toomuchgame441
Android Expert
Well yea... by the looks of it you wouldn't know its packing a 1Ghz Processor, thats pretty impressive.
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Evo 4G vs Epic 4G
- Thread starter facekl
- Start date
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- Tags
- htc evo 4g
dbpaddler
Android Expert
It has some impressive specs for what it is. It's the Pixi every Palm owner wanted and probably the design the Pre should've been from the get go.
AndroidSPCS
Android Expert
Yea the Blackberry wannabe looks fugly.
As a former Iphone 3G user (2 years), which I HATED typing on, and a long time Blackberry user (6 years), which I LOVED typing on,
I thought I needed a physical keyboard. So, I went with the Epic, and got the Evo for my wife. 28 days later (good movie BTW), I dumped the Epic for the Evo. Here are MY reasons, YMMV.
1) I was worried Samsung would take a crap on me with updates, support, etc.
2) Battery life on both was poor, despite many tricks (juice defender, Task managers, turning off 4G, etc), but at least the Evo has a extended life battery, which I love, BTW. The Epic extended life battery doesn't even have a release date yet.
3) No flash or Froyo release date.
4) The Epic screen was pixelated, like being too close to a HDTV while watching SDTV. No, it wasn't as grainy as SDTV, but, hopefully, you get the picture.
5) After reading an article on web browsing speed, and the speed when being used as a wifi hot spot, I performed a little test. Unscientific, but good enough for me. I was browsed to several sites. EVERY TIME the Evo was MUCH faster.
I mean, like Usain Bolt vs. rest of the world faster.
THAT was the final straw, I couldn't WAIT to return the Epic for the Evo.
For typing passwords, special characters, and number strings, I still prefer the physical keyboard. I also liked some things about TouchWiz. Since I was a new Android user, I wasn't hooked on Sense, even though I do prefer it.
In short, the Epic was NOT epic, at least to me. It was a really nice phone with a dedicated camera button, and a good camera interface and controls. It just didn't outperform the Evo, for what I was going to be using it for.
I thought I needed a physical keyboard. So, I went with the Epic, and got the Evo for my wife. 28 days later (good movie BTW), I dumped the Epic for the Evo. Here are MY reasons, YMMV.
1) I was worried Samsung would take a crap on me with updates, support, etc.
2) Battery life on both was poor, despite many tricks (juice defender, Task managers, turning off 4G, etc), but at least the Evo has a extended life battery, which I love, BTW. The Epic extended life battery doesn't even have a release date yet.
3) No flash or Froyo release date.
4) The Epic screen was pixelated, like being too close to a HDTV while watching SDTV. No, it wasn't as grainy as SDTV, but, hopefully, you get the picture.
5) After reading an article on web browsing speed, and the speed when being used as a wifi hot spot, I performed a little test. Unscientific, but good enough for me. I was browsed to several sites. EVERY TIME the Evo was MUCH faster.
I mean, like Usain Bolt vs. rest of the world faster.
THAT was the final straw, I couldn't WAIT to return the Epic for the Evo.
For typing passwords, special characters, and number strings, I still prefer the physical keyboard. I also liked some things about TouchWiz. Since I was a new Android user, I wasn't hooked on Sense, even though I do prefer it.
In short, the Epic was NOT epic, at least to me. It was a really nice phone with a dedicated camera button, and a good camera interface and controls. It just didn't outperform the Evo, for what I was going to be using it for.
After reading every review and comment I could find and playing with the Epic and Evo several times, I placed an order for an Epic. I may not keep it (or even open it, if AT&T gives me a discounted MicroCell), but here's my personal, unbiased basis:
I know HTC will support the Evo software better than Samsung supports Epic. I know the community will support the Evo better than the Epic. That being said, a dozen ROMs for the Evo is great but as long as there's one really solid community ROM on the Epic, that's good enough for me. I have a Captivate, and someone leaked a beta Froyo build and the community is already improving it. I just have to hope the community is equally supportive of the Epic. I also use Launcher Pro, so Touchwiz vs Sense is irrelevant.
I know the Galaxy S series SAMOLED screen looks slightly more pixelated than a standard LCD TFT, but side by side the color quality is so noticeable, and I'm so used to my Captivate, the pixelation is nothing compared to the (seemingly) washed out Evo screen - the Evo is beautiful, just not as beautiful as a Galaxy S screen. I hate your software support Samsung, but I can't argue with your screen.
Battery life will suck on both. Oh well. I don't care about the physical keyboard, but I have become a Swype junkie (which I know I could get on an Evo, so moot point). I do have hope programmers might utilize the processing power in the Epic a bit (particularly for emulators like PSX4Droid), but even if they don't the physical camera button and overall better camera quality (despite lower megapixel) is helpful.
Ultimately the only argument I could make for the Evo is that it's slightly thinner, has HDMI out (which I admit I might use but not enough to really focus on it), and significantly better software support from HTC. Given the substantial and intelligent Android community, however, I have faith they will (somewhat) make up for the lack of Samsung software support.
Lastly, I'm assuming the Epic GPS will be mostly broken (I know, a lot of people say it works fine but I'm ordering it with the expectation that it will only work SLIGHTLY better than my terrible Captivate GPS), and that's frustrating, but I can't help but feel like the Evo is slightly outdated, and again, side by side, it's hard to pass on the SAMOLED screen once you've used one for a couple of months.
Then again this could all be moot if AT&T fixes my "service doesn't work in my house" issue with a discounted MicroCell and I'll keep my Captivate with Froyo Cognition!
I know HTC will support the Evo software better than Samsung supports Epic. I know the community will support the Evo better than the Epic. That being said, a dozen ROMs for the Evo is great but as long as there's one really solid community ROM on the Epic, that's good enough for me. I have a Captivate, and someone leaked a beta Froyo build and the community is already improving it. I just have to hope the community is equally supportive of the Epic. I also use Launcher Pro, so Touchwiz vs Sense is irrelevant.
I know the Galaxy S series SAMOLED screen looks slightly more pixelated than a standard LCD TFT, but side by side the color quality is so noticeable, and I'm so used to my Captivate, the pixelation is nothing compared to the (seemingly) washed out Evo screen - the Evo is beautiful, just not as beautiful as a Galaxy S screen. I hate your software support Samsung, but I can't argue with your screen.
Battery life will suck on both. Oh well. I don't care about the physical keyboard, but I have become a Swype junkie (which I know I could get on an Evo, so moot point). I do have hope programmers might utilize the processing power in the Epic a bit (particularly for emulators like PSX4Droid), but even if they don't the physical camera button and overall better camera quality (despite lower megapixel) is helpful.
Ultimately the only argument I could make for the Evo is that it's slightly thinner, has HDMI out (which I admit I might use but not enough to really focus on it), and significantly better software support from HTC. Given the substantial and intelligent Android community, however, I have faith they will (somewhat) make up for the lack of Samsung software support.
Lastly, I'm assuming the Epic GPS will be mostly broken (I know, a lot of people say it works fine but I'm ordering it with the expectation that it will only work SLIGHTLY better than my terrible Captivate GPS), and that's frustrating, but I can't help but feel like the Evo is slightly outdated, and again, side by side, it's hard to pass on the SAMOLED screen once you've used one for a couple of months.
Then again this could all be moot if AT&T fixes my "service doesn't work in my house" issue with a discounted MicroCell and I'll keep my Captivate with Froyo Cognition!
^^^ Actually, it's not a foregone conclusion that the Epic doesn't have HDMI. If you look at the teardown photos of the Epic's microUSB port, it has 10 connectors plus the anchor/ground pads. It's not certain what they connect to, but there are certainly enough pins to get raw HDMI signals to an expensive cable with additional electronics in the connector shell to transform them into proper TMDS balanced signals. Sprint might never support it, but if the hardware's there, I think it's safe to say that Cyanogen and the other custom ROMs *will*.
Also, as bad as Samsung is about software updates, they deserve credit for doing the Right Thing with their kernel, and separating out their proprietary binaries into proper loadable kernel modules. HTC's kernel source isn't even buildable, let alone supplied with drivers that *might* be usable with a newer kernel. There aren't any guarantees that Samsung's 2.29 or 2.3x drivers will work with a 2.4x kernel for Gingerbread and beyond, but it's almost a given that HTC's mess of a binary blob *won't*.
Then again, the Evo has the advantage of using chips that are used in other phones as well, not all of which are made by or for the exclusive use of HTC. Samsung is like IBM, Sony, and Compaq -- it's big enough, and sufficiently integrated vertically that it literally CAN source weird, exotic chips for which it's both the OEM and sole user.
When some anonymous factory in Shenzhen makes a generic Android phone someday using off the shelf chips and AOSP android pulled almost directly from Git, it won't matter whether or not they want to "support" something, because developers will be able to get whatever they need from other phones and the internet to make it work anyway. When Samsung says something isn't supported, they *really mean it*, because they *are* the OEM, and there *IS NO* alternate source of drivers and programming info for their chips.
For me, the decision whether or not to bail is literally coming down to kernel matters. Samsung's kernel is nice, clean, and pretty, but could be a long-term dead end despite being more sustainable by virtue of using LKMs. The Evo's kernel appears to be a trainwrecked mess like the Hero's was, but apparently it can draw from the Nexus One kernel with a bit of memory-map hacking, as well as some big chunks of the Desire's kernel, and probably the Desire HD's. If HTC's kernel used LKMs, I would have probably gone to the Sprint store already to swap for an Evo. But because they don't, I have at least another day to torment myself and obsess over it...
Also, as bad as Samsung is about software updates, they deserve credit for doing the Right Thing with their kernel, and separating out their proprietary binaries into proper loadable kernel modules. HTC's kernel source isn't even buildable, let alone supplied with drivers that *might* be usable with a newer kernel. There aren't any guarantees that Samsung's 2.29 or 2.3x drivers will work with a 2.4x kernel for Gingerbread and beyond, but it's almost a given that HTC's mess of a binary blob *won't*.
Then again, the Evo has the advantage of using chips that are used in other phones as well, not all of which are made by or for the exclusive use of HTC. Samsung is like IBM, Sony, and Compaq -- it's big enough, and sufficiently integrated vertically that it literally CAN source weird, exotic chips for which it's both the OEM and sole user.
When some anonymous factory in Shenzhen makes a generic Android phone someday using off the shelf chips and AOSP android pulled almost directly from Git, it won't matter whether or not they want to "support" something, because developers will be able to get whatever they need from other phones and the internet to make it work anyway. When Samsung says something isn't supported, they *really mean it*, because they *are* the OEM, and there *IS NO* alternate source of drivers and programming info for their chips.
For me, the decision whether or not to bail is literally coming down to kernel matters. Samsung's kernel is nice, clean, and pretty, but could be a long-term dead end despite being more sustainable by virtue of using LKMs. The Evo's kernel appears to be a trainwrecked mess like the Hero's was, but apparently it can draw from the Nexus One kernel with a bit of memory-map hacking, as well as some big chunks of the Desire's kernel, and probably the Desire HD's. If HTC's kernel used LKMs, I would have probably gone to the Sprint store already to swap for an Evo. But because they don't, I have at least another day to torment myself and obsess over it...
cybersteve
Newbie
I agree, my Evo lasts longer than my Hero. I was really worried when I read about the how poor the battery life was on the Evo, but now after seeing how much better it was than the Hero, I couldn't be happier with it.
scmobileman
Newbie
I've had an Evo since July and just bought an Epic yesterday. I see a lot of similarities and a few differences. I guess the first thing I should mention is that my EVO has a lot of battery problems, I burn around 7-8% idle/hr and I've tried every possible fix. I charged the Epic yesterday and it's been off of the charger 17 hours, it's had light use and obviously been idle a lot but it still has 68%.
Both are great phones and it's a little early to really compare the two but since I'm only planning to carry the EVO I hate seeing what kind of battery life I should be getting!
Both are great phones and it's a little early to really compare the two but since I'm only planning to carry the EVO I hate seeing what kind of battery life I should be getting!
I have the stock battery, the Siedio 1750 mah extended battery, as well as a pair of Chinese 3000mah extended batteries bought from eBay. In my experience, the Siedio extended battery offers little or no advantage over the stock battery. While the Chinese 3000mah battery did have a little advantage in terms of longevity. But now I just prefer to pack and extra battery than deal with the bulk of the extended Chinese ones.
Does this mean my extended battery aren't used? Well no, I save them for long trips. But I currently have no need for extended battery at work since I finish a day at work with at least. 75% left. I just carry a spare just in case I have enough time to watch a movie, or will be using my phone a lot more that day and not just make it a portable music player the entire day.
Don't know what 1750 mah battery you are using but my battery gets me 2 hours more than the stock battery. Your experience is different than everyone else with the Seidio 1750 mah battery. That battery in Afghanistan is lasting me well over 487 hours on one charge since I'm not tapped into a CDMA network over here.
toomuchgame441
Android Expert
I love my Evo a bit more today noticing the significant increase in battery life. I took my Evo off the charger when my alarm went off. Slept for an extra hour, went ahead and woke up, checked e-mail, and replies on Twitter, also checked facebook. I went ahead and went back to the screen where my battery widget is expecting the battery to be at 88%, but to my surprise, it being idle for over an hour and me using some data for about 10 mins, it was still at 96%.
From there it seemed to actually maintain great battery life, did some more facebook posting, tweeting, picture taking, music playing, played some games, more mp3 use from my cars aux jack, texting etc... still have some juice left. Took my phone off the charger at about 9:20am, its now just about 6pm, and with relatively moderate to heavy usage, I still have 53% juice left. Nearly 9 hours in and still have half of my battery life remaining, couldn't be more happier, completely blowing away the battery life of my old Hero. I LOVE MY EVO!
From there it seemed to actually maintain great battery life, did some more facebook posting, tweeting, picture taking, music playing, played some games, more mp3 use from my cars aux jack, texting etc... still have some juice left. Took my phone off the charger at about 9:20am, its now just about 6pm, and with relatively moderate to heavy usage, I still have 53% juice left. Nearly 9 hours in and still have half of my battery life remaining, couldn't be more happier, completely blowing away the battery life of my old Hero. I LOVE MY EVO!
branmala1986
Newbie
Evo all the way, Samsung phones not only look/feel cheap they are. My girlfriend has the Fasinate and droped it from about 6 inches (no joke) and the screen just stoped working.
IOWA
Mr. Logic Pants
And that's any worse than what's reported in this thread?
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/103520-evo-screen-shattered-no-drop.html
And that's any worse than what's reported in this thread?
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/103520-evo-screen-shattered-no-drop.html
Waaaaait a minute here, so now you believe the op in that thread?. LOL, couldnt resist, just giving you a friendly hard time
IOWA
Mr. Logic Pants
Waaaaait a minute here, so now you believe the op in that thread?. LOL, couldnt resist, just giving you a friendly hard time
Meh don't know. And I don't really care TBH. It just goes to show the validity of any of these posts can be challenged, especially concerning posts of new/newer users.
Just friendly ribbing since I was in a posting mood! But I get what your saying.
dr g
Android Enthusiast
Be that as it may, the cheap/hollow feel of the Samsung phones is well established.
IOWA
Mr. Logic Pants
According to whom? You?
My Moment, and the Fiance's Instinct both haven taken their fair share of beatings, and both still work.
Hell, an english bulldog even chewed up the Instinct and it's still ticking, and it has the teethmarks of the bulldog as battle scars.
So if what you were saying was the case for "Samsung Phones", wouldn't have either of our phones completely shattered by now?
dbpaddler
Android Expert
IOWA: why do you bother to entertain his troll like posts? Most of us know he's full of BS whether it's his kool-aid drinking evo posts or bashing epic posts. It's just easier to put him on the ignore list and be done with him. I only have to see his posts when you entertain his nonsense and quote his posts.
IOWA
Mr. Logic Pants
Lol yeah that's whats wrong with the iggy feature =P
toomuchgame441
Android Expert
I don't think I can just block someone on a forum... I really can't let anyone get to me that bad, lol.
Caloy
Android Expert
For me an extra 2 hours is a little improvement over the stock, which would support what I said. I come home after work with still 70-80% of battery left. So for me an extra 2 hours is insignificant. Actually I would probably get more than 2 hours extra if I tried but then again, why? I can manage a whole day w/o re-charging, and I can recharge overnight and have my phone ready the next day.
Oh btw, an update with my 1750 mah battery, I've accidentally ruined it by forgetting it on my pant's pockets while doing my laundry. It's now a paper weight until I can figure out a way to responsibly dispose of it.
JunBringer
Android Expert
I spent a good part of the evening putting apps and widgets on a co-worker's Epic and I gotta say it's a nice gadget. It lagged once in awhile but it felt a little snappier than my Evo, though hers was brand spankin new as of this morning, so that might have something to do with it.
I still love the screen size and overall shape of the Evo, along with the Sense UI much better than Epic. I gotta admit though, it's a close call.
I still love the screen size and overall shape of the Evo, along with the Sense UI much better than Epic. I gotta admit though, it's a close call.
im not impressed with the epic. i saw it yesterday fir the first time. its sloppy seconds in my opinion. the screen is pretty nice, a little contrasty (my word) and the colors were a tad more saturated. i also saw the evo's with the newer screen and i did notice a difference from my launch day old school screen.
i dont notice any lag on the evo and i didnt notice any lag on the epic either--both were pretty fast once you gave them commands.
the keyboard on the sammy is not my fave and cheapens the device. i am a huge fan of physical keyboards however i dont like the samsungs..
day after day after day though, the EVO is a much more solid handset with more features overall. plus it h as HTC as its parent. if the epic were released first with the evo to follow a couple months later, i would wait on the sidelines for the evo..
i know HTCs quality having had 5 of their devices (mogul, diamond, pro1, pro2, hero). the old school i330 and i300 samsung handsets were great devices and were the last samsung handsets i liked.
i dont notice any lag on the evo and i didnt notice any lag on the epic either--both were pretty fast once you gave them commands.
the keyboard on the sammy is not my fave and cheapens the device. i am a huge fan of physical keyboards however i dont like the samsungs..
day after day after day though, the EVO is a much more solid handset with more features overall. plus it h as HTC as its parent. if the epic were released first with the evo to follow a couple months later, i would wait on the sidelines for the evo..
i know HTCs quality having had 5 of their devices (mogul, diamond, pro1, pro2, hero). the old school i330 and i300 samsung handsets were great devices and were the last samsung handsets i liked.
jrstinkfish
Android Enthusiast
I don't know that it necessarily feels cheap, but it does indeed feel "hollow." Doesn't really feel very solid in the hand, like the weight doesn't match the size of the device. Then again, some feel that the Evo is too heavy, so I guess it's a personal preference.