Hands-on with the Sprint EVO 4G (with video!)

We just got back from the Sprint EVO 4G announcement, where ol’ Yeller just happened to have a few devices on hand. I spent a few minutes getting to know the device (far less than I wanted to, trust me) — read on for my first impressions and a quick demo video.

• I was genuinely surprised at how light it is; with it packing a 4.3″ display, I expected it to be a brick. It’s about the same weight as a Nexus One, if not lighter.
• The kickstand pops in and right back into place with ease. HTC’s really starting to get this mechanism down.
• Video looked incredible, especially when pushed out of the HDMI-out cable.
• The demonstrator kept warning us that there might be bugs due to the early state the device is in, but we didn’t see any. It was running Android 2.1 with a brand new, 2.1-friendly version of Sense. Even with a few months before its Summer release date, this thing seems pretty dang solid.
• The screen is gorgeous, though not as outright, mind-blowingly gorgeous as the Super AMOLED on Samsung’s Galaxy S. You could probably blind a man with the Galaxy S if you really tried.
• Even in the fairly low light of the demonstration room, the video recorded via the 8 megapixel camera on back was crisp, clear, and silky smooth.
• Everything that relied on the 4G network, from pulling down Youtube videos to browsing, seemed to clip along at breakneck speeds. While it could very well be due to the fact that there aren’t that many devices on Sprint’s 4G network just yet, this thing was simply soaring.

Check out the video demo below!