Nexus S v. Evo

veggieboy

veggieboy

500+ Posts
I’m think it's time to make the move away from the iPhone. I have a 3GS that is due for an upgrade at the end of the month, but the rumors and such that I’m hearing about the iPhone “5” (or the 4S, as the rumor sites are calling it now) are very underwhelming. Release date in September, no 4G LTE, and very little upgrade over the 4, are all points that are making me consider, very seriously, switching to an “Android” phone.

After reading a bunch of reviews, and doing some research, I have decided I think I am going to make the switch to Sprint. I get a pretty good discount from my workplace (and the Sprint plans are cheaper regardless), plus 4G is available in my area. I have narrowed my phone choice down to two. Either the Nexus S by Samsung, or the HTC Evo. I am also thinking about waiting for the Evo 3D, which is expected to be released in early June (if the rumor sites are accurate).

I am not looking for a debate about Android v. iOS. They both have their points in their favor, and I am still a fan of iOS (and Apple products) in general. But, does anyone have experience with either the Nexus S, or the Evo? What are your impressions of it? What is good, and what is bad, about either (I know the battery life is an issue for the Evo, but I don’t see it being remarkably worse than my iPhone).

One other question, if you could get ANY cell phone/carrier currently on the market (or soon to be on the market), which would you choose?

Thanks for your opinions and info in advance…
 
The Galaxy GS II as he noted is a beast, and only matched by one other phone to be released this summer on Verizon- the Droid Bionic.


Do not go to Sprint. Do not get anything but one of the two above phones- they are future proof for 2 years. Wait for a dual core, 4G phone- and these two are the best.
 
The Galaxy S is very impressive, but I really can't afford $700ish for an unlocked phone. I don't really know anything about the Bionic, but I'm going to google it now. Thanks for the rec.

I really like the Evo, and know a few people who have one, and I've always thought it was the only phone I would switch to if I had to drop my iPhone. The Evo 3D is even more impressive, IMO. It comes with Android Gingerbread, a 1.2ghz dual core processor, and HTC Sense. As noted above, it is also 4G and lightning fast.

I think I have pretty much made up my mind to get it, but I have about 2 months before my contract is up, so I'm going to keep an eye out.
 
First of all, don't get your hopes up too much re: 4G. Here in Austin 4G is pretty spotty, and turning the 4G radio on kills my EVO's battery and makes it run slower. However, I didn't buy the phone for the 4G (it was/is my first smartphone) so it doesn't matter to me all that much.
 
Waldo- have you ever checked Sprint's coverage map for your area?

I ask because I live about 20 miles north of DFW (Frisco area), and their site says my house and my work are pretty squarely in their 4G area. I'm just wondering how accurate their coverage map is. Let me know. The lack of any 4G capability at all is a big reason I'm moving away from iPhone.
 
Veg- I've had the EVO for a year, and it's top notch. San Antonio has 4G, but I don't do much high bandwith stuff, so it's no big deal. Daughter likes it for downloads, tho.
Only downside is battery life. Recharge daily is a MUST w/ standard battery (1500 mAh). I got a 3500mAH on Amazon, which works like I would want a stock battery to work. Only problem is that it is VERY thick/heavy & requires a different back, (comes with the battery). Daughter got the middle of the road upgrade (1750 mAh) allowing her to make it to the end of the school day w/o a phone recharge. Wife got a 2500 mAh (thin one!), it's probably the best compromise.
I wish I knew how to Root the EVO, reading about it sounds like amazing things are possible, but I'm FAR from technical enough to handle it.
 
There's an executable on xda developers that will root it for you...I'll track down the link and post it. I did it with my EVO with no problems at all....
 
I have the 1750mAh battery as well. I take it off the charger at about 6:30am, and on a day of average use (some phone calls, some texting, a little web browsing) it's at about 40-50% when I put it back on the charger around 6pm. That's with 4G, wifi, and GPS all turned off.
 
Thanks for the link on Rooting. It still scares the CRAP out of me. I guess worst case scenario, I own a brick.
I'm gonna find somebody to pay to do it.
 
I'm about to the point where I want to root my EVO but I hate having to restore all my crap (already done that twice - once with replacement EVO and once after a complete wipe). Titanium Backup looks good but requires root, so that's quite a chicken-or-the-egg kind of problem for me.
 
you could use Astro file manager to do a backup of your aps before you root...Titanium backup is better, so once you're rooted use that, but Astro file manager is at least serviceable.
 
If you're familiar with "jailbreaking" on the iPhone, it's basically the same process. If not...

Computer accounts have different levels of permissions that allow/deny access to certain things. In Linux, the superuser account that can do everything is "root". Android phones are Linux-based, but Google and the different mobile carriers will only let you do certain things with your phone. Some of this is for your own protection (to keep you from bricking your own phone) while other reasons may be marketing-driven. So, "rooting" is the process of gaining root-level access on Android.

To give you an example: my EVO came with a NASCAR app provided by Sprint. I've never watched a minute of NASCAR in my life and have never once used the app, but Sprint does not allow me to uninstall it because they get a kickback from NASCAR by putting it on there. However, if I had root access, I would be able to get rid of it.

To use another example: some people hate the HTC Sense UI, and in Android 2.2 HTC apparently removed the ability for users to turn it off. So people root their phone in order to get the stock Android UI.

In summary, rooting lets you do more things with your phone than Google/Sprint would normally allow, but it's at your own risk and rooting voids the phone's warranty. Hopefully this is the explanation you were looking for, and sorry if any of that insulted your intelligence.
 
veggie, wherz-

Everytime a phone thread comes up, or a similar technology- you always see a "my carrier/technology/product" is best and yours sucks.

I do have Verizon- so, yeah I am biased, but I also happen to agree with every publication clearly stating how the VZW network is superior to AT&T/Sprint. In fact- it was in part because of ATT network issues that Apple decided to move to Verizon as well. What good is a phone if it doesn’t make calls without drops?

As to the actual phones- the GS2, and the Bionic, unlike the EVOs, are the first two dual core 4G phones with HDMI outputs, HD def etc- on the superior network. The Bionic is essentially the revised version of the ATT Atrix.

My best analogy is what good is a Ferrari if you are stuck in city traffic.
 
mcbrett- - I thought Sprint had an agreement with Verizon such that they use Verizon's network?

<edit>...looks like that agreement is only for roaming...
 
waldo- thanks for the info on "rooting".

That's more or less what I thought it was, but I wasn't sure. Thanks again.
 
I pulled the trigger on the original Evo. I'm stupidly excited about this phone after doing a TON of research on various Android message boards.

With Gingerbread being released OTA on Monday, I'm going to wait to "root" it though. Word is that the update might include lockdowns on the bootloader so that it can't be rooted. Once there's a workaround out there, though, I'm going to root that sucker...
 
I have a question about rooting- as far as I understand- with rooting you can open up the phone to remove bloatware, and customize the skins etc-

But- other than that, what advantage is there to rooting? If I think my phone (Samsung Droid Charge) is fast enough- should I even bother?
 
Wifi tethering is a big one, but the carriers are starting to lock that down.

I originally rooted my Droid so I could overclock it and it made a huge difference in performance. However, with my X, I don't have it rooted simply because its fast enough without overclocking.

You can still do a lot of customization without rooting it. I'd suggest trying out LauncherPro or ADW Launcher and see all of the various customization options they allow. I use ADW personally, but that's because it works better on my phone than LP, but ymmv.

Also, you can hide (not remove) the bloatware so it doesn't show up in your list of apps using the pay version of Launcher Pro. I'm not certain if that is possible with ADW. Also, even though those bloatware apps will show up in the list of running apps, in almost all cases they are in a suspended state which means they aren't actually consuming resources, they are just sitting idle, but ready to launch quickly.

You can search for top apps for rooted phones and there's a ton of lists that describe what you can do with a phone once its rooted.
 
Upgraded my EVO earlier today too. I notice better performance and some visual differences too. The upgrade is available now if you initiate the upgrade through settings menu. Monday the upgrade will be pushed to users.
 
One thing to note - apparently the 2.3 update disables your wireless-N capabilities, so you may want to hold off if that's important to you. Wireless-G still works.
 
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