HTC Evo 4G vs. iPhone 4

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fast hands

New member
I am in the market for a new phone. Currently, I'm an AT&T customer but no longer under contract, so I can leave now and the 2 phones I am looking at is the HTC Evo and the iPhone 4 which was just announced today. I am leaning towards the Evo because I feel it has features as good as or better than anything on the iPhone. The few things I can think of that is better on the iPhone is :

- Better screen resolution (but smaller screen)
- Thinner (but smaller screen)
- Built in Hard Drive (without having to buy a microSD card)
- Better battery?
- More apps available
- More accessories available

Is there anything else I'm missing? My main concern is the apps, at this time, iPhone has 200,000 while Android has just 30,000. Will I be missing out on a lot of cool apps if I go with the evo? If I were to make a list of features where the Evo is superior to the iPhone, it would probably be too long. So I am trying to think of reasons that would not make me want to switch to the evo and Sprint. Please post your thoughts. Thanks!
 
A few things:

First, a bigger screen sin't automatically better. It affects how you hold the phone and how well it fits in your pocket. Not to mention visibility: notice in the photo you used that the iPhone's screen is brighter and more visible? A good display matters most, not just a bigger one.

Battery life will definitely be better on the iPhone 4. The Evo 4G is very power-hungry.

Having lots of built-in storage is important, too. Would you rather have 8GB of space for 720p video (Evo 4G), or a minimum 16GB (iPhone)? Not to mention room for apps.

Android does have a fair amount of apps, but it's definitely lacking in terms of professional-level apps. They exist, but they're much more apparant on the iPhone. On that note, the iPhone will be better for 3D tasks; Snapdragon is fast for general tasks, but its graphics just aren't as good as what Apple can bring to the table.

One extra concern: network formats. However good AT&T's network is or isn't where you live, it's a GSM network, which means the iPhone has roaming abilities outside of the US. An Evo 4G is a paperweight outside of the US because of CDMA.
 
Android apps are now 50,000 and quickly growing. There is more than enough to say you can find plenty of good apps that will more than fill the phone. BTW, on average, people may can download dozens and dozens of apps, but only about 4 to 5 are the ones being used the most based on studies.

If you take some top level apps and compare them who is better from the Android side or the iPhone side, and having owned both platforms, surprisingly, many of these apps are better on the Android side.

Evernote. This is the most popular cloud based notebook application around. Why its better on Android? Because every app can send a link, pic, tweet, post or note directly to it. On the iPhone, apps don't. Only Seesmic for iPhone can send a tweet to Evernote. But on Android, every Twitter app can, every browser can, every news app can, every picture app can, and a few other things can as well.

Seesmic for iPhone vs. Seesmic for Android. I got both. The Android side is better and far more visually appealing. Plus it has a homescreen widget.

Twitter for iPhone vs. Twitter for Android. I got both. Twitter for iPhone is still Tweetie 2. Twitter for Android is a definite original with everything from background animated wallpapers, homescreen widget to direct contacts sync.

Google Maps. Naturally better on the Android side. Do you know that on Android, you can store Google Maps navigation directions as an homescreen shortcut?

Let me put it this way. On the productivity side, its actually better on the Android side.

Where the iPhone comes ahead is with the entertainment apps, like games, lots of games. And you get niche apps like Crunchyroll, which is the legal streaming anime website where you can watch the latest.
 
I'll tell you this: Twitter for iPhone is better than Twitter on Android. The latter is pretty, but it's not as functional. Also, I'm not sure that some apps are necessarily better on Android for cross-platform functionality, as Apple's copy-and-paste mechanism is much, much better than on Android.

There's also the e-reader question. If you like e-books, the iPhone's the place to go. You can get not just iBooks but Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and others. Not to mention that Audible is supported natively on the iPhone and in iTunes where it's secondary on Android.

You may be happy either way, but definitely try an iPhone 4 when it's in stores. You don't want to prejudge either the Evo 4G or the iPhone before you commit to two years of service to either.
 
I'm not sure what functional you mean unless you mean Twitter for iPhone has manual quotes which Twitter for Android does not. But Twitter for Android has this:

1. It can show pics right on the tweet itself. Sorry but no other Twitter app on the iPhone does that, and the only other Twitter app that I have seen that does this isn't on the iPhone, its Ubertwitter on the Blackberry.

2. You can sync your Twitter followers into your phone contact book.

3. It has push notification. Other iPhone Twitter apps actually have push notification such as Echofon and Twittelator, but definitely not Tweetie/Twitter for iPhone.

4. It has an onscreen widget. I don't have to open the app itself to read tweets.

5. It has streaming sync. It continues to update the home line even if the app is not up.

Apple's copy and paste mechanism is better than Android's, but not much better if you really used them both. Actually when it's Select All, its faster on Android.

Copy and paste is trivial superiority because the iPhone OS doesn't do a good job of passing output from one app to another. Simply said, most iPhone apps don't and when they do, you have to build that capability into the app and to specifically address another app. That's how only Seesmic for iPhone can send a tweet to Evernote and only they can do it, but not Tweetie, not Twitterrific, not Echofon, not Tweetdeck and you name it. But this is old news on Android because every Twitter app from its inception has this capability ("Share Tweet") because the pipe is universal and modular. This pipe lets you send a Tweet to Facebook, other Twitter apps, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Evernote, Gmail, SMS... you name it, as long as the social networking app for that particular service is installed (modular construction).

Another example. You see a link in your iPhone Twitter app. You click on it. Where does it send you? Mostly it sends you to a mini browser inside the Twitter app itself, with the option to Open Safari on the corner. If you open Safari, the Twitter app closes and you have to manually open it again. Likewise with Maps info. It sends you to a mini Map browser with the option (on some apps only) to open the Google Maps app.

On Android, if you click on the link, it will either send you to the default browser or a menu that will list all your browser options...Dolphin, Skyfire, Dolphin HD, Infinity... You browse on the real browser, not the mini one, and the return key immediately sends you back to the Twitter app, which is never closed. Likewise, the map location can be sent directly to the Google Maps app, not a mini browser, where you have full access of the Map functions from Street View to Buzz.

Unlike the mini browser that's built in to the Twitter app, the Android browsers themselves can share the link further, to Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, and so on and on through the modular universal pipe.

That's why I can do a sequence on Android which I can't do on the iPhone.

Twitter app -> Link to Android browser -> browse more pages on the Android browser -> share that page back to Twitter as a new tweet. (Yes, the Dolphin browser has built in URL compression and GMail formatting, meaning it turns the title of the page into the header of the tweet without manually typing the title).

As for Facebook on iPhone, it has chat, which is what its better on the Android version. But the Android version has an onscreen widget which can display Facebook posts without opening Facebook itself. It streams Facebook without opening the app. Furthermore, Android has been syncing Facebook contacts into the phone Contacts book for many months now, which iOS is only offering just now.

I can tell if there is a Facebook update, like posts or new pics, from a contact simply by browsing my phone contacts book. On Android, you can even open the Facebook app and contact reference directly from the contacts book view.

Honestly, Facebook on the iPhone has its annoyances. You see a notification on the bottom. You click on it. What does it say?

Mr. Joe Shmoe commented on your Status.

(That's it, you have to go to your Wall to read what he wrote. Or his wall. Some menu navigation there).

Facebook On Android does it notification like this:

Mr. Joe Shmoe commented on your Status.
"Hey did you watch the LOST finale? What do you think?"

BTW, Facebook for Android has updates that did include Inbox.
 
I picked up the Evo on Friday and so far, I LOVE it. BIGGER is better!! After using the 4.3 inch screen for a few days now, I can't see myself going back to the baby 3.5 inch screen. Also, no dropped calls yet with Sprint here in So-Cal and data is faster too. I dropped calls daily with my iPhone.

I have another 20 plus days to test the Evo, but I think I'm keeping it. Saving money with Sprint and getting better service is also a major plus.
 
Oh, of course. But I don't think dropping another $200 to get the same 32GB (that's how much a SanDisk card costs) is a terribly wise strategy, even if it's on top of the existing 8GB.

Getting the 32GB iPhone 4 is a deal by comparison!
 
...and when you run out of space on the 32 GB iPhone? No expansion possible.

And what's with these advertisements now? You're paying for a device and service and they're going to push ads to you?
 
I think 32GB is more than enough, i mean, my laptop has a 50GB HDD. I think a phone has enough at 32GB...How does one fill up a 32GB anyway? Are people disappointed that they cant load 18 seasons of the Simpsons on their cellphone?

If i get the iPhone 4, ill get the 16GB on...i have a 8GB ipod Touch 1st gen, and it has plenty of space for all my crap, doubling that would be fine by me
 
Just like AdMob does currently in a lot of free apps. It's just a standardized framework which will be pretty, integrated, and more profitable for developers. Or you could just hand wave about "OMG iADS WTF" if you'd prefer.
 
But thats for a desktop, unless your goal is to have your entire desktop HDD's backed up on your cell phone? Maybe im old fashioned, i still think 2GB is alot.
 
Sorry it isn't enough for me.

I currently have over 50gb of stuff I bought from iTunes, all stuffed in my 64gb iPod Touch (same processor as the 3GS). Yes, nearly $1500 worth of music, apps and video media--paid for and bought from iTunes. But what's also taking up space is all the movies and TV series I've bought and plan to buy. I also have nearly 4gb worth of apps and games alone.

32gb iPhone is a no go for me. That's why I use a 64gb iPod Touch. I am waiting for the 64gb iPad or iPad 3G to come to my area or wait for the next generation iPod Touch (iPhone 4 without the phone) in 64GB or maybe even 128gb.

I just pair my iPod Touch with another phone, basically my Android which is the main concentration of my email, SMS and social networking. The iPod Touch is so thin, its in my pocket all the time and I don't feel it even with a rubberized cover around it.
 
Has anyone tested the 4G Networks (WiMax) on HTC Evo 4G? How would you rate it? 4G availability is limited for Evo (at least for now), so I would go for an iPhone. Also CDMA restricts its use to the US.
 
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