***Official*** HTC EVO 4G thread

[tatteredpotato]

I must say I'm floored by how awesome this phone is. I've never used the iPhone 3GS, but I have a 2G iPod Touch and the speed on this thing is insane. Everyone I've showed it to, the first thing they note is how fast it transitions between apps.

Google Goggles is an awesome app as well. I'd heard about it, but I never thought it would work as well as it does. The built-in PDF reader is very smooth as well; I can scroll very smoothly between pages and zoom in and out very nicely.

As people mentioned you don't get all this for free, the battery life is definitely an issue, however not a "deal breaker" for me. If you spend most of your day away from a power source then this phone probably will have trouble lasting you, but I just have some strategically placed chargers to give it a boost throughout the day. Also as others have noted there is definitely some tweaking that could be done to maximize the battery life, I haven't done that yet though.

One thing I prefer on the iPhone is the front button to wake up the device... Hitting the power button on the top can be kind of awkward to do at times.

 

[dguy6789]

Oh please, that was hardly a trolling post.

Despite the fact that Arrington is a tool, he (and everyone else who has reviewed the EVO) have raised the same, legitimate, point about the battery.

Having your phone die overnight is pretty laughable, and having to waste time actively managing settings every 20 minutes to conserve battery life is unacceptable.

You don't really have to actively manage settings. If you disable all of the widgets, live wallpaper, and other things to make it work just like an iPhone, you'll add hours to the battery life.

 

[JM Aggie08]

If you use this phone like a teenage girl, of course it's going to die quickly. What phone doesn't?

I will agree, the battery life isn't "Great," but that's a small issue that can probably be fixed by a later firmware/os update.

On another note, the iPhone and the EVO are completely different in every way. They are aimed at different audiences and therefor have various pros and cons.

 

[yh125d]

I still don't get everyone saying how the battery dies overnight. How many damn apps are you running simultaneously? Take two seconds before you go to bed to kill unnecessary apps and you're fine. I went to bed last night with 26% battery according to my widget and had 18% when I woke up. If you're leaving pandora, internet, wifi, 10 other apps and who knows what the hell else running all night you're an idiot, and deserve to have your phone die on you


Just run advanced task killer a few times a day. It literally takes 5 seconds, IF that, and your battery lasts as long as any other smartphone.

 

[nageov3t]

turning off gmail and facebook syncing did wonders for me.

I don't really need to be notified every time some spam comes into my inbox or a friend posts a status update to let the world know that she's eating cupcakes for dinner.

 

[tatteredpotato]

turning off gmail and facebook syncing did wonders for me.

I don't really need to be notified every time some spam comes into my inbox or a friend posts a status update to let the world know that she's eating cupcakes for dinner.

My facebook app shows default sync time is 1 hour... I can't imagine it drains it that fast.

 

[SAWYER]

I wish i could get a straight no bs answer on these task killer apps. I have seen people saying they are great etc and others say they are counter productive

 

[yh125d]

I wish i could get a straight no bs answer on these task killer apps. I have seen people saying they are great etc and others say they are counter productive

I keep it on my home screen. one tap to open, one tap to kill apps and close. Done deal. you can uncheck apps to keep them open (uncheck clock to keep it running all the time, uncheck pandora if you're using it, uncheck internet if you want to keep your browser as is, etc)


Seriously takes 2s normally. iphone doesn't have this problem cause it can't multitask (properly). A couple seconds every now and again to close stuff you aren't using is a small price to pay for multitasking

 

[nageov3t]

My facebook app shows default sync time is 1 hour... I can't imagine it drains it that fast.

gmail seemed to be syncing constantly, though... sitting at work yesterday with gmail open in firefox and my phone sitting on my desk, my phone was getting new email notices before my browser was (which could definitely be helpful in some situations, but not so much for me for 99% of my life... I'm near a computer for most of my day and don't mind manually checking email when I'm not)

 

[tatteredpotato]

gmail seemed to be syncing constantly, though... sitting at work yesterday with gmail open in firefox and my phone sitting on my desk, my phone was getting new email notices before my browser was (which could definitely be helpful in some situations, but not so much for me for 99% of my life... I'm near a computer for most of my day and don't mind manually checking email when I'm not)

I think Gmail might be push, so the more emails you get the more you're going to connect.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I wish i could get a straight no bs answer on these task killer apps. I have seen people saying they are great etc and others say they are counter productive

It increased my battery life today by a pretty large margin.

 

[you2]

I think the straight answer is that if you have a lot of active tasks then killing them might conserve battery life (providing they are not periodically restarted) but the better solution is to disable these task in the first place so they don't need to be killed.

I wish i could get a straight no bs answer on these task killer apps. I have seen people saying they are great etc and others say they are counter productive

 

[Phynaz]

I still don't get everyone saying how the battery dies overnight. How many damn apps are you running simultaneously? Take two seconds before you go to bed to kill unnecessary apps and you're fine. I went to bed last night with 26% battery according to my widget and had 18% when I woke up. If you're leaving pandora, internet, wifi, 10 other apps and who knows what the hell else running all night you're an idiot, and deserve to have your phone die on you


Just run advanced task killer a few times a day. It literally takes 5 seconds, IF that, and your battery lasts as long as any other smartphone.

So you're saying I have to micromanage my fucking PHONE?

No thanks.

 

[JM Aggie08]

So you're saying I have to micromanage my fucking PHONE?

No thanks.

Didn't mean to ask so much of YOU.

 

[yh125d]

So you're saying I have to micromanage my fucking PHONE?

No thanks.

Are you kidding me? Everything is "micromanaged" in life. When you're done eating, do you wash the plate or leave it on the table and get another one when you eat next?

Do you shut your car off when you're away from it for more than a couple minutes?

Do you take your clothes off when you go to bed or do you sleep in your clothes and put a new set over the old ones every morning?

If "micromanaging your phone" is so bothersome for you, I have the phone you need right here http://tinyurl.com/yhff7th


Or you can just give up a ton of usability (multitasking) for a bit better battery life. Meanwhile, I'll be listening to pandora, browsing the web, getting texts, and leaving sessions of other stuff open as well.

 

[Young Grasshopper]

im hoping someone can help me out here. i have a palm pre(got it last year with a new 2 year renewal). at the time i was on the eprp plan and had to jump thru hoops in order to get the pre. so i was interested in upgrading to the evo and getting the full $150 discount. so i do some research and i cannot do a simple upgrade because i need to be a sprint premier member. in a nutshell i need to be a sprint member for 10 years(which im not), or be on a plan with a base price of 69.99. my eprp plan is 59.99. so i ask the sprint store rep and they tell me that i could switch to the 69.99 plan and get the upgrade but i would have to wait 3 months for it to take effect. call sprint and csr says i can upgrade my account and have the premier status take efect immediatly, and go out and get the phone. so he changes my account and i go back out and sure enough i get the same bs from sprint telling me im not a premier member.


i checked on sprints upgrade eligibility plan and sure enough it says im only good for $75. call sprint again and they repeat the same bs to me the first one did. i escalate to his manager and he says he will have it changed within 24-72 hours. well 2 days later it doesnt look like anythiing has changed.

just wanted to know if anyone else is on the eprp plan and manage to get the evo?

 

[sjwaste]

What's a Pre go for on ebay? You could always pay full price ($450) for the Evo, sell the pre, and make up the difference.

 

[CTrain]

So you're saying I have to micromanage my fucking PHONE?

No thanks.

LOL, this comment is pure genius.
Openning up a task killer to shut off apps is micromanage ??
This is an advantage of an OS that can multitask.
Maybe you should go back to a flip phone ??

 

[tatteredpotato]

So you're saying I have to micromanage my fucking PHONE?

No thanks.

I saw Android has a rotary dialer available, maybe that would be appealing to you?

 

[mosco]

LOL, this comment is pure genius.
Openning up a task killer to shut off apps is micromanage ??
This is an advantage of an OS that can multitask.
Maybe you should go back to a flip phone ??

It's a valid point, not sure why you can't see that.

 

[GrumpyMan]

I've had a Moto 9QH for about 3 years now, yes the same phone, and I've always closed all the applications when not in use to conserve battery life, including GPS, push email (don't use it). I get an extra day or more of use doing this. So I'm used to using the task manager and it will not bother me in the least to take 5 seconds to turn off crap that I'm not using or am through using. After all it's a phone, not a computer that always hooked up to a power source. If you manage it like you would your lap top then you shouldn't have a problem and if it is a problem for you then not getting the phone is always an option.
That being said, aren't they going to come out with a larger battery for it and new back for the phone so it will fit? My Moto Q has always had one and I don't mind the extra weight and added size that it will make the phone. I like beefy electronics.

 

[ElFenix]

evo or iphone, iphone or evo

last year it was pre or iphone, iphone or pre. i went so far as to buy the iphone when bing/live was giving big cashback on them, but cancelled the order. ended up getting a used blackberry.

 

[yh125d]

Evo.


iphone display is nice with ips and that res, but theres no replacement for (area) displacement. evo's screen is .8" bigger!

 

[JS80]

So after using the EVO for a week I turned on my Hero...WOW...I can't go back. It's like night and day.

And I used my friend's iPhone...same feeling. EVO has totally distorted/spoiled my vision.

 

[finbarqs]

i say, it really depends on what you're going to use it for, or how you're going to use the phone. If you would like a phone that does everything for you, smooth and fast transitions, very animated, then iphone is for you. If you want a simple "straight to the point" phone than the EVO.

I've noticed towards the bottom of the EVO, there's a little bit of light leak coming out of the phone's bottom crevice. Not a big deal, but just something I noticed. Also, Does anybody know if there's a way to have the accelerometer work on any way you flip the phone? I noticed there's only one way you can get the accelerometer on, and that's if you flip the phone counter clockwise. I remember on the Palm Pre, it'll just flip to where you want it to flip.

The 16-Bit screen of the EVO (65k Colors) doesn't really bother me, coming from the Palm Pre's 24-bit (16.7 Million Colors), sure it seems slightly muted in colors, a little bit of dithering, but the resolution makes up for it.

To me, the pluses of the iPhone:

Very Animated, making it look more "fun"
60 FPS animation makes it uber smooth
Biggest App Store


Minues:

Apple Lockdown
AT&T
NEVER EVER will it have flash (but it'll have a Hulu app in the future, which is the only thing I care about with flash at this time...)


EVO 4G pluses:

Huge Screen
GREAT resolution
Rather Quick Responses (though not as quick as apple's 3Gs -- test in photo scrolling and text scrolling)

Minuses:
16 Bit screen (doesn't bother me too much)
Camcorder, sucks (but it's just an added feat anyways)
capped @ 30 FPS -- Which looking at an Apple or the new Samsung Galaxy S, you can see the difference

Anyways, that's how I see/feel the comparison between an iPhone (albeit iPhone 4) and an HTC EVO 4G.