Has the HTC EVO 4G LTE met you expectations? Thinking of returning? Discuss

[suprmallet]

This is from a Dev named OMJ and I'm expecting something similar or better from you novoxx77

I've decided that LA must be tough on cell phone radios. I've never gotten 2 days on a single charge on any phone, smartphone or flip phone.

 

[EarlyMon]

Not liking that on-screen menu button, nagging away at me.

I go to Crunchyroll, my anime viewer, and the phone insists on putting that button up. End effect, I get the screen in letterbox, 2 mm taller only (in landscape mode) on the LTEvo vs the 3vo.

The screen is amazing though. Need to check if it's real or saturated, but it looks to have a great deal more color contrast, with much inner detail. I know the 3vo was slightly saturated, and the LTEvo seems to prove that out, with whites having less of a bluish tint.

However - button situation kinda sucks, desktop clock is gone from Sense 4, in fact, I think my complaints are all mostly Sense 4.

 

[MandM]

For those of you that returned the EVO LTE after using it during your trial period, what did you do to make sure all of your personal information was removed from the phone?

I never installed an SD card in my phone. Is a factory reset, all you did?

Are there any other steps you could take to make sure data could not be recovered from your phone when it gets into another person's hands? Can someone still recover my data after a factory reset?

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[omiller315]

For those of you that returned the EVO LTE after using it during your trial period, what did you do to make sure all of your personal information was removed from the phone?

I never installed an SD card in my phone. Is a factory reset, all you did?

Are there any other steps you could take to make sure data could not be recovered from your phone when it gets into another person's hands? Can someone still recover my data after a factory reset?

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Factory reset will dump it, but good programs can recover. I have a great program for this and tested it with my Rezound. Never put anything on the phone, but yet my program found stuff on it of mine. Must have copied itself from SD card as a backup.. I would factory reset and then fill it up with big junk install files and then delete them.Files aren't truly deleted until they are overwritten, so to feel safe I would factory reset, copy a ton of crap to it to fill it and then format again. That should do the trick. You can use Acronis or some other program and do a military grade wipe also if you are that fearful

 

[Stubby1]

The evo has been great so far. I love the ui and ics very smooth and friendly albeit a bit different that ginger.

The batter life is pretty good for not having the best 3G service. I was at 13ish hours out of a charge and had about 10% left.

The camera is pretty amazing been using it off and on and the pic quality is awesome. Also watched some you tube HD and that was great as well.

All in all HTC has exceeded my expectations.

 

[crhcho]

Even if I don't have the device, I have played around with it a lot. Overall I really like it. If I didn't have Galaxy note and Galaxy s3 is not released, I would buy it for sure.

 

[LoveMyPhone]

I have really "enjoyed" every post on this thread, very informative.
I came from the Epic Touch and (only the second day with the LTE) I have some things that have got me considering going back to the Touch. (I have deceided to keep the LTE through the weekend, at least, to see if I can "fix" some of my dislikes about it). I am hoping to get some help with that here!
1) I don't like the contacts app on the LTE..the way it "lists" them in "groups" 2x2 with pictures! I just want a list of my contacts like it was on my Touch!
2) Email..(not gmail, don't use it enough to care how it works)..I just want it to show me the email address of incoming mail like it did on the Touch. And when I open the mail I want it to fit like it did on the Touch
3) Custome ringtones for all the different notifications, i.e. text messages,appointments in the calendar, voicemail, etc. Not some cheap stock tones that come on the phone! ( I loved making ringtones with Touch and having a different on for everything!) (Guess it was a way for me to show my creative side!)
4) Three of the nine movies I had on my sd card have just vanished and I don't know how to find them.
I know most of these will seem trivial to you "phone purists" on here, but like it was said earlier, it is what is important to me on my phone.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Rxpert83]

I love this phone, I just wish sprints data didnt suck.

I get 300-400kb/s one minute and then 20kb/s another.

On chat support with them now

 

[omiller315]

I have really "enjoyed" every post on this thread, very informative.
I came from the Epic Touch and (only the second day with the LTE) I have some things that have got me considering going back to the Touch. (I have deceided to keep the LTE through the weekend, at least, to see if I can "fix" some of my dislikes about it). I am hoping to get some help with that here!
1) I don't like the contacts app on the LTE..the way it "lists" them in "groups" 2x2 with pictures! I just want a list of my contacts like it was on my Touch!
2) Email..(not gmail, don't use it enough to care how it works)..I just want it to show me the email address of incoming mail like it did on the Touch. And when I open the mail I want it to fit like it did on the Touch
3) Custome ringtones for all the different notifications, i.e. text messages,appointments in the calendar, voicemail, etc. Not some cheap stock tones that come on the phone! ( I loved making ringtones with Touch and having a different on for everything!) (Guess it was a way for me to show my creative side!)
4) Three of the nine movies I had on my sd card have just vanished and I don't know how to find them.
I know most of these will seem trivial to you "phone purists" on here, but like it was said earlier, it is what is important to me on my phone.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!

My contacts list everyone. Are you in "People"? When I am there I have an A-Z list of all people. Not sure about the email one. I am looking at it and don't see a settings yet. You can set ringtones for everything. Usually when you are playing back a sound, hit the menu button and it will give you options to set as ringtone for phone or contact and notifications . I would use Astro as a file manager to check the SD card for your files. They should be there somewhere.

 

[novox77]

@LoveMyPhone: If you want custom sounds, this is what you do:

create a folder called /media on your sdcard (or external /sdcard2).

under that, create the following folders:

Ringtones
Notifications
Alarms

You can even nest the folders, so that the parent folder inherits everything under it. Now you can put mp3 files in these folders, and when you choose your ringtone/notification/alarm within Sense, your mp3 files will show up in the list. I believe this is a feature of any Android phone.

I do all my sound editing on a PC, which is a lot more powerful than any phone app will ever be. It's also easy to rip sounds on a PC and convert them to mp3.

 

[omiller315]

@LoveMyPhone: If you want custom sounds, this is what you do:

create a folder called /media on your sdcard (or external /sdcard2).

under that, create the following folders:

Ringtones
Notifications
Alarms

You can even nest the folders, so that the parent folder inherits everything under it. Now you can put mp3 files in these folders, and when you choose your ringtone/notification/alarm within Sense, your mp3 files will show up in the list. I believe this is a feature of any Android phone.

I do all my sound editing on a PC, which is a lot more powerful than any phone app will ever be. It's also easy to rip sounds on a PC and convert them to mp3.

Same here. I use Audacity and think its great. Free and easy to use to trim all sounds to what I want

 

[skipbrown]

All those saying the battery life is amazing, just wait until you get LTE.

I'm an original EVO owner.... and love the phone. Had the 3D and now the LTE. Was devastated when i read that the battery was inexcessible but let my buddy, who manages my local Sprint store, talk me into a "test drive". Well here i sit 3 days later and as much as i love the phone, the battery life, or lack thereof, is a deal breaker for me. With my 3D, i had extra batteries but with the LTE, i'm married to a charger. Can't do it!! I think HTC made an error with that move.

 

[LoveMyPhone]

My contacts list everyone. Are you in "People"? When I am there I have an A-Z list of all people. Not sure about the email one. I am looking at it and don't see a settings yet. You can set ringtones for everything. Usually when you are playing back a sound, hit the menu button and it will give you options to set as ringtone for phone or contact and notifications . I would use Astro as a file manager to check the SD card for your files. They should be there somewhere.

In contacts, I was talking about the "Groups"..it shows pictures (or icons) 2 x 2 of your contacts, not just a list of names.
I have used Astro to try and find the movies, no luck yet. Going to try the sync thing when I get off work this evening.
Just had a "wonky" thing happen with the contacts! Was trying to check something out about the groups and check menu settings while in groups...anyway, when I clicked on a specific group there is a little lag and then it just goes to a blank black screen and freezes! Won't go "back" or anything! Have to hit the home button to get out of it! Goes I'll be going to the Sprint store this afternoon!

 

[LoveMyPhone]

I use my pc to make all my ringtones too. The ones you can get on your phone just don't come close, imho.
Will try the "long way around" suggestions some have listed here to see what I can do! Thats why I listed the stuff, figured someone would have some answers that escaped me!

 

[pwrmedia]

I'm an original EVO owner.... and love the phone. Had the 3D and now the LTE. Was devastated when i read that the battery was inexcessible but let my buddy, who manages my local Sprint store, talk me into a "test drive". Well here i sit 3 days later and as much as i love the phone, the battery life, or lack thereof, is a deal breaker for me. With my 3D, i had extra batteries but with the LTE, i'm married to a charger. Can't do it!! I think HTC made an error with that move.

I'm sitting here pondering the same thing. There are a lot of positives about the phone (my personal favorite being the fact that I can mount the phone as a disk drive and access the ext SD card WHILE downloading apps to save to the internal @ the same time), and the responsiveness is nice as well. It's also encouraging to see that it's going to receive a lot of developer support in the coming weeks and months.

But, like you, I am also fresh off of the 3D, and married to the charger as well. With less than stellar Sprint service @ the office (.1-.3Mb down avg) and avg (.5-.7Mb) @ home, I'm looking at about 10-12hrs of moderate usage off a full charge. I wasn't expecting miracles w/ the Evo LTE, but with the bigger battery, I expect @ least 12 hrs w/ moderate usage alone, and total batt life of around 16-18hrs. This isn't unreasonable, as many, many reviews have reported.

Perhaps the batt. will settle in, as I'm only 48 hrs into the phone, and have already rooted, tweaked, etc., so I expect wonkiness until I let it just rest and "learn". Additionally, I'm not entirely sold that returning this phone and holding out for the S3 whenever it's released is going to be the best bet.

So I'm torn. I'm already accustomed to keeping a USB cord handy whereever I go, so it's nothing new. But I feel like all it'll take is one major glitch for me to dump the phone and make a move to the dark side (have been HTC loyal for about 4 years, haven't used a Sammy since the Instinct days lol).

(shrugs)

**EDIT** - Almost 2 days after letting the phone settle post-flash and script modding, I can report that the battery is holding much, much better. Will be looking @ about 20 hrs w/ moderate usage. This, combined w/ disabling Rosie, has made the phone a keeper (barring any major glitches, of course!)

 

[skpd]

I'm an original EVO owner.... and love the phone. Had the 3D and now the LTE. Was devastated when i read that the battery was inexcessible but let my buddy, who manages my local Sprint store, talk me into a "test drive". Well here i sit 3 days later and as much as i love the phone, the battery life, or lack thereof, is a deal breaker for me. With my 3D, i had extra batteries but with the LTE, i'm married to a charger. Can't do it!! I think HTC made an error with that move.

got this: http://www.amazon.com/Anker-10000mAh-External-Recorders-Sensation/dp/B005NGKR54

at least you don't have to reboot to change the battery. plus that thing charges even a laptop. (has 12v out)

 

[Jacksuhn]

I love pretty much everything about this phone. Screen, camera, battery. Basically everything that's been a highlight has lived up to the hype for me. My only complaint is the hight of the device. I have pretty average sized hands, but I find it a bit of a stretch going from the top of the screen to the bottom. For instance going from notifications to an app, I feel like I don't have the best grip and often have to use my other hand. I'd prefer to be able to do everything one-handed securely, but don't feel I always can. I think anyone with small-ish hands will revert to two-handed mode almost all the time. With the slick design and thin frame, I just don't always feel like I have a firm grip on the device.
As I mentioned, everything internal is living up to the hype and I am loving this new EVO. The new Sense and ICS work great together. And everything just looks stunning.

 

[aeiou]

Wow, Sense still crashes/restarts? Thats very dissapointing. You would think thats something that wouldve been fixed. I hate coming out of apps sometimes on the Evo, because you never know if you're going to see that white screen along with the circle and waiting for your phone to come back to normal.

 

[EarlyMon]

Welcome around!

Sense doesn’t crash, it gets shuffled out of ram.

You see your wallpaper while a spinning graphic comes up as it's reloaded. Maximum time I've seen has been about 3 seconds for that, but that's anecdotal of course.

It's still three seconds too much, but the recovery is quick and graceful from what I've experienced, fwiw.

 

[klipsch]

I'm loving everything about this phone. The longer I have it, the more I love. I'm getting more than a day out of the battery right now, but I haven't been playing games that keep the screen lit for hours either. I never thought I had any battery problems with my EVO 4G. I didn't carry extra batteries...but I always had a charger nearby. I never had unrealistic expectations of the battery life of that phone and I don't have them for this one.
We need to remember, that WE (the folks scoring the web and forums) are the exceptions more than the norm. We push our mobile devices to the brink of devastation, multitasking and playing with mobile apps that mirror what we use on our home computers and laptops. I really doesn't matter what any manufacturer produces...somebody will strive to kill it.
As I said...I LOVE this phone. My biggest adaptation was yesterday, when I installed the Otterbox Commuter Case, after having the Defender on it for the past week. I can't decide which I like better.

LATE EDIT: I installed and set up Juice Defender on this phone nearly immediately, because I had gotten so used to it with my EVO 4G. It worked well on that phone and so far it hasn't shown any signs of hampering the LTE. It it does...I'll uninstall it. But if something works...why change it?

 

[falconey]

In contacts, I was talking about the "Groups"..it shows pictures (or icons) 2 x 2 of your contacts, not just a list of names.
I have used Astro to try and find the movies, no luck yet. Going to try the sync thing when I get off work this evening.
Just had a "wonky" thing happen with the contacts! Was trying to check something out about the groups and check menu settings while in groups...anyway, when I clicked on a specific group there is a little lag and then it just goes to a blank black screen and freezes! Won't go "back" or anything! Have to hit the home button to get out of it! Goes I'll be going to the Sprint store this afternoon!

Have you tried going into gallery->vids to view your movies....If they aren't showing there, chances are you may have deleted them off the sd.

 

[evotitans]

Phone has been pretty spectacular for me, so far, going on almost a week.

Battery usage...I'm on par with it. I'm a heavy user(I guess), mostly between sending Texts and checking web. Plus my office has only a decent signal(Don't use Wifi here), with plenty of other frequencies interferring. If I make it thru the work day and gym, with 40 to 50%, I'm pretty happy.

Unless someone has some good battery saving tips??

Biggest plus, that I didnt even notice? Voice and Data on 3G. I was totally shocked when I was on a call yesterday and noticed that an email had came thru during the call. I had to try it out again to be sure.

 

[3vodroid]

I'm sitting here pondering the same thing. There are a lot of positives about the phone (my personal favorite being the fact that I can mount the phone as a disk drive and access the ext SD card WHILE downloading apps to save to the internal @ the same time), and the responsiveness is nice as well. It's also encouraging to see that it's going to receive a lot of developer support in the coming weeks and months.

But, like you, I am also fresh off of the 3D, and married to the charger as well. With less than stellar Sprint service @ the office (.1-.3Mb down avg) and avg (.5-.7Mb) @ home, I'm looking at about 10-12hrs of moderate usage off a full charge. I wasn't expecting miracles w/ the Evo LTE, but with the bigger battery, I expect @ least 12 hrs w/ moderate usage alone, and total batt life of around 16-18hrs. This isn't unreasonable, as many, many reviews have reported.

Perhaps the batt. will settle in, as I'm only 48 hrs into the phone, and have already rooted, tweaked, etc., so I expect wonkiness until I let it just rest and "learn". Additionally, I'm not entirely sold that returning this phone and holding out for the S3 whenever it's released is going to be the best bet.

So I'm torn. I'm already accustomed to keeping a USB cord handy whereever I go, so it's nothing new. But I feel like all it'll take is one major glitch for me to dump the phone and make a move to the dark side (have been HTC loyal for about 4 years, haven't used a Sammy since the Instinct days lol).

(shrugs)

**EDIT** - Almost 2 days after letting the phone settle post-flash and script modding, I can report that the battery is holding much, much better. Will be looking @ about 20 hrs w/ moderate usage. This, combined w/ disabling Rosie, has made the phone a keeper (barring any major glitches, of course!)

Fwiw I didn't see full battery capability until the 5th or so charge.. Also if your worried bout replacing the battery dwn the road if it ever doesn't hold a charge... There is a teardown video floating around on YouTube ( and on this forum I think?) and by watching that.. The battery is actually pretty easy to replace should you have to in a year or so.. 4 screws and the unibody pops out then disconnect to ribbon on the battery... reinstall

 

[some.devil]

I did something yesterday that would have easily killed 30% of my old Evo's battery. I left the camera on while I threw the Evo LTE back into my pocket. Only until I realized something was burning a hole in my pants was I able to turn it off. To my surprise, the battery was at 90%. I'd estimate about 30 minutes this thing was in my pocket with the cam on.

 

[bearballz]

I love the 4G LTE.I was considering getting the S3 but after seeing all the specs and reviews, I still think the 4G LTE stands toe to toe with it. The screen is magnificent and ICS w/the new version of Sense is great. The build quality is great, the separate camera button is a much needed addition to any smartphone IMO. The camera itself is a vast improvement over the Evo 4G

Yeah there are a couple hiccups here and there like any new smartphone but I'm sure HTC will straighten these out. The kickstand is great and I use it everyday at work when listening to Pandora. Plus the SD card slot which the 1X doesn't have is a big plus in my book.

IMO it's just a really solid phone all around. Just have to get this whole LTE thing sorted out and I'm good for the next 2 years.