How would you change HTC's EVO 4G?
By Darren Murph 
posted July 23rd 2010 11:48PM
posted July 23rd 2010 11:48PM
posted July 23rd 2010 11:48PM
Google Android 4.0
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
@Shadow591
It is true, it uses a newer chip from the same integrated chip company. The chip is capable of surpassing iPhone pic/video, but HTC implemented poor drivers.
@MEH nice try, you cant even get downranked
It needs a better camera. I absolutely hate it that android fans (some) assume that more megapixels equals better quality. The evos cam is awful.
@sean4123
Is that why Apple added more mega pixels to their camera, because it does not matter. Another factor is lighting, O the EVO has dual flash. Yes the software processing does make a difference, but you need to have good detail in order to allow the software to apply good filters.
I find it funny that Apple fan boys wanted more mega pixels before the iPhone 4 came out. Know mega pixels is just a number on a list.
I'd make it smaller! It's a freaking phone for crying out loud....
name it the evo5g
Give it a revolutionary and magical external antenna and a free bumper case.
They could have made it just a little bit thicker and added a larger battery.Maybe 1800-2000 mah?
I owned the EVO for the trial period with Sprint. Now I own a Droid X. Honestly, the EVO's battery is no worse than the Droid's. But I think they should take a page out of a book from the past. Instead of making a removable back case, make the entire back of the device one huge, non-replaceable battery. Reading all of the comments on different forums it seems like everyone is trying to trade off between functionality and saving battery life.
Also, put some sort of Invisible Shield or coating on the lens on the rear or at least make it recessed. I had it for only 30 days and it still had a scratch or two on the lens.
It's embarrassing how well this phone is doing versus the poor accessory support from HTC and Sprint. Stop making crap cases. There are enough cheap eBay companies making that stuff. Make a premium dock and a premium case.
I saw the video where Android Central put the phone against the Nexus One and Droid X. With the same processor as the Nexus One, , (even though the Nexus One was running Froyo) no REASON why the phone should have performed that poorly. They're gimping the processor in more ways than just the 30 FPS. Using the Droid, you can feel the speed difference. Not knocking the phone, but I really wish it performed like a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor based phone.
Other than this, I think it's a pretty well designed device. Sense isn't great, but a lot better than the Blur-based UI on the Droid. Sense is easily removable -- not worth whining over. Hardcore gadget nerds like us will remove it.... and the general populous that I saw buying the phone will probably end up using whatever the OEM gives them. So leave Sense on the phone.
@devron
Wow, comment of the day, sir! Way to be rational and concise! :D
@devron I think on the EVO sense can be forced stopped and isn't fully integrated into the device?
Unlike the Incredible where sense is built into android.
@devron
I'm trying to decide which phone to get.
I won't be getting 4G here anytime soon, so that's a non issue.
At the the end of the way... which are you more happy with?
@GoTigers This sounds kinda like I'm riding the fence, but after all the 30 days of EVO testing and now ending up with the Droid X, you really can't go wrong with either phone. If I'd have kept the EVO, there would have always been this mystery about how much better the Droid would be. Beneath it all are two phones running Android 2.1. I think the best advice I can give is to go with the mobile provider who has the best coverage and just use that 30 days wisely. Don't port your number or anything until you are SURE!! Then at the end of 10-25 days, if you're happy, stick with it. That said, I do feel that the Droid feels much nicer in my hand, the speed of the UI feels faster and more responsive. But aside from that, everything else is similar. The front facing camera I bet nobody will use (until better apps than Qik are released) and 4G is still building out.) The camera, battery life, screen quality, call quality and many other features were the same or marginally better on one device. Go into the Sprint store and then into the Verizon store. Play with each. The form factors are what you should look at. Also it depends on what device you're coming from. Some people just don't want the hassle of the management of the device that comes with owning ANY Android device. I'm enjoying it.
If anyone gets, say, a Droid X and hates it, I doubt they would like the EVO either. The phones are similar. It's the small nuances that will be the deciding factor like carrier coverage in your area, aesthetic design and what appeals to you, whether you need the extra Droid X speed and other minor factors.
@GoTigers
Devron's post is good advice. I would just add that the kick stand is surprisingly cool, and the front face camera for video chat is really great. Quick and Fring are not perfect, but this is a big feature. In six months you will wish you had a front facing camera!
Better battery
Physical Keyboard
Android 2.2
T-Mobile
Windows Mobile 6.5 instead with an upgrade to Windows Phone 7 when it came out.
"Would you offer a 3G-only version for those uninterested in paying that extra $10 / month surcharge?"
Surprised you brought this up. Hardware is one thing, carrier rip-offs are another.
I would add more colors to the screen or a better screen technology such as super lcd instead of the tft it came with
No 30fps cap!
I almost got it but PSX games run 60fps and PSX4droid should be out soon.
gsm and standard froyo no custom ui's
Give it a RETINA DISPLAY and make it look like the Incredible but with a normal back.
Also remove the $10 a month 4G charge for those of us that don't live in 4G areas, or at least offer a comparable alternative 3G phone(the Hero is too old).
- Run 2.2
- Improve battery life
- Turn off 4G access (if it always tries to search for it)
- Charge $10 for 4G only if you actually used at least 50% on a 4G network and consumed greater than an x amt of data
- Make it run on another networks. Not just Sprint.
- Allow tethering as long as a quota is not exceeded
- Allow data rollover
Fix any other things that people are not too happy about.
@Bervick
Yes some points are carrier issues. Not phone related.
@Bervick
You can turn off 4G, there's stock toggle widgets for 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS so you can conserve batt life.
I agree the $10 4G data premium is kinda BS but its still less than any other carriers' smart phone plans, so I can live with it. Plus the 4G in my area is blazing fast. iPhone 4 can't do that.
Tethering still works fine with PDAnet for me, even after the update. No issues here.
With Sprint there's no need for data rollover because unlike AT&T (and soon to Verizon) there's no data cap. Its truly unlimited, as is mobile calling.
EXPORT
This phone is a horror movie directors dream, its just waiting for you to get lost in the woods so it can instantaneously go dead. I have to carry extra batteries just to get through the day. People talk about how lucky android users are cause we might one day in like 2020 get flash, that will be a hoot I will only be able to use the phone when in an actual power station and if more than 2 evo users are running flash at the same time it may lead to brownouts.
Oh and it would be nice if they could have made it easier to tell what end is up without looking once you put a case on the sucker there are no easily distinguishable landmarks like a curve or ridge anywhere.
All in all it is a very nice phone unlike the hero which was so under powered it was silly. Seems like HTC makes good phones except each one has a single fatal flaw instead of many small flaws.
@rtavk3 You must have an assload of widgets running, 4G, WiFi, BT,and GPS all on constantly to chew through a battery that fast. I use mine all day everyday and I consistantly make it through an average workday with more than 30% left.
Try dimming your back light a bit and shortening the time out, turn off all unnecessary widgets, apps, background data, and set the interval for auto sync to 4 hours or so. Problem solved for me, but I still carry a spare battery.
@rtavk3 FYI, my EVO4 usually last further into the day then the Palm treo Pro (WM 6.1) I replaced with, and oh, by the way. I also can do more things with my EVO4...
I'd make it portable
I would bring it to Canada and make it a GSM phone... why is it not GSM...
Two issues:
The blue tone that is in a majority of all photos. Need an update to the camera software to fix this.
Screen limitation of 24fps. What the hell. It's already been proven by all the root ROMs that all the different screens are capable of at least 45fps. Why can't HTC and SPRINT update and fix this limitation.
The reason of fps being locked to the HMDI output is NOT true.
make it work with a sim card PLZ me want
damn cdma is it really that important that they had to create it
greedy bastards
people are probably gona create something else just to get more cash
no need for a sim card u can use a flash drive :O
FM transmitter, not just a radio. A better battery, obviously. But other than that... nothing!!
Make HDMI output replicating what's on screen (i.e. I can play games on big screen if I choose to do so)
I sold my 3GS to get the evo. I had it for 1 week exactly and absolutely loved the phone but Sprint is still the absolute worst carrier. I know AT&T gets a ton of bad press but I have no problems with them at all. I've been with AT&T for 6 years now and I will not crossover to any carrier because of my expierience with sprint. Dropped calls, texts wouldn't work, horrible tech support and that's just the beginning. Back on topic. I wouldn't change anything about the evo itself but a carrier change would definetly do it! Now off topic, if the Captivate had a stinkin flash I'd sell my iPhone 4 quicker than the deathgrip drops bars lmao.
@Sonofevil77
Customer satisfaction for Sprint is now higher than AT&T... I never have any problems with Sprint and neither do the dozens of friends I know either. I will never leave Sprint because their plans are the best in the business. If you think AT&T is so great just make sure you never travel to major cities like NYC or San Fran because their service is a joke!
@Sonofevil77
You are the first person that I've heard complain about Sprint in over a year. And out of the e
10 folks I know that use an Evo, none have complained about the 4G service except when traveling.
@kcchiefmatt Believe it or not, there are people out there have better service experience with AT&T than they do w/ Sprint, or even Verizion, and the others. More than 90M users do. Maybe sonofevil never goes to NYC or SF. For many, 95% of their usage comes from 5% of the network area they have been in. Thus, poor coverage in just a few spots can ruin it.
Wireless service in SF has always been shitty for all carriers. It's a nightmare- hills, density, buildings, old thick structures. NYC similar issues too.
1. Remove the 30 fps cap.
2. Increase the battery life.
3. Put Froyo on it.
I rooted my Evo though, so I have 1 and 2 checked. I'll be fine when I get a fully functional Froyo ROM on it.
@Metayoshi i have a fully functional froyo build on mine. (i guess the only thing missing is 4g, but i dont have 4g in my area + i assume theyll have that up and running anyday)
as for the rest of it...it rocks on 2.2 so fast. but i do like a few things from sense so for now i am just rom switching back and forth and testing.
Maybe make it available for the rest of the world? You know? The rest of the world where "there's no better option than the iPhone and when Model X Y Z comes, the iPhone has already surpassed it" world?
And get rid of HTC Sense as well as better battery life.
You can its in the network settings helps the battery a ton,
it's ugly compared to iphone4 or any galaxy s phones. just make it pretty.
The phone is amazing but the battery life does suck using advanced task killer and then downloading juicesaver has increased my battery life 30% which is quite nice, the screen could be a higher resolution like that of the iphones if it had the iphone s screen there would be no comparison, the camera is nice but could be improved, but overall I'm really pleased with the phone, I left the iPhone for it and I don't regret it one bit, I love not having annoying pop up notifications and having this large screen to type on and being able to customize it.
Put WebOS on it. That would be golden!
@MEH
I am offended by your incorrect usage of the word "gay" and your trolling post.
I would say Super AMOLED, better GPU even though Im not a "phone gamer" but def Super AMOLED. Raise the resolution for such a big screen and make the screen more intuitive. Also, make the camcorder just better in general, take off that cap. That is really about it, I like my White EVO so far, O and Im coming from a Palm Pre so give me TRUE Multi-tasking, give me a Card style view! :) I do miss my WEBOS but not the internals of it lol
- Get rid of sense ui (or anything else that's not stock android), give it froyo on day 1.
- take an industrial design lesson from Apple. (it feels cheap and clunky.. especially if you need to get at the Battery or memory card)
- flush mount the camera.. it sticks out a bit it becomes an annoyance
- it could be thinner
- better camera quality (not necessarily more megapixels, but a better light sensor would be great)
- the keyboard could be better.. Droid X is proof of that
@nothingreal He never said you had to have all the antennae outside. Just have the cell antenna on the outside, ALL the way around. Keep other stuff inside, and you get the best of everything.
No killing the signal due to the antenna detuning, and you get better reception in low signal areas.
By turning It into an iPhone =)