A Wow! With a Few Bugs June 6, 2010

Reviewer:  Daniel Murphy "Dan Murphy"  (Redmond, OR USA) -

To give you the perspective that I'm coming from, I'm not a dedicated techie. I upgraded to the EVO from a Treo Centro (sorry Palm OS!). Though I know what a Snapdragon processor is, my review won't be on that level of expertise. I'd rate my ability to adapt to new technology as fair-to-middling.

Here goes: The phone itself is classy looking. When off, it reminds me of the black stone monolith in 2001, A Space Odyssey. When on, the screen is bright, and has VERY sharp detail (again, I'm coming from the perspective of my Centro). The pinch and spread function (to contract or spread the picture on the screen) works very smoothly and consistently. The "flick" function, used to scroll through apps, is wonderful, don't know how I did without it before. The screen is QUITE sensitive to touch, requiring a bit of getting used to for someone who does not count manual dexterity amongst my assets. Though the phone is big (4.2 inch screen)it is very slender, not heavy, and I don't find it cumbersome in the least. It is comfortable in the hand.

The camera: first, it has two: the heavy duty one (8 megapixel) faces out the back, a 1 megapixel on the keyboard side. In a 4G area (I'm not, yet), this allows video phone calls, I'm told. The camera has autofocus and a surprisingly bright flash. Picture quality seems good to very good.

Sound: I'm a bit hard of hearing, no problems at all with this phone. The sound quality is the best I've ever had on a cell phone. EVO has very few buttons, but it does have a very easy to use up and down volume buttons on the upper left side of the phone, works great.

Keyboard. Well, hmmm. My Centro had a manual keyboard, and if there is anything that I really miss with the EVO, it's actual keys. Though the virtual keyboard is BIG when the phone is tilted to landscape mode, many functions on the phone (including entering contacts!) only allow the portrait keyboard for Qwerty. The phone has three keyboards to choose from, so if you're a whiz with the standard cell phone keyboard that kids are miraculously good at texting with, you can choose that format. I'm getting better, but still quite a few errors in keying.

Speed: in a word: fast. Very little lag between functions, even when more than one function is chugging along.

Voice recognition: the Google search by voice is (for a novice like me) nothing short of a miracle. Say "Quilt stores", and the phone takes into account your GPS location, in seconds a list of quilt stores (or Starbucks, or mountain biking trails)is at your disposal. SO cool! The directory search for phone contacts by voice is a bit more hesitant, could stand some spiffing.

Apps: Holy Cow! Again, I'm a novice, but the very accurate GPS, in conjunction with entertainment apps such as Yelp! and Flixter, is mind-boggling. Touch Flixter, and this very smart phone instantly (NO input required) brings up all theaters, movie times, trailers, Rotten Tomato ratings, AND, all the restaurants in the area of your chosen movie, AND turn by turn directions to the theater thanks to Google Maps. Basically, get off a plane anywhere in North America, you're ready to roll!

The GPS. Eerie, when combined with Google Maps. To navigate, you don't have to enter your starting place, the phone already KNOWS where you are. With a function called "layers", while navigating from point to point you can incorporate a satellite view, giving you an awesome (and distracting!) view of all the territory/buildings around you, for miles, depending on the scale that you choose. Get a (free) sports app, and the GPS/accelerometer kicks in to tell you exactly how far you've gone, maps the route you've taken, tells you how much elevation you've gained (!), and how many calories (incorporating your weight) that you've burned. Crikey, what fun! I used the GPS first day out with my EVO to find a restaurant, than used the voice turn by turn (it does call out specific street names, not just "turn left" or "turn right"). It was flawless, and VERY up to date with recent construction in the area.

WiFi, signed on to my home network without any trouble.

Ability to personalize: terrific, many options to "make it your own".

Synchronization with multiple functions: terrific. No trouble setting up e-mail accounts (you MUST have a Gmail account for full function). I calendar with the online Google calendar on my laptop, the transfer to my phone calendar is automatic and virtually instantaneous.

Bad stuff: they lie if they say that getting all your Palm OS data is going to transfer accurately. Argh. But I'm getting it straightened out. In the "Someday" category: EVO does not support Netflix instant play yet, nor Hulu. I'm a family doc, it DOES support Epocrates, an essential pharmacology data base.

Battery life: I'm guessing 4 hours of continual multi-use, way better than that for talk time only. This multi-function micro-mainframe of an instrument has multiple draws on its battery: GPS, WiFi, AND, you can actually talk on the thing.

So here's my bottom line: If they could give me an easier keyboard, or allow full voice recognition (I use and love Dragon 10.1 at work), EVO and I would become soul mates. As it is, after about a day and a half of adapting to a non-Palm OS system (I had one of the original Palm Pilots), I can tell that a long and fruitful friendship is in the making with this product. The leap from a semi-smart phone, like the Palm Centro, to this one is a quantum leap, not a simple upgrade. Without exaggeration, I can say that the EVO will change the way I operate on a day to day basis. I can also say that it is a whoppingly fun toy to play with!

7/20/2010 Addendum/Update: This is a great phone, and I'll stick by my original statement that it is a quantum leap, not an upgrade, over any previous smart phone that I've owned. BUT...the battery life is a real problem. Even with an App Killer, and even with the GPS and Wi-Fi turned off when I don't need them, well...let's talk car gas mileage and gas mileage for Army tanks. With cars, you describe gas consumption in terms of miles per gallon. With tanks, you describe it in gallons per mile (this is true). If not a tank, the EVO is at least a half-track regarding energy consumption: that little green bar informing you about battery life keeps you mentally tethered to the nearest wall outlet or USB port. I have never run the battery completely down during a workday, but I've come uncomfortably close. There is no question that the value of the EVO would be significantly improved by tripling its battery life, or making replacement/spare batteries available at low cost. Otherwise...I love my Evo!

8-14-2010 Update: The Froyo (Android 2.2) update was simple and flawlessly executed. Even better, it is a substantial improvement. From the very useful Flashlight app that uses the phone's flash LED's as a flashlight, to the quicker transition from one app to another, it's a winner. On a different note, those of you that wonder whether you can "tether" your Evo to your computer as a modem, using a cheap or free one-time app instead of a $29/month fee from Sprint: yes. Which makes the phone even more valuable in hotels and airports that want to charge $10/day for internet, not to mention being on a road trip.

9/30/10 Update: Purchased the Seido battery that has double the capacity of the OEM battery: it's for real! No question whatsoever that I'm going to get through the whole day with power to spare, even leaving Wi-Fi and GPS on, even using the screen for Kindle reading for extended periods. The battery, contrary to what some reviewers have said about it, does significantly add to the weight and thickness of the phone. For me the issue is no contest: I no longer need to know where the nearest electrical socket is, and I have freedom to use all the phone's functions without fear of the color red on the battery bar showing up.

Worth the hype/wait, absolutely love it!! June 6, 2010

Reviewer:  Erik in OC  (Costa Mesa, CA) -

Updated 3/4/11: I've been on Sprint since 2005 and have used many of their smartphones: from Windows devices like Mogul and Touch Pro to the elegant WebOS on the Pre, and Sprint's first Androids, the Hero and Moment, and now the one that makes all those look silly: the HTC Evo.

Let's start off with the battery life myth: Since the FroYo update, I am easily making it 30+ hours without charging. I can drain a full battery in 5 hours if I'm trying to, but never with typical use. The negative reviews on battery are typically from not so savvy smartphone users and you will find these types of reviews on all smartphones.

Android is easy to use and you will love all the Marketplace apps to customize it as your own. The Evo has HTC's Sense UI, which is pretty user-friendly. A great thing about Android is that if you aren't happy with Sense UI, you can go to the marketplace for Launcher Pro (my strong preference), ADW Launcher or a few of the other options, but those 2 are widely viewed as the best. With these other launchers, you can add more rows and columns for apps and tweak little homescreen options to your liking.

Navigation works so well that I sold my Garmin Nuvi 265WT. It loads directions very fast, which is great because my biggest pet peeve with Garmin was waiting for the satellites.

Let's talk about media: For music there are several well designed apps but my favorites are PowerAmp (equalizer), Doubletwist (wireless air-sync), and TuneWiki (scrolls lyrics). For streaming, of course there's Pandora, Last.FM (now a paid app) and Slacker. For viewing your loaded video files, I've only used Rock Player, which views the loads of AVI and MP4 files I have.

Voice quality: I make a lot of calls, and usually 3-4 a day to people I've never talked to before. Calls are very clear and they need to be. I get 4-6 out of 6 bars from Los Angeles, all over Orange County, down to Chula Vista. I would be frustrated with anything else. This obviously depends on your region, but in Southern California, I get excellent reception everywhere I go, much better than I got with my Palm Pre.

Camera: At 8MP and with 2 LED lights, it's better than most phone cameras but if you are expecting a phone to be on par with your point-and click shooter, that's a little unrealistic. I still use my Canon and however far these smartphones advance, if you take your picture quality seriously, you will always want a camera. As for the video recording, it gets the job done. I was considering a Flip type camera, but the Evo has 720p recording and makes that obsolete.

vs. iPhone 4: I'd like to go a phone review without mentioning this device, but let's face it, Apple has done a great job of making sure it's always in the back (or front) of your mind when phone shopping. As a reseller, I've used the iPhone for several hours. If you already have an iPhone, it probably doesn't matter how glowing my review of the EVO is, you're most likely getting the iPhone 4. If you want things really simple, that's an area iOS, to it's credit, excels in, and simplicity is not a bad thing. If you like to customize all the little details to your liking (ahem, a geek), chances are, you'll prefer Android. I get why people love their iPhones, but I don't get why those in bad coverage areas (like Southern CA), would sacrifice the main feature of a device. If you are a texter and rarely make phone calls, then I can understand somewhat. For AT&T to charge as much as they do, have subpar to very bad customer service (lots of personal experiences, I'll hold back my rant), and still have extremely spotty data and voice coverage in my region, that's unacceptable.

BOTTOM LINE: Shop for carrier coverage in your area, BEFORE the phone, unless you don't make that many calls. A great phone with poor coverage is not so great anymore. If Sprint sucks in your area, don't get the Evo. If Sprint is awesome, like it is in Orange County, CA, you are going to love the EVO.

The Apple iPhone Is So 2009, says Evo June 7, 2010

Reviewer:  C. R.  (Phoenix, AZ USA) -

The Evo is THE alternative for those not wanting to put up with the iPhone restrictions or AT&T's well publicized shortcomings.
As a proud new owner since Friday I can honestly say the Evo lives up to the hype - and then some.
A warning though: the Evo is much larger than the iPhone and pretty much any other phone out there. For tall/large folks with large
hands this is actually wonderful, but for those who like the tiniest, sleekest toys to go along with their midget hands, this thing isn't it.

Regardless if you live in a Sprint 4G area, you'll pay an extra $10 fee. If you haven't already, you also need to upgrade to one of Sprint's more expensive plans.

Keep in mind that, as with all Androids, you can turn off and/or customize almost any feature you don't like. The Evo is not quite as intuitive to learn as the iPhone but it's also
a lot more capable and powerful. The growing Android app marketplace really helps with this.

PROS
Gorgeous, gigantic, super bright, crystal clear screen. Best. Screen. Ever.
Truly fast at everything - apps launch instantly, everything is just "zippy",
Powerful enough to run a bunch of stuff simultaneously without slowing down at all
Very modern and "hip" interface.
Fantastic integration with all things Google (Maps, Gmail, Google Voice, etc.), Social Networks (Friend Stream is amazing), and GPS
Call quality is excellent
WiFi works very well
Touch screen is VERY sensitive and fast. Could be Pro or a Con.
Videos are unbelievably large and crisp on this thing - no other phone comes close yet
Has lots of options and customization features
8 Megapixel camera AND HD video camcorder (!) surprisingly good quality for a phone
Does eBooks very well (need free eBook reader)
Android app market is huge and growing fast. Downloads and installs are super simple and fast.
Everything about this thing is just fast.
Casing/back doesn't show fingerprints or lint much at all (screen is another story, see below)
Did I mention it's FAST?

CONS
Battery Life. This makes sense as the gigantic screen by itself likes to eat up juice when in use. WiFi, Bluetooth and certain auto-updating apps also drain the battery.
Suggestion: turn WiFi OFF when you leave your house. Keep the default timeout setting to 1 minute or so to make sure the screen turns off after a short time of not
using the device. Turn Bluetooth off if you're not using it. Reduce screen brightness, it's set to Auto by default when you get the Evo.

Default email client not super intuitive, plus polling intervals can not be set to anything shorter than 5 minutes. Email client can easily be replaced with other apps if you wish though.

Touch screen is VERY sensitive and fast. Some folks might need to get used to how fast/sensitive it is. Could be a Pro or a Con.

Soft keyboard has some minor quirks, mostly in terms of intuitiveness. Hard to describe here.

For people with larger hands like me, the Evo is perfect. For someone with very small hands, this device could be a nightmare to use. Seriously - it's LARGE.

Like all touch devices, the touch screen is a fingerprint magnet

SUMMARY
If you are on Sprint (or considering switching) and want the fastest and arguably best device out there at this time, the Evo is it.

Chose this over the IPhone, no regrets! June 13, 2010

Reviewer:  D. Porter  (UT USA) -

I have had this phone for almost a week now. The only other phone I considered was the new IPhone, so far I am very pleased with my decision. Before purchasing this phone I had Palm and Microsoft SmartPhones. I also have an IPod touch at home that I use regularly and love. I didn't have any experience with Android.

Pros:
-This is a large phone. I was worried about this at first, but it is not cumbersome to use as a phone, and the large display looks great! I have large hands and my previous phones all had QWERTY keyboards. I was worried about the switch to soft keys. The large display makes texting and typing easier than I expected.
-Android is great! Having used Apple products for a long time, I was nervous that Android would be a step down in terms of usability. Quite the opposite is true, the interface is very intuitive and easy to use.
-Applications. I have downloaded many apps (widgets). I was surprised to find that most of what I was using on my IPod touch had comparable apps for Android. There are a few I am waiting on (Audible is a big one to me, but it isn't out on the IPhone yet either).
-EMail. I didn't have a Gmail account until I got this phone, but I created one and used it to import all of my contacts from Outlook. I have been using Google Earth, Google Documents, and of course Gmail on the phone. All work perfectly and I am finding myself drawn into the Google world. I wonder if I'll ever go back to Hotmail or Yahoo....
-The camera is great! I don't know why I would even bother carrying a point-and-shoot anymore. The flash and zoom are new to me on a phone camera, and both work well. I haven't taken a bad photo yet. The ability to easily do basic editing of photos on the phone makes sharing pictures easier than anything else I've tried.
-On the same note, the video camera also works great. I haven't tried the HDMI output yet but am anxious to do it. I have taken several videos and uploaded them to the Internet, seamless.
-Sprint Navigation and Sprint TV both work well. I haven't even tried Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation yet, I'm sure that I will.
-Speech recognition. Most queries can be done verbally instead of by typing them in. Speech to text for contacts and navigation works well, so long as I pronounce clearly I have had no problems.
-Good For Enterprise. I didn't want to single out one app, but this one deserves it. This application allows me to attach to my calendar, email, and contacts in Microsoft Exchange at work. Thus far it has worked flawlessly, and gives me all the business functionality I need on a much, much, MUCH cooler phone than a Blackberry.

Not-So-Pros (I can't really say cons):
-Battery Life. Granted it is my first week so I had almost everything turned on all week. I will work on a power management plan going forward. I usually charge my phone overnight, but with GPS, data, and Wi-Fi running, plus using the phone extensively I have to recharge during the day. I'm hoping I can find a happy medium that allows me to go all day without recharging. On a good note, all my mini-USB accessories from my last Palm phone work fine to charge the phone.

As I said, I was considering either this phone or the new IPhone. Feature for feature they are very similar, and since I already had ITunes and multiple IPods it seemed a no-brainer to get the IPhone. What brought me to the Evo was not the phone, but the carrier. I chose the carrier first, the phone second.

I have been very happy with Sprint's network for years now, both data and voice. I am concerned that AT&T is no longer offering unlimited data on the IPhone, no doubt driven by the fact that their network was unprepared and overwhelmed by the IPhone's success. I've heard AT&T's spin control (most people don't use 2Gig per month, they are spending a ton upgrading their network, blah blah blah), but the experience of my friends who have the IPhone is always "the phone is great, the network is not". I have a family plan with 4 phones; my Sprint plan with 4 smartphones (unlimited data and text on all 4) cost less per month than AT&T's plan to have one IPhone (limited data) and three phones (no data). In the end, the Sprint network (faster, unlimited data, and cheaper) made the IPhone, much as I wanted it, the wrong choice for me.

At this point, I assume when I replace this phone the IPhone will be available on Sprint. No doubt if I could have had an IPhone on Sprint I would have done that. However I'm impressed enough by the HTC phone and Google OS to say that even though a week ago Apple could have had my business (on the right network) that next time they will have to earn it. Nothing against Apple, but I like this phone that much.

***Update 6/18/2010

I continue to be very happy with my decision to stay on Sprint and purchase the Evo. A few updates:

-Battery Life. After some time online in a few forums, I have tuned my phone so that I am getting about 30 hours between charges. Turning off GPS and Bluetooth when not in use (there are easy switches on the homepage), switching to WiFi at home instead of 3G, and limiting checks for the Good app and email did most of the work. Since I usually charge every night, this is more than enough for me. I still use the phone about 1-2 hours during the day for voice, plus about an hour of data.

-Apps. I have installed 32 applications. Only had problems with 2, and they were low-rated freebies. The Amazon.com app, Flickster, Pandora, ATK, Google Earth, Sprint TV and Sprint Navigation continue to be favorites. Google Maps also is very easy to use.

-Sprint. Performance on the Sprint network is great. Given the mess AT&T had with the new IPhone orders this week, and the fact that something like a million new IPhones will be going on the already overloaded AT&T network, I feel even better in my decision to choose the carrier first and the phone second.

Convergence is here - and it works pretty well! June 13, 2010

Reviewer:  Jerry Saperstein  (Evanston, IL USA) -

I've been n the technology industry for a long time and over the past several decades, I've heard a number of visionaries (real and wannabe) prophesy about the day when the computer could be held in the palm of your hand and you'd use it for everything without compromising on anything.

Well if that day isn't entirely here, it is very, very close as is demonstrated with the Sprint HTC Evo 4G.

This is one amazing machine.

The 4.3" screen is absolutely marvelous. Unlike my last four HTC smartphones (PPC6700, PPC6800, Touch Pro, Touch Pro 2), I can read without squinting!

The Android Operating System puts Windows Mobile 6 (or whatever they are calling it these days) to shame.

The 1 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is blazingly fast. Multitasking is quick and efficient.

Available RAM is a bit on the chintzy side.

There's a lot of bloatware installed on the system, but that is easily gotten rid of. You have to be extremely careful with setting options since, as delivered, the Evo 4G will suck your battery dry within a few hours of just sitting there and seemingly doing nothing. In my early days of experimentation, I went from 100% charge when I went to bed to 15% by morning. This is one device where you really want to learn all you can about it. Read the manual, delve deeply into the settings and follow the forums. When people talk about poor battery life on this phone, they're being honest but also exposing their ignorance or unwillingness to optimize the battery life. My suggestion to Sprint, HTC and Google would be to deliver the Evo 4G with all the battery sucking options turned off and thus avoid the unnecessary bad rap about battery life.

I have never been a fan of onscreen keyboards - until now. The onscreen keyboard on the Evo is great. It took me a little while to gain accuracy and speed, but I am now as fast if not faster than with the slider keyboards on my earlier HTC smartphones. One of the first purchases I made to complement the Evo is the Freedom Pro Bluetooth keyboard. (You also have to buy drivers for it from Google's Market service.) Couple that with any of several notes applications, email or QuickOffice and you can leave your laptop at home on many occasions. By the way, the Evo will support the new 32GB microSDHC cards.

The Evo, with an optional Sprint service, can serve as a WiFi access point for up to eight other devices. The service while seemingly pricey is half the cost of Sprint's standalone data service. Sprint levies a $10 surcharge on monthly usage fees for the Evo. Allegedly this is to cover truly unlimited data service on 4G networks. The problem I'v encountered is that Sprint's 4G service in Chicago is spotty and practically impossible to obtain indoors. When you can get 4G, It can be blazingly fast - but it can often also be no better than a good 3G connection as well. To date, I am not overly impressed with 4G in terms of actual availability.

Evo has two cameras. The rear-facing one is typical of higher end cell phone cameras. Usable, but not great, pictures. The twin LED flash helps a lot. The front-facing camera can be used with the Qik service for video calls. So far I am not impressed with Qik and the fact that are adding a surcharge for "premium" features which, in my opinion, shouldn't be considered premium doesn't help. Fring allows you to use Skype and Skype itself has promised an Android client this year.

There are many cool things about this phone. It is, in my opinion, physically beautiful. I like the large size and it fits my hand well. The Android OS, so far, has been dependable with no system crashes. An occasional application crash, but not the OS itself. The four capacitive buttons on the bottom work more often than not. The volume controls on the right side are a design error in my view, but they work well enough.

The HTC Sense User Interface, which I had turned off on my HTC Touch Pro and Touch Pro 2 smartphones has finally reached a level of maturity where it adds to the convenience of using the device.

Call quality has been quite acceptable.

Many tasks that can drive you mad on other phones are simple on the Evo. Finding and connecting with new WiFi and Bluetooth devices is as simple as it can get.

That said, the WiFi and phone receivers on the Evo seem exceptionally poor. I lose the WiFi signal in my unit, something that does not occur with my other phones or computers. Likewise my Sprint signal is far weaker indoors than with any of my previous Sprint HTC phones. This may, in fact, turn out to be a dealbreaker for me. Having had the unit for a week now, I have eliminated all the other possibilities for the poor reception - it is the Evo at fault here and I will be communicating with Sprint this next week to learn what they intend to do about the problem. The forums have been filled with complaints about these issues and, if my experience is a guide, with good reason.

Google's Android Market offers a broad array of software, much of it useful. I have downloaded a number of programs, free and paid, and found them useful.

A couple of little blessings: a kickstand on the back so you can conveniently watch videos or listen to music or books and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Overall this is an incredible piece of work. With my Bluetooth external keyboard, I can see myself leaving the laptop at home on many occasions. The Evo, so far, handles all my basic tasks smoothly, quickly and efficiently.

You have to really learn about this device in order to manage power consumption - otherwise your battery life will be abysmal. And many, including myself, are unhappy with what might be weak WiFi and cell receivers or may be a firmware problem. I am hoping that the problem can be resolved soon.

Sprint, HTC and Google have done a real number on the Sprint HTC Evo 4G. It is outstanding, a true engineering masterpiece. All the power you need for your everyday work tasks and communication fitted into the palm of your hand. On top of that, it is a great entertainment center as well, the 4.3" screen being more than adequate for watching most movies and video. Speaker volume is adequate and speaker fidelity is as bad as any other. Use headphones for your listening.

The Evo is a great device and probably more fun to play with than I am entitled to have.

Jerry

My Take June 7, 2010

Reviewer:  PR4LFE  (Vegas) -

Lets get this out of the way - I had the iPhone 3GS for 10 months (jailbroke it 4 months). The service with AT&T was just fine other than the dropped calls here and there which I believe is with every network. The 3G connection was good here in Vegas. Now, I decided to switch from the iPhone to the EVO 4G because once I saw the screen (I didnt realize I wanted a bigger screen) it was a definite plus. Much like any phone available there are things that this does better and could do better. Now mine review will be a bit of a comparison to the iPhone since that was what I just left.

Battery Life: I could make it through the whole day with the iPhone obviously depending on usage and which features were turned off or on. Generally I would have to turn off 3G to do so. On the EVO 4G for example - this morning it was at 100% at 5am it is now 9:36am and I am just under 50% with light usage (4G is turned off) 3G only and screen brightness at auto. A bit too early from me to determine true battery usage without some more time but first impression I would say it has OK battery life and the iPhone is good.

Screen: To me there is no comparison between the two screens. iPhone has a 3.5 and the EVO 4G has a 4.3 - thats just more landscape to view anything. Now, in sunlight the iPhone does outshine the EVO. Its just easier to see. The EVO screen is just more vibrant and sharper to me than the iPhone.

Touch Response: This is a neutral category. I don't see either one being more responsive than the other.

OS: Well, this one is a bit trickier I believe. The OS on the iPhone is quite polished and it does things very well. Its responsive and has nice built in feature for email contacts. The EVO on the other hand has a very nice OS in Android 2.1- its more customizable in how you want to personalize your phone. Features that the iPhone 4.0 OS will bring as already here. Folders and custom background are in. Not to mention and by far the greatest feature of them all....NO ITUNES. Not needed for activation, for music or video. I like the Amazon MP3 service better. Actual MP3's. Android is loaded with tons of features to let you change your own experience with the phone. Its like giving you power of your own device.

Camera and Video: Not tested.

Talk: With my usage nothing that I would say is any different from AT&T to Sprint here in Vegas.

4G: Connectivity is spotty at times with my testing here in Vegas but when its on its fast. Way faster than 3G.... noticeably. Surfing on the EVO is like being freed from not being able to see webpages the way they are suppose to. I do have to state however that certain pages heavy on Flash can cause a slow down. For example the [...] website can be cumbersome to navigate (but on the iPhone as well).

Connectivity: I have not had any problems with Bluetooth at all. It connected to my bluetooth stereo and ear piece without a hitch.

Multitasking: So far I have had a bluetooth connection going, playing music and surfing the internet and there was no slowdown on the phone at all.

Overall I have to say that I am very pleased with the EVO 4G in my 4 days of ownership. I like the iPhone but disliked iTunes very much and the fact I could not do simple things such as folders and custom backgrounds. I understand that it is coming in 4.0 but thats too little too late. Not to mention that my bill goes from $105 to $85 after taxes. It is a bit unfair for those not in a 4G City to have to pay for the service but for me it would still be cheaper than AT&T without 4G. The cost itself is better for me. The phone to me does everything the iPhone can do and then some (even better). Two things that stand out is the email and webpages on the EVO. Those two along are ahead of the iPhone. The iPhone does have the cool letters on the right hand side for contacts that the EVO lacks but the with the EVO you can send certain numbers directly to voice mail. For every person its going to be a to each there own type of decision. With the next iPhone information being released this week time will tell how well the EVO hold up in the competition but as for me Im glad I switched.

UPDATE 6/8/2010 - All is fair in love and war....so they say. Anyways, I had issues with the iPhone along the way such as lock ups, apps just closing, not turning on. So now its the EVO's turn: using speaker phone I was on hold, the screen turns blacks as normal for power save however I could not get the picture to come back. I could hear the hold music but pushing any buttons did not return the screen back so I had to remove the battery. The weirder one is for whatever reason last night 3G somehow got turned off. Not sure how but it did.

UPDATE 6/10/2010 - Ok, so everybody has heard the old saying "dont quite your day job" well that kinda of apply s to the camera and video abilities. Like most smart phones I wouldnt say people use them as the primary means for taking pictures and video but its nice to have the function built in. The video and pictures are ok and can be good depending on the scene. Since this standard is not going anywhere maybe a future version will improve on this.

Battery life still depends on usage but for light usage you can make it a whole day without charging with 4G turned off. Medium to Heavy with 4G turned off might last you half a day.

UPDATE 6/14/2010 - More news update; random applications such email, internet and sprint tv will error out and force close. It might take a few attempts but it will eventually work. Games from my experience on Android for the most part are not as polished as those on the iPhone. They seem a bit.....old. I have only downloaded and tested a few (free). Internet sharing with the PC (Windows Vista & 7) is pretty easy. Might take a few minutes to set up but then you are good to go. 4G still seems very spotty here in Vegas for a good connection so I dont get to see fast 4G speeds all the time.

The HTC Evo 4G Android Smartphone: A great smartphone with a weak carrier October 28, 2010

Reviewer:  Mark "Sorokahdeen"  (United States) -

In many ways, owning an Evo is like putting an underpowered laptop in your pocket: it allows you to send and receive emails; it takes photos and videos; lets you perform computations and put the results online from wherever you're standing, but it isn't nearly as good as it could be because of the company that carries it.

The Good:
Good sound
Good bluetooth implementation
High quality audiovisual playback for music, movies and audiobooks
Super-fast charging
Full web browser with Flash implementation
Multiple transceivers for connection to the net
Skype support
Satellite GPS
Haptic (touch-based) screen/keyboard feedback
Hearing-aid volume support
Great Texting support
Beautiful, 8 megapixel camera with flash video capability. Secondary, video conference camera

The Bad:
Slightly rough software
Very poor battery life without serious work by the end-user

The Ugly:
Sprint's additional data fees for owning the Evo, charged even on premium plans with unlimited data included

The HTC Evo 4G is an amazing smartphone. It makes making actual phone calls seem like an afterthought. It plays music and audiobooks, takes gorgeous pictures and videos, runs the Amazon Kindle application for print media, opens web-pages with full flash implementation, plays games and even offers GPS-functionality. Its large form-factor allows it to enjoy significantly greater screen real estate than competing phones providing for a forward-facing camera in addition to the high-resolution, eight-megapixel main camera on the back of the phone that takes *stellar* pictures and videos.

Battery life is a bear on the Evo. Unless you are a prepared to become a savvy user, the Evo 4G's battery life will jump up and bite you.

Users have complained of battery life of less than eight hours with the Evo and this isn't an exaggeration: Out of the box, the Evo 4G is set up to constantly run programs in the background that automatically go online to check for news, mail, weather and other updates. This means that, unless you research how to turn off those things, your phone burns the candle at both ends, invisibly processing when its next update is going to take place *and THEN* going online to perform the update. In other words, your phone uses itself even when you aren't using it.

The result for the unsophisticated user is comedy: the first Evo I ever saw was shown to me by a customer at Best Buy: it was stone dead. The second one was owned by a Best Buy sales rep who said he didn't have a power-problem; he just carried three fully charged, extra batteries around with him!

This is not to say that the Evo 4G has to be a power-hog. With light data and phone use, I regularly get eighteen hours out of my Evo with a record time of twenty-three and-a-half hours on a single charge; but this happened only after many hours of research, and battery-conditioning voodoo. This is a bad constrast with my previous Blackberry smartphone which could be left turned on and off the charger for several days without worrying.

There is a silver lining though: with the unit turned off, the Evo charges to full in about 2.5 hours--far faster than any other phone I've ever owned.

In terms of connectivity, the Evo 4g is like nothing else, but this is expensive on many levels. The Evo works its magic by using no less than four different radio transceivers (phone/3G, bluetooth, 4g, wifi, and Satellite GPS) of those however, 4G is problematic on several levels.

Sprint charges a ten-dollar-a-month premium just for owning the Evo 4G, even if the user has Sprint's `simply everything' plan that includes unlimited data. The fee still applies even if you live somewhere where Sprint isn't even dreaming of setting up 4G anytime soon.

This means you pay for 4G even if you can't have it and are already paying for a super-premium plan where `unlimited data' is included. That, speaking plainly, is a rip-off--so much so that there are stories floating around of Sprint employees in call-centers living through the nightmare of having to explain the charge to irate customers by describing how wonderful the phone's screen is.

I would genuinely hate to be one of those people right now.

The problem with Sprint's 4G service is that it is a costly paradox. If you are anywhere where you can use wifi from a coffee shop or from your home or office, wifi costs either nothing or next to nothing and is easier on your battery than 4G would be. So how is 4G in any way useful? You *could* use it to tether devices to the Evo, providing a moveable, wifi hotspot of your own to, say, watch a movie on an iPad or a laptop.

Unfortunately, two things prevent this even if you live in a place where 4G actually exists: 1) Sprint charges a $30 a month super-premium for wifi tethering on top of the charge for data (yes, Sprint expects a yearly, $480 Christmas Present) and, 2) using 4G alone, on battery power will turn that, sleek fully-charged smartphone of yours into a paperweight in less than an hour no matter what background processes you turn off. Contrast this with AT&T's 3g service for my iPad 3g: $25 a month for 2GB of data with additional 2GB blocks for $10 if needed.

You can tell that Sprint knows how popular their pricing policies are with consumers: when Android hackers came up with free wifi-tethering solutions for the HTC Evo, Sprint's system software updates disabled them--sort of like a thief wrecking the zipper on your pocket.

Despite all the reasons to be bitter about its carrier, the HTC Evo 4G is a great smartphone that offers sophisticated users a host of great features. It does everything the iPhone does and more and, although its software is rough in some areas, Sprint's network makes the Evo plainly, obviously superior.

The HTC Evo 4G is a great smartphone but you wish it were available from a carrier that was less hungry than Sprint is; because Sprint's pricing for data makes your phone bill feel like an expensive insult to your intelligence.

**Addendum** Apr 8, `2011: A difficult, but worthwhile fix.
Please note, if you try this, you'll be trying it as I did: that is, at your own risk. With that said...

My phone slipped out of my hand while I was taking it out of the holster and it fell several feet onto concrete shattering the screen. This was completely unexpected. My phone's screen has survived much more dramatic abuse than this, but this time I was unlucky and for more than a month, I was walking around with a screen that looked like a crazed spider had taken up residence underneath it.

Despite my phone's being insured against loss or theft, I was considering buying a new one when someone told me something I should already have known: the parts and tools were out there and, although the work is certainly not trivial, a home-grown repair-job was possible.

I got instructions on how to disassemble the phone on YouTube and bought the relevant part (the screen) and the tools (a number-four Torx screwdriver) on Amazon. Instead of the specialized tool recommended in the YouTube video, I bought a set of super-heavy guitar picks and used them for the two operations crucial to taking the phone apart: opening the case by sliding a thin, non-conductive instrument into the phone seams to separate the phone's assemblies that are held together by snaps *and* six Torx screws, and flicking open the locks that keep the phone's ribbon connectors attached to the phone's motherboard.

The hardest parts of the repair were prying the bits of broken screen off the adhesive backing that holds it it to the front of the phone and getting the three ribbon connectors back into the clamped busses that move signals between the phone's parts and its motherboard. Also, the motherboard is attached to the phone's chassis by a single, tiny, phillips head screw that I lost during reassembly (I lost the phillips head, but the phone went back together without it and, so far it works fine).

If you're going to try this repair, I would recommend that you magnetize your screwdrivers and set the screws and other small parts aside in light-colored cup for maximum visual contrast so you can spot everything easily when it's time for reassembly. In addition to the tools mentioned above, you will probably want a needle-nosed tweezers and a lint-free cloth for cleaning any smeared adhesive off of the liquid crystal display underneath the glass.

Getting the phone back together after disassembly requires a lot of tries and a *LOT* of patience, but the reward for success is stellar: first, you get to show everyone that you did it (as I intend to tomorrow) and the total cost of the tools and replacement parts (all of them with next-day shipping) was less than a hundred dollars while a new Evo bought without a plan costs four-hundred and fifty.

Good luck.

The Best Smartphone July 19, 2010

Reviewer:  manbearpig "Half man, half bear and half pig."  (Boston, MA) -

Coming from iPhone 3G, I got my EVO on the launch day in a Radioshack. It took them 4 hours to activate my phone and the data was activated by Sprint customer support over the phone sometime around 7PM that evening. It was a tough day for me (thanks to all you android fanboys), especially because I had been waiting to switch to android since almost one year. The reason it took me so long to switch was that all the available android phones were not necessarily better than the iPhone in my opinion. I wanted to move to android partly because it is Google's product and hence all other Google service that I use (gmail, search, picasa, docs, calendar, news, reader) come tightly integrated into all android phones. And the other reason was that I wanted to move away from the iPhone because I was tired of 3.5" screen, I wanted a bigger yet pockatable screen... enter HTC EVO 4G with 4.2" screen... I'm now a very happy boy!

SCREEN: The bigger screen makes a huge difference. iPhone has a 3.5" screen and EVO has a 4.2" screen. If you consider the screen area, EVO's screen is ~45% larger. This significantly improves the web browsing and gaming experience. If you ever played a Sony PSP, then you already know how big EVO's screen is. Yup, it is exactly the same size as a Sony PSP although with much higher resolution. So an HTC EVO 4G will give you a screen that is ~45% larger than an iPhone in a not much bigger phone. In fact, this phone is almost the same size as my iPhone 3G enclosed in it's hard igriffin case!

BATTERY: Is EVO's battery life comparable to other smart phones'? Yes.
After disabling the 4G antenna, I can easily last through the day with my regular web browsing + gaming + phoning activities. The 4G antenna does require a lot of battery juice though. I don't live in a 4G area so I have no need for enabling the antenna, but if you do live in a 4G covered area... the easiest workaround would be to carry your charger (EVO comes with a wall+usb charger) or to use 4G only when you absolutely need it like uploading an 8 megapixel photo to Flickr. There are a ton of articles online about how to tweak EVO's settings to obtain the most out of your battery but I have found that just disabling the 4G does enough to conserve the battery. Now the question whether or not EVO's battery life suck with 4G enabled can only be answered once there are other 4G phones available in the market. You surely can not compare a 4G battery life with another 3G smart phones can you?

CAMERA: I find the camera to be satisfactory. The pictures look amazing on my EVO's 4.2" screen but they do not look as sharp on my 19" monitor. The color saturation however seems appropriate to my untrained eye. I'm uploading a couple of snapshots, take a look and decide for yourself. Shooting in dark/indoors is an absolute joy because of the flash.

PHONE: The best part was when I logged into my EVO with my gmail account, ALL my gmail contacts popped into my EVO - without me having to do anything! I remember moving my contacts from my [[ASIN:B00317FYQY BlackBerry 8700C]] to [[ASIN:B001TL0Z72 HTC Tilt]] was a tricky exercise and then moving my contacts to my iPhone 3G was a completely manual and tiring process! You have no idea how happy I was when I found out that I can now simply add all my remaining contacts into my gmail account (on my computer) and they will sync to my phone wirelessly instantly and automatically. And this works in the other direction too... meaning, whatever contacts I add to my phone sync with my gmail contacts. This means that no matter what phone I use in future, all my contacts are always available to me right there in my gmail inbox! Another great feature is that I can now be scrolling my phone book and from their check my friends' facebook or flickr or messages and come back to phone book! This is a feature of Android OS. As far as the call quality is concerned, I have no complaints.

SPRINT TV: I simply disregarded this app as a Sprint bloatware at first, but started to like it later. This is free mobile tv service that you get from Sprint (only for EVO I believe). It gets a few channels like NBC, CNN, ESPN etc. I really had a good time watching some Wimbledon and FIFA matches live on my EVO in my office. One day, two of my colleagues came to my cube and started bragging about how their iPhones could display the live scores of any and all the FIFA matches and I simply started ESPN mobile showing a live FIFA match on my EVO. The look on their faces! Oh man... I almost made them cry that day without even saying a single word. Great Success! :)

KEYBOARD: With a larger screen, you'd expect typing to be easier on EVO but that is not what I found. I think because the screen is larger, my thumbs have to reach farther and hence register a lot of wrong keys in the process. ENTER SWYPE! This is like a third party keyboard app that you can install on your EVO. Although you won't find this in the marketplace but installing it is still very easy. The best thing I like about swype is that it is very forgiving and I don't have to be accurate to type any more. And it remembers whatever new (non-English) words I type and predicts them correctly in future.

WIDGETS: It took me a while to check out all the HTC widgets that were installed on my EVO and I now prefer them. The HTC News widget is better than most RSS readers that you can find in the market (free or paid). And I also like their Friends Stream... a nice way to aggregate all feeds from facebook, twitter and flickr into one single screen. I even like their Clock widget especially because a single touch takes me to the bedside/night clock screen and with the built-in kickstand, this has now become my favorite thing to stare at during those nights when I can't fall asleep.

NAVIGATION: Considering the fact that it uses Google Maps, I have no doubt that the data presented here is more accurate/recent than my TomTom. I have not yet been able to give this a full try because I don't have the car mounting kit. But from whatever searches I did (for fun), it seems to be very fast and finds places accurately even when spoken to in my thick Indian accent. I foresee myself ditching my TomTom for this because of the accuracy of Maps data and also because I no longer have to connect my GPS to my computer every 6 months to install all the latest updates! And the screen here is bigger anyway displaying more information in a glance. Plus it's free! You can't beat free.

TETHERING: From whatever information I could find so far, it appears that tethering is not very difficult once you root your EVO. If you do not want to root, then there are paid tethering apps available in the market. I hear that the next android update (2.2) brings the tethering capability natively to the phone. Currently, I have no real need for tethering my EVO because I don't yet own a tablet computer, but once I get that, I know I can easily tether it to my EVO and enjoy the internets whenever wherever however I please. This was a big point for me to move to Android.

To sum things up, HTC EVO 4G is absolutely the best smart phone I have owned so far. It sure has some quirks but the goods far outweigh the bads in my opinion. I find my EVO very easy and enjoyable to use and recommend this to everyone. I can not wait to see what capabilities Android 2.2 and 3.0 will give to my EVO. The only thing that can make me give up my EVO is an HTC EVO2 (or whatever they decide to call it). You'll notice that I did not speak about things like video camera, music player, radio etc. Well, I have not used them enough to be able to provide an informed feedback. I had never copied a single song on my iPhone and I don't think I'll copy any songs on my EVO. Not that I don't like to listen to music, but whenever I do... I prefer to sing them myself :P

Bye bye AT&T and iPhone for me June 25, 2010

Reviewer:  Victor  (el Cajon, US, Canada) -

I bought this phone with some concern about it being another one of those ...trying to catch up with iPhone products. I went through a good number of MP3 players before I finally purchased the iPod back in the day. I liked my iPhone but had a number of concerns:

1) Steve Jobs - very controlling and slow at releasing updates to the iPhone which make it do what other phones have been doing forever..(come one...the 3G can't record video are you kidding me....can't send MMS messages until recently?...really?)

2) Wasn't sure I liked the whole touch screen keyboard experience. My text messages were horrible unless I slowed WAY down....misspelled words all the time.

3) iPhone camera software stuck with shutter closed and apple says it was a "hardware" problem and wouldn't fix as out of warrenty (thank God my Geek squad plan covered it.) But disappointing performance from Apple on this....a HARDWARE problem because an APP had the screen shutter stuck on closed?...maybe but didn't seem right.

That being said I still wasn't sure about this whole android thing.....wow I was in for a suprise. This phone rocks the face off of the iPhone.

In addition to having the unnecessary but still cool "Wow!" factor...this phone does everything. I can browse the internet and clearly read the web pages. If I have to zoom in the text on the page "word wraps" the text so I can still read it without scrolling left--->right.

The screen is awesome....nice colors, great resolution...awesome.

The speed is great.

The keyboard is bigger....but the really kicker is the SWYPE program which quickly made me forget about how much I loved my work Blackberry Keyboard (but hated everything but email)

I had concerns about moving to Sprint as I had them about 5 years ago and hated their customer service and service.....they have obviously changed somethings. Customer service is as good as ATT or better....more importantly...no dropped calls....great coverage....high speed ....AND I get unlimited EVERYTHING (except calls to landlines-450 min during peak)for $79.99....unlimited text included (ATT - $20) unlimited data (ATT $30)unlimited mobile to ANY carrier included (ATT to ATT only)...ATT well over $100.

I could go on but this is an awesome phone.....Oh yeah if you are worried about the number apps....don't. Apple may have the numbers for now...but seriously how many "tip calculators" do you need to choose from...plus the Amazon Marketplace allows for some more "colorful" apps as Steve Jobs isn't dictating what you should or shouldn't do. Also, there is still an app for almost anything you can type in the search field.

Great phone

If you are a "small handed" person you may want something more along the lines of the HTC Droid Incredible or the HTC Hero (maybe). Hopefully Sprint will come out with a smaller phone like the incredible for those who mind the big screen (The incredible is basically this phone without a front camera and smaller - awesome phone). But Sprint's plan kicks Verizon and ATT's proverbial A@*.

Love my EVO. June 16, 2010

Reviewer:  Richard Cabrera  (Miami) -

Got 2 of these on "Opening Day" - June 4th, 2010. My local Best buy had a limited amount of Evo's - I was unaware of this at the time - I noticed there was a couple at the mobile center setting up their new Evo's. So my wife an I indicated to the Rep that we also want a couple of Evo's. She gladly told us that to give her a moment and she would set us up. 5 mins went buy (It was about 10am) and a few more people starting forming a line behind us.. So the rep inquired who else was there for the evo? Well, EVERYONE WAS there for the evo. To close out the story, my wife and I got 2 of the last 3 phones left at the store that day.

Ok now to my/our experience

I'm transitioning from a Blackberry Curve 8330 to the HTC Evo. The only recent experience I had with touch screens was my iTouch which I gave my self for Xmas this past year. I really like my itouch, so I was torn between waiting for the iphone (6/24/2010) or getting the EVO. I'm so glad I got the EVO..

PROS
1 - The screen is HUGE... The Automatic brightness level is GREAT. I did download an app which I can pop up simple level controls so I can minimize battery consumption when I'm using the phone. but overall I keep the brightness on auto.
2 - Battery life for a phone that size, the amount of data it crunches in/out, the speed of the processor, etc, etc.. Is not all that bad. I charge it overnight, use it for about 30mins on my train ride into work, use it casually at work, really use it a lot at lunch time, by around 2pm I'm down to about 40% battery. Thats not bad in my opinion.. Again, I'm using task killer apps, brightness level controls, etc. to minimize battery consumption but nevertheless it does a good job at holding battery life.
3 - WiFi Tethering or Hotspot works flawlessly.
4 - Android OS is great. I'm still getting used to how things work but overall I'm really happy with it.
5 - Google integration - I LOVE THIS FEATURE. although I had a blackberry, it wasn't an enterprise server one. therefore I had to manually sync my contacts with BB's desktop manager (WHAT A PAIN THAT WAS). I always had duplicate meetings, wrong calendar events, deleted contacts, added contacts.. A ROYAL MESS.. - In comes GOOGLE Calendar, Google Contacts, Google everything and WAla... Life is GOOD...
6 - 8mp camera - Just like other owners have said, it's GREAT. Zoom feature is a bit cumbersome and takes some time to get used to it (im still working on that) but it works and it works well.
7 - 720p recorder.. AWESOME.. my daughter had a ballett recitale a few days and I took about 20 mins of HD video.. LOOKS GREAT.
8 - Front camera is good idea. I'm messing around with Qik (Video conferencing App) but I've only done 1 test.. Gotta try it again. Seems to work ok.
9 - Sprint has excellent tower/service coverage throughout Miami. So I've always been pretty happy with sprint.
10 - Weight is not that bad. For the size, the accessories the phone has, the processor, etc, etc. It's pretty balanced out. My wife doesn't seem to mind the weight, and she's a picky one when it comes to how heavy the phone is.
11 - GET ONE, GET ONE NOW... I got 2 at best buy 6/4/2010 for 199 each. [...]

CONS
1 - $10 data charge (WTF)I don't have 4g in my area, Sprint doesn't say when I'll have it in my area, never was anything mentioned about $10 extra data charge on the plan to have these phones. Why offer an "Unlimited Family Data Plan" if it's not really unlimited.??? This really has me upset. I might not be that upset about it if we had 4g in my area but we don't...
2 - $30 for wifi hotspot option. WTF again... This was a feature that was going to be offered as part of the data plan. Now it's $30 per month.. What's up with that? I mentioned earlier that the Wifi hotspot works great. Well it does, there are apps that can assist in getting the service working. Look into it. Tricky to do it but works. And just like a rep from sprint told me a couple of days ago, if you are forced into the $10 charge take full advantage of the data service. I tried to get more info about why the $10 and the rep honestly told me that they were not given any information why. He was sorry to have to tell me that but they just don't know.
3 - My wife doesn't like the power button. she has long finger nails and it's a pain for her to turn on the phone. specially since we have the slide cases to protect the phone on.
4 - OTTERBOX hasn't come out with a case for this. I'm already on the WAITING list with them. I did get an email notifiying me that it's in the works and will soon be released. I LOVE the OTTERBox on my iTouch.. It's GREAT..
5 - Android Market is not as nice as Apples. itunes is a nice software to have to synce your ipod/iphone. back it up, and do other things to the ipod. Android doesn't have anything quite that good yet. There are talks about something comeing out soon, but it's not out yet. I have read some articles, where you can actually integrate your itunes with the Android phone. I'm going to try that out this weekend.
6 - Apple definetly has a lot nicer FREE apps than Android. I do have to tip my hat off to Apple for that one. then again, they have a few years lead time on Android with making apps. Android will catch up, I'm sure...

Thats pretty much my story. Hope the review helps in any sort of way.
Enjoy the EVO if you do get it.

My considerations June 12, 2010

Reviewer:  Reggie A "Reggie A" 

I thought I would add a couple of notes to the favorable reviews the EVO is getting here and on other sites that allow users to comment. From the other reviews, you will have noted the important features that are attracting the gadget nerds, the business users, and the folks who are just looking for a good feature package. There were several features that captured my imagination. I like what Steve Jobs has to say about "face time" in his intros to the new IPhone, and I thought for a while that would be my new phone. I really like the idea of being able to create a wifi hot spot -- though with the number of hot spots growing exponentially, this is not as important as it would have been even a year ago. I really like the nav function, and I must say the android versions are far superior to the Garmin, Magellan, and Tom Tom devices I have used in my autos. I was immediately attracted to the significantly larger screen because we use our phones to download and read research documents -- Word and Acrobat files -- as a part of our teaching and research work.
I am also impressed that Sprint has taken the lead on the deployment of 4G. It's not available in my city and is not therefore a deal maker/breaker for me -- but it is 4G that will prevent overloads and delays on the mobile networks, so it's an important move for a service provider.
I currently have an IPOD Touch, and I frequently use about two dozen apps from Apple's App Store, and I like that most of them are free or very low in cost, so that's another feature I looked to the new IPhone for.
But the deal-maker for me lies in another direction. I am very disenchanted with many American businesses, and I consider AT&T to represent the epitome of unbridled greed. Like other companies you can think of, AT&T never misses an opportunity to increase their rates or add charges, just a little. You need to remember they're talking about millions of transactions each and every day, and while our tolerance for all the little changes is high, they eventually add up. I personally think it was a bad mistake for Apple to give AT&T an exclusive, and that connection kept me open-minded as I looked for my next phone and service contract. I'm in an area where AT&T is the phone provider, and there is really no suitable alternative, so when I moved in, I signed up for their "bundled" services -- local, long distance, and DSL. Their ads promised me nice bonuses for signing on -- but I was not a bit surprised to learn that there were restrictions and conditions. I didn't get a dime, and I received a level of service I had come to expect. The phone line is just a line, and not much can be done to screw that up -- but I had problems with their DSL right from the beginning. I opted for their highest speed service, and I had months of dropped connections and slow loads before I finally dropped them and signed up for cable.
HTC sells their EVO through T-Mobile, (different name) except that it is married to the obsolete Windows Mobile 6 operating system. I like T-Mobile's service very much, and looked hard to find a suitable alternative. I am currently a Verizon customer, eligible for a phone upgrade, and that provider has the HTC Incredible -- again the same phone, but with an Android operating system. When I compared plans, however, I found Sprint had the lowest cost of all the providers, with T-Mobile a close second. For the same services, AT&T wanted nearly $50 more, and Verizon has been learning from AT&T and B of A and now adds a nickel or a dime to everything they do. I would have had to pay nearly $100 more each month to get the same services from Verizon. AT&T and Verizon both have caps on web usage, and the costs for extra use are very high. If you download and watch one movie, for example, after you have used your monthly capacity, the cost of that movie would be about $35! I actually don't think we will ever approach those capacities as a practical matter, so that concern was not a critical one -- but why pay extra for the privilege of having a ceiling on your usage?

I also will be very happy to walk away from Apple. I absolutely hate that everything I do on my IPod Touch is based on Apple's I-Tunes software. They want to control everything. I love their inventiveness, marketing, and manufacturing execution, and I actually came close to buying an IPad when I saw the announcement, but I will not miss the micro-controls inherent in I-Tunes and the Apple App store. I'm not a teenager who must buy the latest music on the market. The songs I now have available on my external hard drive include music that I purchased as 45 rpm and 33 1/3rd records, 8-track tapes, cassettes, and CDs. I resent that Apple feels compelled to monitor and control that inventory. For as long as I can remember, the music labels have been able to package junk with a few good songs so they can charge the higher prices. I'm in favor of free enterprise, but those kinds of shady practices have long given free enterprise a bad name. Free enterprise means I can look for competitive pricing and services, and I spend enough time to assure I'm rewarding business practices of which I approve.

I ended up with Sprint, and though no phone and no service is perfect -- I have previous experience with Sprint and like their customer service and prices. With what you'll read about the phone, you'll know it's feature rich, Android based, tough, and reliable. It's actually a little big as a phone, but that extra size is very important for all the other things a smart phone can do -- witness the rush to buy the IPad -- a large screen without a phone, camera, or USB connectivity. I'm very happy with my new phone and service provider and don't hesitate to call them a five-star combination.

If I made anyone unhappy with the polemics I've delivered on different businesses, I apologize. My intention was simply to add the dimension of service to the important choices people are making about their mobile phones, and it must be apparent I've developed strong opinions about them. At the end, though, all I've done is exercise my right to take my business where I choose, and I've written this review to add a couple of considerations that may help others as they make their own decisions.

That's what I think -- what do YOU think?

Whopping 4.3-inch Screen makes ALL the difference! June 6, 2010

Reviewer:  Jung Il Lee "ProGolferDigest.com"  (San Francisco, CA USA) -

I own three phones, Sprint Palm Pre, T-Mobile Nexus One, and this HTC Evo 4G.

One thing I have noticed over the physical keyboard and the Nexus One multi-touch is that HTC Evo 4G simply has the biggest screen size that allows for easy of typing and it's TOUCHSCREEN!

For business people (like me), it's important that I can type fast and the HTC Evo lets me do that easily because the keyboard "never" misses, I can type faster than my Palm Pre, which has a physical keyboard.

Other than that, the large 4.3" screen isn't large enough to make it a burden on your pocket while its perfect size for typing on the go.

This is the best smartphone ever due to its "design" not the 4G or that it has a kickstand.

If you have been stuck with a Blackberry because of a keyboard, this is the right time to switch, to a real smartphone that can do everything.

Gotta love it!

P.S. and yeah, it's fun to play sega, nintendo games using the "free" emulators. No, u dont have to pay for most apps like iphones. :p

Evo Review After One Week September 8, 2010

Reviewer:  West Coast reviewer "andrew777777"  (Bay area) -

I'm 5 days into my Evo ownership. I bought this phone after painstakingly weighing the pros and cons of this phone vs the Samsung Epic. So, first, a comparison for anyone else trying to make a similar decision. My only hesitancy in buying the Evo was the onscreen keyboard. The Epic has a high quality slide-out keyboard that I really liked, but otherwise I think the Evo has the Epic beat in a number of departments:

(1) Evo has Froyo (Android 2.2) already on it. Samsung has stated they'll offer an update to the Android 2.1 on the Epic, but I didn't want to be waiting on it. Figured it made more sense to buy the phone based on features it offered TODAY, not the future.

(2) Evo has bigger screen. This screen is tremendous. Epic has the allegedly superior Super AMOLED screen, but the extra size on the EVO makes this phone just soo easy to read, particularly for web browsing, but the benefits of size extend to basic tasks like reading email, as well.

Both are probably great phones, but right there (above) are two solid reasons to pick an Evo over the Epic. The major drawback on the EVO (for some) is the onscreen keyboard. I was wary of it and -- frankly -- I'm still getting used to it. I think it's going to take some time before I'm at the point where I'm not cursing the thing, BUT... with scads of my colleagues and friends typing away happily on their iphone screens, I suspect I'll get to that comfort point eventualy.

Also, know that the Evo is heavy. I traded up from a Palm Treo Pro. Evo feels like a brick (it's 6 oz) compared to my featherweight treo pro. Epic is 5.6 ozs, a little lighter, but I guess all those features don't come without weight (in either phone). Still getting used to this thing's heft.

BUt... much to my relief, the much discussed battery life problem has been NO problem. I charge it overnight and then with normal usage (phone calls, texts, email, and web browsing) it holds plenty of charge through the day. I plugged it in last night with a 1/2 charge still left on the meter. I think the battery problem is being overblown b/c many eafrly adopters are also probably heavy app and services users. All that stuff probably drains the battery abnormally fast. If you use the Evo for normal tasks, I don't think the battery seems to be a problem. Big relief for me.

If you are already comfortable with onscreen keyboards, I see no reason not to get an Evo.

THIS IS THE CADILLAC OF PHONES & SERVICE September 7, 2010

Reviewer:  Firstclassfreight "FAST SHIPPING!"  (Tucson, AZ) -

My husband and I love our SPRINT EVO 4g phones, and our UNLIMITED EVERYTHING service with Sprint. I love the google search where you just press the microphone and say what you want to search for. I love the visual voicemail for free! Pick and choose which message to listen to. You don't have to call voicemail. They are downloaded to the phone and put in a list to listen to and delete in whatever order you want to. The most exciting feature is having a hotspot for our computers, laptops and our ipads and itouches. If you love gadgets, how can you go wrong with a phone that SO EASILY powers up wi-fi for so many devices at once. We almost fell for Verizon's data plan which limits your use. WHAT A DUD. Sprint is a big OPEN WELCOME DOOR, COME IN AND USE YOUR PHONE & ENJOY IT! EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED when you pay the premium, navigator, google features, so much to love about this mini computer/hotspot/phone. Oh and download Pandora immediately. It is like having an ipod genius for free. This phone is amazing. My husband and I can't believe we finally after 10+ years of trying to get the newest coolest phone, feel like we are on the cutting edge. DO NOT DELAY, (UNLESS YOU DON'T HAVE SPRINT RECEPTION IN YOUR AREA) GO GET THIS PHONE!!! (Also free Sprint TV, radio, navigation, all integrates with google services, so much more, oh and
the phone works great too!)

Finally a Smartphone June 17, 2010

Reviewer:  N.O. Lawyer  (New Orleans, LA) -

I am a person that is not necessarily the gadget geek, but I do love new toys. This phone is truly incredible. I have been with sprint for some time and really wanted to get an iPhone, but did not want to change service providers. My previous phone was the Samsung Instinct, which was "supposed" to be Sprint's answer to the iPhone. Needless to say, I was skeptical at best when the HTC Evo was announced because I had been burned before (if the Instinct was the answer to the iPhone, I must have asked the wrong question). I did a little online research comparing the Evo to the iPhone and was sold. Luckily I was quick enough on the draw and was able to score one of the last Evos in the first batch sold. I've had for some time now and really have no major complaints. This phone surpassed my expectations. As a person that really craved all the neat tricks the iPhone could do, this phone meets and exceeds all of that. I even was able to download some of the same apps that are available for iPhones, so I no longer feel left out. Some folks are totally anti-iPhone, that's not me. If sprint had offered it, I would have gotten it hands down. But now, I say iWhat??? There are tons of things that you can do with this phone. I won't repeat everything that other folks have said. I'll just tell you a little about my experience with the phone compared to my last, the Samsung Instinct (1st Generation Instinct).

Apps Galore! As some folks have said, after about 10,000 apps is there really a need for anymore? Sure, iTunes offers more apps than the Android market, but you can't possibly put them all on the phone and they tend to get repetitive. I can't tell you the best apps to get as it depends on how you're using the phone. I can say that if you want it, more likely than not Android market has some version of it and many you don't have to pay for.

Transition from other phones. Coming from the Samsung Instinct, I had very little trouble transitioning to the style of this phone's touchscreen. Granted there are some differences, such as the touch and hold bringing up new menus and the touch screen being much more sensitive. But the differences were all improvements so I have no complaints. Also, my contacts and pics, even my messages all transferred over with no problems.

No phone is perfect. The drawback on this phone is definitely the battery life. However, this is becoming a problem across the board as phones are able to do more and more things, so this is not unique to the Evo.

No service provider is perfect. These days even a great phone can be hampered by poor service (i.e. iPhone/AT&T). Every service provider has some quirk or issue that will upset some subscribers. As a person that has been with virtually every provider (I still remember the old PrimeCo commercials, lol), Sprint's positives far outweigh it's negatives especially compared with other providers. I rarely experience dropped calls, my bills rarely fluctuate, and I am finally fully satisfied with the offerings of phones.

Switched from iPhone to the Best Phone I Ever Owned! June 9, 2010

Reviewer:  Petar Smilajkov "Peconi"  (USA) -

I've been an iPhone user since the day one. Had every single iteration of the device and finally got bored with same software and apps... Every iPhone brings new, faster hardware (and some new features), but 90% of software stays the same. After years of using it - I'm bored :)

I switched to HTC Evo 4G the day it launched and I'm not looking back. Even after seeing Jobs' Keynote and all the features of the new iPhone - Evo is still the best choice. The only thing iPhone brings to the table that Evo does not have is a super dense, super crisp display. Evo has an AMAZING screen regardless, and I can live without the "retina display" as Apple dubs it. Evo has a TFT LCD screen - just like the one in your laptop so the quality is stunning, and it's bigger!

Do note that I am a techie, and I like gadgets. Truth is that Evo is NOT as fluid and intuitive in some things as the iPhone, so if you're not a techie person or prefer 100% simplicity and usability - go with the iPhone.

If you're willing to explore some new Android waters, truth is there is no better phone to do this than Evo!

All my iPhone did for me, Evo does as well: checks my emails, makes phone calls (better than on AT&T, one of main reasons I switched), plays my DRM-free music, has a built in music store (Amazon MP3 WooHoo!), syncs with my iTunes (music and playlists) via FREE DoubleTwist app for Mac wich acts as an intermediary, plays my Audible books (and can download them without syncing to iTunes), plays my podcasts (and I do not even have to sync them either, it downloads them directly via Free app).

It can also make Video calls with other Evo users (just like iPhone does iPhone to iPhone), and since iPhone's FaceTime is an open standard, it's just a matter of time before FaceTime app for Evo surfaces.

The only downside is the battery life, however, I purchased a 1750mah Seidio battery here from Amazon after reading great reviews about it... Therefore - that problem is now solved, for $41 bucks.

I love the phone, network is great (here in Columbus, OH), and I think I made a good choice switching from iPhone (at least until the next one comes out).

Peconi
[...]

Fantastic phone, but it's not for everyone October 3, 2010

Reviewer:  Brent Friar  (Huntersville, NC United States) -

I've had my Evo since release day (6/4) and I love this phone even more now than when I got it. The ability to customize and make the phone do what you need it to do is unsurpassed, Android is a great operating system that is only getting better. I've had smartphones for year so I've had PalmOS and WinMo 6.1 and 6.5. This is a huge upgrade. Anyhow, let's talk about this phone...

First and foremost this is a phone and my business depends on it. The call quality is superb and in my are Sprint service is very good. I never drop calls unless I am out in the country, and I know where the dead spots are, there are only a couple. The call quality is also excellent on the other side. The microphone is very sensitive and picks up sound very well. You don't have to yell at the phone for the other side to hear you. Speaker phone is one of the best I've ever used. The external speaker is loud enough to hear easily at a conference table or driving down the road. Again, the main microphone is good enough that there is no need to yell at the phone even when on a conference call and not sitting directly next to the phone.

Next, utility of the phone. Built in to the phone are all of the basic functions you would need in a phone. E-mail, G-mail, navigation, youtube, internet, voice searching, Sprint TV, and countless others. Anything this phone doesn't do out of the box, there's an app for that. There are tens of thousands of apps that will allow you to make your phone do virtually anything a phone is capable of. All of the important apps you've ever heard of have an Android equivalent. Some of the apps lack a little polish, but in general they tend to work well. The Android developer community is quickly growing and the quality of apps is increasing very quickly.

The hardware of the phone will simply amaze you. The 4.3 inch screen is bright and very clear. The colors are crisp and vibrant. It does well enough in direct sunlight that it can be used, but with any screen it is a bit tougher in sunlight. There are arguably better screens on other phones, but unless you have them side by side, you'll never notice a difference. The resolution is excellent, and the screen size makes it very easy to see. The multitouch works as you would expect with no screen lag and accurate touch sensing. The capacitive buttons are also extremely accurate. They work when you touch them without having to repeatedly try to get the buttons to work. I've not had any problems with the screen or buttons being overly sensitive. The CPU is a 1 ghz Snapdragon that makes the phone extremely fast and capable. Apps open near instantly and work without lag. This is a serious speed demon especially with the recent Android 2.2 upgrade. The GPU does fall short in comparison to some of the newer phones like the Samsung Galaxy S line, but it does a passable job. I have not had any issues playing higher end games at all, though the FPS is not as high as it could be. For gaming, there are certainly better options, but overall for general use the CPU is amazing.

This phone has both front and rear facing cameras. The rear camera is 8mp and records 720p video and the front is 1.3mp and records svga video. As with any camera, getting good results is more related to the user than the equipment. Getting very high quality results takes some tinkering with the settings, the auto settings and out of the box defaults are decent but that are not as good as some other phones. With the proper set up the photos and video are capable of being very good.

The stock battery is a 1500mAh piece that is decent, but larger would be nicer. Out of the box the battery life is horrible due to Sprint defaulting to turning everything on. You can significantly improve battery life by messing with the settings, there are tons of online resources that discuss battery life settings. I generally get 12-14 hours on heavy use days and 24-30 on light use.

Sprint service will vary depending on your location and should probably be a deal breaker if you live in a bad Sprint area. I happen to live in a 4g market and the coverage is great. 3g speeds in this area are above average, typically over 2 mbps downloads and 750 kbps uploads. 4g service is a little spotty the farther away you get from Charlotte, but I suppose that is to be expected. When in a strong 4g area the speeds are unbelievable. I've gotten 8 mbps down and 1 mbps up pretty consistently.

That said, as I mentioned in the title, this phone is not for everyone. If you are the type of person that just wants to take it out of the box and be told how something works, this is probably not the phone for you. By nature, Android devices are going to take a bit of tinkering to get them working THE WAY YOU WANT. They are built with the implied purpose of being customized. This means that you will have to learn a little about how your phone works to get the settings right. There are tons of online forums and resources to help you along the way, but this is not an iPhone it is not optimized to be used one way out of the box (nothing wrong with iPhones, they are a great product). To get the most out of your Android device will take active ownership. The more willing you are to tinker, the better the rewards. Getting root access (not as bad as it sounds) opens up a new dimension in customizing and apps. Free mobile hotspot, free USB tether, custom Android ROMs, over clocking, all kinds of capabilities and performance gains to be had.

Last, I have noticed many reviews recommending task killer apps. I cannot stress enough how bad these are. Even the app developers will tell you they are not intended to be used to kill apps for battery savings. Android automatically manages apps and how much CPU they are using (what actually kills your battery). If you have battery problems, you are better off figuring out which app is the culprit and replacing it. There are apps that will show you actual app CPU usage. Task killers can make your phone unstable, cause force closes, and even negatively affect battery life since your phone will have to start up all the apps that got killed. Android often loads an app and has it ready in the cache to speed up performance. This does not kill the battery as no CPU is being used by an app in the cache. Read up on app killers, you will find that they tend to do more harm than good.

Amazing phone - saves lots of $$$ July 21, 2010

Reviewer:  S.Zimm  (Hartford, CT USA) -

Okay, so the battery life for all Smartphones and particularly Android-based phones is really bad. The Evo is below average even for Smartphones. But it's got a huge screen and multi-tasking which will hurt battery life. That said, I've been an Ipod lover and heavy user for a decade and still use my iTouch apps when in my house so that I don't have to think about connecting wifi to the phone, cords to stereo, etc.

After some tweaking, I much prefer my Evo to the iPhone. I had to make a move when my old phone got thrown in the trash by my 18mo. old and was hesitant to move from Verizon and my beloved iPhone apps. Now, I'll never look back. The connection to Gmail, Gcal, Gtasks, etc. has made my life so easy. It's a much simpler connection to my desktop. Everything syncs great. As I said, I do use my Ipod and heavily rely upon Itunes to run a music server at my house, but other than that, the Android Apps do a great job of covering every iPhone app I've ever used.

The biggest pro is price. It is cheaper than the iPhone and my contract costs me about $250 less per year than my previous cell bills. Unlimited data! Unlimited talk to all cellphones. Minute usage is a joke. I'm never close since I talk to cell's 80% of the time. Easy tethering to my laptop. 3G coverage and voice coverage is solid and on my commute in the northwestern hills of Connecticut is actually better than with ATT or Verizon - my wife's cell carrier. I don't drop calls from work to home which was stunning!

Save yourself some $$$ if Sprint has decent coverage in your area. Take a test phone from a local store. I did and found decent coverage which improved with the Evo.

If on the other hand, you've got money to throw at ATT and Apple, I'm still a fan. I just like to have my money to spend on other things!

Sprint Navigation for free- awesome!

Spring TV on vacation saved me since the house we stayed in has no cable tv. I watched lots of ESPN for free. connected to the TV through the HDMI out and watched hours of the British Open last week.

Evo 5 Stars!!!

Finally a smartphone with a stable OS August 8, 2010

Reviewer:  Doug in CA "Doug in CA"  (San Francisco, CA) -

August 22, 2011 Update: Still love the phone but have had problems with a blown speaker. its been replaced twice so far. And the last software update to Android 2.3.3 is not as stable as the previous 2.2 version. I would go back but it's too much work.

Original Post:
To begin with i am not a techie, but I am an early adopter. I am always in search of the most convenient efficiency tools I can find. It all started with my palm pilot years ago, which I loved. This phone is far and away the best tech device I have ever owned. I am also an iPhone owner, 2G and 3GS.

I can't speak about the iPhone 4, but this phone is way better than the iPhone 2G/3G versions. It's not necessarily the fault of at&t either. While I had to leave my iPhone / at&t due to horrible coverage in the SF Bay Area, the iPhone itself had its issues. Wi Fi performance on my EVO is unbelievably fast compared to my iPhones. well in general, the iPhone was really slow, had poor 3G performance and would hang all the time. When I wanted to enter data on the keyboard, the iPhone would stall and i couldn't enter data. But this is an EVO review.

This phone is FAST. There is 0 waiting for apps to run, enter data, scroll through menus, it's instant and the way it should be.

My coverage in the SF Bay area is amazing compared to iPhone/at&t. I never drop calls and get cell service on BART from Walnut creek all the way to San Francisco. Only when BART passes throug the caldecott do I lose reception. with my iphone it would take forever to regain reception when coming out of a no reception area, and there were plenty. The EVO is up and transmitting data right away.

The video is awesome. You really have to think twice about needing to use a camera or camcorder. I recently hiked to the top of a mountain near walnut creek and did a 360 deg video of the view. i then played it on my 52" Sony flatscreen via the optional HDMI cable. It wasn't a news quality broadcast, but it was amazing to think my cell phone tool that video.

I love the android operating system. It's got more options than an iPhone, but I am OK with the tradeoff between the EVO's ability to be more customizable vs. the iPhones simplicity. To be honest, I think that apple has dumbed down its operating system so even the most tech disabled people will be comfortable with it. Android has widgets which if you have a mac computer you will be familar with. Ironically the iPhone does not have them. The EVO also has this pinch function when you are in the home screen which is similar to the function when you squeeze the mouse on a mac. All the open pages are visible and you can quickly pick one.

I love the new message notification screen. Just swipe your finger down the homecreen when you see notification icon and all your new emails, texts, and phone calls are summarized. Just tap one when and you go straight there. easy and fast.

I am an exchange user and have a personal gmail account. No big news here. EVO sets up and syncs effortlessly. My big gripe though. Neither the iPhone or the EVO sync outlook notes or tasks without convoluted unreliable workarounds. I am not willing to install all the goofy 3rd party solutions for either phone. But I do use tasks with my google account and the EVO does sync no problem with my google tasks.

There is much concern about battery life. My OEM battery lasted about the same as my iPhone 3GS, til about 3PM. Then done. But I bought this extended battery [...] for $41 and I am done worrying about battery life and have a spare fully charged battery now as a backup. Not an option with an iPhone. At 3Pm now I still have 50% battery available.

SD card. The stock phone comes with an 8GB micro SD card thats not particularly fast. I upgraded to a class 6 16GB card for $71 and it was a big improvement. This card is super fast at file transfers. [...] This fast card will also improve the video performance of the HD video ability of this phone. There has been choppiness complaints about the video quality with the stock micro SD card, but none with the class 6.

I was a little hesitant about the size of this phone at first, and wanted an HTC droid incredible instead. The droid incredible is the same size as an iphone which I was comfortable with. But I am glad the droid incredible wait list was so long. The size of this phone is just fine. And now in fact my iPhone seems kind of small. I do need reading glasses so the size of this phone, being just a little bigger is no problem and an east tradeoff.

If you think my iPhones were just bad ones. You're right, they were. My 2G was replaced under warranty once. The second 2G is actually a pretty good phone. Stable and a pretty fast OS. My wife uses it and loves it. My 3GS is bad. I am on my 3rd one. The first two had the hot battery problem and were replaced by apple. My 3rd one does not get a hot battery, but it is SLOW. I mean really slow. I gave it to my 17 YO daughter and I will probably have to bring it back to apple and go for number 4. Even she is struggling with it. Thank god I got the extended warranty.

This phone is awesome, and by far the best I have ever owned. And I have owned a few. All the palm treos, which I liked, except when I made a brief jump to Verizon and they only had a treo with windows mobile. That was a buggy phone. A Nokia E71 which was a good phone but the screen is just too small. The E71 performed much better than my iphones on at&t's network. way faster and better call quality.

Use it to believe it... a True iPhone competition October 7, 2010

Reviewer:  A. Dahiya "AD"  (San Jose, CA) -

HTC EVO, Android and Sprint is a winning combination. True value for money.

This phone can compete with any phone in the market.

Imagine the world without HTC for their cost effective innovation in smart phones, Open smart phone OS Android and Sprint taking bold step into 4G. We all as consumers are very lucky to be in this evolution of smart phones. Bay Area has become the center of Mobile innovation within 3 years.

Needless to say we will see this competition between iPhone and Android will provide us even better alternates. But also get windows 7 and palm webOS to compete even harder. We are just at the beginning of this revolution.

HTC EVO 4G is just the phone you need. I have personally converted more than 40 users of iPhone to EVO 4G. I had to sell nothing, just made them to use my EVO. I think it is hard for iPhone users to believe that something this good is available. On top huge savings from Sprint. Try getting corporate discounts for more savings. I have saved on an average $50/month moving from AT&T to Sprint. I am a heavy user of this phone, I use easily more than 2GB of data every month. Also if you are in family plan it will be even better for others to have the unlimited data at low cost.

My most used Apps are Mail, messenger, calendar, Qik, Camera, Contact book, skype, etc.

Only Drawback is Battery Life.. which these days we have chargers every where.. at home, car and office... so if you notice most of the smart phones are charging when not in use. But HTC EVO can improve this .. and offer replacement battery which we can buy later for better battery life.