User Reviews + first impressions

[novox77]

ok.. this washout at an angle thing.... with the screen...

are we talking about only in 3D viewing? or all the time, even in regular 2D images?

it washes out as much as the Evo 4G did in terms of how much angle you need to tilt it. This is a side effect of ALL LCD screens including monitors and TVs. I can see how someone coming from OLED would immediately notice this.

There's also a faint shimmer/rainbow effect (all the time) when viewing a white image. it's like looking at the back of a CD and seeing the spectrum, but it's very faint and nowhere as saturated. I think that is being caused by the presence of the parallax barrier layer. I only notice it when the screen is mostly showing white. Any other color and it's not really noticeable.

Can't say I approve, but because I like 3D, I'm willing to live with it. And given that some people can't see the screen door effect on PenTile screens, I'm willing to say some people won't even notice this.

 

[toad6386]

Got mine last night. Very excited to be first with a cool new phone. Battery came charged, and worked great last night. I charged it overnight. Used the phone average today, with some 3g web use, hooked it to a charger while in the car, and it's in the yellow at 4:30. No 3d usage, no pictures taken, no 4g usage. Just calls and text messages. I'm a Realtor. This was not a heavy day of calling, and there were no long calls.

I want the phone to work for me, and I'll give it a couple of weeks, but the early indication is cool functions. Sub par for business calls (quality), email and text (battery). I'm new to android from a windows phone, so I'll give it a fair shot. My daughter loves her Optimus S.

Can I assume that when you say no 4G usage, your 4G radio is off? I'm coming form a Pre myself, so I'll have to make sure I leave certain radios off at certain times. 'Specially when I vetnure through the rural areas of E TX!

 

[dan330]

only thing i have off when not in use: 4G, bluetooth, wifi.

everything else is on

 

[dvalmont]

Had it a bit over 24 hours now, coming from the HTC Hero.
Had some difficulty getting my contacts to it, ended up having to bring it to the Sprint store today. My Hero was still Android 1.5 and they ended up updating the Hero (finally!) in order to get my contacts over.
It's an amazing phone coming from 1.5 Hero! Very happy sofar. The 3D pictures and video are really cool on the camera, although I don't know how they'd show up if I sent them to say Facebook?
I had a great opportunity to take what could have been a wonderful 3D pic earlier today, I parked my black 88 924S next to a black 83 911 just so and was dying to get the 3D pic but the Evo3D failed me miserably in front of people. Camera just brought up a flat black screen. Tried 2d, 3d, reset the phone, camcorder, same thing, nothing. Get home 10 minutes later and it's working fine, so I don't know...
Not impressed with call quality, I have decent/good coverage and the quality is only decent. When i'm in 4G data is smoking, very fast. The internal speaker when playing video/music doesn't seem as loud as Hero. I am constantly hitting Power button but I assume with time that will stop. The position of the charging port is no good if you have it plugged in and are watching SprintTV because the plug sticks out alot. With other video's playing though the screen will orient if you turn it upside-down and then your plug sticks out the top. I liked the Hero's port on the bottom. I keep hitting "something" accidentally that brings up a "speak now" screen or something, still not exactly sure what i'm doing there...
Anyway, overall i'm liking the Evo3D alot and the few gripes I do have seem to mostly be button/port related which I imagine i'll eventually get used to.

 

[heavychevy]

I haven't seen anyone comment on this yet so I thought I'd just mention I've used Qik once with my wife. We were in the same house but found that the front facing camera gave a pretty good picture of the other person and there were no freeze ups. I plan on using it more but just thought I'd mention my experience with it so far.

I don't know how I ever lived with my blackberry up until now.

Did you come from an EVO? If so, how is the picture of the front facing camera compared on the two phones. IMO the FFC on the EVO is poor. I hated it, if it was even slightly dark in the room you get an almost black screen. Is the 3D better in this regard?

Thanks

 

[curiousmileo]

how is the battery life so far? and how is the video, espeically in low light.

the main question is what is the proper way to charge it? ive seen all these threads about charging for 8 hours after full or 2 hours after 100 or not at all. So does anyone know what you should do?

 

[Thefoodman52]

Plug it in.
Watch the charge light come on.
????????
Receive bacon.

 

[themuffinman75]

how is the battery life so far? and how is the video, espeically in low light.

the main question is what is the proper way to charge it? ive seen all these threads about charging for 8 hours after full or 2 hours after 100 or not at all. So does anyone know what you should do?

Read this thread:

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/359228-user-reviews-first-impressions.html

This will cover just about every question you can think of when it comes to the 3vo. As far as battery, no need to "condition it" so just charge it and use it.

 

[Thefoodman52]

...no need to "condition it" so just charge it and use it.

Yup.

 

[jcunwired]

After a couple of hours setup and minimal playing around, here are my first impressions.

What's great:

• That it arrived in less than 24 hours.
• Speed! I was dreading the download and corresponding Lookout scan of 80+ apps, the phone whipped through them without a blink. Since this was one of my first activities (after bragging to my wife that my phone can carousel spin and hers can't) it was definitely a wow moment.
• Wifi speeds seem a good bit snappier. Through the download and install process, transferring a few large files wirelessly and a few minutes of streamed 1080p video from my NAS I'd swear the throughput was better, although this may be attributed to the better processor.
• Voice quality. While I'm on the fringe with typically only 2-3 bars, test calls to my wife in the other room (also on Sprint) were clear. The ringback tone sounded like a donkey choking down a chicken, which had me worried, but the calls were fine although her voice was more tinny than the original through the earpiece. Speakerphone volume, however, is very low.
• Display - very nice. Not exponentially better than the display on the Evo 4G, but still impressive.
• That I feel my Class 10 micro sd card paid for itself after about 12gb media file transfers from Class 2 and 4 cards.

The above were my top priorities. Another, wifi range tests, will be conducted tomorrow in daylight.

In the 'meh' column:

• That the display is not exponentially better than the display on the Evo 4G.
• The display seems very tall and skinny after a year of palming the original. This is going to take a bit of getting used to. Icons seem cramped, familiar webpages not so familiar (in particular in landscape). I prefer the size of the original.
• Build quality. Its not as bad as Samsung or LG, but not quite the tank the original Evo was.
• 3G signal strength and speed. Its never been good out here in the fringes, but at only about 120kbps I'm getting roughly a third what the original was typically pegging at. This is odd. I'll test again tomorrow; not a big deal though, I use wifi from home. I'll check closer to towers when I can.

Things I hate:

• Not having a kickstand. Funny, for a long time I never used it, but when I did it became one of my favorite features of the Evo 4G. However even if it had one, at times it would be useless because:
• Location of the micro usb port. What a dumb place for it. I'm now in the habit of landscaping left, so until I break it or buy the docking station I can't charge and prop the phone up while watching video.
• Location of the shutter button. Sorry, but this too should have gone on the bottom. I hate that I can feel it rather than pure phone under my fingers, and very annoying. Yeah, I'm holding it wrong - there, I said it.

I haven't explored any of the cameras. By the way, I don't seem to have any sample 3D videos onboard. at least not in the gallery. I did view the selection of stock 3D images and survived without the desire to perform a self-lobotomy, so I guess that's a good thing. I will play with 3D after the phone is set up. A good examination of new Sense features is next.

All in all, barring a few picked nits I'm impressed so far.

 

[jcunwired]

Adding to the hate column:

That my old buddy the Evo 4G is laying abandoned on my desk. I'm reminded of Woody in Toy Story when Andy started growing up [cue Randy Newman].

 

[Android 17]

I haven't read anyone mention it, but how is the phone speaker volume? Not the ear-set one, the one in the back of the phone.

Does it seem louder, weaker, or about the same as the 4G?

 

[flyjbaker]

I haven't read anyone mention it, but how is the phone speaker volume? Not the ear-set one, the one in the back of the phone.

Does it seem louder, weaker, or about the same as the 4G?

It is slightly weaker.....sorry to say.

I will say the earpiece volume is better...not so much louder but it has a better directional range...ie ear placement is not as big of an issue.

 

[Rose4uKy]

I had a free app on my EVO that worked. I know shoot me did at 1st then didn't but there was one that ended up working without being rooted and I forget what it was. I'll go App Brain and look later. I have to get to bed so I can get up early and go get my phone. Sprint set me up for around 12:30 but I want to get there a little earlier if I can.

No - but you can do via adb (a bit painful compared to the likes of ShootMe - but quite doable).

I _know_ we have updated instructions for this on our forums - but google is not my friend today.

Meanwhile - see if this helps. If you already have adb, you're mostly there.

How to take screenshots of your Android based phone from Windows

 

[novox77]

I haven't read anyone mention it, but how is the phone speaker volume? Not the ear-set one, the one in the back of the phone.

Does it seem louder, weaker, or about the same as the 4G?

Not as loud for sure. Though Evo 4G was the loudest phone I'd ever heard. Even friends commented on how awesome the alarm could be in the morning

Evo 3D comes back to "regular" cell phone loudness. Instead of having alarms and notifications set at 4 out of 7 volume, I have them at 6 out of 7 now.

 

[PyroSporker]

...Even friends commented on how awesome the alarm could be in the morning

Liek OMG! Did you have a sleep over with all your besties? Shut Up! Liek No Way! You guys braided each others hair into pig tails and played pranks on the neighbor boys and watched scary movies and had a pillow fight and played truth or dare and giggled until you fell asleep and then your alarm woke everyone in the morning?

 

[novox77]

Liek OMG! Did you have a sleep over with all your besties? Shut Up! Liek No Way! You guys braided each others hair into pig tails and played pranks on the neighbor boys and watched scary movies and had a pillow fight and played truth or dare and giggled until you fell asleep and then your alarm woke everyone in the morning?

If I did all that, I would not have slept!

 

[Complex757]

So far

Build quality
It's ok, but somethings missing. I don't like the back cover being one piece.
The microUSB is like it was in my Curve which I don't like.
I don't like the external camera buttons. They feel in the way when I'm holding it. A case will probably help that.
I like the change to the red and green lights, seems like stop lights now.
I don't care that they took the red from the innards. I probably opened my 4G five times in the past year.
I like the length and slimness of it. It feels better in my hand.


Call Quality
I feel it's on par to the 4G's
The additional length seems like it helps.

3D
You don't really notice it trying to take 3D pics
But watching The Green Hornet, it's really nice
It's sort of a gimmick, but it depends if you have a 3D TV or if 3D videos on youtube or another site start becoming popular.

Software
I like Sense 3.0, at least the lock screen. I'll probably keep this instead of changing it.
The phone is fast, but I never found my Evo slow. It's not like my move from the Hero to the Evo where it's a huge difference in regular task.
The phone didn't bog down at all though when I had a bunch of downloads going at once
I like the keyboard without the arrow keys, they just took up space and I barely used them.
The battery seems better than my 4G

 

[kenn]

My Sprint store had one "out of the box" yesterday and let me play with it for about an hour. Unfortunately, it was not activated so only Wifi Worked. My initial impressions:

*Build quality seems very good to me. I personally think the back is great. It looks and feels sturdy to me so I don't understand the complaints. The cameras on the back do stick out some, but not nearly what it appears from the picture. Even a very thin case will keep those off the table.

*The 3D effect is much better than I thought. As others have said, it isn't like the "popout" of movies where some objects float and give you a very "created" atmosphere. Instead, the phone adds depth. Everything seems to go INTO the phone and just looks/fells right. I did have trouble a couple of times with keeping the 3D image focused (small sweet spot) but got the hang of it really, really quick. The 3D pictures I took in the store were really slick and recreated the depth of what I was shooting. Bravo, HTC. Well Done.

*The qHD screen is sharp. The "lens" look is apparent when shooting in 3D but magically goes away when viewing. In 2D, I didn't notice any strange issues with the screen. It was very sharp and very clear. I had my EVO sitting right next to it and set both on the same brightness. I have my EVO on a Sense 2.1/3.0 ROM so I had identical screens to compare. The screen was just a bit sharper to me. The amount of improvement didn't blow me away, but any reviewer that said the screen was a disappointment needs to see their eye doctor. There is no question it was better than the EVO 4G and the EVO 4G has a great screen.

*As mentioned by others, it is very quick. I didn't see any lags at all any all the applications I tried snapped to attention. While this is great, I haven't really been disappointed by my EVO 4G's speed so I would call this a marginal improvement. I'm sure the next iteration of Android, however, will take advantage of the hardware more.

I didn't care for the 2d/3d and aluminum switch on the side of the phone but that's just personal preference. I like touching the screen on what I want the software to focus on. With 3D, however, that's just weird so I understand why they did it.

Interesting side note - as I was comparing my 4G, the sprint sales guy noticed sense 3.0 on my current phone. He picked it up and played with it for a few minutes and commented how nice it looked (Mik 2.1).

 

[MyFishWagon]

Congrats to all the new EVO 3D owners !

Quick question, does the LED message notification light finally blink when you receive a text/notification, WHILE the phone is charging ?

(as opposed to the Evo 4g)

Thanks all !

 

[apinkel]

Can anyone who has both an Evo 4G and an Evo 3D comment on the difference in speed loading web pages (preferably over wifi)?

 

[some.devil]

Can someone confirm that the Evo3D has the following:

1. Voice Commands, e.g. sending text, navigation, etc...
2. Car panel application

Thanks!

 

[jcunwired]

I haven't read anyone mention it, but how is the phone speaker volume? Not the ear-set one, the one in the back of the phone.

Does it seem louder, weaker, or about the same as the 4G?

I mentioned it in my review just above. It's very weak compared to the original.

 

[jcunwired]

Can anyone who has both an Evo 4G and an Evo 3D comment on the difference in speed loading web pages (preferably over wifi)?

It's significantly faster. PhoneDog,a real dog of a website, loads much faster than it did on the 4G.

 

[cobalt]

Can someone confirm that the Evo3D has the following:

1. Voice Commands, e.g. sending text, navigation, etc...
2. Car panel application

Thanks!

1. Yes. (Note I'm fairly new to HTC devices, but there's a Voice Dialer which seems to allow these various commands like "open calendar", and there's the standard Google-based stuff like search in both web and maps. This seems to be the same thing I've seen in the EVO Shift.)
2. Yes. (Again, not sure how it compares to other devices, but it's there and by default seems to have Footprints, Voice Search, Search, Navigation, View map, and Make a Call buttons.)