[amw1972]

I jumped off the WinMo ship since the EVO launched. I also came from a line of HTC WinMo phones...Mogul, TouchPro, TouchPro2.

the transition is not as painful as I thought it might be. For every function/app that you had in your WinMo devices (old school)...you can find comparable OR better alternatives for Android. I say old school, because WM7 does NOT support the older WinMo structures...

aman pretty much answered your questions...but I have the following to add:

3) Android ROMs and WinMo ROMs can't really be compared...especially because you're talking about a couple of diff WinMo flavors at a time (6.5 and 6.5.x) From there...you add in the Sense ROMs...the Titanium ROMs...SPB MS ROMs...etc...you get the picture. In Android...it really basically boils down to Sense? or AOSP (Android Open Source Project) (vanilla Android) Take a look at the upgrade sections here and also give XDA a look-see and I'm sure you'll be able to find the different ROMs that are out there. As for looks and feel...I've found that Android ROMs are mostly easily customized. As for dropping TouchWiz from the Samsung device...its pretty much like dropping Sense off an HTC device...you mentioned adding Froyo and dropping TouchWiz. Let me clear things up a little: Froyo is the code name for Android 2.2 (similar to the different ver of WM 6.5 and WM6.5.3) If i"m not mistaken, the Epic ships with 2.1 which should give you good functionality...BUT...I feel that 2.2 is head and shoulders better than 2.1.

As for Windows Phone 7...I think that's a personal choice whether you want to wait it out. It will be a new "big" thing when it comes out...we won't know if it'll be a game changer until people have a chance to truly utilize the device before the general consensus can be made. This is probably more of a Andoid/Google vs WinMo/Microsoft decision altogether.

If you're already planning on rooting your phone and flashing custom ROMs...then I think it really boils down to hardware between the two devices. AMOLED screen and a keyboard vs the sleek and slim form factor for the EVO. I came from keyboards...and I thought I'd have a hard time without one. EVO's screen is SOOOO big that the keyboard is roomy...going without the k/b was a non issue. Besides...if you use Swype...you won't want an actual keyboard afterwards.

Note that the EVO's already has a good dev base out now...there are quite a few very stable and fast ROMs out by established chefs/devs (Cyanogen, OMJ, Fresh to name a few)

IF you like the Epic's form factor...you'll have to take the chance for whether or not the dev base grows for that phone. If you choose the EVO, you know that there is a pretty solid and large dev base out there already.

Hope my ramblings help you out in your process on picking a new device!!!