Review: HTC Amaze 4G
Apps
There's a fairly typical selection of applications preloaded on the Amaze. A bunch of them are T-Mobile-branded (T-Mobile, Mail, T-Mobile Name ID, T-Mobile TV HD) or HTC-branded (HTC Hub, HTC Like, HTC Watch). There's a Groupon clone called More for Me, which offers daily deals at local businesses, Polaris Office, and a folder called "Pro Apps." This pro aps nonsense is really just a link to a web site with a bunch of apps considered to be important for business workers, such as Dropbox, Evernote, and the like.
Bluetooth
The Amaze can connect with mono and stereo headsets with no problems. I didn't encounter any issues when pairing different devices, but sound quality was an issue. Mono headsets sounded terrible, amplifying the hiss-y sound that comes through the earpiece. Sending music over to stereo Bluetooth speakers was worthless; awful quality. The Amaze can also be used to push pictures (and other files) between devices, such as PCs or other phones. This feature worked just fine.
Clock
The Sense 3.0 clock is the best to come from HTC. The lock screen has a completely customizable clock that is large, bright, and readable in most circumstances. There is a full clock application in the main menu that lets you choose between a dozen or so different clock faces and styles. There are enough in there to suit most tastes. Once unlocked, the Amaze has the standard HTC digital clock plus weather report widget on the home screen.
GPS
The Amaze has Google Maps, of course. You know the drill there. It also has two variants of TeleNav's navigation application for Android. There's the free version, which gets you basic directions with turn-by-turn guidance, points of interest, and color-coded traffic. The premium version, which costs $10 per month, adds audio alerts, red-light camera warnings, real-time traffic re-routing, and speech recognition. TeleNav just updated its Android software and the new version is faster, more robust, and offers a ton more features than the free Google Maps.
Mobile Hotspot
The Amaze includes Wi-Fi mobile hotspot, allowing up to five other Wi-Fi devices to connect to the internet via T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. The software is fairly intuitive and I had no trouble setting up a hotspot and connecting several devices.
Hands-On: HTC Amaze 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II 4G for T-Mobile
HTC Amaze 4G
