The Sprint HTC EVO 4G Review

97 Comments

View All Comments

• JimmiG - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

  Amazing how expensive plans are over there compared to where I live.
  
  I have unlimited data at 6Mb/s and make calls for the equivalent of 5 cents a minute. That costs $26 a month (plus the cost for any calls or texts). There are cheaper alternatives if you only need 1GB or 5GB of data month. Sure, there's no subsidized phone included, but I just bought an unlocked HTC Desire (~Nexus One), it costs about the same as a high-end netbook.
  
  Over 24 months I pay maybe half of the quoted prices, one-time cost of phone included.

• chriscusano - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

  Where is there?

• DigitalFreak - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

  Considering he's getting 6Mb/s, I'd have to assume somewhere in Europe. :-)

• JimmiG - Thursday, July 1, 2010 - link

  I'm in Sweden which is why I was even more surprised. Everything tends to be more expensive here, not cheaper.
  
  Another operator offers 1GB/month at 6Mb/s for $9 a month and 5GB/month at 10Mb/s for $16 a month. But I choose unlimited data over the higher speed since stuff like HD video is kind of pointless on a 3.7" screen.
  
  Of course you don't always get those speeds. Some 3G areas, especially in rural areas, don't support HSDPA so you only get 384Kb/s. But most built-up areas have at least 2Mb speeds and the entire city where I live offers the full bandwidth.

• strikeback03 - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link

  So what would it cost for about 1500 minutes, 6000 SMS, and 200 MMS?

• Gamingphreek - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

  Anand,
  
  I have found SIGNIFICANT performance and battery improvements in using LauncherPro by Federico Carnales on my HTC Hero <www.launcherpro.com>. I would be interested to hear if you notice the same thing.
  
  Additionally, while it is only for root users, Autokiller is a terrific application for modifying the Android's preset memory limits.
  
  Finally, regarding internet use, Dolphin Browser HD 2 is head and shoulders above the stock browser in every aspect. You may consider trying and seeing if that makes a difference in the browsing tests.
  
  Great review regardless, but as a long time Android user, I have found these to make a significant positive impact on my overall experience with the device.
  
  I know adding different applications to review can get out of hand very quickly, but is there any chance we might hear about your experience with some of these aforementioned applications?
  
  Thanks,
  -Kevin

• chriscusano - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

  Hey great thoughts. Well I don't have an android myself, but maybe you guys might want to consider writing up an article (after official 2.2 release I'm thinking) with a phone "fully optimized" using some of the best (and cheapeast/free) apps out there. I think a phone with these apps will be sigificantly better than a stock phone. It's *almost* like comparing an oem computer out of the box to a customized computer (with a few performance tweaks). All serious computer users as well have their own customized setups that make their experience much, much better than a standard one (choice of web browser w/ addons/extensions, cutomized start bar, useful desktop gadgets, etc). Truly the experience can be totally different when things are customized. I'd image the same is the case with a phone like this.
  
  Also, man I've been looking for some VOIP 4G tests. Help me out guys! I may try to downsize to one internet carrier for home and phone but my major concern is I NEED VOIP for work. Can 4G cut it if the signal strength is strong (from a static location)? Does tethering via USB to the computer affect internet speeds? If so, how is VOIP from the computer when tethering via USB? Anyone? Anand ? :)
  
  -Chris

• Gamingphreek - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link

  I have an HTC Hero, so I'll have to run all the tests over before I do it with the apps, but I would be more than happy to run a couple tests and send in a short little article for Anand's consideration. I can post it in the forums too just for general knowledge.
  
  My undergraduate research prior to my graduation this past May was on the Android OS (More specifically how secure it was from an IT Security perspective).

• Impulses - Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - link

  There's a ton of things you can do to optimize battery life, from alternate launchers, to custom ROMs, to simply configuring the stock sync settings for the various accounts. Something Anand made no mention of, and it's one of the more obvious tweaks, the stock settings are actually pretty poor if you wanna preserve battery life but they're easy to change from 2-4 hours to 8 hours or daily or w/e.
  
  The latter alone made a difference for me, but some of the custom ROMs and such make a very very noticeable difference as well. It's really quite amazing what some of the user devs come up with, it puts Google/HTC's stock builds to shame. I've no idea if the iPhone jailbreak community delves into that kind of low-level optimization but the stuff they're doing on Android's end is awesome.

• misaki - Monday, June 28, 2010 - link

  Froyo is now getting rolled out officially, so I hope you guys will include it in your browsing comparisons since the speed gains are so drastic ;)