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Is the HD2 the same as Evo 4G?

Darkstar2010

Member
Sep 9, 2010
71
1
Hardware wise, the HD2 is the same thing minus a front camera and capacitive buttons on the front, as well as that little bitty 4g radio...

Software wise...it's running windows mobile. Also, any ports of Android to the HD2 WILL run choppy and not everything will work. I think rogers is GSM, if I'm not mistaken, so any phone from Sprint or Verizon will NOT work on their network because Sprint and Verizon run on CDMA vs. GSM for rodgers.

If you have the cash, you can get a Samsung Vibrant from Tmobile at full retail price, then activate it on rodgers. Fairly certain that'll work.
 
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I'll retreat back to the Desire forum then LoL....I really thought the HD2 was gonna run Android 2.2 normally....The phone looks so nice...So far the 3 different versions of this device wont work in Canada...the Evo 4G...the HD2 will work here but it wont run Android properly...and the HTC Desire isnt gonna work here when it's released. Im fine with a Desire...its a really nice phone...I just love the design of the Evo/HD2/DesireHD so much more...its cosmetically perfect.
 
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I can reply to this from personal experience. My phone, until Sunday, was an EVO. It was a wonderful piece of hardware with great software. The connection between man and machine was natural and strong. It was my plan to have this for a long time. Then Sprint raised their prices, even on customers with contracts and I switched to T-mobile after more than 10 years on my old carrier.

Luckily, a local seller had an HD2 with Android loaded. This gave me the chance to try it in person, instead of risking a working phone or buying through the mail.

In general it works very well. Other than the few small glitches which will be noted in the list of differences below, the performance is absolutely as good as EVO. Everything moves quickly and properly on screen; the home key always takes you instantly home; it doesn't get hung and pause; etc.

This is the list of comparison items, regardless of whether they are glitches or advantages for the HD2, or merely differences between the two.

1. Difference - While the phone is the same size, the form factor is slightly different. The HD2 is a bit thinner and thus easier to hold, but only the EVO has that spiffy little "kickstand".

2. Advantage - The HD2 has "real" buttons below the screen, rather than touchscreen type buttons.

3. Difference - There are five buttons, instead of four in the row on the bottom. It has a home button and a back button, which work just like the EVO. The "Windows" acts as a "menu" key, with the search function on the menu in some apps, like it would a phone without a search button. I always thought the dedicated search button was rather useless, so I don't miss it. There is also a "hang up" button, which is nice because you can end a call without looking at the screen. You can still use the "End Call" red virtual on-screen button as well.

4. Advantage - There is no top button for on/off and sleep/wake. The "hang up" button makes the phone sleep anytime you are not on a call, and either the talk or "hang up" will wake it. I find this easier than the EVO.

5. Glitch - The "Stocks" app works for the major indexes that are pre-programmed, but goes to a "force-close" if you try to add a stock. It does not make the phone crash but just closes the app. I am hoping there is a work-around, but I may just have to find a different finance app.

6. Glitch - The Speakerphone icon needs to be turned on, off and on again during a call in order to make it work. Once that has been done it can then be toggled normally. This is minor, because I am just used to "triple-clicking" on the speaker the first time to make it work.

7. Glitch - Sometimes audio on incoming calls has a somewhat "digital" sound to it. This never prevents easily understood conversation and probably is still as good a many phones ever sound, but it lacks the richness of audio that one might otherwise get from this great phone or the EVO. The other person always hears you clearly.

8. Advantage - The "messaging" icon brings you to messaging every time on the HD2. On the EVO it usually went to a blank screen, from which the "back" key was needed to see any actual texts.

9. The "Visual Voicemail" on the EVO is specific to the Sprint network, so you would use regular voicemail procedures with T-mobile. They are supposed to be developing an app for this feature on their network. If they do it for android, I would expect that it would work on the HD2 with Froyo.

10. Minor Glitch - The signal strength bars sometimes all show flat lines when the phone wakes. Usually they go to a normal indication shortly after it starts being used, even if no call is made. This does not affect call quality, nor does it stop you from making calls, receiving calls or using text messaging.

11. Similarity - Battery life seems good with normal use and the auto-updating/synching off. Just like the EVO, it is more limited when these "features" are running, or if one does a lot of browsing.

12. Networks - T-mobile's HDSPA seems more developed in available almost everywhere in town, where as Sprints 4G only works sporadically in certain places. HDSPA is faster than Sprint 3G, but not quite as fast as 4G. Latency is low, with similar ping times to 4G, but upload speeds are lower than 3G. Overall, it feels like better, more consistent internet service that works faster on in more places for standard browsing purposes.

13. Advantage - In the HD2, the FM radio works with standard stereo headphones. On the EVO, it works on cellular headsets, but the average stereo 3.5mm plug shorts out its antenna.

14. Difference - The EVO has an 8mp camera, but the HD2's 5mp seems to take better pictures. The EVO also has a front-facing low-res camera for video calling.

I have not tried the Market, nor social networking apps, so my comments do not include them. SlideMe, the competing app market works fine. Maps GPS, mp3 playback, and YouTube seem fine as well.

It should work the same on any GSM carrier (except item 9), if the phone is unlocked, or locked to the carrier you are using.

Builds are coming out frequently, so I would expect that the glitches will end up resolved. Overall, it has been a good change and I am pleased with my choice of T-mobile Android phone.

I hope this helps...

Sam

P.S.: Android on HD2's is becoming common enough that the folks who run this forum may want to consider listing it with the phones, and treating it is an Android-capable phone for forum purposes. HTC's recent announcement that they are not planning to offer Windows Mobile 7 for the HD2 will only add to the pressure to make it Android.



 
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oh no!!the evo all the way!!the htc hd2 is a windows mobile phone.quite honestly you dont even need 4g because the 3g for sprint is still amazing.The HTC HD2 freezes a lot too,because it is windows mobile,the EVO never freezes,the only thing that the HD2 has that is better than the evo is the battery,but you can but a better battery for the evo.
 
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oh no!!the evo all the way!!the htc hd2 is a windows mobile phone.quite honestly you dont even need 4g because the 3g for sprint is still amazing.The HTC HD2 freezes a lot too,because it is windows mobile,the EVO never freezes,the only thing that the HD2 has that is better than the evo is the battery,but you can but a better battery for the evo.

The discussion in this thread is about the HD2 with Android 2.2 on it not windows mobile..... & also the Evo doesn't work in Canada so this thread is also about how equal an alternative the HD2 is to the Evo since the HD2 is the only 4.3 inch Android phone that works in Canada.
 
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Thanx for the incredibly thorough reply. You've given a lot of praise to this setup.. But others in this thread have said that it'll run choppy. Which is the truth? And why would it be any different to put android2.2 on this phone than it would be to root an htc desire or something? In the desire forum everyone thats rooted says it works fine and smooth... Shouldn't putting android 2.2 onto am hd2 be a similarily positive experience?

I can reply to this from personal experience. My phone, until Sunday, was an EVO. It was a wonderful piece of hardware with great software. The connection between man and machine was natural and strong. It was my plan to have this for a long time. Then Sprint raised their prices, even on customers with contracts and I switched to T-mobile after more than 10 years on my old carrier.

Luckily, a local seller had an HD2 with Android loaded. This gave me the chance to try it in person, instead of risking a working phone or buying through the mail.

In general it works very well. Other than the few small glitches which will be noted in the list of differences below, the performance is absolutely as good as EVO. Everything moves quickly and properly on screen; the home key always takes you instantly home; it doesn't get hung and pause; etc.

This is the list of comparison items, regardless of whether they are glitches or advantages for the HD2, or merely differences between the two.

1. Difference - While the phone is the same size, the form factor is slightly different. The HD2 is a bit thinner and thus easier to hold, but only the EVO has that spiffy little "kickstand".

2. Advantage - The HD2 has "real" buttons below the screen, rather than touchscreen type buttons.

3. Difference - There are five buttons, instead of four in the row on the bottom. It has a home button and a back button, which work just like the EVO. The "Windows" acts as a "menu" key, with the search function on the menu in some apps, like it would a phone without a search button. I always thought the dedicated search button was rather useless, so I don't miss it. There is also a "hang up" button, which is nice because you can end a call without looking at the screen. You can still use the "End Call" red virtual on-screen button as well.

4. Advantage - There is no top button for on/off and sleep/wake. The "hang up" button makes the phone sleep anytime you are not on a call, and either the talk or "hang up" will wake it. I find this easier than the EVO.

5. Glitch - The "Stocks" app works for the major indexes that are pre-programmed, but goes to a "force-close" if you try to add a stock. It does not make the phone crash but just closes the app. I am hoping there is a work-around, but I may just have to find a different finance app.

6. Glitch - The Speakerphone icon needs to be turned on, off and on again during a call in order to make it work. Once that has been done it can then be toggled normally. This is minor, because I am just used to "triple-clicking" on the speaker the first time to make it work.

7. Glitch - Sometimes audio on incoming calls has a somewhat "digital" sound to it. This never prevents easily understood conversation and probably is still as good a many phones ever sound, but it lacks the richness of audio that one might otherwise get from this great phone or the EVO. The other person always hears you clearly.

8. Advantage - The "messaging" icon brings you to messaging every time on the HD2. On the EVO it usually went to a blank screen, from which the "back" key was needed to see any actual texts.

9. The "Visual Voicemail" on the EVO is specific to the Sprint network, so you would use regular voicemail procedures with T-mobile. They are supposed to be developing an app for this feature on their network. If they do it for android, I would expect that it would work on the HD2 with Froyo.

10. Minor Glitch - The signal strength bars sometimes all show flat lines when the phone wakes. Usually they go to a normal indication shortly after it starts being used, even if no call is made. This does not affect call quality, nor does it stop you from making calls, receiving calls or using text messaging.

11. Similarity - Battery life seems good with normal use and the auto-updating/synching off. Just like the EVO, it is more limited when these "features" are running, or if one does a lot of browsing.

12. Networks - T-mobile's HDSPA seems more developed in available almost everywhere in town, where as Sprints 4G only works sporadically in certain places. HDSPA is faster than Sprint 3G, but not quite as fast as 4G. Latency is low, with similar ping times to 4G, but upload speeds are lower than 3G. Overall, it feels like better, more consistent internet service that works faster on in more places for standard browsing purposes.

13. Advantage - In the HD2, the FM radio works with standard stereo headphones. On the EVO, it works on cellular headsets, but the average stereo 3.5mm plug shorts out its antenna.

14. Difference - The EVO has an 8mp camera, but the HD2's 5mp seems to take better pictures. The EVO also has a front-facing low-res camera for video calling.

I have not tried the Market, nor social networking apps, so my comments do not include them. SlideMe, the competing app market works fine. Maps GPS, mp3 playback, and YouTube seem fine as well.

It should work the same on any GSM carrier (except item 9), if the phone is unlocked, or locked to the carrier you are using.

Builds are coming out frequently, so I would expect that the glitches will end up resolved. Overall, it has been a good change and I am pleased with my choice of T-mobile Android phone.

I hope this helps...

Sam

P.S.: Android on HD2's is becoming common enough that the folks who run this forum may want to consider listing it with the phones, and treating it is an Android-capable phone for forum purposes. HTC's recent announcement that they are not planning to offer Windows Mobile 7 for the HD2 will only add to the pressure to make it Android.



 
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I have continued to use my HD2 with no additional problems. In theory, it may have a slight disadvantage to the Desire HD because it has not had the additional help with integration provided by the hardware manufacturer. Because developers are constantly working to improve it, getting the most recent build is critical -- as recently as late July experimenters were saying it is "almost" stable enough to use everyday. By mid August most had decided it was stable. It certainly has been for me, so yes, I would recommend it.

In a Quadrant test, it scored about 1050, which puts it in the same league with most of the better Android phones for processing speed.

Out of all the details in the previous message, the handful of differences I notice most, as a former EVO user are:

1. The button layout is better.

2. I wish Stocks worked right.

3. T-mobile's network is faster in more places than Sprint's, where 4G has barely been built, even in covered areas.

4. Battery life is as good as EVO with 4G off, even though the HSPA speeds are often as good as 4G would be.

5. I am just so thankful to be away from Sprint and connected to a good company that cares about its customers.

Since the last message, I have also tested the following:

A. Android Market works properly.

B. YouTube works properly.

C. Wi-Fi works properly for internet access. I have not tested any form of tethering yet, but PDA-Net loaded easily and comes up with the right screen and no error message.

D. Flash works properly in browsing.

E. Antropia works properly, including streaming radio.

F. App Protector is running well, securing my settings and messaging.

...Sam
 
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The discussion in this thread is about the HD2 with Android 2.2 on it not windows mobile..... & also the Evo doesn't work in Canada so this thread is also about how equal an alternative the HD2 is to the Evo since the HD2 is the only 4.3 inch Android phone that works in Canada.

i would still say that the evo is better because the screen is brighter.The internet is really fast and it has a kickstand.the camera is better also.The cases on the HD2 tend to be a little bulky but on the EVO they are snug and not bulky.
 
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i would still say that the evo is better because the screen is brighter.The internet is really fast and it has a kickstand.the camera is better also.The cases on the HD2 tend to be a little bulky but on the EVO they are snug and not bulky.

I have heard that early EVO's had especially bright screens that were not used on the more recent ones; this may be what you have. In my comparisons side by side the screens are identical in brightness and overall quality. The colour cast is slightly different, but I suspect that is the hardware manufacturing process rather than anything else.

While the EVO may be faster in those few places where 4G works, T-Mobile's HDSPA network works almost everywhere here in Washington-Baltimore. I get 3-4 Mbps downloads on the HD2, whereas it was generally 1-1.5 on Sprint's 3G network.

I'll grant you -- the kickstand is nice!

Another poster asked where to find the Android versions for HD2. It looks like this website: HTC HD2 Android Roms has the most detail on the various and improving versions available.

To anyone who tries it... Enjoy the large-screen, Android-powered, Sprint-free life!
 
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VERSION INFORMATION FARTHER DOWN IN TEXT...

There are a couple of quirks which I discovered that may be useful information to other running or trying to run Android on your HD2.

1. If you do a factory-reset on the whole phone, you will need to start from scratch on installing Android. Unless critical, just delete the things you need to individually if selling your phone.

2. Remove e-mail accounts from the Windows OS on your phone. A pending e-mail message will take priority over other applications and will make it impossible to start Android.

3. Your battery must be well charged in order to start Android after a re-boot. External power doesn't seem to be enough.

4. When Android was starting, it went through the usual steps of scrolling lots of fine print, then a white screen with "HTC" in green, and black. At that point I thought it was done and put the phone back in its case. I probably touched something as I was doing it, but that distracted the phone enough that it never finished loading. It re-loaded fine after I took the battery out and put it back and went through the load procedure again. Remember when loading that you are not "out of the woods" and stable until you have your actual Android wallpaper with icons. Then you can treat it just like any other Android phone and it will be your friend.





I am not sure the best way to tell, but it says:

Android Version - 2.2

Baseband Version 15.34.50.07U_2.08.50.08.2

Kernel version - 2.6.32.9-38169.g26c6697-dirty
sb@sb-laptop2 #3

Build number - 2.09.405.8CL218634 release-keys

Software number
FroyoStone Sense V2

Browser version - webkit 3.1



thanx for all your help :]

Which Rom are you using... mattc Leo + Froyo w/Sense ??
 
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