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EVO Shift reviews

R

Remixxx

Newbie
Was wondering if anyone has seen a good review of this phone yet and any good comoparisons. Was thinking about upgrading the wife's phone to this from a Hero. Any reviews will be helpful. Thanks in advance..
 
All the ones I've found were the typical rush-to-press no substance types, per usual. I got one here that says the camera's not so hot and not focusing well and another that says it's a bit better than the one in the Epic. Uhh..... ok.(?)

User reviews are way welcome, tho. ;)
 
ColdStart said:
Has anyone tried out any of the gps navagation apps on this phone?
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yes i use Google navigation, only cause i can voice set my destinations since telenav uses a phone number to update your driving directions. Needless to say it works great, i did get a different voice though cause the pico voice was too computerized and hard to understand at times.
 
Because the EVO Shift 4G is probably going to be my next phone I fired up some hands on videos on YouTube as well as some unboxings and reviews, so far everything I've watched or read has been stellar. I'm still on the fence between the Shift 4G and the Epic 4G, either way I'm sure it will be a nice upgrade from my Sprint Hero, mainly because of screen size and I NEED a QWERTY keyboard.
 
^Another great review!

Let's put it this way: We made the Shift our main device during CES 2011, in part because Sprint's network was relatively stable with 120,000 people or so in just a few square blocks. And also because you know that with an HTC device, you know you're getting quality. The keyboard was a breeze to use, and the phone stood up to everything we could through at it. The Shift is well worthy of kicking things off for Sprint in 2011 and following up one of the most popular phones of 2010.
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:)

Also, I think it's a small minority - but - if you own a Mac or Linux PC - you want the Shift, not the Epic.

Samsung believes you own a Windows PC or you don't exist. HTC doesn't care about such foolishness.
 
Although I approve of his findings, I hope that doesn't make this sound wrong:

That is far and away the best user review of a phone I've ever seen. Completely practical, completely straightforward, and as you say - down-to-earth.
 
Wow, if I had any doubts regarding the Shift, its definitely gone now. That review was by far the best review I have seen. Sprint needs to either hire him or get a hold of this video and pay him. LOL I will most likely pick up the phone at the end of the month
 
thathrill said:
Wow, if I had any doubts regarding the Shift, its definitely gone now. That review was by far the best review I have seen. Sprint needs to either hire him or get a hold of this video and pay him. LOL I will most likely pick up the phone at the end of the month
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I am in the same boat, for me though it is 2/1 that I can upgrade. I am going to wait until after the Sprint announcement on the 7th to upgrade though. Figure I can deal my POS Hero for another couple of weeks in order to find out what the big fuss is about on the 7th. Never know if something else is going to happen that I would want...gotta love technology in that aspect.
 
You may want to see if Sprint will let you upgrade early. I have a blackberry and on Crackberry it is being said sprint will tack on additional monthly fee's for all smartphones activated after Jan 29th.Im not sure if this would apply to this phone or not . Better to check and be safe then wait and be sorry.I have been waiting for a hinted at new 4g blackberry coming soon but I may have to pass and get this Evo Shift to avoid the additional fee's if they apply.
 
rottonj said:
You may want to see if Sprint will let you upgrade early. I have a blackberry and on Crackberry it is being said sprint will tack on additional monthly fee's for all smartphones activated after Jan 29th.Im not sure if this would apply to this phone or not . Better to check and be safe then wait and be sorry.I have been waiting for a hinted at new 4g blackberry coming soon but I may have to pass and get this Evo Shift to avoid the additional fee's if they apply.
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they can only really move it up about 2 weeks. went to get the shift yestarday and he told me he couldnt do it till today with my upgrade which should have been feb.
 
I am waiting to see what the Feb 7th event reveals. I returned my first shift i bought and bought another full retail just so i would be in the 30 day return policy if they say something is coming to Sprint, i mean something even better then the shift...
 
rottonj said:
You may want to see if Sprint will let you upgrade early. I have a blackberry and on Crackberry it is being said sprint will tack on additional monthly fee's for all smartphones activated after Jan 29th.Im not sure if this would apply to this phone or not . Better to check and be safe then wait and be sorry.I have been waiting for a hinted at new 4g blackberry coming soon but I may have to pass and get this Evo Shift to avoid the additional fee's if they apply.
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The shift already has the additional $10 Premium data charge eitherway due to the 4G
 
I was tempted to get the shift too, but I feel there will be dual core phones releasing over the next few months, and as far as that sprint event, it might be about the first wondows 7 phone with 4g capabilities, just a hunch
 
Hmmm i don't think i windows phone would make me want to leave a android powered device such as the shift... but i guess its all personal preference what ever floats your boats
 
EarlyMon said:
Well, WifelyMon got her Shift tonight. She reports that I sound better than she's ever heard me before, I found her voice much louder - almost to the point of clipping the mic, so once I had her quiet down a little, it sounded much better.

I'm undecided if it's better or worse, but she did sound different that on her Moment - but after a few minutes of chatting, it just sounded like her, so we're happy so far. I'll be listening critically for the next few days and then maybe decide if it has any frequency range limitations - dynamic range seems way ok.

EDIT and PS - After another day - it does seem that the upper frequencies are a bit attenuated. Not at all enough to be considered muffled or bad voice quality - but it's definitely limited that way, to my ears.
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EarlyMon, thanks for the helpful voice quality feedback. Now that WifelyMon has had a couple of days with the phone, could we get a general report? I've read all I can find & am ready to buy. Can you offer your input on others comments as to PROS: 1) Another sturdy, well thought-out HTC design 2) One of the better keyboards out there 3) Substantial build quality 4) Somewhat better screen contrast/brightness than EVO 5) Plenty fast & smooth CONS: 1) Poor volume rocker placement 2) Lack of a dedicated camera shutter button 3) No enter function on D-pad 4) Inferior audio quality on video. What's your take? Still viable by year end 2011?
 
I agree with the PROs, but would like to nit-pick numbers 4 and 5 - the screen has a higher apparent brightness and sharpness because it's a smaller screen. This holds true for TVs as well when you think about it. Nonetheless, yes, on all counts.

On pro #5 - as shipped stock, it's as quick, maybe definitely quicker, and smoother than my Evo with a custom kernel that was installed to address those issues.

Pro #6 - the battery life is just WAY more better. She gave the phone a day of intense use that would've drained her Moment, that being more power efficient than my Evo for most uses. She came home with less than 40% power used. Uh... !!!!

Con #1 - tempest in a teacup. If you're using as a phone and you're right-handed, your first two fingers find both buttons almost naturally for super-quick volume adjustment if the other end of the line is screaming or whispering. Besides - put the HTC profile widget on the front page or nearby page, I do that with my Evo - instant access to normal, silent, or vibrating, and who doesn't want that easily accessed? If you accidentally silence your phone from rocker fiddling, it'll show a red X for silencing right off or will show if you went down another notch to vibrate only. There's a theory, and it's true, that the sound profile will show up in the notification bar. That's the place I hardly look because mine has so much going on up there.

Con #2 - ok, I have an elitist opinion that it's not a problem, it's a feature, based on my Evo experience. For best digital camera results, turn off average metering (use spot metering) and turn off auto-focus. Now - you put your finger on whatever the photo is about - like one of the grandkids whooping it up - and that subject is the one in the picture that's correctly lighted and focused. You couldn't pay me to use a shutter button. Now - that's elitist because a lot of people just like to point and shoot - but they miss the better quality from their snaps when they do that. We have a thread somewhere where a pro photographer showed the differences when operating a camera as I suggest - it's striking. I'll try to find it and post the link.

Con #3 - well, we can't have everything, I guess.

Con #4 - won't know until a week or so from now - both of us too busy. If this phone gets the Gingerbread update, that will finally include as native the better audio codecs and we might expect improvement in any case. Audio quality on vids will always be limited by the phone having a single mic, it needn't be compounded with a lousy recording codec.

Viability for the future? Yes, I think this little package has it in spades.

edit and ps - here's the link with my Evo recommendations for its camera, two posts later the YouTube vid really shows all about spot metering.

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/105894-evo-camera-blind-test-2.html#post995185

And - ignore the complaints about the video quality in that old thread - since then, the software was updated and it's vastly improved.
 
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