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Sprint HTC EVO 3D and Motorola Photon 4G: specs comparison | Android Central
Sprint HTC EVO 3D and Motorola Photon 4G: specs comparison | Android Central
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If Sprint released the Evo3D and SGS2 and Photon on the same day which would you pick?
- Thread starter you2
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- htc evo 3d
I could give a rat's behind if either HTC or Samsung abandons updates on the latest greatest *IF* one things holds true: The rom cookers and developers like Cyanogen & aosp continue to port ROMs over and IF they run 1/2 as good as their current ports do (e.g. Hero), which there is no reason to doubt they will run great. Putting the fate of my phone's relevance and 'updated baddassery' in the hands of a carrier only interested in extrapolating more money from my wallet is a non sequitur.
Everyone, am I alone in this regard? I'm looking at prospect of root , specs, batt life, and the embrace of the community. The only thing that concerns me in relation to the SSG2 is the last one (based on the relative slowness of dev work @ haxsung), but Samsung appears to be making strides in this regard which is awesome. If XDA jumps on board, the sky is the limit as I put a mountain of faith into those folks!
I consider any ROM out of the carrier's hands crapware that needs to be vetted from carrier bloat and unwanted apps; then tweaked (e.g. cyanogen mod). Therefore, I do compare to Nexus phones, because when they get their updates, that's when I like to see my updates, not months down the road littered w/ Sprint NFL, Nascar, yadda, yadda, and Sense UI/TouchWiz bloat) w/ no meaningful reason for the delay. I call this paradox 'have cake and eat it too'.
Everyone, am I alone in this regard? I'm looking at prospect of root , specs, batt life, and the embrace of the community. The only thing that concerns me in relation to the SSG2 is the last one (based on the relative slowness of dev work @ haxsung), but Samsung appears to be making strides in this regard which is awesome. If XDA jumps on board, the sky is the limit as I put a mountain of faith into those folks!
I consider any ROM out of the carrier's hands crapware that needs to be vetted from carrier bloat and unwanted apps; then tweaked (e.g. cyanogen mod). Therefore, I do compare to Nexus phones, because when they get their updates, that's when I like to see my updates, not months down the road littered w/ Sprint NFL, Nascar, yadda, yadda, and Sense UI/TouchWiz bloat) w/ no meaningful reason for the delay. I call this paradox 'have cake and eat it too'.
Side chatter moved to - http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d...ues-mod-note-all-new-phones-will-improve.html
GD it EarlyMon, mine was not 'side chatter'. lol. It directly relates to 'if released on same day, which would I choose'. :/
Nm, I suppose at least you are there and your dialogue is rich, ney... engrossing!
Sometimes I wanna copy certain posts of yours, compile them into a notebook and call it intro to Android 101.
Well, maybe I read your post wrong, so I've copied back here (copy, not move).
If you'd like to edit it to focus it to how updates and the independent dev community influence your decision - if you think it needs it - go right ahead.
I also copied out some stuff on phone breaking, etc - and while of interest, really comes down to what we already know: don't drop your phone, you're free to speculate what will happen.
And - sfaik - all three will sport Gorilla glass, so in an imperfect world, there you go.
Nm, I suppose at least you are there and your dialogue is rich, ney... engrossing!
I simply channel.
I had a droid X with motoblur. I wasn't a fan of the motoblur widgets... they seemed to take up a lot of screen real estate without giving you much info and the launcher wasn't as smooth as launcher pro or sense. The motoblur dialer didn't include T9 dialing, something that sense and touchwiz do provide... and this is something I've got to have.
The biggest annoyance for me though was the email client wouldn't work with my companies exchange account or my yahoo account... it continually had issues syncing. These things are easily fixed because they are software issues... and since the hardware was excellent it ended up being a great phone.
Also, Motorola's support for motoblur was weird... HTC and samsung continually refine and improve their UI's, but I just haven't seen much progress on fixing/enhancing motoblur.
Do you see this - you2 and I were discussing it earlier...
Is this close to what you wanted, includes some specs -
Thats just some of the changes with the newer Blur on the Photon, the DX2, GB for the DX1. With my DX1, I use the Blur launcher as my main one. That says alot. Cuz I paid for both Launcher Pro and ADW, and bought SPB 3D. Some of the Blur widgets got redone. The messaging one is nice. It looks like the messaging widget for SPB 3D.
Sense UI was just so good so soon. Moto is just playing catch up to Sense UI and Touchwiz.
I wanted the comparitive comments at the bottom of the evo3d/photon comparison
Hopefully, a good reviewer can do that without their head exploding.
Otherwise, it'll be on us to take the 3 two-way comparisons and piece that result together until our heads explode.
Hoping for the former, but seriously expecting the latter.
This applies to me too, but I don't travel quite so often.
Cheap? One of my coworkers ran up $300 in international roaming in just 4 days on her iPhone last month. (EDIT: Oops, I forgot she's actually on Verizon, so I dunno anything about AT&T international roaming)
I am kinda hoping when I ask Sprint about international roaming options it will sound like a really crappy and expensive plan so I can justify getting the 3vo lol.
I have owned the Hero and the Evo4G. I really haven't had many problems with them. I mean, I have had problems with them, but nothing serious. All in all, I have been pretty happy with them.
My wife has owned a Samsung Moment and an Epic 4G. Both have had some major problems, especially after the "updates". She has had the screen on her phones go dark and become unresponsive until you pull the battery and reboot; there are times where you can watch the Epic ring, but never actually hear the ringer; still having to rely on wifi because 3g is so slow... Service interruption type stuff.
Basically, I've been pretty happy with what HTC has put out, and I have little doubt about the abilites of the evo3d. The wife, on the other hand, has sworn away from samsung all together. Now it's just a matter of her choosing between the evo3d and the photon.
My wife has owned a Samsung Moment and an Epic 4G. Both have had some major problems, especially after the "updates". She has had the screen on her phones go dark and become unresponsive until you pull the battery and reboot; there are times where you can watch the Epic ring, but never actually hear the ringer; still having to rely on wifi because 3g is so slow... Service interruption type stuff.
Basically, I've been pretty happy with what HTC has put out, and I have little doubt about the abilites of the evo3d. The wife, on the other hand, has sworn away from samsung all together. Now it's just a matter of her choosing between the evo3d and the photon.
CrazyTechnoBoy
Android Enthusiast
Evo 3D of course. Simply an amazing phone.
So are you saying the motorola did improve motoblur recently on the DX1? Was that with the Gingerbread update?
I dont have my X in front of me, but T9 added, the contacts screen got tweaked, some of the widgets got tweaked, the launcher is smoother, the launcher dock area looks better and is a lil customizable, the app drawer can be set in categories, battery info got tweaked, different color scheme (some ppl dont like the new color scheme tho), notifications can be individually cleared instead of clearing all,
Off the top of my head that all I remember. A read thru the Droid X1 GB threads will have anything I left out.
Off the top of my head that all I remember. A read thru the Droid X1 GB threads will have anything I left out.
notifications being indivdiually cleared is a native thing.
i was surprised reading your other post in that you by choice go w/ motoblur. Is there anything you like about it (or sense) as opposed to the market launchers? i prefer launcher pro due to a. increased responsiveness w/ less cpu b. increasing horizontal icons (even more important when I upgrade to larger screen) and hiding certain drawer app icons (certain core apps that shant be removed but that I wish not to use). I also appreciate the 'scrollable widgets' hack (useful for say... pure widget calendar); lowering the amount of screens, choosable transition effects, adding multiple scrollable docks and so on. In the Sense that I've used (having not tried the latest and greatest) you can adjust/tweak/change NONE of these things. All I had was a couple of widgets which I've found comparable substitutes for in the market and some [usually] broken facebook features. I hear that MotoBlur fares even worse.
These launchers are a recurring deciding factor on which handset people will buy and I'm curious as to why specifically, one would choose either 3 for the aftermarket (so to speak) substitutes. Maybe I'm missing something!
ArmageddonX
Android Expert
The only thing I envy about the new TouchWiz over the new Sense is the ability to resize Widgets. I just love that feature. For me personally it's not a big enough feature to go with TW over Sense though.
Only thing that really made me stick to the Blur launcher was the categories in the app drawer. There were a couple of 3rd party launchers that did this, but I didnt like the launcher, homescreen setups overall.
If the Blur launcher was still the laggy, stuttering thing from when the Droid X1 came out, I wouldnt be using it. The categories was like the clincher. I do miss the scrolling dock area of LP, never liked the swipe dock area for ADW.
About the notifications, there is a red minus sign on GB for the Droid X1. You hit that and it clears the notification. I dont see that on my Droid 1 using a GB ROM, I just see the clear all button. Maybe the ROM on my Droid 1 is tweaked? I've been outta the Droid 1 scene for so long I dont whats up with stock Android anymore.
If the Blur launcher was still the laggy, stuttering thing from when the Droid X1 came out, I wouldnt be using it. The categories was like the clincher. I do miss the scrolling dock area of LP, never liked the swipe dock area for ADW.
About the notifications, there is a red minus sign on GB for the Droid X1. You hit that and it clears the notification. I dont see that on my Droid 1 using a GB ROM, I just see the clear all button. Maybe the ROM on my Droid 1 is tweaked? I've been outta the Droid 1 scene for so long I dont whats up with stock Android anymore.
While there is nothing I esp envy about touchwiz; there is nothing I particularly dislike either; and the notification bar was extremely nice in the last version. So nice in fact that sense copied it in 3.0
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Sense adds a lot of customizations that I like; moto-blur mostly add stuff I dislike (and i find ugly as hell).
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So i have no problem buying a phone with touchwiz; but moto blur makes me think twice.
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Oh well.
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Sense adds a lot of customizations that I like; moto-blur mostly add stuff I dislike (and i find ugly as hell).
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So i have no problem buying a phone with touchwiz; but moto blur makes me think twice.
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Oh well.
Sense is more than a launcher - it's an integration framework for apps. It has plenty of downsides, but out of the box, it does beaucoup.
I like how it automagically ties in contacts with unread messages or emails. I like how the launcher performs overall (if a bit of bloatware is removed). I like how all of the apps that can share data to the outside world (mms, email, twitter) tend to do it in the same way with the same interfaces. I like how its widgets perform and visually integrate with things overall.
I like how I don't have to run around spending here and there and hunting out this and that to get the whole kit just like I like it when I did when I had vanilla Android. And I way love the Sense Calendar.
The choices are made for me.
Could I get better performing by going ala carte? Yeah, ok. I'm sacrificing performance for eye candy. And how much is my time worth when Sense seems to do just what I like?
My decision as far as the things about Sense I didn't like, I made last July or August. Just to live with it until the next one came along. Been waiting for and wanting Sense 2 (using Sense 1) - will skip that and go to Sense 3.
Did you see the twirly thing in Sense 3. Shiny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kax24GN1458
While other functions and apps have caught up to that in many ways - that was just Sense 1.
ArmageddonX
Android Expert
Probably my favorite comment on the "twirly thing" in Sense 3.0 is in the Wirefly review.
Bob Kovacs, in his deep radio voice, goes:
Bob Kovacs, in his deep radio voice, goes:
LOL... cracks me up every time...
Well, that's good to hear. I was wrong about motorola not updating motoblur. Thanks for the info.
I agree... I think a lot of people miss the fact that, while sense does include a nifty looking launcher, it also includes a lot of integration across the system apps and value added features in many of the you-probably-take-them-for-granted system apps. Things like the t-9 dialing, or an email client that works reliably with exchange, etc..
Also, I know a lot of people bag on sense for bogging down the system but it's one of the smoothest UI's I've found so I'm not sure I understand the source of that comment. Maybe it chews up a lot of storage but I haven't seen a great impact on day to day performance.
I believe LP allows resize of any widgets.
Anyway pardon, I didn't mean to frame it as Touchwiz over Sense but those carrier Launchers, ney... 'integrated UIs' over 3rd part launchers + vanilla.
I see. So it's the categories then. I'll have to check that out. I believe ADW provides that now though and is super smooth, but it lacks some of the things I described.
W/ GB you just flick it left from the notification drop down menu.
Yeah, I do understand it is more than a launcher as it totally replaces the dialer, contacts manager, and likes to break native features (e.g. sense 1 for facebook), but I was just simplifying as at its core, it primarily acts as a launcher replacement and that's how most perceive it.
GB has contact tie-in to talk, navigation, and maps, but yea, that's a valid point. I found when I used Sense on Hero though, I never really liked to see FB updates on my my contacts themselves... it was TMI.
I guess overall, I like to keep msgs, and emails compartmentalized w/ the the respective apps and unified by the notifications system. But that is a pretty good reason for using Sense I reckon!
What apps... are you referring to to those respective widgets? I find them aesthetically pleasing, but functionally a novelty.
EarlyMon, you sound eerily reminisicent of the execs in the video!
"make you the cen-teerrrr of da expeeerence, that's sense" (or whatever his pitch was in the 1st half)
I think in Mandarin that translates to 'clog up my home screens'.
Then do I have a treat for you! Not trying to sway you from sense, but its calendar was one thing I lamented the loss of and found lacking on native, until I found... Pure Grid Calendar Widget. Not only does it have the same looks, but way more function. It's scrollable; it can show timelines of events; and most importantly, you needn't open the calendar apps as the widget is more than a hook into it. it actually allows you to add/edit/del calendar events directly from the widget.
Check it out, you won't regret it. Hey... we all like you to divvy up our time differently w/ life's hobbies.
. Though honestly, I find that it takes a relatively small amount of time to get what I want out of a 3rd party launcher plus respective apps that is in likeness to Sense etc. but w/o the cons. Then, backup launcher settings + titanium backup -- DONE.In the end I stopped using Sense (1? ) in exchange for a leaner, faster rom (admittedly less important on a faster phone), for more room on /data (Again less important when enough space is provided), and because I wasn't really using twitter, FB and other widgets anyway. I found them to be app heavy and they were tearing up my batt life. I imagine this issue will come up again, and also the hiding of apps in drawer, and because there is way too much freaking space between icons on larger screen phones, so I will be drawn away from the Sense 3 as well (should I go 3vo), for practical purposes.
EDIT: Watched the vid... still not seeing anything new or more than a novetly. I don't wanna 'bring in twitter', I wanna keep it away. Same w/ FB, and when I see it, best in its native interface. Much prefer Gmail native features to the subset provided in a window within a window. etc. etc. etc. BUUUT I do love that flip coin and dice widget, oh yeah!
To each his own. But I guess I should see touchwiz in action before signing the dotted line... might be stuck w/ it for a little bit. eek!
EDIT: Cripes mang! Seeing all this rubble-rabble about firmware-flashing counter over at XDA on root thread for SSG2 which I don't like. This and the root mechanics of Samsung phones always seem greek to me (coming from HTC). Maybe I should just go 3vo. :/