when I plug in the hdmi out cable my phone tries to reboot, does anyone have any info about this problem?
EVO Owner Reviews
- Thread starter Jeremy
- Start date
I'm an iPhone user and I came to the Evo earnestly looking for a better experience. I guess my opinion is going to be colored in that way. That said, there are definitely some things that making the jump to Android will call to your attention.
- I'll deal with the battery life if the experience overall is better. The iPhone has a longer battery life probably by a factor of two, but I'm totally taking into account that the Evo multitasks right now, so I'll live with it.
- The browser works well (this Sprint 3G connection kicks butt), but I must say that the overall OS scrolls and responds better. There's a lag when I'm scrolling in e-mails and webpages that I'm not used to. But this again is a minor niggle.
- There build quality is kind of amazing. The phone has a good feel in the hand - and I have average sized hands, leaning maybe towards being small. I can tell for one-handed operations, it will be difficult to reach, say, your right thump across the screen without accidentally touching the glass with you hand, but again, I'm nitpicking.
- This is definitely a more techie driven phone. Makes total sense that Google hired Matias Duarte from Palm for the end user interface stuff. There are some things that just scream of this not being a polished and "tested by anally retentive people". For instance, wouldn't it be nice if when you used the kickstand and plugged the phone in on your desk that it conformed the Sense UI to display landscape? So you have that beautiful clock/date/weather displayed on your desk??!! Or, how about including some of the stuff you'll need out of the box -- like the Advanced Task Manager/Killer (which I'm not even sure if I got the right one.)
This phone is exceptional -- that isn't up for debate. I guess what I'm concluding is that if you're not part of the conversation (and on forums like this, or have a peer group who also owns the device), there's going to be functionality that goes underused and underappreciated. It's like Word -- people will probably only use 20% of the full functionality. And also, if you're not part of the conversation, you don't quite know what little extra stuff you need to get. Why not just make those things part of the out-of-the box experience??
Not trying to be the turd in the punchbowl, but just trying to provide a balanced and well thought out impression for someone coming from an iPhone. Depending on what gets announced on Monday, I'll either keep it or not. But if you had to ask me right now, I'm staying. The notification system is SIGNIFICANTLY better, the Sprint network gets a thumbs up, the build quality is solid, the customizability and ability to put actual widgets on the phone is right up my alley. (Tired of looking at 8 pages of icons). But I have to make it clear that aside from sheer fanboyism, there's a polish and a finished nature to the iPhone OS that makes you feel like the apps that you download are just tweaking what is already a complete experience. With Android, I feel like I bought a car, but later I need to go to Auto Zone because I need windshield wipers, a gas cap, a seatbelt and cup holders. Yeah, the car runs without those. But they complete the experience. (And I won't even get into trying to figure out, "did I buy the GOOD ones"?)
I have to thank the people who run this forum and others like it, as they've helped to make my experience more complete. Awesome phone. I just need more time to understand it better.
- I'll deal with the battery life if the experience overall is better. The iPhone has a longer battery life probably by a factor of two, but I'm totally taking into account that the Evo multitasks right now, so I'll live with it.
- The browser works well (this Sprint 3G connection kicks butt), but I must say that the overall OS scrolls and responds better. There's a lag when I'm scrolling in e-mails and webpages that I'm not used to. But this again is a minor niggle.
- There build quality is kind of amazing. The phone has a good feel in the hand - and I have average sized hands, leaning maybe towards being small. I can tell for one-handed operations, it will be difficult to reach, say, your right thump across the screen without accidentally touching the glass with you hand, but again, I'm nitpicking.
- This is definitely a more techie driven phone. Makes total sense that Google hired Matias Duarte from Palm for the end user interface stuff. There are some things that just scream of this not being a polished and "tested by anally retentive people". For instance, wouldn't it be nice if when you used the kickstand and plugged the phone in on your desk that it conformed the Sense UI to display landscape? So you have that beautiful clock/date/weather displayed on your desk??!! Or, how about including some of the stuff you'll need out of the box -- like the Advanced Task Manager/Killer (which I'm not even sure if I got the right one.)
This phone is exceptional -- that isn't up for debate. I guess what I'm concluding is that if you're not part of the conversation (and on forums like this, or have a peer group who also owns the device), there's going to be functionality that goes underused and underappreciated. It's like Word -- people will probably only use 20% of the full functionality. And also, if you're not part of the conversation, you don't quite know what little extra stuff you need to get. Why not just make those things part of the out-of-the box experience??
Not trying to be the turd in the punchbowl, but just trying to provide a balanced and well thought out impression for someone coming from an iPhone. Depending on what gets announced on Monday, I'll either keep it or not. But if you had to ask me right now, I'm staying. The notification system is SIGNIFICANTLY better, the Sprint network gets a thumbs up, the build quality is solid, the customizability and ability to put actual widgets on the phone is right up my alley. (Tired of looking at 8 pages of icons). But I have to make it clear that aside from sheer fanboyism, there's a polish and a finished nature to the iPhone OS that makes you feel like the apps that you download are just tweaking what is already a complete experience. With Android, I feel like I bought a car, but later I need to go to Auto Zone because I need windshield wipers, a gas cap, a seatbelt and cup holders. Yeah, the car runs without those. But they complete the experience. (And I won't even get into trying to figure out, "did I buy the GOOD ones"?)
I have to thank the people who run this forum and others like it, as they've helped to make my experience more complete. Awesome phone. I just need more time to understand it better.
Thanks for the iphone comparisons. Mostly around here it's Pre only. You mention that iphone scrolls better, but if you notice on your iPhone, Touch, iPad, that instead of being jittery or laggy when scrolling, Apple throws up an empty page/screen to give the illusion that is scrolling smoothly, when in fact its only hiding load times. Yes it's a prettier way to do it, but all things considered, it's not any better than Android.
gksmithlcw
Software Engineer
- Jun 5, 2010
- 437
- 9
- 18
I think this phone has great potential. I picked mine up yesterday afternoon and like its look and feel. I think Android is awesome so far and Sense UI is very nice.
However, I'm an EAS user and I've already had to reset my Evo twice because setting up EAS causes an infinite reboot loop. This really needs to be addressed or this device is going to have a hard time being useful in the business world and certainly a tough time surviving in my life.
However, I'm an EAS user and I've already had to reset my Evo twice because setting up EAS causes an infinite reboot loop. This really needs to be addressed or this device is going to have a hard time being useful in the business world and certainly a tough time surviving in my life.
I'm in cell phone bliss! Hands down the very best phone I have ever used. I simply put love everything about this phone. The possibilities really do feel limitless with this phone in hand. And the keyboard is incredibly easy to type on. No worry for errors as the auto correct is pretty intuitive and seems to know what you are typing even before you do. Evo FTW!
Well, I am loving my new phone. Thanks HTC, Sprint and of course Google for making one hell of a good package. Phone, Network and OS. First time Android, and don't see changing from it to anything else for a very long time. I am loving everything about it so far.
One complaint is that Sprint doesn't have service in East Texas where I visit every other month, but that just means I only make phone calls and don't play with data at that time. I can handle that.
One complaint is that Sprint doesn't have service in East Texas where I visit every other month, but that just means I only make phone calls and don't play with data at that time. I can handle that.
JOHNGAETANO
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2010
- 212
- 9
- 18
My phone history is a long one. I have had just about every phone on the market. The Treo 650, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, BB Curve, BB Bold, BB Storm, BB Storm 2, Droid, Nexus One, and now EVO.
My most resent phones were the Nexus One, and iPhone 3Gs. I actually switched back and forth with each of these for a month, before I stuck with the Nexus. I really prefer the Android OS over the iPhone. You should know I am an Apple Fanboy, so you know I am not biased to Android. The Nexus hardware was really a huge disappointment, and I really didn?t realize this, until I picked up my EVO on Friday.
So how do I like the EVO? WOW, is the EVO a fantastic piece of hardware.
Size and Weight is perfect. Believe me, it?s really not much bigger than the nexus when you place the nexus on top of the EVO, the EVO is slightly bigger, but not much. I have carried the EVO in my pocket all weekend and today with no problem.
Build: The EVO is built plenty sturdy. I have found nothing about the phone that is cheap, or flimsy.
Screen: Coming from the Nexus, I thought I might be disappointed in the screen quality. That is not the case. The screen is beautiful. Seeing the screen in direct sunlight is better than the Nexus, but certainly not great.
Touch Screen: The thing I notice the most is how accurate the screen is compared to the Nexus. The Nexus was a real pain in the neck when it came to screen sensitivity. The EVO is perfect in this department. Typing is easy, and accurate. I love being able to type without a mistake every other word.
Fixed Buttons: I found myself always hitting the Fixed Buttons on the front of the Nexus, but I have yet to do that on the EVO. The placement is perfect, and their response is fast and accurate.
Battery Life: I find the battery life outstanding for such a powerful device. No doubt anyone that is new to Android and playing with the phone 24/7 is going to run down the battery more quickly. My phone has been on since 6am this morning, and I have made calls, sent text messages, and looked a few things up on the internet, and I still have 65% of battery. My experience with any phone is that long phone calls will suck the battery. Also, turn off the GPS, as it will suck the battery quicker than anything.
The software is a no brainer! Android is open, powerful, and fun. The learning curve might be a little tougher for some. Two weeks is the normal learning curve, then you will fall in love.
Good Luck
My most resent phones were the Nexus One, and iPhone 3Gs. I actually switched back and forth with each of these for a month, before I stuck with the Nexus. I really prefer the Android OS over the iPhone. You should know I am an Apple Fanboy, so you know I am not biased to Android. The Nexus hardware was really a huge disappointment, and I really didn?t realize this, until I picked up my EVO on Friday.
So how do I like the EVO? WOW, is the EVO a fantastic piece of hardware.
Size and Weight is perfect. Believe me, it?s really not much bigger than the nexus when you place the nexus on top of the EVO, the EVO is slightly bigger, but not much. I have carried the EVO in my pocket all weekend and today with no problem.
Build: The EVO is built plenty sturdy. I have found nothing about the phone that is cheap, or flimsy.
Screen: Coming from the Nexus, I thought I might be disappointed in the screen quality. That is not the case. The screen is beautiful. Seeing the screen in direct sunlight is better than the Nexus, but certainly not great.
Touch Screen: The thing I notice the most is how accurate the screen is compared to the Nexus. The Nexus was a real pain in the neck when it came to screen sensitivity. The EVO is perfect in this department. Typing is easy, and accurate. I love being able to type without a mistake every other word.
Fixed Buttons: I found myself always hitting the Fixed Buttons on the front of the Nexus, but I have yet to do that on the EVO. The placement is perfect, and their response is fast and accurate.
Battery Life: I find the battery life outstanding for such a powerful device. No doubt anyone that is new to Android and playing with the phone 24/7 is going to run down the battery more quickly. My phone has been on since 6am this morning, and I have made calls, sent text messages, and looked a few things up on the internet, and I still have 65% of battery. My experience with any phone is that long phone calls will suck the battery. Also, turn off the GPS, as it will suck the battery quicker than anything.
The software is a no brainer! Android is open, powerful, and fun. The learning curve might be a little tougher for some. Two weeks is the normal learning curve, then you will fall in love.
Good Luck
I'm coming from the Pre after many years with windows mobile phones...
First of all, Android was made for me, that's not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it's a very good thing for me.
There's a reason tablet makers, media device manufacturers and even ebook readers (nook, etc...) use android: it's a fully baked os that can be skinned and embedded however you want.
That said, coming from webos, it's obvious that google hasn't been as concerned with how it gets baked (Sense is integral to the Evo experience). To their credit they're making some solid UI moves with froyo, but a big part of my ui experience on the evo was designed by HTC, who have done a decent job with sense.
I love that I can have whatever granular experience I want, but I'm not everybody. Google needs to keep moving towards making the stock UI good enough to be beautiful and elegant out of the box, and then people like me will add onto, rather than replace the default UI.
What I like:
Flexibility: Because it's a fully baked linux build, you can make this phone do whatever you want. It comes closer to being a fully functional computer in your pocket than any other phone I've used.
Apps: It's not the runaway train that is the apple appstore, but it's exactly the sweet middle between the iphone and the pre. There are a lot of apps, but more importantly, there are a lot of apps that do some pretty incredible things. Because it's an open platform, there are apps that really extend the functionality of the device, rather than just adding chrome to the fender.
speech to text: It's a button on the keyboard, and it works pretty well. You can speak your searches, emails, texts, whatever, and it'll do a manageable job. (i.e. it might use the number 4 when you meant "for," but it won't trash your sentence). Really definitely a nice feature, and it works well enough that I would actually use it more than I ever did on windows mobile (and webos, sadly has no voice control).
screen: I'm much more likely to make this my go to device for light browsing on the couch, etc... at this screen size. The browser is solid (plus there are alternatives available), and it's zoom reformats at exactly the right point, giving you the flexibility to devour web content in a 'slightly' more intuitive way than the pre browser. Plus, if you don't love that - well, I've got firefox, dolphin HD, or whatever else you might like to try. (and yes, I did set up weave on fennec almost immediately... the browser isn't ready for primetime yet, but it's good enough that it took me a moment of weighing the benefits of universal sync vs. a fully baked browser). For now, Dolphin HD plus google bookmarks, gets me 90% of the way there.
screen: no seriously, children will sing songs of this screen.
google integration: webos was awesome at this, but it's kind of not a fair fight, and I can't hold that against palm. It's not fair to ask another company to integrate with google better than google.
what don't I like:
Lake of continuity of interface: okay, so that's a mouthful, but basically, while there are dedicated menu buttons, which generally I like, I'd like it a lot more if settings and functions were in the same place throughout apps.
The app store: how about some sort options. I mean, isn't Google kind of into search? Can I organize by rating, release date, body weight? something? No? just relevance (I guess?) cool. At least I have appbrain to keep me from grumbling too much.
The camera: meh - it's a lot better than the Pre's (which was fixed focus and took super grainy pics in low light), but it's not the Point and shoot replacement I was hoping for. It devours barcodes though.
---
The battery: I'm getting 10-11 hours of fairly abusive usage. 2 things I've noticed: 1) GPS will eat your battery for lunch. 30 minutes of google maps nav and I lost 30% of my battery, the remaining 60% took me another 9 hours to go through. 2) 4G does put the burn on. I've been toggling it based on when I need it (i.e. streaming audio on the commute), and turning it off if I'm just browsing lightly. Ultimately though, the reviews which have trashed the battery (mobilecrunch, techcrunch) must have had bum units if they're only getting 4 hours of "moderate" usage out of it.
Ultimately, Android is a great fit for me. A better fit than webos, and I'll be more productive and happy with this phone, which considering how happy I was with webos, says a lot. That said, I'm still going to recommend webos to some people for it's accessibility and elegance, but this won't leave my hands anytime soon.
As a side note, a member of my staff came into my office today, not very tech saavy and all, and she looked at my phone, and immediately lit up, knew all about it, and how her cousin gave her whole family a demo of it over the weekend. The hype is here for this phone in a way it just wasn't for the Pre.
First of all, Android was made for me, that's not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it's a very good thing for me.
There's a reason tablet makers, media device manufacturers and even ebook readers (nook, etc...) use android: it's a fully baked os that can be skinned and embedded however you want.
That said, coming from webos, it's obvious that google hasn't been as concerned with how it gets baked (Sense is integral to the Evo experience). To their credit they're making some solid UI moves with froyo, but a big part of my ui experience on the evo was designed by HTC, who have done a decent job with sense.
I love that I can have whatever granular experience I want, but I'm not everybody. Google needs to keep moving towards making the stock UI good enough to be beautiful and elegant out of the box, and then people like me will add onto, rather than replace the default UI.
What I like:
Flexibility: Because it's a fully baked linux build, you can make this phone do whatever you want. It comes closer to being a fully functional computer in your pocket than any other phone I've used.
Apps: It's not the runaway train that is the apple appstore, but it's exactly the sweet middle between the iphone and the pre. There are a lot of apps, but more importantly, there are a lot of apps that do some pretty incredible things. Because it's an open platform, there are apps that really extend the functionality of the device, rather than just adding chrome to the fender.
speech to text: It's a button on the keyboard, and it works pretty well. You can speak your searches, emails, texts, whatever, and it'll do a manageable job. (i.e. it might use the number 4 when you meant "for," but it won't trash your sentence). Really definitely a nice feature, and it works well enough that I would actually use it more than I ever did on windows mobile (and webos, sadly has no voice control).
screen: I'm much more likely to make this my go to device for light browsing on the couch, etc... at this screen size. The browser is solid (plus there are alternatives available), and it's zoom reformats at exactly the right point, giving you the flexibility to devour web content in a 'slightly' more intuitive way than the pre browser. Plus, if you don't love that - well, I've got firefox, dolphin HD, or whatever else you might like to try. (and yes, I did set up weave on fennec almost immediately... the browser isn't ready for primetime yet, but it's good enough that it took me a moment of weighing the benefits of universal sync vs. a fully baked browser). For now, Dolphin HD plus google bookmarks, gets me 90% of the way there.
screen: no seriously, children will sing songs of this screen.
google integration: webos was awesome at this, but it's kind of not a fair fight, and I can't hold that against palm. It's not fair to ask another company to integrate with google better than google.
what don't I like:
Lake of continuity of interface: okay, so that's a mouthful, but basically, while there are dedicated menu buttons, which generally I like, I'd like it a lot more if settings and functions were in the same place throughout apps.
The app store: how about some sort options. I mean, isn't Google kind of into search? Can I organize by rating, release date, body weight? something? No? just relevance (I guess?) cool. At least I have appbrain to keep me from grumbling too much.
The camera: meh - it's a lot better than the Pre's (which was fixed focus and took super grainy pics in low light), but it's not the Point and shoot replacement I was hoping for. It devours barcodes though.
---
The battery: I'm getting 10-11 hours of fairly abusive usage. 2 things I've noticed: 1) GPS will eat your battery for lunch. 30 minutes of google maps nav and I lost 30% of my battery, the remaining 60% took me another 9 hours to go through. 2) 4G does put the burn on. I've been toggling it based on when I need it (i.e. streaming audio on the commute), and turning it off if I'm just browsing lightly. Ultimately though, the reviews which have trashed the battery (mobilecrunch, techcrunch) must have had bum units if they're only getting 4 hours of "moderate" usage out of it.
Ultimately, Android is a great fit for me. A better fit than webos, and I'll be more productive and happy with this phone, which considering how happy I was with webos, says a lot. That said, I'm still going to recommend webos to some people for it's accessibility and elegance, but this won't leave my hands anytime soon.
As a side note, a member of my staff came into my office today, not very tech saavy and all, and she looked at my phone, and immediately lit up, knew all about it, and how her cousin gave her whole family a demo of it over the weekend. The hype is here for this phone in a way it just wasn't for the Pre.
After owning my evo for 3 full days I can honestly say that I am still loving this phone. Yesterday I got 10 hours of battery life. I did everything that I did on my iPhone. Took pics, Twitter, fb, surf the web ect. I even recorded a 5 min video, and uploaded it to youtube. When I did all of that on my iPhone, besides the video, couldn't do that on the iPhone. I was lucky if I got 6-7 hours. So I am very pleased.
I gist plugged my phone into the charger it had been unplugged for 20 hours and was at 29% I couldn't believe it. Now fee in mind it was idle for about 6 hours when I went to sleep early this morning, also it was idle for 2 hours whole I took a nap. But I am still pleased.
Another thing i want to add is that I added a live bg today to see if it would just eat my battery. I haven't seen a difference.
This phone has just been great, I am beyond impressed. Beat decision i've made about a phone.
I gist plugged my phone into the charger it had been unplugged for 20 hours and was at 29% I couldn't believe it. Now fee in mind it was idle for about 6 hours when I went to sleep early this morning, also it was idle for 2 hours whole I took a nap. But I am still pleased.
Another thing i want to add is that I added a live bg today to see if it would just eat my battery. I haven't seen a difference.
This phone has just been great, I am beyond impressed. Beat decision i've made about a phone.
After owning my evo for 3 full days I can honestly say that I am still loving this phone. Yesterday I got 10 hours of battery life. I did everything that I did on my iPhone. Took pics, Twitter, fb, surf the web ect. I even recorded a 5 min video, and uploaded it to youtube. When I did all of that on my iPhone, besides the video, couldn't do that on the iPhone. I was lucky if I got 6-7 hours. So I am very pleased.
I gist plugged my phone into the charger it had been unplugged for 20 hours and was at 29% I couldn't believe it. Now fee in mind it was idle for about 6 hours when I went to sleep early this morning, also it was idle for 2 hours whole I took a nap. But I am still pleased.
Another thing i want to add is that I added a live bg today to see if it would just eat my battery. I haven't seen a difference.
This phone has just been great, I am beyond impressed. Beat decision i've made about a phone.
I gist plugged my phone into the charger it had been unplugged for 20 hours and was at 29% I couldn't believe it. Now fee in mind it was idle for about 6 hours when I went to sleep early this morning, also it was idle for 2 hours whole I took a nap. But I am still pleased.
Another thing i want to add is that I added a live bg today to see if it would just eat my battery. I haven't seen a difference.
This phone has just been great, I am beyond impressed. Beat decision i've made about a phone.
is anyone else having issues with wired headphones/earphones?
i have the Bose in ear mobile earphones and the phone gives me trouble detecting them and the EVO will not start the radio unless it detects the headphones. the EVO also does NOT recognize the microphone or answer/end call button on the earphones. i have had them for awhile now and they worked perfectly well on my Palm Pre until i upgraded to the EVO. i need earphones so i am not harassed by the wonderful law enforcement folk.
i have the Bose in ear mobile earphones and the phone gives me trouble detecting them and the EVO will not start the radio unless it detects the headphones. the EVO also does NOT recognize the microphone or answer/end call button on the earphones. i have had them for awhile now and they worked perfectly well on my Palm Pre until i upgraded to the EVO. i need earphones so i am not harassed by the wonderful law enforcement folk.
I've noticed some people saying they don't care for the compression with video and SD card faults.
Just throwing this out there but if you switch the video encoding to MPEG4 rather than the default H.263 you will see much better results.
As far as the SD card. The Evo ships with a Class [2] 8GB card. I swapped mine for a 8GB Class [6] from my Blackberry 9700 and it works flawlessly and the added speed transfer with images/video make a noticeable difference.
Just throwing this out there but if you switch the video encoding to MPEG4 rather than the default H.263 you will see much better results.
As far as the SD card. The Evo ships with a Class [2] 8GB card. I swapped mine for a 8GB Class [6] from my Blackberry 9700 and it works flawlessly and the added speed transfer with images/video make a noticeable difference.
I got my Evo Friday afternoon after using a Palm Pre since launch day last year. I was a long time Palm user till I just couldn't take it anymore (700p) and switched to Blackberry. I was so bored by BB and was thrilled when the Pre came out. Unfortunately, the Pre came up short and I decided to try the Evo.
But it looks like the Evo is going back. It's mostly the software. Usability is no where near as good as the Pre. Yes the Pre lags and freezes (even overclocked) and it drives me crazy. The screen is too small and while I love physical keyboards, sliding the thing open and closed gets old.
But on the Evo I have more fundamental issues. The user experience is just lacking in significant ways. On the Pre it is so easy to bring up the launcher, switch programs, shut down programs, see notifications and read emails. The ease of use is much, much better on the Pre IMO.
My thoughts on Evo so far:
I Like:
- Reading and viewing the screen. My Pre's screen is way too small.
- Widgets are nice though I am really not using them too much
- The way the browser reformats text when you zoom. Nice.
- Live wallpapers. Very cool.
- Many more apps, especially Google apps like earth and sky tracker and much better maps.
- Voice to Text is awesome. I really like hitting a button, integrated in the keyboard and saying what I want to type. This is very useful.
What I don't like:
- The screen is to big to USE. I have a lot of trouble reaching all the way across the phone with one hand. Overall, the phone is just too big. 3.7 or 4.0 is probably the best size for a phone IMHO. It makes the phone cumbersome to hold and use.
- The software is just not polished for a user experience. Examples below.
- Why do I need two email apps? One for my Gmail accounts and one for Exchange and Yahoo (or any other IMAP or POP)? Yes, I know I can put my Gmail in the email app but then it won't push and I lose other functionality. This was confusing to me when I started and I am in IT.
- Why can I not see notifications while I am in a browser? I have to exit what I am doing to even see what the notification is.
- I can't clear just one notification, I have to clear them all
- Why do I have to go to the home screen and then hit an arrow up to see my launcher?
- The desktop clock is ugly and I have to hit home/launcher/desktop clock/night to turn it on. I used my Pre and now my Evo as my bedside clock. It is so-so at this.
- I can't see a way to organize my programs. Instead I am scrolling through a long list of then alphabetically. Time consuming. I will try to get used to hitting search but then I have to type letters to find them...Not easy enough.
- Video quality is not as good as I expected. Good for a phone but I don't see why they can't do better than this. Too choppy and compressed. I'll try other formats and see if that helps.
- Multitasking is inconsistent and hard to use. Some apps actually close themselves when you hit the back button or home button. Some keep running. Holding the home button pulls up a most recent list and that is useful, but that is not the same thing as a running program switcher or manager. And I downloaded Advanced Task Killer. Great for shutting down apps and seeing what is running but it is yet another app I have to find and launch! Again, not a good user experience.
The frustrations with the interface are going to be the end of this phone for me. I keep hearing myself cuss as I try to get around or see a notification or find an email. They need UI help bad at Google.
So I think this is going back and I will try the new iPhone 4. I have held out for a long time as a Sprint lover and AT&T hater. But Palm has blown it by not introducing a replacement for the Pre in over a year (no a spec jump doesn't count and Sprint doesn't have it anyway). And the Evo with Android just doesn't cut it when I need to get work done.
But it looks like the Evo is going back. It's mostly the software. Usability is no where near as good as the Pre. Yes the Pre lags and freezes (even overclocked) and it drives me crazy. The screen is too small and while I love physical keyboards, sliding the thing open and closed gets old.
But on the Evo I have more fundamental issues. The user experience is just lacking in significant ways. On the Pre it is so easy to bring up the launcher, switch programs, shut down programs, see notifications and read emails. The ease of use is much, much better on the Pre IMO.
My thoughts on Evo so far:
I Like:
- Reading and viewing the screen. My Pre's screen is way too small.
- Widgets are nice though I am really not using them too much
- The way the browser reformats text when you zoom. Nice.
- Live wallpapers. Very cool.
- Many more apps, especially Google apps like earth and sky tracker and much better maps.
- Voice to Text is awesome. I really like hitting a button, integrated in the keyboard and saying what I want to type. This is very useful.
What I don't like:
- The screen is to big to USE. I have a lot of trouble reaching all the way across the phone with one hand. Overall, the phone is just too big. 3.7 or 4.0 is probably the best size for a phone IMHO. It makes the phone cumbersome to hold and use.
- The software is just not polished for a user experience. Examples below.
- Why do I need two email apps? One for my Gmail accounts and one for Exchange and Yahoo (or any other IMAP or POP)? Yes, I know I can put my Gmail in the email app but then it won't push and I lose other functionality. This was confusing to me when I started and I am in IT.
- Why can I not see notifications while I am in a browser? I have to exit what I am doing to even see what the notification is.
- I can't clear just one notification, I have to clear them all
- Why do I have to go to the home screen and then hit an arrow up to see my launcher?
- The desktop clock is ugly and I have to hit home/launcher/desktop clock/night to turn it on. I used my Pre and now my Evo as my bedside clock. It is so-so at this.
- I can't see a way to organize my programs. Instead I am scrolling through a long list of then alphabetically. Time consuming. I will try to get used to hitting search but then I have to type letters to find them...Not easy enough.
- Video quality is not as good as I expected. Good for a phone but I don't see why they can't do better than this. Too choppy and compressed. I'll try other formats and see if that helps.
- Multitasking is inconsistent and hard to use. Some apps actually close themselves when you hit the back button or home button. Some keep running. Holding the home button pulls up a most recent list and that is useful, but that is not the same thing as a running program switcher or manager. And I downloaded Advanced Task Killer. Great for shutting down apps and seeing what is running but it is yet another app I have to find and launch! Again, not a good user experience.
The frustrations with the interface are going to be the end of this phone for me. I keep hearing myself cuss as I try to get around or see a notification or find an email. They need UI help bad at Google.
So I think this is going back and I will try the new iPhone 4. I have held out for a long time as a Sprint lover and AT&T hater. But Palm has blown it by not introducing a replacement for the Pre in over a year (no a spec jump doesn't count and Sprint doesn't have it anyway). And the Evo with Android just doesn't cut it when I need to get work done.
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The phone is too big? Then why did you buy it? You had to know before you bought it how big it was. That's a ridiculous statement.
Some people don't use Google mail and have other email addresses. Some use POP3 and others may use Yahoo or Exchange. That's why there are several alternatives.
I can see notifications while in my browser.
You CAN organize your apps by dragging and dropping. You can also remove apps from your user screens by holding and dragging down to the remove slot. Add them or shortcuts or widgets using the [+] at the bottom.
Video quality is better using the MPEG4 encoding instead of the default H.263 option. I have tested the video and on a Samsung 50" plasma the MPEG4 video looks very good.
It almost sounds like you want to find something to not like as the issues above are all fixable.
Enjoy. My Evo rocks.
Oh, and BTW: Google doesn't need help with the UI as they had nothing to do with it. HTC did the UI!
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Same here. I don't understand why so many people are complaining about battery life. Mine last forever and I played with it all day long.
I have the iPhone 3G and am used to having to charge it throughout the day. I am going to switch to the EVO because I can't imagine the EVO battery being that much different than the iPhone 3G. I think a lot of complaints are from people not used to sophisticated smartphones.
Figure this is as good a place as any to put battery info. Had my first chance to really track activity and battery life. If I keep getting these results I am pumped.
Unplugged at 7:30p last night after moving mp3s to my new SD. It was not quite fully charged but probably around 97% just ran down under 5%. battery use said 16 hours 53 min since unplugged. Here is a summary of my settings and activity.
Brightness from 0 to 15% depending on situation.
WiFi on 68% of the time and always connected during that time
Live wallpaper half the time
One gmail push and one other email checked every 4 hours
Good signal the entire time...no 4g, testing that after this charge
"Mobile data always on" setting off. Background data and autosync on with weather, stocks every 2-4 hours. Google synching everything.
No other apps set to background connect I don't think other than seismic hourly
2 scenes used with various widgets.....battery left, agenda, weather, stocks, picture album
Systempanel running constantly.
During unplugged time here is a summary of what I did.
6 hours standby overnight
1 album played through headset
Lots of send/receive gmail...probably 40 total.
Some email received through stock email app
Seismic pretty regularly (1mb down according to spare parts)
Internet browsing ( 7mb down)
'media' is listed at 6mb d/l not sure what that was
Rss browsing through robrss and blue rss...listed at like 1 mb
Some Facebook, foursquare use, and latitudes updating in background.
Market d/l of like 8 apps. 2mb listed in spare parts
So I used it quite a bit. Some other stats from spare parts and other utilities. Screen on 3.5 hours, awake 9 hours, up 17.5 hours, CPU percents: Android system 29, standby 26, idle 21, WiFi 18, display 6...sorry don't have shootme to 'prove' these numbers.
So again I am quite pleased coming from the pre. And my other worry of now physical keyboard is also squashed given I typed all this via the phone.
Unplugged at 7:30p last night after moving mp3s to my new SD. It was not quite fully charged but probably around 97% just ran down under 5%. battery use said 16 hours 53 min since unplugged. Here is a summary of my settings and activity.
Brightness from 0 to 15% depending on situation.
WiFi on 68% of the time and always connected during that time
Live wallpaper half the time
One gmail push and one other email checked every 4 hours
Good signal the entire time...no 4g, testing that after this charge
"Mobile data always on" setting off. Background data and autosync on with weather, stocks every 2-4 hours. Google synching everything.
No other apps set to background connect I don't think other than seismic hourly
2 scenes used with various widgets.....battery left, agenda, weather, stocks, picture album
Systempanel running constantly.
During unplugged time here is a summary of what I did.
6 hours standby overnight
1 album played through headset
Lots of send/receive gmail...probably 40 total.
Some email received through stock email app
Seismic pretty regularly (1mb down according to spare parts)
Internet browsing ( 7mb down)
'media' is listed at 6mb d/l not sure what that was
Rss browsing through robrss and blue rss...listed at like 1 mb
Some Facebook, foursquare use, and latitudes updating in background.
Market d/l of like 8 apps. 2mb listed in spare parts
So I used it quite a bit. Some other stats from spare parts and other utilities. Screen on 3.5 hours, awake 9 hours, up 17.5 hours, CPU percents: Android system 29, standby 26, idle 21, WiFi 18, display 6...sorry don't have shootme to 'prove' these numbers.
So again I am quite pleased coming from the pre. And my other worry of now physical keyboard is also squashed given I typed all this via the phone.
Yes, I did hold it. That is very different from pulling it out of your pocket while seated in a meeting or carrying it around or holding it while using it for 30 minutes multiple times a day. Using it day-in and day out is different than holding it in a store, obviously. Thanks for your ridiculous response.
Yeah, so each type of email service needs its own app? No. iPhone integrates it. WebOS integrates it. Blackberry integrates it. True the Gmail app has more functionality with Gmail but I would expect that a Google Experience phone would provide that. But I don't want email coming from multiple accounts into different apps. That is silly. Integrate them.
I can't. But now I see that with a tap I can pull down the top bar then with a further tap I can pull down the notifications. Since the browser presents pages in full screen that was not obvious at all.
Yes, I can create shortcuts to apps on my home pages. So then I have to leave what I am doing and go to various home pages to find the apps. Doable but not quick, easy and elegant. The wave on WebOS and their multiple paged launcher is better in my opinion.
Ok. I admitted I didn't try other formats yet. BTW, if one produces better results why not make it the default? Ease of use...
I'm glad you like your Evo. And no, I am not looking for reasons not to like mine. In fact I really want to like it so I can stay with Sprint. I have been a customer of theirs for over 10 years and would like to stay that way.
But I just don't like the UI (regardless of who made it). And there are functionality issues that make this a pretty inelegant UI. I don't think I am the first to comment on that on the web.
Enjoy your Evo.
That's like buying a netbook and complaining that it's too small or the keyboard keys are tiny. If you want smaller you should have bought smaller. If you bought the Evo there should be no complaining about its size.
Yes, my Blackbery integrates email very well. I have set up all my Gmail as well as my Outlook mail on my Evo and all seem to work perfectly and all come into the same mail app.
If you love the WebOS so much you should have stayed with it.
It's called compatibility. H.263 has a better compatibility.
That is your personal opinion and you are more than entitled to it. I personally like the UI.
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