Just got back from the sprint store and :(

[Jebus Christ]

Just got back from the Sprint Store and The EVO was nice but wasn't mind blowing. Yes it was snappier then my hero but not sure if it was $450+ snappier. Also certain things were disheartening. Maybe it was because I was in the sprint store but both the maps and youtube apps gave me problems on both my hero and the evo. At one point though the EVO completely froze up and would not do a damn thing short of responding to me holding down the power button. The screen is big which is great and images did look better on it.

The youtube player through me off though. If you click video on both the evo and the hero, the hero's is a lot clearer and much nicer unless you click HQ on the EVO but that apparently does not work over 3g which confused the hell out of me How does my Hero display a better video then something with more beefed up specs on the go?

While some of you might not think it's a huge deal, for me it is because one of the reasons I wanted the evo was for the much bigger screen. If it plays video at lower quality and about the same size(does not use up the full screen) then my hero, whats the purpose of the bigger screen?

What I did like was that almost everything was snappier and with regular apps, things opened faster, there was zero to no delay. While surfing the web on the stock browser the EVO proved to be slightly faster but not by a huge lead(maybe 3-5 seconds). On opera mini, they were both almost neck in neck sometimes with the evo winning and sometimes with the hero winning.

The child in me wants to BUY BUY BUY but the logical side of me feels I might be disappointed in the long run, especially when something nicer pops its head in about half a year.

I do have to admit, this phone is huge for sprint. The day after launch and the store was full with people who were either interested in buying one or just had bought one. The man I stood next too said that he had fallen in love. I don't know if its because I am already used to android/sense or that this might be the first smartphone for a lot of people but these people definitely feel something different then what I do.

If anyone wants to interject about my youtube experience, please let me know if you can get higher quality/full screen without switching to HQ. Also whether HQ works on 3g or not. I could not on the phone in the store and the assistant said he did not know.

 

[clambert1273]

you have to remember.. demos have been handled and are not a "great" reflection of your own phone...

 

[Jebus Christ]

I always take that into consideration but the thing was pretty stock. Hell I actually put on a couple of widgets on the home screen as well as download opera mini for the comparisons. That and it's only been out of the shelf for what, barely 2 days?

 

[clambert1273]

trust me its been handled.... I watched the one at best buy get handled yesterday tremendously...

I have 0 issues with mine I love it actually... can't imagine NOT having it lol

 

[Jebus Christ]

I just realized on my hero I have the option to run the video in normal and high quality but they run on high by default. Is HQ the same thing as high quality on my hero or it an even higher quality?

 

[Thefoodman52]

I think it's actually HD, not just HQ. The HQ is at 480p. I think the HD is 720p, though I could be madly mistaken, not sure though.

 

[Jebus Christ]

Does anyone have any more insight to the youtube thing? Is there a better quality outside of going to HQ.

 

[Droidone]

The demo that I just looked at was dirt slow and only had one bar of service in a 4g area. I hope that is just because it's beat on so much. I wanted to hard reset but it would have taken too long and that would have stopped the market from working. I also wondered about youtube but couldn't get it running due to having virtually no service on the phone. I asked someone in another forum and they said it's still full screen in low quality but videos on the web show it smaller than the actual screen size. The Hq thing seems like a gimmic because we already have the hq option in the hero. This $10.00 fee is really starting to look silly.

 

[Jebus Christ]

The demo that I just looked at was dirt slow and only had one bar of service in a 4g area. I hope that is just because it's beat on so much. I wanted to hard reset but it would have taken too long and that would have stopped the market from working. I also wondered about youtube but couldn't get it running due to having virtually no service on the phone. I asked someone in another forum and they said it's still full screen in low quality but videos on the web show it smaller than the actual screen size. The Hq thing seems like a gimmic because we already have the hq option in the hero. This $10.00 fee is really starting to look silly.

So the High quality on my hero is the same as pressing HQ on the EVO? Can HQ be run over 3g because if not, that's not right.

 

[Piiman]

This $10.00 fee is really starting to look silly.

I agree especially if you live were there is no 4g. I tried to un check that option on the web site and while it does allow to as soon as you continue it pops an error and rechecks it. Claiming they are giving me more power.....well yes but power I don't have in my area so why should I pay for it?

All in all their 69.00 plain came to almost 90.00 when I was done. I click the close button.

 

[RTan]

You need to use WiFi or 4G in order to use YouTube in HQ mode. In 3G mode, the player will stop if the data is not downloaded fast enough to your device when running in HQ mode. Therefore, use the default mode (non HQ) when in 3G connectivity.

 

[Bubba1]

I agree especially if you live were there is no 4g. I tried to un check that option on the web site and while it does allow to as soon as you continue it pops an error and rechecks it. Claiming they are giving me more power.....well yes but power I don't have in my area so why should I pay for it?

All in all their 69.00 plain came to almost 90.00 when I was done. I click the close button.

I posed this question to a sprint rep, and was told that with the $69 plan, you're limited to 5Gb usage per month (5 Gb on cell phone? I know right?) Their justification for charging you the extra $10 a month even if you don't have access to 4G is because you now have unlimited data.

 

[IFMISM]

My YouTube plays in hq even in 3g area. Mainly in 4g it automatically plays in hq, but I just hit the hq button and it comes up. I don't have any issues with it yet...

 

[cmanbrazil]

some of you have some real misinformation. I play hd videos on the youtube app in 3g without any problem, so experiences vary depending on strength of signal i guess.

We all have to remember even though we all have theoretically the same device and same operating system, experiences will vary depending on possible hardware defects, software issues, signal strength, etc.

 

[newone757]

user error. evo does do hq over 3g, just click the hq icon.

 

[Droidone]

is there an option to just have it do HQ everytime in the settings menu. I love the fact that the hero has this option now. I hated having to hit menu, then choose settings and then high quality.

 

[mbell75]

Just got back from the Sprint Store and The EVO was nice but wasn't mind blowing. Yes it was snappier then my hero but not sure if it was $450+ snappier. Also certain things were disheartening. Maybe it was because I was in the sprint store but both the maps and youtube apps gave me problems on both my hero and the evo. At one point though the EVO completely froze up and would not do a damn thing short of responding to me holding down the power button. The screen is big which is great and images did look better on it.

The youtube player through me off though. If you click video on both the evo and the hero, the hero's is a lot clearer and much nicer unless you click HQ on the EVO but that apparently does not work over 3g which confused the hell out of me How does my Hero display a better video then something with more beefed up specs on the go?

While some of you might not think it's a huge deal, for me it is because one of the reasons I wanted the evo was for the much bigger screen. If it plays video at lower quality and about the same size(does not use up the full screen) then my hero, whats the purpose of the bigger screen?

What I did like was that almost everything was snappier and with regular apps, things opened faster, there was zero to no delay. While surfing the web on the stock browser the EVO proved to be slightly faster but not by a huge lead(maybe 3-5 seconds). On opera mini, they were both almost neck in neck sometimes with the evo winning and sometimes with the hero winning.

The child in me wants to BUY BUY BUY but the logical side of me feels I might be disappointed in the long run, especially when something nicer pops its head in about half a year.

I do have to admit, this phone is huge for sprint. The day after launch and the store was full with people who were either interested in buying one or just had bought one. The man I stood next too said that he had fallen in love. I don't know if its because I am already used to android/sense or that this might be the first smartphone for a lot of people but these people definitely feel something different then what I do.

If anyone wants to interject about my youtube experience, please let me know if you can get higher quality/full screen without switching to HQ. Also whether HQ works on 3g or not. I could not on the phone in the store and the assistant said he did not know.

Playing with a demo model of a phone in a store and deciding you dont like it is like test driving a car for 5 minutes with a salesman in the passenger seat with you before deciding whether to buy it. Pointless.

 

[Aridon]

Every demo unit I've played with was total garbage without a reset. My wife has my old rooted and tweaked hero. There is no comparison between it and the evo.

 

[ogwilson]

For the record, you can indeed change the settings in the YouTube app to default video playback to high quality regardless of what type of connection you're on (and while it does take a few more seconds to load up compared to WiFi and 4G, it will not refuse to play on 3G. It plays just fine).

Ill-informed, be damned!

 

[newone757]

is there an option to just have it do HQ everytime in the settings menu. I love the fact that the hero has this option now. I hated having to hit menu, then choose settings and then high quality.

no. but its dead simple, its on the mainscreen controls just like play/pause etc. no need to go into the menu on the EVO version

 

[ogwilson]

no. but its dead simple, its on the mainscreen controls just like play/pause etc. no need to go into the menu on the EVO version

Please do a bit more experimenting (or reading). You can go into YouTube's settings (accessible using the Menu button) and enable HQ mode to play automatically regardless of what connection you're using.

For the record, you can indeed change the settings in the YouTube app to default video playback to high quality regardless of what type of connection you're on (and while it does take a few more seconds to load up compared to WiFi and 4G, it will not refuse to play on 3G. It plays just fine).

Ill-informed, be damned!

 

[newone757]

relax yourself, we posted at the same time and i missed that setting before.

 

[yourmomplusme]

Btw, it works way better outside the store.

 

[Jebus Christ]

Sorry that I missed it guys. I made the post purely based on the 20-25 minutes I spent with the device in the store. It refused to play the video when I hit the HQ button. When I asked the sales rep if he knew if it played over 3g he looked at the phone(not playing the video) and he said "well yep, I guess it doesn't."

I can't blame him though, I'm sure he hasn't had enough time to spend quality time with the phone especially with the boom of customers in the past two days.

I think I am going to get the EVO but only if I can sell my Hero for a descent price. The Sprint store offered me $80 buy back but I know a site that will instantly buy it for about $110 and I'm pretty sure I can get about $150 if I sell it myself.

 

[RaiseUp151z]

are you on drugs? go get yourself an EVO 4g right now

Sorry that I missed it guys. I made the post purely based on the 20-25 minutes I spent with the device in the store. It refused to play the video when I hit the HQ button. When I asked the sales rep if he knew if it played over 3g he looked at the phone(not playing the video) and he said "well yep, I guess it doesn't."

I can't blame him though, I'm sure he hasn't had enough time to spend quality time with the phone especially with the boom of customers in the past two days.

I think I am going to get the EVO but only if I can sell my Hero for a descent price. The Sprint store offered me $80 buy back but I know a site that will instantly buy it for about $110 and I'm pretty sure I can get about $150 if I sell it myself.