bug prone than Androids. If you're new to Android, this will take getting used to. The Apple is a bit smoother because it doesn't have to do much more than launch apps. We don't expect a multi-functional SUV to be as smooth as a basic car. iPhones have no widgets, no multiple homescreens, (still) no full flash browser, no customization, no memory card, no removable battery, no keyboard options, no homescreen replacements, smaller screen... You get the idea. iPhones don't do much more than host/open apps. iPhones are well-designed, user-friendly & have wonderful cameras, but they're tract phones. Pretty basic & that has broad appeal. If you think you need Siri, Android already has Vlingo & Iris. If you're a busy career and/or family person, or not too good w/ technology, however, the iPhone is definitely better for you because it takes less time to configure, learn & operate. Not a matter of better/worse. There's something for everyone.

As HTC comes out with a new flagship seemingly every month, however, this phone will not hold its value as well as an iPhone, which is released only once a year. Like Samsung, HTC is known for creating buyers' remorse by coming out with something better only weeks after a flagship release. Be prepared for that.

ANDROID & de Führer Google
There is *a lot* to configure & customize on a high-end Android. Busy, older folks will either be overwhelmed, or proceed w/o a clue as to what this device can actually do, in spite of having paid for it. Secondly, Androids are *very* Googley. When you sync your Google account, be prepared for folks you've emailed once, 8 years ago, to show up on your phone. If you have a Picasa album, all of your photos will be automatically downloaded to your phone. If you erase them, all of the images will be deleted from Picasa online as well. Even storing phone numbers poses you with questions of storing to phone, SIM card... or Google. The same with calendar entries. Google is very invasive. Android has a lot of options, choices, customization, questions, combinations, permutations... It's like asking for water & the waiter spends 5 minutes asking - sparkling or flat?... chilled or room temp?.... w/ or w/o ice?... large or small?... green glass or blue?... with straw or w/o?... It's overkill & obtrusive. Android won't win any prizes for being user-friendly, but it will for being thoroughly customizable.

GALAXY S II
Amaze's only real competition on T-Mobile, at the moment, is Samsung's Galaxy S II. The GS2 has a larger screen which, depending on your tastes & size, may or may not be a plus. The GS2 can be used on AT&T's network, should you hold onto the device long enough to weather the possible merger. The GS2 has the most beautiful screen colors & saturation, but Amaze has slightly higher pixel density. They're both very competitive.

In the end, this is a dual core, HD device. If you provide HD imaging, you should provide the corresponding audio for it. Amaze fails to deliver on the basics - decent audio recording for videos. If you're not big on shooting videos w/ the HD shooter, then one is as good as the other. However, as 1080p is one of the primary selling points for this device (& you pay for it), the Amaze takes a significant back seat in audio quality to Galaxy S II. The audio it produces from recorded videos is an embarrassment, frankly. (You can compare video-audio quality for the competition on YouTube as well.) For this reason, I give it 4 stars. This is the only area where Amaze fails to live up to its name. It is, otherwise, an impressive device - inside & out.

Best Smartphone I've owned. November 7, 2011

Reviewer:  Anthony L  (NC) -

My original review was for the white version of the Amaze, but I realized that won't help much when most searches on Amazon hit the black version.

[[ASIN:B005SY4AAY HTC Amaze 4G Android Phone, White (T-Mobile)]]

Let me preface this review with my past phones. I've been thru 7 BlackBerrys in the last 6 years with Verizon. I recently switched from Verizon to T-Mobile as both my wife and I were constantly dropping calls in our home. I won't ever look back.

This phone is smoking fast. The UI is snappy and I've experienced 0 lag switching between programs even while streaming a movie over the 4G connection. I've downloaded and installed 10+ apps in the past few days including Netflix, a yahoo fantasy football app, a few games, a few social networking and chat apps as well as 3 different game emulators. I had 0 issues with installing any of the apps on this phone. When the 4G connection is active, webpages actually load faster than on my laptop over a local WiFi-n connection.

I've read reviews of HTC phones having issues with the quality of the speaker. I was able to use this phone in the middle of a very noisy state fair, surrounded by screaming kids, rides and other distractions without having to plug my other ear to hear the caller's voice. My friend later told me that he had no issues hearing me either. I find that the speakerphone works well, but the sound quality is better when I flip the phone over. My wife says I sound like I'm on a land line when I use the speakerphone, and the sound coming thru the speaker was not tin-cannish.

The screen is amazing. There's a handy app built into the phone that tells you what is draining the battery the most. After quickly draining the phone (4 hours) a few times, I discovered this app and saw that the screen was eating up 95% of the battery life. Changing the brightness of the screen to the lowest setting greatly increased the battery life, but it still looks great when dimmed.

The camera is snappy. I can take pictures as quickly as I can hit the button and they look amazing. The auto-focus can sometimes be finicky in low-light situations, but overall I have to say this could easily replace my $250 Sony point-and-shoot camera, and I haven't even begun to touch all of the camera modes on the Amaze. The video is fantastic as well. When viewing the 1080p playback on my tv, my family was blown away with the quality of the picture. The sound capture on the video could be a little better, but that is a minor deterrent.

If there is one major drawback to the Amaze, it would have to be POP3 email issues. I found the POP3 email delivery system / syncing adequate at best when using Hotmail and a school email account. Gmail syncs well, so if that is your only email address, you should be fine with this phone. POP3 emails seem to disappear and reappear whenever they want, deleted emails sometimes don't stay deleted and I occasionally receive notifications for emails I've already read. I'm a systems analyst and even when working with T-Mobile support and trying to tweak every syncing setting there is, we could not get this to perform as well as a BlackBerry with regards to email delivery. That being said, the official Hotmail app from Microsoft works without a hitch on this phone. I installed that and it has been smooth sailing ever since.

Battery life is not awesome on this phone if you use it for anything besides email / calls / texting. However, I didn't expect it to be with the qHD Super LCD display and when running everything else that I do (Facebook, games, streaming video, messaging apps, taking pictures/video). I'm getting between 5-6 hours of battery life before I hit the 15% mark. Installing JuiceDefender from the Android Market helped the life, as well as disabling Bluetooth and the GPS connection.

Few other quick points:
- The FM radio and MP3s sound wonderful over headphones / earbuds. No distortion.

- The GPS navigation works better than my 2 year old Garmin, and syncing Google map directions with calendar entries is easy and helpful.

- This phone is slightly weightier than the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S2, but for me this is a bonus. I prefer using a phone that doesn't feel like it could snap in half if I sit on it by accident.

If you are up in the air between the HTC Amaze and the Samsung Galaxy S2, you really can't go wrong either way. Go into a T-Mobile store and play with each as I did to see what your personal preference is. Enjoy!

Note: As another reviewer has stated, the sound quality of recorded video is not the great. Since I've had more time to play with mine I've noticed that in some instances it is very hard to hear people speaking unless they are looking directly at the phone.

I've also seen a remarkable jump in battery life since updating the Amaze with software version 1.36.531.6. I can now use the phone for 12+ hours before hitting 15% most days (in good coverage areas).

Awesome phone - it DOES have 16 GB October 28, 2011

Reviewer:  NG Chicago  (Chicago) -

Extremely stylish and well built, probably one of the best looking phone I've ever had. Let me first stary by saying that it DOES have 16GB of memory. The user who complained about 16GB with 1 star himself has admitted it and I hope people do not get misguided by that inaccurate review. The phone has 9.75GB for pictures, movies, music and 2.2GB for apps and app data. 9.75 + 2.2 = ~12GB. The remaining goes for OS (1 GB), installed apps and space to execute apps (2 GB) and general cache (remaining), -->[...]

PROs:
* Amazing build quality and most beautiful phone ever, great finish and feels really good in hands.
* Most advanced camera ever with features that would put a point-and-shoot digital camera to shame. The video quality is amazing and pretty smooth.
* Extremely fast, there's virtually no lag at all in running heavist of applications/games.
* Very vibrant, bright and highly responsive.
* Net speed is awesome with new HSPA+42 4G on T-Mobile.
* Pretty generous battery with 1760 mA

CONs:
* The phone is ever so slightly heavier than other phones but to me, the premium material used maks up for it.
* The phone heats up slighly (no where near as bad as Motorola Atrix) with heavy use.
* Battery drainage is significant (although that's same with pretty much every single android smartphone out there).
* Camera is great but seems to take a little bit washed out pics in low light conditions which is not bad for a phone but with all the HYPE around it, I felt I'll throw my point-and-shoot away.

Overall, with $199 with 2 yr contract and no tax or s/h (from amazon or from wirefly); this is not a bad deal at all. I would say this phone definitely beats out Samsung Galaxy SII with it's style and features (and I found this much more pocket-friendly than Samsung Galaxy SII).

Bottom Line: Amaze is amazing. I'd say go for it, you will not regret!!

Great phone, but with some unpleasant flaws December 16, 2011

Reviewer:  D. B. Spalding  (Korova Multimedia) -

You can read in-depth reviews all over (Gizmodo, Engadget, TheVerge, et al) with details, and probably some whining. But trust me, this is a superb Android-based smartphone. The HTC Sense overlay isn't terrible, has some nice additions to Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread), and in 4 weeks of use and testing I've found it hardly wanting. Battery life can be short, but getting additional chargers and cords will help, as will using Juice Defender or Llama to program in some power savings. HTC offers many widgets including a cute but simplistic Battery widget for your home screen which displays charge and status. If you've never used HTC Sense or the HTC widgets, they are both beautiful and feature some functionality that third party apps (for $) on the Android Market offer. I recommend Battery Monitor Widget and SystemPanel Pro if you really want to see where your power is going.

One thing I want to point out is that the "What's in the box" description on Amazon is wrong, this phone does NOT come with a wired, stereo earbud set. T-mobile store personnel confirmed for me that their package includes no headset. No loss, the HTC charging cable is crap, has a problematic micro-usb plug, I suggest stashing it for travel in favor of an [[ASIN:B003ES5ZSW AmazonBasics USB Cable - 2.0 A Male to Micro B (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)]] which I'll review shortly. I wouldn't expect the HTC headset to be any good. I recommend you instead shop for something like a [[ASIN:B002RWJDB6 JLab J3M In-Ear Earphones]] or [[ASIN:B005VP9MRG JBuds J5M In-Ear Earphones]] (both have microphone and control button). Bose in-ear headphones are great, I own a pair, but they're overpriced. [[ASIN:B0012OP7HE Etymotic]], Shure, and even Monster make some respectable earbuds that have fans.

Also missing from the box: micro-SDHC memory card for the expansion slot, which the camera app and music apps really need. But this allows you to buy, according to your budget, a 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or even a 32GB card. I recommend a [[ASIN:B0046XARHS Kingston 32GB microSDHC Class 4 card]] or similar. I had a [[ASIN:B00200K1TI Kingston 4 GB microSDHC Class 4 Card]] I was using in my PlayStation that tests at some phenomenal speeds, at the sacrifice of storage space for music and HD video. Shop around on Amazon, usually a Kingston or Sandisk package with a USB reader, or SD and mini-SD adapters, can be found for not much more than a dollar per gigabyte. (Lexars, with higher speed ratings, will cost more.) I like Kingston memory, never had a problem with cards, laptop SIMMs, etc; Sandisk cards, though ubiquitous, have been getting a flurry of online discussion about their Class 4 cards (guaranteed 4MB/s sequential write speed) far surpassing those ratings. PNY and other brands, meh I avoid them unless they're disposable. I ended up getting a [[ASIN:B006HAK0GQ SanDisk 16GB Mobile ULTRA (SDSDQY-016G-A11A)]] with a rebate at Costco, not as fast as the Kingston 4GB card, but a good performer.

Pros:

+ Great, high resolution 4.3" screen for crisper text and graphics, at this time only the Verizon Rezound variant of this phone has a better resolution (even better than iPhone 4S, I'm told)
+ 1.5Ghz dual-core Snapdragon processor
+ Solid construction and build quality that is immediately evident out of the box
+ Expandable memory to suit your usage and needs, in addition to the ~9GB of internal storage available to the user.
+ Dedicated buttons for camera and videocam
+ T-Mobile now offers WiFi calling (December update)
+ HTC Sense, great launcher, some cool widgets, and not much cruft-ware bloating the phone
+ Can I mention again how NICE this phone looks and feels in your hand?

Minuses:

- Battery life, you'll need to charge nightly unless you conserve aggressively (there are multiple methods to do this, some involving 3rd party apps)
- Colleagues noticed the phone is heavier than comparable phones, due partly to that great build quality; I don't mind this personally
- Pricey, at the time of my purchase (second week of December) more than a [[ASIN:B005SY5AF8 Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (T-Mobile)]] or other comparable models (the SGS2 was $130 on T-Mobile, the Amaze was anywhere from $180 to $230 depending upon rebates and purchasing method, i.e. online, store, reseller)
- It is missing some things you'll end up buying -- plan to spend another fifty dollars on a [[ASIN:B005CG2AX2 car charger]], a microSDHC memory card which some apps need, maybe another charging cable, wired earbuds or Bluetooth headset ... so plan on total cost of ownership (initial) to be a bit higher
- No dedicated hardware button for menu/apps, or for making/ending call; these can be provided by QuickDesk Pro and Headset Button Config apps in the Android Market (e.g. Nokias and other non-smartphone handsets have keypad buttons for calling functions, and launching applications; these phones generally don't have capacitive or touch-screen controls)

Other phones to consider: The Samsung Galaxy S II (11/2011), HTC Vivid 4G, HTC Rezound LTE (12/2011), Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G (12/2011)

[Edited: added more information about memory cards.]

UPDATE(S):

Since buying this phone, I've been through two handsets encountering an annoying cyclical buzzing noise during stereo video recording. The problem develops some times after a reset, after installing some widely used apps. HTC has not confirmed this problem, but I've received anecdotal reports from 2-3 other people also encountering this issue.

A common complaint about this phone is a light-bleed from the capacitive soft keys (home, menu, return, search) below the screen. In darkened rooms, the backlights glow from behind the screen, washing it out. Quite annoying when using backgrounds or watching movies. The backlights can be turned off with an app like ScreenFilter, but you shouldn't have to do this for such an expensive phone.

I've identified the unusual charge/sync port as HTC's proprietary "ExtMicro USB" port. It has 12-pins over Micro-USB's usual 5. Special HTC adapters use the extra leads for video-out, and perhaps other purposes (reference: XDA-developers forums). Though the port is backwards compatible with Micro-USB plugs (for syncing, and for charging), those plugs may wiggle a bit in the phone. Some Amaze owners aren't happy about this. Even less happy about the fact that the T500 cable with this special connector is a) hard to find, and b) not cheap. A call to HTC Customer Service may net you a free one for the asking. If you want to shop for your extra cables, look for an AC-T500 (HTC's part number is 73H00389-11M). The car charger equivalent is called the C500. And [[ASIN:B005LSOPN4 the 12-pin MHL-HDMI adapter (look for my review there) is the M500]].

A Very Good Smart Phone - Solid February 16, 2012

Reviewer:  White Lotus  (Seattle, WA) -

Call Quality

Call quality of this phone is very good, very solid. My friend could hear me very clearly and I could hear her as well. Phone feels more comfortable next to my ear than my previous phone (Google Nexus One). Speakerphone is very good, my friend told me I almost sounded like I was just using the regular handset (I sounded just slightly different on the other end). I was holding the phone in my hand, speaker is on the back of the phone. The speaker might be harder to hear, depending on if you have the back of the phone turned up or down.

Alarm Clock

I use my cell phone as my alarm clock so this is important for me. I only need 1 alarm, but it looks like you can make more than a half dozen if you so desired. You get a pretty good selection of standard chimes for the alarm sound. Once the alarm does go off you get a choice of "Dismiss" or "Snooze" for which you must drag the "Dismiss" or "Snooze" into the circle at the bottom to register your response. It would have been nice to simply allow us to select "Dismiss" or "Snooze" directly (like my Nexus One) rather than dragging it into the slider.

Battery Life*

When left to it's own devices (the screen is off), the battery life is actually quite good. It's only when you turn on the screen and start using it does the battery really take a hit. Watching movies and videos is a big battery sucker. Web browsing is also a battery hog.

I have turned down the dim switch so the battery doesn't get eaten so quickly now and the screen still looks good. The battery widget does not seem accurate. From 100% to about 40% or 50% the battery will last a while. However, once you get below 40% the battery seems to run out of juice in a hurry.

If you buy this phone be ready to work with it. I have had those days where you put the phone in the car, go to work, come back 7 hours later, and there's a voicemail and email messages and only 20% left on the battery. I guess HTC phones are notorious for this. One solution? Turn the phone on Airplane Mode if you're at work and not using it. For some reason those notifications can really suck battery life. It's not always like this, but it used to happen occasionally with my N1 as well.

The HTC Amaze uses a proprietary USB charging cord. This charging cord uses an extra two prongs so that it can recharge the phone quicker. I have a different take on this. I think HTC made the cord like this so it wouldn't take all night to recharge. I tried recharging my phone using a USB extension (so that the extra two prongs would not come into play). All the while, I was playing games and web surfing on my phone at the same time. The battery level stayed exactly the same for that 30 minutes, it never got charged.

Even with the proprietary cord the way it is, it takes much longer to recharge my Amaze than it did to recharge my Nexus One. Within 2 hours my Nexus One will pretty much be mostly charged up close to 90% or more. If you are starting from near zero, the Amaze might be around 75% or less after 2 hours.

In terms of real world use, I can easily make it through a full day with some internet usage, some phone calls, and some app use. I'm generally not a heavy user. I usually turn off: Wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc. when I'm not using the phone.

The Screen

Initially the screen looks of a very high quality. It feels very smooth when dragging a fingertip over the surface. It is remarkable because it does not retain fingerprints the way my previous phone did, amazing. The glass remains clear if I keep my fingers relatively clean. The size of the screen, 4.3", is not too large. The larger size actually makes reading web pages a little easier on the eyes which is a plus. The phone does not have any trouble fitting in my pocket. Any larger and it might be too much.

Colors look bright and accurate. Text looks very sharp and detailed as do pictures. Contrast is not the greatest, there is backlight bleeding coming from the bottom of the screen which is a well known problem with this phone. It is visible in a darker environment, but not really obvious unless you are looking for it. My previous phone had an Amoled screen which had tremendous black and white contrast, however, the HTC Amaze's ppi (points per inch) is so good, and pictures are so sharp, it is easy to forgive it for the lack of contrast.

The capacitive touch is very responsive and keys are easy to predict and press on the keyboard. The default keyboard has a grey background which is not the easiest to see. It has a bevy of options including a Swype-like ability to input via dragging as well as predictive text input and on the fly spell checking. I like the keyboard very much. I find it easier to type on than the stock Android keyboard.

Notifications

When I receive a notification, the phone will emit either a green or an orange light on the left side of the top speaker. This can be anything from a voicemail, an email, a text message, or an app that needs updating. You get to choose what gets updated and what doesn't. A chime will also sound when you get a notification.

The Camera

Pictures really are amazing for this smart phone when there is adequate light (and are pretty good even if there isn't much light). Pressing the shutter button and holding it for approximately 1 second brings up the camera app. I wish the delay were just a bit longer than 1 second as I have accidentally turned on the camera on more than 1 occasion. The shutter button really does function as a shutter button, allowing you to press the shutter half way before actually taking the shot. The limited manual controls include: White Balance (incandescent, fluorescent, daylight, or cloudy) and ISO (adjustment from 100,200,400 and 800).

One of my favorite abilities of the camera, is the manual focus. Example: a picture of a patch of grass in the foreground, clouds and mountains in the background. Simply touch the screen on the area you wish to be in clear view, and the camera will automatically adjust the focus to make that part of the image clear (and the rest of the image fuzzy). Of course there's auto-focus too which lets the camera decide what is in focus and what is out of focus.

Low light photos showed obvious noise, but not as heinous as most smart phones will produce. Details were still well rendered and sharpness was obvious. The lack of dynamic range of the lens really shows. There is no optical zoom feature (there is digital zoom) but you do have a bevy of features like: self timer (2 secs or 10 secs), special effects like vignetting, sepia, negative, posterize, etc. widescreen size, ability to geo-tag (tag photo by location), smile recognition, blink detection, and other. Quite impressive for a smart phone.

Cons

While I'm typing quickly it will seem like the keyboard will lag a little bit. It will seem like the keystroke didn't register, but then a second later it will show up. This is annoying. The built-in web browser, when you press on a link, sometimes does not show or indicate that you've selected a link. Then a few seconds later, the new page will appear, again, annoying.

The wifi on this phone doesn't work as well as my Nexus One. It takes just a wee bit longer to acquire the signal and it doesn't seem as sensitive as my Nexus One or my Samsung 7" Galaxy Tab. There is an app which allows me to setup mail on both my Hotmail and Gmail accounts which works surprisingly well and was easy to set up.

The 4G speeds work well when I am close to a cell tower in South King County where I live (south of Seattle). In fact they are the fastest speeds I've ever experienced. Great for downloading files, but in terms of web use you won't see a big improvement.

One very frustrating thing about this phone is the way the internet connection turns off when the display does which is a function of Juice Defender (which turns off data when the phone is not in use). I have had many downloads interrupted because of this. Just a heads up in case you use Juice Defender. I had to change the display timeout to a longer interval to prevent download interruption.

****Update****

I've been using over a month now. Battery life has gotten better as I've learned to turn off the Clock Sync feature and dim the display. It's not necessary for the phone to always check to see if it has the most accurate time, just a waste of battery and bandwidth. The clock is very accurate by itself. I can get a full day easily if I'm not out looking for houses with my Agent.

The 4G internet works really well where I live. I can get 4G in my bathroom which is surrounded by walls and yet more walls. In my particular case, I get much better performance using 4G than my Wifi.

I have a car charger for my Amaze and it works well. Plugs into the cigarette lighter via USB. I have a cord for home and car. The phone will charge fairly quickly despite using a generic cord (picked up from Ebay). The battery indicator is not accurate. When fully charged it will say 100% for a long time, close to 5 mins of internet use. Normally after 5 mins the battery will drain down a tick or two.

Have a thin case now. The camera buttons are still too easy to press. Many times I turn on the camera on accident because it's too easy to press (and hold) one of the two buttons that will activate it. You have to hold the buttons for at least a good second if not longer, but I still do it because it's right where my fingers grab.

The GPS works well on this phone as does the compass. Initially I was skeptical as the phone had difficulty figuring out which direction I was facing and it still does on occasion. However, this does not affect the text-to-voice navigation. I have now used the phone on cloudy days as well as sunny and I'm fairly confident it will get me from point A to point B. The problem is, battery life gets sucked up like it's nobody's business with GPS and satellite location turned on.

*Update 9/8/12 - My Amaze's battery has taken a turn for the worse. It's only been 6 months since this review was written. I think the battery should last longer than that. It's so bad, I've decided to buy Samsung Galaxy S2. The S2's battery life is much more representative of what I desire in a smart phone, but it falls short in every comparison to the Amaze, screen quality, camera, and most annoyingly in the sensitivity of the touch screen.

The battery life was already not very good to begin with. I realize I could just buy a new battery and be done with it. But even then, I'd have to live with battery life that wasn't atrocious, just bad. The S2 feels mediocre compared to the Amaze. However, the best smart phone in the world is the one that has power.

Yesterday I was playing with the Amaze and the S2. Within 2 hours of playing with both, my Amaze went from nearly 100% to 32% whereas the S2 went from around 95% to 80%. Big difference. If I have to make pictures or video, I'll use the Amaze because it's camera is much better than the S2. However, for daily use the S2 is much better.

New phone, already NOT SUPPORTED December 13, 2012

Reviewer:  Thummper  (san jose, CA 95136) -

This phone, which is only about 1 year old, has never been current with Android. It is currently running 4.0 vs 4.2.1, and HTC announced that at some time in the distant future there MIGHT be a 4.1 update, but NOT a 4.2, ever. In fact, after 4.1, HTC is done with this phone. If you get this, or any HTC phone, know that its only got about 3 months until it is out of date, and 6 months-year (from RELEASE date, not purchase btw) until HTC will provide no further updates. Also, because HTC has bloated the phone with their own apps on top of android, you HAVE to get updates through HTC.

too expensive to have this many bugs August 19, 2012

Reviewer:  txvtchick 

I switched from a Blackberry to the htc Amaze on t-mobile. I really like the android apps, and the GPS is fantastic, but the phone feels like a beta, quality-wise.

- The worst problem is with the bluetooth stack. If you use a wireless headset, people you are talking to hear an echo. In talking to one person it's manageable, but in a conference call it's absolutely unworkable for the other participants. I have tried different headsets and each one has the same issue. Google "htc amaze bluetooth" and see what comes back. Basically, for a $550 phone you have to use a wired headset. Unbelievable in 2012.
- I used to get email on the blackberry before it showed up in my inbox (web and pop accounts). With the Amaze, even after playing around with the refresh settings, email takes forever. Sometimes in sleep mode it's not delivered at all. You need to wake up the phone, check email, and then a couple of minutes later your emails will start showing up on the phone.
- A recent android "update" did not address the bluetooth issues, but it did break the clock applet. It used to display the correct time, all the time. Now when you wake the phone up it will show the correct time before the phone is unlocked, then when you unlock it, it shows the time that you put the phone in sleep mode for several seconds before correcting to the current time.

The last two issues are not that major but the bluetooth problem is incredibly annoying. Since it took me a couple of weeks to figure out what was happening with the bluetooth stack, T-mobile would not let me return the phone or exchange it. I would not recommend this phone, and am switching from t-mobile at the end of the contract.

Junk. December 2, 2012

Reviewer:  peterk 

This phone looks great on the spec sheet, unfortunately, since it shuts itself of all the time, it sits on the shelf while I use my old LG Optimus. $500 paper weight. Accordind to my research this is common isue which HTC has no interest resolving.

HTC amaze December 30, 2011

Reviewer:  nic 

Got this phone through best buy, not Amazon. I love this phone! I had the my touch 3g and upgraded to this. What stands out the most is how fast this phone is . I'm not talking about the 4g but the processor. Sending messages, internet usage, downloading things is super fast. I use my home wifi to access the internet and 4g when I'm not home. The screen is great. The camera is awesome. Iwas debating between the sgs2 and this but I really like this phone!

This phone sucks!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not buy it!!!! November 3, 2012

Reviewer:  dieselman 

This phone is by far the worst phone I have ever had! HTC did a horrible job with this device, I constantly had issues with this phone shutting down for no reason at all. I warrantied this phone six times with t-mobile, and finally they told me that they had to get me into a different phone entirely because there was a problem with the software and HTC wasn't fixing the problem anymore. Very disappointed.

Not great October 29, 2012

Reviewer:  Rob Joswel 

This phone looks pretty good, but beware. There are serious issues:

1. The phone I bought did not have the "Ice cream sandwich" operating system installed. That meant that when I reset my google passwords, I had to do a complete reset before being able to access all my services. Really, this is google's fault, but the phone had no easy way to let you do this and it wasted a day of my time hacking away.

2. The charger port is a custom micro USB that is really, really awful. It is hard to fit the plug in the port and you never get used to it. It always feels like something is wrong and you need to look carefully at the port to decide which orientation is correct. Putting the plug in the wrong way feels exactly like putting it in the right away.

3. Once the charger is fitted, the phone probably won't charge. You need to wiggle the plug around and once the red "charging" light goes on carefully place the phone out of the way, somewhere where there are no vibrations, breezes or cats because the slightest movement will cause it to stop charging.

4. Finally, if the phone discharges the battery completely, it will probably be necessary to remove the back of the cell phone, remove the battery and put the battery back in. Really.

I'm guessing they pushed this phone out with minimal quality assurance and engineering review. To be fair, the screen is nice and the software is pretty good too. Not as easy to use as the Iphone, but getting there.

Not worth it's weight in iron pyrite October 11, 2012

Reviewer:  Kaladen  (USA) -

I bought this phone a little over 3 months ago. I was looking for a GSM phone with a cpu over 1GHz and a big screen. I think the features are pretty cool, it has a camera with 8mp and a front facing camera as well. The phone storage of 16GB is quite large when compared to other smart phones as well, and of course one of the main reasons I like android phones is because they have expandable memory...unlike the iPhones. However, there are a couple large negatives about this phone that drive me crazy. The battery dies so fast, if I'm playing a game too long the battery will be consumed in less than 2 hours...it's ridiculous. I am constantly charging it to make sure it gets through the day without dying during a business phone call. The battery is not dependable at all.
The other large negative issue may be related to effects of specific settings on the phone. Shortly after buying the phone I decided to encrypt the SD card and phone storage to enhance security on the phone. Just about a month ago the phone all of a sudden couldn't detect the phone storage or the SD card and said that it needed to be reformatted. I ejected the microsd card and put it in another phone as well as hooked it up to the computer, both of the other devices said it needed to be reformatted. I had a lot of pictures, songs, and documents on the phone and didn't want to format it, but I needed by storage, and most of the information was luckily back-up to my computer however I did lose a lot of information through reformatting it. Just today it did it again, after the phone survived a 3 foot drop onto the carpeted floor. There is little use for a smart phone which can't hold onto the information it's suppose to keep secure. It's hard to give this phone a bad rating because it has so many cool features and because I like the HTC brand, but if a smart phone acts dumb, then it deserves a bad rating!

My experience was bad with htc amaze 4g from T- Mobile September 18, 2012

Reviewer:  George 

Within a week i got the phone i understood that there was some issue with the head phone jack. When you put the head phone in the jack, the voice get disconnected frequently . I had to adjust the head phone every time to hear properly. I reported this issue with T-Mobile , they issued a new amaze 4G phone for me. My bad luck, The second phone had the same issue with head phone jack. I tried different head phone but no luck. I went to T mobile store to verify it. They too were convinced about the issue. I talked with T mobile again, they told they cant do anything .When i googled, i found that there are many customers who are facing the same issue. My experience with HTC amaze was bad.Even i wont suggest anyone taking this cellphone from T mobile.It is really disappointing when you purchase a phone with lot of expectation and behaves something like this.Battery life also sucks. I would prefer Samsung over HTC.

Great Smartphone, Falls Short in Details June 20, 2012

Reviewer:  rsconcierge 

First, I would like to say that this is a great phone, highly representative of what the Android and Sense can bring you. Everything works as it should, and the phone responds fluidly with its processor. It has also been updated to Android 4.03 with Sense 3.6. Unfortunately there are a few problems that HTC let get by them, that will come with every phone made. These are entirely minor, but when I spend a large sum of money on a device, I expect the little things to work as much as the big things on the phone.

-The capacitive button lights bleed into the screen itself. This is incredibly irksome when trying to view multimedia on your phone.
-The flash from the camera will bleed into your picture. It's a design flaw with the case that HTC did not account for.
-If there is any sort of movement from headphones in their jack, you will hear crackling.
-HTC will not release the source code for parts of the kernel of the phone, preventing extensive development on it.

Just to be clear, everything else works great on this phone, I just have those gripes.

Awesome Piece of Technology October 28, 2011

Reviewer:  Shaman  (Virginia) -

Superb. As the other writer pointed out, it does not have 16GB of Free memory...it has that much storage capacity. If you pick up a micro SD card, maybe a 32GB, then you've got plenty. Don't let a whiney small dollar amount complaint sway you. Well made and a great phone as well.

Really crap May 15, 2012

Reviewer:  Yul Ullu  (San Francisco) -

This would be my favorite device if it worked well. Nice design, great screen, great tactile experience, I like just about everything.

My problems:

1. Random, spontaneous reboots. Sometimes once a week. Sometimes 10 times a day. I always reboot after installing updates or if the data feels sluggish. But the phone now does it for me, sometimes when I really need a phone. Oh, and the reboot process can take 4 minutes.

2. T-Mobile unlocked the phone and while visiting Europe, I replace the T-Mobile simm. I was able to use the phone and text functions, but no data at all. I tried both Vodaphone and Orange.

I expect an expensive phone to be free of problems. There are several HTC Amaze forums with posts about the reboot problem. It seems to be related to signals being dropped. The only solution listed is to root the phone, sometime I am not willing to do.

I will wait for the Ice Cream Sandwich update from Android to see if anything changes. If not, I will be dumping this phone, and possibly HTC, which has been my brand of choice for the last 3 phones.

Yeah, I'm irritated.

Update 7/11/2012: I sent the phone to HTC to repair the rebooting problem as it did not go away with Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone arrived back today and now it doesn't read the microSD card that I have used with the Amaze ever since I got it. I swapped the microsd with other phones and they read it fine and I tried 3 different cards in the Amaze and none were recognized. After screwing around with it for 2 hours and another 30 minutes on the phone with HTC support, I got another RMA to send it back again, at my expense for the postage. Apparently HTC doesn't actually test the phones when they repair them. If HTC can't make good on this, it will be my last HTC phone. Too bad because I really like their design and approach.

Excellent phone! December 29, 2011

Reviewer:  Jeffrey C. Munson "Cost Conscious"  (San Francisco, CA USA) -

So T-Mobile sent me this phone, and I've been happily using it for about a month now, and I figured it's time to start yakking about it. It's an Amaze(tm) 4G manufactured by HTC. Some may know it by its HTC production name, the Ruby. Either way, it's a stunning phone, and as I've found over the past several weeks, it ROCKS! Let me tell you the ways...

*The Story*

But before we get into it, let me give you a bit of back story. A few months ago, the Emerging Media Manager for T-Mobile, along with their public relations company, Big Fuel, asked me to be a part of T-Mobilizer, their consumer-driven Emerging Media group. The idea is that, as a loyal T-Mobile subscriber and active member of the T-Mobile consumer support community, T-Mobile is giving a bit back by giving me access to some of their cool new products. While it's not required, I'm encouraged to share my thoughts about the products that they send and T-Mobile in genaral. See my previous post here for more details.

So, after nearly 2 years of working my stout old Fender MyTouch 3G, T-Mobile sent me a shiny new and pretty Amaze 4G to play with. Now that I've got some experience with it under my belt, I feel that it's time to share my thoughts with all of you (which I hope will make Mr. Elliott a happy man).

*The AMAZE-ing Story*

Around the first week of November, I receive my new Amaze 4G (well, not mine, it's only a loan). I'm like a kid loose in a candy store.

Okay, my first thought after opening the box? This thing is GORGEOUS!! Very clean lines without looking like it was built by shaving down a black plastic brick. The back has a nice aluminum look (although I learned later that it's just painted plastic) with a rubberized overlay on the top and bottom that looks great and helps you grip the phone (I've heard that the white model has smooth panels where the black is rubberized...a minus in the white's column in my book). I love the look.

Second thought...the screen is enormous. This phone is big, probably about as large as you'd want to get for something that sits in the palm of your hand. The nice thing is that the screen fills almost all of the phone's face. There is a little slice taken off the top for the speaker, notification LED, and front camera, and a slice off the bottom for the navigation buttons, but otherwise it's all screen. More on that later.

Third thought...this phone is a bit on the heavy side. Not like it's made of gold heavy, but it's got some heft. Maybe about the same weight as an apple. Now, before you start thinking of this as a negative, consider this...this phone has fantastic feel. Think about driving a car. Do you prefer a car that feels like you're driving a sponge down the road, where even small boulders don't even give the steering wheel a shiver, or do you prefer a car with a wheel that lets you feel the size, shape, and consistency of that tiny pebble that you just ran over? If the former, then this phone isn't for you. Look at the Samsung Galaxy S2 instead (great phone, lighter feel). But, if you like something that says, "Hey, I'm here, FEEL me!", then the Amaze 4G is a Godsend. It still sits nicely in my pocket, and I can hold it for an hour reading a book, but it just feels...well...substantial, like something built for quality.

*First Use*

So, I get it unpacked and set up with the new SIM card (you need it to use the recently enabled WiFi calling), fully charged, and boot it up. Boy oh boy, what a beautiful screen. This puppy is full 960x540 pixel qHD equipped, and that means huge, tight, sparkling digital goodness for your eyes to feast on. I'll grant that the SGS2 is a bit brighter and the colors are a tiny bit punchier, but the screen on the Amaze 4G is, for me at least, more elegant and less "cartoony" than the Sammy. No diss on the GS2's screen. It's beautiful too. I just prefer the more realistic and cleaner look of the Amaze's screen.

Booted up and registered (took a couple of hours for the new SIM to register with my number), I start to play. This phone comes stock with the HTC Sense 3.0 as a launcher. It's pretty nifty, and comes with some great preloads like Netflix, the Google suite (except for Google Plus, which you can download from the Market), Lookout security, T-Mobile TV HD, and qik Video Chat (for 2-way video chats). Of course you can load up on other apps as well, and I'll discuss a few that I like in a moment. It also comes with some preloads that I'm not really keen on, and unfortunately they can not be removed without rooting the phone WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT DO! That is, unless you really really really really really really know what you're doing, and are ready to accept a total loss of operation of your brand new $500+ investment. So, you're stuck with the shovelware that you don't like, but luckily you don't have to use them, and they don't seem to cause problems with the phone if you just ignore them.

HTC Sense. It's the whizzy, bangy, nifty launcher that the Amaze 4G comes with. It's very slick, gives you lots of options for widgets and looks, but from what I've read, and what I've seen on this phone, it comes with a cost in battery life. I opted for a little different launcher that I downloaded from the Market. Just like the differences between the Amaze and the SGS2, your mileage may vary. This highlights one of the beauties of Android phones like the Amaze 4G and the SGS2, that being the availability of choice. If you don't like the launcher, change it. If you don't like that launcher, change it again. It's all up to you, and not up to some drone in a fruit-based electronic device development hive.

*My Impressions*

Okay, so now I've had it for well over a month (almost two, actually). What are my impressions? Let's discuss.

I still love the phone. It will be a sad day when I have to send it back. I've become quite comfortable with its size and feel, and the operation has been flawless. Big happies to HTC and T-Mobile overall. Here are some of the things that I love about this phone:

*Build Quality*

I'm still impressed with the quality of this phone. It's solid! Heavy, yes, but I think that is partly due to the fact that it is a rock-solid piece of engineering. Everything fits precisely, and the back has a satisfying "click" when it closes. I've used the phone without a screen protector in place, and it's held up beautifully (it's supposedly made of some analog to Gorilla Glass, and it seems to be just as durable and functional). The hardware buttons have a very positive feel, and you can tell by touch when they've bottomed out. No squeaks or mushy feel when pressed. Overall, this seems to be a very solid piece of equipment.

One thing that I would like to note though is that I do have the black model, which has a rubbery material on half of the back panel. Given the phone's weight, I'm very glad for this grippy surface, and the white version, which is a smooth plastic finish, may be a bit more difficulty to handle. I'd recommend sticking with the black version unless you're really into white for fashion reasons.

*Call Quality*

Call sound quality is beautiful. I've not had difficulty hearing people on the other end (in fact I've had to turn down the volume from time to time), and the Bluetooth connection seems to work well with my Plantronics stereo headset. I've not had any issues with people hearing me on the other end either. Quality also remains high when using wifi calling (recently enabled) for those times when you're outside of T-Mobile's signal range but within a wifi hotspot.

*Screen*

All I can say is, wow! This is one beautiful screen. I noted above that the SGS2 seems to be a bit brighter and punchier, but the Amaze 4G screen is plenty bright. The colors are, in my humble opinion, very well saturated and rich, without looking like they were painted in a cartoon cel. The resolution is the kicker though. There isn't a phone out there that beats it, and it really shows. Viewing a Netflix video or something off your media server is just so clean and clear. Some people are bothered by the light bleed from the buttons (the light from the soft buttons at the bottom of the screen can bleed into the main screen), but I don't find it to be too annoying, and I believe that there's an app on the Market to shut off the button illumination if it's really a problem for you. I'd much rather have this delicious resolution than worry about how black the blacks are.

*Camera*

This is one of the real standout items of this phone. The camera is phenomenal! Resolution is amazing with the 8MPx rear-facing camera, and it's really not too bad with the 2MPx front camera either. Low light shooting is fairly nice, especially with the built-in twin LED flash (only for the rear camera). The thing that really blew me away though was the way it handles contrast. I'm used to cellphone cameras really blowing out highlights and blocking up the shadows. They are also notorious for bleeding light over from bright areas into dimmer areas. The Amaze 4G shows none of these drawbacks. It also boots up and is ready to shoot immediately.

Another cool feature of this camera is actually on the app side. It provides you with several effects options that are very useful. One of my favorites is SweepShot. It's a panorama setting that lets you shoot about a 90 degree pano shot by sweeping the camera while the shutter is open. The software then stitches the shot together into a wide pano shot. It really is pretty neat! There is also SmartShot that lets you capture a series of photos of people, and it combines them into a "best of all worlds" shot. Great for eliminating the old "I blinked!" disaster that can ruin a group shot. There is also a burst-shot setting, great for action shots, ClearShot HDR that helps in high-contrast situations, Portrait to set off a subject with a soft background, and several other options. I have to admit that I haven't even tried them all yet.

All in all, considering image quality, features, and ease of use, it really is an outstanding camera for a phone camera, and would even shame a few purpose-built digital snappers that I've seen!

*Video*

The built-in video isn't too bad, and can shoot up to 1080p (1920x1080) resolution on the rear-facing camera (limited to SD on the front camera), which is the current high standard for HD video. The video is nice and clear, without any noticeable stutter or motion blur except in very low-light situations. There are some nice features too, such as the ability to turn on the camera's flash LEDs as movie lights in low-light situations.

However, the audio leaves a bit to be desired. It's not a complete disaster, but I had higher hopes for audio quality given the quality that the rest of the phone exhibits. It's possible that we'll see an improvement with future firmware updates. In the mean time, I wouldn't replace a decent quality purpose-built HD camera with this unit just yet. It's nice for those spur of the moment shots, but don't count on it for high quality stuff.

*Camera Buttons*

This is something that is extremely cool, and something that you have to experience to see just how cool it is. The Amaze 4G has two dedicated buttons along the right side of the phone (when held vertically). The smaller button activates the video camera, and the larger one activates the still camera. They both double as the shutter/record buttons. Why so cool? When's the last time you've fumbled around, opening up the camera app, finding the shutter soft-button, only to see the picture opportunity fade before you're ready? This gets you ready to shoot in an instant. Believe me, once you've had this feature, you'll cry if you lose it.

Overall, these are some great features, and have helped make my experience with the Amaze 4G a very good one. However, there are a negatives that I'd like to point out:

*Soft Buttons*

I hate soft buttons. This isn't an issue that is specific to this phone, and I fear that, because it's cheaper, all phones going forward will have soft buttons rather than physical buttons. However, I find myself constantly brushing the buttons accidentally, closing windows that I'm typing in, deleting email, jumping to the home screen in the middle of some other activity, etc. This happens most often when I'm one-handing it, reaching with my thumb to drop down the notification window and end up palming the Home button accidentally. Very annoying.

*Screen Sensitivity*

The touchscreen on the Amaze 4G is extremely sensitive. In fact, I've noticed several times that the screen has responded without my actually touching it. Typos waiting to happen! This is especially annoying when you consider the soft button issue that I noted above. I haven't tried this phone with a screen protector yet, and that may eliminate the issue, but I don't recall any difference between a protected and non-protected screen on other touchscreen devices, so I think that this is a flaw that won't go away. I'd suggest that HTC dial down the sensitivity a bit.

*USB Connector*

The USB connector on the phone is a brand new style. It's not the old Mini-B connector, nor the Micro-B connector that some more recent phones have. The connector that the Amaze 4G uses is a funky little adaptation of the Micro-A connector with an extra channel down one side. While the manufacturer and T-Mobile indicate that a Micro-B connector will work, function is often sketchy, and you find yourself tinkering with the phone to get it into just the right orientation to keep the cable connected. I will say that the new connector is inordinately stable, and feels much more solid than the Micro-B connector that my wife uses in her MyTouch 4G, but I haven't yet found where to buy any aftermarket cables, so would be forced to purchase a T-Mobile branded cable to ensure compatibility. Not sure that's a good move, given that the biggest competitor of Android phones is also notorious for forcing esoteric configurations on their users, to their detriment. However, it works well when used correctly, and you can always do the Micro-B route in a pinch.

*Finishing Up*

So these are my impressions so far. Would I trade it in for anything else out on T-Mobile now? Not willingly. It's an outstanding phone and digital assistant. T-Mobile's 4G speeds are outstanding, and I'm still exploring some of the phone's incredible array of features. The rumored Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade in the next few months only makes it more attractive to me. There are plenty of other fantastic phones out there, such as the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Nexus (soon to come to T-Mobile, I hope!), but I'm very happy with my decision to go with the Amaze 4G, and would recommend it for anyone.

**FULL DISCLOSURE** The Author has been selected as an Influencer for T-Mobile USA, Inc and in conjunction with this role has been provided with a device.

Prior BB die-hard, now Android convert March 31, 2012

Reviewer:  D. Wang  (NYC) -

I've been a life-long BB smartphone user, and always had the latest BB flagship device. However, after "upgrading" to the Bold 9900 as soon as it was introduced last Fall 2011, I experienced many software glitches, frequent "stalls" (where the spinning little clock tells you that the processor simply can't keep up with what you're trying to do with your phone), and mysterious and spontaneous power cycling on/offs. Even after T-Mobile exchanged my new 9900 for a another "new" 9900, the same symptoms started happening again after a few months. And, I still stuck with my 9900 because I loved the Blackberry QWERTY keyboard.

But, I'm done with it. After accidentally going swimming with my 9900 in my pocket, I decided that this was my opportunity to finally try a "modern" device. And, I have no regrets....yes, I miss BB's QWERTY keyboard, but the "swipe" feature on my HTC Amaze is not bad at all...as a matter of fact, it's one of the main reasons I chose the Android device over the iPhone. In short, I highly recommend this device. Even though it cost me $600 (because I didn't have insurance), but the Bold also retails for $600, so it was a no-brainer to switch devices. I'm a very heavy email user, and Active Sync on this Android device works just as well as the BB Enterprise Server (at least from what I can tell); the only advantage BB has over other devices/operating systems is when you travel overseas...T-Mobile/BB offers an "Unlimited BB email" feature for $29/month, which is unbeatable. For Android devices, T-Mobile charges $15/mg while travelling overseas, which can result in very high bills, especially if/when you send/receive emails with large attachments. Plus, now that i have a modern device with a 4" screen, i find myself enjoying surfing the net on my mobile device. People complain about the battery draining extra fast, but it's on par (if not better) than my BB. All in all, I have no regrets, and highly recommend this phone.

good phone, sensitive to touch December 19, 2011

Reviewer:  E. Chen  (CA, USA) -

I got this phone for my new t-mobile plan, this is my first smart phone so i really don't have any pre-set expectations; i would say overall, the phone is great, i enjoy the (mostly free) apps. and the Wifi/4G allows me to utilize between the phone plan and my home wifi service. everything feels and look good but i do have two complains: 1. the battery is a joke - maybe because the large screen, it eats up power like no cellphone i had previously experienced. i would go to bed had it fully charged, when i woke up in the morning, half of the battery has already gone! so it literally has to be plugged in whenever you can. 2. maybe i am not used to the touch screen or maybe due to its large screen, it is easily lost the screen and jump to another screen because my finger accidently contact the screen, quite annoying.
Oh, also this phone dose not come with a headphone, what's up with that??
i would give it a thumb up, except for the rediculous short battery capacity.

*12/25/11 update*
Since i published my review, read an article on yahoo re how to save power/prolong battery life, i turned off the wifi as article suggested when i am not using wifi, and sure enough, the battery life had extended to a reasonable span, so turn off the wifi or use "plane mode" to save power.
the phone is still too "touchy", it is easily jump screens, maybe because i am not used to the touch screen...

Good Software but... April 19, 2013

Reviewer:  Martin Murat  (Houston, TX) -

I was upgrading my phone and my sons phone. I went with the Amaze and he went with the Samsung Galaxy SII. The software is good on the phone, but the biggest drag is the poor battery life. Even on Airplane mode, you can almost watch the battery drain while it sits on a table.

I have done all the software apps, turn everything off etc and bought a new battery, all to no avail. I really think the issue is the LCD screen. Even on low brightness, it is always the hog of battery power. In contrast with my sons Samsung, which features the AMOLED screen, that phone lasts easily twice as long.

Now here we are again, faced with the new HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4. I see that HTC is still going with HTC, so I think I am going to give Samsung a try.