Returning EVO for now..Back to PRE..Here's Why

[rinkeedink]

Hello friends.

I am NOT a sour PRE owner here to bash Android. I am returning my crashed EVO and going back to my PRE, but I am hopeful to come back to Android soon or an improved next PRE device. Bottom line, my PRE experience is more polished, efficient, and enjoyable for me. Android will be really great soon, but is not baked enough for me. The EVO and 4G is overhyped and maybe I got a bad EVO.

Things I love about Android:
-I LOVE the Android marketplace and all the great apps!
-Google Nav is sweet!
-fast application launches and bootups.
-GMAIL integration is nice
-Open source, hacking.

Things Android could do better:
-Notifications in stock Android with useful information
-Application switching, multitasking still pales compared to WebOS. The whole swiping to delete emails, contacts, videos or whatever, and REALLY close apps is just simple, intuitive and smart. How hard can that be to emulate?

So, I've just had a bad experience with the EVO and 4G, and perhaps my particular EVO. I also have some nigglings with Android. Yes, it's my first Android phone. I am returning it after a week of serious devotion. No, I haven't rooted it or hacked, and maybe that's my shortcoming in judging the phone and Android, but read on.

I've been into smartphones, especially Palm OS and later Palm devices too, since 2002. I have been an avid member of PreCentral.Net and have enjoyed hacking, overclocking and patching my PRE. I've enjoyed searching and finding some help here on Androidcentral and listen to the podcast. You guys rock!

I was ready to try Android b/c of the promises of:
-4G in the Washington DC area. I live 12 miles from the white house!
-another open source system in Android,
-the front facing camera on the EVO
-faster processor, more internal memory and expandable memory, DAng!!
-Better HTC hardware
-Big beautiful screen, especially if I was losing the PRE keyboard.
-Better bluetooth than on my PRE that doesn't work great with my Dodge Journey
-Was off contract with Sprint and a Premier Member

I was disappointed with Android because:
-Application switching is not as elegant as the cards on WebOS. I know holding the Home button helps on Android for the 6 latest apps, and you can zoom out to the 6 screen view, but switching is just not as fast as WebOS. Having to use an app killer kinda sucks too, let's face it.

-The stock notifications and pull down shade are lame. For example; On my admittedly patched PRE, when I get any email, gmail, yahoo, whatever, on the PRE I can instantly see the following information (1) who it is from, (2) the title of the email AND (3) either delete it from server or swipe away to read later. On stock Android 2.1 running Sense, I cant do any of that. Instead, (1) The notification bar says I have an email from either gmail or Yahoo. (2) I have to pull down the shade to see if i have one or more emails. No source, title or ability to delete. (3) I have to open the mail program to see the title and (4) open the email to delete. Takes at least 4 actions. Really Android? 4? If someone could point me to a 1 step process on Android, I'd be mighty grateful. If I have to root and hack, so be it. And that's just for GMAIL. Yahoo email is even more painful in the stock notification and email program. Is there something better out there for Android? I know I am risking getting flamed, so be it.

-4G is a bad gimmick so far! Hey, the future is almost here, but not quite. My 4G signal in and around Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland inside the beltway is rarely the full 3 bars. Hardly worth it for a ten dollar premium and the battery drain. The network just isn't robust enough yet. It will be, but not yet. Pandora and Slacker stutter for me on 4G with high quality sound. Not on my PRE with 3G. Ever.

-My EVO sense launcher crashed on me today, is stuck in a force-close loop and had made the device useless, Bestbuy is closed, and I am flying to New Mexico tomorrow morning! So grateful I kept my PRE and switching back to it via the Sprint website was a breeze. I have never been stuck by a phone like that before, maybe I've just been lucky.

-My headset jack on the EVO is wonky. It makes the EVO think I have a wired headset instead of headphones sometimes, and brings up the voice dial and voice search applications when I am surfing the web and listening to music. After cleaning my rather new headphones jack, the problem lessened but persisted. I could not find a setting to turn off voice dialing and voice search. Anyone got the magic joojoo to turn those apps off? But, my EVO was also forwarding songs randomly in Pandora and Slacker, and I think that was audio jack related too. Anyway, makes it annoying and unpleasant to listen to music while surfing the web. As I said, this may be just my bad luck with this particular EVO.

-Battery life not hardly better than my PRE. Now THAT is saying something. Part of the tradeoff of a big beautiful screen, but the 4G is not helping. It really irks me to think I should sometimes shut off 4G to save battery life when I am paying a premium for it!

My hopes;
-Palm's newly departing design talent joining Android will tweak more usability with notification, multitasking and app switching and bake it into the next version after Froyo and give me EVO type power with a real keyboard. I would definitely come back if those issues can be addressed.

-Or Palm will beat the odds and come up with a worthy successor to the Pre to compete with iphone 4 and the EVO. I don't care about RIM.

So, there you have it. I hope to be back to Android. It is a great OS. I will limp along on my old Pre until something better comes along on Android or WebOS.

Cheers!

 

[d2globalinc]

Wow - lots of words to justify going back to PRE :S .. i know 6 of us who switched to EVO's from pre's and NONE of us miss the pre.. Not to mention outa those 6 only 1 person was still on their original pre, all the rest of us had to exchange ours at one time or another over the past year because of hardware issues on that device.. While WebOS has come a long way - its moving way to slow.. The homebrew community moves VERY fast, but the core OS is lacking even the basic features. There are plenty of 3rd party applications with android / evo to make it task switch just as fast as WebOS, and same with notifications.. As far as email / sync - android blows webOS outa the water with its available stock features, and even more so when you take in to account K-9 Email (Which is free btw) and even Touchdown Exchange Sync...

Bottom line, the EVO is not overhyped, it is by far 100x better hardware than the pre, and NONE of us 6 have had hardware issues with our devices, and by this time after the pre release, several of us had already had to exchange our crappy PRE's...

Talk to another 2 other people I know who have Pre's tonight at dinner.. They both were on their second device, and are looking to buy EVO's ASAP.

So you are in the minority here... WebOS is simple yes, but lacks basic and advanced features, and at the speed Android is developing, its getting left further and further behind.

Good luck! and have fun going back and messing with patches to do basic features - then having to redo them all over again on the next minor webos update.. :S - wont miss that..

- D2G

p.s. Speaking of bad headphone jacks.. My pre's phone ear speaker would stop working everytime I used and disconnected my headphonle jack when using pandora.. :S this is a known issue that has no official fix, but of course there is a PATCH deal out there for it :S - No issues at all with the headphone jack or using BT headsets with the EVO.. hands down faster, deff longer batt life, and I dont have to pinch zoom all the damn time to just read a paragraph..

 

[ddunn]

well....bye

 

[ddegraw]

switched from pre and love my evo!!

Just was reading the posts here and had to voice my opinion also! I was the first in line for my pre on June 6th and never had to replace it. I preordered my evo from BB on June 4th and I am never looking back!! I guess it really doesn't matter, pre or evo, I am loyal to sprint, but I absolutely love my evo!! I video chat, find going to each app is awesome and do NOT miss the back gesture function at all!!! I am getting used to the virtual keyboard, but each day I text, it is getting easier and easier. I love my evo and would never go back to my pre!! I still have it, just in case my son needs it. He has the samsung moment right now, but I like to have a spare. Just my two cents!! Have a great day everyone.

 

[MissJennell#IM]

Sounds like you are just used to your pre and so switching to something new you want it to be the same. That would be pointless. The reason to switch is for the change. But if the pre works better for you then have fun with it. I switched from a tour, have had a pre, and I am loving my EVO.

 

[nicebaldguy]

Which apps do you use?

Wow - lots of words to justify going back to PRE :S .. i know 6 of us who switched to EVO's from pre's and NONE of us miss the pre.. Not to mention outa those 6 only 1 person was still on their original pre, all the rest of us had to exchange ours at one time or another over the past year because of hardware issues on that device.. While WebOS has come a long way - its moving way to slow.. The homebrew community moves VERY fast, but the core OS is lacking even the basic features. There are plenty of 3rd party applications with android / evo to make it task switch just as fast as WebOS, and same with notifications.. As far as email / sync - android blows webOS outa the water with its available stock features, and even more so when you take in to account K-9 Email (Which is free btw) and even Touchdown Exchange Sync...

What are the 3rd party apps you use to make it task switch with the same notifications as WebOS? Also, do you know of any apps to allow you to search for "company" in the contacts. So far it seems I can only search for people's names but not organization.

 

[jamex]

I did the same thing. The EVO was nice, fast but the lack of keys and poor color screen wouldn't work for me. I found it a pain to IRC on it compared to the Pre. Waiting for another device that meets my expectations.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

What are the 3rd party apps you use to make it task switch with the same notifications as WebOS? Also, do you know of any apps to allow you to search for "company" in the contacts. So far it seems I can only search for people's names but not organization.

As for searching for companies... have you tried hitting the search button and started typing the companies? It pulls an instant google search and a search of your contacts and other relavent information.

 

[rinkeedink]

Sounds like you are just used to your pre and so switching to something new you want it to be the same. That would be pointless. The reason to switch is for the change. But if the pre works better for you then have fun with it. I switched from a tour, have had a pre, and I am loving my EVO.

I appreciate your point, but I don't want the same experience. I was hoping to not lose efficiency and ease of use, but have a cool new experience. I know everyone's results may vary!

I still want my EVO to work, although this stock EVO is crashed and Sense won't boot. Maybe rooting and hacking a different EVO will get me the results I seek.

 

[rinkeedink]

I did the same thing. The EVO was nice, fast but the lack of keys and poor color screen wouldn't work for me. I found it a pain to IRC on it compared to the Pre. Waiting for another device that meets my expectations.

Glad its not just me! I would still like me EVO to work. I still have a few weeks to test it out. Maybe a replacement EVO that doesnt crash sense or have a crappy headphone jack will work better with some hacks for notifications.

 

[rinkeedink]

I hear you. I am fine being in the minority, we all have our opinions and expectations. I realize I am may be a power user on the PRE with 40 some patched installed. Maybe it is not fair to compare a hacked Pre to the functionality for notifications on a stock EVO running Sense, but hey, the Pre software was announced 18 months ago. I was hopeful a NEW device and software would be at least as efficient to use out of the box as a hacked PRE from 18 months ago. I am not trying to justify going back to the Pre. I put a lot of thought into what I found disappointing. I was really excited about the EVO. Still am..I want it to work. I may look for some hacks if I root a replacement.

No arguments on the PRE hardware being inferior to the HTC hardware. Although, have you noticed the EVO screen is not that bright in sunlight?

Can you give me some specific suggestions on third party apps that improve the notification experience?

 

[rinkeedink]

Wow - lots of words to justify going back to PRE :S .. i know 6 of us who switched to EVO's from pre's and NONE of us miss the pre.. Not to mention outa those 6 only 1 person was still on their original pre, all the rest of us had to exchange ours at one time or another over the past year because of hardware issues on that device.. While WebOS has come a long way - its moving way to slow.. The homebrew community moves VERY fast, but the core OS is lacking even the basic features. There are plenty of 3rd party applications with android / evo to make it task switch just as fast as WebOS, and same with notifications.. As far as email / sync - android blows webOS outa the water with its available stock features, and even more so when you take in to account K-9 Email (Which is free btw) and even Touchdown Exchange Sync...

Bottom line, the EVO is not overhyped, it is by far 100x better hardware than the pre, and NONE of us 6 have had hardware issues with our devices, and by this time after the pre release, several of us had already had to exchange our crappy PRE's...

Talk to another 2 other people I know who have Pre's tonight at dinner.. They both were on their second device, and are looking to buy EVO's ASAP.

So you are in the minority here... WebOS is simple yes, but lacks basic and advanced features, and at the speed Android is developing, its getting left further and further behind.

Good luck! and have fun going back and messing with patches to do basic features - then having to redo them all over again on the next minor webos update.. :S - wont miss that..

- D2G

p.s. Speaking of bad headphone jacks.. My pre's phone ear speaker would stop working everytime I used and disconnected my headphonle jack when using pandora.. :S this is a known issue that has no official fix, but of course there is a PATCH deal out there for it :S - No issues at all with the headphone jack or using BT headsets with the EVO.. hands down faster, deff longer batt life, and I dont have to pinch zoom all the damn time to just read a paragraph..

I hear you. I am fine being in the minority, we all have our opinions and expectations. I realize I am may be a power user on the PRE with 40 some patched installed. Maybe it is not fair to compare a hacked Pre to the functionality for notifications on a stock EVO running Sense, but hey, the Pre software was announced 18 months ago. I was hopeful a NEW device and software would be at least as efficient to use out of the box as a hacked PRE from 18 months ago. I am not trying to justify going back to the Pre. I put a lot of thought into what I found disappointing. I was really excited about the EVO. Still am..I want it to work. I may look for some hacks if I root a replacement.

No arguments on the PRE hardware being inferior to the HTC hardware. Although, have you noticed the EVO screen is not that bright in sunlight?

Can you give me some specific suggestions on third party apps that improve the notification experience? Thanks!

 

[Dacypher2003]

how was the battery life between the 2

 

[rinkeedink]

how was the battery life between the 2

Due to the larger screensize and additional 4G radio, the battery life of the EVO was not much better than the PRE hacked to run at 800 mhz. The Pre battery is the original one I got last October, so its performance is starting to suffer too. I found myself turning off the 4G radio to preserve battery life. I only had this phone a week, but was using it very heavily. I drained it a few times to condition the battery. Still I could not get through a day without recharging under heavy use, video, streaming music, etc. I was kind of disappointed that there was not really a very noticeable improvement over my Pre, but the EVO has so much more horsepower, bigger screen and 4G, it's not fair to compare I think.

 

[m970006]

Android just takes some getting used to. I was with AT&T and ported my number over to Sprint to get the EVO. I first had the backflip on AT&T and HATED android at first. I promptly took it back. Then I got the Pre Plus on AT&T and loved it, and was hesitant to switch to get the EVO, but I don't miss the Pre a bit! The EVO was a very good switch at least for me.

 

[Rillo34]

I switched from the Pre. I absolutely loved my Pre but the Evo just makes it feel old, cheap and small.

I love webOS but it just has to be on excellent hardware like the Evo. Hopefully HP helps palm make a super(duper) phone with webOS by the summer and I'll use my upgrade to go back to webOS in a heartbeat. Until then I'll have fun with my new evo