Hi Don!
OK, I did it again. The HTC Sensation is an amazing, outstanding, top-notch, nearly perfect phone. Except for one thing: T-Mobile's coverage, where I need to use it. I've said before and I'll say again, in a 90-mile radius of my place here north of Denver, CO, Sprint has the best coverage, followed by Verizon, then T-Mobile, and AT&T taking up the rear. Actually AT&T works very well in my home and office, but elsewhere it's, well, AT&T.
So yesterday the EVO 3D 4G came out. Still a really dumb name. HTC Sensation - now that's a name! EVO 3D 4G, um, well, isn't.
But I went to see it yesterday and, to make a long story short (too late, I know) I bought one. The economics of my recent phone decisions aren't as bad as one might think. Yes, I'll have to pay T-Mo $200 to terminate early, and yes the EVO 3D 4G (hereinafter EVO) cost $200. That's $400!, you say. Yes, it is! However, I got a $125 "porting credit" for porting my number (back) to Sprint, and I just checked on Gazelle.com (www.gazelle.com) and they'll give me $349 for the Sensation. So, I spent $400, and I'll get $474. Not bad.
So, the new EVO:
...Truly a superphone. Amazing in every dimension. Inexplicably zippier, as others have noted, than the equally awesome HTC Sensation.
...3D is a gimmick. It's really pretty bad. I have a 2D camera that's 5mpx, I I can live with that, for now. I'll never turn 3D on.
...The EVO is nowhere near as elegant as the Sensation, even though it's nearly an identical phone, inside. No aluminum body (which was a bit slippery, truth be told); no gently curved screen, not as thin. The EVO looks like, well, an EVO. Not all bad, but not what you'd call a head turner. It looks like what the Sensation would look like in a bulkly case. . .
...HTC/Sprint left off the Flashlight app. WHAT?? Easily fixed, here: http://www.4shared.com/file/ZHQQZIbJ/Flashlight.html.
...I've gotten some reports that I sound muffled, or crackly, but that might be because I'm in a place with no Sprint service, and am using an Airave device to make the calls. We'll see.
...As with the Sensation, the EVO's darkest screen is still too bright to be a pleasing nightstand clock / alarm. Both the Samsung's AMOLED and the LG's IPS LCD go "really dark" when turned to 0 brightness. The EVO's screen, as with the Sensation's, glows white/gray when turned all the way down. Not a showstopper - just annoying.
Bottom line: I spend 5000+ minutes a month on the phone, 2000 of which are in my car. So a) Sprint's coverage is better / T-Mobile's isn't good enough, and b) Gingerbread phones work with my car. a + b = EVO!
I don't actually get the $125 porting credit until day 61, so I think I'm on the EVO 3D 4G for the summer, at least. Sprint is supposed to be coming out with a GSII phone later this summer, though, so don't count me out yet!
Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 5:59PM 