Evo acid test - work day, hard use, battery life, issues, etc

[TheBundo]

Since this site was down, I ended up posting this elsewhere, here it is:

Today, I went to work with both the Evo and the TP2, and it involved over 100 miles of travel, and a large amount of videos shot with the Evo's camcorder and emailed.

There are a lot of observations I made about the Evo, both good and bad, so here goes, in no particular order:

I started with both phones charged fully, and I ran the Evo down to 1% battery in 8 hours. The TP2 was at 45% by that time. HOWEVER, how I used the Evo was rather punishing. I took 10 videos with the Evo, totaling just shy of 50 MB's, and emailed them to customers, etc. I only took 1 little video with the TP2, and it was only 1.5 MB. I used the Evo phone for 4 minutes, the TP2 for 10 minutes.

On the 50 MB's of videos I took, after sending them, I then forwarded them to myself, so 100 MB total upload. To forward them, I had to go to the Sent box, and instead of just forwarding, I first had to upload the video from Gmail. That never happened with the TP2, but I was using Yahoo for all sending on the TP2. The attachment would always still be there. Not so on Gmail, or I presume that is the issue (Gmail), and not the Evo's issue per se. So I had to download all 50 MB's, one email at a time, just to forward it, and then when it came to my mailbox, another 50 MB's, so 100 MB's download as well as upload. However, I only got to about 80 MB on the downloading before I hit the 1% on the battery level. I also forwarded the 1 little video I took on the TP2 to myself, so 3MB total upload on the TP2, and 100MB on the Evo. On the download side, all 50MB also came to the TP2's Inbox, and downloaded without intervention by me (unlike the Evo).

On the TP2, there was 2 outgoing texts, and one incoming, and on the Evo, 1 outgoing only. I don't think the texting was a factor at all. I didn't have Bluetooth or any other radio other than the phone on at all, on either phone, all day.

As far as incoming mail, the Evo falls short in the attachments area. I have it set to download all attachments, with no size limit, just like on the TP2 (and both on Gmail). Yet, I always had to click on attachments, and then hit the download arrow (then a little spinning clock replaces the down arrow). The TP2 downloaded all 50 MB's automatically. But what is worse on the Evo, if you don't stay in that mail while the downloading is taking place, it aborts the download (not just suspends it). You have to start all over. You can't hit the back arrow, open another email, and start the downloading on that attachment. Leaving the 1st page at all aborts the download totally, even going to the homepage, or switching tasks. On some emails, the videos were about 10 MB, so that meant quite a wait without being able to do anything else. Disappointing, for something that should have happened automatically, without even having to push a download arrow. The TP2 wins hands down on this one.

Going through one familiar road that always turns the screen on with the TP2, it never happened with the Evo, but happened 7 times with the TP2. Switching to Roaming, or whatever else triggers the TP2 (and Mogul, maybe all the Windows phones) to turn the screen on and sometimes get buttons pressed in the pocket or holster, simply doesn't happen with the Evo. Evo wins this one.

The main difference in battery life obviously was all the video and emailing. I don't think the TP2 would have lasted that long with that load. Consider that it's battery was at 45% when the Evo hit 1%, and the TP2 had to deal with only 1/4th of the data load (200MB's up/down for the Evo, 50MB's for the TP2), plus all the time spent shooting the video, addressing the email and writing the messages that went with each one, etc.

Also, on the Evo, you can't specify where on the SD Card that you save attachments. On the TP2, Mogul, etc., you can specify a directory. For instance, when I get a PDF file, I put it in a directory called, PDF, same for videos, photos, cab files, etc. The way the Evo saves, say for instance, a video you took called VIDEO0007.3gp that is saved after you shoot it as "SDCARD/DCIM/100MEDIA/VIDEO0007.3gp", is saved when you download it as an attachment, in the Download directory. You have no choice, and have to use a file explorer to move it where you want it to be. True, there may be a hack to change directories, but is there a hack to let you choose with each and every attachment you want to download? TP2 wins on this issue, so far.

[Ticklemepinks]

great!!! thanks

[tool2269]

both batteries are 1500 mah right? that attachement email issue sounds annoying, maybe it can be fixed though.

[WarChild]

if I remember correctly the TP2's battery sucked big time for the first few weeks untill it was conditioned.




CW

[sikclown]

I knew I recognized your name over in the other forum

[ubigred]

Thanks ...that "download n stay? problem can be annoying. Hopefully I can just stick to Yahoo mail.

[madoc]

8 hours isn't too bad considering the punishment you gave it - were you on 4G or 3G for the sending of those videos?

[jrob]

Very thorough test sir!!! Learn a lot!!!

[nico4k]

no offense, but it seems you are new to android. the attachments are automatically configured to download to the SD card (you can change that, by going to menu (while in the mailbox), more, settings, and all the settings are for that specific email account/gmail will be available. I have noticed that android seems to be a battery jog on the Hero (which by the way, has a 1500mah battery)...

[staciedaisy]

i'll take 8 hours!! I can't wait to test and see how long the battery lasts!!