Review: HTC Amaze 4G

Filed under Reviews by Will Verduzco on December 23, 2011 at 5:08 PM

HTC Amaze 4G

Are you looking for a new phone on T-Mobile, and are you after the absolute best Magenta has to offer? Combining gorgeous industrial design, sturdy construction, fantastic reception, HSPA+ 42 Mbps connectivity, and a superb screen; the HTC Amaze 4G is certainly one of the best phones currently available.

While not quite perfect, the HTC Amaze 4G may just have exactly what you’re looking for. Read past the break for our full review!

Feature Overview

Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 Processor

1.5 GHz Dual-Core Scorpion CPU
Adreno 220 GPU

1 GiB RAM
4.3″ qHD Super-LCD

540 x 960 Resolution

16 GiB Internal Storage, Expandable via microSD to 48 GiB
Android 2.3.4 with HTC Sense 3.0
8-MP Rear-Facing Camera

Full HD, 1080p Video Recording
Backside-Illuminated CMOS Sensor and Super Fast f/2.2 Lens for Great Low-Light Photography
Dedicated Camera and Camcorder Buttons
Tap-to-Focus
Dual LED flash

2-MP Front-Facing Camera
Dimensions: 5.1″ x 2.58″ x 0.46″
Weight: 6.1 oz
Battery 1730 mAh

6 Hours of Talk-Time

Quad-band GSM World Phone

UMTS/HSPA+ 42 (Bands I, II, IV, V)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Screen

The screen on the HTC Amaze is large and in charge, and the high-end qHD Super-LCD certainly packs a punch. At 4.3″, it’s on the larger end of phone screens today. Rocking the qHD 540 x 960 resolution ensures that everything is still nice and crisp despite the large screen size. Although the Amaze is not as sharp or vibrant as the the new hotness, images and text were crisp enough to please all but the most eagle-eyed of viewers.

In addition to resolution, display quality is top notch. The saturation and vibrance are fantastic, and the color balance seemed just right. Viewing angles were similarly good. Although we would have liked to see the previously reviewed HTC Rezound’s 720p LCD, we have no major complaints about the screen on the Amaze.

Unboxing and Design

In The Box

As is the trend with the majority of today’s smartphones, the Amaze comes with only the bare essentials. We have the phone itself, a sturdy charger and USB cable, and the usual HTC propaganda.

Front and Rear

As we’ve stated in the past, HTC certainly understands industrial design, and the Amaze is no different. In fact, the Amaze takes things up one notch, combining form and function. This is done by integrating the device’s antennas into the sturdy anodized aluminum back. This elegant solution leads to a device that is not only gorgeous, but also sturdy and with excellent reception.

Function, Meet Form

However, one area HTC has not advanced its design is in device thickness. At just under half an inch thick (0.46″), the Amaze 4G is certainly not Amaze-ingly thin.

Razor-Sharp Edge

Furthermore, the design choice to expose some hard plastic surrounding the screen results in a phone that is a tad uncomfortable to hold during extended phone calls. However during casual usage, there is no issue.

Performance

How did the 1.5 GHz, dual-core Snapdragon S3 fare? To say that performance was mixed would be an understatement. While the Amaze breezed through the benchmarks shown below, overall UI performance seemed somewhat lacking. Sense 3.0 unfortunately doesn’t help here, as we found the default launcher somewhat sluggish, especially with live wallpapers and several widgets enabled.

Luckily, loading a simple static wallpaper and swapping the default launcher out for Launcher Pro made the device feel much more responsive. Performance within applications was great for the most part, but there were occasional instances of stutter and judder that marred the user experience—certainly not what you would expect from a 1.5 GHz, dual-cored beast. While more than adequate, performance was not quite on the same level as the previously reviewed Epic 4G Touch or iPhone 4s.

SmartBench 2010 – 1188 productivity / 2604 games
SmartBench 2011 – 3147 productivity / 2048 games
SmartBench 2012 – 1949 productivity / 2289 games
Quadrant – 2023
Linpack – 35-53 Mflops Single-Thread / 49-82 Mflops Multi-Thread
Nenamark1 – 54.8 fps
Nenamark2 – 31.9 fps
Sunspider – 3009.2 ms

Networks speeds on T-Mobile’s blazing-fast HSPA+ 42 Mbps network were simply superb. 8-12 Mbps was the norm, and I even witnessed bursts upwards of 25 Mbps. These are some serious speeds, which quite frankly are nipping at the heels of Verizon’s 4G LTE, but without the LTE-induced battery hit.

Software

Love it or hate it, Sense 3.0 is plastered throughout the entire user experience on the Amaze. Its effects begin with a fantastic lock screen replacement, from which you can open several useful applications. It also graces its improvements on the camera and dialer apps.

HTC Sense 3.0

Similar to what we’ve seen on the Wildfire S and EVO Design 4G, the Amaze rocks a revamped notification tray that gives you convenient access to frequently used settings and recently opened apps. Sense 3.0 isn’t perfect, however. Adding strange gradients in odd places, oddly colored settings icons, and a less-than-sleek white notification tray; the color scheme of Sense is in dire need of work.

Camera

The prominently-placed camera and camcorder buttons are a dead giveaway—the Amaze 4G excels at photography. Rocking an incredibly fast f/2.2 lens and featuring a backside-illuminated CMOS sensor, the Amaze is even adept at low-light photography.

Photos come out to 8-MP and videos can be cranked up to 1080p. And while we noticed some sharpening artifacts in the videos, the photos were superb for a camera phone. The Sense 3.0 camera app boasts some seriously impressive functionality including zero shutter lag, HDR images, and a very fast burst fire mode.

Photos

Videos

Battery

Battery life on the Amaze 4G was simply adequate. The quoted 6 hours of talk time seems just about right. However, we found ourselves struggling to eek out a full day of moderate to heavy usage. The battery isn’t terrible, but it’s definitely not one of the device’s strong points.

Conclusions

Simply put, the Amaze 4G is arguably the reigning top dog available for T-Mobile. Coming in at $279.99 direct (minus $50 mail-in rebate), the Amaze certainly does not Amaze with its price tag. However, the gorgeous and sturdy design, fantastic reception, and superb screen may make it worth the investment for style-conscious buyers who want nothing but the best.

For every other HTC fan, there’s still the wonderful HTC Sensation. While slightly less fantastic than the Amaze, it is currently available free of charge on two-year contract as a web-only special. And for those willing to trade a little build quality for much higher performance and an even better (albeit lower resolution) screen, there’s the Samsung Galaxy S II (also available in white) for $229.99.

Pros