HTC Evo 4G Capped to 30 Frames-Per-Second

We've covered some of the bugs affecting Sprint's newly launched (and completely sold out) HTC EVO 4G smartphone. Here's one more to add to the pile: According to DailyTech, a number of developers are reporting that the phone appears to be locked to a frame rate of 30 frames-per-second.

While this allegedly only affects the common apps displayed on the phone to a minute degree in version 2.1 of the Android operating system, the limitation is said to produce noticeably jerkier animations on Android 2.2, or "Froyo."

According to commenters on both the xda-developers and Google Code forums, the limitation affects both 2D and 3D performance on HTC's Evo 4G device. Google's Nexus One phone appears similarly affected as well—"It at least starts out during the Froyo running load animation at 60 fps (which allows it to appear smooth), but its framerate subsequently drops to 30 fps upon reaching the home screen," reports DailyTech.

Android framework engineer Romain Guy posted a response on Google's Android Developers forum insisting that the 30-frames-per-second lock isn't intended. "It is certainly not the goal of the Android team to ship devices locked at 30 FPS. Our target was, is and will be 60 FPS," he writes.

Speculation abounds that the root of the issue actually has to do with the firmware on affected phones. However, a similar issue bugging Motorola Droid phones was fixed upon the installation of the Android 2.2 OS. Regardless of the solution, it's certainly a strange situation when a lesser-powered phone like the HTC Hero can spit out better benchmark results than the Snapdragon-based EVO 4G.