Performance on the Vivid was excellent, thanks to its speedy 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, which made navigation and program loading respectively responsive and rapid. My test caller called speakerphone "acceptable," and noted that it retained the same poor voice quality as the standard call. They also sounded richer than through the standard speaker, and not tinny. Volume was robust on both ends of the line, though voices sounded muddy to me. HTC Vivid call quality sample Listen now: "="">įor the speakerphone test, I held the phone at waist level. On his end, my test caller said I didn't sound natural, adding that my voice sounded distorted and clipped, almost garbled. I also detected a high, sharp "whine" that occurred in step with my caller's words. I heard a soft yet persistent background crackle and voices didn't sound quite rich. Volume was strong when I tested in a quiet location, but I had a hard time hearing outside on a city street I wish the phone had gone louder then. Call quality was disappointing on my end, but mostly passable. I tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/19, 2100) in New York using AT&T's network. The Vivid has a lush 16GB of internal storage, with a microSD expansion slot that allows for up to 32GB more. This standard shot was snapped in CNET's New York studio. Android 2.3 Gingerbread runs the show on the OS level, with HTC's excellent Sense 3.0 interface on top, adding extra features, functionality, and rich graphics. In the screen wars, it ranks on the higher end of the scale, but it did wash out the normal amount in direct sunlight. The 4.5-inch Super LCD display looked sharp, clear, and colorful with its qHD screen resolution of 540x960 pixels and support for 262,000 colors. Sure, keeping costs down to offer a phone at up to $100 less than some of the high-end superphones we're seeing these days does require concessions, but even with its more affordable devices like the $100 HTC Evo Design 4G it's clear that the company took pains to create a polished device. And here's another demerit that HTC usually avoids: you have to remove the battery to access the microSD card slot. In addition to using cheaper-looking material than HTC usually opts for, the back cover never sat flush in my review unit, emitting creaks whenever I pressed down. I also take issue with the build quality. The HTC Vivid has all the right specs, but one very un-HTC attribute: an almost-totally plastic body that isn't up to the phone-maker's usual standards. The combination of slippery plastic and the phone's angles also made it a bit more difficult to pick up off flat surfaces than other phones. This time, however, the metal is a thin plate of the battery cover that slightly protrudes and feels a little ungainly in the hand. The Vivid still has some styling in the angles sides on the back of the phone (I'm lukewarm on the design), and it also carries HTC's characteristic metal accents and weightiness (6.2 ounces). The fact that it's a jumbo phone-at 5 inches tall by 2.6 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick (depending on where you measure it)-makes the plastic slab-iness of it all even more apparent. I hate to say it, but with its high-gloss, black plastic body and rounded corners, the HTC Vivid resembles a Samsung device more than HTC's typical meticulously crafted designs, which is a bit of a letdown for a handset with such high-caliber capabilities. Yet in the price/materials trade-off, HTC seems to have sacrificed its trademark craftsmanship and build quality when birthing the Vivid, which feels and looks notably cheap and plasticky rather than the polished premium device we've all come to expect from HTC.
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