So you were lucky enough to land yourself an HTC Evo 4G for the holidays and now you want to get the most out of it. The first things to look at are what do you want to use it for and how to get there with either included software or great titles from the Market.
What you want to do with your amazing new toy is probably the most important decision you have to make. Do you want a multimedia monster of entertainment, or a productivity powerhouse that will replace your laptop. Either way you want to go, the Evo will fit the bill.
Multimedia User
Those that desire a pocket full of music and entertainment, the first accessory on your list should be the Seidio Innocell 3500 mAh Extended Life Battery to power that beastly screen long enough to watch those movies and listen to that fully loaded MicroSD card. The 8GB card that comes installed in the Evo is plenty large enough for most users, but a 16GB or 32GB card will easily satisfy all your media needs. The 16GB cards are very affordable, running about $30. The 32GB cards are a bit pricey at $75, but are more storage than just about anyone needs in a mobile device.
The next part in constructing your multimedia player is to find the right software for your purposes. The stock Media Player in the Evo is pretty decent. The Sense overlay does a great job with videos in 3GP and MP4 formats. Unfortunately, most of the digital copies and free software for video conversion caps out at VGA or 640x480 resolution. A full 720p AVI file seems to offer the best video resolution I have ever seen on a device – and RockPlayer in the Android Market gets these videos rocking on your Evo in seconds. VPlayer is also a great option for playing these high resolution videos.
For music and audio playback, again, the stock media player is a great option, with some good home screen widgets. Other promising music options are bTunes, 3 and DoubleTwist. If you prefer to have your music in the online variety, Pandora, Slacker, IHeartRadio and Rhapsody all offer great streaming options in their Android software.
Laptop Replacement
I have to admit that this is where smartphones started for me a few years back. I wanted to have my email and take it with me, so early on, I had a nice Toshiba laptop tethered “slightly less than legally'” to my NEC 525 dumbphone on AT&T. This made way to a Dell Axim Pocket PC bluetoothed to an LG-VX7000. Then the smartphone became a bit more common, and a bit more functional. Smartphones became something you could carry in your pocket and have 'an always on connection’ to your information. As the phones grew stronger, the internet provided storage and software was developed, it became simple and almost necessary to have a phone more powerful than a basic laptop. Fast forward to today’s phone and the Evo.
For the business user, the Evo comes with a few basic features that you should know. The email program in Sense is one of the best Android skins I have used. For those that need more options, K-9 Mail is a great choice from the Market. Attachments can all be viewed in the included QuickOffice Viewer and can be edited with the QuickOffice upgrade from the Market (currently $9.99). There are other options available for editing including the now RIM (BlackBerry) owned DataViz Docs to Go and OliveOfficeEditor which is a free all-in-one solution, though it hasn’t received high marks in the comments and ratings section.
Another key feature for business users is printing documents directly from your phone. Some printers support printing directly and if you office is lucky enough to feature these, great, but if not, Printershare is a beautiful option for most users and can easily be installed on your work machine with a little help from your IT Department. You can also install it at home and print from anywhere to your active printer. Roboprint and Send2Printer are also decent options for online printing as well.
Hopefully, a few tips on the software you need to get you started will help you to start making your Evo fit your needs a bit more. Next up, maximizing your battery life with your new device.
