Sprint's New Powerhouse

[LMITOUT]

Did anybody catch the announcement by Sprint at CTIA today? They unveiled a new phone called the EVO that looks pretty amazing and is packed with features.

It is made by HTC, runs Android 2.1, Snapdragon 1 GHz processor, WiFi, two cameras one of which is 8 MP, Bluetooth, HDTV, HDMI port, 4.3" screen, digital compass, and 4G.

Granted 4G isn't available in most areas right now, but that was another big announcement today. They are rolling it out in the major cities and Minneapolis was one of them. The claim that 4G is 10x faster than 3G and is going to allow streaming of HD movies. With their 3G/4G "Overdrive" mobile hotspot device you can jack up your wimpy iPhone download speeds in 4G areas.

The EVO is due for release this summer and I'm almost tempted to drop my Blackberry Tour for this device, but a lot can change between now and then and Blackberry may FINALLY have something that will rival the EVO by then. Even if they don't have something comparable it'll be hard to give up the physical keyboard of my BB and the BB Messenger function. Once you go Blackberry you never go back!

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Unfortunately, Sprint's coverage is not good up north.

[Central Bassman]

Unfortunately, Sprint's coverage is not good up north.

Enough Said

[Nick Kuhn]

Good enough around where I need it, plus Sprint is dirt cheap for me. Probably wait until January to upgrade to a 4G device.

[upnorth]

So far for the north eastern part of the state, AT&T has the best coverage, but Verizon is starting to get better.

[LMITOUT]

Unfortunately, Sprint's coverage is not good up north.

Glad I never go up there! j/k.

Works everywhere that I need it....great in fact. Sprint is the best bang for the buck network as far as coverage, options, and cost. Well, unless you live in the sticks, but then again what company is good there anyway? A dead zone is a dead zone.

Like Nick said, it's dirt cheap and it works for me. But as with everything, what's works for me might not necessarily work for someone else and vice versa.

I'm excited to see more hands-on reports with this device. It looks a little bigger than an iphone or the Google Nexus One (which Sprint is also getting) so that is somewhat of a negative unless you must have the extra large screen. I read one report that said it's basically a computer that fits in your pocket when referring to the processor speed and other bells and whistles.

[muddpuppy]

I have Sprint and when I go to the lake in the summer sprint is the only vcarrier that gets good reception all the time. So I think it may depend on where you go! Also if your plans are dirt cheap you must not have a data plan or you have much deeper pockets

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Cell phones are like boats - you want them big during use, but small when not.

I hate a phone that stresses my pocket seams. But one like that could make me a believer.

[bigbad401]

I have never had an issue with Sprint where ever I go. I go up north quite a bit,whether it is the Thief River Falls area or north of Duluth or around the Deer River area. Seems like my sister-in-law has more issues with her AT&T than I do with my Sprint.

[LMITOUT]

Can't believe it's been over two months since the EVO was announced and it finally goes on sale this Friday.

I think I might do it.

<William Shatner voice> The urge..is....too strong.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

if you do it, I expect a full on-going report

[LMITOUT]

I'd be more than happy to, but getting my hands on one tomorrow isn't looking to good right now.

[LMITOUT]

Got it. #8 at the Sprint store in St Cloud this morning. Got there shortly before 7am and the store opened at 8. About a dozen or so were there when the doors opened.

Still trying to get used to the virtual keyboard and the Android OS. The phone is as fast as they say it is when navigating through the different screens, etc.

[LMITOUT]

So far so good. One of the biggest changes coming from a BB has been the virtual keyboard, but after running the touch calibration it seems to be better already. I also turned the predictive text off which was driving me crazy.

I've migrated all of my contacts and calendar entries to my Google account which really brings everything together and merges my online and wireless worlds together quite nicely. Now whatever I do on my PC will be reflected on my phone and vice versa. I know that could be done with the BB but so far it seems to be cleaner with the Android OS. It should be, since Google designed it.

Other than the challenge of getting used to a new OS, everything has been good. The rendering of web pages is fantastic and BB couldn't get close to what Android can do, even with third party browsers such as Opera and Bolt.

Then there's the apps. So many free apps to choose from and good ones too. With the open source attitude that Google employs, app developers are really jumping on the Android freight train......and jumping ship from Apple and BB.

Blackberry makes a great device and has for years, but they are behind when it comes to their OS. They have the 6.0 OS coming soon but they better hope its comparable to Android because i saw an internet poll that showed 36% of the people buying an EVO were currently BB users. Thats alot considering how loyal BB users typically are.

[deadeye]

Glad to hear its working out well!

The OS takes a bit to get used too but its so nice when you get it figured out. The sync between the PC and phone is sweet. It is fantastic that when you buy a app it is yours even if you loose your phone. You just sync your new phone with your Google account and all your stuff is back. So sweet!

How is the display and battery life for you?

[LMITOUT]

The display is nice but it's too early to say about the battery life since I've really been working the phone hard since yesterday. When things settle down to everyday pace we'll see how it compares to the BB which was great.

One thing I'm not impressed with so far is the camera. Indoors where there is so-so ambient light it's really grainy. Outside it's not too bad. I'm going to try lowering the settings from 8 megapixel to see if that helps.

Having a "profiles" manager on the BB was nice for changing your notifications. I could hold the 'Q' key on the keyboard and that would put it into vibrate only (quiet mode). Even without the keyboard shortcut, there was a tool to set the notification profile that you wanted for the location you were in. This would set every app on the phone that used notifications to whatever you wanted. Very flexible. Not so much with the Android. Maybe there's an app for that.

[deadeye]

The Beautiful Widgets app has a 1 touch widget for setting vibrate and quiet that you can place on your home screen.

It also has a setup for a home screen widget that looks like the HTC Sense with weather, time, and calendar. Personally I really like the HTC Sense one so that is why I bought the app (I got a Droid). However, I have been using the quiet, vibrate, wifi and brightness Widgets a lot and found them to be wonderful.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

You scored one... good for you! Enjoy it

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

EVO update? How do you like it so far?

[LMITOUT]

Still happy about the decision. There are things that I like about my BB as far as pure function is concerned (exactly what BB's are known for), but Android gets the nod in overall experience so far.

The battery life is a little shaky but I'm always messing around with it so we'll see if it gets better as the "newness" of the EVO wears off. I have no doubt it won't touch a BB when it comes to a battery life competition. A BB has battery management down to an art, although the EVO/Android has a lot of extras that are always pulling data to keep updated......things such as news, staying connected with various social tools like Facebook, various Google apps, etc. With other devices you have to open the program and then it updates, whereas the apps in Android that I mentioned are always "on" in a sense and will update at user defined time periods. I've since shut off that data polling on the apps I rarely use to help with the battery life. It doesn't bother me to wait a few seconds for the app to update if I need to use it, so might as well save some juice for the other 95% of the time that I'm not using it.

The library of apps available is crazy. I spend a fair amount of time checking out apps so that doesn't help the battery life either. So many good apps that are FREE, games too.

The Android browser renders webpages perfectly and it's a breeze to use the web, almost to the point of not needing a PC with the large screen the EVO has. With the BB it was find the info you needed and then that was enough, but with the EVO I've found myself doing more "surfing" as it isn't as painful since you're not restricted to mobile websites.

I'm getting better at typing and probably further ahead than I thought I would be at this point. Once again, I believe that the large screen is a major factor in that, allowing for larger on-screen keys. Landscape mode will make the keys even larger and more spread out, but I'd rather not have rotate the phone back and forth all the time. The BB had fairly small keys on it's physical keyboard but I could punch out text pretty quick. I think it's because I could leave my fingers on the keys in between typing, just like a keyboard, so I didn't have to look down to find my starting point and I could just go again.

So, I suppose the main concern at this point is battery life but other than that the EVO is a beast. We'll see how it goes.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

How is it in the pocket? To big?

[jac714]

If your EVO is anything like my Hero (same Mfgr, same carrier) the best you can hope out og the battery is about 8 to 9 hours, make sure you have a mobile chager, if (like my Hero) it uses a mini usb connector Spring has a 115vac/12vdc home/car charger.

I love the phone, but the battery life is its major weakness.

Great apps, many are free and the ones that aren't are not too expensive.

[Big Dave2]

Works everywhere that I need it....great in fact. Sprint is the best bang for the buck network as far as coverage, options, and cost. Well, unless you live in the sticks, but then again what company is good there anyway? A dead zone is a dead zone.

You must work for Sprint! I've never seen anyone stick up for a phone company more than you!

[LMITOUT]

I just call it like it is.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I've probably hit F5 at least 500 times today on the Sprint site hoping that I'll get lucky and catch a new shipment before they sell out again. Minus battery life issues (which there seems to be a fix for) these sound like the real deal. I'll also be leaving BB, but after 2+ years with various models, it's time for something new!