Yeah, it is very clear which phone this dude has. He tries very hard to appear impartial, Yet FREAKS out and writes a small novel at the very mention of the word "downgrade".
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Evo 4G vs Epic 4G
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Yeah, it is very clear which phone this dude has. He tries very hard to appear impartial, Yet FREAKS out and writes a small novel at the very mention of the word "downgrade".
Caloy
Android Expert
I don't think you can go wrong with either phones. Just prioritize what you want in a phone and from their grade each one. You would probably be happy with either. But like another poster here says, if you're already happy with the Evo then I would suggest staying with it.
As opposed to your battery life, I get home from work (around 5:30-6:00 PM) and still have 80% of my battery life. And that's playing MP3's for around 6 hours while working. I did have some battery issues when my 4G was malfunctioning, but since I got the replacement from sprint, it went back to my usual load.
toomuchgame441
Android Expert
ROFL... sometimes people can't help but be biased to a phone that they really like. I think he took you talking about Epic personally like you were talking about his family or something, lol. Either way, both phones have there pros and cons, your both going to be slighltly biased towards the device you perfer.
I don't see why people get all over people's cases because of favoritism, in the end its opinion. People talk about the Evo's "inferior" GPU, I could seriously care less.
If you disregard his first paragraph, i think he did a great job breaking down the differences and gave an excellent breakdown at the end. If i were the OP, that would've helped my decision alot. Even if he started out a little angry. Also, we all tend to get a little testy when it comes to our phone as is expected. I mean why wouldn't you think you phone is the best. Just my input. Flame shield on!
Have an Evo if it matters.
I hear you. And agree that in his novella he makes some good points.
EDIT: I apologize for taking this thread off-topic and stuff. To the OP- do what you want, go with what you like. But if its the battery life issue make sure you fully investigate ways you can improve your devices performance before giving up on it. my 2 cents.
As opposed to your battery life, I get home from work (around 5:30-6:00 PM) and still have 80% of my battery life. And that's playing MP3's for around 6 hours while working. I did have some battery issues when my 4G was malfunctioning, but since I got the replacement from sprint, it went back to my usual load.
what replacement? i have good battery life, but i want what you have which is GREAT! Share?
i12flytoday
Lurker
I have both, I have the EVO, Wife has the EPIC. The EPIC is going back tomorrow for a new EVO. The EPIC feels cheap, and the sense makes the OS feel so much more refined. That, and she thought the keyboard felt really cheap and didn't think it would last long. This is from a woman that has had a Palm Pre since day one and hasn't put the smallest of scratches in it, she babies her phones.
As far as battery life, I bought two 1800ma batteries for my EVO and haven't had to switch the battery out yet. I don't know what all the talk about bad battery life is for. I do see a considerable drain on my battery when I'm in a VERY low or no signal area for a long time. But with the bigger battery, which fits within the original back, I have never seen my battery below 40% even after a 14 hour day with moderate use.
I'm in Charlotte, NC and Portland, OR and I have 4G signal in both cities.
I will say that my battery drains a LOT faster, even more than twice as fast, when I have the wifi hotspot on. That is to be expected though.
Personally, I liked my HERO, but the bigger screen and 4G wifi hotspot (rooted) ;-) sold me on the EVO. Also, I will agree with the poster above that when the phone is sleeping and just playing music, it uses very little battery power compared to what one would expect.
Just my $0.02 having used both.
As far as battery life, I bought two 1800ma batteries for my EVO and haven't had to switch the battery out yet. I don't know what all the talk about bad battery life is for. I do see a considerable drain on my battery when I'm in a VERY low or no signal area for a long time. But with the bigger battery, which fits within the original back, I have never seen my battery below 40% even after a 14 hour day with moderate use.
I'm in Charlotte, NC and Portland, OR and I have 4G signal in both cities.
I will say that my battery drains a LOT faster, even more than twice as fast, when I have the wifi hotspot on. That is to be expected though.
Personally, I liked my HERO, but the bigger screen and 4G wifi hotspot (rooted) ;-) sold me on the EVO. Also, I will agree with the poster above that when the phone is sleeping and just playing music, it uses very little battery power compared to what one would expect.
Just my $0.02 having used both.
Kelmar
Done by choice
Let's refrain from name calling and "troll" calling....
On Topic:
It comes down to preference, as many have already stated.
I got my wife the Evo shortly after launch day and had every intention of getting one myself. Heck, my wife will tell you I used her phone more than I used my own!!! ... until I actually used the Epic.
Sure, Sense has more than TW. Sure, it has an extra .3 inches of screen. Sure, it has a kickstand.
After playing with/using them both, I chose the Epic because that is what I PERSONALLY prefer. My wife on the other hand loves her Evo because that is what SHE PERSONALLY prefers.
Are either of us right or wrong? Most certainly not! Both are great phones, both have bugs (come on... name ONE phone that's PERFECT... what? None? ... Exactly).
Pick the phone that YOU personally prefer and the phone that YOU will be happiest with regardless of if it's an Evo, Epic, iPhone, flip phone or a brick from the early 90's!
On Topic:
It comes down to preference, as many have already stated.
I got my wife the Evo shortly after launch day and had every intention of getting one myself. Heck, my wife will tell you I used her phone more than I used my own!!! ... until I actually used the Epic.
Sure, Sense has more than TW. Sure, it has an extra .3 inches of screen. Sure, it has a kickstand.
After playing with/using them both, I chose the Epic because that is what I PERSONALLY prefer. My wife on the other hand loves her Evo because that is what SHE PERSONALLY prefers.
Are either of us right or wrong? Most certainly not! Both are great phones, both have bugs (come on... name ONE phone that's PERFECT... what? None? ... Exactly).
Pick the phone that YOU personally prefer and the phone that YOU will be happiest with regardless of if it's an Evo, Epic, iPhone, flip phone or a brick from the early 90's!
toomuchgame441
Android Expert
It all comes down to preference like a lot of people stated in this thread already. I myself can see the appeal for both devices because they both have strong points that allow them to stand out from one another. I prefer the Evo... I didn't think the .3 inches would make such make such a difference but it does TO ME, I didn't think Sense would would be such a pleasure to use over TW, but it is TO ME. Now let's all get along
IOWA
Mr. Logic Pants
Seee for me, Launcher Pro plus dominates sense. I don't like the way sense takes over the whole android experience, and has also known to cause compatibilty issues with certain apps, as well as updates. I just wish there was a 100% vanilla android qwerty slider with the specs of the epic4G.
Isn't there a CM6 style clean ROM for the EPIC?
hydralisk
Well-Known Member
Took almost 2 months after the EVO was released for a CM6 nightly to be released for it. I'm not even sure if the Cyanogen team has plans on developing for the Epic.
I actually haven't seen an Epic rom worth flashing yet. I'm still stock and loving it.
TheNewNetwork
Newbie
This is one of the main reasons why I went with the Evo last week. I had been looking forward to the Epic since it was announced and the specs were released. I was looking for a high end Android with a QWERTY keyboard and the Epic seemed to be it.
In fact I use to dismiss the Evo entirely saying it was too big for one handed use and in general, without ever actually playing with one.
Last week however I finally had enough of my phone and decided it was time to switch to Android so I went to the Sprint shop and played with both display phones.
The Epic left me quite unimpressed. The phones plastic type feel and light weight made it feel like a toy. I was actually concerned as I was sliding the screen up that it would snap in half. Then the buttons left me disappointed as well. They were way to flat and also had that plastic feel to them.
The Evo on the other hand was the complete opposite for me. It felt sturdy in my hand and was not nearly as big as I thought. I can easily use it one handed without any problems. The big seller for me though was the on screen keyboard was excellent on the Evo. Maybe it was the big screen but the first time typing on it I was going just as fast as I do on my previous QWERTY phones.
I eventually decided to go with the Evo and on that same day I found out the 30 FPS issue was fixed with an update so the EVO was running smoother and the EVO already had 2.2 released for it previously. The Epic on the other hand still has yet to see 2.2 and hasnt received an update for some of its problems.
Also in regards to battery life, I think I must have gotten a newer model or something because my battery life is more than fine with moderate to heavy usage. Im usually running Slacker radio all day with heavy texting and surfing the web and the battery lasts me all day. Just yesterday I had 100% battery at 1230 PM and went until 10PM while doing the above activites (heavy texting, Slacker radio, few calls, and heavy internet browsing) before needing a charge.
Caloy
Android Expert
I was having excellent battery life before my phone had issues connecting to 4G (will always fail). Then with the 4G connection issues, my battery life nose dived from 80% at the end of the day to around 20% at lunch time. It's a good thing I have a spare battery. Anyway, when Sprint replaced my phone about a week ago, my battery life was back to around 75% - 80% when I get home from work. Sometimes it's a little lower but most of the time it's at that range.
toomuchgame441
Android Expert
Great post. But the battery is one of the areas where I'm still struggling at with my Evo. I took my phone off the charger at work around 8pm, by 1:40a I was already down to 36% (with fairly moderate usage) checked all the basic settings and its still draining pretty quick. Even this morning while I'm typing this on my Evo. Took my phone charger at 88 around 10am and its already at 75% with just 45 mins of use. Not sure what else I can do...
toomuchgame441
Android Expert
What will you go with? Just curious...
I'm goin' with the Evo!! I'm not really into the slide-out keyboard and I'm sure I wouldn't use it if I have Swype, anyway. I think the Evo is just what I need and will fit into the way I use a smartphone!
Thanks, again, everyone, for all your insight!
crewchief227
Member
I voted evo as I just had this decision as my local sprint store had 4 epic in stock and no evo's so they knocked 50 dollars off the price of the epic to make the two phones equal price out the door and still chose the evo. So my sales guy drove 45 min one way to another store that had an evo in stock and I picked it up the next day. This was also taking into consideration that the epic came with a 16 gb card and headphones while the evo only had an 8 gb card and no headphones. Also I had owned a HTC Aria for about q week so I figured if the evo was the bigger better brother of the Aria and they could not keep them in stock it had to be good.
Okay this might seem like a strange question, but how quickly does the Epic charge? I have a Captivate (ATT Galaxy S phone) and ATT's coverage at my house has dropped to unusable the last month or so. I'm considering switching to Sprint and one of these phones. I don't really care about (or even want) the physical keyboard, but I love the Galaxy S screens. I'm also worried about potential GPS issues and longterm support from Samsung.
One of my biggest issues with the Captivate is average battery life - that wouldn't be so bad as I'm often near an outlet to charge (home, work, car), but the bigger problem is the phone takes FOREVER to charge. At first I thought it might just be me but other owners and some reviews have mentioned how long Galaxy S phones take to charge.
Has anyone who owns both these phones completely drained the battery and then fully charged them? Happen to catch if they usually take the same amount of time or if the Evo charges faster?
One of my biggest issues with the Captivate is average battery life - that wouldn't be so bad as I'm often near an outlet to charge (home, work, car), but the bigger problem is the phone takes FOREVER to charge. At first I thought it might just be me but other owners and some reviews have mentioned how long Galaxy S phones take to charge.
Has anyone who owns both these phones completely drained the battery and then fully charged them? Happen to catch if they usually take the same amount of time or if the Evo charges faster?
Caloy
Android Expert
I don't know if this will apply with Lithium Ion Batteries, but with NiMH and NiCd batteries, it will depend on the charger. The higher rating (in mA) the charger is, the faster it will charge the battery. But as a consequence, the stronger you run a current to the battery, the hotter it gets and will degrade the battery faster in the long run.
Again this is for NiMH and NiCd batteries which we use for R/C and Airsoft. I beleive you need a lower power rating charger for the Lithium Ion for safety reasons as Lithium Ions can burst into flames when it gets too hot.
I guess in the end I didn't answer your question... LOL... Sorry mate.
Again this is for NiMH and NiCd batteries which we use for R/C and Airsoft. I beleive you need a lower power rating charger for the Lithium Ion for safety reasons as Lithium Ions can burst into flames when it gets too hot.
I guess in the end I didn't answer your question... LOL... Sorry mate.
I don't know if this will apply with Lithium Ion Batteries, but with NiMH and NiCd batteries, it will depend on the charger. The higher rating (in mA) the charger is, the faster it will charge the battery. But as a consequence, the stronger you run a current to the battery, the hotter it gets and will degrade the battery faster in the long run.
Again this is for NiMH and NiCd batteries which we use for R/C and Airsoft. I beleive you need a lower power rating charger for the Lithium Ion for safety reasons as Lithium Ions can burst into flames when it gets too hot.
I guess in the end I didn't answer your question... LOL... Sorry mate.
Using the same USB power adapter on my iPhone and Captivate resulted in significantly different legnths of time for a full charge. Similar results with a Droid X I had for a bit. Maybe Samsung purposely slowed the charging of the Galaxy S phones to keep it from overheating or something - who knows. I just know I constantly plug my Captivate in because I know how long it'll take to fully charge if I forget.
I'm agonizing badly about whether to return my Epic for an Evo.
My main motive for going with the Epic was the slide-out keyboard. Unfortunately, IMHO, the keyboard basically sucks. The keys are too flat and narrow to let me hold the phone GBA/Sidekick-style and type with my thumbs, and it's tiring to hold the phone with one hand so I can use my other hand's index finger to press the keys one at a time. If I set it on a table, it rocks back and forth because the screen is heavier, and I have a hunch that with an extended battery, both of the use cases I've identified that don't involve thumb use will be unusable entirely. So, scratch my big original "pro".
The Epic has an issue with Graffiti -- dot-taps don't work normally. You have to make contact with the screen for what seems like an eternity for it to register as a "tap". I verified this afternoon that the Evo doesn't have this problem.
On the other hand... the Evo's error rate when I used Graffiti was atrocious. HOWEVER... I've pretty much discovered that Graffiti works flawlessly only when you have CPU-scaling disabled (or at least adjusted so it can't keep trying to crank the CPU down to 400MHz or below), and I wasn't able to get the Sprint store's Evo rooted so I could try it. I'm open to suggestions for ways to (at least temporarily) root it so I can install SetCPU and try it in performance mode. This is something I really can't risk without trying it firsthand, because AFAIK, Sprint only allows one exchange to a different phone within the 30 days, so I have to be absolutely, positively sure I'm not going to regret it if I do.
Truthfully, I don't like the Evo's power-button placement... but due to the way I end up gripping the Epic, pressing the button makes the keyboard slide open half the time anyway, so that's another pro I've had to scratch from the 'epic' list.
I'm not sure what to think about the screen at this point. I've heard so many people talk about the Epic's screen as though it were personally handed down from the heavens by the messiah, but I've been kind of 'meh' about it. Maybe if I actually cared about watching movies on it I might be more impressed.
The Epic's remaining pros?
It'll work with a GameGripper someday. As much as I'd love to discount the importance of this, one of my biggest gripes about every phone I've owned since ~2001 has been their dysfunctional game controls. On one hand, I never play arcade games on my phone. On the other, the lack of real controls is basically the reason why. Then again, nobody knows how well the GameGripper will work on an Epic, anyway... the Droid(2) has a different key mechanism, and it's quite possible that the mechanism that works nicely with a Droid(2) will end up sucking on the Epic (or breaking its keys, or being imprecise, or...)
It has a better GPU than the Evo, and uses it. The drivers aren't open-source, but they're a proper loadable kernel module instead of an unusable, unlinkable binary blob like HTC (AFAIK) provides. From what I've read, HTC is up to the same sloppy GPL-violating kernel mischief with the Evo they pulled with the Hero. I'd love to be wrong about this, but I'm not hopeful.
The Epic has a real camera button, AFAIK, the Evo doesn't. A small creature comfort, but one whose lack drove me completely nuts on my Hero. If there's a way for camera apps to repurpose the volume-rocker buttons to use as a camera button, I'll scratch this entire paragraph.
The Evo was several orders of magnitude nicer to hold. Hands down, not even a fair contest.
Areas where they both suck:
* Neither one has real hardkeys or anything resembling a trackball. God, I never thought I'd miss the trackball as badly as I have when I had to try positioning the cursor PRECISELY between two characters in an EditText field without one. Curse both HTC and Samsung equally for this one.
* Both have criminally-undersized batteries. Once again, there's just no excuse for this. If they just provided us with properly-sized batteries out of the box, half the issues and flakiness we have to suffer through would be largely academic concerns for people trying to squeeze two days of battery life, instead of things everyone has to live with if they don't want to (or can't) live tethered to chargers, carry spare batteries, or do without a proper case because none of them fit extended batteries properly.
So far, I'm still tilting towards exchanging the Epic for the Evo, but agonizing badly over it due to the fact that there's no turning back if I do.
My main motive for going with the Epic was the slide-out keyboard. Unfortunately, IMHO, the keyboard basically sucks. The keys are too flat and narrow to let me hold the phone GBA/Sidekick-style and type with my thumbs, and it's tiring to hold the phone with one hand so I can use my other hand's index finger to press the keys one at a time. If I set it on a table, it rocks back and forth because the screen is heavier, and I have a hunch that with an extended battery, both of the use cases I've identified that don't involve thumb use will be unusable entirely. So, scratch my big original "pro".
The Epic has an issue with Graffiti -- dot-taps don't work normally. You have to make contact with the screen for what seems like an eternity for it to register as a "tap". I verified this afternoon that the Evo doesn't have this problem.
On the other hand... the Evo's error rate when I used Graffiti was atrocious. HOWEVER... I've pretty much discovered that Graffiti works flawlessly only when you have CPU-scaling disabled (or at least adjusted so it can't keep trying to crank the CPU down to 400MHz or below), and I wasn't able to get the Sprint store's Evo rooted so I could try it. I'm open to suggestions for ways to (at least temporarily) root it so I can install SetCPU and try it in performance mode. This is something I really can't risk without trying it firsthand, because AFAIK, Sprint only allows one exchange to a different phone within the 30 days, so I have to be absolutely, positively sure I'm not going to regret it if I do.
Truthfully, I don't like the Evo's power-button placement... but due to the way I end up gripping the Epic, pressing the button makes the keyboard slide open half the time anyway, so that's another pro I've had to scratch from the 'epic' list.
I'm not sure what to think about the screen at this point. I've heard so many people talk about the Epic's screen as though it were personally handed down from the heavens by the messiah, but I've been kind of 'meh' about it. Maybe if I actually cared about watching movies on it I might be more impressed.
The Epic's remaining pros?
It'll work with a GameGripper someday. As much as I'd love to discount the importance of this, one of my biggest gripes about every phone I've owned since ~2001 has been their dysfunctional game controls. On one hand, I never play arcade games on my phone. On the other, the lack of real controls is basically the reason why. Then again, nobody knows how well the GameGripper will work on an Epic, anyway... the Droid(2) has a different key mechanism, and it's quite possible that the mechanism that works nicely with a Droid(2) will end up sucking on the Epic (or breaking its keys, or being imprecise, or...)
It has a better GPU than the Evo, and uses it. The drivers aren't open-source, but they're a proper loadable kernel module instead of an unusable, unlinkable binary blob like HTC (AFAIK) provides. From what I've read, HTC is up to the same sloppy GPL-violating kernel mischief with the Evo they pulled with the Hero. I'd love to be wrong about this, but I'm not hopeful.
The Epic has a real camera button, AFAIK, the Evo doesn't. A small creature comfort, but one whose lack drove me completely nuts on my Hero. If there's a way for camera apps to repurpose the volume-rocker buttons to use as a camera button, I'll scratch this entire paragraph.
The Evo was several orders of magnitude nicer to hold. Hands down, not even a fair contest.
Areas where they both suck:
* Neither one has real hardkeys or anything resembling a trackball. God, I never thought I'd miss the trackball as badly as I have when I had to try positioning the cursor PRECISELY between two characters in an EditText field without one. Curse both HTC and Samsung equally for this one.
* Both have criminally-undersized batteries. Once again, there's just no excuse for this. If they just provided us with properly-sized batteries out of the box, half the issues and flakiness we have to suffer through would be largely academic concerns for people trying to squeeze two days of battery life, instead of things everyone has to live with if they don't want to (or can't) live tethered to chargers, carry spare batteries, or do without a proper case because none of them fit extended batteries properly.
So far, I'm still tilting towards exchanging the Epic for the Evo, but agonizing badly over it due to the fact that there's no turning back if I do.