HTC Vivid Pro Reviews

The Vivid is a perfectly average, acceptable Android smartphone. The problem, though, is that "acceptable" doesn't really cut it at $200 on contract — and regardless of the pricing, AT&T should've been looking to blow people away with its first LTE handsets. Why not? The commercial deployment of LTE is the most important thing to happen to the American wireless industry in years, and carriers that manage to get it off the ground should be celebrating with some truly awesome hardware. Add in the average camera performance, the "blah" styling, the old version of Sense, and Gingerbread — which is at the very tail end of its shelf life in this market segment — and it stands to reason that AT&T customers are better off waiting for something else. LTE's brand new, after all; as hardware goes, the Vivid is just the tip of the iceberg.

While the HTC Vivid is a decent performer on all fronts and has 4G capabilities (where available), the price for said performance just isn't on par with other devices on the market today. That said, some do like a little heft to their devices, and others aren't as particular as I can be in regards to form and in-hand feel. The qHD screen is nice and easy to read, and when the 4G service works (while the battery will suffer), the speeds are blazing. Alas, it still feels like a slightly above average device, and for that, we give a slightly above average score.

Back in April when we caught the first look of the HTC Sensation 4G, we were thrilled by its design and complete feature set. It was obvious that HTC had put a massive effort into developing it. It is December 2011 now and we’re talking HTC Vivid. The phone has practically the same specs and functionality, save for the bumps in the memory and screen departments, along with its LTE radio. HTC have raised the bar for themselves with their previous dual-core Android smartphones. The Vivid is nicely spec'd and it's also nicely priced although the materials that went in it are not as premium as we've come to see from HTC. Currently, the HTC Vivid sells for $99.99 with a two-year contract. If anything, the device is priced well for a dual-core Android smartphone, not to mention the LTE connectivity. Let’s take a quick look at its alternatives now.

With its large high resolution display, beefy processor, and LTE data speeds, the HTC Vivid is an excellent multimedia machine. But keep an eye on that battery; you might not finish a whole movie over 4G before you have to plug it in again.

The HTC Vivid is a respectable phone for AT&T to bring to market as one of its first two LTE handsets. The hardware looks and feels great, though it's a bit thick and weighty. Those are caveats that any current 4G LTE device comes with, however. It handled some of the basics -- signal performance, battery life, screen quality, system performance, data speeds -- with aplomb. The one major failing of the Vivid in my book is the poor voice quality and pathetic earpiece performance. Calls sound too crummy and too quiet for the Vivid to be a useful voice phone. However, if you're not prone to actually using your phone to converse with people, this can be overlooked, especially since the zippy data speeds make it a great mobile internet device. The Vivid's Sense interface still feels fresh and offers plenty of customization for those who like to tinker. This translates to good controls and options for the media players, camera, and so on. If you're an AT&T customer, I recommend that you check the Vivid out. It's worth a look, and though its style and coloring isn't very vivid, it will leave a vivid impression with you. Consider the presence of the LTE radio a bonus feature for if/when AT&T gets around to covering your neck of the woods with LTE.

Crunching down the numbers, pricing is one of those driving factors that always has some weight to the overall allure of a particular handset. Obviously, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is priced $50 more than the HTC Vivid, but it’s absolutely warranted in this case as we find it to be the better performer. Sure it might not have the solid industrial design of the Vivid, but there is a delightful listing as to why it’s the favorable one – like its iridescent Super AMOLED Plus display, fluid platform experience, and better battery life. Of course, these two smartphones do justice in help launching AT&T into the 4G LTE spectrum, but if you want something that will perfectly accompany the network’s potential, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is essentially the one you’ll want in your hands.

When it comes to the HTC Vivid, I feel much like a teacher scolding a star pupil for turning in B+ work instead of a solid A. HTC dropped the ball on the handset's chintzy plastic design, especially compared with most of its other beautiful, thoughtfully crafted phones. That's a real shame because the high hardware production value and rich Sense software experience are more often HTC's most important differentiators among the ranks of Android phones.

Knowing that there are plenty of killer Android smartphones on the horizon, one would suspect the HTC Vivid to be lost among the juggernauts that are expected to come very shortly. To tell you the truth, it might be written off as an underappreciated handset since there are no glamorous advertising campaigns behind it – though, it's rather hard to do that when AT&T's 4G LTE footprint is still severely limited. Nonetheless, the HTC Vivid packs a punch with its hardware specs and support for AT&T's 4G LTE network, while offering plenty of value for the dollar. At $199.99 on-contract, it's undoubtedly a tempting price point for a capable device like this, but it goes to show that AT&T is doing whatever it can to make it affordable to experience the goodness of its next-generation data network. Therefore, don't be afraid to even add the HTC Vivid to your list of potential prospects.

The HTC Vivid is a powerful Android phone with a beautiful screen and fast 4G LTE data on AT&T's brand new network.

HTC needed to get into the dual-core LTE smartphone game as one of the most important Android supporters. On a core level, that's been done and done well. If you live in an AT&T or Rogers LTE coverage area and want a data-first smartphone, the Vivid and Raider respectively are almost intimidating devices in how much they can do. On AT&T, it's the more conspicuously advanced of the first two LTE phones through its higher-resolution screen. Yet we can't help but think that the company's carpet-bomb approach of releasing new high-end phones every few months is starting to backfire because of the timing. As you may have noticed in the review, there are any number of phones arriving at the same time as or shortly after the Vivid and the Raider alike that do something a bit better. The elephant in the proverbial room is Samsung's Galaxy Nexus. While the larger 4.65-inch screen isn't necessarily an advantage if you like portability, that much sharper 720p resolution, the much thinner profile (0.35 inches versus 0.55), and the biggest advantage of all -- a newer version of Android that will be updated in a reasonable timeframe -- make it hard to ignore. Launch plans for the Nexus had yet to arrive as of this writing, but if you're willing to spend extra (we've heard $300 on contract) and hop to Verizon, you'll get a longer-lasting device.

The real bang for your buck in this device is that you’re getting an 8-megapixel camera with HTC’s camera software that has many different filters, scenes, and an ultra-quick tap-to-shoot speed, LTE connectivity (if you live in one of the few places in the USA where this network is deployed), and the unique physical form of the handset. This device is made to push AT&T’s new LTE network and is HTC’s first stab at AT&T’s new network, and like their first attempt at an LTE device for Verizon, they’ve created a smartphone that’s certainly up to the task of downloading media quick (again, if you’re in one of AT&T’s already deployed LTE areas), and working nicely with a dual-core processor.