Launch Day Reviews

[dhinez]

This is for those that bought their HTC EVOs on launch day. Give reviews of the store you purchased from. Also give us your review of the phone itself. I will be posting mines in a few. Great phone so far.

 

[TF1984]

Well my Evo is worthless... It's not even physical, ...what's this, its made of air and imagination, DAMM*T!!!!

Anyone got $450 to spare?

Dang Nabbit, stupid Hero, you tricked me!! Drats.

 

[GiftedPlacebo]

Monroeville, PA Sprint Store

These guys were GREAT! I was 4th in line @ 6:30 am, they opened the doors @ 7:30 am and I was activated and out the door @ 7:55 am. I was the first person out the door with a phone in hand. Process was SIMPLE. Gave them my phone number, they confirmed I was eligible for a 1 year upgrade (as of 3 days ago!), I signed a couple things, charged the phone to my account, and I was DONE! Kudos to Monroeville Sprint Store on a smooth process!

EVO

HO LY (@*&!!!!

From the moment the Sprint Rep handed my the phone to enter my gmail info, I noticed how fast it was when I tipped to landscape and the keyboard was there immediately. I'm coming from a Hero, which is notoriously slow on switching the keyboard. Since then I haven't been disappointed. I've done a little streaming, SprintTV, etc and its all 10x faster than my Hero MINIMUM. What took 30 seconds on the Hero takes 2 seconds on the EVO. I installed all my apps from AppBrain in ~30 seconds. I couldn't keep up with the phone installing things! BLAZING FAST! I've been an Android user for a while now, and I just can't get over how FAST this thing is. Did I mention its fast? FAST!!! lol

I'm not in a 4G area (slated for this summer) so I can't comment on 4G speeds. Even as a 3G phone the EVO is more than worth it. I can't wait until my HDMI cable gets here (ordered a knock off for 1/2 the Sprint price) to test out the HDMI out... So far, I'm ~7 hours with this phone and it is amazing. Meets the hype and then some!

 

[Heroic Lover]

My first launch day review goes out to 95% of the gadget sites that reviewed this phone:

You're full of crap

The vastness and fluidity of the keyboard and how its as close to a desktop experience as I've ever had deserves a review by itself.

I could go on, but the fact almost none of these reviews couldn't claim this phone the unquestioned best cellphone on the market is a travesty...period. Cause it is.

 

[dhinez]

Store Review

I purchased my EVO from a Corporate Sprint store in Sumter, SC. I arrived at 6:10-6:15am to find I was the first to arrive. Around 7am the sales rep took note of who were the first to arrive to serve those people first. As the Sprint employees arrived they all greeted the customers as they went inside. Around 7:45am the doors opened and I was the first customer to be served. The sales rep was prompt yet polite. He was generous enough to provide me with prices for the accessories. I purchased a gel cover and screen protector. I was out the door in about 15 minutes if that. He even offered donuts to those that were waiting in line. My overall score for this store is 10.


Phone Review

Coming from the HTC Hero, this phone is amazing. Compared to the Hero it's a runaway freight train.

Platform

The phone uses the full version of Android 2.1 w/ HTC Sense unlike the Hero which utilizes a striped version of 2.1 w/ HTC Sense. The platform is very smooth and stable even with Sense UI. I believe it has to be 1 GHz processor helping it out. The live wallpaper is a touch of elegance. It's a little disappointing that they didn't change the standard lock screen.

Processor

The apps open a lot faster and are a lot more stable. Very minimal lag but compared to the Hero it simply feels like there isn't. The browser opens quicker and pages load fast. The most complained problem of the Hero was the landscape keyboard lag. On the EVO, it feels like it disappears. The keyboard seems smooth and responsive even with haptic feedback on. The phone dailer is even smooth. The Hero also had/has bad ringer lag. I tested this on the EVO and amazingly it rang on the first ring. Downloading apps and music even watching SprintTV is amazing. I don't have 4G in my area yet and it's still unknown. I just know with 3G service this phone does things my Hero has never done.

Camera/Video

The camera is simple yet nice. This thing takes great pictures. The flash adds extra value to this phone. I have yet taken video with it but I've heard that it takes great videos too.

Screen

The screen is nice and big. It's amoled screen is nice and bright inside. In direct sunlight, the screen is hard to see but it's visible. The big 4.3" screen shows video extremely clear. The extra space allows navigating on the screen easy. It also allows texting quick and accurate. Texting on the screen is easy in both landscape and portrait mode. I did most of my texting in portrait mode on my Hero due to the terrible lag in landscape.

Hardware

What can I say, this phone is huge compared to most phones on the market. It fills my 12 year old daughter's entire hand. It has a sturdy and well built feel to it. It has a 1.3mp camera on the front and 8mp camera on the back. The kickstand is a nice touch if you are a video watcher. The construction of the EVO is of metal and heavy duty plastic. It has a 1500 maH battery which is red along with the entire back. Underneath it comes preloaded with an 8 gb sd card which upgradeable to 32 gb. Overall the EVO feels like it will last a long time as long as it is well kept.

Sound

The EVO is loud. Listening to music and movies is nice and clear. The ringer is loud enough to be heard across the room. The sound quality of calls is good too.

Battery

As we know, the Hero had poor battery life on launch date. With the update to 2.1, The battery life has improved drastically. On the EVO, the battery life tends to drain quickly with heavy usage. Even with the same battery as the Hero, the EVO just has too small of a battery. The phone has a lot going on at one time including live wallpaper for those that have that turned on. Maybe in future updates including Android 2.2, the EVO will be able to manage power more efficiently. We'll just have to wait and see.

Overall the phone is worth every bit of money that you will/have invested in. This is only a review from the few hours of me playing with the phone. Looking forward to see what everyone has to say. I give this phone a 10 of 10 compared to my Hero.

 

[wubbie075]

I got mine at Sprint Store on 8th Street & 6th Avenue in Manhattan, NYC. Called the store last night to confirm 8AM opening. Showed up at 8:02 and was 15th on line. Very minor annoyance that the guy came down the line and took all our names, but then would not let everyone in the store when they started seeing customers. If yer putting us on the list there's no reason not to leave us in out of the heat & sun. But in the grand scheme of things, not that big a deal. He did come out and pour juice for us

So far I am loving the phone. I skipped the tutorials cause it was 9:15 AM when I got it and I had to get to work, so I'm still trying to figure some stuff out. All in all it's not as "easy" to use as the Pre, but I'm sure once I get used to the new OS it'll be fine. I LOVE the speech to text (which I'm assuming is Android and not specific to the Evo).

I've already got one of my officemates goin crazy for it (but her upgrade isn't until August I think, assuming the July offer does not pan out).

So far it's been a 98% positive experience.

 

[BODHi]

Bronx NY, Rat Shack

Horrible!

Waited 1 1/2 hours for person in front of me to upgrade his 2 lines to Evos; mind you he was first person in line. The only other employee was completely clueless of how to activate a phone. That fool even started the activation of the person behind me cause I had to run out and pay the meter so I didn't get a parking ticket...WHICH I ended up getting either way!

So now a $45.00 parking ticket, and going into 2 hours. To add to this, not one EVO accessory to apply the 15% discount or the $20 off. WTF!!! What's the point of telling people about a discount they could use for accessories if they weren't gonna have shit! Then to add to even more, that $10 coupon they also mentioned was useless.

During the activation of my EVO the guy was having a problem activating it and had to call sprint and do things manually. Finally he got things to work and felt real bad for having me wait 2+ hours cause of all the mishaps and took the $20 off from the price of the phone.

Then I arrive home, give the camera a try, and guess what!?!? A HOT PIXEL!!!

Now here's the ****ed up part. They received 12 EVOs, 8 were set aside for pre-orders, 1 was purchased by the dude setting up my account, and 3 were on hold for 2 other employees and their fam/friends.

After things calm down I'll go in and get a replacement or just return it and go to a Sprint store.

just wow.

 

[dhinez]

Bronx NY, Rat Shack

Horrible!

Waited 1 1/2 hours for person in front of me to upgrade his 2 lines to Evos; mind you he was first person in line. The only other employee was completely clueless of how to activate a phone. That fool even started the activation of the person behind me cause I had to run out and pay the meter so I didn't get a parking ticket...WHICH I ended up getting either way!

So now a $45.00 parking ticket, and going into 2 hours. To add to this, not one EVO accessory to apply the 15% discount or the $20 off. WTF!!! What's the point of telling people about a discount they could use for accessories if they weren't gonna have shit! Then to add to even more, that $10 coupon they also mentioned was useless.

During the activation of my EVO the guy was having a problem activating it and had to call sprint and do things manually. Finally he got things to work and felt real bad for having me wait 2+ hours cause of all the mishaps and took the $20 off from the price of the phone.

Then I arrive home, give the camera a try, and guess what!?!? A HOT PIXEL!!!

Now here's the ****ed up part. They received 12 EVOs, 8 were set aside for pre-orders, 1 was purchased by the dude setting up my account, and 3 were on hold for 2 other employees and their fam/friends.

After things calm down I'll go in and get a replacement or just return it and go to a Sprint store.

just wow.

Man that sucks for you. I wish you luck in a replacement. I was in and out the door in 15 minutes. If you are a Sprint Premier customer you get 25% off all phone accessories at a Sprint Store. So far my EVO is flawless (knocking of wood). I heard that Radio Shack was having issues connecting to the Sprint Servers. I went to a corporate Sprint Store and their systems worked flawlessly. Good luck again.

 

[M2Iceman]

Best Buy, Attleboro MA

Waited almost 2 hrs for the Evo. Im talking to the guys, checks the 2 lines I want, my wifes line and mine, all set. Get to checkout and setup, opps problem. Apparently Sprint made my wifes number the primary number on the account and mine #2. So that means that my wifes line which was primary can have the upgrade but mine cant for another year, WTF!!!! Her line hasnt been touch in 2 years, so now I have to call Sprint to find out WTF is going on. No help. Ohh so sorry they tell me. So now I can get one phone for $199 then have to run across the street to the Sprint corp store to find out WTF is going on. They cant help, so I got stuck paying $375 for the second phone instead of $199. This sucks!!! But we both have an Evo now.

Over all BB was a joke, along with Sprint. Seemed the systems were jammed and took forever to get through the process.

Note to Sprint: If you're launching one of the biggest phones to date, UPGRADE YOUR SERVERS!!!!!!!! Seriously, a day or two upgrade would have made the process so much smoother.

 

[dhinez]

I'm sorry for those that had went through trouble to get an EVO. I'm enjoying mines a lot. I'm not going to complain to much about the phone since it is a launch day item meaning there are bounds to be minor bugs. I really can't complain about battery life since I'm using it pretty heavy. It's like a new video game, you gotta play until you get bored with it. I bet battery life will be better once I go back to my moderate usage. Right now I'm just having to much phone with it.

 

[p00kienrayray]

So now a $45.00 parking ticket, and going into 2 hours.

Damn, a $45 ticket? that'll definitely ruin my day. sorry about that. I've yet to pick mine up at BB because of work. Its ok though I'm gonna pick it up at 7pm west coast time, so hopefully sprint's system shouldn't be so jammed as it was earlier today and I'll be out in a jiffy.

 

[liquidanomaly]

After waiting 40 minutes to have my turn to have it activated... i took me like 10 minutes MAYBE.. pretty simple. And got some free accessories. Mostly painless.

 

[flyjbaker]

STORE:

I think they did an excellent job. The internet posted store hours of 9am....so I showed up at 0830.....I was 39th inline!!!! They also had opened at 0800 which helped. They had a little stand where there was Starbuck's coffee with cookies and pastries and water and all kinds of refreshments....quite thoughtful and made it feel like an event. They had 80 or so phones and they had papers with numbers on them representing the number of the phone you would get. Anyway, a very well organized effort and while I was 39th inline, it only took me a little over ann hour to get the phone.

This was in the South Houston area. Amazingly, it was cloudy and breezy and "cool"....quite pleasant if you are gonna be stuck outside.

PHONE:

AWESOME. I love this thing although it is my wife's. I can't get over how fast it is. Enough said.

 

[bossxii]

Purchased at a local RS, showed up at 7:30 to see when they would sell to the non pre orders... to my surprise they said I could buy one on the spot. I ported over from ATT and was out the door in 20 mins.

I love the feel of the phone, I have large hands so it just fits better than the iPhone, and the texture of the back makes it feel more secure in my hand. I don't care for cases and screen covers so the EVO scored big points in the design and feel category. I am new to Android so I've enjoyed my first day learning about the features, downloading some apps and tweaking the EVO to make it my own. I pretty much had read enough to know there wasn't any big surprises hardware wise. Wish the battery was a bit longer lasting but trying to tweak what's running with the task killer.

I think the interface is very responsive and not that big of a leap using sense vs my old iPhone. I'm holding off judging the network as I'm sure it has been stressed today with above average use, constant speed tests and such. The 4G speeds in a decent coverage area seemed to be 3 3.4mb down and 1 up. 3G varied from .5 to 1.2mb but seemed responsive as well. The Sprint rep at the RS did mention the 4G network was only about 60% built out here in KC and that the "official" rollout was in fact slated for July 1st. I will hold off my network and coverage judgements till then.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the EVO, but nothing about it blew me away. It a solid performer with some issues I hope get ironed out in the months ahead. It's will have it's 15 mins of fame until the next greatest phone comes out anyhow.

On a scale of 1 to 10 of overall satisfaction, I'd give the EVO a 7.5, I'll reserve the right to change that as the network is built out and Froyo becomes available.

 

[bimmjo]

Sprint store in Mansfield, Tx was top notch!!!

Had people lined up at 6:15 or so when i drove by on my way to work. They opened at 7:30. I showed up a little after 9 and waited around 15-20 min and then took about 10 to get all mine set up. Took my Hero off my hands for $80 let me keep the battery.

THey had some snacks on the table for those that got the munchies. All were in a good mood and I guess they had about 40 to sell total? If I heard one of the reps correctly.

Easy as pie and the little I have gotten to play with it I have been very happy. 4G access in my home so thats even better!

 

[hopalee]

Overall the experience was just okay. I had an appointment for 8AM at a BB here in San Antonio (at the Rim). I showed up just before 8 and there were about 10 people in line outside the store. I was kind of confused on what to do because I had an appointment and the guy told me they were going to have 4 employees doing activations at one time so I (naturally/stupidly - your call) assumed that that meant there would be 4 people scheduled for each appointment time. NOT SO! Only 2 of the people in front of me either didn't have an appointment or had a later appointment. Then go inside, where they didn't turn the lights on and the air must not have been on because it was toasty in there. They also only have 3 computers there in the mobile department, so I'm not sure why they said they could do 4 at a time. They also had everyone's sign up forms all mixed together and had to search through the giant pile for each person's paper. I don't know if the employee just didn't know what he was doing or if he was really having computer issues, but he had to keep asking other people for help. By the time he finally got it done, I had to run out the door and skip the tutorial and SD card formatting. Now I know that all sounds horribly negative, so I will say on a positive note
I was able to get out and get to work at 9 o'clock like I told them I had to, the workers were pleasant, I got my EVO and free bluetooth and couldn't be happier!!!!

 

[reallynotnick]

First off let me say this is a solid phone and easily the best phone on sprint but let me point out some issues I have had with the phone.

It simply is too big, while it easily fits in a pocket, for me it is hard to hold with one hand very tight. With the iPhone I can get a solid grip on it not so much with the EVO. My hand also cramps up from using it way faster than my iPhone (my hand actually kind of hurts typing this and I know it is from the phone). I'm afraid I am going to drop the phone because of how I have to hold it. It also doesn't help that the edges are much sharper than on my iPhone 2G which makes it extremely comfortable to hold compared to the EVO.
Worth noting that I do not have large hands, a little below average size for a male so I don't think every guy will have the same problem as me but I can see it being very hard for most women.

While very good I just can't say the touch interface is as good as the iPhone. I found many times where if I was scrolling through text and even just started to slow down it would click the link. Also the keyboard's autocorrect is not in the same league as the iPhone's and I am not a fan of the cluttered keyboard (even though it is big it is easy to hit other keys at the bottom, looking into finding a different keyboard for it).

As far as battery life goes that will take a little longer to really figure out but I can easily say I am not floored by it, slightly more on the disappointed side but we'll see. It didn't get a full charge today, it really is the honeymoon period of using it very hard, and I am still working on figuring out all the battery saving tricks I can do in Android.

 

[metchick01]

I picked mine up at BB in Pleasant Hill, CA (East bay/SF Area)

I took a 2:00pm appointment due to work, and I arrived at 1:50pm... They had a sitting area set up with Wall-e playing for the waiting customers (which there wasn't any in line to be seen).

When I set up my appointment I ok'd them to install the screen protector and the car charger/bluetooth package. They had my phone and accessories in a shopping bag ready to go. I'm thinking "great I can be in and out quickly, then stop for lunch"

Wrong! I sat with one clerk for almost an hour trying to change my plan and activate the EVO. Now in that time, one person to the left of me and one to the right got their's and left. But I kept my cool because I was just happy to me getting my phone and at least I wasn't at work!

Then another clerk took over and tried for another 30 mins. with not luck. I basically sat around playing with the cases on display and chatting with the clerks. Not once was did they offer to let me play around with the EVO that they had at the desk. (Which irked me, due to the fact that the 2 people who came after me & left before me got to try it out).

The clerk then switch computer terminals and tried 4 more times in their system (Best Buy's) and Sprint's. Finally, I said I would call Sprint CS myself while the clerk tried the computer programs. Well, between the clerk talking to the CS clerk and trying different options they got my plan changed. (By this time, work had called 4 times and I was way over my time limit)

Then, the clerk tried to activate the phone itself and my EVO kept saying error code 1012 (Network problems). After another 30 mins of trying, I was really time pressed and since I was just waiting on the network to get up to speed, I said I would just keep trying myself and if I couldn't get it to work by 7:30pm I would be back before they closed.

Not two feet outside of the door, and it worked! It was so funny I had to walk back in to tell the poor clerk who had tried for almost 3 hours to get it work what happened. When I showed her, she broke into laughter too.

Was it a perfect launch day? No... Was I mad it took so long? Not really, I still got my Evo.

The BB staff was awesome and tried their best to do what they could for me with the tools they had. I am calling Sprint today to get the activation fee waived though because their was no reason my activation took 3 plus hours while 4 other people got in and out in less than 25 mins.

As for the EVO, I am in love. I don't get the complaints about the android keyboard, I had no problem texting right away. I'm coming from a Katana DLX so I am still adjusting to the Android system and layout but I am 100% happy with my purchase!

PS: The clerks and the District manger are saying 4g will be in my area in September... If it's true then that is AWESOME!