Maybe its me ... March 30, 2012

Reviewer:  Edward B. Heath "Ed Heath"  (Pittsburgh) -

I have this phone through CREDO (look them up on the web), but CREDO uses Sprint's towers. Since CREDO is in San Francisco, I can't get face to face technical support. Also, I believe my phone is stuck at Android 2.2, although I say at least one horror among these reviews about an upgrade to 2.3.

So this is my first Android phone, and the learning curve has been steep. I am pretty familiar with technology in general, but my previous phone was a Palm Pre Plus, and I actually found Web OS pretty easy to use. I like the keyboard of this phone, and mostly I like the way the various apps I have downloaded (maybe 30 or so) work. Videos seem to work pretty well on this phone, although I feel like wearing my reading glasses when I do watch stuff. It works well with a bluetooth headset or a plugged in headset. I have not been able to load music onto the phone yet (someone here said I need to have my music in MP3's?).

On the minus side, I do charge the phone obsessively. Maybe that hurts the battery, but it's what I do. And even though I put a 16 gigabyte micro SD card in the phone, some apps refuse to load there, and between that and that I don't clean out texts all that often, I ran out of memory once and it always seems low. This bothers me, makes me like the phone less.

Still, it has a keyboard, the processor is fine, the 4G works fine at home, at my girlfriend's and at work (although I rarely use it because the 3G is also fine) and I have some amazing apps, so all in all I can't complain too much about this phone. CREDO now offers it for free (with their services, including a data plan) at Android 2.3, so it seem like a decent deal.

No the best! March 27, 2012

Reviewer:  Roger  (Marysville, Ohio) -

You will have any time of issue with this cellphone. It's no too fast, sometimes it takes too long to load the home page, freeze up many times, force closure many times.

The battery life sucks! Be ready to buy a extended one. Otherwise, it won't last more than 24 hours (no gaming, no texting).
If you play or text a lot with the original battery, it will last approx 4 hours.
I AM SERIOUS!!!!!!!!

This is what happened to my many times after doing an updated: Every-time I was trying to text something, the damn phone was doing something different. Example, If I touched the keyboard "S", it asked me if I wanted to save the text message.
NO IDEA how I fixed this issue but I did not do anything.

I am not happy with my phone (I got it one year ago) but as soon my contract expires/ends, I will get an iphone or Samsung Galaxy 2.

Extremely reliable and easy to use Android phone. September 2, 2011

Reviewer:  Dylan M. Smith "Dude"  (Ann Arbor, MI USA) -

This is my first smartphone, so obviously you can take my opinion with a grain of salt. I love this phone. It was very easy to learn to use---seems a bit easier than my wife's Samsung Epic. The voice call reception is almost as good as my old flip phone, and the voice quality is good. Battery life is about what you would expect, but I have no complaints. It does help to turn off stuff you are not using, which is very easy to do on this phone---just slide one screen to the left. It's easy to see what apps are running and shut them down as well, without using an app killer. I used one for a week or two then deleted it, and haven't missed it.

What I like most is the reliability. In contrast to some of my friends' phones, this one is nearly always very responsive, with no weird delays or hangs. If it ever feels a bit sluggish, I just restart it, which takes about 15 seconds, and it's like it came out of the box again.

Obviously there are more expensive phones with more power and features, but this one has most of what you can get---4g, hotspot, etc.

It's exactly what I expected and I have zero complaints after three months of heavy use.

Excellent phone August 25, 2011

Reviewer:  Shoveling Ferret  (Mississippi Gulf Coast) -

This is my first smartphone, though I've played with other people's iPhones. I love it. I decided to go with the Shift because I have arthritis and tremors in my hands and I thought a keyboard would be easier to use than just the touchscreen. So far it's worked very well. The interface is very intuitive. A number of incredibly useful free apps are available for even more functionality.
I use to carry a fairly large planner with me everywhere to keep track of appointments, medication, contacts, etc. The EVO has replaced all of that. While direct syncing with a Mac is not possible, it's been very, very easy to work around that by using Google Calendar for appointments and other apps to sync iTunes.
I've been pleasantly surprised by the photo quality, even with shaking hands most of my shots have turned out beautifully. Audio quality for music play is also nice. It can be a bit awkward to hold up for long telephone conversations, but the speaker phone features works quite well and a headset or earpiece would be another viable solution.

LOVE IT ! August 13, 2011

Reviewer:  Y. Hunt  (GA, USA) -

I absolutely LOVE this phone! This is my 1st smartphone, and I am definitely excited to see what all it can do. And I must say that if you experience any issues with your phone at all, customer service is WONDERFUL! I am thankful to have bought my phone from this vendor. :)

Great Phone August 9, 2011

Reviewer:  KATHY O'CONNOR 

This is my first Smart phone and I have to say that I'm very imppressed with it. It's very easy to set up and use with most of the apps used on a daily basis free. The touch screen is nice but would be a hassle with someone with big fingers. You can purchase a stylus but it's just another thing to get lost!
I would say my bigest complaint is the roaming screen that comes on when I'm at home and it's on the kitchen counter...don't know why it keeps asking me if I want roaming charges. When I hit cancel and don't ask me again, I'm ignored which is frustrating as this occurs almost on a daily basis!
All in all, it's been fun to own and mess around with.

Terrible phone after Gingerbread update January 12, 2012

Reviewer:  madav1138 

When I first bought this phone, it worked perfectly, no flaw and no lag. However, since the 2.3 gingerbread upgrade this phone is outright schizophrenic. It is constantly reloading and rebooting every time you exit an application, whether using the back button or the home button, it doesn't matter. It also has a heat problem when used for more than 30 minutes. The only solution has been to install the android assistant widget which allows you to clear the cache memory, which inexplicably fills up your memory within minutes. I have used task killer, juice defender, ect all apps associated with performance and nothing works. Not only that an exhaustive search of the internet revealed this is a problem unique to this phone and there is no fix for it, and there will not be a fix for it. So the only thing you can do is constantly clear the cache memory and history eraser in order for this phone to function, and not even function good. It lags between screens, pushing buttons at the edge of the screen and send you to anything from the web search, to text messaging, to reloading. Also, when texting, sometimes when I reply it goes to someone completely random on my phone list and not the person I am responding to! Auto-correct keeps turning on, even when I have disabled it many many times. Sometime, after the cache and history eraser doesn't work, I have to remove the battery, so I can't have a protective case just because of having to remove the battery very often. The battery trick works best, but by the next day its malfunctioning again. I am done, will upgrade to a windows phone in November!

Stay away from this phone, there is a reason its free! They have to give them away!

I doubted I would like the phone and I was SO WRONG March 18, 2011

Reviewer:  Jeffrey Krantz D.D.S.  (Staten Island, NY, US) -

I ave used cell phones for the past 13 years, and used them to make phone calls. The camera's all stunk, and I was dragged kicking and screaming into texting. Additionally only two years ago with my first blackberry did I decide to get my email via phone.
My kids talked me into going high tech with the EVO shift and even then I hedged my bets with the slide out QUERTY keyboard.
I LOVE THE THING. Now I use it for everything, and have used the Keyboard MAYBE ONCE since I bought the phone.
Did the touch pad take getting used to. YES. Is it frustrating not having 4G service everywhere[and I AM IN NEW YORK CITY] Yes, now that I enjoy the phone as much as I do, it is frustrating.
But I like Sprint Service and I love this phone.

Nearly perfect March 5, 2011

Reviewer:  Dinah Liddell 

I've owned many smartphones on many platforms (webOS, iOS, Android) and I'm quite happy with the HTC Evo Shift. Everything is perfect besides the 4G coverage, which is spotty even in areas with coverage.. but thatKs due to Sprint choosing WiMAX instead of something like LTE. The volume and power buttons are strangely placed, but you get used to them quickly.

I highly recommend this phone to anyone looking for a great Android phone with a physical keyboard.

PLEASE!!! Save your Money!!! February 17, 2012

Reviewer:  Julie "Julie"  (Oregon) -

I have owned 3 of these phones in the last year. I am SO DISAPPOINTED! The keyboard wore out on my first one and started double, triple + entering letters when I tried to type. The charging port went out on my second one. This apparently is a known issue that HTC is not standing behind. I have had my third Shift for approximately 2 months. The keyboard is already starting to double enter letters. I am trying not to plug and unplug the phone end of the charger cable and instead unplug the USB end. I had a Motorola Droid for over a year before my series of HTC's and never had a single issue with it. I am VERY DISAPPOINTED with the quality and will not buy another HTC product and can not stress enough how POOR the WORKMANSHIP is.

I wish I could give it 4.5 stars..... March 16, 2011

Reviewer:  aka TRAP  (Indiana) -

Remember the days of the brick phones? All the way back in the late 1980's and early 1990's? I don't, because I was born in 1991. But I DO remember those old, kinda blocky, kinda round flip-up phones with NONE of the following features: camera, texting, voicemail, caller ID, contacts, memory, MP3 playability, internet connectivity, long battery lives, speaking into the phone to type something, apps, fast processors, touch screens, and QWERTY keyboards.

Now you'll hardly find a phone without any of those features. And it only seems like yesterday we were amazed that there was something that can make calls almost anywhere. Now we're amazed with a phone having two cameras and can do everything on a battery lasting an average 6 hours, and shelling hundreds of dollars for it.

But what about this EVO Shift 4G? What's so great about it?

Well......NOTHING.

NOTHING is great about it. Nothing at all. You know what? The very clean homepage with the very nice clock (that I absolutely love), and the animation with the weather (a windshield wiper clears the virtual rain if your phone's being told that it's raining outside), and it being extremely easy to use (coming from someone that never had a touchphone and a smartphone before this and a Palm Pre), aren't amazing. They're not. You know why? Because I said so. They're not amazing.

You know what else isn't amazing? The QWERTY keypad. Though it seems like it was made for people with bigger hands (i.e. me), anyone can get used to the keypad. Maybe not the d-pad on it, but who cares? It's a touchscreen, and it works very well. Use that, even though it's not amazing. It's not amazing how my phone asks for a gmail account (which I think you HAVE to have), finds my Facebook profile, and tells me all my friends that decided to put their number on their profile (you're my contact whether you like it or not :D), and how, if I add a new contact that's already a friend on Facebook, it links their name, birthdays, and profile pictures straight to my phone. Nope, not amazing, not impressed. Because I said so.

It's also not amazing how easy it is to type even without the keypad. A keypad can pop up on the screen when you don't feel like using the keypad, and corrects your mistakes for you (and automatically corrects curse words...so if you curse a lot, you're going to have to save your profanities). On top of doing everything above in a non-amazing fashion (better than anything I've ever seen...not much, but still), all the apps you can find on the Market (Dave Chappelle ringtones anyone?), setting personal ringtones from your iTunes Library (find the file and drag it to your phone), having your own wallpaper of your choice from anything you can find on the internet and save to your phone, and still being able to send messages, receive calls, voicemail, etc., this phone does nothing amazing. Nothing at all. Only one camera?! WHAT? Not amazing (who really cares? You'll live without it). 5MP camera? Not amazing (it's pretty clear). Even having a flashlight app like its big brother EVO 4G (not amazing...it looks cool :D) is nothing special about this phone.

This phone isn't special. I only spent $150 just to buy a phone I thought I was going to love, did, but come on here and tell you how amazing I don't think it is, but still give it four stars.

But somethings I SERIOUSLY don't like.....sometimes, when looking at text messages where the conversation has gone on for 1000 messages, sometimes, when I select on the new text, it'll jump all the way to the top. It's not fun scrolling down 1000 messages, even though all I really have to do is back up and hit it again. Another thing I don't like is how sometimes, I'll type a message, and it will randomly jump up. I'm guessing because it takes forever to load where I live, it does that. I don't really know, but it is pretty annoying sometimes. And sometimes the phone freezes.....well, mine does. Maybe once in the month I've owned it. Then there was an update that wouldn't download for anything, but it finally did. Though I doubt that's the phone's fault.

Overall, I'm in love with this phone. If you want EVO 4G-like capabilities (even though the big brother has a faster processor, no keypad, a kickstand, two cameras, and an 8MP camera), but in a smaller and cheaper package, without the extra "LOOK WHAT I GOT!!!" flashy features that some will never use, get this phone, and never look back.....seriously.

Worse than the original Evo 4g September 30, 2011

Reviewer:  Wallychan 

Nobody in their right mind should buy this phone unless they're OBSESSED with having a keyboard on their phone...It is such a step down from the ORIGINAL Evo 4g it's pathetic. They downgraded the screen size and processor speed, and completely ditched the kickstand and front camera for video chat just to add a built in keyboard. Who needs a keyboard on an android touch screen anyways? This phone is seriously nothing but a joke. Go take a look at the original HTC Evo 4g and do yourself a favor and stay far away from this phone...

Extreme Fustration February 21, 2012

Reviewer:  LucY58242 "LucY"  (Long Island, NY) -

When I first got this phone about a year back, I thought it was hottest phone ever. I had looked and looked for quite some time for a touch screen phone with a slide out keyboard. For a while the shift was a dream come true. Until I downloaded a mandetory update from there on it fustrated me like no tomorrow.

Not only would the screen white out with the htc logo but I would have to wait for it to finish loading. Until it did I was unable to call anyone or even use my phone. This could have taken anywhere from 10 seconds to two minutes. (Imagine your car braking down late at night in middle of a highway. Waiting Two minutes for your phone to work) Now had it only happen once I wouldnt have been mad but it kept happening over and over again.

I thought that it might have just been that perticular phone that could have been messed up. So I called sprint and asked for another one and then another and then another one. Each and every single evo shift i recieved kept doing the same thing. Now I don't know if i just had bad luck and happen to get a faulty phone each time but I came to truly dislike this phone. So a warning to everyone who wants this phone. Be ready to handle fustration.

Seriously not worth it!! December 8, 2011

Reviewer:  Aya1993 

First of all I absolutely looooved this phone when i first bought it and being a poor college kid i could barely afford the almost 90 DOLLAR monthly bill. let alone an extra. 8 dollars for insurance. its okay though they give you only 30 days to come back and get insurance. So it just amazes me that my phone was absolutely great until day 32. it honestly makes me question whether or not Sprint realizes there phones are low quality and that is why they have recently minimized their periods for buying insurance, and also reduced their return time from 30 days to ONLY 14! Overall I love this phone but it doesnt work! its not just dead the screen is either unresponsive or it acts on it's own. it's like possessed and freaks me out and pisses me off when i'm trying to make a call. like seriously i doubt i would be able to dial 911. Don't bother with it! physical keyboard or not!

Unintuitive texting, mapping/GPS are a big pain. November 15, 2011

Reviewer:  Starry Sky "tonguetide"  (San Francisco, CA) -

Not intuitive and downright user unfriendly when it comes to text and map/GPS functionality. Adds extra steps to things that should flow much more naturally. Also requires two hands for texting. I'm not a user of apps, a gamer or a big media watcher on my phone, so I can't speak to those things. I mainly want my cell to be as efficient and fast as possible for calling, texting, mapping and email, and this is certainly not those things.

not durable AT ALL September 21, 2011

Reviewer:  C. Reese  (interior Alaska) -

My family hates this phone. Between my sister's family and mine we have a total of 6 of the EVO shifts and 2 of them work properly. Those are not very good odds. Mine came damaged and due to passing of the buck no one would fix it without a lapse in service. Was recommended to wait until I could replace it with the insurance but wasn't told about the deductible of $100. My son's battery lasts 6 hours with no apps running, my daughters is a total wreck, my niece's screen broke. We previously had iPhone 3Gs and they were much more durable.

4G isn't available in our area so it's a useless feature that expends battery when turned on hoping to find some bonus coverage.

iphone has a very clear volume on/off switch while the EVO shift requires you to wake the screen to change the volume, causing sound if you have the button sounds activated. I've also turned off the ringer only to have the alarm go off on full volume.

There's a glitch in the time zones and location sensor. I originally bought the phone when I lived in CA on Pacific time. I moved to the east coast 3 months ago, and while it is set to recognize local time, it randomly changes time zone. The GPS locator will frequently tell me it is 3000 miles to my destination that's right down the street because it thinks I'm still in CA. I have to turn it off to reset it. Sometimes texts come in with a time stamp several hours in the future from my sister who lives in the same time zone 75 miles away. Within the same conversation messages often come in with the accurate time and future time.

After I signed up they raised the insurance from $7 to $8/mo? Like I wasn't already paying through the nose for cell service?

Basically there are a bunch of glitches that are quite annoying. I've done all the necessary updates to the OS etc. I will have to suck it up and pay the insurance deductible on at least 2 of the phones. I don't recommend this phone. Keep looking, there has to be something more durable out there if you're stuck with Sprint.

Oh, and so I can end with something positive, I do like the Swype input method. It takes some getting used to but it can be quite a bit faster than screen typing if you can't use the keyboard

BEWARE OF THIS PHONE December 19, 2011

Reviewer:  Lilah 

okay so i liked this phone okay when I got it except I was "always" roaming. (I live in one of the biggest cities in the U.S.) The other day it just quit charging I thought oh great I have only had it like 2 weeks. I open the back and see and smell that they battery is corroded! I never got it wet ever!! Then when I call customer service they were like has the phone been exposed to cold weather? IT"S DECEMBER GUYS??? No I dont leave it outside but it goes with me and yeah it might not be in the warmest of temperatures. I later read another review that said the phone has moisture problems, hence why the battery corroded and why my water sticker was red. So I am screwed. I am replacing the battery. I had forgot to buy insurance my fault completely stupid of me but please customer service dont try to make a sale and push me to buy it after my phone is broke. Im trying to fix it what good is insurance gonna do me at this particular sec. Recomend it yes DONT BE PUSHY... SOmetimes penny phones are worth just that... If you do decide to buy be very very very careful around moisture. Bathrooms etc.. it will ruin ur phone

Phone is good, Sprint's hot spot service is terrible February 14, 2011

Reviewer:  Steven "vdmboy"  (Dallas TX) -

the hardware and Android are pretty good, a lot of features, clearly more targeted to the technical user than the iPhone. Android has a lot of nice features, though - the main screen with a lot of information available without having to load an app , e.g. weather that automatically displays your current location, time easily read, and a lot of informational icons at the top of the screen that give notifications of new messages, and other items .

it comes equipped with a lot of apps, and the ability to customize the features is nice. the hardware is solid, feels good in the hand. the sound is not great, and I wish the volume buttons were higher up on the side, as I tend to press them every time I pick up the phone . battery life for voice and non-4G and non hot spot use is good - 4-6 hours talk time and about 1 day standby.

the 4G and the Hot spot services form Sprint, however, are just awful. not sure if 4G is real, but the data speeds are very slow in both 3G and 4G. the hot spot function is sorely lacking, and so slow, that it is unusable - best speed in Palo Alto CA is 120K download and 40 K Upload- very panful, and again, unusable. the Sprint techs can't seem to do anything about it.

so as much as I like the phone, (and recommend it for non-iPhone users, who don't need high speed data rates) I will be going back to a Verizon MiFI and a voice only flip phone. Verizon's data service yielded 1-1.5Mb down and 700k+ upload speed consistently. if you are looking at Sprint with this phone to provide broadband connections for WiFI only devices in addition to telephony - try something else. Sprint's service is not ready for prime time

Love Love Love my EVO Shift February 13, 2011

Reviewer:  T.T. 

OMG!!!!! I just have to say after only one day after purchase I LOOVVVEE MY EVO SHIFT!!!! It has everything you need and much more. It has lots of versatillity that allows you to use it to the fullest. I like the full querty keybord and touch options, easy navigation and Apps for days.

Don't Buy This Phone November 21, 2011

Reviewer:  ....... 

I've had this phone since March and it has given me nothing but problems. My parents say it's the phone from hell. I've had to be seeing a someone to fix my phone at least once a week until the had to offer an upgrade but the only good reason about this phone is it had a keyboard that's about it. Also it says space low always when nothing is on the phone.