In size, the HTC EVO View 4G is nearly identical to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, even weighing in at 0.9 lbs, it is a mere 0.1 lbs heavier. It’s appearance, though, is that of a knockoff of the Wi-Fi-only HTC Flyer. Yet, it looks more elegant dusted in the charcoal gray finish.

The Home, Menu, Back, and Stylus buttons shift their position based on the rotation of the screen, so they are always on the bottom. It is an amazing development that makes you scratch your head and say, “Why didn’t anyone come up with this before?”

As for expandability, the View 4G has a hidden microSD slot (max 32MB), but not an HDMI port. The chassis takes a minimalist approach with simply a microUSB (to connect to your computer and charge with), a power button, and volume buttons.

The View 4G is adorned with a 7-inch, concave display. The concavity is perfect when you place it face down on the table. The screen will not touch the surface of the table, keeping it clean. For resolution, the display comes in at 1024×600 pixels, holding up its brilliant view even as far as 90 degrees tilt.

More than anything else, the active stylus pen is the take-home feature on the HTC EVO View 4G. N-trig’s DuoSense brings two buttons to this pen for erasing and highlighting. This beauty is too nice to lose, yet HTC failed to design a holding bay for the stylus. A replacement runs as high as $80.

Yet another failure in the View 4G is that the screen does not have a strong palm rejection. So if you prefer resting your palm on the edge of the gadget, you may find strange behaviors interfering with your writing, such as the virtual keyboard popping up without directly requesting it.

If you can manage working with the previous two oversights, the ability to scribble on or highlight texts in the reader app may prove indispensable to both students and lecturers. However, it is not possible in the YouTube app. Yet, the scribble and note apps are accessible from anywhere, with a simple click on the green pen icon.

Now for the bad news, as if that were not bad enough. The View 4G is loaded only with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), not the 3.0 (Honeycomb). The Sense 3.0 user interface from HTC makes up for some of this difference though.

Well, perhaps the worst news is that you cannot replace the battery, although the loud clicking of the stylus is overbearing in audio recordings and proves a close second worst. The counterbalance to these is the flexibility of customizing the themes and the fact that the View 4G is Sprint’s first tablet that will work on their 4G WiMax network.

Overall, the HTC EVO View 4G is a great buy in a couple of departments. However, there are enough serious drawbacks to make one think twice before buying one.