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Hey Everyone,
I was asked today by a friend what my thoughts were on the Evo after two weeks of ownership, and was inspired to write up a first-hand review which I want to share with you.
What are your thoughts of the Evo after your first two weeks, what do you find to be it's strengths and weaknesses...and how would you compare it to other smart phones like the iPhone 4, Droid Incredible, and upcoming Droid X. Anyone with buyer's remorse?
Please try to keep fanboy/fangirl-ism to a minimum, if possible...as I'm really looking for unbiased feedback.
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Friend's question: So how's that new phone treating you?
My thoughts:
Very good, but until it has "Froyo" 2.2 I have to bite my tongue on a final judgement.
On paper and in RL, the hardware specs are impressive.
Build quality is good (but not great) mostly due to issues I've read about with users experiencing a "glass separation" and grounding woes (resolved? as of the latest HTC firmware)... or maybe just plain separation anxiety from my G1 and a tactile keyboard...ok, bad joke. I haven't had any of the issues reported, but will say there is some minor light-leaking on the lower bezel of the phone, where the glass meets the plastic casing. Other than that, it'srock solid. No random crashes, no overheating, no dead pixels, no battery charging problems, no issues with mounting the phone to a PC or swapping the microSD card. Everything just works, as expected (which if you're shelling out 300 bucks for a phone, that's the minimum expectation). I also like the fact that there's a warranty option available for the purchase, unlike the iPhone.
The updated HTC Rosie/Sense UI is beautiful nearly flawless. Navigation is straight-forward, but I fear for a slightly older generation of users (e.g. anyone born before the 80s) it may seem too "busy" and overwhelming. HTC has done a lot to outperform Android's stock UI. Integrated multitouch (limited) for the home screen along with the Live Wallpapers integration (which are both fun and cheesy) is a pleasure to use. HTC's widgets are great (but not the best for application specific platforms like Twitter - use Seesmic instead, blows Twidroid out of the water). The HTC keyboard also blows the stock Android keyboard away.. I just wish the bloody thing integrated multi-touch interface (mostly for copy-pasting and capitalizing).
Sprint's network is impressive, but their 3G speeds seem a bit slower than my experience with T-Mobile. Until we have 4G here in FL, the jury's still out. In contrast, I also haven't had random network outages or call dropping as I was prone to with my G1 on T-Mobile. Over WiFi, YouTube and even embedded Flash videos (yes, I got the 2.1 flash pre-release) FLY like the wind and look stunning in HD. I'll also add....thanks to some savvy bargaining, my Sprint bill is 13% less than what I was paying T-Mobile. As a business, their customer service has been excellent, but it would help their sales if their sales associates had more tech knowledge. AT&T wins on that point, as their reps tend to know the iPhones inside-out, or at least talk the talk of "power users".
Camera takes great daytime photos and the recording in HD is impressive (albeit slight under-performance on frame rate capping, thanks to HTC...of course there's a hack to change that). Nighttime camera-work leaves some things to be desired (i.e. its grainy), but the built-in flash is decent and doubly effective for applications that use it as a LED flashlight.
Battery life, on the other hand, totally sucks. I'm a power user, so I frequently mass kill background apps to make phone resources available, but I still have to say there's no easy way to manage power for Android phones. I blame this on the Dalvik compiler, and I'm hoping 2.2 changes energy management....or at least gives app builders a better way to scale resource use for their applications (both background and foreground services).
Apps are still a major point of contention for me and Android...mostly because they're just not there (and are the ultimate deal breaker or maker for most Smartphone buyers). I initially blamed JAVA; but now I'm going to raise the bar and blame the often fragmented (and frustrating) Android framework and lack of developer marketing by Google AND the various carriers (which I think is just about all of 'em) selling Android-powered phones, save Verizon. You have to be a real cowboy to want to develop for Android mostly because it requires a cavalier attitude, since the code source requires a LOT of research. Apple has done a lot to enforce product standard for the iPhone apps out there, and I think it's time Google's marketplace stepped up to expect the same level of product quality. There's nothing more frustrating than downloading what one would expect to be a polished app (or even a clone for something iPhoney like Doodle jump) to find it bug ridden, unpolished or simply feel like a BETA release. This isn't to say that they all suck...but most unfortunately do. Again, hopefully the new VM will change this.
Oh, I forgot to mention Google Voice and integrated search/speech-to-text capabilities - they're amazing.
your review reads well. in the battery section, you should specify what you've tried to remedy the problem... there are tons of people, myself included, who make it through a day on heavy usage.
i have gmail push, always on data, calendar sync, and gps enabled. turned off gchat service, removed people widget, friend stream widget.
when my phone is idle i usually lost 1% every 90minute to 2 hours. and I can get 4-5 hours of heavy usage in before bar hits red.
Pardon me?!?!
"Navigation is straight-forward, but I fear for a slightly older generation of users (e.g. anyone born before the 80s) it may seem too "busy" and overwhelming."
Pre-70's here buddy... I have been playing with my 4hr old phone quite a bit already. So there.
muncheroo said:
your review reads well. in the battery section, you should specify what you've tried to remedy the problem... there are tons of people, myself included, who make it through a day on heavy usage.
i have gmail push, always on data, calendar sync, and gps enabled. turned off gchat service, removed people widget, friend stream widget.
when my phone is idle i usually lost 1% every 90minute to 2 hours. and I can get 4-5 hours of heavy usage in before bar hits red.
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Honestly muncheroo, I haven't done much by way of battery optimization but will start working out on it once I have a relative mental benchmark for battery life as of the latest update (which by the way has amped up my phone's lifespan quite a bit).
sablesurfer said:
Pardon me?!?!
"Navigation is straight-forward, but I fear for a slightly older generation of users (e.g. anyone born before the 80s) it may seem too "busy" and overwhelming."
Pre-70's here buddy... I have been playing with my 4hr old phone quite a bit already. So there.
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Sorry sablesurfer, no offense meant!! I actually used that anecdote after showing off my Evo to my mom and a few mature coworkers. I got the same response from everyone - "It's beautiful but has so much going on, how do you keep track of everything!?"
The irony I think, is most of the widgets are all about improving efficiency and multitasking capabilities. :]
Good write up..
I would really love to see what people define as heavy usage. I'm sorry but I'm not buying the full day on one battery with heavy usage crap.
Sent from my EVO via Tapatalk
I have a Sony smartwatch an thinking about picking up a fitness band. Looking at the Garmin vivosmart because of its touch screen yet slim profile. Also does notifications. But main reason because android wear sucks at fitness stats. But I can't help but feel having both is a bit redundant. Anyone out there using both? Together? Separately for different occasions?
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app
What specifically are you looking for that you can't get out of programs like Endomoto, Runkeeper, and Ghostrunner?
So, i ask, because before my SW3, i had (and returned) a Garmin 920XT (same software line as the VivoSmart). While the 920XT was functional, i couldn't find anything it did that justified the price over the SW3. While its not a great program, Google Fit keeps track of steps, and the aforementioned programs track and record fitness activities just great (Ghostrunner can export to Runkeeper or Strava). Perhaps you are in need to the really serious stats that the Garmin RUN-HRM, but then i would point you to the 920XT, and not the Smart...
Divine_Madcat said:
What specifically are you looking for that you can't get out of programs like Endomoto, Runkeeper, and Ghostrunner?
So, i ask, because before my SW3, i had (and returned) a Garmin 920XT (same software line as the VivoSmart). While the 920XT was functional, i couldn't find anything it did that justified the price over the SW3. While its not a great program, Google Fit keeps track of steps, and the aforementioned programs track and record fitness activities just great (Ghostrunner can export to Runkeeper or Strava). Perhaps you are in need to the really serious stats that the Garmin RUN-HRM, but then i would point you to the 920XT, and not the Smart...
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It's not running activity that my Sony SW fails to take care of, it's the daily day to day fitness aspects such as steps taken, distance, inactivity, etc. And it's not a direct reflection on the Sony. It's android wear and it's terrible implementation of fitness tracking. The sony just actually benefits for running/biking because of the gps. But I wish it did the things I mentioned a second ago. It does steps but can't trust it at all.
For what its worth (again, having had the Garmin and going to the Sony), the Sony does no worse than the Garmin in terms of step accuracy (as in, its not). My 920 would count any bump (driving was particularly bad). Between google fit and runkeeper i get my same total information i did using garmin connect, so it works. But certainly, YMMV.
I'm using a Moto 360 and a Fitbit. The Fitbit is nice because you can use it to connect to MyFitnessPal to update and compensate for how much working out you've done. Currently Moto 360 has to be linked with the Jawbone UP app, which kinda blows.
I use a vivosmart to compliment my wear watch. In the end I didn't think the integration with my health ecosystem worked well enough and I am a heavy Garmin user as I am a keen cyclist
Sent from my SGP612 using Tapatalk
spencer_uk said:
I use a vivosmart to compliment my wear watch. In the end I didn't think the integration with my health ecosystem worked well enough and I am a heavy Garmin user as I am a keen cyclist
Sent from my SGP612 using Tapatalk
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I had bought that and returned as I thought it was redundant having two things that displayed notifications. But now I'm tempted to get it again. Just sick of android wear an its lack of fitness tracking. I was going to get the fitbit flex because its the most minimal at $100 but than the vivosmart is just as minimal an actually shows you your info. So I don't know what to do.
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app
I went for the vivosmart as I am already in their ecosystem as I use their cycle computers. Also I like the fact I can stick on an heart rate monitor with it when I go running
Sent from my SGP612 using Tapatalk
Hi, as the title says, which do you consider to be the best tethering smartwatch on the market today?
I recon there is no full android, tethering smartwatch yet, please correct me if I'm wrong.
Could you please also let me (us) know what seems to be the best brands of tethering smartwatches? The most reliable ones, the ones that the product doesn't break down after a few weeks
Also, I'm asking for chinese manufacturers. None of those Moto, Samsung, Huawey etc...(even if some of those might be chinese), you know what I mean I'm asking for tethering watches that you may find on gearbest, for example.
Thanks! :good:
I think they are all really about the same. They're are a few minor differences in software but overall, the few I've tried are about the same. First one I ever bought was the GV18. The screen resolution was wanting but then again it was just a $20 watch and I feel like that's what you really gotta keep in mind when you buy these. I will say watches do what they say they will and they are fun little gadgets but your not getting support or an app store and only recently have I started seeing developers create watch faces for these, considering you buy a watch that uses VXP clock faces. If you want high performance and an app store I would even steer clear of the Chinese Android OS watches. The concept is appealing having full Android in a watch but battery life is terrible unless you turn everything off like Bluetooth, WiFi, screen brightness should be in low, etc. The cheap tethering watches have good battery life and you get all your notifications but your sacrificing the fancy app store and definitely don't count on the watches from China being even water resistant. All in all, they're cheap so if you break it or it stops working you're not out much and I think that's really the selling point to these Chinese tethering watches.
So I am in the market for a new smartwatch/fitness band and I am intrigued but not sold on the Ticwatch E/S. They seem like quality devices at an affordable price, but I'm not sure they check all the boxes for me.
What I want is to run with my strava app without my phone, meaning leave my phone at the house. I also like to listen to podcasts and music while I run meaning I need some onboard storage. I also need the sensors (gps, gyro, heartrate etc..) to be fairly accurate and decent battery life 2-3 days would be awesome!
Does anyone have a good recommendation? Also what are the odds we will see a Pixel Wear device at Google I/O? I have a google store credit, but there are no watches available on the store at the moment.
GatorsUF said:
So I am in the market for a new smartwatch/fitness band and I am intrigued but not sold on the Ticwatch E/S. They seem like quality devices at an affordable price, but I'm not sure they check all the boxes for me.
What I want is to run with my strava app without my phone, meaning leave my phone at the house. I also like to listen to podcasts and music while I run meaning I need some onboard storage. I also need the sensors (gps, gyro, heartrate etc..) to be fairly accurate and decent battery life 2-3 days would be awesome!
Does anyone have a good recommendation? Also what are the odds we will see a Pixel Wear device at Google I/O? I have a google store credit, but there are no watches available on the store at the moment.
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I run with my Urbane 2 all the time. There is a spreadsheet over on Reddit that lists info for all AW watches. A lot of active users as well that could answer about the Ticwatch in the AndroidWear subreddit.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...3bkyp1UzT0S5Iahy3W9dAQf_sfc/edit?usp=drivesdk
Hello.
So I managed to get a OnePlus Watch when pre-orders went live about a month ago. It was delivered today. After spending almost 24 hours with it, here are my thoughts (might be a little long winded).
1. It is missing ALOT of basic features, chief among which are tap-to-wake and no Google app support. The no Google support is major seeing as you cannot sync apps to the watch properly. My LG urbane does a million more things than the OP watch does.
2. Heavy focus on fitness. I like that they're trying to get people more active but come on, at this point it's basically a fitness tracker. For the price they're selling for, there are much better options out there that are dedicated to fitness. This is meant to be a proper smart watch from a company that is trying to take on the big boys like Samsung and Apple (obviously they have very little chance against Apple but, they can at least give it a go). With their recent products like the OP 8 and 9 series, they're starting to tell the world that they're no longer going to hold back and that their Nord line is for users that are on a tight budget but want something "premium feeling". To come out with a smart watch that focuses heavily on fitness and 0 Google support or features was a mistake.
3. It was clearly rushed to market. Very obviously, it was rushed to market before it was even ready. Personally, I believe that the hardcore OP fans put pressure on them to release a budget friendly smart watch. OP caved and just released what they had. Given more time for development and refinement, this could have been a solid product and I would have happily paid around the £200/€200 mark for it.
4. Notification issues. This has to be in top 3 gripes about the device. When you receive a notification on your phone, it pops up on the watch like normal but, you can't do much with it. If it's a group chat notification and you're getting quite a few messages, the notifications will not stack into one. Instead, you'll get several notifications on the watch about it. Dismissing a notification from the watch also doesn't dismiss it from the phone too and vice versa. There have been several times where I've dismissed from the watch, only to look at my phone later and it still showing up there or vice versa.
5. Poor step counter accuracy. MKBHD pointed this out in his review. I thought that maybe it could have been an issue with his review unit but no, it's an actual thing with the watch. A normal work day would get me 5000-7000 steps according to my LG urbane, the OP watch only registerd 3300. How?
That's my little rant over
Anyways, what's your experience with the watch been like so far? Overall, this watch has a lot of potential but it was let down due to OP wanting to get it to market as soon as possible. This needed a lot more development time and refinement. I'll keep a hold of it for now and see what improvements they bring in the near future.
5H1R42
thanks for your reviews.
MKBHD made me hesitating ; ''buy for what is is, not what it will become''
Cyberpunk like, rush ****, and then is a kinda waste of money.
Anyway, since I did NOT own any watch, and I was looking for a simple smart watch that looks classy (not like a gadget) , I hit on that watch. It was a good 'deal' here in canada, since 20$ off, no duty fee, no shipping and only 1 tax.
Hopefully one plus wont let this watch down. They are pretty good for old phone updates anyway, I guess they will do it on this watch.
I also wish some dev do great port on this watch, I dont know it it will be possible tho...
Any idea how to change the firmware? I got one from aliexpress, when they went out of stock in the US, and it can't be paired with the oneplus health app, only with the chinese oppo app.
I think the firmware is way behind (A38, vs B48 as of today), and I would like to have the oneplus app and updates... Half of this app is in chinese.
Thanks
RSchmauk said:
Any idea how to change the firmware? I got one from aliexpress, when they went out of stock in the US, and it can't be paired with the oneplus health app, only with the chinese oppo app.
I think the firmware is way behind (A38, vs B48 as of today), and I would like to have the oneplus app and updates... Half of this app is in chinese.
Thanks
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OnePlus Community
Introducing our new OnePlus Community experience, with a completely revamped structure, built from the ground-up.
forums.oneplus.com
Barmenchik said:
OnePlus Community
Introducing our new OnePlus Community experience, with a completely revamped structure, built from the ground-up.
forums.oneplus.com
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Thank you, I will try it.
Is there any hacky way to pair it to a iPhone for some alerts, until official iOS support arrives?
Hello guys. Help me pls
Updated to the global firmware and the exclusive watchfaces cyberpunk edition disappeared. Can you help me with the return of the cyberpunk firmware?
Contact 1+ and ask them about the watch faces, and see if you can liberate some firmware for our hopeful/eventually getting google wear on this B# either via official means or otherwise with the help of the sleepless xda unsung heros.
So I got the watch about the first wave from the store app (which I have not been able to reinstall since after the crash the 7pro had otw to 11) and I'm very impressed with the slick hardware... Shame on them not going the 'lazy' route and doing the Google wear thing, but instead doing their own thing and seemingly not even half-assing many a feature available on a cheap Chinese 30$ watch (with 3g/lte mind you) just because their æsthetic/simplicity metric. If I had nfc ability, the ability to just get coords via gps, or even midi sounds for timers then I could understand not using the hardware to full potential, but as some of the hardware isn't even being used right now, or at least the software provided doesn't allow it's use, the positive isn't much but here is what I got:
The damn thing at least lasts forever, even with 24/7 heart/0² monitoring... (I use only low light levels, no aod)
The first day I had it, I jumped in a pool and everyone was trying to tell me that maybe I should take it off, but it recorded all my strokes & movement amazingly well (if only it was exportable to kml/anything). I shower with it too, w/e.
Charge time is warped to a good ratio of charge/use, so realistically not much miss in data if monitoring is what you're after...
It's quite nice looking, responsive, and screen is anything but dainty. I don't think it's ever lagged.
The fact it does play music via BT is quite decent for a musician, as you can play someone your music on the fly considering there is a speaker with bt on in the vicinity. It's storage is huge as the space that could have gone to good use leaves gigs available...
I hope that oppo seriously gets to convince them that they must make wear a thing so we can choose to kill our batteries like we intend to, rather than have them force 2weeks battery life because it's good for them, rather than our choice to live with that allowance, or be realistic about how ridiculous we know we are being watching netflix on it...
It should be my call afterall. We'll see how it plays out, at least my sister with the iwatch was like "You don't have to charge it everyday, 2weeks!?” That made it almost acceptable...