About to pay $50 more a month for an EVO... any regrets from switching from WM?

[Ph33zy]

I'm currently on a F&F plan with Pick3, FIFM, Nights@5pm, $7.5 vision, Free SMS w/ 25% corp discount. I pay about $120 before discounts and taxes are applied. I'm about to switch my line out to an ED450 plan (while keeping everyone else on the family plan) and my bill will come out to $172.5 a month before taxes and discounts are applied.

I've used the Apache, Titan, Vogue, Raphael, and Rhodium and am about to switch over to an EVO out of pure boredom (and lots of SODs on my TP2). Can you guys answer some questions for me since I'm an Android noob?

1) Will Android play WMA files? Not that important to me, but I did convert about 4GB worth of music on my SD card to WMA to save space. I would need to grab and organize the originals from my PC.

2) Is Google Maps good enough to replace iGO8 for navigation? Are there any navigation apps that have maps that are saved locally?

3) Is the phone too big? Is it pocket-able? This thing looked pretty beastly...

4) Has it changed your life the way an iPhone change some people's? Just wondering since each WM phone I upgraded too seemed to have just marginal improvements....

5) I have 3 email accounts (work, personal, school)... any problems switching from outlook to the native email client?

Thanks!!!!!!!

 

[drexappeal]

No comparison. I will never, ever go back to WinMO after having the EVO since the release date. Android KILLS WinMO as far as out-of-the-box functionality and intuitiveness...and then the option for full customizing doesn't take anywhere near as much time as WinMO did. I used to have a Mogul (which I liked) and then a Touch Pro (which I liked even more), but after a while, WinMO became more of a pain in the butt (especially when things went wrong and I needed to hard reset). Getting customized settings/configurations back to how you had them before a hard re-set takes 1/2 the time that WinMO took.

1) Not sure 'bout WMA files. I wasn't aware that they actually take less space than mp3's. I always thought it was the opposite.

2) Google Maps & Sprint Nav are both very useful and productive. There are defeinitely pros/cons to both, but I use them equally on a regular basis.

3) Too big? It's a matter of perspective. If you've had HTC sliders in the past, this won't be "too big" at all. I'll never go back to a phone with a QWERTY keyboard, simply because of the EVO's slim design, but big screen (making texting easy, especially with SWYPE). Pocketable? I'd say so, without a case. If you use a case, it adds a little bulk. With an extended battery, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable pocketing it, but I'm pretty sure there are some people that do.

4) Changed my life?...Well, it's made my life more convenient without a doubt. WinMO just took WAY too much time to customize and do the things that I've been able to do on the EVO (spending very little time doing them). Once I learned the Android OS and read through the forums on what can/can't be done, the ONLY thing I miss from WinMO was voice dialing via bluetooth (which was 10X's more accurate on WinMO than it is on Android and it allowed you the opportunity to reject the call it's trying to place, if it didn't find the applicable contact you wanted...Android's version of bluetooth voice dial is okay, but awful comparing to WinMO).

5) The native email client works perfect for me. Some people like having a program that gathers all of their email accounts into one email inbox. I like having majority of my emails separated because each email address serves a different purpose and I don't like confusing them.

Hope this helps.

 

[CriticalCritic]

I'm currently on a F&F plan with Pick3, FIFM, Nights@5pm, $7.5 vision, Free SMS w/ 25% corp discount. I pay about $120 before discounts and taxes are applied. I'm about to switch my line out to an ED450 plan (while keeping everyone else on the family plan) and my bill will come out to $172.5 a month before taxes and discounts are applied.

I've used the Apache, Titan, Vogue, Raphael, and Rhodium and am about to switch over to an EVO out of pure boredom (and lots of SODs on my TP2). Can you guys answer some questions for me since I'm an Android noob?

1) Will Android play WMA files? Not that important to me, but I did convert about 4GB worth of music on my SD card to WMA to save space. I would need to grab and organize the originals from my PC.

2) Is Google Maps good enough to replace iGO8 for navigation? Are there any navigation apps that have maps that are saved locally?

3) Is the phone too big? Is it pocket-able? This thing looked pretty beastly...

4) Has it changed your life the way an iPhone change some people's? Just wondering since each WM phone I upgraded too seemed to have just marginal improvements....

5) I have 3 email accounts (work, personal, school)... any problems switching from outlook to the native email client?

Thanks!!!!!!!

2) Google Navigation is But saving maps locally? Not yet (that I know of). Though I think we get that option with the New Sense UI (if it comes to the Evo)
3) Without a case it's just fine. With a case it's beastly.
4) My life has been changed. No doubt. Just wait until you can do voice commands for whatever you want. Write whatever you want through voice dictation, and send a text message with only a need to press 2 buttons (to start dictation and to send).

 

[Ph33zy]

Do you guys use a screen protector? I heard the screen is made of glass unlike the plastic crap that was on the resistive HTC's....

 

[RhinoDoc]

I had a few WinMo phones prior to the Hero and now the Evo. No going back for me, either. As stated above, the customization is much easier, but more importantly a lot of the little widgets and programs that make it much more useful are free or relatively cheap. I found WinMo programs to generally be more expensive.

I do not use a screen protector. I picked up a small scratch about a month after launch, but it has not expanded and no new ones. I suspect it was more of a gouge - something else in my pocket when I sat down. I am more careful now.

I worried about the size before I got it - went to the store to try the dummy phones they had, put them in my pocket, pretended to walk around with it, etc. Was still undecided but got one any way. Now, I look back at that and wonder what I was thinking - no way is this thing too big. Fits easily into my front pocket or in my belt holster when I need it to.

 

[drexappeal]

Do you guys use a screen protector? I heard the screen is made of glass unlike the plastic crap that was on the resistive HTC's....

I use SGP Steinheill Crystal Clear. I love it. It scratches pretty easily, but I don't mind as long as it protects the actual screen. I've used SO many screen protectors over the years. This is by far the best one I've ever used because it feels as close to the glass screen as possible, it's a dry install, and very EASY install.

 

[dafuse]

Since the update to Android 2.2, it can play WMA files. This was a total surprise to me because I had never seen it as one of the enhancements with Froyo. But the catch is that it doesn't read the tags properly, so that the albums are all by "unknown artist", and the songs are out of order within the album. However, if you use MortPlayer, which is a folder based player (treats folders as albums) and your song titles have the track number as part of their name, then all is good.

 

[dafuse]

BTW, I had been using WinMo since the dark ages (Compaq iPaqs, etc). Since switching to the EVO and Android, I have never been happier.

 

[CriticalCritic]

Do you guys use a screen protector? I heard the screen is made of glass unlike the plastic crap that was on the resistive HTC's....

I went for the invisible shield thing. Wet application, kinda rubbery. It's was TERRIBLE for the first week or so. But after a little while my finger began running across MUCH easier and without stuttering (absorbing skin oils? I dunno). Yes it still has a slightly rubbery texture but I don't notice it anymore unless I touch it with my fingernail.

 

[Mr. Ed]

1) Will Android play WMA files? Not that important to me, but I did convert about 4GB worth of music on my SD card to WMA to save space. I would need to grab and organize the originals from my PC.

This may have been fixed recently in an recent update, but as of 2.2 no

2) Is Google Maps good enough to replace iGO8 for navigation? Are there any navigation apps that have maps that are saved locally?
google has a recent add on that is supposed to support that (my maps editor) as well as several other developer's apps

3) Is the phone too big? Is it pocket-able? This thing looked pretty beastly...

not beastly at all...I pocket it in sweats, jeans, slacks all with no issues, but the majority of the time it is a handy clip holster I bought from best buy.


4) Has it changed your life the way an iPhone change some people's? Just wondering since each WM phone I upgraded too seemed to have just marginal improvements....
I rarely use my laptop anymore, stopped carrying my sons ds to kill spare time, and am less worried about having my digi cam with me at all times

5) I have 3 email accounts (work, personal, school)... any problems switching from outlook to the native email client?

I've used both the native HTC app and the gmail app and had no issues with either. currently all 6 of my accounts go to the gmail inbox, tho one could set this up differently I like it

Thanks!!!!!!!

your welcome

I am having a hard time understanding why your bill is so much.... mine comes out to roughly $120 after tax. Multiply lines?

 

[Ph33zy]

Two more questions for those who are coming from a TP2...

I know the EVO does not have dual mics for the speaker phone, but is it still pretty good (I use this function a lot for conference calls!).

I know the megapixels are larger on the EVO, but is the quality of the camera pretty much the same as the TP2 (which wasn't very good)?

 

[apinkel]

I'm currently on WM (Touch Diamond) and looking to move to android as well. I live in the midwest so I also need a navigation solution with on device maps where I don't have 3G (I currently use Garmin XT on WM).

The only one I've found for android is copilot live (North America version). It's listed in the app store/appbrain.com at $20.

Oddly enough igo does have an android app but they are only selling it directly to device mfr's... there's a version of this floating around called motonav that supposedly works on other android devices... but it's warez.

Update: Since I was originally researching nav apps for android it looks like navigon may have released their app called MobileNavigator however I can't find north america maps for it.

If you do go with the evo and buy a navigation app, I'd appreciate hearing about your experiences.

 

[Cobravision]

Let me just start by saying that I went from Mogul to Touch Diamond to Touch Pro 2, and as much as I loved WinMo at the time, moving to Android was a quantum leap. First off, it's hella faster than the TP2. Program crashes are rare -- with the TP2, practically every program would crash, and certain ones would crash f you looked at it wrong. All the apps I need for productivity are available, mostly for free, and Remote Desktop on the Evo beats the pants off the WinMo app. Everything I did on the TP2 is simply better, faster, and more stable on the Evo. There is one, singular thing that WinMo did better, and that's voice command and true hands free dialing. Other than that, the Evo just smokes the TP2. However, I could never justify spending $50 more a month for anything.

I haven't tried myself, but Evo does play WMA files -- however, they are very prone to a bug where the ID3 tags get lost after an update and all of them show up as "unknown artist". You can read about it here: Issue 10957 - android - Android 2.2 no longer reads tag information on .wma files - Project Hosting on Google Code

I've never used iGO8, but Google Maps does turn by turn nav with voice directions and auto remapping if you miss a turn and support for points of interest. Plus, you can input destinations by voice. Is there a feature in iGO8 you're looking for?

The Evo camera spanks the TP2 camera. I hardly used the TP2 camera whereas the Evo camera ended up replacing my point & shoot as my every day camera.

 

[overclock]

I like the size of the phone. It fits in my front pants pockets and my shirt pockets just fine. Sometimes there's even a cell phone pocket in the front right pocket and the phone fits in it too. In short, it is not too big. Actually it is the perfect size.

As for the mail app, I just use the Mail app that came on the phone. I check my work Exchange account and 2 gmail accounts using the one app. I love it. I actually hate the Gmail app. Absolutely useless. You'd think that Google would make a decent Gmail app for the Android system. But what do I know.

It plays WMA files just fine. Mixzing won't apply the equalizer to WMA files but it will to MP3 files. Go figure. But the phone does just fine with WMA files.

 

[dan330]

I came from the Touch to Diamond, then to Hero. Android just beats WM hands down. EVO is a great phone!
But for $50 a month.. that is going to be a very hard call! THat is like $600 a yr!!!!

I might suggest to you.. go with the HERO.. if it will help you not have to change plans!!!!

copilot is a good GPS stand alone app that can be put on android. but Google maps is so cool, you might want to try it first and look at all the nice functions. But Google maps do require internet access. I hear the new HTCSense will reduce that need.

 

[rjones383]

I personally like Windows mobile better than Android. But with that being said I wouldn't trade my evo for one. I love this device. The new Windows 7 devices have to be overly impressive for me to switch.

 

[Cobravision]

I personally like Windows mobile better than Android.

I've used WinMo for 3 years, and I can't even fathom that anyone would prefer WinMo over Android.

 

[drexappeal]

I personally like Windows mobile better than Android. But with that being said I wouldn't trade my evo for one. I love this device. The new Windows 7 devices have to be overly impressive for me to switch.

I've used WinMo for 3 years, and I can't even fathom that anyone would prefer WinMo over Android.

Me neither. WinMO required so much more time/research/energy into customizing than I've experience with Android.

I did think of one other thing (aside from bluetooth voice calling) that WinMO has over Android. That's asigning ringtones specifically to each function that you do on the phone. I noticed that the main "notification" sound is used for some apps on Android, but you can't separate that from it being the text message notification sound as well. It's such a minor thing because I never had this many apps that would give notifications on the phone, so it's completely understandable.

 

[Rigmaster]

Android over WM in a big way! WP7 took so long to come to market that it's going to be behind at release and never catch up. Can't see developers going for WP7 either.

1) Can be done.
2) I believe you can save maps/directions to SD card and use without internet connection. If you have such constraints, just stick with a standalone GPS for remote area use.
3) Phone size is fine. It's pocketable (without case) but a clip-case combo though more sizeable works best. The size is necessary given what the phone does and screen size.
4) I stop carrying my laptop except in specific biz situations where I need it for it's strong PC capabilities. I don't carry my iPod Touch often either. And I always have maps (I live in NY-NJ-PA area so coverage is pretty good) and navigation even when I'm a passenger with others. My only advice here is accept that this phone does use power so a portable recharger and car charger are necessary.
5) I choose to simply access my individual accounts when I need to via their internet access rather than having email pushed to me. I get emails on my schedule that way without people thinking just because they sent me something 5 seconds ago that I got it, opened it, read it, and replied within a minute. The EverythingData plans are great for my use.

Here's what I've saved with Evo: 1) no need to replace my current laptop; 2) can't see any reason to get new gadgets (phone, iPod/mp3 player, portable nav unit, more than one Kindle/Nook, 3) internet data package since Sprint still currently offers unlimited data plans; and 4) need for additional bags or other accessories to carry other gadgets. Can't count it as a tangible but equally as important 5) time/convenience - I don't at all feel like I'm missing anything if I just leave the house with my Evo only. It can manage almost everything I need.

Other recommended accessories: a good bluetooth headset, a good wired headset with microphone (I carry this more than my BT headset because it's less battery-draining, sounds better with music, and handles calls just fine), a screen protector, and a 32GB microSD card.

Hope you get the Evo and find it as useful and enjoyable as I have.

 

[apinkel]

fyi... found a video on youtube comparing google maps, sprints telenav and copilot (with on device maps)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeYFFFcf33I

The copilot review is pretty brief in this video because this same reviewer checked it out on winmo... that review is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3sI0iu1OQk

I was hoping he would show how each option guides you thru complex multi-lane interstate/freeway interchanges. That's the one complaint I have with my Garmin XT. Supposedly copilot has a good lane assist view but I haven't found a good demo of it yet.