HTC 10 evo review: The sea dragon

Display

The HTC 10 evo comes equipped with a 5.5" screen with QHD resolution. This is a Super LCD3 panel with 534ppi pixel density. Its Gorilla Glass 5 shield has been specially treated to be scratch, smudge and reflection resistant. Unfortunately, the chin around the Home button was quick to get covered in super fine scratches and we even managed to get a big scratch on the display. We recommend getting a screen protector for this phone.

HTC advertises the ruggedness of the screen and its suitability for outdoor use, those things aren't backed up by concrete numbers outside of a mentioning that they've tested it from a 1.6m of height.

We didn't test ruggedness, but when it comes to maximum brightness, the screen reached 525nits at full blast, a very good reading. There is an auto-brightness mode, but it offers no extra boost in very bright conditions.

The black levels are fairly low, similar to some high-flying flagships out there. This leads to the very good contrast ratio of over 1,300:1.

The solid brightness and contrast reading translated to average (but usable) sunlight legibility score of 2.4. That's as much as the HTC 10 got (which uses Super LCD5, by the way). It's well below what a typical flagship would score (usually around 3.5).

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
  4.615
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  4.439
• OnePlus 3
  4.424
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  4.376
• HTC One A9
  4.274
• Samsung Galaxy Note7
  4.247
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• OnePlus 3T
  4.232
• Google Pixel XL
  4.164
• ZTE Axon 7
  4.154
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note5
  4.09
• Huawei Nexus 6P
  4.019
• OnePlus X
  3.983
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  3.983
• Oppo R7s
  3.964
• Apple iPhone 7
  3.964
• Huawei P9 Plus
  3.956
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  3.935
• Lenovo Moto Z
  3.931
• Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
  3.918
• Samsung Galaxy C5
  3.911
• Samsung Galaxy C7
  3.896
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
  3.879
• Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
  3.873
• Samsung Galaxy A8
  3.859
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
  3.817
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  3.804
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.802
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3.798
• LG V20 Max auto
  3.798
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3.795
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
  3.789
• Apple iPhone 6s
  3.783
• Meizu Pro 5
  3.781
• Microsoft Lumia 650
  3.772
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.756
• Oppo F1 Plus
  3.709
• Vivo X5Pro
  3.706
• Sony Xperia X Compact
  3.694
• Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
  3.688
• Apple iPhone SE
  3.681
• Huawei Mate 9
  3.68
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Meizu PRO 6
  3.659
• BlackBerry Priv
  3.645
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3.588
• Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  3.53
• Motorola Moto Z Play
  3.526
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
  3.523
• Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
  3.523
• Acer Jade Primo
  3.521
• Microsoft Lumia 950
  3.512
• Oppo R7 Plus
  3.499
• nubia Z11
  3.466
• Samsung Galaxy J7
  3.422
• Meizu MX5
  3.416
• LG V20
  3.402
• Oppo R9s
  3.352
• Oppo R7
  3.32
• Lenovo P2
  3.316
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3.276
• Samsung Galaxy J2
  3.235
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  3.234
• Xiaomi Mi Note 2
  3.228
• Motorola Moto X Play
  3.222
• Huawei Mate 9 Pro
  3.206
• Huawei P9
  3.195
• Lenovo Vibe Shot
  3.113
• Motorola Moto X Force
  3.105
• LG Nexus 5X
  3.092
• Huawei Mate S
  3.073
• Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
  3.065
• Sony Xperia X
  2.989
• Huawei Mate 8
  2.949
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.913
• Sony Xperia XA Ultra
  2.906
• LG G5
  2.905
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  2.893
• Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
  2.884
• Sony Xperia Z5
  2.876
• Microsoft Lumia 550
  2.851
• Lenovo Moto M
  2.813
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2.803
• Sony Xperia Z5 compact
  2.784
• Meizu MX6
  2.751
• LG V10
  2.744
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2.735
• Meizu M5
  2.71
• Sony Xperia M5
  2.69
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  2.679
• Huawei P9 Lite
  2.679
• Vivo V3Max
  2.659
• Xiaomi Mi Mix
  2.658
• Xiaomi Mi 4i
  2.641
• Sony Xperia XA
  2.609
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.582
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
  2.582
• Xiaomi Mi 4c
  2.574
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2.567
• Microsoft Lumia 640
  2.563
• Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
  2.563
• Lenovo Moto G4
  2.544
• Lenovo K6 Note
  2.544
• Oppo F1
  2.528
• Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
  2.525
• Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
  2.506
• Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
  2.503
• Oppo F1s
  2.481
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
  2.473
• Huawei G8
  2.471
• Huawei nova
  2.467
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Lenovo Vibe K5
  2.459
• Meizu m3 max
  2.447
• HTC 10 evo
  2.407
• Huawei Honor 7
  2.406
• Sony Xperia E5
  2.386
• ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
  2.382
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2.378
• HTC 10
  2.378
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• Huawei nova plus
  2.329
• HTC One E9+
  2.305
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
  2.254
• Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
  2.253
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
  2.249
• Sony Xperia C4 Dual
  2.235
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• Huawei P8
  2.196
• Meizu M5 Note
  2.189
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  2.166
• OnePlus Two
  2.165
• HTC One X
  2.158
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
  2.145
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Acer Liquid X2
  2.084
• Huawei P8lite
  2.078
• Moto G 3rd gen max manual
  2.026
• Xiaomi Mi Max
  1.996
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Meizu m3 note
  1.923
• Meizu m2 note
  1.892
• BlackBerry Leap
  1.892
• ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
  1.759
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Asus Zenfone Selfie
  1.68
• Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
  1.675
• ZTE Nubia Z9
  1.659
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215

At the lowest setting, the screen scaled down to 5.5nits. You can combine this with the automatic Night mode to prevent bright, blue light from messing up your body's natural sleep cycle (if studies are to be believed).

We were initially impressed to find a Color temperature setting, but testing quickly revealed that the HTC 10 evo doesn't provide a terribly accurate color rendering. Its readings are similar to the smaller HTC 10, which is to say, they are far from flagship quality.

Specifically, we got a 5.9 average deltaE and a maximum of 12.6. The white balance is too cool, easy to correct with the slider (we brought it all the way to the left). But that does nothing for color accuracy, we measured an average DeltaE of 5 and a maximum of deltaE 11 (and the maximum brightness dropped to 480nits). The Red channel, in particular, is way off the mark. You have got to remember that this test does not relate to saturation or punchiness of the colors in any way. It measures how closely would the screen render colors to the original when accuracy is important.

The results here is not ideal but phones like the LG V20, Huawei Mate 9, even the beloved Pixel XL and other high-enders don't do much better in this test. And those are a pricier than the 10 evo, so we think HTC picked a screen that delivers on what's needed.

Connectivity

The HTC 10 evo relies on Qualcomm's X10 modem, a part of the Snapdragon 810 chipset. This pegs the maximum LTE speed at Cat. 6 - 300Mbps down, 50Mbps up. That's slower than the Bolt in the US, which has Cat. 9 - 450Mbps/50Mbps. The 10 evo does feature full support for VoLTE and even VoWi-Fi (pending your carrier's cooperation).

Wi-Fi offers up to 802.11ac speeds, topping out at 433Mbps. Additional connectivity includes Bluetooth 4.1 (no aptX) and NFC.

The USB-C connector, for all its virtues, is a plain USB 2.0 connection. This means you won't get fast data transfers and goodies like wired TV out are missing as well. It does offer QuickCharge 2.0, which was current back when the S810 chipset was new.

Battery life

The HTC 10 evo comes with a 3,200mAh sealed battery - nothing spectacular, considering it has to feed an older chipset connected to a QHD screen. A chipset that has a tendency to get hot under the collar no less (a sign of poor efficiency).

HTC is promising a full day of battery life and up to 23 hours of talk time, but we never managed to get close. After testing and retesting, the best we got out of the 10 evo was 17 hours. That's worse than the HTC 10 got with its smaller battery and it's an overall middling result.

Unsurprisingly, the 10 evo did not last as long in the web browsing test either. At 7 hours or so, it fell off the flagship region and was buried in mid-rangers. The evo matched the regular HTC 10 only in video playback and that time isn't spectacular.

The final Endurance rating of 58 hours is below what we've come to expect from phones in this price range. We could blame it all on the chipset, but the truth is that a 5.5" phone of this thickness can easily have 3,500mAh or more in battery capacity.

The HTC 10 evo features QuickCharge 2.0 and comes with the required charger. It puts out 15W all told (either 9V at 1.67A or 12V at 1.25A), but HTC is vague about the charge times.

The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.