Let’s just say it: HTC’s Evo 4G is the best Android phone out there. It may even be the best phone, period. Its combination of speed, size, and power mean that everyone else is officially playing catch-up.

If the HTC Evo looks familiar, that’s because it is: the body may have some slight aesthetic modifications, but it’s essentially a Touch HD2. Good thing, too—John referred to that device as “a perfect specimen of glass, plastic and aluminum.” The same applies here, with the Evo feeling substantial in the hand but slim enough that it couldn’t ever be considered bulky. Here’s a side-by-side comparison, with the Evo on the left:

Some differences in the physical buttons, but otherwise the size and shape are nearly identical.

The familiar HTC Sense UI skin is there, too, nestled atop Android 2.1 and impressively responsive. I can see why Kat was such a fan of the combination on the Europe-only (so far) HTC Legend. Although I didn’t have much time to explore, the movement from screen to screen looked smooth and fast. The Evo also includes a convenient “helicopter view” that lets you view all of your home screens simultaneously.

The phone’s design also stresses one of its main points of differentiation: incredibly smooth HD video. Why have a phone that can stream 720p HD if you’re not going to make it easy to watch? The 4.3-inch (480×800) TFT LCD is bright and crisp, and the device features HDMI-out that can hook up with your TV given an adaptor. There’s also that built-in kickstand, which provides an excellent viewing angle:

You’d almost think it was a tablet. And in a lot of respects, I suppose it kind of is.

All of that, of course, comes without even mentioning the Evo’s WiMax/4G capabilities. While the phone still makes calls over CDMA, WiMax kicks in for data. The blazing fast download speeds you get on WiMax currently aren’t that widely available, but Sprint plans to cover 120 million people by the end of the year. Since the Evo won’t be available until this summer at the earliest, Sprint’s got time to build up the network enough to make their crown jewel actually fill out its potential. The little downloading that I was able to see was clearly a cut above. And don’t forget: it can act as a Hotspot for up to eight devices. For a phone? That’s not just unprecedented. That’s almost unbelievable.

So what do we have with the HTC Evo 4G? The best hardware. The best Android OS with the best custom UI. The best camera. The fastest download speeds. Bigger, better, faster, more.