Brontoforumus Archive
Discussion Boards => Real Life => Topic started by: Brentai on June 04, 2010, 10:42:41 PM
-
I get the feeling that people around here may have a passing interest in stating their opinion of things. Well, have I got a topic for you!
Except I'm going to start off by actually issuing a request, not an opinion. Has anybody got their grubby little hands on an HTC EVO already? It seems a little unlikely especially considering I'm the only Sprint fanatic here, but I figure it's worth asking since I naturally trust random people on the internet more than I do professional technicians.
And in case you missed it in the other thread: I like Sprint because it doesn't suck like T-Mobile, rape you in the back pocket like Verizon, and, uh, if you are seriously considering AT&T for any reason other than the iPhone then you need to be smacked firmly in the back of the head.
-
For Android phones on Sprint, I have been using a Samsung Moment. It's not the fanciest Android on the market but it has got eight hundred meg of hurts, and it works rather well. It ships with an absolutely unaltered vanilla Android system, which, according to the reviews I looked into before purchasing, is the only mark against it, as it is otherwise a competent and useful device. Well, that and AMOLED displays are total ass in direct sunlight. On the plus side, it's got a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that feels pretty damn good.
I have no idea how it stacks up versus the HTC EVO, which is newer. Figure you head down to a phone retailer and see how they feel, then compare stat sheets.
Edit: well, it seems the EVO's the only 4G phone in the universe right now, so if that's what you're after, you don't have much choice.
-
I toyed around with a buddy's and I really liked it. I have a nerd boner for HTC but damn, It's a good looking phone and everything was smooth and fast. No idea about how good of a PHONE it is though. Didn't spend more than a minute or so with it.
-
I played around with the demo model in the store for a bit yesterday after work. I think it's an incredible phone if you can handle a software keyboard. I'm one of those knuckle draggers who's not ready to transition from a physical keyboard - yet the Evo is so good I may have to switch. It is a beautiful piece of technology.
Maybe next paycheck. I need to replace my G1 pretty badly at this point. It's starting to fall apart.
-
I played around with the demo model in the store for a bit yesterday after work. I think it's an incredible phone if you can handle a software keyboard. I'm one of those knuckle draggers who's not ready to transition from a physical keyboard - yet the Evo is so good I may have to switch. It is a beautiful piece of technology.
Maybe next paycheck. I need to replace my G1 pretty badly at this point. It's starting to fall apart.
This is basically exactly how I feel, except I haven't had a chance to go down to a store to play with one yet. Also I need to figure out how to move from a G1 on T-Mobile to an Evo on Sprint without paying a hefty termination fee, since my contract doesn't end until next summer.
-
I'm trying to get an accurate report on its battery life, because that's something that's simultaneously my only real reservation and an absolute dealbreaker.
Consensus is that if you don't give a shit what carrier you're on, Verizon's Droid Incredible might be a better choice, but if you're on Sprint and have a couple Benjamins then there's no excuse not to have the Goliath Phone.
-
I'm banking that by the time I'm ready to upgrade to 4g, it'll be large enough to justify the expense. For now, my next phone will probably be the HTC Incredible.
-
With moderate 3g use anda couple phone calls I can go about 36 hours without a charge on a relatively new Nexus One.
-
I'm trying to get an accurate report on its battery life, because that's something that's simultaneously my only real reservation and an absolute dealbreaker.
Evo is not for you, then. It's really bad for battery life.
Gizmodo:
If only the battery was a fuel cell, powered by ambition. It might be up to the task of powering this juggernaut.
My main phone at the moment is a Nexus One, so I'm pretty familiar with managing Android to make it through the day. It's oddly a struggle to make the Evo last that long—on a weekend, I had to recharge by 2pm—and I had 4G turned off. Expect to plug this thing in at work before you go out at night if you want a phone that isn't dead by your second drink.
-
Well, there goes my advice. Kind of embarassing for the Evo.
-
Man, geez... I can remember when you'd get a week's charge out of a new phone, easily.
[grandpa simpson image macro goes here]
-
Tried a demo of it at Best Buy, and hated it.
For one thing, it's pretty lol xbawks hueg. To put this in perspective, I didn't actually have a problem with the X-Box controller, and I think this thing is horribly proportioned. While this does make for a really nice looking screen, the simple fact of the matter is I want a cell phone - a device that can easily go in and out of my pocket and make some goddamned calls. If I wanted a oversized portable computer, I hear Apple's come out with something like that.
Secondly, it's virtual keyboard only, which drives me knucking futs. It's actually the major complaint I leverage against the iPhone, too, which has got me roped into bitter diatribes from fanatics about how a real keyboard isn't that important... ones who mysteriously refuse to use their phones for text, and when absolutely forced to type on them end up doing so awkwardly with embarrassed comments. As you might have noticed, I type a fucking lot, so it's kind of important to me.
Third, HTC's interface is kinda goddamn horrible. I dunno how much of it is Android core and how much of it is customizations, but it's hard to choose an app to run without accidentally starting one.
And fourth of course is the fact that the demo unit was conspicuously attached to a huge goddamned power supply. If a phone is going to shut itself off halfway through the workday then it's pretty terrible at its core function: being a god damned telephone.
All of these issues are workable and you can get used to it, but damn it, if I only get to upgrade once a year it'd better be an upgrade that I can live with for a year. Trading in my Blackberry for a brick just to impress my coworkers seems like the sort of shallow Joneses bullshit I've spent my life trying to avoid. So my basic decision wasn't so much "fuck this" as "wait to see what kind of Sprint Android comes next". For what it's worth I thought the Samsung Moment was pretty awesome but I'm sure if I hang on they'll roll out a 4G one with a better battery*, at which point I can pounce on it like a single mother at an Adam Lambert concert.
* Which is the Samsung Intercept due out next month, supposedly. I can wait a single month.
-
And fourth of course is the fact that the demo unit was conspicuously attached to a huge goddamned power supply. If a phone is going to shut itself off halfway through the workday then it's pretty terrible at its core function: being a god damned telephone.
In the phone's defense here, mine will only last about two hours if I really fuck with it (what people would do all day in a store), but if I let some standard background stuff go and only use it for calls / texts / IMs then it lasts a full day.
-
It's also worth mentioning that battery life ALWAYS degrades noticeably once the phone is worn in. It's one thing to be okay with having to charge your phone every night, but if a brand new battery only powers the phone for a full day to begin with, that's not going to wash once you've had the thing for six months. You need to start out with a lifespan of AT LEAST 2-3 days.
-
It's also also worth mentioning that you can counteract that and greatly stabilize the life of a battery by fully charging it, then letting it drain completely dry, a couple of times as soon as you get it. At least, this is what I have been told, and having done it to my phone the battery tends to be good for long periods of heavy use.
Is it possible to get rid of HTC Sense on a phone that has it, or is that just built into the Android install?
-
This review at ubergizmo.com (http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/06/evo-4g-review.html) - no clue about how reputable a site that is - offers some hard numbers for Evo battery life that seem extremely positive. They do revolve around a more practical "Put the power control widget on there, don't turn shit like GPS or Wifi on until you actually intend to use them" approach, rather than just leaving everything running and sitting there with a stopwatch.
I've also seen it said that the HTC Calendar program that's part of Sense is a huge battery drain. Also a flickr sync thing. And if those are pared back in settings, you start seeing much improved battery life.
-
As far as Android phones go, the GPS is already an on-demand thing. May be worth it to toggle Bluetooth on and off, but if you're toggling off auto-sync then the phone's really not being all that useful for a smartphone.
-
It's also also worth mentioning that you can counteract that and greatly stabilize the life of a battery by fully charging it, then letting it drain completely dry, a couple of times as soon as you get it. At least, this is what I have been told, and having done it to my phone the battery tends to be good for long periods of heavy use.
Is it possible to get rid of HTC Sense on a phone that has it, or is that just built into the Android install?
This helps. Good battery management through the life of the phone (same behaviour - letting it drain to empty then fully charging it, also not overcharging it) also helps. But none of those is a 100% cure. There will always be some degradation over time, so starting out of the gate with a battery that already only barely meets your needs when new is still a bad idea.
-
Man, geez... I can remember when you'd get a week's charge out of a new phone, easily.
(http://cabronias.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/88130-26709-grampa-simpson_large.jpg)
-
I dunno what crazy universe some of you are using droids in but I used mine to play poker and view the internet whilst also being in IRC on an 18 hour trip to Texas and it was only 45% charged when I got there despite almost constant use, except a dry pocket in Missouri where NO PHONES HAVE SERVICE, and a place in Arkansas where I couldn't use data for about 35 minutes, I didn't sleep the whole time because James doesn't let people sleep in the car if he's driving... But this isn't the thread to bitch about that.
Still, having it at home, since I'm back to having a computer it lasts like 7-10 days without being charged just being used as a text/phone. Still, I don't answer my phone I screen calls and call people back, so it gets less phone use than it SHOULD and I only send about 10 texts a day... BUUUT, James used to work as a phone guy at alltel/verizon so he did all the set up charge, letting it run dry and then charging it to full and stuff to get the battery going good. I dunno if that matters. Also, my driod is just your clunky old base droid. Not one of the newer ones.
-
I didn't sleep the whole time because James doesn't let people sleep in the car if he's driving.
:wat:
-
A phone running android is different than a droid. A first-gen droid specifically has a processor almost half as powerful as the Nexus One, for example, which obviously can have a pretty large swing on battery life.
-
I didn't sleep the whole time because James doesn't let people sleep in the car if he's driving.
:wat:
The front passenger seat in my car is for the co-pilot/navigator. Its not a fuckin' lounge chair.
-
that is a crazy person thing to do to somebody in a car with you.
-
I didn't sleep the whole time because James doesn't let people sleep in the car if he's driving.
:wat:
The front passenger seat in my car is for the co-pilot/navigator. Its not a fuckin' lounge chair.
Question. Are you also one of those drivers who considers it rude for passengers to sit in the back if there's room in the front seat?
-
It's funny that you assume his car has a back seat...
Well, what I mean is, his car doesn't have a back seat.
-
I think it's valid. A lot of people complain that people sleeping next to them make them feel drowsier, and that's obviously not something you want to happen to the driver.
Also yeah newer phones use a shitload more power because doing stupid crap like streaming 720p video over a cell modem line does not imply a lazy processor.
-
That's actually the case. When you're driving for 18 hours, watching someone sleep next to you is a lot less 'keep you awake' than conversation and bullshitting can be. I don't force him to stay awake or just bitch if he doesn't. (well, ok. I would if he fell asleep) We talk and have a good time in order to allow me to stay awake as comfortably as possible. This has always been the situation at hand because he can't drive and so he's always taken up this mantle.
Also I consider it absolutely rude that someone would expect you to drive them someplace and then sleep the whole way while you're required to be awake and driving.
-
I'd consider it absolutely rude to demand that all passengers remain absolutely awake at all times, even on a long drive or a drive that leaves early. I live near DC - if I'm getting up and driving a long distance, I leave at 7 to get out before rush hour. Demanding that a passenger not only get up that early but also stay awake the entire time is just bananas.
-
Hospitality is a complex set of mutual obligations about which few universal inferences can be made. Host (driver) and guest (passenger) both must consider what's best for each other and for the trip. Ultimately, the driver has the privilege and responsibility of taking the safety and comfort of the passengers into his own capable hands, but the passengers are in turn obligated to do what is necessary to minimize the burden.
Most important is that the parties involved come to an accepted and pleasant agreement, however peculiar it might seem to outsiders. Since every guest is a stranger at some point, it's often helpful to lay down some ground rules in advance.
-
Hospitality is a simple thing.
If you don't like the driver's rules, start walking.
-
I said passenger seat, not every seat in the damn car. If you want to sleep, sit in the back. (it just so happens that my current car doesn't have back seats.)
-
Anyway, phones.
-
I have a blackberry storm2. The battery life is a little light, but its not bad because I mostly just use it as a phone that can also help me not be lost if I am lost while driving.
-
On the subject of
Reviews You Can Use!
I might as well ask here: Does anyone have first hand experience with DJ Hero? I've always had a passing interest in Music games - I own Rock Band 2 for 360, for example - but never got into the instruments involved for some reason.
Does anyone own the game? Played it extensively before? I was looking into getting the Renegade edition at a nearby store that's been sitting on the shelf for some time now.
-
I was actually interested in it myself, though I just recently downloaded the soundtrack and about 80% of the mashups are really forgettable.
Bongo Bill has a legal pad filled with car ride contracts on hand at all times should he pick up any hitchhikers.
I need a phone and internet for the new apartment. I think we have Rogers, Telus, and Aliant in the area. Who should I go with if I'm looking for unlimited internet but only the most basic phone service?
-
Rogers, Telus, and Aliant
... Don't you live in Ontario? :wat:
-
No.
Maybe you have me confused with Büge?
I live in New Brunswick.
-
Haven't you ever wondered why there's no candid pictures of teg and I drunkenly making out?
-
No, not at all.
-
Also, I'm gonna' be in the market for a TV soon. I plan on finally making the jump to high-definition, but I want something that'll basically let me plug anything into it. I have consoles here that use RF input, if that's even still viable.*
I'm basically limited to what the stores have at the time, but I'd still appreciate recommendations if anyone has any.
*If not, does anyone know where I can get an original XBox RCA cable or a spare one of those RCA cables Nintendo's used for every system since the SNES?
-
Here (http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-AV-Cable-Super/dp/B000035Y6B/ref=pd_sim_vg_3) you go. (snes forward)
Xbox (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-Standard-AV-Cable/dp/B00005R6YX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1275963243&sr=1-1) av cable.
-
Actually, now that I think about it, if I get component cables for my Wii, I'll have that extra RCA cable. So that should be fine.
-
You could also try an Xbox component cable (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-AV-HDTV-Component-Cable/dp/B000F2JUOK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1275967211&sr=1-2). I've got a similar cable (that also has plugs for the 360 and PS2/PS3) on my own Xbox, and while I've never tried it on a television that does better than 480p, it looks considerably sharper.
-
Swung by a store, played with an Evo for 5 minutes. Soon as I can figure out the finances, I'm fucking getting one. Unless that takes long enough that something even better comes along, but I don't think it will.
I've always hated onscreen keyboards, for the difficulty of touch-typing and the loss of viewing area. The Evo's screen is big enough though that the difficulty of typing mostly goes away, and loss of viewing area, while still a problem, is a manageable one. If there exists a way to make the onscreen keyboard a transparent overlay that would be completely awesome.
Right now, the cost of getting an Evo for me would be X+Y-Z, where X is $199, Y is the early termination fee T-Mobile will charge me, and Z is what I can get flogging a used G1 on craigslist. If I can make X+Y-Z get to 0, it's a done deal.
-
My friend at sprint tells me that Sprint has a buyback for certain phones based on age/condition, so take that into account over craigslist.
ETF for Tmobile I believe is somewhere around $150.
-
You could also try an Xbox component cable (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-AV-HDTV-Component-Cable/dp/B000F2JUOK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1275967211&sr=1-2). I've got a similar cable (that also has plugs for the 360 and PS2/PS3) on my own Xbox, and while I've never tried it on a television that does better than 480p, it looks considerably sharper.
I almost exclusively use my XBox to play the Megaman Anniversary Collection. Would it make a huge difference in that case?
-
It would probably be a detriment. I keep a crappy TV and cable on hand for the express purpose of playing older games, because a lot of them were clearly not meant to be displayed on anything better than a composite CRT.
-
So when the Nexus One came out, I was all excited about the new Google Maps real-time turn-by-turn navigation feature that seemed to basically turn it into a GPS alternative. They even came out with car phone display mounts and such for using it this way and I can't really justify buying both at this time. With these new phones, I don't really see much hype around this, so is it just an assumed standard feature now that works equally well? Does the Nexus One do this better in any regard?
-
Google maps with voiced turn-by-turn navigation is actually a standard for android phones now. It's even on my first-gen G1 on android 1.6. (Highest version these days is 2.2)
-
So, hey, the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch seems like a pretty good investment so far. It works pretty well, seems to do what I want it to. Just... just don't bother downloading the driver off of the disc it comes with. Because it will stop working after one day. Download the driver off of the Wacom's website and save yourself some headache, instead.
-
Mine was fine out of the box and I agree that its a great investment. Love it will draw a lot more when I get home.
-
I used the Nexus One GPS nav all the time when I first got it. The directions have been pretty solid and it's fairly quick to recalculate when you're a dick to it and just keep driving your usual route.
-
Android navigation app is wonderful. The car dock is useful for having the device at your fingertips, but is probably overpriced. When you pop the phone in, the "Car" application pops up, providing big buttons to phone, maps, etc. Also, the dock is its own speaker and microphone. I quite like it, but yeah, too expensive probably.
-
I haven't used the turn-by-turn nav much. I prefer the top-down map, even if it doesn't have GPS instructions.
-
Went to the Sprint store today and played with an Evo for 30 minutes. I was overall very impressed with the phone and although I thought I might find it too bulky in the hand, it wasn't too bad. I could stand for it to be lighter, but it doesn't have the dense brick feeling that a Droid does, IMHO. Played around with apps and such and liked most of what I saw, although I couldn't seem to get the Google Maps navigation to show turn-by-turn instead of just satellite view.
Also, I remembered that I'm a big fan of Google Voice and one of the things I was excited about was getting an Android phone for the extra support the platform provides, which pretty much counts out getting a new iPhone unless it is just phenomenal.
So is there a Netflix app yet for Android? I know FroYo will support Java and thus probably embedded video, so that'll be a fix, but I thought I heard of it coming to either Android and/or iPhone soon. Also looking forward to Hulu, but I'm guessing it'll be a while before Sprint updates to 2.2 after it's release.
4G network was accessible and everything loaded with less than a second or two wait time, including downloading apps. On-screen keyboard was hit or miss, but I have no experience with smartphone virtual keyboards and I'm assuming I'll get better with practice.
So I'm really still pretty bothered about what I've been reading about the battery lives, but I've also heard it's somewhat acceptable with apps and smart energy consumption management. Still, if there was an Android alternative that had the features I'm looking for and had a decent battery life, I'd be all over that thing. Which leads me to my current stance- waiting a month and seeing how things pan out. The iPhone will start to have user reviews by then, the Evo should have been tested enough to get an accurate reading on the pros and cons, and Verizon seems to be coming out with possibly two! Droid models in July, with at least one running Android and including dual cameras and a slider keyboard. Downside to going with a Verizon phone would still be the lack of 4G. =(