Why I picked it, plus some tips.
1. Good slide out keyboard. Not only is the keyboard solid it also has all the buttons you would need for web browsing and game playing. Home, Back, dual function keys, etc. You can also see them in the dark and in broad daylight unlike the bronze G1.
2. Crisp Screen. While not the highest resolution it's still a very pretty screen of high quality and it's very responsive. A bit hard to see in bright sunlight, but easy on the eyes anywhere else. The real keyboard on this thing makes up for the slightly small and low resolution screen by giving you more screen real estate when surfing the net, texting, or even playing games. The small and lower resolution screen also allow the phone to perform very well, almost as fast as the Droid Incredible, in GPU intensive operations.
2a. The menu button also serves as a type of scroll-wheel/track-pad.
3. Great Sounding Hardware. Not only is the call sound quality infinitely better than the G1, it's as good if not better than most android phones. Also, the speaker is loud and crisp making it easy to hear the navigator and friends on speakerphone.
3a. An MP3 player replacement. The audio quality for playing MP3's or Videos is superb and on par with many stand alone MP3 players. When using it with Last.fm it completely makes my car stereo, cd player, and stand alone mp3 player obsolete. I just plug the phone in and press play. You can even access the player with the screen locked by tapping the menu track pad.
3b. Good sounding headphones. The headphones that come with the Slide are actually decent sounding and of good build quality. They are also quite functional with the clip and fast/pause/play/rewind buttons on the cord.
3c. I think the phone can do stereo blue-tooth, but haven't confirmed it yet.
4. A camera with a flash in a flash. There is a decent camera in here. It isn't the best, it's average for both video and still images, but it's still usable and quick. It can take 480p video with effects and send directly to youtube among other places. The still camera is 5MP, 100 to 800 ISO, standard effects, autofocus, white balance settings, and a powerful flash that has two modes and works like a dual flash. Images can also be sent to a slew of places right from the phone including Gmail, Text, Bluetooth, twitter, facebook, picassa, etc.
4a. It's a flash light. Just download FlashApp from the android market to use the low powered flash as a light and the high powered flash for a 1 second burst light.
5. It's very pocket-able. Even with a shell casing this phone is very pocket-able and isn't too big, too heavy, or too small. It isn't as small as say a DARE but, it isn't as big as an iphone. It fits better in my pocket than a G1.
6. It's FAST. This phone is very quick and responsive. I mean it's really fast with minimal to no lag. I'm amazed every day by how quick it is even when compared to other higher end phones. I would dare say it can hold it's own against a Nexus One in terms of how quick and responsive the phone is. Even benchmark tests floating around the net say the phone is fast.
7. Awesome Software. The UI is fan-freaking-tastic. Not only is it lighting fast, but the custom software is easy to set up and offers so many choices for the user. Swype is freaking awesome because it's so fast and works so well. The genius button along with Dragon Dictation works much better than I thought it would. The phone can not only read text messages for you it can type them out as well plus access your applications such as navigation and web. There are lots of useful widgets and even more you can download that integrate beautifully into the phone such as "To Do List" which I love. The MyModes feature basically lets you turn the phone into many different phones. For instance, you could set the phone up for nothing but media when your at home and then have it automatically switch to a more work oriented mode when you leave for work. The OS isn't without a few bugs or quirks, for instance sometimes the youtube widget search button doesn't work and you can't set the news widget exactly like you want. I really could spend all day talking about all the great features of the OS, but you will just have to take my words for it when I say: It's fast, it's intelligent, it's slick, it's sexy, and most importantly it's awesome. It's also getting Froyo.
8. The Evo4G isn't the only phone with a Kickstand. Yep, one of the available options from T-Mobile is a kickstand case for the MyTouch Slide. I have one and absolutely love it. While the price is a little steep at around $30 it does have a fully functional kickstand that allows you to lay the phone vertically or horizontally. The case itself is a slick silver plastic case that fits snug and looks nice on the phone. It has a great feel to it in your hands. It also comes with a screen protector. So if you are going to spend $15 on a 2pack screen protector from T-Mobile you might as well spend $15 more and get the kickstand case. It does add a bit of thickness to the phone but, also adds some decent added protection and functionality. There's also some grips built into the side to keep the phone from sliding out of your hands while calling or texting. And not only is the kickstand good for viewing movies it also comes in handy for when you are using the speaker phone or the desk clock.
9. There are quite a few other accessories for the phone. There is an armband holder for those of you that like to jog while listening to music. Personally though, my next purchase will probably be the charge stand. It comes directly from T-Mobile and has an adapter for accommodating the phone even if you have a case on it, like the kickstand one. This pretty much eliminates the need for my nightstand alarm clock.
10. Battery life. It's miles better than the G1 and some other high end android phones.
Just remember to do a conditioning on it when you first get it by following these steps:
* Run the battery down so the phone will not power back on.
* With the phone turned off plug it in the charger and do not turn it back on until an hour or two after the charge light turns green.
There is an unofficial extended battery that is supposed to fit the phone by Mugen Power. It's 1800mhz vs the 1300mhz one from T-Mobile. I have yet to test it or see if it even fits perfectly into the phone. I still expect to see a true official extended one in the near future.
For the record, T-Mobile does have an extended battery/quick charger specifically for the Slide.
11. Personally, I needed an upgrade from the G1 and I knew T-Mobile had pretty much nothing. I didn't even consider the Slide by looking at the spec sheet. It wasn't until I played with it in person and quickly realized it ran circles around my G1 and well, any phone with a real keyboard I'd seen. The software was all there, the functionality was everything I wanted, and after more research and seeing how well it performed in benchmarks I decided to try one out and I'm thrilled with it. There is always room for improvement, the screen could be a little larger and higher resolution, the camera could be better, the battery could last longer, the GPU could be a PowerVR and the processor could be a Snap Dragon. The phone could even have a built in kicksta.. oh, wait it does, as a $30 add on!
Would I give up what the phone has in it now to acquire one of the upgrades I mentioned? Nope! I'd definitely trade my 1300Mhz battery for an 1800Mhz, but no way would I give up something like the camera flash for it. The fact that many design decisions make up for the phones shortcomings is enough for me to purchase it. Like I mentioned before, it may not have a PowerVR GPU but the lower resolution makes it perform well in benchmarks. It may not have a high resolution screen, but the addition of a real keyboard makes up for lost screen resolution real estate. It may not have a Snap Dragon CPU, but the OS is so fast it doesn't really matter. It may not have a 10MP camera, but at least it has a flash. It may not have the best battery life, but extended battery options for phones are always becoming available. In the end this phone just felt like the right choice for me.
Thanks for reading.
1. Good slide out keyboard. Not only is the keyboard solid it also has all the buttons you would need for web browsing and game playing. Home, Back, dual function keys, etc. You can also see them in the dark and in broad daylight unlike the bronze G1.
2. Crisp Screen. While not the highest resolution it's still a very pretty screen of high quality and it's very responsive. A bit hard to see in bright sunlight, but easy on the eyes anywhere else. The real keyboard on this thing makes up for the slightly small and low resolution screen by giving you more screen real estate when surfing the net, texting, or even playing games. The small and lower resolution screen also allow the phone to perform very well, almost as fast as the Droid Incredible, in GPU intensive operations.
2a. The menu button also serves as a type of scroll-wheel/track-pad.
3. Great Sounding Hardware. Not only is the call sound quality infinitely better than the G1, it's as good if not better than most android phones. Also, the speaker is loud and crisp making it easy to hear the navigator and friends on speakerphone.
3a. An MP3 player replacement. The audio quality for playing MP3's or Videos is superb and on par with many stand alone MP3 players. When using it with Last.fm it completely makes my car stereo, cd player, and stand alone mp3 player obsolete. I just plug the phone in and press play. You can even access the player with the screen locked by tapping the menu track pad.
3b. Good sounding headphones. The headphones that come with the Slide are actually decent sounding and of good build quality. They are also quite functional with the clip and fast/pause/play/rewind buttons on the cord.
3c. I think the phone can do stereo blue-tooth, but haven't confirmed it yet.
4. A camera with a flash in a flash. There is a decent camera in here. It isn't the best, it's average for both video and still images, but it's still usable and quick. It can take 480p video with effects and send directly to youtube among other places. The still camera is 5MP, 100 to 800 ISO, standard effects, autofocus, white balance settings, and a powerful flash that has two modes and works like a dual flash. Images can also be sent to a slew of places right from the phone including Gmail, Text, Bluetooth, twitter, facebook, picassa, etc.
4a. It's a flash light. Just download FlashApp from the android market to use the low powered flash as a light and the high powered flash for a 1 second burst light.
5. It's very pocket-able. Even with a shell casing this phone is very pocket-able and isn't too big, too heavy, or too small. It isn't as small as say a DARE but, it isn't as big as an iphone. It fits better in my pocket than a G1.
6. It's FAST. This phone is very quick and responsive. I mean it's really fast with minimal to no lag. I'm amazed every day by how quick it is even when compared to other higher end phones. I would dare say it can hold it's own against a Nexus One in terms of how quick and responsive the phone is. Even benchmark tests floating around the net say the phone is fast.
7. Awesome Software. The UI is fan-freaking-tastic. Not only is it lighting fast, but the custom software is easy to set up and offers so many choices for the user. Swype is freaking awesome because it's so fast and works so well. The genius button along with Dragon Dictation works much better than I thought it would. The phone can not only read text messages for you it can type them out as well plus access your applications such as navigation and web. There are lots of useful widgets and even more you can download that integrate beautifully into the phone such as "To Do List" which I love. The MyModes feature basically lets you turn the phone into many different phones. For instance, you could set the phone up for nothing but media when your at home and then have it automatically switch to a more work oriented mode when you leave for work. The OS isn't without a few bugs or quirks, for instance sometimes the youtube widget search button doesn't work and you can't set the news widget exactly like you want. I really could spend all day talking about all the great features of the OS, but you will just have to take my words for it when I say: It's fast, it's intelligent, it's slick, it's sexy, and most importantly it's awesome. It's also getting Froyo.
8. The Evo4G isn't the only phone with a Kickstand. Yep, one of the available options from T-Mobile is a kickstand case for the MyTouch Slide. I have one and absolutely love it. While the price is a little steep at around $30 it does have a fully functional kickstand that allows you to lay the phone vertically or horizontally. The case itself is a slick silver plastic case that fits snug and looks nice on the phone. It has a great feel to it in your hands. It also comes with a screen protector. So if you are going to spend $15 on a 2pack screen protector from T-Mobile you might as well spend $15 more and get the kickstand case. It does add a bit of thickness to the phone but, also adds some decent added protection and functionality. There's also some grips built into the side to keep the phone from sliding out of your hands while calling or texting. And not only is the kickstand good for viewing movies it also comes in handy for when you are using the speaker phone or the desk clock.
9. There are quite a few other accessories for the phone. There is an armband holder for those of you that like to jog while listening to music. Personally though, my next purchase will probably be the charge stand. It comes directly from T-Mobile and has an adapter for accommodating the phone even if you have a case on it, like the kickstand one. This pretty much eliminates the need for my nightstand alarm clock.
10. Battery life. It's miles better than the G1 and some other high end android phones.
Just remember to do a conditioning on it when you first get it by following these steps:
* Run the battery down so the phone will not power back on.
* With the phone turned off plug it in the charger and do not turn it back on until an hour or two after the charge light turns green.
There is an unofficial extended battery that is supposed to fit the phone by Mugen Power. It's 1800mhz vs the 1300mhz one from T-Mobile. I have yet to test it or see if it even fits perfectly into the phone. I still expect to see a true official extended one in the near future.
For the record, T-Mobile does have an extended battery/quick charger specifically for the Slide.
11. Personally, I needed an upgrade from the G1 and I knew T-Mobile had pretty much nothing. I didn't even consider the Slide by looking at the spec sheet. It wasn't until I played with it in person and quickly realized it ran circles around my G1 and well, any phone with a real keyboard I'd seen. The software was all there, the functionality was everything I wanted, and after more research and seeing how well it performed in benchmarks I decided to try one out and I'm thrilled with it. There is always room for improvement, the screen could be a little larger and higher resolution, the camera could be better, the battery could last longer, the GPU could be a PowerVR and the processor could be a Snap Dragon. The phone could even have a built in kicksta.. oh, wait it does, as a $30 add on!
Would I give up what the phone has in it now to acquire one of the upgrades I mentioned? Nope! I'd definitely trade my 1300Mhz battery for an 1800Mhz, but no way would I give up something like the camera flash for it. The fact that many design decisions make up for the phones shortcomings is enough for me to purchase it. Like I mentioned before, it may not have a PowerVR GPU but the lower resolution makes it perform well in benchmarks. It may not have a high resolution screen, but the addition of a real keyboard makes up for lost screen resolution real estate. It may not have a Snap Dragon CPU, but the OS is so fast it doesn't really matter. It may not have a 10MP camera, but at least it has a flash. It may not have the best battery life, but extended battery options for phones are always becoming available. In the end this phone just felt like the right choice for me.
Thanks for reading.
Last edited:
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