by Bruce Tyson

Created on: March 30, 2010

Android phones have drawn a lot of excitement from cell phone users lately, but nowhere has the contention been as great as it has been between the proponents of Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G and those of Verizon’s Nexus One.

Sprint HTC EVO 4G

Running with WiMax rather than the LTE standard, Sprint’s 4G network is the first to gain national prominence. This revolutionary network can now be accessed using Sprint’s first 4G phone; the HTC EVO is a strong offering that many believe is the best 4G phone available on the market to date.

The HTC EVO 4G runs on a 1 GHz Snapdragon QSD9650 1 GHz processor, 1 gigabyte of storage and half a gigabyte (512 MB) of memory, giving the phone plenty of capacity to run the current and anticipated generation of mobile applications. The HTC EVO 4G carries with it an 8 megapixel rear camera with flash that is capable of recording video at 1280 x 720. The phone has a lighter-weight front 1.3 megapixel camera that can be used for quick low-res snapshots. The HTC EVO 4G also sports HDMI video output for external viewing, Wi-Fi compatibility (802.11 b/g), and a microSD slot. The operating system is Google’s Android 2.1 running the HTC Sense user interface. Users have a mammoth 4.3” capacitive multi-touch screen to use while accessing voice and data applications, or video and images.

Verizon Nexus One

Google’s Nexus One is one of the most sought after phones on the market today, especially with its release for use on the Verizon network. With Nexus One, Verizon hopes to capitalize on the market strength of Android platforms. Although the most notable distinction between it is that it relies on Verizon’s older and slower 3G data technology, users should not discount it out of hand, especially since it may be the best phone Verizon has to offer.

The Nexus One runs the same version of Android as the HTC EVO, but it is without HTC’s highly favored user interface. Besides that, the screen on the Nexus one is a rather puny 3.7 inches, which is acceptable, at least until you compare it with the EVO’s 4.3” monster, although its 800x400 resolution and touch screen share the same specifications.

If you’re looking for lots of application storage, you’re probably going to be disappointed with the Nexus One: its storage capacity is only 512 MB, only half of that offered by the HTC EVO. You’re going to come up short if you like high quality video too because the Nexus One’s camera only records at a maximum 720 x 480 resolution. Nexus One is equipped with a slightly smaller battery (1400 mAh versus HTC EVO’s 1500 mAh). Like the EVO 4G, the Nexus One is equipped with a microSD slot for storage expansion.

Although the excitement over both these phones is understandable, Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G clearly has the edge over Verizon’s Nexus One.

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