EVO vs Epic vs Droid

[fringefocus]

I was an early adopter of the t-mobile G1. Love Android, was psyched about it since the day it was announced. My G1 is rooted to run Android 2.1, so I'm not missing out on too much, but it is painfully slow. And it has terrible camera, small screen, etc. I didn't want to switch until my contract was up, and it's up in November.

I've been a subscriber to the Phandroid RSS since forever, and I've been hoping that some insane crazy super-smartphone would be announced this holiday season. Something that would best even the EVO, Epic, and Droid phones. Not sure if that's going to happen.

I'm definitely switching. EVO 4G, Epic 4G, and maybe the Droid Incredible are my current best options. Does anybody know of any solid rumors of a dual-core phone, 1.5 Ghz phone, or that crazy 1280 resolution phone for Gingerbread (or will that be strictly tablets?).

Looking to take a leap, but not sure if I should wait until next year. Any thoughts?

Also, rooting and/or tethering gets around Sprint's ridiculous $29.99 hotspot fee, right?

 

[jim2point0]

This is probably the wrong place to ask, as most people will flat out tell you it's the EVO But you can't go wrong with any of those. Even though I've had no experience with the Incredible, it's a smaller clone of the EVO in every way possible except a kickastand And it's on Verizon.

I think your options should be : Epic, EVO, Incredible, and Droid 2. The EVO and the Incredible both have the same UI and CPU speed, but the Incredible has a smaller screen and is on Verizon. The EVO is on Sprint (has 4G).

The Droid 2 is like the Epic. Both have faster GPU's\processors than the Incredible and EVO, and they have slide-out keyboards. The Epic has a 4" screen, the Droid 2 has a 3.7" screen. the Droid 2 is also on Verizon, and the Epic is on Sprint (with 4G).

As for the dual-core phones coming out, my guess is that you'll have to wait until early 2011.

 

[vud911]

If you need dual cores then wait it out. It'll be worth the wait IMO.

 

[fringefocus]

I posted here because I think EVO 4G is the best of the lot, but I agree that they're all 99% similar.

I'm used to T-Mobile's ridiculously cheap monthly plans, so I'm leaning towards Sprint rather than Verizon. If I got an EVO (or Epic for the keyboard), I would have to root to get access to the hotspot / wifi tether functionality.

But yeah, it's one of those situations where, come February or so, they'll definitely be some insane new phone that I want. But there's ALWAYS an insane new phone. I just feel like the EVO will be 6 months old by the time I actually get one, and perhaps December / January they'll be a newer, crazier device announced.

I don't 'need' a dual-core phone (I'm used to my poor g1), I just WANT one, haha.

BTW - How much better does 2.2 feel (with JIT) over 2.1 on the EVO?

 

[novox77]

BTW - How much better does 2.2 feel (with JIT) over 2.1 on the EVO?

The benchmark numbers go a lot higher, but the phone doesn't feel much faster. But then again, opening apps has always been fairly instantaneous. Navigating the UI is smooth (with the FPS uncap). So when people ask about "fast," the phone was already fast. I don't know of any part of the phone that performs slowly.

The overwhelming consensus over here is that FroYo was overhyped. We wanted it to be totally awesome, but in reality, it was just a 2.x point release. A lot of people ran into issues with the upgrade where performance suffered after getting on 2.2: notably battery life and wifi. These can all be resolved, but it's an ongoing struggle pointing people in the right direction after they upgrade.

 

[novox77]

Back on topic:

rooting the phone does allow you to do wifi and wired tethering without needing to pay Sprint the $30/mo.

I would think that if the carriers and phone manufacturers are smart, they'd release the next flagship models BEFORE this Christmas shopping season. So unless your current phone is simply torturing you, I'd hold out till early December and see what my options are then.

I'm not one who needs to have the latest and greatest phone at any instant. I will enjoy my Evo even when my 2-year contract expires. So I wouldn't have any issues recommending the Evo to you now. It's a 3-month old phone at this point, and since its release, there have been 3 prominent Android smartphones released:

Droid X
Droid 2
Epic 4G

Droid X has a secured bootloader, which means they will never be able to fully root it like the Evo and all other Androids. You can thank Motorola for that. However, they have managed to flash a custom recovery on it, so they will be able to flash custom ROMs. NAND will remain locked forever, so you can't remove system apps, create custom loading screens, etc. wifi tether will be unlocked though.

It's a matter of opinion whether the Droid2 or the Epic 4G are better than the Evo. To be objective as possible, I'd say that neither phone really stands out over the Evo, since they both have advantages as well as disadvantages over the Evo. It just depends on what's important to you.

For a phone to really trump the Evo, I would require:

1) significant increase in CPU power (multiple cores)
2) increase in screen resolution without shrinking the 4.3" physical screen size. Native 1280x720 (720p) would be awesome and would shut up the iPhone4 fanboys.
3) higher quality camera. Not more megapixels. Better sensor and optics. The Epic 4g has the best camera I've ever tested on a cell phone.

Actually, I only care about 1) and 2). All said and done, the Evo's camera is good enough for what it is. I'll lean on my dSLR for anything I really want to capture well.

 

[jim2point0]

Dual-cores will definitely benefit HTC's line of phones the most, as they've been using the same processor for 8 months. The EVO is identical speed-wise to the Nexus One. It's 3 months old, but 8 months slow That being said, if you aren't into performance heavy apps, you should be fine getting it.

I wouldn't be confident about unlocking wifi hotspot with the Droid X\2 due to their secure bootloader. After rooting my EVO and flashing 19 different roms, I'll probably never buy an android phone that is difficult\impossible to root\flash roms.

If you are used to T-mobile, why not wait for the G2 (October)? It will have a beastly CPU\GPU, slide-out keyboard, and is an HTC phone (good support\dev community).

 

[Foster6565]

I think the g2 is gonna be a great phone, now with that being said im not a person that roots. With an 800mhz processor it wont ever receive 3.0 which is quite unfortunate that your paying for a flagship device and not potentially ever receiving an update for it. But maybe im wrong

Dual-cores will definitely benefit HTC's line of phones the most, as they've been using the same processor for 8 months. The EVO is identical speed-wise to the Nexus One. It's 3 months old, but 8 months slow That being said, if you aren't into performance heavy apps, you should be fine getting it.

I wouldn't be confident about unlocking wifi hotspot with the Droid X\2 due to their secure bootloader. After rooting my EVO and flashing 19 different roms, I'll probably never buy an android phone that is difficult\impossible to root\flash roms.

If you are used to T-mobile, why not wait for the G2 (October)? It will have a beastly CPU\GPU, slide-out keyboard, and is an HTC phone (good support\dev community).

 

[bdforte69]

Epic.

 

[Little Green Robot]

Why not just get the Vibrant?

 

[Deleted User]

Get the Epic if you want the keyboard. The best phone available is the Captivate IMO. The dual core 1.5ghz isn't coming until 2011

 

[MonmouthDroid]

My 2 cents, is the epic 4g. I like touchwiz a lot. Its got 4g. Its got a keyboard. Its got a superior processor to the EVO. In my opinion the only reason to go with the evo over the epic is if you really like sense. I want the fascinate (basically and Epic -4G, -Keyboard, +Bing) sooo bad, but I will not get it until there is a solution to the bing issue (which the epic doesn't have)