EVO vs Epic.. Thinking of Evo, need opinions

[meanfishy]

Since it has been 5 days since the last post, what has happened if anything to change anyone's mind/opinion?

Also I currently have a TP (running Energy ROM), who has had the frame crack/break with the constant opening/closing of the slider. is this a concern of people who have an Epic? the SIP sounds nice BUT my bear paws are a concern as my ring finger is 16.5!!!

Thanks!

[gTen]

Originally Posted by meanfishy

Since it has been 5 days since the last post, what has happened if anything to change anyone's mind/opinion?

Yes, I went from thinking its a cool phone to the best phone in existence lol

Also I currently have a TP (running Energy ROM), who has had the frame crack/break with the constant opening/closing of the slider. is this a concern of people who have an Epic? the SIP sounds nice BUT my bear paws are a concern as my ring finger is 16.5!!!

Thanks!

The mechanism is not as harsh to open and close..so I dont think it should be a problem..but you gotta try it yourself :/

[meanfishy]

Originally Posted by gTen

Yes, I went from thinking its a cool phone to the best phone in existence lol

LOL good to hear!
with that being said I have been reading about upgrading/customizing android OS, it seems it more difficult than the WinMo OS. Is this true? I have been "tweaking" my WinMo since the 6700 Apache so I am sorta familiular with those steps
What tutorial covers the proper steps best for the Android OS? It is good to see the support for the Epic growing as the more it grows the more there are to do with the software.

Originally Posted by gTen

The mechanism is not as harsh to open and close..so I dont think it should be a problem..but you gotta try it yourself :/

Thanks for the input, will play with it and take full advantage of the 30 day trial

[CrozB]

First let me say that I use my phone for: Emails, Texting, Web Surfing, Music (mostly Slacker and Groove Shark), Navigation A LOT (still learning to get around Phoenix), Games (very little). I am always multitasking on the phone switching between Web, Emails, Apps, Music, GPS etc. The most important thing to me is that my phone work and work fast!

With that said I have both the Epic and the Evo sitting in front of me and one of them is about to get sold or returned.
Here are my likes and dislikes for each one:

EVO

· PROs

o Froyo (there are already several apps I enjoy running on my Evo that require Froyo).
o Screen Size
o Large community support
o Kickstand
o Great Alarm Clock with kickstand
o Batteries Type is the same as my wife’s TP2 which he have several extras. This is not that big of a deal since China Batteries and chargers are 2 for $10 on eBay.

· CONs

o Volume on the wrong side. Just personal preference, but years of using the volume on the left side of the phone causes me pause.

· CONs (Possible Deal Killers)

o Bluetooth Quality. Trying several different ROMs I can hardly get more than a couple feet from my EVO without it cutting out. I can’t even keep the phone in my pocket without it cutting in and out.

EPIC

· PROs

o Super Amoled Screen (The Epic is prettier even when the thing is turned off. Turn it on and WOW! Note I prefer dark themes and AMLOED does darks great) I use the phone on my bike as my source of tunes and navigation. I find the Epic screen a bit easier to see as it is a bit less reflective than the Evo.
o Keyboard (Almost as good as the TP2) I find that I use the keyboard less on the epic than the TP2 because swype is good enough for short things. For long emails (work stuff) I almost always slide out the keyboard. Also the hardware keys (Home, Menu, Back) have zero lag (see cons below) and are easy to use.
o Disabling Screen Rotate – I LOVE that I can turn off the auto rotate, then rotate the screen by sliding the keyboard open when I mean/want to.
o Bluetooth range and quality - I can walk anywhere in my house, and even a little ways outside my house without missing a beat.
o Media Dock – I own 2 of these andI like the idea of the media dock though it will not work until Froyo. What I really like is the ability to have the hardware keyboard exposed and usable while docked.
o Camera Quality – Seems just a bit better than the Evo, but not much.
o Camera Button. I love being able to launch the camera from the hardware camera button.

· CONs (Possible Deal Killers)

o These Captive Buttons Suck on the Epic. Not only are they a pain in the ass to see when not backlit, but there lag I experience when pressing the back button from time to time causes me press it again them often close an app I did not mean to . Also when the buttons are lit, they are so bright, they make it next to impossible to use in a dark bedroom.

§ Captive Buttons Testing - Apples to Apples: So to see the epic captive delay, go to your home screen on the Evo and the Epic. Now tap the menu button over and over quickly (maybe 4+ times per sec) 10-20 times. Notice the Evo gets every tap, but the Epic is lucky to acknowledge ½ of them. Also I tested this on my coworkers Moment and her phone scored more touch responses than my Epic, though not as many as my Evo.

o Battery Fully Charged Warning? No $H!+ Sherlock! The battery full message that turns the screen on every time your phone is fully charged, then NOT going away without you pressing OK makes it a useless as an alarm clock (ie when traveling).
o USB/Battery charging port on the top of the phone is not only lame, but is probably a breaking point for someone like me that uses the charger a lot. I use my phone in a vertical position everywhere I drive/ride and the strain on the usb port has got to be huge. In fact, I notice some charging failures on my last ride and I think that port might be getting loose :-O
o SLOW SLOW SLOW, Lag and Hic Ups. Multitasking on the epic is slower for me. The scrolling and the screen response times are hard to get used to coming from my snappier Evo. I don’t know if this is just my unit, the lack of Froyo, or what? I have seen several people say their Epic is faster than then Evo and for me that is just not the case.

Bottom-line.

For me the Epic has more Plus then the Evo, but it also has more Cons and deal killers than the Evo. If I could resolve these issues on my Epic then I would sell the Evo and never look back. But unless the phone is going to do what it is supposed to do when a button is pressed (ie captive needs to respond 100% of the time) the phone is more of a hassle then it is worth.

CrozB
--------------------------------------------

Epic 4G Rom = Epic_Experience_v1.2.00

Evo 4G Rom = cm_supersonic_full-116

[gTen]

Originally Posted by CrozB

o These Captive Buttons Suck on the Epic. Not only are they a pain in the ass to see when not backlit, but there lag I experience when pressing the back button from time to time causes me press it again them often close an app I did not mean to . Also when the buttons are lit, they are so bright, they make it next to impossible to use in a dark bedroom.

There is an option to have them lit as long as the screen is lit

o Battery Fully Charged Warning? No $H!+ Sherlock! The battery full message that turns the screen on every time your phone is fully charged, then NOT going away without you pressing OK makes it a useless as an alarm clock (ie when traveling).

There is a workaround to disable that with root permissions..or you can disable TouchWiz and use another launcher or ASOP and it wont happen.

o SLOW SLOW SLOW, Lag and Hic Ups. Multitasking on the epic is slower for me. The scrolling and the screen response times are hard to get used to coming from my snappier Evo. I don’t know if this is just my unit, the lack of Froyo, or what? I have seen several people say their Epic is faster than then Evo and for me that is just not the case.

You can try using ASOP..it supposedly a lot faster....but yes Froyo should make it a lot smoother with JIT and hardware acceleration.

[CrozB]

Originally Posted by gTen

There is an option to have them lit as long as the screen is lit



There is a workaround to disable that with root permissions..or you can disable TouchWiz and use another launcher or ASOP and it wont happen.




You can try using ASOP..it supposedly a lot faster....but yes Froyo should make it a lot smoother with JIT and hardware acceleration.

Leaving them lit seems to be hit and miss but I will try again. Could have been the ROM. The real issue is the lag in tapping the captive button (especially back) and seeing if they really fire. I will swing by BestBuy tomorrow and see if a replacement phone does the same thing. I can't believe that people can go from the Evo to the Epic and put up with this, so maybe it is just my phone.

Disabling the Battery Warning via root hack? How so? I did a search and found only dead threads? Also I am rooted running ADW as my Launcher so I think TouchWiz is disabled?

Don't want to take this thread off topic. But if I could get these issues resolved (even having to wait for Froyo), I would prefer to keep the Epic over the Evo. I will do some more digging and maybe post questions in the General Forums.

Thanks
CrozB

[orangekid]

I think what puts the Evo over the top for me is this:


1) It's thinner. The Epic is way too fat for me, my HD2 feels so much nicer to hold.

2) It feels like cheap plastic or something. Not sure what's up with that or if it's just me but honestly it feels like a playskool "my first phone"

3) The UI, I love Sense UI, the new version on the Desire HD and the really really awesome myTouch HD (I have been running the ROM today) are really sweet, you can't do that on the Epic. The best you could do would be launcher pro or ADW. TouchWiz just hurts my eyes.

4) The modifications. I know some people claim the Epic will soon have as many ROMs and modifications and stuff as the Evo, but I haven't seen any G2, Desire HD, etc... ROMs for the Epic and don't think I will soon.

Those are the main reasons. I hate the way the Epic looks honestly. These are preferential type reasons and mostly based on opinion, so you just have to keep them in mind when choosing which phone you want.

[pkny]

Originally Posted by orangekid

I think what puts the Evo over the top for me is this:


1) It's thinner. The Epic is way too fat for me, my HD2 feels so much nicer to hold.

2) It feels like cheap plastic or something. Not sure what's up with that or if it's just me but honestly it feels like a playskool "my first phone"

3) The UI, I love Sense UI, the new version on the Desire HD and the really really awesome myTouch HD (I have been running the ROM today) are really sweet, you can't do that on the Epic. The best you could do would be launcher pro or ADW. TouchWiz just hurts my eyes.

4) The modifications. I know some people claim the Epic will soon have as many ROMs and modifications and stuff as the Evo, but I haven't seen any G2, Desire HD, etc... ROMs for the Epic and don't think I will soon.

Those are the main reasons. I hate the way the Epic looks honestly. These are preferential type reasons and mostly based on opinion, so you just have to keep them in mind when choosing which phone you want.

1)
It is a tenth of a inch difference in thickness or 2 mm. People with the Iphone4's consider the EVO to be fat. In todays standard the Epic is a bit chubby but in no way feels thick. I let 12 random people hold my phone at work and no one complained about it being too thick.
Now when they hold my TP or TP2, that is a different story

2)
You kept on saying it feels cheap. What exactly makes it feel cheap? The store demos feel cheap but the real thing feels solid. It is a heavy phone also and the difference between the evo and epic is 0.5oz.
I can squeeze the phone without it making squeaking sounds like my tp and tp2. The epic so far feels like a better built phone then the other products i had. It feels almost as good as my HTC touch.

3)
Well sense UI rocks, took a little getting use too since i had sense like products since it first came out.

4)
I think the EVO will lead the ways for roms and customizations. Everyone who had the touch moved to the tp which moved to the tp2 which moved to the evo. Epic? Not sure how many of the skilled personal moved to the epic.

In terms of looks. This test was done with random people at work with iphone4's, Driod X's and incredibles. with more people having the driod x. Not many folks here with sprint.
Now with the phone off 90% picked the Epic over the evo for looks.
Comments; they like how the front glass looked on the epic. More streamlined and expensive looking.

Now with the phone on with a live wallpaper, 100% picked the Epic over the evo over looks. This was done outside while eating chipole.
Comments; Super Amoled. What more can i say. The Incredibles Amoled looked nothing like the Epics for some reason.

Now here comes the ironic part. If they were to choose a phone, 90% would pick the evo.
Comments; did not need the keyboard and bigger screen is always better.
Iphone4 users were worthless in this question.

In my opinion. No one can pick a bad highend smartphone in this market.

[jimmy82]

Originally Posted by pkny

1)
It is a tenth of a inch difference in thickness or 2 mm. People with the Iphone4's consider the EVO to be fat. In todays standard the Epic is a bit chubby but in no way feels thick. I let 12 random people hold my phone at work and no one complained about it being too thick.
Now when they hold my TP or TP2, that is a different story

2)
You kept on saying it feels cheap. What exactly makes it feel cheap? The store demos feel cheap but the real thing feels solid. It is a heavy phone also and the difference between the evo and epic is 0.5oz.
I can squeeze the phone without it making squeaking sounds like my tp and tp2. The epic so far feels like a better built phone then the other products i had. It feels almost as good as my HTC touch.

3)
Well sense UI rocks, took a little getting use too since i had sense like products since it first came out.

4)
I think the EVO will lead the ways for roms and customizations. Everyone who had the touch moved to the tp which moved to the tp2 which moved to the evo. Epic? Not sure how many of the skilled personal moved to the epic.

In terms of looks. This test was done with random people at work with iphone4's, Driod X's and incredibles. with more people having the driod x. Not many folks here with sprint.
Now with the phone off 90% picked the Epic over the evo for looks.
Comments; they like how the front glass looked on the epic. More streamlined and expensive looking.

Now with the phone on with a live wallpaper, 100% picked the Epic over the evo over looks. This was done outside while eating chipole.
Comments; Super Amoled. What more can i say. The Incredibles Amoled looked nothing like the Epics for some reason.

Now here comes the ironic part. If they were to choose a phone, 90% would pick the evo.
Comments; did not need the keyboard and bigger screen is always better.
Iphone4 users were worthless in this question.

In my opinion. No one can pick a bad highend smartphone in this market.

This pretty much sums everything up in a nutshell when deciding on the two phones for me.

[gullzway]

I've had my Epic for a week and I'm loving it. Only thing I can think of that it's missing is 2.2 which should be dropping next month. Screen is amazing, it's wicked fast, gaming is superb, and I'm not much of a gamer. I installed Nova just to try it out and I'm amazed a phone can play a First person shooter with this performance.

Still leaves me wondering if I'm missing something that the EVO has(other than flash,temporarily?) I can pick up a new EVO locally for $200 from the same seller I got my Epic for for $200, just not sure if it's worth it to compare the two??