Database Users

Switching to Sprint from ATT, Evo or Epic?

I am using a Touch Pro 2 on ATT but I want to switch to Sprint for one of the smart phones. I am trying to decide between Epic and Evo.
I've seen and played with both phones and both seem pretty equal to me. On first glance the Epic feels way lighter and cheaper than the Evo, and I didn't like the keyboard nearly as much as my TP2.
How is the Samsung software? I've never used a Sammy smart phone and I was wondering how their software compares? I've used HTC for the last 4 phones I've owned. With full root can you put HTC software on the epic phone?
Anything else I should be away of in making my decision to switch?
Thanks

You'd probably get better answers about TouchWiz in another forum, but I can say that I'm not a fan from what I've seen. It would drive me nuts not being able to change the four shortcuts on my homescreen.
The HTC Evo is CyanogenMod supported which, in my opinion, is a very strong selling point.
The HTC Evo also has Froyo. The Galaxy S phones have yet to be updated. I'm pretty sure they'll be seeing an update soon, but you never can tell.
You'll probably never see a full Sense UI ROM on the Epic.
The main thing that I like about the Epic is the Hummingbird processor. I haven't really had an opportunity to play with a Galaxy S phone w/o a T-Mobile sales person breathing down my neck, so I can't really speak to how much better it makes the overall experience.
My opinion would be that if you think you can live without a hardware keyboard, to go with the EVO.
Sorry if that was a bit rambly... I just woke up.

r2tincan said:
I am using a Touch Pro 2 on ATT but I want to switch to Sprint for one of the smart phones. I am trying to decide between Epic and Evo.
I've seen and played with both phones and both seem pretty equal to me. On first glance the Epic feels way lighter and cheaper than the Evo, and I didn't like the keyboard nearly as much as my TP2.
How is the Samsung software? I've never used a Sammy smart phone and I was wondering how their software compares? I've used HTC for the last 4 phones I've owned. With full root can you put HTC software on the epic phone?
Anything else I should be away of in making my decision to switch?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Advantage Epic 4G
1. QWERTY
2. More powerful CPU and GPU crushes Evo's GPU, no comparison
3. Screen is about 5x nicer than Evo's. To be honest, Evo has a really ****ty TFT LCD screen displaying only 65k colors.
Advantage Evo 4G
1. Feels more like a premium device, very heavy for a phone, nice form factor
2. Roughly the same size as Epic, thinner, but way less bezel, more screen.

I keep hearing about all the pixels you can see on the epic. I like my Evo, I'd say if you want to game or need a hardware keyboard go epic otherwise the Evo is great. Most games are payable with the Evo just with a few slowdowns. Battery life is just slightly better on the epic, like 15 mins or something like that.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

i work for sprint, I dont think you can go wrong with either. heres what i think...
Epic
Pros: 4G, GORGEOUS screen, Hummingbird processor really flies when scrolling and rendering, Great KB, and DLNA (instead of HDMI)
Cons: Somewhat bulky even though very lightweight, even though screen is gorgeous, colors are over exaggerated, resulting in some pixelation. 5M/VGA cameras versus the Evo 8M/1.3M combo. Capacitive buttons at bottom VERY touchy and buggy
Evo
Pros: 4G, 4.3 inch screen, HUUUUUGE development community, Android Froyo 2.2 out the box, 8M/1.3M camera combo, KICKSTAND!!, 2 flashes on Camera, HTC Sense blows Touchwiz out of the water (even though I prefer LauncherPro), and lastly Evo comes with Youtube with HQ capabilities
Cons: HTC has capped the framerate of the Evo out of the box because of the HDMI controller. Compared to the Epics constant 60fps, it blows a stock Evo out the water when it comes to anything graphical. Scrolling, pinching and zooming, things like that. The 1GHz Snapdragon core is fast as hell when launching programs and multi tasking and performing operations, but it stinks compared to the Epic when it comes to 3D gaming. Now, with that being said, there are plenty of custom roms and kernels that lift the cap on the framerate on the Evo, letting it achieve about 55fps. Close to 60, but not yet.
Screen on Evo is a tad bigger, but looks sort of washed out against the Epic.
HTC Sense is great for the average user, but its Heavy, slow, and hogs up alot of resources.
Dont get me wrong, the are more pros and cons to both, but to ME, those are the big ones. Which one do I recommend?
I RECOMMEND GOING TO A STORE AND PLAYING WITH BOTH TO SEE WITH ONE YOU..ill say it again....YOU...like better
For me, I already own the Evo, and its an awesome device, the Epic isnt enough of an upgrade for me to ditch the Evo. Furthermore, Sprint employees cant buy the Evo or Epic yet anyways. I only got an Evo cuz I was our stores advocate.
I think if I were in a buyers position tho, and was an average user, or even a more than average user, I would definately pick sadly...the Epic.
Now, if your into hacking and overclocking and tinkering your phone, then the Evo is definately the phone for you. There is so much support for the Evo, its truly unbelievable.
At the end, I LOVE my Evo, hands down the best phone ive ever had. You may not think the same, and coming to an Evo forum is gonna get you some very biased answers on which one is better. Go to a store and try them out for yourself. They are both incredible devices

I don't care at all about games but I am really tired of the slowdowns I've come to expect with Windows Mobile.
For instance, sometimes waiting for a text message to appear or for the home screen to load (5-10 seconds) is "normal" for me. I want a snappy device, with a good end-user experience. Like the iphone.
And I wanna customize it, unlike an iphone.
Edit: Thanks for the recommendation, I'll go in today and play with them again....

This post says it all:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=770471

id say go with the touch pro 2 again. haha just kidding, i hated owning the touch pro 2, so slow!!

I had a Touch Pro 2 for a month, it was so slow I couldn't even answer calls on it. Literally it would take 30 seconds to press the "answer call" button and by the the call would be disconnected. Also that conference call feature where you could easily add people to a call simply did not exist (i think it only works on the GSM verison)
I actually really, really like the Palm Pixi after seeing it in person. That thing is tiny [that's what she said] and quite underrated.
I kind of want to ditch my Evo for the Palm Pixi but would mainly miss the Google Maps Navigation. [edit I suppose it probably has Sprint Navigation]

I played with a friends epic, and I was not impressed.
touchwiz looks like kindergarten compared to sense.
it was lightweight and nice display, albeit smaller than evo.

jerryparid said:
Advantage Epic 4G
1. QWERTY
2. More powerful CPU and GPU crushes Evo's GPU, no comparison
3. Screen is about 5x nicer than Evo's. To be honest, Evo has a really ****ty TFT LCD screen displaying only 65k colors.
Advantage Evo 4G
1. Feels more like a premium device, very heavy for a phone, nice form factor
2. Roughly the same size as Epic, thinner, but way less bezel, more screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with your review here I have 5 Evo's at work and own one myself and yesterday just activated 2 Epic's great phones screen is out of this world. That being said depends on if you want a mechanical keyboard or not. I could go either way bottom line is you can't lose with either phone they are both great. I can say for me the Evo is the best smart phone I have ever owned.

As others have said, the best way to choose is to play with both of them yourself. That being said, a friend of mine got the Epic the other day and I went over to show her how to use it and I like the EVO more. It may just be the fact that I'm more used to my phone or just simply personal preference, I don't know. The Epic is a nice phone, but IMHO, the EVO is better. Everyone is different though and you may feel another way. I'm just happy that after being with Sprint as long as I have (about 10yrs) and dealing with the fact that year after year all the top phones have gone to different carriers, Sprint finally decided to offer 2 very good choices.

I work at a Sprint store and a customer with an Epic came in with an image burned into the screen. I don't know how and I havn't read anything else on it but if I know Samsung then there will be at least one major issue.

The main reason to not get an Epic is the other name attached to it - Samsung. They are, historically, horrible with their smartphones. Slow to release updates, slow or never release updates to fix bugs big and small, marginal support for devices out on the market, and just a complete lack of customer service. As a former owner of an Instinct and a Moment, I cannot recommend buying anything with the Samsung name attached to it except their TVs and computer monitors.
I can, without any doubt in my mind, say that the Evo is the best phone I've ever owned thus far. By itself with no root and no modifications, it is a wonderful phone. Rooting it and putting whatever I want on it to expand its potential only made it a better phone. The guys over at SDX will have a heck of a time ripping out TouchWiz (yuck!) and making the Epic better than it is (it's already rooted, supposedly). I won't even be thinking about a phone upgrade again until at least November to see what's on the market or what's coming to the market (especially from HTC).

Up for upgrade. Epic or Evo

I am up for an upgrade in a week and have been weighing my options for a while and am currently leaning towards the Epic, but was hoping to get some insight from the Epic community and hopefully some people that have used both phones. My main concern with the Epic is that of Sammy and their history of not supporting hardware. I still have a bad taste in my mouth over the Instinct(great hardware, terrible software and support). I don't care that much about the home screen part of either or the mail app as I will be using GMail and LauncherPro. One question I have is how many serious and talented linux devs are there that work on the Epic? I know most of the Hero devs went to the Evo. I currently have a Hero running CM6. I like some parts of Sense, but it's performance was a major turn-off and was what made me turn to ASOP. As far as the keyboard goes, I am undecided on whether I will actually like/use it or not. The only thing I see myself using it for is gaming emulators. Another concern is I have heard something about GPS issues, have they been fixed or acknowledged? I am open to input and am truly on the border here. Also, has a root been found for the epic yet? This is a big one for me so that I can at least remove the sprint crapware.

I would say go for the evo. Not long ago I was in the same boat a you. I did a ton off research, and played with both phones extensively. I chose the evo, and it its the most amazing phone I've ever seen. Now that htc uncapped the fps, there is really no problems. The epic is great, but imo the evo is better.
Sent from my Htc Evo

I own both. I prefer the Epic for the keyboard. However, I dislike its screen for late night bed surfing lol. All AMOLEDs are way too bright in the dark.
Couple other noticeable things for me:
Screen: Epic for brightness/colors, however EVO has better responsiveness (assuming hardware/software issue for Epic)
Screen FPS: Epic, but they just released official fix for EVO
Text input: Epic since it has hardware keyboard in addition to touch
Battery life: EVO hands down, my Epic seems to die too fast and I never used any type of battery saving application on EVO
Power button location: Blows on Epic, why did they put it on the side??
Phone Size: Epic is lighter and smaller
ROM Development: EVO because its a HTC device, but I hope this changes soon

And I'd go with the Epic. I got my girlfriend her first smartphone 3 months ago and got her the Evo. Played with it for a few weeks and definitely liked the phone. Then I came up for an upgrade and I had the same decision to make. I ended up chosing the Epic as it seems it is a fewer months older and has a few slight upgrades over the Evo, but not much.
The Epic screen is ridiculously amazing. They do NOT compare. I love having a hard keyboard, and I text a lot more because of it. It's been two phones and about 3 years since I had a keyboard, but I picked it right up and my fingers flew.
Touchwiz is very nice, but I got rid of it after a few days, well actually the 3rd day once I rooted. I did the same with Sense on my Hero, like it, but I rather go completely customizable with a custom launcher.
Another great thing about the Epic is the notificatoin settings bar. You can adjust a few settings like wifi, 4g, bluetooth, brightness and airplane mode all from the pull down bar. And it even works without Touchwiz, which was a surprise to me. This feature alone gives me a big vote for epic over evo.
It seems the Epic's cpu runs a little faster/more efficientyly than the Evo's. The battery life on both is about what you can expect, if you use it a lot, plan on charging it during the day. Are you into rooting and getting the most out of your phone? Then you can get extensively better battery duration.
Right now, there isn't a lot of extra stuff you can do on a rooted Epic, but the phone's only been out a few weeks and the Evo has a jumpstart on developmental stuff. Also, the Evo is already on 2.2 where the Epic is still on 2.1, although rumors have it getting 2.2 in the next month.
Gps issue is definitely a problem on the Epic. I use my GPS about 5 times a day as I travel to different sites for my job. There is a delay in getting a good lock, but there should be a fix for this soon, and it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I usually get a lock within a minute. But I'll be happy when I get that instantaneous lock again.
One thing the Evo definitely has on the Epic is a bit bigger screen, .3", and HDMI out. That function is disabled on the Epic for some reason. I've heard a few reasons, but who knows. I use the DLNA option instead as my TV is new enough to support it.
I came from 3 generations of HTC phones before this, so it was hard for me to leave HTC. In the end, either way you're getting an awesome phone. so good luck with this decision!

epic camera owns the evo. period

I own both and would say EVO hands down. I thought the physical keyboard would be for me as that was the hardest to get used to on my EVO but after using both extensively I'd get the EVO. Where a few people like being able to adjust wifi/bluetooth and whatnot from the upper status pulldown, on the EVO it's a widget called "Power Control". To me this gives the same ease. Having both the EVO and the EPIC side by side I wouldn't say the EPIC screen blows away the EVO. Colors seem more blue on the EPIC and amoled is nice but I'd take my EVO any day for the .3 larger screen + it doesn't look bad at all.
Now if you're HEAVY into games and that's the main purpose for your phone then I'd recommend you get the EPIC. GPS isn't as big of an issue as people make it out to be BUT that being said there's been a few times when I needed it *now* and was waiting for about 3-5 minutes which I am sorry is NOT cool. The EVO locks on almost instantly, and most places I have tried indoor as well (obviously in a concrete office building it's not going to work... but at home in my bedroom it works fine).
I would suggest that you go to a Sprint store and really play with both for ~20 minutes each...
'tuna

monadzback said:
epic camera owns the evo. period
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true
Sent from my HTC EVO using XDA App

basically epic if u like physical kbs or evo if not

sling said:
Not true
Sent from my HTC EVO using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is.

Having owned, and done extensive reviews and research on both I can conclude that the Epic's camera is much better than the Evos. The saturation, contrast, and white balance are all superior. Not to mention the video camera is only bested by the iPhone4.

I owned the Evo b4 the Epic. I liked the Evo, because the development for the device is amazing. The kickstand on the Evo is also great and comes in handy. Now that the 30fps caps is removed, it is even a greater phone.
I chose the Epic for a smaller form factor in phone size. I had to use two hands to use the Evo and my fingers would not reach across the screen without touching my skin. The Evo camera is not as good as the Epic, 23 fps vs 29/30fps at a constant rate. I like have an option of a physical keyboard to use only *if* I am typing a long email, playing a emulator or just getting tired of using the on screen keyboard. The AMOLED screen pwns the LCD screen and the Epics GPU is amazing, I run everything smoothly on my Epic.
In my opinion they are both great phones, but if you prefer a bigger form factor and a great development scene go for the Evo. If you prefer a great overall device that has everything built in for a phone then choose the Epic.

sling said:
Not true
Sent from my HTC EVO using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is.
http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2010/09/epic-vs-evo-the-cameras/
The EVO can't shoot HD video in low light situations. It goes at around 10-15 FPS. It's blurrier during the day. It over saturates the colors. The 8MP on the camera is totally pointless because the quality of the camera doesn't measure up.
My Epic takes much better pictures than my EVO. But regardless... there are far MORE IMPORTANT reasons to get a phone.

drewX2 said:
I own both. I prefer the Epic for the keyboard. However, I dislike its screen for late night bed surfing lol. All AMOLEDs are way too bright in the dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol I agree! I own both also and the super AMOLED is way too bright even at its lowest setting. I do love both devices equally though
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

monadzback said:
epic camera owns the evo. period
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you owned both? Care to give any reasons/data explaining why?
hydralisk said:
Yes it is.
http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2010/09/epic-vs-evo-the-cameras/
The EVO can't shoot HD video in low light situations. It goes at around 10-15 FPS. It's blurrier during the day. It over saturates the colors. The 8MP on the camera is totally pointless because the quality of the camera doesn't measure up.
My Epic takes much better pictures than my EVO. But regardless... there are far MORE IMPORTANT reasons to get a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently you haven't used cm6 on the EVO. IT does wonders for the camera and does things that no other camera app does as of yet; touch to focus while in camcorder mode....I get 24ish fps in 720p in low light with cm6.
Look, I own both, they both have their pros/cons but NEVER ever would I say one owns the other. It almost like Mac vs. PC they both do some things well....and others not so well.

Epic, is my vote, root is already out. Out of the box, epic is so much better. I still have my evo, but I never pick it up.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

My pick is the Evo. I got the Epic at launch, but it never felt right for me. I was also annoyed at the current bugs, which I can confirm it has. I just didn't have faith in Samsung to come out with a fix for them all, especially in my 30 window.
I returned it for the Evo and was amazed how much more I liked the Evo. Just feels like the better phone imo. Battery life is much better on the Evo than the Epic for me too.
Good luck.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Either one you pick you wil be happy. I ended up going with the epic for the better screen, better processor and gpu and the keyboard. Even though im starting to use the screen keyboard alot more now that i installed the droid x keyboard.. i take the train to work everyday so i watch movies and play games on a daily basis.. and despite the screen size disadvantage the epic has.. movies look so much better.. and believe me i've tried both
Sent from my Epic 4g using Tapatalk Pro

jok3sta said:
Either one you pick you wil be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed! They are both good machines(?), err phones. As I said in an earlier post, it'd be stupid to not go to Sprint and really play with both for like 10-20 minutes each. Download quadrant, neocore, your favorite app(s), etc., etc. and run it all on both and make an informed decision. Most Sprint employees (around were I live) recommend the EVO, that said, don't let a sales person sway you one way or another.

spiicytuna said:
Agreed! They are both good machines(?), err phones. As I said in an earlier post, it'd be stupid to not go to Sprint and really play with both for like 10-20 minutes each. Download quadrant, neocore, your favorite app(s), etc., etc. and run it all on both and make an informed decision. Most Sprint employees (around were I live) recommend the EVO, that said, don't let a sales person sway you one way or another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I plan on it. I have been to best buy twice, but for some reason in their great wisdom they only have mockups so you cant play around with them. I am going to buy it at best buy so I get my reward points and better returns.

I have both, bought Evo, really liked it, but when the Epic came out, tried it, loved it, gave Evo to hubby.
Handsize and feel is important to me, the Epic fits hand better, buttons are in more convenient place for one hand usage, Love Swype, love screen, rooted but staying with Touchwiz because its so smooth (and waiting for 2.2
before I mess with other roms). The pics are awesome, as are some of the apps, especially Google Sky. It actually runs a little faster than Evo in opening apps.
Now hubby loves Evo, bigger feel in hands, screen, but to me, colors look more washed out. However, he is color blind so can tell no difference.
I came from rooted Hero, so like Touchwiz better than Sense. Its a comfort zone, they are both great, play with them, if we didn't have two to chose from, everyone would like the one choice they have.
P.S. My only wish would be no keyboard on Epic and thinner, never use it with large on screen keyboards and Swype.

Evo or Evo Shift

I currently have a Moment (and it sucks: which is why I don't want an Epic yet alone another Samsung).
I'm wanting a new phone that can handle 3d games without lagging.
I have heard that the new Evo Shift will have the same 800mhz chip that is in the new G2. That chip has been overclocked to a stable 1.6ghz and getting over 3000 in Quadrant.
Also the other rumor is that the Shift will have an upgraded GPU. Which is even better.
Honestly the 3.8" screen isn't that much smaller than the screen on the Evo. It could be the perfect size.
Plus it has a physical keyboard.
Truthfully, it sounds like I already made up my mind. But I guess I have to wait until specs and reviews are out for this phone.
Anyone else getting this Shift over an Evo?
Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

If the 3D gaming is that important, and it was concerning the two, than sure I think most would suggest the Shift.
But at this point I'd also suggest seeing what's on the horizon and truth be told Sprint doesn't have the grandest selection but I can see that changing. Some big **** around the corner, but if now - or soon - a new phone is needed and that's what your primary concern is, then the Shift probably your best bet.
SWYPED from my SUPASONIC

CES is coming up this week, I believe, so I'd hold off and see what news comes out of there. Might be something sweet coming down the pipe. We'll have to see.

Ohh! Ohhh! Get Both The evo for now and the shift when it comes out

because you want games...
then EVO Shift is for you!
I need the bigger screen. It dont sound like much... but when you put them side by side... it is a big difference!

Dan330 said:
because you want games...
then EVO Shift is for you!
I need the bigger screen. It dont sound like much... but when you put them side by side... it is a big difference!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. But the super amoled screen of the epic is awesome. I actually like that than the evo. It really is all up to what the final specs are off the Shift.
Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

if gaming is what you want, shift could be for you. do not get the shift for the keyboard. i can type faster on swype than i ever could with a slide out. you might not think .4 inches is much, but the evo screen is much bigger than the shift screen. i'd look at both side by side and see.

>_<
Swyped from my EVO

shift_ said:
>_<
Swyped from my EVO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
?????????
<_>

Personally, I would wait for something else all together.
Something with a better processor & gpu. This summer should have what you're looking for (although maybe not from HTC).

If you want games then, as said, the Shift is probably for you.
As for physical keyboards, overrated. When I had a Samsung Intercept while my EVO was being "serviced" by Best Buy I only used it because the touch screen was so useless on that thing.
Typing on the EVO is awesome. Keys are bigger than any slide out since the screen is so big. It all comes to preference though.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/01/02/sprints-htc-evo-shift-4g-specs-leak-online/
some more specs have been released...
I am considering it.
I want a front facing camera... and 8meg camera.
i want to hear about the CPU/GPU and RAM.
can I live with 3.7" vs my current EVO 4.3"??
what are your thoughts on the dev community for this phone?
The EVO has so much more activity before it was released. And the Dev community is great on the EVO.

Latest spoiler from a feed that I'm subscribed to only has this Shift with a 5 mega-pixel camera not 8 and no front camera.
If this is true then I will not get this phone. I'll buy a pair of EVO's off eBay and save my upgrades for something better.
Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

Why not consider the epic. You had an old samsung phone that sucked? Well I had an old htc phone that sucked 2 years ago, but all phones are different.
The samsung galaxy s line is really fast, and with the new ext4 mod on the epic, its crazy fast, like nexus s fast.
If you care about a keyboard, gaming, and camera quality the epic will be as good as or better than the shift.
And don't fall into the mega pixel trap when comparing cameras. The evo camera aint great and video sucks. The shift will be just like the tmobile g2, which is very good. Finally the epic takes pictures and video that rival the iphone in quality, which is to say the best in class for cellphones. With the epic , you can leave your digital camera at home.
Really do a thorough comparison of the epic and evo shift in person before you decide. Don't let yourself be fooled by differnces in 2.1 vs 2.2 software or touchwiz vs sense. You will have changed all your software in a week anyway with xda.
Sent from my evo using XDA App

navoid said:
Why not consider the epic. You had an old samsung phone that sucked? Well I had an old htc phone that sucked 2 years ago, but all phones are different.
The samsung galaxy s line is really fast, and with the new ext4 mod on the epic, its crazy fast, like nexus s fast.
If you care about a keyboard, gaming, and camera quality the epic will be as good as or better than the shift.
And don't fall into the mega pixel trap when comparing cameras. The evo camera aint great and video sucks. The shift will be just like the tmobile g2, which is very good. Finally the epic takes pictures and video that rival the iphone in quality, which is to say the best in class for cellphones. With the epic , you can leave your digital camera at home.
Really do a thorough comparison of the epic and evo shift in person before you decide. Don't let yourself be fooled by differnces in 2.1 vs 2.2 software or touchwiz vs sense. You will have changed all your software in a week anyway with xda.
Sent from my evo using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL difference is everyone was hesitant to jump back on with Samsung, and for good reason. At least these people that were nervous can sleep easy knowing they were right and that Samsung hasn't done much to change the tune others sing. And when the day arrives that I leave my digitial camera at home and rely SOLELY on a phone ... well, heck, that probably wont happen for a while. I've seen pictures taken with a crappy old 3mp digital cam that look crisper and better in every sense of the word.
Samsung dropped the ball, Epic has nice hardware but they don't compare to HTC. And HTC may not have a perfect track record in the past but they have definitely stepped it up lately.
The Galaxy S phones have been pretty down the middle, some good to go with all that bad.
edit; don't want to discount the fact that the Epic is a decent phone, will be the 3rd best Sprint offering (Whoa - never thought I'd give Sprint props like that) but it should at least "irk" you, and maybe not you directly, with how the whole Galaxy S phones have been handled. Especially with all the talk of Android not getting updates and Samsung support being piss poor. 2.1 treats it fine, my buddies epic flies sure but Touchwiz is horrid and the state of support or lack thereof should be the straw that breaks the camels back or however the hell that goes. I couldn't see anyone honestly suggesting the Epic over the Shift though, as was my point. And the Mega pixel jab, that was true and maybe a low blow but when people hear someone saying "this camera ownz leave dat digi at home, homeboi" it only sets people up for disappointment. Truly and honestly. That's a slight(ly bogus) exaggeration. If not, you must not possess a decent shooter. And no, I'm not talking about the one on the back of the phone.
SWYPED from my SUPASONIC

Get the shift

i know 3.8 doesn't sound much smaller, but when you see them side by side the difference is significant. if I was buying a phone now is go with the 4.3” HTC Thunderbolt coming out in a few days on Verizon.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

epic... is good.
but there are things that just add up.. to point me away from the epic.
these things have been discussed many times.
I just want to point out 1 thing.... the backing of HTC products in XDA and other forums by Devs. the choices !!!!!!
that is top of my list for any phone.

Check out this review of the evo shift:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZET2gMKAH2U&feature=youtube_gdata_player
As you can see from side by side pictures the screen is incredible small against the EVO generation 1. I would agree with the others, wait for CES, i'm sure sprint have a EVO 2 around the corner, after using a 4.3 inch screen i don't want to go down to smaller, just my opinion. To me the shift might be a little bit better for gaming, albeit it's not a HUGE step up. If it had the hummingbird cpu i would say get it, but even now dual cpus moving in, so just try to be patient, because in the long run you will regret it, especially if you're on contract.
[edit] http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/sprint-trots-out-htc-evo-shift-4g-and-new-3g-4g-mifi-from-nova/ - And it has no FFC sorry to bust your bubbles lol.

mykenyc said:
Check out this review of the evo shift:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZET2gMKAH2U&feature=youtube_gdata_player
As you can see from side by side pictures the screen is incredible small against the EVO generation 1. I would agree with the others, wait for CES, i'm sure sprint have a EVO 2 around the corner, after using a 4.3 inch screen i don't want to go down to smaller, just my opinion. To me the shift might be a little bit better for gaming, albeit it's not a HUGE step up. If it had the hummingbird cpu i would say get it, but even now dual cpus moving in, so just try to be patient, because in the long run you will regret it, especially if you're on contract.
[edit] http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/04/sprint-trots-out-htc-evo-shift-4g-and-new-3g-4g-mifi-from-nova/ - And it has no FFC sorry to bust your bubbles lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the links man, my wife has been smitten with the Evo Shift since I originally found leaked pics of it and she'll be excited to see a video of it being used. I've been trying to get her to wait to see what else comes out or to perhaps get a regular Evo but she is convinced she needs a keyboard (I felt the same way but now that I use Swype 99 times out of 100 I wish I had gotten an Evo and not an Epic but such is life). Anyways, I'm looking forward to reading the Evo Shift board and hope some of the veterans of the Evo board help out over there (assuming the similar form factor extends to the software architecture...Hey, I've got an epic and none of the related phones offer any software relatability lol)

New Phone, Evo or Epic

Hey guys coming from and incredible and I love it but I have to switch to sprint and would like some input on these two phones. I know the general info so I was more looking for developer style info such as roms and speed with said roms and just general developer support.
Here is what I have so far.
Epic
Faster
Better Screen
Gorilla Glass
Better GPU
Same battery life
Slide out keyboard.
Bigger SD card included with phone. 16 vs 8
Evo
Bigger screen
Stand
HDMI out
Better Developer Support?
More Rom's
Better 3G 4G performance along with wifi hotspot active connections.
What am I missing for some reason I feel like I should go Evo even though its dated, the slide out keyboard isn't a must for me but I feel like it would be nice.

I hate the amoled screens personally. Looks to oversaturated imo. I don't like slide out keyboards either. Not saying the epic isn't a good phone as I've never owned one, but I wouldn't trade my evo for one. So my vote would be the evo.

Thanks I am kind of thinking the same thing the HTC phones are great and I have had really good luck with my incredible with roms. Does the TouchWiz samsung thing good or how does it compare to Sense?

I own and evo and my friend has the epic which I rooted and setup...... go with the EVO. It's simply better and the community support on XDA as least is better for the Evo.

Evo, but you wouldn't consider the Shift? Shift would be a better bet than the Epic. Slightly smaller screen, people are saying the keyboard is better though. Know you said that wasn't necessarily a deal breaker but worth a mention.
SWYPED via SUPASONIC

Htc thuderbolt
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I thought about the thunderbolt but its got no support we don't know if its rootable yet do we? I don't mind going with Verizon but I hear you can use verizon towers with sprint and its less money and has 4g.

I just switched from epic to evo and here's my deciding factors...
The slide keyboard makes the phone feel cheap overall. Others say its a general Samsung thing with cheap feeling phones but I prefer the weight and solidity of the evo. And I don't use the keyboard but for emulator gaming.
My eyes seem to take a liking to the evo screen more than samoled.
And the development seems to be way ahead of epic,granted time on market...

like someone already said, the shift seems like a good compromise of the two. i know it has an 800mhz processor as opposed the the 1ghz that the epic and evo both have. But its the same processor as the T-mobile G-2 and it is just as fast as my evo.

The Evo. I switched to the Epic a couple months ago from the Evo. I realized it was a bad choice in about 2 days. The keyboard on the phone won't get all the input that you type in. And I type fast, so this annoyed me greatly. Though, the camera on the Epic was better than the Evo's. But still, Evo > Epic. The Samsung UI is also kind of crappy. I love sense so much more, that is why I had to switch back to the Evo.

Ok well it seems like the epic is out as most people think other phones are better or suggest other phones all together.

Seagrizzly said:
Hey guys coming from and incredible and I love it but I have to switch to sprint and would like some input on these two phones. I know the general info so I was more looking for developer style info such as roms and speed with said roms and just general developer support.
Here is what I have so far.
Epic
Faster
Better Screen
Gorilla Glass
Better GPU
Same battery life
Slide out keyboard.
Bigger SD card included with phone. 16 vs 8
Evo
Bigger screen
Stand
HDMI out
Better Developer Support?
More Rom's
Better 3G 4G performance along with wifi hotspot active connections.
What am I missing for some reason I feel like I should go Evo even though its dated, the slide out keyboard isn't a must for me but I feel like it would be nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what kinda of phone are you on now?? I know one could wait forever just waiting for the lastest and greatest are always around the corner. But seeing the phones coming out of CES now sprint should have some details about their next flagship phone for this summer at CTIA it might be just worth waiting

I have the incredible now and to tell you the truth it works great, just need a phone for private use and want to go with Sprint I won't be able to make it to the summer and really don't do much with my phone but email and some utilities like wifi stuff work typing things.

Evo all the way!!!!

Evo, the wife got an Epic even after I kept tellin her to get the Evo. More for the keyboard. Touchwiz sucks, can't believe it didn't even have a flip album like sense. Little things like that you take for granted. Hated how the keyboard would always slighty open while holding it with one hand. And to me the camera didn't work that well. She ended up gettin the Evo and me one to for Xmas Sprint employee.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I have both, got my Evo on launch day, got my Epic a month or so ago. Needless to say I am using my Evo again. Epic is a great phone and a great performer but I enjoy the Evo more personally. You really need to use both and see which sticks out for you but I would go with the Evo....in fact, I did.

Definitely go evo. Much much better dev support and more importantly much better support from htc as opposed to the no updates from samsung.

EVO.. is best choice.. for me.
you ask in an evo subforum... get X answer
you ask in the epic subforum... get Y answer
this may not be a good way for you to help you make this choice.
it can all boil down to ...
HTC vs Samsung
htc wins .. silently brilliant

I was in the same boat ...
EVO has better build quality, better design, no extra free space on top or bottom of the screen, better screen (IMHO) .... Feels premium device. Oh yes huge development support here at XDA.
EPIC has better GPU, Keyboard (which I don't care for, may be big deal for you), SAMOLED (which I think isn't suitable for browsing and reading).
I am VERY happy with my EVO. Get an EVO root, Flash ROM, throw a speedy Kernel in and You won't look at the EPIC again.
Just wanted to put my two cents in.

I was in the same boat as the OP not too long ago.
From a performance perspective, I expected similar results from both, even though epic has the faster processor (how much faster...?). The previous phone also had a keyboard that went mostly unused 95% of the time. Software wise I expected both to be similar as both are based on the same OS.
I later found out the evo does indeed have much better development support at this time. Epic being a newer product is still catching up I suspect.
But overall, 2 reasons why I went with the evo
1) larger screen
2) price - got this for $110 OTD during the holiday promotions.
And actually, #2 was really the final deciding factor.

It's almost my time to upgrade

Okay so here is my idea I am due for an upgrade february first so I was thinking maybe I would get the evo just to see what it's like an see you all the hype is about... and if it doesn't live up to my expectations I will just do the sprint 30 day trading thing and end up with an evo shift. I will be able to side by side both devices since my wife just got the shift on the seventh.
good idea?
sent from my gameboy.

my pre was ready to go and i got the evo because it's what was out at the time. got sick of the virtual keyboard, hated it on my iphone and i think i'll always hate virtual keyboards.
the shift is faster with a great keyboard and much better battery life. and $50 cheaper. that's enough for me.

I will probably end up coming back to the shift but I just want to try out a new you gonna have it for a little while to see if it will suit my needs cuz I don't really need the hard keyboard. and also I have rom add so I wanna try out the 50,000,000,000 there are ready for the evo...
sent from my gameboy.

I am looking to upgrade soon from my Hero and am contemplating the same thing, EVO OG or the Shift. I have seen a few comments about the shift being faster, is that just a placebo because it is new? I thought the OG EVO had a faster clock sped than the new shift (why it gets better battery life).

I have both an Evo and Shift. Stock, the Shift in benchmarks, even with being an 800Mhz cpu, benches quite a bit faster across the board.
Cam seems better on the Shift, esp. anyplace indoors where you need flash. Tho the megapixel rating is only 5.1. More doesn't always mean better.
Evo does have a significantly bigger screen which is good, esp for me. I don't HAVE to wear my reading glasses. Evo has the front cam and a kickstand, and of course, the worthless HDMI port. I've never used the front cam, not once. I really don't WANT to see the folks I chat with. LOL
The reason I added the shift to "probably" replace the evo is the keyboard. I type A LOT. Messages, notes, IM's, data from conf calls, etc and it does get extremely annoying to do it with only a soft keyboard.
Sense, for the folks that like it, has landscape capability on the Shift, not so on the Evo.
Phone wise, both are superb. No odd bluetooth dropouts, I was on the phone for exactly 4 hours and 52 minutes today at work, no issues. Clarity is awesome.
Battery life so far, has been better on the shift than evo. Both seem to get the same amt of signal on both 3g and 4G in my house. Data speed tests with 3g, 4g and wifi are very close to identical. GPS seems about the same, nothing odd there.
Right now, the Evo is nand unlockable and fully rootable, the Shift probably will be and is expected, but this may matter to some folks.
The screen on the evo is flush and has been known to "peel" in the corners. Shift is recessed about 1mm, which will probably eliminate the peeling effect that bothers some folks.
The usb/charge port on the evo is on the bottom, which make it easier to hold and use while charging/syncing, but probably makes it more prone to snapping the pins. The shift is on the side, probably stop the damage occurring, but does make it more awkward to hold/use while charging.
Back cover on the evo was quite easy to remove/swap batteries, whereas the shift, attaches really well to where you think you're going to break the clips.
As you see, both have their pro's and cons. All depends on what you're looking for in a smartphone.
In the end, it'll probably be the keyboard over the screensize that will make my decision.

I currently have a HTC Hero Nand rooted, with custom Sense rom and kernal. When you use roms and kernals on your Evo how does it do? Obviously nothing has been made yet for the Shift for comparison yet though. Just curious about your experiences.

indiscriminant said:
I am looking to upgrade soon from my Hero and am contemplating the same thing, EVO OG or the Shift. I have seen a few comments about the shift being faster, is that just a placebo because it is new? I thought the OG EVO had a faster clock sped than the new shift (why it gets better battery life).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxI8vG6wT8g&feature=youtube_gdata_player somewhere in the middle of that video is a quadrant test with both of the phones their stock conditions. With rooting in overclocking the shift just goes even farther ahead. I've heard of G2. (which is basically the same phone is the shift) overclocked 2 1800 and a quadrant score of over 3000, so no question the shift is and will be faster. it's just a question of whether or not there will be as much of a development following IMO.
sent from my gameboy.

the5ifty said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxI8vG6wT8g&feature=youtube_gdata_player somewhere in the middle of that video is a quadrant test with both of the phones their stock conditions. With rooting in overclocking the shift just goes even farther ahead. I've heard of G2. (which is basically the same phone is the shift) overclocked 2 1800 and a quadrant score of over 3000, so no question the shift is and will be faster. it's just a question of whether or not there will be as much of a development following IMO.
sent from my gameboy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is promising, just gotta figure out if I am going to miss not having the front camera that I have wanted for using Skype with clients for work when needed. Also Screen size.
Rom community is important to me as the Hero has a very strong development and theme community, no way to know if that will come to the shift yet though.

indiscriminant said:
That is promising, just gotta figure out if I am going to miss not having the front camera that I have wanted for using Skype with clients for work when needed. Also Screen size.
Rom community is important to me as the Hero has a very strong development and theme community, no way to know if that will come to the shift yet though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As if now at least, you cannot video chat skype. And hey what's up with all of us being/formerly being hero owners?
Sent from my gameboy

I dunno what to say. When I went in to the sprint store to get a case for the shift, I saw they had the extended battery (unknown rating) for the regular evo. That takes care of a major problem with the old evo. Depends on what's important to you. I've had all three 4g phones. The big screen is definitely a plus for bad eyesight and watching movies. If I had to get another phone, the original evo with the extended battery is tempting. The epic was slightly quicker with games since it had a gpu and the evo was plowing through it with just a single cpu. I'm so disgruntled with samsung, I would probably go for the more screen real estate. Good luck finding a case for it with the fat battery. It certainly makes the evo have some junk in the trunk!
Haa haa! My evo has a ghetto booty! LMAO

With the Hero being 18mos old I think a lot of people are coming up on their 1 year and looking for their next phone. Similar to how a lot of initial EVO adopters were early Hero adopters, we are the crowd who got the Hero 6 months late.
The Skype video chat just went live last week on Iphone4 so I assume it will be not too long for it to be on Android, that is what happened with Skype Voice chat as well. (Although Verizon had that by itself the apk from Verizon was able to be run on other phones, it is what I use on my Hero now)
From a battery perspective, I thought the Hero battery was compatible with the Evo, and along with ROM/Kernal tweaks the Evo battery wasn't horrible. Add in a second battery and you should be pretty good.
Now it would be even better with the shift, just not sure if I want to wait the 2 months for the modding community to pick it up in full stride if it ever does.
I need to get both in my hand to compare them soon and play with them. I really want 2.2 Sense which wasn't able to be achieved on the Hero. Unlike others I really like Sense for it's integration and I don't feel it slows the system down. Nfinites Roms on the Hero with sense worked great with a Zen Kernal.