O+ EVO 4G Quick Review

O+ USA is now in the budget LTE segment with their EVO 4G that has just been released last December of 2014. It boasts decent specs like a 5-inch scratch-resistant HD display, quad-core processor, Android KitKat, and USB-OTG support.

At first glance, we thought that it was the HTC One (M8) with its strip of brushed metal up top and even at the bottom. Although arranged in different order the front cam, wide speaker grille, and sensors at the top are well-reminiscent of the Taiwanese company’s current flagship.

Down below its 5-inch display has a similar portion of metal strip but lacks the secondary speaker grill that the M8 possesses. There are three backlit capacitive buttons namely: Options, Home, and Back. Bezels on the EVO 4G are just right, which blends well with its spacious screen.

Laid flat on its back, the EVO 4G’s edge is a bit thicker than One (M8) but both swell in the middle area of the device. From this angle we can also see its volume rocker and power/lock button in addition to its segmented design.

The sides are a bit slanted which gives its body a trapezoidal shape.

Up top we have the 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB port which makes the bottom devoid of any slots or input.

Flip it over and you have the 8-megapixel rear camera on the leftmost side with a single flash just underneath it.

Popping open the back cover reveals the dual-SIM slots and microSD for expanding the storage. The battery, as barred by a piece of plastic, is unremovable.

The device runs on Android KitKat which proved enough to stay away from lags and crashes. Switching between apps was easy and the device didn’t seem to have any problems. Out-of-the-box, you have the company’s own apps at your disposal like O+ Air Share for sharing media with other O+ users.

With its LTE connectivity one of its selling points, we tried using it around Makati where signal should be stable. We’re glad to report that it received data with no interruptions and speed was satisfactory while outdoors. One thing we noticed, though, was that signal easily gets weak when you go a bit deep inside a building where signal is still usually stable for other devices.

Using our standard benchmarking tools, the EVO 4G got pretty solid scores:

• AnTuTu – 30,314 (unverified score)
• Quadrant Standard – 9,930
• Vellamo – 1,469 (Multi-core), 937 (Metal)
• 3DMark – 4,930
• PCMark – 2,996

The imaging department is run by an able 8-megapixel rear camera. It took some decent shots, but if we were to inspect closely, digital noise is easily seen. Plus, its Air Shuffle feature that lets you take photos by waving your hand over its front sensor doesn’t work flawlessly as it triggers way too easy. It took a bunch of photos as we were just flipping through the camera settings, and was responsible for our album being filled with accidental shots. Thankfully, you can turn that off under Settings.

Below are some sample photos taken with its rear camera.

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We tested its 2500mAh battery capacity as well which involved looping a video with brightness and volume set to 50%. It resulted to a little over 8 hours which isn’t bad for a 5-inch device.

The O+ EVO 4G has got some easily-loved design going on. It strikes a familiar feeling of appreciation since it largely resembles the design of the HTC One M8. A bit hefty on the hand, but some like it that way. Performance-wise, it runs fairly smooth with slight to no lags, while its LTE proved to be reliable until you go inside buildings where issues of inconsistencies in network connection arises.

O+ EVO 4G specs:
5-inch HD scratch-resistant display @ 1280 x 720 resolution
1.5GHz Mediatek 6732
ARM Mali T760-MP2 GPU
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
Expandable up to 32GB via microSD
8MP rear camera with LED flash
2MP front camera
Dual-SIM
Bluetooth
Wi-Fi, Wireless display, Miracast
LTE
USB-OTG support
2500mAh battery
Android 4.4 KitKat
Price: 7,995