Photo: HTC

All year we’ve been saying HTC has so much momentum that there’s a sense of inevitability about every smartphone it releases – automatic home run. Well, the recently released HTC EVO 4G has sold out across North America, breaking Sprint opening weekend sales records. But, for the first time in a long while, HTC’s hardware leaves a lot to be desired, apparently.

Where to find it – nowhere

Sprint announced that the Google Android powered HTC EVO 4G was the fastest selling phone in the carrier’s history, selling multiples of what the previous record holder, the Palm Pre sold, leading some analysts, like BTIG’s Walter Piecyk, to predict the phone moved between 250,000-300,000 units in its first weekend. Sprint, with egg on its face, later announced they had overstated the number of phones sold without giving a figure, again, resulting in Piecyk halving his estimate to 150,000.

Critics split down the middle

Early reviews indicate critics are torn about the phone. While some have lauded it as being incredibly powerful and easily HTC’s most technically advanced phone yet, others have blasted it for being overkill. The phone is simply too big and clunky, they argue, and the atrocious battery life – around 4 hours on full charge(!) – is a deal breaker.

Even then, though, the phone has sold better than any device Sprint has sold on its network, which says a lot about the respect HTC has steadily built up in North America, as well as the company’s importance to the Google Android project.

Don’t hold your breath, Britain

HTC has announced that Britain won’t be getting the HTC EVO 4G, sadly, though that pathetic battery life softens the blow. Oh, well, if you are still on the fence about purchasing an HTC handset, we cannot recommend the HTC Desire or HTC Legend enough. Both are among the best handsets, not only on Google Android, but of any mobile phones on any platform. And they have respectable battery life, to boot.

Photo: HTC

HTC must have the most hyperactive R&D department in the smartphone world, planning several more smartphones this calendar year, still, with the rumoured HTC Vision being dubbed the HTC Desire with a Qwerty keyboard added for good measure.

Desire + keyboard = more desirable?

The simple question is: should you care? The simple answer is: it depends. It depends on whether you care for keyboard or not, because as a standalone device, the HTC Desire is one of the best mobile phones available on the market, period. So, if HTC somehow manages to keep all the HTC Desire functionality and attractive form factor, and somehow sneak a keyboard into the device for those who want tactile feedback, it’s almost impossible to not recommend purchasing it.

Expansion vs. convergence

As an aside, HTC, who have released a ton of phones this year, are showing no signs of slowing down. This strategy of releasing phones without pause is both fascinating, considering the constant stream of high quality devices, yet concerning in that it could dilute the product value in the long run. HTC, effectively, is to smartphones what Nokia was to feature phones a decade ago, in terms of release volume, at least.

The problem is this – when compared to the competition, which releases one phone per year every year meaning that handset gets all the focus put on that company’s mobiles, HTC may inadvertently lower the sales of its own individual phones.
If the Vision is released this year, that would bring HTC’s 2010 tally to nearly 10 devices, with the HTC Legend, HTC Incredible, HTC Wildfire, HTC Incredible, the aforementioned HTC Desire and the powerful HTC Evo 4G, to name but a few, and we’re not even in June yet.