Help a guy pick a smartphone, Evo V or One V (Feb 2013)

[mightycw]

Hi everybody, my Verizon contract's about up and I'm looking to cut back expenses with a prepaid carrier like Virgin Mobile, so I'm trying to decide what phone to get. For the last two years I've had a Thunderbolt, and basically I hate it. From random reboots to abysmal battery life to (lately) abrupt shutdown/battery drains, it's just a lousy phone. When we switch my wife's getting her iPhone 4s and in order to keep expenses down I don't want to spend more than about $150 on mine, meaning the Galaxy SII is out. That leaves the next best phone, the Evo V. I'm wary of that because it's so similar to the TB and I've been down that road before; even if it doesn't have the same technical issues I dunno if I want another heavy, battery-suck of a phone. Still, specs-wise it's better than my other choice, the One V. The One V is kinda slow compared to the Evo and newer phones, but it's about the same as my TB, which is fast enough when it actually works. Plus, reports seem to indicate that battery life is better, which is a big deal for me. And it's a few bucks cheaper, so right now it's looking pretty attractive. I don't use my phone for games, just basic smartphone stuff like browsing and popular apps, and I'll probably root because that just the kind of guy I am.

So, here are my questions: Is the One V's battery life really much better than the Evo V? Does either suffer from crippling technical issues that every owner knows about? (had I read up on the TB first I might have seen how many other have had identical issues to mine). Finally, is the One V really that slow? Honestly I'd prefer not to give HTC a dime, but you play the cards you're dealt so let me know what y'all think.

 

[Watagump]

EVO V is a no brainer for the current price of $129.99 at Radio shack. I would recommend an extended battery though, for around $20 on Amazon. I have the Seidio 3000mah, $23 delivered.

 

[Spiify]

Hi everybody, my Verizon contract's about up and I'm looking to cut back expenses with a prepaid carrier like Virgin Mobile, so I'm trying to decide what phone to get. For the last two years I've had a Thunderbolt, and basically I hate it. From random reboots to abysmal battery life to (lately) abrupt shutdown/battery drains, it's just a lousy phone. When we switch my wife's getting her iPhone 4s and in order to keep expenses down I don't want to spend more than about $150 on mine, meaning the Galaxy SII is out. That leaves the next best phone, the Evo V. I'm wary of that because it's so similar to the TB and I've been down that road before; even if it doesn't have the same technical issues I dunno if I want another heavy, battery-suck of a phone. Still, specs-wise it's better than my other choice, the One V. The One V is kinda slow compared to the Evo and newer phones, but it's about the same as my TB, which is fast enough when it actually works. Plus, reports seem to indicate that battery life is better, which is a big deal for me. And it's a few bucks cheaper, so right now it's looking pretty attractive. I don't use my phone for games, just basic smartphone stuff like browsing and popular apps, and I'll probably root because that just the kind of guy I am.

So, here are my questions: Is the One V's battery life really much better than the Evo V? Does either suffer from crippling technical issues that every owner knows about? (had I read up on the TB first I might have seen how many other have had identical issues to mine). Finally, is the One V really that slow? Honestly I'd prefer not to give HTC a dime, but you play the cards you're dealt so let me know what y'all think.

I would go Evo V 4G. I have owned the One V for a few. For maybe the first month I liked the phone. I started to realize the phone was very laggy and froze up a lot. At this point other than that my camera is not very usable due to it keep on focusing in and out. The battery life seems OK at best. This is just my experience with the phone and could be different from others.

 

[lightsleeper23]

I've owned both phones. The EVO V has terrible battery life, and is rife with technical problems. It's also big and heavy.

The one v had good battery life, but is very very laggy.

I wouldn't get either one ever again. It's tough at $150 though. Have you considered Boost mobile? They have some different options. Or even t-mobile prepaid? You can get the lg optimus l9 for $199 with a free $50 service card, putting it right at your $150 budget, and it blows both of those phones out of the water. Of course it depends if you have coverage in your area. If you're set on virgin and can't possibly go a dime over $150, I'd say bite the bullet and go for the evo and hope there's no signal issues. Get a backup battery though.

 

[OverByter]

What technical problems is the Evo V rife with? The only significant issue that it had was an issue with text messages timing out before they were sent, VM rolled out an ota update months ago that completely fixed the issue. There's no other prepaid phone that comes any near it's hardware specs for under $200. Plus it has an excellent and extremely active dev community. :thumbup:
Also the Engadget review doesn't sound like the lg stands head and shoulders above the other phones: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/09/lg-optimus-l9-review/
OB

 

[Watagump]

I have had ZERO technical issues with my EVO V. Big and heavy is a matter of opinion, phones like the HTC One X + is what I consider big.

 

[aml1025]

I used the One V for three months before I got my EVO V. It's a nice little phone; the display is beautiful and the camera has great features. Battery life for me was okay but not great, and I did find after a while that it started getting laggy. Not horrible, but noticeable.

After moving to the EVO I've been much happier - no lag no matter what I'm doing. It is a larger phone, and solidly built, but I still use it one-handed most of the time. Battery life is somewhat shorter, but mine hasn't been a "battery suck." Controlling screen brightness and charging it in my car, and during down time at home, has been enough for me. And as for technical issues, even before my phone received the update, I had very few texting problems. After the update, no problems and I now have the best reception at my home of any Virgin Mobile phone I've owned.

If you don't want to get another HTC phone, have you considered some of the other phones Virgin Mobile offers? Bear in mind that prices can vary widely between the VMUSA website and other locations. As I write this, Amazon has the Galaxy Reverb for $150, which is $50 less than the VMUSA website. It's not a phone I've had personal experience with, but people sound pretty happy with it, and it's less bulky than the EVO. It may be worth hitting your closest brick & mortar Virgin Mobile reseller so that you can handle the phones and get a better idea of how they compare.

 

[OverByter]

As I've posted elsewhere, I paid $280 on launch day and am quite satisfied with my purchase, currently for

 

[miediev]

I've been looking for a new phone myself recently. Comparing a lot of phones in this price range and I kept finding the Evo standing up to phones in the $200-$300+ range, and found nothing comparable for the price. It seems like a no brainer to me.

 

[SuperAfnan]

Just get an evo v. If you have problems once you get it go to the evo v 4G forum. There are many solutions to different problems people had. If you root it and put a custom rom, forget about these "problems" people have.

 

[lightsleeper23]

Wrong. Simply a text message timing out issue? Wrong. The "radio interface resource shortage" error was a HUGE issue. It caused complete signal loss. That means no calls or messages at all. Indefinitely until you notice it, at which time you have to go through the settings menu and update the profile and prl.

I know first hand about this issue. It effected many many people for a long time. They have created an update, but to say not a single person had had the problem for months is flat out wrong. As little as a week ago I saw posts from people saying they still hadn't gotten the update. As well as posts from people that had gotten the update still having minor issues from time to time.

And when I said big, I meant thick. Thick and heavy. Also to suggest there are flat out no other phones in the prepaid industry in the $200 price range is false as well. The Evo v just didn't perform that well in general. I blame HTC and sense, as every HTC phone I've used had lots of lag unless it has a super processor.

They've lowered the price of the EVO V from $300 to as low as $129 in a matter of months, and I guarantee it's reputation has a lot to do with it. Boost mobiles HTC EVO design is still over $200 after the same amount of time. $129 is cheap, but for the $200 price range, the LG Optimus L9 at $199 positively blows the EVO v out of the water. In every single way. The processor is 1ghz dual core compared to 1.2ghz dual core, but that processor outperforms the EVO to a ridiculous degree. The L9 benchmarks along side the S2, and above the likes of the galaxy nexus, and give me zero lag.

If you're happy with your phone, great. But don't say it's the best thing out there under $300 dollars, because it's not.

I would def. get the Galaxy Reverb over the EVO too. My gf has it, it's a good phone.

 

[lightsleeper23]

I've owned both, and the L9 is definitely head and shoulders above the EVO v. That's my personal impression. But even on paper it's a little better. Bigger screen, higher resolution display, bigger battery, better GPU, faster data speeds, thinner, lighter...etc. Battery life alone is night and day. Processor alone is the only thing slightly below, on paper, but real life performance I guarantee will better the EVO in any test you can throw at it.

You're right, the EVO v WAS a flagship device. If the L9 were released a couple years ago, it would have been too. If the EVO v were just released today, it would be an entry to mid level device. So it's former glory doesn't really matter when comparing it to brand new phones.

 

[Watagump]

Wrong. Simply a text message timing out issue? Wrong. The "radio interface resource shortage" error was a HUGE issue. It caused complete signal loss. That means no calls or messages at all. Indefinitely until you notice it, at which time you have to go through the settings menu and update the profile and prl.

I know first hand about this issue. It effected many many people for a long time. They have created an update, but to say not a single person had had the problem for months is flat out wrong. As little as a week ago I saw posts from people saying they still hadn't gotten the update. As well as posts from people that had gotten the update still having minor issues from time to time.

And when I said big, I meant thick. Thick and heavy. Also to suggest there are flat out no other phones in the prepaid industry in the $200 price range is false as well. The Evo v just didn't perform that well in general. I blame HTC and sense, as every HTC phone I've used had lots of lag unless it has a super processor.

They've lowered the price of the EVO V from $300 to as low as $129 in a matter of months, and I guarantee it's reputation has a lot to do with it. Boost mobiles HTC EVO design is still over $200 after the same amount of time. $129 is cheap, but for the $200 price range, the LG Optimus L9 at $199 positively blows the EVO v out of the water. In every single way. The processor is 1ghz dual core compared to 1.2ghz dual core, but that processor outperforms the EVO to a ridiculous degree. The L9 benchmarks along side the S2, and above the likes of the galaxy nexus, and give me zero lag.

If you're happy with your phone, great. But don't say it's the best thing out there under $300 dollars, because it's not.

I would def. get the Galaxy Reverb over the EVO too. My gf has it, it's a good phone.

Okay we can take Reverb then. I had 2 of them, both started having random reboots, so I guess good phone is a matter of opinion. Its not up to the EVO V in any way, smaller screen, slower processor, no gorilla glass, no 4G. Its a mid range phone I am just calling it what it is. It has certain things I did like, but the EVO V IMHO is FAR FAR BETTER, its even less than the Reverb now, at the time I had mine it was the same price $149.99.

 

[Watagump]

I've owned both, and the L9 is definitely head and shoulders above the EVO v. That's my personal impression. But even on paper it's a little better. Bigger screen, higher resolution display, bigger battery, better GPU, faster data speeds, thinner, lighter...etc. Battery life alone is night and day. Processor alone is the only thing slightly below, on paper, but real life performance I guarantee will better the EVO in any test you can throw at it.

You're right, the EVO v WAS a flagship device. If the L9 were released a couple years ago, it would have been too. If the EVO v were just released today, it would be an entry to mid level device. So it's former glory doesn't really matter when comparing it to brand new phones.

The L9 isn't even Virgin Mobile, so not sure why you are bringing it into the mix. He is looking at phones for VM.

 

[lightsleeper23]

The L9 isn't even Virgin Mobile, so not sure why you are bringing it into the mix. He is looking at phones for VM.

I know what he's looking for. Read my first post. I barely mentioned it in passing, but stated clearly if he was strictly looking at vm I'd go with the EVO. Read it. It's there. But people attacked the L9 and said the EVO was better, and was in fact the best for the price range. I just had to contest that.

 

[lightsleeper23]

Okay we can take Reverb then. I had 2 of them, both started having random reboots, so I guess good phone is a matter of opinion. Its not up to the EVO V in any way, smaller screen, slower processor, no gorilla glass, no 4G. Its a mid range phone I am just calling it what it is. It has certain things I did like, but the EVO V IMHO is FAR FAR BETTER, its even less than the Reverb now, at the time I had mine it was the same price $149.99.

I never said the Reverb had better specs than the EVO. I said I personally would get it due to my bad personal experience with the EVO and HTC in general. But I also advised that for someone else, strictly looking at virgin mobile under $150, I'd go with the EVO.

 

[rs98]

Honestly, if you have T-Mobile coverage, the L9 isn't bad at all. However, I would suggest the Nexus 4 over it. If you want to stick with VM, then the Evo V is hands down the best phone. I'd take it over the more expensive Galaxy SII.

 

[thebryceee]

Samsung Victory went on sale today. Virgin's first LTE phone.

 

[mightycw]

Well thanks for the advice folks. I'll probably end up with the Evo unless I can find a cheaper rebate option with something like T-Mobile...not 100% committed to Virgin yet, but it's cheap and has decent phones which are my main criteria. Maybe the Victory will drive down the price of the Galaxy SII in the next month or two...

 

[Watagump]

Well thanks for the advice folks. I'll probably end up with the Evo unless I can find a cheaper rebate option with something like T-Mobile...not 100% committed to Virgin yet, but it's cheap and has decent phones which are my main criteria. Maybe the Victory will drive down the price of the Galaxy SII in the next month or two...

The EVO V is suppose to go on sale for $99.99 as Radio Shack March 3rd.

 

[koopakid08]

The EVO V is suppose to go on sale for $99.99 as Radio Shack March 3rd.

Source?

 

[Watagump]

Source?

HTC EVO V 4G Phone for Virgin Mobile $99.99 @ Radioshack, 3/3-3/16 - AnandTech Forums

 

[LakersDroid]

Evo V, it's a better phone and it's basically same price.