Impressions of the Evo from a Galaxy S guy

[Kabob]

Whilst visiting my in-laws over Thanksgiving I got to take a look at my cousin's Evo 4G. Being a Verizon guy I'd never really looked at the Sprint phones, and the only HTC phone I'm famaliar with is the Incredible.

First off, whoever designed the layout must be a genius, because they squeezed 0.3" more screen and a front facing camera into a phone who's physical size is barely a sliver larger than that of my Fascinate. The difference is that the bezel around the whole phone is alot smaller/less wasteful than on my phone. The Evo is a little thicker, but not overly-so.

Then we get to the external controls. Samsung must have been smoking something because I've got my USB connection on top of the phone (try talking while it's charging) and my volume/lock buttons opposite of each other on the left/right of the phone. With the Evo you've got everything where it should be: lock on top, volume on the sides, USB on the bottom and hey...what's the slick little port next to USB? Yeah, I want that one too...

Next up was Sense and yet again I was green with envy. In my opinion, TouchWiz is downright awful, I spent just a few minutes fiddling with Sense and there's no comparison. I didn't delve too far but it feels like an enhancement of Android rather than the cheap iOS ripoff that TW is.

I will say, I like the SAMOLED screen on the Galaxy S a good bit more, the Fascinate's Task Manager I liked alot more, and oh, and I get Swype (which everyone else will get in the near future), but other than that I felt like I was being a little outclassed.

I can't comment on performance as we didn't do any benchmarks (and his was rooted/ROM'd above and beyond, my phone is stock with ADW), but there's definitely alot that Samsung could learn from HTC when it comes to layout/presentation.

 

[Rigmaster]

Whilst visiting my in-laws over Thanksgiving I got to take a look at my cousin's Evo 4G. Being a Verizon guy I'd never really looked at the Sprint phones, and the only HTC phone I'm famaliar with is the Incredible.

First off, whoever designed the layout must be a genius, because they squeezed 0.3" more screen and a front facing camera into a phone who's physical size is barely a sliver larger than that of my Fascinate. The difference is that the bezel around the whole phone is alot smaller/less wasteful than on my phone. The Evo is a little thicker, but not overly-so.

Then we get to the external controls. Samsung must have been smoking something because I've got my USB connection on top of the phone (try talking while it's charging) and my volume/lock buttons opposite of each other on the left/right of the phone. With the Evo you've got everything where it should be: lock on top, volume on the sides, USB on the bottom and hey...what's the slick little port next to USB? Yeah, I want that one too...

Next up was Sense and yet again I was green with envy. In my opinion, TouchWiz is downright awful, I spent just a few minutes fiddling with Sense and there's no comparison. I didn't delve too far but it feels like an enhancement of Android rather than the cheap iOS ripoff that TW is.

I will say, I like the SAMOLED screen on the Galaxy S a good bit more, the Fascinate's Task Manager I liked alot more, and oh, and I get Swype (which everyone else will get in the near future), but other than that I felt like I was being a little outclassed.

I can't comment on performance as we didn't do any benchmarks (and his was rooted/ROM'd above and beyond, my phone is stock with ADW), but there's definitely alot that Samsung could learn from HTC when it comes to layout/presentation.

Fair review. Is your Galaxy S going to be able to access the VZW LTE? If there's anything I can imagine being upset about (Evo+Sprint here), it would be just having purchased a phone that cannot access VZW's 4G.

I went with HTC and Sprint because of Evo's build and Sense combined with Sprint's network of 3G and Wimax. Never had any regrets.

 

[Kabob]

I'm pretty sure I'll have to get a new phone to get on LTE.

 

[Rigmaster]

I'm pretty sure I'll have to get a new phone to get on LTE.

Bummer. Methinks there will be a lot of people on VZW wanting LTE-capable phones even if they just got one. If for some reason VZW does get an LTE iPhone, they should strongly consider allowing people to extend their current contracts to make the move. I'd never do it, but then again, I'm not a VZW customer or fan.

I didn't think Wimax for Evo would make that much of a difference until I actually DL'd a bunch of stuff while walking in NYC and taking a call at the same time. I completely underestimated the value of simultaneous call + internet until I tried it. I only need it when I'm in major cities though when it matters most because I don't know everything about the area I'm in. One day maybe I'll even try doing a combination phone call and video call to see if that works. I bet there'd be too much feedback if I used the speaker function, but it'll at least be an interesting experiment. Not going to make a priority of trying this anytime soon though.

 

[toomuchgame441]

I wonder what kind of benchmarks users get on the CM6 ROM for the Evo. On my myn ROM I only get 1126, I tried the battery tweak but I'm not seeing any improvement for battery or performance. Though, my Evo still has rock solid performance. Has any tried OC'ing and what are the pros and cons

I also know I must disable the battery tweak to do the oc

 

[Tre Lawrence]

Yep, fair review.

Haven't really played with any Samsung devices to compare, but I am curious.

 

[lordofthereef]

The funny thing is I always considered my girlfriend's Incredible to be just a mini EVO.

 

[Rigmaster]

The funny thing is I always considered my girlfriend's Incredible to be just a mini EVO.

Does the Incredible have both front and back cams?

To me, it's always been Evo + Sprint. I would not have picked up the Evo on VZW. If so, my bill would be out of this world given my use of 4G and 3G.

 

[toomuchgame441]

I love my Evo on Sprint, it just works. Even tho the device itself is rock solid, I wished 4G worked a bit better at my work location where its available. When I Di get a 4G signal, speeds can really get fast (8mbps down)

 

[JunBringer]

FYI Kabob, you can get Swype on Evo and most other phones as well. It's just not stock.

 

[intense]

Whilst visiting my in-laws over Thanksgiving I got to take a look at my cousin's Evo 4G. Being a Verizon guy I'd never really looked at the Sprint phones, and the only HTC phone I'm famaliar with is the Incredible.

First off, whoever designed the layout must be a genius, because they squeezed 0.3" more screen and a front facing camera into a phone who's physical size is barely a sliver larger than that of my Fascinate. The difference is that the bezel around the whole phone is alot smaller/less wasteful than on my phone. The Evo is a little thicker, but not overly-so.

Then we get to the external controls. Samsung must have been smoking something because I've got my USB connection on top of the phone (try talking while it's charging) and my volume/lock buttons opposite of each other on the left/right of the phone. With the Evo you've got everything where it should be: lock on top, volume on the sides, USB on the bottom and hey...what's the slick little port next to USB? Yeah, I want that one too...

Next up was Sense and yet again I was green with envy. In my opinion, TouchWiz is downright awful, I spent just a few minutes fiddling with Sense and there's no comparison. I didn't delve too far but it feels like an enhancement of Android rather than the cheap iOS ripoff that TW is.

I will say, I like the SAMOLED screen on the Galaxy S a good bit more, the Fascinate's Task Manager I liked alot more, and oh, and I get Swype (which everyone else will get in the near future), but other than that I felt like I was being a little outclassed.

I can't comment on performance as we didn't do any benchmarks (and his was rooted/ROM'd above and beyond, my phone is stock with ADW), but there's definitely alot that Samsung could learn from HTC when it comes to layout/presentation.

I had tested the fascinate while trying to find the android phone for me. After going through quite a few devices I found the Evo 4G and love it. I guess what turned me off completely on the fascinate was that all the other phones were receiving froyo and I felt the build quality on the phone seemed cheap with the plastic backplate. However, that could be solved via a case I suppose. And I didn't like how light the phone was but again that could be solved with a case. But overall, good and fair review of the two devices.

 

[pastafarian]

Since we have both in the family, I can say this is a pretty fair comparison. About the only major feature not touched on was the camera, which is a bit superior on the Galaxy S's. My wife likes her Epic. Alot! But we've both come to the conclussion that while the Epic has the Evo beat in almost every spec, the Evo feels like the superior device. I was guessing 2.2 would change that opinion, but it hasn't so far. It's still a leak, so there's hope.

 

[intense]

Since we have both in the family, I can say this is a pretty fair comparison. About the only major feature not touched on was the camera, which is a bit superior on the Galaxy S's. My wife likes her Epic. Alot! But we've both come to the conclussion that while the Epic has the Evo beat in almost every spec, the Evo feels like the superior device. I was guessing 2.2 would change that opinion, but it hasn't so far. It's still a leak, so there's hope.

Agreed 100%. That was one of the reasons why I chose the Evo over the Epic.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Great review. The screen on the epic is a lot better than the evo but I only really notice when they're side by side. Spec'd better or not, it's hard to argue that the evo just feels better in your hand...

 

[Rigmaster]

Was at Sprint yesterday. Evo definitely felt nicer than Epic. Epic had better screen and keyboard was pretty good for a slider. Epic is chunky with cover though. Also no one buying Epic while Evos selling like M&Ms.

 

[t1jordan]

Whilst visiting my in-laws over Thanksgiving I got to take a look at my cousin's Evo 4G. Being a Verizon guy I'd never really looked at the Sprint phones, and the only HTC phone I'm famaliar with is the Incredible.

First off, whoever designed the layout must be a genius, because they squeezed 0.3" more screen and a front facing camera into a phone who's physical size is barely a sliver larger than that of my Fascinate. The difference is that the bezel around the whole phone is alot smaller/less wasteful than on my phone. The Evo is a little thicker, but not overly-so.

Then we get to the external controls. Samsung must have been smoking something because I've got my USB connection on top of the phone (try talking while it's charging) and my volume/lock buttons opposite of each other on the left/right of the phone. With the Evo you've got everything where it should be: lock on top, volume on the sides, USB on the bottom and hey...what's the slick little port next to USB? Yeah, I want that one too...

Next up was Sense and yet again I was green with envy. In my opinion, TouchWiz is downright awful, I spent just a few minutes fiddling with Sense and there's no comparison. I didn't delve too far but it feels like an enhancement of Android rather than the cheap iOS ripoff that TW is.

I will say, I like the SAMOLED screen on the Galaxy S a good bit more, the Fascinate's Task Manager I liked alot more, and oh, and I get Swype (which everyone else will get in the near future), but other than that I felt like I was being a little outclassed.

I can't comment on performance as we didn't do any benchmarks (and his was rooted/ROM'd above and beyond, my phone is stock with ADW), but there's definitely alot that Samsung could learn from HTC when it comes to layout/presentation.

Interesting! I think HTC Sense is great as well. I tired TouchWiz and it was ok, nothing to write home about. I think Android is very bland with out HTC Sense. Of course a Vanilla phone will run a bit faster but Sense is all around the OS, down to the widgets, which are excellent and not replaceable. I try and use LP and ADW which I do like but, I'm not buying the widgets from LP. I mite as well use Sense if I'm recreating the Sense experience. And ADW Just doesn't have any widgets at all. Just having Sense intertwine with the OS just makes the phone experience great and interacts with social networks really well. In my opinion HTC Sense Mail - Book Mark - Calendar Widget is not replaceable. They just work.

 

[isaemm]

One of my brothers has a vibrant and another of my brothers has a Captivate and they both like the way my EVO feels in their hand. I think their phones feel like a toy when I hold theirs whereas my EVO feels nice and solid. They both also have camera envy.

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

I try and use LP and ADW which I do like but, I'm not buying the widgets from LP. I mite as well use Sense if I'm recreating the Sense experience.

I can't understand why you would not spend $3 to unlock LP. I like to run a 6X6 grid with LP. It makes my icons the perfect size for me. When in 6X6, I can't use most widgets as they come up the normaly size, but the widget is deformed. You have to pay for the full version to be able to resize widgets...and I really like that feature.

The ONLY LP widget I use is their favorites widget. All the others are of no use to me...so for me, $3 was for resizing widgets, not to buy LP widgets.

I can't go back to Sense now that I have been using LP for 2 months.

The only apps I have ever purcahsed are Launcher Pro and SwitchPro. $4 total in app funds, and my experience is totally transformed. That's about what I spend at Starbucks in a single visit.

 

[ovrrdrive]

I agree on buying LP. If you're going to change the size of the grid you need to be able to resize widgets to make them look right. I think I'm running 5x8 on my screen and witht he widgets sized correctly it's so subtle people don't even notice something's different until I point it out. Sense seems so generic after using LP. I do wish I could access the sense widgets though. Even if they're cheezy.

I think the widgets in LP are junk. I have the calendar on one screen but that's just because I can't use htc's version which I think is better.

Switchpro is a great app too. I use it as well.

 

[TonyTone301]

i know i can find answers here i asked some questions about the Galaxy S 4G now i know this is an evo forum but its been like a week and no one has given me an answer ...... but im sad to announce that i will no longer be using the EVO .. since im under a plan with my mother shes going to T-Mobile and the phones we are getting are the Galaxy S 4G and i couldn't really find much info on it but here are a few questions ... i really am gonna hate giving up my evo .. you guys have been a HUGH help



are the screen size's the same ?

how is it compared to the evo

what does it have that the evo doesn't

Basically which phone is better ( Honest answers not just cause u have the galaxy or the evo )

 

[ocnbrze]

i know i can find answers here i asked some questions about the Galaxy S 4G now i know this is an evo forum but its been like a week and no one has given me an answer ...... but im sad to announce that i will no longer be using the EVO .. since im under a plan with my mother shes going to T-Mobile and the phones we are getting are the Galaxy S 4G and i couldn't really find much info on it but here are a few questions ... i really am gonna hate giving up my evo .. you guys have been a HUGH help



are the screen size's the same ?

how is it compared to the evo

what does it have that the evo doesn't

Basically which phone is better ( Honest answers not just cause u have the galaxy or the evo )

well sorry you have to give up your evo. but there is actually a ton of comparison out there: Let me google that for you

as for me, i would never touch a samsung phone again. the instinct and the instinct hd were awful phones in my opinion. i would checkout the htc sensation. it is pretty close to the spec of the evo and it has dual core.

 

[dan330]

yes.. gs is old... find a way to get the sensation on tmobile. it is the evo3d without the 3d.