Why I like the Evo. Slightly larger screen and Sense. By Sense, I mean the added functionality it brings to vanilla android. Better email and msg capability. It has increased folder support for IMAP accounts, more polling options, cleaner black text on white background display. I've downloaded less replacement apps to compensate for the OS weakness on phones with Sense.
Why I like the Epic. Better quality screen. Hard keyboard (hate on screen typing). Little more horsepower. Lighter. More ergonomic design. Taller and narrower than the Evo and has much rounder edges. Makes it feel smaller in the hand and pocket than it is. I like the phone dialer better than the Evo's. I like the integrated inbox that's retained by the stock email app, but I lost the better folder support I had with Sense. I like to move emails from my inbox to saved folders. Can't do that on the stock email app. But the integrated inbox is very nice, especially early morning when there are a ton of emails across all accounts I just want to delete. Not a big gamer, but just trying out something like Asphalt on both phones and it's a bit smoother on the Epic. Not owning any gaming systems, playing something arcade like on my phone might be fun from time to time, especially for a few dollars.
Haven't watched any movies yet, but it will be interesting to see how they compare. What will I appreciate more, the better black levels or the slightly larger viewing area?
Both will do HDMI. The Evo with a micro to standard cable. The Samsung with a microUSB to standard HDMI adapter that also has a microUSB port for charging the phone. You also have the DLNA option if you have capable equipment at home.
It really comes down to preference and need. Ignore all the posts that just call one or the other crap, cheap, brick like or whatever. I have both phones. I like them both, but I really need a hard keyboard, and I don't like giving up screen real estate to a soft keyboard. I don't understand having that nice big screen and losing 2/3's of it to a keyboard when I'm typing. Word in Docs to Go was a joke to use.