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HTC Evo & Evo Shift

HTC Evo & Evo Shift

Old Jan 26, 2011, 11:47 pm
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HTC Evo & Evo Shift

I did a bunch of searches but couldn't find a post dedicated to the EVO, which surprised me. If there is one, please add this to that post.

I currently use a Palm Pre. Either it worked a lot better the first 20 months, or I'm just less tolerant of it now. I'm going to get a new phone within the next day or two. Right now I'm trying to decide between the EVO & EVO Shift.

First off, anyone have experience with the Shift since it's so new? Next, the EVO just seems huge compared to my Pre. I'd like a bigger phone, but the EVO seems like it's too big. Anyone else think that after getting the EVO?

Keyboard...I like a physical keyboard, but not opposed to touchscreen. I read a few reviews that the touchscreen keyboard on the EVO isn't the best. Any comment on that?
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Old Jan 27, 2011, 3:24 pm
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Originally Posted by jw713
Next, the EVO just seems huge compared to my Pre. I'd like a bigger phone, but the EVO seems like it's too big. Anyone else think that after getting the EVO?
Not at all. And all of the additional space goes to the screen, which is big and bright and allows for real use, whether it's going to web sites, email, or hurling some birds at pigs.

Keyboard...I like a physical keyboard, but not opposed to touchscreen. I read a few reviews that the touchscreen keyboard on the EVO isn't the best. Any comment on that?
A virtual keyboard does take some getting used to, but you aren't stuck with any particular keyboard just because you pick the EVO. In addition to the stock keyboard, Swype is now available as an option. This lets you "trace" letters instead of pecking them out, and I've found it to be surprisingly accurate. For a few dollars each, there are also a bunch of different keyboard options available in the Android Market. Before Swype, I was using SwiftKey, which is also very good.
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Old Jan 27, 2011, 4:51 pm
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My wife had an Evo, and loves it; if it had a physical keyboard I'd love it as well - it's better all around than my Epic - bigger, better screen, faster and more stable as well, although I can't attribute either definitely to software vs. hardware differences (Evo = 4.3 TFT, 2.2 closer to stock albeit with some Sense garbage, Epic = 4.0 AMOLED, 2.1 crapped upon by Samsung.)

I've looked at the Evo Shift in-store, and would have given it a closer look if it had been around when I was buying. It's enough smaller-screened than the Epic (let alone the full Evo) that it would give me some reservations, and the keyboard layout is not nearly as good as the Epic (4-row vs. 5-row, no dedicated number keys, dpad rather than arrow keys, a few other annoyances I'm forgetting) - it's essentially the same as the TMo G2. Also, given that the design is related to the G2, which has somewhat underwhelming performance, I'd be concerned about it being slower than the full Evo (or the Epic, when and if the Epic gets 2.2)

Unless the pentile AMOLED annoys you too badly, if you really need the keyboard on Sprint I'd wait to see if the Epic actually gets a 2.2 upgrade and if so, how decent vs. botched it is by Samsung before getting an Evo Shift.
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Old Jan 28, 2011, 2:58 pm
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Originally Posted by jw713
Keyboard...I like a physical keyboard, but not opposed to touchscreen. I read a few reviews that the touchscreen keyboard on the EVO isn't the best. Any comment on that?
The EVO is my first phone with a touch screen keyboard, so I cannot tell you if it is better or worse than any other phone in that respect.

I did try Swype after the latest firmware update downloaded, but really did not care for it.

The feature that I find most useful the "Vibrate when typing option." It gives just enough feedback to make it feel like a physical keyboard. The spell correction and word completion options take care of most typos, often before I realize I made them.
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 11:01 am
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I looked at all three of these last weekend. I was really, really torn between the Epic and Evo. I suspect the Evo is a slightly better phone but I ended up buying the Epic for $79. The specs on both were pretty similar - everyone I know who has either phone loves it.

The Evo is still $149 even though it's been out the longest, perhaps a testament to how popular it is. The Shift is already down to $59...the sales clerk seemed to the the Shift would drop to free within a couple months. Prices assume you're upgrade-eligible and signing a new 2-year deal. (Or a new sub...)

I believe all three phones now have 2.2.

I too am a former Palm Pre user. I'm just thrilled to have an app store that people actually, you know, develop apps for. @:-) Epic has a beautiful screen. I have a feeling I've only scratched the surface so far on both the apps available and how to best use the phone in general.

Just basic stuff: being able to view attachments, being able to easily listen to radio streams (starting with the cricket final on Saturday), the ability to easily launch videos embedded in websites and not getting Youtube errors... It's like a whole new world has been opened up to me!

Talk about a huge quantum leap forward from the Palm Pre...hard to believe there was actually buzz around the Pre two summers ago.
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 1:13 pm
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I'm still very pleased with my Epic 4 months in, but want to offer a couple of caveats:

The Epic 2.2 upgrade is new enough that you may or may not get a 2.2 phone
"out of the box" at any retail store - a friend bought one a few weeks ago which still had 2.1. Also, there are two "official" 2.2 builds for Epic - the EB13 one from 2/23 (which was pulled for stability issues) and the EC05 one from the past couple of weeks. The latter is much less unstable, and for people on 2.1 the EC05 upgrade (from 2.1 DI18) causes a lot fewer problems (DI18->EB13 on mine required me to do a factory restore on the phone to get it to be stable.)

Also, like the WinMo 6.x days, there is a real wealth of custom ROM goodness out there for these. I've not yet done much with it, but there are a few annoyances to Samsung's ROM which tempt me to replace it...
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