Well I've had the Sprint Evo 4G for a week now and I thought it would be a good time to post my thoughts on the device and Android in comparison to other devices I have had. I have had iPhones, Blackberrys and a Palm Pre all in the last year. I am a little bit of a self proclaimed phone nerd, so lets get that out of the way. Let's start with some things that I would consider a negative on the phone as people tend to remember the last things they hear and this truly is an excellent phone.
Everyone's number one complaint with the Evo is the battery life. Well it was mine too up until Monday when I installed the update. The phone has seen a remarkable battery life change since the update and the phone now easily makes it through a typical day of use and then some. My biggest complaint with the phone is the fact that not every app has a close method. Some apps just will run in the background unless you use a task killer and I can't stand that. I also can't see whats running and whats not without a task killer. I come from being both an iOS user and Blackberry user and the Blackberry definitely has had the best app switching and close out methods of the bunch so far. I'll admit I haven't used the newest iteration of iOS so I can't compare it to that. I really hope in Android 3.0 they have a way of showing what apps are running in the background and a way to force close any given one of them easily.
That brings me to another point, and that's the use of Task Killers. I was using the popular Advanced Task Killer app up until yesterday. I found that it was doing more harm then good. My widgets wouldn't update, things would close if I hit the home button even if I was still using them, all kinds of problems. I had the app set to the middle level of auto-killing, but even using the ignore list I still had problems. I removed it and rebooted and the widgets all work well, I just hope it doesn't hinder performance or battery life without it.
Time for some positives on this wonderful handset. This truly is a grade A flagship phone. It is a conglomeration of some the best hardware out right now and it shows. I'm not going into detail on the hardware, as that is everywhere across the internet. This phone is fast, really fast. No lag between opening apps, web browsing or anything else. It's camera is good for a phone and unfortunately I haven't had a chance to record video with it yet. Being my first Android device, it has taken some time to learn the OS. I don't quite understand why people think Android is an OS for tech people, it's really not. Maybe it is the HTC Sense overlay, but this phone is incredibly easy to use and be proficient with. iOS is easy to use, but its simplistic icon for every app with no true home screen or widgets leave a lot to be desired. Widgets make all the difference in the world. Coming from a Blackberry most recently, this is a welcome change. I don't have to open an app to get sports scores, YouTube subscription updates, etc etc. This is great!
Android also handles notifications much like a webOS device does, except at the top of the screen. The window shade type of notification works well however certain apps won't let you at the notification bar (the browser?) easily or at all. This should be a standard across the OS, if you get a notification, no matter what you are doing, with the exception of full screen video, it should be easy to swipe down and get at the notification bar. Either way, the system works very well and is much less intrusive then the iOS pop ups.
The screen on this phone, front facing 1.3mp camera and 4G connection are what make this top dog and let it wear the crown of best Android device out. This screen looks REALLY good for being a simple LCD. The front facing camera isn't used much yet, but give it another month or 2 and let the Epic 4G come out with a front facing camera as well and I think it will prove to be a great feature. Unfortunately I do not live in a 4G area yet, but Delaware is on the map for this year! I've only used 4G once on this device so far just outside of Philadelphia and it worked well, almost seemed to be as fast as my home WiFi for web browsing. Hopefully the WiMax rollout speeds up as Verizon and LTE are coming and this could hurt Sprint if they don't get a move on.
One thing that is worth noting is this phone gets the absolute BEST signal I had had yet on a Sprint phone. I have had a Pre and a Blackberry 9630. The Pre's signal was atrocious and the Blackberry's was decent. This phone trumps them both with ease and I have yet to drop a call through past dead spots or have spotty service anywhere. Places where I'd show no service or 1 bar with previous phones have proven to be a non-issue with this device as it will show 2-4 bars in those areas. This phone hasn't dropped a call yet or not allowed me to use its data connection and I frequent Sprint fringe areas.
The bottom line? If you're up for an upgrade or your contract with your current carrier is up, give the Evo a shot. You won't be disappointed. This phone is phenomenal! The size of the phone quickly grows on you and you'll fall in love with it's feature set. My service with Sprint and the Evo has been great when compared with past Sprint phones and my iPhones on both AT&T and T-Mobile. This phone delivers on almost all of the hype and is worth the wait to get one. There is a reason my local Sprint store has a 100 person waiting list still almost a month after the launch.
Wow, that was much longer then I had originally intended, but I truly believe this is the best phone I have ever owned.
Steve
Everyone's number one complaint with the Evo is the battery life. Well it was mine too up until Monday when I installed the update. The phone has seen a remarkable battery life change since the update and the phone now easily makes it through a typical day of use and then some. My biggest complaint with the phone is the fact that not every app has a close method. Some apps just will run in the background unless you use a task killer and I can't stand that. I also can't see whats running and whats not without a task killer. I come from being both an iOS user and Blackberry user and the Blackberry definitely has had the best app switching and close out methods of the bunch so far. I'll admit I haven't used the newest iteration of iOS so I can't compare it to that. I really hope in Android 3.0 they have a way of showing what apps are running in the background and a way to force close any given one of them easily.
That brings me to another point, and that's the use of Task Killers. I was using the popular Advanced Task Killer app up until yesterday. I found that it was doing more harm then good. My widgets wouldn't update, things would close if I hit the home button even if I was still using them, all kinds of problems. I had the app set to the middle level of auto-killing, but even using the ignore list I still had problems. I removed it and rebooted and the widgets all work well, I just hope it doesn't hinder performance or battery life without it.
Time for some positives on this wonderful handset. This truly is a grade A flagship phone. It is a conglomeration of some the best hardware out right now and it shows. I'm not going into detail on the hardware, as that is everywhere across the internet. This phone is fast, really fast. No lag between opening apps, web browsing or anything else. It's camera is good for a phone and unfortunately I haven't had a chance to record video with it yet. Being my first Android device, it has taken some time to learn the OS. I don't quite understand why people think Android is an OS for tech people, it's really not. Maybe it is the HTC Sense overlay, but this phone is incredibly easy to use and be proficient with. iOS is easy to use, but its simplistic icon for every app with no true home screen or widgets leave a lot to be desired. Widgets make all the difference in the world. Coming from a Blackberry most recently, this is a welcome change. I don't have to open an app to get sports scores, YouTube subscription updates, etc etc. This is great!
Android also handles notifications much like a webOS device does, except at the top of the screen. The window shade type of notification works well however certain apps won't let you at the notification bar (the browser?) easily or at all. This should be a standard across the OS, if you get a notification, no matter what you are doing, with the exception of full screen video, it should be easy to swipe down and get at the notification bar. Either way, the system works very well and is much less intrusive then the iOS pop ups.
The screen on this phone, front facing 1.3mp camera and 4G connection are what make this top dog and let it wear the crown of best Android device out. This screen looks REALLY good for being a simple LCD. The front facing camera isn't used much yet, but give it another month or 2 and let the Epic 4G come out with a front facing camera as well and I think it will prove to be a great feature. Unfortunately I do not live in a 4G area yet, but Delaware is on the map for this year! I've only used 4G once on this device so far just outside of Philadelphia and it worked well, almost seemed to be as fast as my home WiFi for web browsing. Hopefully the WiMax rollout speeds up as Verizon and LTE are coming and this could hurt Sprint if they don't get a move on.
One thing that is worth noting is this phone gets the absolute BEST signal I had had yet on a Sprint phone. I have had a Pre and a Blackberry 9630. The Pre's signal was atrocious and the Blackberry's was decent. This phone trumps them both with ease and I have yet to drop a call through past dead spots or have spotty service anywhere. Places where I'd show no service or 1 bar with previous phones have proven to be a non-issue with this device as it will show 2-4 bars in those areas. This phone hasn't dropped a call yet or not allowed me to use its data connection and I frequent Sprint fringe areas.
The bottom line? If you're up for an upgrade or your contract with your current carrier is up, give the Evo a shot. You won't be disappointed. This phone is phenomenal! The size of the phone quickly grows on you and you'll fall in love with it's feature set. My service with Sprint and the Evo has been great when compared with past Sprint phones and my iPhones on both AT&T and T-Mobile. This phone delivers on almost all of the hype and is worth the wait to get one. There is a reason my local Sprint store has a 100 person waiting list still almost a month after the launch.
Wow, that was much longer then I had originally intended, but I truly believe this is the best phone I have ever owned.
Steve
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