Drop iPhone 4 for HTC Evo!?

JasonR

JasonR

macrumors 6502a
So I was really happy with my iPhone 4...until some friends got the Evo. WOW. Such an impressive phone with SO many features. Then he tells me he has an unlimited plan (unlimited data/texts/4g/minutes) for $110 a month! I end up paying $100 a month for unlimited data/texts and 450 minutes. I can sell my iPhone 32 GB, pay the ETF Fee, buy the Evo, and stick some money in my pocket.

The freedom and ease of use of the Droid OS is incredible. Makes the iPhone look archaic. I am NOT bashing the iPhone at all, I love it. But...it doesn't seem to make sense when looking at what the Evo/Sprint has to offer.
 
If I had to pay full price for my AT&T plan I would have stuck with the EVO. The reception is better and the voice/data plans blow AT&T out of the water. You also get to roam on Verizon's network for free.

However, the battery life on the EVO is pretty bad though you can carry spares. Also, its more complicated to get music and video onto it. Although the apps on Android are somewhat lacking compared to those you'll find on the Appstore, the Google apps are great. The iPhone 4 is all around a better quality handset, but its function is severely gimped by AT&T.
 
barkomatic said:
If I had to pay full price for my AT&T plan I would have stuck with the EVO. The reception is better and the voice/data plans blow AT&T out of the water. You also get to roam on Verizon's network for free.

However, the battery life on the EVO is pretty bad though you can carry spares. Also, its more complicated to get music and video onto it. Although the apps on Android are somewhat lacking compared to those you'll find on the Appstore, the Google apps are great. The iPhone 4 is all around a better quality handset, but its function is severely gimped by AT&T.
Click to expand...

I'm beginning to feel that way. I was wondering how bad the battery life was on the Evo. However...getting music on it is simple and clicking and dragging (put music on my friends Evo from my Mac).

Look...this isn't a hate thread. I just want to make a fully informed decision before I jump ship.

I also love the way the Evo handles notifications. But if the Evo has some big hang up...or if Sprint does...I may just decide to stick with AT&T.
 
I would definatly check your coverage area before "jumping ship". Sprint in my area and many I travel to isn't good. I have a co-worker who has Sprint and he has issues with coverage.
 
The novelty will wear off and fast. You are just fascinated because it is a bit different. I've heard horror stories.
 
Sprint has a deservedly horrible reputation, so all they have left to fight with is price. Even so, $110/month doesn't sound like that great a deal - I mean I pay only a small amount more than that for two iPhone plans with unlimited data and text. Who needs unlimited voice from their cellphone company? Too many other ways of making voice calls for free or nearly free.

Anyhow, I'd suggest you try to spend some more time with an Android before going over. I find the UI to be maddening for the most part. Many things are fine on the surface, but as you start to dig into it, the experience really falls apart. Google Navigation is mediocre at best (completely non-functional at the worst). The Android Store is a mess. The screen can't compete. Most of the Android users I know, when asked what they think of their phone, respond something along the lines of, 'well, it's no iphone...'
 
JasonR said:
I'm beginning to feel that way. I was wondering how bad the battery life was on the Evo. However...getting music on it is simple and clicking and dragging (put music on my friends Evo from my Mac).

Look...this isn't a hate thread. I just want to make a fully informed decision before I jump ship.

I also love the way the Evo handles notifications. But if the Evo has some big hang up...or if Sprint does...I may just decide to stick with AT&T.
Click to expand...

In regard to the battery life mine used to get very low at around 3pm. I never let it die completely as I kept a charger around at work. However, part of that may be due to the "new phone syndrome". One tends to play around with and use a new phone more than after one has settled in with it. Nevertheless, my iphone 4 (which I played with a lot too) would last the entire day and the entire evening without needing a recharge. I would typically have 40% left when it was bedtime.

The plan is pretty good though, and with the free Verizon roaming I don't know how anyone could have bad coverage with it really--though there are always pockets here and there I guess. You'll go crazy comparing it to the iPhone -- for every "pro" there is a "con" on both sides. Just try and focus on what *you* value in a phone and base your decision on that.
 
I had three friends do the same thing you did. Saw all the hype at its surface, even raced across as soon as the doors opened up to get the white EVO, did the Froyo update, but all three ended up returning the device well before the 30-day return policy and came back to an iPhone 4. Luckily, only two didn't port their number, so their return and washing their hands of the whole Android thing was pretty painless. The last one, not so easy.

You're more than welcome to try, but chances are you'll be back.
 
zhenya said:
Sprint has a deservedly horrible reputation, so all they have left to fight with is price. Even so, $110/month doesn't sound like that great a deal - I mean I pay only a small amount more than that for two iPhone plans with unlimited data and text. Who needs unlimited voice from their cellphone company? Too many other ways of making voice calls for free or nearly free.

Anyhow, I'd suggest you try to spend some more time with an Android before going over. I find the UI to be maddening for the most part. Many things are fine on the surface, but as you start to dig into it, the experience really falls apart. Google Navigation is mediocre at best (completely non-functional at the worst). The Android Store is a mess. The screen can't compete. Most of the Android users I know, when asked what they think of their phone, respond something along the lines of, 'well, it's no iphone...'
Click to expand...



You had me going until you said Google Nav was bad...I use google nav all the time on my nexus and think it may possibly be the best Google app out. And you get all of it for free. The only downside is that it doesn't work offline. I've never been caught using it with no coverage, so thats a downside that hasn't affected me.
 
gpatrick15 said:
You had me going until you said Google Nav was bad...I use google nav all the time on my nexus and think it may possibly be the best Google app out. And you get all of it for free. The only downside is that it doesn't work offline. I've never been caught using it with no coverage, so thats a downside that hasn't affected me.
Click to expand...

My experience with it is that the user interface is very poor compared to the offerings on the iPhone, the fact that it caches route data, so if you change your mind while you are out of coverage...but most importantly my impressions are from the act of actually using the program with co-workers while traveling. It seems to take an abnormally long time to determine its initial position, and in many cases, I have been able to input the destination into Navigon, while driving, much faster than my passenger was able to get it into Google. I just got the story this morning of another co-worker who turned down the navigation unit from the rental car company, and then his Droid NEVER picked up his location properly over the course of a 5 hour drive, despite re-boots, removing the battery, etc. Today it works fine...
 
That reminds me, GPS was never very accurate on the EVO. It always placed me 3 or 4 blocks from where I was actually standing. The iPhone gets it exactly right about 80% of the time and then quickly corrects itself the other 20%. The EVO never corrected.
 
JasonR said:
So I was really happy with my iPhone 4...until some friends got the Evo. WOW. Such an impressive phone with SO many features. Then he tells me he has an unlimited plan (unlimited data/texts/4g/minutes) for $110 a month! I end up paying $100 a month for unlimited data/texts and 450 minutes. I can sell my iPhone 32 GB, pay the ETF Fee, buy the Evo, and stick some money in my pocket.

The freedom and ease of use of the Droid OS is incredible. Makes the iPhone look archaic. I am NOT bashing the iPhone at all, I love it. But...it doesn't seem to make sense when looking at what the Evo/Sprint has to offer.
Click to expand...

go get a bunch of droped calls in a bad reception area and complain alot and no etf fees
 
here's what I recall liking about the Evo during the few days I had it:

1. haptic feedback
2. widgets
3. faster 3G
4. nice, big screen; more on-screen territory
5. customizations
6. actually liked the physical size

Here's where I found it lacking in comparison with the iPhone 3GS (at the time) and certainly now, with the 4:

1. iOS UI is more elegant: smoother, faster, more accurate scrolling and pinching (although HTC Sense wasn't too shabby).
2. The Display (but again...the Evo's screen looks good, too).
3. Customization has its price...Android menu system isn't as intuitive (not a huge minus, I must admit).
4. Maneuvering around the address book/contacts list was murder. I recall especially missing the ability to go from the A's to the Z's with the touch of a finger.
5. iPhone 4's unified email inbox wins....no contest. Android doesn't have one, and the best 3rd party app I found was second rate at best.
6. Evo battery life SUCKED.
7. Constantly killing apps to try and improve #6.
8. Did I mention that battery life thing?
9. I missed the integration with iTunes.
10. Wasn't crazy about 4G. Takes much too long to find a signal, then when it finds one, it is to the battery as a 70's muscle car to a gallon of gas. I just kept it turned OFF. Didn't need it anyway. Sprint's 3G, where I live, is considerably faster than AT&T's.

I found the apps stores to be a wash. Unlike many, many iPhone fans, I'm not starry-eyed over the App Store. I think that 250,000 apps, or half a million, or whatever the count is today, is a few hundred thousand too many. I found an equivalent on the Android Marketplace (Market? I forgot already) for everything I actually used on the iPhone. YMMV.

I liked the Evo. I think Sprint's combo plan for it is truly remarkable, and no one has it beat, certainly not AT& (cough) T. It's a good enough phone that I might've kept it, despite the fact that the iPhone 4 beats it on my own list, if I could have broken the AT&T umbilical chord. For reasons of my wife's, though, that turned out not to be possible.

Hope this helps.
 
just don't forget to carry 3 extra batteries!! :D:D I returned mine within a week due to the horrible battery life. good luck to you
 
Personally had thought about this as well. As much as I hate Sprint, I considered jumping ship for the EVO instead of the iPhone 4.

After playing with it in the store, I was amazed (LITERALLY) how the battery drained 4-5% in the 10 minutes I played with it. The hardware features on this phone as well as some of the other Droid OS phones are real nice. BUT, it seems to my like either Droid/HTC/Motorola or whoever, tried to put too many things on the phone which sucks the battery life. While I do carry external batteries for my IP4, having to charge once every 3-4 hours is a nuisance to say the least. Wasn't too impressed with the Droid OS as it wasn't as snappy as the iOS on my IP4.

From a hardware perspective, the EVO wins. But in terms of the whole package, it can't hold a flame to the IP4 I think. Glad I stuck with the IP4 and no inklings of every going to another phone maker in the future.
 
I bought a Samsung "Captivate" before I got my now ip4. I had it 3 days. I had to charge it 3 times during that length of time. I quickly returned to my ATT store and went home and ordered a ip4. The ip4 is so much more intuitive compared to the complexing OS in the Captivate. Loved the bright screen and all the little added features but getting to these features you almost had to use the internal GPS to get there. Again, battery life was atrocious. I should have never attempted to switch from the Iphone. :apple:
 
Thanks for the responses...this is really helpful.

BTW...I pretty much have to charge my iPhone 4 every night...
 
you'll probably have to charge the evo more than the iphone with the same amount of usage. give it a try if you really like it, you can always return if you don't like it
 
DO IT!

I miss the android system so much since moving back to iOS.

The widget system is awesome, and yes the marketplace isn't as good as the appstore, but it's getting there.

If I were living in the states, I'd probably jump ship and get a Incredible/Evo. Some very solid devices from HTC.

I recently sold my Nexus one and about 1 week of using the iphone i started regretting my decision lol. go give android a try, it's a very slick and well done operating system. oh and if you have a gmail account, it just works so beautifully together.
 
JasonR said:
So I was really happy with my iPhone 4...until some friends got the Evo. WOW. Such an impressive phone with SO many features. Then he tells me he has an unlimited plan (unlimited data/texts/4g/minutes) for $110 a month! I end up paying $100 a month for unlimited data/texts and 450 minutes. I can sell my iPhone 32 GB, pay the ETF Fee, buy the Evo, and stick some money in my pocket.

The freedom and ease of use of the Droid OS is incredible. Makes the iPhone look archaic. I am NOT bashing the iPhone at all, I love it. But...it doesn't seem to make sense when looking at what the Evo/Sprint has to offer.
Click to expand...

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