The latest Sprint Android to appear is the Nexus 4G. This ‘pure Google’ phone is a promising addition to Sprint’s line of eleven Android devices. The Nexus is growing in popularity as the best Android Sprint. The reason for this is that the Nexus comes preloaded with Gingerbread (Android 2.3 OS, the latest to date) and has 4G connectivity. You may be wondering what a ‘pure Android’ phone is. It’s simply an Android phone that doesn’t have a manufacturing interface overlay. The advantage of not having a manufacturing interface running on top of the Android platform is that the phone can get immediate updates to the latest versions of the Android operating system. For phones with factory overlays, the manufacturer has to reprogram the overlay to fit the new version of Android. Many users prefer the ‘pure Android’ interface from a visual and ease-of-use point of view. For extreme users who like to customize their phone’s ROM so that they can install unofficial updates, apps and customize their phone, the ‘pure Google’ is easier to hack. The Nexus comes with a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities for up to five devices, a 4-inch display, front-facing VGA camera and a 5-megapixel rear camera, and 16GB of internal storage.
The HTC EVO 4G is the best candidate for Sprint Android’s top spot, with its closest competitors being the Nexus (mentioned above) and the Samsung Epic 4G. The EVO has a slightly larger 4.3-inch WVGA display (800 x 480 pixel resolution). This makes viewing web pages a breeze due to the impressive screen size and sharpness of the display. It has a 1.3 megapixel VGA front camera for video calls and an 8 megapixel rear camera. The rear camera takes great photos and has HD video capabilities. If the camera is an important feature for you, check out this phone. The EVO uses the Sense UI, which works well, and has the Leap feature that lets you pinch anywhere on the screen to see all open programs. Like the Nexus and Epic, the EVO runs on Sprint’s 4G network, which has good download speeds, though it’s not available in all cosmopolitan areas. This phone has received some criticism regarding battery life, however, I think it’s fair to say that all smartphones, and in particular those that run on 4G, have battery issues. This will surely be the next feature that developers need to tackle. For some, this phone is oversized at 4.8 inches tall, 2.6 inches wide, and 0.5 inches thick.
The third Android flagship for Sprint is the Samsung Epic 4G. The phone comes with an excellent Super AMOLED screen, 1 GHz processor, VGA front facing camera, a 5 megapixel rear camera with LED flash and is compatible with Sprint’s 4G WiMax network. Possibly the best feature of this phone is the large slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard. If you text and email frequently, this could be a good option as the phone has fairly similar options to the previous two phones and a great keyboard. The biggest downside to Epic and EVO is that the phone comes with Android 2.1 OS installed, with no current official updates. However, you can load Gingerbread (Android 2.3) if you customize your device ROM and download an unofficial version.