HTC EVO 4G ROM development continues on with nearly completely functioning Android Jelly Bean ROMs coming out long after Sprint’s 2010 flagship phone stopped being manufactured or officially supported. You may be making plans for what to do when your EVO 4G finally bites the dust as taking it into the Sprint repair center probably will not result in you leaving with your original EVO.
So, if you want to continue your love affair with the original HTC EVO 4G, here’re some things you might want to know about in case your loved phone meets an untimely incident.
If your original EVO 4G no longer holds a charge, you could be back up and running with a fully-functioning phone for less than $10. Replacement HTC batteries – once in the $30-40 range – are now available for $5.25 at Amazon. 3500mAh extended super life batteries are similarly running less than $5 from Amazon.
You can replace the glass and digitizer on your EVO 4G for $6.65 if it stops functioning or gets too scuffed up, which is less than what Sprint was selling the cheap plastic screen protectors for when the EVO 4G first came out.
If the screen under the digitizer is broken, it can be replaced for $26, which is probably getting into a bit more than you want to spend on an older phone, but the price will likely drop soon enough.
If you’ve cracked the frame, fascia, or housing, a body kit can be had for $29. A new USB port can be had for $7.19. Almost every part is available for individual purchase somewhere or other.
Most repairs on the HTC EVO 4G can be done by someone who knows what they’re doing in about 20 minutes. Those who don’t should probably budget an hour to figure out how to break into the phone and accept that they may not be able to breathe life back into a dead EVO.
With phones being rather cheap on-contract, the main emphasis for this is the people who are dedicated to keeping alive what was widely regarded at the time as the original iPhone killer and running to take on the upcoming iPhone 5.
At some point attempting to resuscitate an EVO 4G becomes less an act of breathing life back into it, and more an act of necrophilia, so know what your spending limits are to keep the world’s most innovative Android of all time alive and let us know of any repairs you might have made that kept your EVO going.
I just upgraded to the EVO LTE and I’m lovin it, but I couldn’t part with my OG EVO, even though Sprint will give me $52 for it. So, I cleaned out my apps and data, put songs, games, and ripped DVDs on it, and my 3 year old is using it as his vehicle entertainment system. The only problem I had with the phone was that the USB port was starting to go and Car Mode was coming on all the time. I turned off auto in the dock settings and instead of charging it, I alternate between the EVO battery and my old Hero battery and I charge them both with the Hero.
My daughter is using my OG Evo. She gets an upgrade in October, so after that I will either let my girlfriend have it (her Motorola Photon 4G sucks), or I will just use it for music and games. This one was a replacement done last year because the power button broke in my original one. I figure it will get used for as long as it lasts one way or another.
My OG evo is still alive and kicking, living in vegas, theres plenty of free wifi just about eveywhere i go, google voice and sipdroid have been my best friends, seeing as how i dont have it on any sort of contact but i use it more tnan anyone i know with a smart phone. Its my remote for my xbmc setup, my contoller for my winamp music player. all original parts except the battery of course charging port in tact
Still alive and kicking my everyday phone. Only parts ever purchased were 3 batteries so that I don’t have to worry about a charger. Thanks to SOS roms I plan to use this as my daily driver till it dies.
GO OG EVO!!!
still using and waiting for upgrade to LTE soon. Will do what most have done and use it as a music, video console in end.
I use to take it to a subsidized retailer who would charge $35 dollars to repair it without insurance until sprint cracked down on them . Sadly short after that my EVO met its end when I was working on my car listening to music and when I was done I slammed the hood and broke both the glass and digitizer after spending $30 to get the parts and youtubing how to replace it was back to its original shape even looked better. But beware I bought a digitizer from amazon and after two days the thing stopped working luckily I got a free replacement .
agree with SuperMarriop, have same setup; still rockin it, and tweakin it and impressing dummies with all I can do an have done thanks to time, root and experience… until HTC decides to innovate again, this may be the one for me
My OG Evo is being used by my daughter with a Google Voice number and groove IP lite. With wifi she can text and make calls without having to have another active line. It is mostly used as an mp3 player and games from google play.
Still rocking my EVO 4G with Mikg Rom. A new phone is far from my mind as long as the OG Evo still works for me
My EVO is alive and kicking. I don’t see anything wrong with it and when I finally get around to rooting it I’m sure it will be so much better.
Does any one have info on replacing the speaker. Still loving my evo.
Mine won’t charge via USB so I keep extra batteries around, but I just use it for things like games or Reddit. I have an Evo LTE now for everything else.
I still have my original 4G, and it’s going strong. Battery is probably at 70% capacity when I purchased it, screen is still bright and vibrant, and everything works real well. I have had to replace the earpiece, but that was $35. Other than that, this phone has been my only phone for responding to crises at work, and my only phone for everything personal.
The 4G LTE looks great, and I would love to get one, but with the amazing build quality and performance of this phone (minus battery life), I’m having a hard time convincing myself to upgrade. I’ll likely hold on to this phone for at least 2 more years, before it finally tanks.
my OGEVO ran fine until about January, then started having all sorts of hangs and stopped responding to swipes. i then started loading custom ROMS and it ran like new until last month when all of the sudden 3G would randomly shut off and i would have to do a profile update over wireless to get it to turn on again. i finally broke down and went to Best Buy and turned it in for the new LTE EVO. BestBuy Pricematched Radioshacks onlien offer for $149 and gave me $52 for the OG EVO so i left paying only a little over $100 with tax. Now just have to wait 10-15 years for LTE signal to come to my area so i can not get whatever signal all the new phones have and pay for it anyway.
Still using my good old EVO 4G. I have bought cheap batteries before only to find out they weight less than the real deal. Is this Sanoxy 3500mAh extended super life battery the real deal or some short life light weight want-a-be? Thank for any comments on this.
Our EVO’s (wife’s and mine) are still rocking it! I actually just installed the miui rom and it’s even better then before. ICS, super fast and responsive, battery lasting over 30 hours…what can I say? I feel like I just got a new phone! Setting my wife’s phone to this rom as well over the weekend.
Great article, very well written.
My 4g lasted a long time. My 3d is a beast too
I’ve been trying to find a good usage for my old EVO 4G. Just need a new battery then I’ll start using it as a game/mp3 player.
very useful article. still using my EVO.
I have my original Evo but got some water damage. The phone automatically goes to car dock (speaker phone in calls) is there any piece that can be bought to fix that, or is that something too technical to correct for the average Joe?
Bit the dust? This was my first and still my only smartphone. I am still enjoying great dev coming from some really talented folks.
Had to send in for another evo last July. This one has held on strong and I couldn’t be happier. I am running cm7, can’t remember which nightly. Everything still works but the kickstand is perma extended. I guess it’s just a tribute to how potent this phone still is… no lte in my area until October of 2013. I hope it lasts till then. I love this phone. I have spotty wimax in my area And lots of WiFi. Got no reason to upgrade until lte gets here. I Did get a nexus 7 recently and I use it for everything except a phone, MP3 player and camera. They are the best combo I have ever had. Go evo go go nexus 7. Keep it up Devs. I would to see wimax and camera working on ICS or jb. Android rocks….
I now have the evo 3d and kinda wish I would have kept my og evo.
My Evo works but I just have it to play games on it or play music. My 2 year contract ended and i got the galaxy s 3. Other than that the Evo is a great phone even though there are competitors
Well I still have my original Og 4g. It is still working great with all original equipment except a larger 1900 MaH battery. The only issue I have is space so I may need to root to get rid of some bloatware.
Anyone know of a place I could find a replacement screen for my LTEvo? Just cracked a bit more…
Buyer beware, I just bought 2 of the $5.30 OG Evo batteries from the link above and both arrived non-working. The phone will not turn on even when plugged in. Also, the contacts on the batteries have marks on them indicating use ( I initial attributed this to factory testing). I contacted the seller and after 24 hours no response.
at a certain point i realized my evo was just absolutely ruined. I had mine rooted and running cyanogen but i left my phone in the car one day and it literally melted in the car. When i got back it was totally battery drained and steaming hot and from that day on whenever my phone would overheat from a game or just turning on 4g it would go into bootloops. Onto the Evo Lte for me!
OG Evo running well, refuse to buy Galaxy or any others phone until this just dies. But since I have an Otter Box on it, it wont be from dropping, water, or cosmetic damage. This will have to die of natural causes. OG Evo against any phone, no difference, and my phone is rooted.
My og crapped out the 4g radio quit working so I took it back it was still under warranty I unrooted it of course and got a refurbished one that looks like new and works good but it had the 2.18 hboot so I unlocked it and rooted installed cm7 again but I still have son I know I could downgrade then reroot but I don’t care that I can’t flash pc36img in hboot or radios I can still have root and flash Roms and kernels and change the boot animation so what if I can’t flash radios or change my splash screen I only have to keep the phone running till lte is released in St.Louis in 2025 lol
I still have my OG Evo, sucker still running strong. I’m running Deck’s Reloaded. Probably use it until sprint kills wimax or finally quits. So far no phones out there have caught my eyes to upgrade.