[Q] just got the HTC EVO 4G LTE, immpressions and few questions. - Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE

hi, i just got the EVOLTE few days ago,
i have some question about it and i hope that all the pros here will be able some of it.
thx.
i'm quite a newbie in android
have been using iPhone and Blackberry in the past few years.
and i still use my Blackberry 9900 for my business line.
im starting to use android for my personal line few months back, after i purchased the motorola photon 4G
i've been quite impressed by it
however the battery life is quite bad so i ended up getting the extended battery from seidio and with that extended battery the phone only last me for 1 day of use.
anyway i love the photon but the screen and camera quality is very bad INMHO.
so i get this new HTC EVOLTE ( i don't like S3's design)
after fewdays of usage, all i can say is that it's been quite ok:
-the screen is superb , almost on par as my iphone 4s , of course the evolte win on the size but the 4s win on the clarity by a bit so no complain about it , i love the screen.
-the radio quality is good, i compared it with my photon, which have one of the best radios ever built on a phone and the result is quite similar. but of course the photon have the global capabillities
-fit and finish is very good the material feel sturdy unlike s3 but the top black cover , the battery cover scratches very easilly.
now this is my questions or minuses:
-the speaker on this phone is very weak, it sounded very thin and weak . i've tried to use it for listening to radio, watchingmovies, calling people with the speaker phone and i can say this is the tinniest speaker that i've ever have.
(is there any solution to this ? i believe or hope that it can be "modified" with an software update as the speaker quality is actually not that bad, only the volume that its lacking)
-theres a gap between the back bottom case and the metal frame. on the left side near the mic hole, is that normal ? the gapp is arround 1mm it doesnt effect anything but i'm ocd about this kind of thing and the right hand side is ok, only the left near the mic hole that have this problem.
-the camera, its much better than the 8MP shooter from photon, but still it can't touch the iphone 4s IMHO.
the sharpness is lacking , i've tied it side by side and the iphone 4's images always look better and sharper.
(i've noticed that there's a lot of camera mod for the EVOLTE but can anyone point me out to the best one ?)
-the battery is better than the stock motorola photon, but still it doesn't last me for a day of constant use
i've always turn on auto sync, auto backlight , and i use whats app chatting application, occasionally watchind video with MX player and it last me about 6-8 hours top
is there any setting to prolonged the battery life ? or is there any better ROM that i can flash ? i dont want the beta or alpha , i just want the almost bug free ROM that i can rely on everyday. and i very much like the rom that have SENSE as i really like Sense and this is one of the reason i bpught the EVOLTE rather than the S3, in the past i've tried every launceher , app, widget to replicate the look and feel of sense on my motorola photon, but nothing beats the original sense on HTC phone IMHO.
please give me some info on this
-the top of the phone , i mean the rear plastic cover that surround the camera get hot whnenever the phone transmit or recieve data.
it doesnt get hot when i call somebody, but when i browse or chatting, it gets hot.
(again is this normal ? is there any solution about this ? maybe putting some thing of layer or sticker beneath the plastic cover ?
-one of the reason i bought this EVOLTE is about the beats audio.
but whenever i plugged my earphone to listened to music, theres a static like noise .
ive tried several ear and headphones and they all do the same. the noise appear only when the phone is transmitting or recieving data only.
so far the solution for me is to turn the airplanne mode on when i listened to music
(is it normal ? is there any solution to it ?)
-please add if theres a must have app or mod for this phone
as i 'm really new to android
so far thats about it,
pardon me for my bad english.
this is the best android forum ever.

The phone will get warm, HTC phones get warm and some get pretty hot, probably has something to do with their design and the fact that they all have metal chassis. The battery should settle after a bit of use I let mine drop to around 5-6% the first couple of charges and it started to last a bit longer. The phone is a bit picky with headphones, I have a cheap pair for jogging and a higher quality pair and the cheaper ones definitely have distortion in them. If you charge and use the headphone jack at the same time, there's a lot more distortion. HTC turned the compression up pretty high on the camera but there's a mod floating around that removes the compression, its still really good for what it is. If you plan to unlock and flash the phone, check your hboot first, hboot 1.15 and 1.19 require you to flash the kernel separately (fastboot) but hboot 1.12 allows you to flash normally, it is also the only hboot that has an exploit allowing soff. I've written a lengthy guide that covers the majority of what you need to know to start customizing your phone. It really is a great phone

Moved to a and a

Anyone?
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app

Go to the Android development section for Evo 4 G L T E and lookup Mean ROM read the entire first post and flash this you won't believe how great your phone will perform, the camera, sound and the battery are greatly improved. Look for version 4.1 .1 in the nightly section at the bottom of the first post or 4.2 if it's been released by then. Be sure to read that entire first post though as it has all of the important information you will need how to flash this ROM.
You can't modify the glossy back cover or it's attachment inside as it houses all of the antennas.
The heat is normal as its the battery discharging due to the large screen.
Jack
P.S. Don't second guess your decision to buy this phone. It is the best phone on the market in my opinion. It just needs MeanRom to be complete.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium

midmadn said:
Go to the Android development section for Evo 4 G L T E and lookup Mean ROM read the entire first post and flash this you won't believe how great your phone will perform, the camera, sound and the battery are greatly improved. Look for version 4.1 .1 in the nightly section at the bottom of the first post or 4.2 if it's been released by then. Be sure to read that entire first post though as it has all of the important information you will need how to flash this ROM.
You can't modify the glossy back cover or it's attachment inside as it houses all of the antennas.
The heat is normal as its the battery discharging due to the large screen.
Jack
P.S. Don't second guess your decision to buy this phone. It is the best phone on the market in my opinion. It just needs MeanRom to be complete.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on this. I've been running MeanROM since I had my 3VO and in IMHO it's the best ROM out there. That said, there are also a bunch of other talented devs here that have put their time and talent into making this phone enjoyable as hell for everyone.
You will not regret getting this phone.
Sent from my Mean-ass LTEVO using Iced-Out XDA

Okay thx
I'm still deciding between mean Rom or viper 4g Romwhich one is more stable?
And by the way the heat is not from the battery but more from the area above it. The shiny plastic part not the metal part.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app

I use easy battery saver which I believe helps. I get a 10% drop in battery with heavy use but average 14 to 16 hours a day. Not as good as some report, but heavy use is relative. My phone has no gaps. As far as static, I was having a lot of that when streaming, but figured out my wifi was overloaded. I've remedied that and no longer have static. Do you have static when streaming with 3G? That would be an indicator. Hope this helps some. Good luck with your new phone.
Sent from my EVO LTE using Tapatalk 2

Related

[Q] Help me decide!

Droid Charge or Thunderbolt??? Which should I get I'm torn between the 2. I don't care about software support or the UI.
My main concerns are camera, battery life, screen, and hackability(custom ROMs)
So main questions being how is the camera in low light situations, and video quality?
How long does the battery actually last for you? Is it comparable to any other smartphone or do I need to get used to carrying a charger with me.
How does the screen compare with others? I have a Fascinate now and the Super AMOLED has spoiled me.
Finally how easy is it to load custom roms on the device. Is it a pain, or is it simple. The Fascinate was very simple.
I don't care about Sense vs Touchwiz as launcher pro or vanilla launcher will be on the device.
Well... no one owns the Charge yet but I can give you my experience with the Thunberbolt.
- The camera sucks but then again I think every cell phone camera sucks. I'm comparing it to my D700 + Zeiss 50/1.4 which I usually have on me anyway. Any cell phone camera in low light is going to be awful unless you use the flash. Even then, it still sucks. Video quality is fine though.
- I'm using the extended battery. I've been at work since 9:30 and it's now 5:00. My battery is at 68% and I've been sending the occasional text and going on Tweetdeck and a few websites. I do have 4G enabled all the time though. I keep my charger with me all the time regardless though.
- The screen is fine. The glass is Gorilla Glass. Some people say that it's not GG and it scratches easily but I don't know what they're smoking. It's the same quality as my Droid X. I find the colors to be way oversaturated but I'm comparing it to a $700 calibrated PC monitor.
- Rooting is easy. There aren't any true one-click methods yet but hopefully in a month or so there will be. Flashing ROMs is as easy as any other device.
I was in a VZW store in San Antonio, Tx this afternoon, and got a little hands on time w/ both phones...
Charge has a GREAT screen and is "light" in the hand next to the TB. I downloaded Speedtest.net from the Market, set both phones to the same server, checked the signal strength (both the same) and ran the test.
The Charge never got above the 10 Mbps mark at any point. The TB never dipped below 17 Mbps. I checked it multiple times while I was in the store for 1.5 hours!
Like the TB, the Charge's battery seemed a little anemic for the demands of the device.
I walked out the TB, not just because the Charge wasn't available, but because I liked the TB experience better.
Devon
I can't speak for the charge... My tbolt will video fireworks at night and take stills pretty well. Megapixels mean everything in pictures. I love my tbolt and hardly ever use the camera. To each their own though...
Here is an article comparing the two. My personal choice would definitely be the Thunderbolt although I've never actually used the charge.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/04/28/htc-thunderbolt-vs-samsung-droid-charge-battle-of-the-specs/
Well, do you really need to get a new phone now? If it were me.. I'd wait for the Galaxy S2. That phone is looking it could do some serious damage to all others.
bking_soda said:
I can't speak for the charge... My tbolt will video fireworks at night and take stills pretty well. Megapixels mean everything in pictures. I love my tbolt and hardly ever use the camera. To each their own though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Megapixels actually mean jack ****.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
I agree htc will sell phones that have 8mp cams and the quality sucks its the software and lens I think
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App
camera is mediocre. It gets the job done, but as posted earlier, is hardly a photographer's go-to
all 4G phones will have horrible battery life until they figure something out down the line, but for now at least the thunderbolt is capable of running some of the nice LV kernels to save a little battery and downclock etc.
the screen isn't too bad, go play with one at a VZW store and see that for yourself
at the end of the day I got the TB because HTC released the kernel source (actually bought it the next morning) and with the kernels on my D1 I could keep up with the big boys for a lot longer so I hope for the same on the TB. And since I got it, sense has actually grown on me quite a bit, I actually prefer it to the vanilla UI
The phones are almost equal. The Charge has a better screen and a bigger battery and I can't speak to this device but the camera on my Fascinate was the best phone camera I have seen on a phone(who knows if this is comparable.) However consider how long it has taken samsung to roll out updates and compare the development community for the Fascinate to the DInc. The Thunderbolt has more ram, is slightly cheaper, and will have fantastic dev support + updates will come quicker.
On top of that if you stay stock, Sense destroys TouchWiz. et the Thunderbolt or wait for a device that is more different (Play, Bionic etc.)
dbisch said:
Megapixels actually mean jack ****.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that, the sensor makes much more difference.
Compared to my DX there are a few good things and a few bad. The TB screen sucks. It's been a real pain for me browsing on the TB and that's the main thing I use, its very hard to select a link in the browser to open in new window, it wants to select text instead and I have to zoom all the way in, open page, then zoom out. When I open a page it automatically rooms in and I have to zoom out to see the page. The stock Rom ran super smooth compared to the X but the roms don't seem to help anything, on the X roms would make huge differences in performance (ive only tried a few roms and kernels so far on the TB though). The volume button sucks on the TB also, its so sensitive that you will accidentally change the volume all throughout the day which is extremely annoying.
It seems to have one of the fastest connections on 3g that I've seen, I can't wait for 4g (suppose to be this summer here). The unlocked bootloader has lots of potential, not sure if the charge is unlocked or will be unlocked.
The Thunderbolt is great, but I can't wait to get a stable AOSP rom on it and I hate the screen lighting. Also, battery isn't as big of an issue as everyone says it is. Just turn 4g on when you really need it.

May switch from nexus...have some questions

Hey guys, so I waited forever for my nexus and now that I have it...its somewhat disappointing. Bad signal, things close randomly, and it also has cheap build quality.
Honestly, how do you guys like your rezounds? How's the battery on those things? How's the build quality?
My entire android experience to this point has been with HTC (Inc and Inc 2) and I wanted something new, but I may come back.
Appreciate all the replies. Thanks.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
BABABANG said:
Hey guys, so I waited forever for my nexus and now that I have it...its somewhat disappointing. Bad signal, things close randomly, and it also has cheap build quality.
Honestly, how do you guys like your rezounds? How's the battery on those things? How's the build quality?
My entire android experience to this point has been with HTC (Inc and Inc 2) and I wanted something new, but I may come back.
Appreciate all the replies. Thanks.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, personally, love this phone. The build quality is very solid and doesn't feel like a cheap piece of plastic in your hand. I get great signal from it. Phone calls are clear and don't drop. I also rarely lose 4g unless I'm just in a horrible area. Plus, the GPS on this phone is absolutely amazing.
The battery life could be better stock, but you can't really expect much with such a big and bright screen. I was getting around 6 hours of heavy use out of it until I tried this little trick by nosympathy. Now I'm getting a strong 12-15 hours with fairly heavy use. I'm more than happy with everything about this phone. We don't have S-Off or perm root right now, but I could really care less. Just stock this thing whips the hell out of any phone I've ever touched. When we do get the update to ICS and Sense 4.0 (probably early next year according to HTC), this thing will be even better. I love this phone and will probably never touch anything but HTC in the future. I would suggest going to Verizon and playing around with one. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all. Good luck!
Edit: Also, with any phone I've had before (mostly Motorola or LG), I've been dying for root right away to make the phone better. This one doesn't need root to be amazing. It just is straight from the box.
I've tried numerous phones and carriers. Most recently I had the Bionic and the RAZR. I would say this phone is the best I've had in the last year or so. After going through 3 RAZRs due to screen problems, random rebooting and reception issues, the first Rezound I got is just perfect. The screen is much clearer, 4G radio is consistently 5-10 Mbps higher than the RAZR/Bionic were. I will stick with this phone for sure.
Awesome replies so far, thanks guys. So there's no creaking around the back or sides of the phone when you press them? That was a problem on both generations of my Incredible
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
form factor alone, the rezound kills the nexus. that things feels so damn cheap its disgusting. as for battery, you'll get a standard work day. the highest i've gotten so far was 17 hours. not bad!
creaking, yeah. mines starting to develop it. However, I use a case so I never noticed it.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
The Rezound is the most solid feeling phone I have ever had. I switched from Sprint to get it.
Solid, great display, good battery, stupid fast, Sense 3.5!
Rezound is probably the best 4G phone you can get on Verizon now. The Hardware is high end, I'm sure once we get s-off or once ICS hits oh baby.
Edit: no creaks.
Agreed. Absolutely in love with this phone. Usually I get a phone and say I like it except for a few things. The only thing missing for me is s-off, and its so good I'm not even that upset
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
I just came back from the Nexus. The battery life was horrible, the reception was about 30db less, no simultaneous 3G voice and data, and the screen wasn't that impressive.
I am happy to be back, I really like this device.
Sent from my HTC Rezound
Creaking is very slight. Some rebounds have over heating issues, so be aware that you may have to exchange for one that doesn't.
However I love my rezound, does everything I want and one of the best things is simultaneous voice/data. Came from tmobile and so glad I get to keep that feature.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
I have been considering the nexus (I haven't looked at it yet) but after reading the tremendous amount of issues and people trying to defend things that should not be acceptable, I'll probably stick with my rezound which is perfect accept I don't have root and an MIUI rom option yet... But other than that, pretty much have 0 issues with it hardware wise, and I do like sense 3.5, but MIUI is more my style I think.
It seems that there are too many issues on top of compromises by switching to the Nexus :-\ the only reason I kind of want it is for the constant updates and Google support, but that's not worth sacrificing everything else for IMO, even if we don't get root, ill probably still be happier with this one
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
BABABANG said:
Awesome replies so far, thanks guys. So there's no creaking around the back or sides of the phone when you press them? That was a problem on both generations of my Incredible
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tbh, mine does creak now which is annoying. extended battery door doesn't yet. Decided to buy a case and don't notice it anymore. Had the Razr before this and I can honestly say I am very happy to have switched to the Rezound. Camera on the Rezound is much better than nexus or razr.
edit: plus we have Scrosler over here now. Can't beat that!
scrosler said:
The Rezound is the most solid feeling phone I have ever had. I switched from Sprint to get it.
Solid, great display, good battery, stupid fast, Sense 3.5!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to that. I had the OG EVO before and switched to VZW just for this phone. Love it.
rileyd5 said:
tbh, mine does creak now which is annoying. extended battery door doesn't yet. Decided to buy a case and don't notice it anymore. Had the Razr before this and I can honestly say I am very happy to have switched to the Rezound. Camera on the Rezound is much better than nexus or razr.
edit: plus we have Scrosler over here now. Can't beat that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed the creaking. I don't notice it with a case. I actually need the case anyway because attaches to the belt. So far I'm happy with it. It's blazing fast compared to the Thunderbolt.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
WasabiWa83 said:
I, personally, love this phone. The build quality is very solid and doesn't feel like a cheap piece of plastic in your hand. I get great signal from it. Phone calls are clear and don't drop. I also rarely lose 4g unless I'm just in a horrible area. Plus, the GPS on this phone is absolutely amazing.
The battery life could be better stock, but you can't really expect much with such a big and bright screen. I was getting around 6 hours of heavy use out of it until I tried this little trick by nosympathy. Now I'm getting a strong 12-15 hours with fairly heavy use. I'm more than happy with everything about this phone. We don't have S-Off or perm root right now, but I could really care less. Just stock this thing whips the hell out of any phone I've ever touched. When we do get the update to ICS and Sense 4.0 (probably early next year according to HTC), this thing will be even better. I love this phone and will probably never touch anything but HTC in the future. I would suggest going to Verizon and playing around with one. I don't think you'll be disappointed at all. Good luck!
Edit: Also, with any phone I've had before (mostly Motorola or LG), I've been dying for root right away to make the phone better. This one doesn't need root to be amazing. It just is straight from the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the call out. Glad my guide helped you out.
I can make the sides crash I'd I squeeze it hard, but mine doesn't with normal use. I think that happens after you pop the back off a bunch, the clips, which are plastic, start to stretch.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
I see I'm not the only one thinking of trading in their Nexus for a Rezound. I'm coming from the Incredible.
Incredible has better reception, faster 3G speed, louder speakers (ear and rear). Also people said the DInc had poor battery life, mine last 2 days on a charge. I'm sure I can get the Rezound to last atleast day.
I'm still not fully liking the on-screen buttons. The menu button, depending on the app, is sometimes at the bottom, sometimes at the top, and some others have reported no where at all. They also reduce the resolution on most apps to 720x1184. Only a few apps (anything by google) can shrink or hide the buttons for full screen.
Phone connects to USB via MTP instead of Mass Storage Device, due to lack of sdcard.
Still images aren't bad at all, but doesn't seem to deal with motion all that well.
The reason I chose the GNex was for the amoled screen, but I might settle with slcd for an overall better phone.
Considering how most amoled screens over saturate and enrich colors to the point where they aren't accurate, and have banding issues, they are pretty, but too many issues come with it... SLCD is better lol as it does none of this, it only has a minimal wash for blacks that u can see visually, but its so minor, its not as much of an issue as seeing glare from the glass (like reflection glare that every smooth surface has...)
Edit: I went and checked one out in the store today and while ICS is cool and all, too many cons to the phone, screen problems, home buttons were weird when typing, signal wasn't as good as the two beside it (rezound and razr) even in the store, and it had more hiccups than the rezound on bloated sense. The front cam was noticeably worse, and the rear cam was fine but the rezound took better pictures... The back plate was also jacked up but I'm sure its because of the sensor things on them, though the rezound had the same thingy on it and its plate wasn't warped and bent.
Anyway, glad I got it out of my system now, I much prefer this phone, I just wish it got the same support as the Nexus. Though root will come ...
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
I thought that I wanted OMLED but after seeing the blue (white) screen compared to my wife's Rezound along with my other points I decided to go back to the Rezound.
Sent from my HTC Rezound
I actually love the AMOLED screen on my Incredible, however I'm a little let down with the AMOLED on the GNex.

My brief time with the Galaxy Nexus

Things I did not like about the GNex:
Crazy batter drain: 25 percent per hour during moderate usage. (maybe due to new battery)
No visual voice mail
Missed a lot of key presses – the screen is just not that sensitive (very annoying having re repress keys!)
Speaker quality is miserable. It’s all scratchy and distorted at higher volumes. And it’s not nearly as loud as the Photon.
It’s is not as responsive as the Photon: Photon seems faster with almost any task.
Screen is low contrast and looks muddy in white areas
Screen is unevenly illuminated
Photon camera is hands down better in terms of detail
Right side of images are soft (something wrong with the lens?)
The case is slippery – and it’s already so large that I do not want to add a case.
Lack of capacitive buttons is a real pain. For example, while the phone is importing contact from Google, you can not simply press the home button and do something else in the foreground. There is no button to press, so you are stuck there waiting needlessly.
Things I like about it:
High resolution screen can look fantastic & type looks extra clear
the screen has rich, awesome blacks
The camera is always focusing and shoot as soon as you press the button
It seems to charge very fast
Radios seem good: Speedtest yielded similar results to the Photon on both 3G and wifi.
--------------
As the GNEx is overall less responsive than the Photon, spkr phone is terrible, and battery life is poor, I am going to sell it and keep to Photon.
So yeah, I will be upgrading my other like to the Evo LTE in June and see how that goes…
And hopefully the next Motorola will keep the physical buttons, as the Evo LTE does.
Best,
ron
I moved on to a gnex. My screen has been responsive except when the browser is loading.
Battery life seems good once you train the battery. Have gotten about 2 hours of calls AND 4 hours (together) of surf time on wifi.
It is slippery sometimes. Back feels like it has traction sometimes. Does need feel as good in hand as photon, but is lighter and more bottom weighted.
For the speed of the device its mixed. Has same stock launcher hiccup as photon...but only with a LWP. Everything else is smooth for the most part.
Speakerphone is decent if you hold it right. Seems more naturally tuned than voice heavy. Not as loud though.
Another important feature for me is awesome blacks. Photon had black crush and made the xda start up page look orange. Back to a more normal contrast scale on the gnex. The photon was still easier to read in sunlight and both have that blue tinted screen which is either the glare reduction or oleo phobic quality. Mind you the 2nd gnex I am on has the purple tint issue.
Radios seem on par and this thevgnex stays connected to my wife's car it seems. Photon does support more profiles though.
NFC....have you seen what you can do with tags??????
One more thing I love about Sammy devices is their haptic feedback.
Things I miss are the alarm features, stopwatch, web top, HDMI support with no adapter, the kickstand, fb integration, and the rounded edges.
Over all though the gnex is still a great phone as is the photon. I kept mine because of it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
just as a quick fyi, photon doesnt have physical buttons it has capacitive buttons, the gnexus has onscreen buttons
For what its worth..... I went to sprint and played with a gnex....... it was OK but the external speaker wasn't very loud and it wasn't any faster than my photon. For me it isn't enough of a difference for me to upgrade from my photon with cm9. I really do want a phone with nfc chip and a baro sensor tho.
Sent from my CM9'd Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
OK - just tried the HTC One X. It is indeed impressive - much more so than the Gnex.
The screen is pretty fantastic, it feels smaller and more sturdy than the Gnex too.
A much better phone IMO.
ronnienyc said:
OK - just tried the HTC One X. It is indeed impressive - much more so than the Gnex.
The screen is pretty fantastic, it feels smaller and more sturdy than the Gnex too.
A much better phone IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But can't use a extended battery.... that's a deal breaker for me.
Sent from my CM9'd Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
It is said that the battery life is very good.
ronnienyc said:
It is said that the battery life is very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it would have to be out of this world fantastic for me to even consider it.
i spend my free time riding a dualsport motorcycle at times way farther into the Everglades than i should be and have to turn on GPS for hours at a time. i use a 3500ma battery daily and carry the stocker as a backup. a replaceable battery is a must for me.
to be honest as well i'm tired of having half ass broken phones. unlocked bootloader but no 4g etc. as soon as my area gets LTE i'm getting what ever Nexus phone is available at that time. hopefully it's a motorola made one but if not it's no big deal.
DualSportDad said:
it would have to be out of this world fantastic for me to even consider it.
i spend my free time riding a dualsport motorcycle at times way farther into the Everglades than i should be and have to turn on GPS for hours at a time. i use a 3500ma battery daily and carry the stocker as a backup. a replaceable battery is a must for me.
to be honest as well i'm tired of having half ass broken phones. unlocked bootloader but no 4g etc. as soon as my area gets LTE i'm getting what ever Nexus phone is available at that time. hopefully it's a motorola made one but if not it's no big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Only thing worse than getting a boner in public places is not having a memory expansion slot on my smartphone as I like to keep my media in excess. So that was the deal breaker for me.
Sent not from your device!
The battery as mediocre with my gnex when I first got it too. After two weeks the battery has improved greatly. When using only stock I prefer the gnex.
If you own the photon skip the gnex, but if its between both and all else is equal then go with the gnex. Price wise, the photon can't be beat though. Wish I still had it, I would have spent my money on a tablet instead!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
HTC would have to show me something very exclusive for me to buy another phone from them Samsung needs to step they radio game up
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Or Google could just have Motorola build the next nexus phone. We'd get the best hardware, vanilla android and a unlocked boot loader.
Sent from my CM9'd Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
snoopy1e11 said:
HTC would have to show me something very exclusive for me to buy another phone from them Samsung needs to step they radio game up
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HTC one isn't enough? I like your standards!!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
was tempted to pick up gnex but i might wait now, thanks for perspective
I sold GN, to a man, that sold it to me, after he tried HTC OneX, he wants GN back and gave OneX away. I am staying with Photon for now. ;-)
Not relevant
Ok people. Doing reviews on devices other than the Photon 4g, should be kept in respective device forums. Unless I'm missing something, I didn't see the MP4G mentioned once.
I put a sticky up just for posts like these. "What Phone should I buy"
Also, for "some", try and keep the sexual innuendo's to a minimum... "boner", and don't let it progress farther.

EVO 4G LTE Impressions

Hey guys.
Some of you may know me from the Evo 3D section. Recently, my 3D's touchscreen started to fail on me (a known quality-control issue) and I evaluated my options on repairing it and came to the conclusion a new phone is a better investment.
I've been researching the living crap out of the Galaxy Nexus and the 4G LTE (The GS3 is waaaay outside my price point). It seems more and more likely that the 4G LTE is simply a better phone.
So now, this thread. Before I pull the trigger, I want the scoop on this phone from the only users I trust; XDA users. Tell me what you love about this phone, what you hate, what to watch out for, whether or not you regret it, anything. As much detail as possible, please
This phone will genuinely have to last me two years (buying it off contract). I need to know that I can count on this in the same way I was able to count on my HTC Hero (which I feel was more dependable than the Evo 3D).
Thanks guys. I look forward to possibly joining you in this forum in the future.
What's up man?! Go ahead and pull the trigger is what I say. I didn't consider it that huge of an upgrade personally but I figured id try it out for 14 days and return then try the GS3 then make my decision. I ended up keeping it and deciding to do so very quickly.Lol. Very 1st thing that got me was the thinness and how great it felt holding.....it felt really nice....and the screen is ike candy for your eyes. My experience with sense 4 and the speed made me question the need to root (blasphemy I know) but I did anyway. I love the camera software and the phone charges fast and really last....the sleeping is incredible. I live everything about it except the shiney black top....other than that in my opion its the best Evo ever and top phone now.
Sent from my htc_jewel using Tapatalk 2
After my first experience with the EVO 3D (3 lemons in under a month), I thought I'd never own an HTC phone again. I went as far as saying I'd never piss on an HTC phone if it was on fire. This phone is making me eat those words. I don't even know why I gave them another chance but I'm glad I did. I wanted a great screen, fast processor, and a relatively "future proofed" phone and this totally fit the bill. It was between this and the Gnex but with the connectivity problems, notoriously weak antennae and glacial charging I rolled the dice on the EVO.
I'm really digging the snappiness overall, running Nova launcher and MeanICS 0.5 ROM. The screen is gorgeous, especially coming from a Photon, and the camera is just about neck and neck with my 4S (work phone). I've been shooting with it for about a week and love love love the pictures it takes.
The only thing I don't like is the car dock has a really finicky usb connector and no sound comes through said connector making it a real bummer when I want to use the phone as an aux music source.
With ROM floodgates starting to open, I heartily endorse this phone to anyone who is in the market. Even stock with Nova launcher works really well, I'm not a fan of Sense but I will admit it was way better than what came stock in the Evo 3D.
Omg we need a Liquid Rom in here! I haven't ran something from you since the HREO CDMA days! Your Sense Rom was the best!
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
I sold my preordered Evo for a pretty penny and bought a Galaxy Nexus for dirt cheap. While the Nexus was good, the battery made it just OK. It just wouldn't last. The screen was nice but put it next to the Evo and nice becomes wtf. The Evo comes with a microSD slot for my 64GB card (huge plus). The battery in the Evo lasts a whole day a whole night and in to the next afternoon. With heavy use, I mean playing with it constantly from games to web to calls it easily can last 12-15 hours. That right there sold me. I had the option for the GS3 as well. I was really thinking I would switch, considering I had the Epic and the Epic Touch. I.couldn't bring.myself.to return it. Too GREAT of a phone. Plus the kickstand is great. I watch a lot of Netflix while waiting for freight. There isn't a single con and a long list of pros. BUY IT!
Sent from my htc_jewel using xda premium
neopolotin75 said:
What's up man?! Go ahead and pull the trigger is what I say. I didn't consider it that huge of an upgrade personally but I figured id try it out for 14 days and return then try the GS3 then make my decision. I ended up keeping it and deciding to do so very quickly.Lol. Very 1st thing that got me was the thinness and how great it felt holding.....it felt really nice....and the screen is ike candy for your eyes. My experience with sense 4 and the speed made me question the need to root (blasphemy I know) but I did anyway. I love the camera software and the phone charges fast and really last....the sleeping is incredible. I live everything about it except the shiney black top....other than that in my opion its the best Evo ever and top phone now.
Sent from my htc_jewel using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it feels solid in your eyes? If I grip my Evo 3D even slightly firmly, I can feel the plastic creak. How are you doing on battery life? I'm an extremely minimal user of my phone.
DB13 said:
Omg we need a Liquid Rom in here! I haven't ran something from you since the HREO CDMA days! Your Sense Rom was the best!
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, I've been considering starting up a project like that again.
cunnyrydah said:
I sold my preordered Evo for a pretty penny and bought a Galaxy Nexus for dirt cheap. While the Nexus was good, the battery made it just OK. It just wouldn't last. The screen was nice but put it next to the Evo and nice becomes wtf. The Evo comes with a microSD slot for my 64GB card (huge plus). The battery in the Evo lasts a whole day a whole night and in to the next afternoon. With heavy use, I mean playing with it constantly from games to web to calls it easily can last 12-15 hours. That right there sold me. I had the option for the GS3 as well. I was really thinking I would switch, considering I had the Epic and the Epic Touch. I.couldn't bring.myself.to return it. Too GREAT of a phone. Plus the kickstand is great. I watch a lot of Netflix while waiting for freight. There isn't a single con and a long list of pros. BUY IT!
Sent from my htc_jewel using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's some very promising battery life, especially for my minimal use
soopermarkus said:
After my first experience with the EVO 3D (3 lemons in under a month), I thought I'd never own an HTC phone again. I went as far as saying I'd never piss on an HTC phone if it was on fire. This phone is making me eat those words. I don't even know why I gave them another chance but I'm glad I did. I wanted a great screen, fast processor, and a relatively "future proofed" phone and this totally fit the bill. It was between this and the Gnex but with the connectivity problems, notoriously weak antennae and glacial charging I rolled the dice on the EVO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, someone who understands the build quality woes of the Evo 3D. In the short year I've owned it, the screen plate near the cap buttons has "sunk" down into the shell, the battery cover has become lose, the outer 'lining' is coming off, and the power button and volume buttons are almost hilariously mushy (never know if they're working).
I'm sorely searching for the build quality of HTC that I used to know, from the days of the Hero all the way back to the original Titan and Apache (those things were amazing). It seems you feel that they've recaptured this "Evo" namesake.
I'm really digging the snappiness overall, running Nova launcher and MeanICS 0.5 ROM. The screen is gorgeous, especially coming from a Photon, and the camera is just about neck and neck with my 4S (work phone). I've been shooting with it for about a week and love love love the pictures it takes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How's the screen at repelling fingerprints? I know that it's supposed to come with an oleo-phobic coating, but do you think it would be worth getting a screen protector?
Great phone; buy it! :good:
What's up liquid I think you should go ahead and get it there's nothing better at this point and to build quality is nothing like the evo 3d. My only issue is the lack of multitasking it reloads tabs almost..but I've heard that has been fixed on the hox...great device..makes the 3d look like a fat pig
LiquidSolstice said:
So it feels solid in your eyes? If I grip my Evo 3D even slightly firmly, I can feel the plastic creak. How are you doing on battery life? I'm an extremely minimal user of my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The quality is the best I ever felt......no plastic feel or creak like the 3d......When I first held it I was like WOW. I'm a heavy user when on station and I don't feel tethered to a plug.....it does very well but the way it sleeps is the best.....I can have 80 percent and go do 3 runs and several hrs later it still sits at 80......my 3D would have dropped by 20 lol
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
I've been a happy owner of the 3D for the past year, but after flashing the Virgin Mobile FW and finding out from Sprint that I have a free upgrade, I'm picking up the 4G LTE on Monday. I just figure the time is right to make the jump since as of now there's no downgrade for the FW, no official ICS release, and WiMax is dead. Base on this thread, I'm in!
The phone is awesome even stock I have no complaints could maybe use a radio update but that's it seeing how these dye radios are new I find signal to be acceptable for myself. Love the camera and I have no problems removed some screens tho since 7 is over kill lol
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Just don't put it in your skinny jeans pocket and you'll be fine. Would love to see your work on my LTE.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Also coming from the 3D, I decided to pull the trigger on this phone earlier this month.
Personal pros: Size, feel, battery life
Cons: Wifi/3G dropout, multitasking (primarily Sense reload)
I rooted immediately, switched to Apex Launcher, and tested a few custom ROMS.
Temp bricked it yesterday w/ the S-OFF method, and returned it to BB to swap out in hopes that it would fix the Wifi/3G dropouts. Wifi seems to be better, 3G dropouts still exist, so I'd imagine it'll be a radio/firmware fix in the future. I'd also imagine the aggressive and clumsy multitasking will also be resolved when source is released from HTC and we can get some custom kernels.
SG3 is released for the public on 7/1 @ BB, so I'll go back to play around w/ it a little bit before my 30 day window of opp. is closed. All in all, I'm leaning towards keeping the LTEvo due to the development community and overall feel of the phone.
Lastly, I was going to go right back and root after getting phone #2, but simply installing Apex over stock everything hasn't been bad. I think until source is released, I can deal with holding off on root. The apps I rely on work w/o root, FoxFi works w/o root (even though pointless w/ slow 3G data, but hey..), and honestly, until we can start overclocking, undervolting, etc., the only true benefit w/ root access is being able to F w/ the build.prop for GW purposes, density, and whatever. Not enough of a factor IMO to root just yet, though the ROMS available right now are promising!
Verdict: Go for the LTEvo. Enjoyed your work during the Hero days as well!
For the screen, the fingerprints have been less of an issue than my tbolt, but they are still there. I thought the screen really was "scratch proof" until I had it in a bag with my keys and I saw a little scratch right in the effing MIDDLE of the screen! Needless to say, I ordered a matte screen protector and will see if it kills the awesome-ness of how the screen looks and displays.
I honestly cannot agree more with what has already been said about this awesome phone. After coming from my tbolt with a rezound battery (i still use it to this day) and it's crappy battery life to this phone has totally restored my confidence in using smartphones. Instead of thinking "if i play this emulator or watch this video, I'll have to charge it again", I say "I will play this emulator or watch this video and not care because the battery WILL last". I know I sound crazy here, but the battery really is that good. In fact, it's that reason that I haven't rooted and put on a custom ROM because I'm afraid something will happen.
Performance wise, it is just plain sick. It runs the PSXEmulator tons smoother than my TBolt and sense is just awesome. I would consider rooting just for the dual-core mod where the second cpu is always running except for when the screen is off, but again, bye-bye insane battery life (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Physical feel of phone is sweet; the thinness is good and the material is nice; except for that bloody top back shiny cover that drives us OCD guys nuts with fingerprints :O But I did order a case because I'm afraid if I drop it, it will go bye-bye.
I researched heavily this phone and the galaxy nexus and from what I could tell, the nexus didn't have the same power as this phone and because of that, people complained that it ran slower than it should. Also the battery was only so-so.
I have yet to look back and do not regret the money I spent
firmbiz94 said:
What's up liquid I think you should go ahead and get it there's nothing better at this point and to build quality is nothing like the evo 3d. My only issue is the lack of multitasking it reloads tabs almost..but I've heard that has been fixed on the hox...great device..makes the 3d look like a fat pig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read that this was due to aggressive minfree values to keep Sense running smooth. Custom ROMs have already tweaked it, but I actually see this as a plus. I've always used extremely (read: ludicrous) aggressive minfree and OOM values, because I damn near never multitask, I only ever do one thing at a time.
neopolotin75 said:
The quality is the best I ever felt......no plastic feel or creak like the 3d......When I first held it I was like WOW. I'm a heavy user when on station and I don't feel tethered to a plug.....it does very well but the way it sleeps is the best.....I can have 80 percent and go do 3 runs and several hrs later it still sits at 80......my 3D would have dropped by 20 lol
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is very, VERY nice to hear. I look forward to that
NYG140 said:
I've been a happy owner of the 3D for the past year, but after flashing the Virgin Mobile FW and finding out from Sprint that I have a free upgrade, I'm picking up the 4G LTE on Monday. I just figure the time is right to make the jump since as of now there's no downgrade for the FW, no official ICS release, and WiMax is dead. Base on this thread, I'm in!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yuck, I'm sorry you had to go through the Virgin FW mess. I thankfully was late in finding out about it and hence managed to see all the problems that came with it before I flashed, so I skipped it. Glad to hear you're getting an upgrade!
ckoadiyn said:
The phone is awesome even stock I have no complaints could maybe use a radio update but that's it seeing how these dye radios are new I find signal to be acceptable for myself. Love the camera and I have no problems removed some screens tho since 7 is over kill lol
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Radio update? Are signal woes really a concern?
BrianBaker said:
Just don't put it in your skinny jeans pocket and you'll be fine. Would love to see your work on my LTE.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, no skinny jeans on this boy, don't worry. I might delve back into it again, we'll see.
pwrmedia said:
Also coming from the 3D, I decided to pull the trigger on this phone earlier this month.
Personal pros: Size, feel, battery life
Cons: Wifi/3G dropout, multitasking (primarily Sense reload)
I rooted immediately, switched to Apex Launcher, and tested a few custom ROMS.
Temp bricked it yesterday w/ the S-OFF method, and returned it to BB to swap out in hopes that it would fix the Wifi/3G dropouts. Wifi seems to be better, 3G dropouts still exist, so I'd imagine it'll be a radio/firmware fix in the future. I'd also imagine the aggressive and clumsy multitasking will also be resolved when source is released from HTC and we can get some custom kernels.
SG3 is released for the public on 7/1 @ BB, so I'll go back to play around w/ it a little bit before my 30 day window of opp. is closed. All in all, I'm leaning towards keeping the LTEvo due to the development community and overall feel of the phone.
Lastly, I was going to go right back and root after getting phone #2, but simply installing Apex over stock everything hasn't been bad. I think until source is released, I can deal with holding off on root. The apps I rely on work w/o root, FoxFi works w/o root (even though pointless w/ slow 3G data, but hey..), and honestly, until we can start overclocking, undervolting, etc., the only true benefit w/ root access is being able to F w/ the build.prop for GW purposes, density, and whatever. Not enough of a factor IMO to root just yet, though the ROMS available right now are promising!
Verdict: Go for the LTEvo. Enjoyed your work during the Hero days as well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems as though I might not need to root for a while either. I've actually not needed to tether in a long, long time with my 3D. Root was soley for performance desires. These connectivity issues are getting a it worrying though...
And thanks! I didn't realize my Hero ROM had such a reputation haha.
pogibry said:
For the screen, the fingerprints have been less of an issue than my tbolt, but they are still there. I thought the screen really was "scratch proof" until I had it in a bag with my keys and I saw a little scratch right in the effing MIDDLE of the screen! Needless to say, I ordered a matte screen protector and will see if it kills the awesome-ness of how the screen looks and displays.
I honestly cannot agree more with what has already been said about this awesome phone. After coming from my tbolt with a rezound battery (i still use it to this day) and it's crappy battery life to this phone has totally restored my confidence in using smartphones. Instead of thinking "if i play this emulator or watch this video, I'll have to charge it again", I say "I will play this emulator or watch this video and not care because the battery WILL last". I know I sound crazy here, but the battery really is that good. In fact, it's that reason that I haven't rooted and put on a custom ROM because I'm afraid something will happen.
Performance wise, it is just plain sick. It runs the PSXEmulator tons smoother than my TBolt and sense is just awesome. I would consider rooting just for the dual-core mod where the second cpu is always running except for when the screen is off, but again, bye-bye insane battery life (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Physical feel of phone is sweet; the thinness is good and the material is nice; except for that bloody top back shiny cover that drives us OCD guys nuts with fingerprints :O But I did order a case because I'm afraid if I drop it, it will go bye-bye.
I researched heavily this phone and the galaxy nexus and from what I could tell, the nexus didn't have the same power as this phone and because of that, people complained that it ran slower than it should. Also the battery was only so-so.
I have yet to look back and do not regret the money I spent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like the battery usage will be insane for me. All these use-cases appear to be with heavy usage and good battery life, so I can't wait to see what my mild usage will result in.
Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm loving reading all these experiences!
No signal is fine for me as I'm in a well covered area. I could be a tad stronger but that's about it.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
ckoadiyn said:
No signal is fine for me as I'm in a well covered area. I could be a tad stronger but that's about it.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 3D would always kill itself trying to find signal where I live. I'm hoping that won't be an issue with the LTE.
Amazon has some great prices on this phone in and out of contract.
pogibry said:
For the screen, the fingerprints have been less of an issue than my tbolt, but they are still there. I thought the screen really was "scratch proof" until I had it in a bag with my keys and I saw a little scratch right in the effing MIDDLE of the screen! Needless to say, I ordered a matte screen protector and will see if it kills the awesome-ness of how the screen looks and displays.
I honestly cannot agree more with what has already been said about this awesome phone. After coming from my tbolt with a rezound battery (i still use it to this day) and it's crappy battery life to this phone has totally restored my confidence in using smartphones. Instead of thinking "if i play this emulator or watch this video, I'll have to charge it again", I say "I will play this emulator or watch this video and not care because the battery WILL last". I know I sound crazy here, but the battery really is that good. In fact, it's that reason that I haven't rooted and put on a custom ROM because I'm afraid something will happen.
Performance wise, it is just plain sick. It runs the PSXEmulator tons smoother than my TBolt and sense is just awesome. I would consider rooting just for the dual-core mod where the second cpu is always running except for when the screen is off, but again, bye-bye insane battery life (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Physical feel of phone is sweet; the thinness is good and the material is nice; except for that bloody top back shiny cover that drives us OCD guys nuts with fingerprints :O But I did order a case because I'm afraid if I drop it, it will go bye-bye.
I researched heavily this phone and the galaxy nexus and from what I could tell, the nexus didn't have the same power as this phone and because of that, people complained that it ran slower than it should. Also the battery was only so-so.
I have yet to look back and do not regret the money I spent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running the nocturnal Rom and it has the dual core going but honestly I haven't noticed a difference. ....you should check it out.....it's been the smoothest for me so far
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
I dont mind the killing of apps as much as I do the tabs in the web browser..sometimes esp. With online banking I run into issues..it happens pretty much instantly..I've adjusted my min free settings as well as flashed about every rom besides aosp and my phone still kills apps like that's its job..I would just like the option to adjust it or have it ignore my web browser as I'm pretty good about closing things out..buts that's my only issue and it will be fixed..the build is bar none and battery is sick..camera is on par with top cell phone cameras and the UI in the camera app is best in class..i never miss a shot ..it will be good to see u in here liquid..to defend against the trolls and fanboys LOL

Review: AT&T One X+

Because I promised
Quick background: I've had iPhones until earlier this year when i took the plunge and nabbed an Unlocked Galaxy Nexus GSM, Great phone, but some things with it I just couldnt get past (16gb of storage and the EH audio amplification...Also i want fond of 4.2 on it) which lead me to search for another phone, Tried the Galaxy S3 but was disappointed and returned it, And now about a weekish or so ago I got myself the One X+, So lets delve into my opinion on the device for anyone on the fence
First Impressions, Build, Ergonomics and Screen
The build of the One X+ is fantastic, Far better than the S3 or Galaxy Nexus, it feels nice solid and most importantly for a $200-on-contract smartphone, premium, The grippy texture to the finish makes it a delight to hold and I never feel like im going to drop the bloody thing at the drop of a hat, The Capacitive buttons are also in my opinion much nicer than the hard button on the S3 (One of the major stumbling blocks with the S3 was the fact i found that button WAY too hard to work) Though I think the Galaxy Nexus' on screen buttons are still the most elegant solution... If I had one little complaint in regards to the ergonomics its that the volume buttons sit flush and undefined on the chassis of the phone, which has taken me a bit to get used to, Id prefer them to be raised a bit, but its a minor complaint. Overall the fit and finish of the phone is the best of any other phone I've ever owned, it feels solid and like its going to hold up to 2 years of use
Moving on, the screen is one of the most important bits of ANY smartphone and the One X+ doesnt disappoint, its easily got the nicest screen I've ever seen on a smartphone (And i did LOVE the AMOLED on my GNex so thats high praise!) its big, its bright, colors are saturated and the black level is nothing to scoff at, Albeit not as inky black as an AMOLED, Text is sharp and easily readable as well, and unlike the AMOLED screen on my GNex it doesnt chug my battery flat, it also stays looking nice even at lower brightness levels, The multitouch on it works well and accurately... Other nice things are the nicely beveled edges at the screen which makes swiping, say to another page of the homescreen or to move icons from one screen to another, a real treat and the fact it stays pretty clean and comes clean easily (Its not a fingerprint magnet the way my iphone or the S3 was, The S3 was actually terrible because i couldnt clean the fingerprints off worth a darn...)
Sense/Software
This is my first experience with Sense and only the second Skinned android version I've used and I gotta say I'm in the group that likes Sense, I get the reasons folks dislike it, but I'm finding I actually prefer many aspects of it over stock Android, in particular I do like the messaging app on it which just seems to work a bit better than the one on my GNex, and I do rather like more than one of the widgets it comes with (The small 4x1 Weather + Clock widget for instance) but I do see how these things could drain the battery or processor... I like how it asked me after dismissing one tutorial if i wanted it to keep bringing tutorials up and when i said no it never brought up another one (Unlike Touchwiz which would NOT stop bringing up tutorials even after i told it to knock it off)
The music app has rapidly become my favorite music app, I just like it, I dont like Google Play Music and Doubletwist had its problems in my opinion (Namely it tended to mess up if someone sent me a text or called me and wouldnt resume playing until i completely exited it and reloaded it, Not to mention it did NOT play well with 4.2, also the random thing i had to toggle on and off a few times everytime i started played music or it just continued the same "random" assortment of songs from the last play through..) by comparison the Sense music app just works better, looks pretty attractive and is easy for me to navigate, Also the included ringtone maker is a VERY nice touch that removed the need to install an app to do so...
The phone and Calendar apps are also very very nice, far better than the stock Android counterparts.. I love how the lock screen works as well with only ONE complaint, I dont think theres a way to launch Google Now from the lock screen... (If you know a way please tell me)
Google Now is better than it was on the GNexus shockingly, it transcribes my voice a lot quicker and more accurately than my GNex ever did..
I pretty much disabled all the AT&T crapware on my One X+ as soon as I got it, and I recommend you do as well, I know from many reports here one of the apps will chew up your battery if you dont disable it so yeah, The only ATT App I have on there and use is the Visual Voicemail one, Beyond that theres a demo of Mass Effect Infiltrator installed which is actually nice, its a game I bought on a friend's iPad and while I liked the concept, their old iPad ran it like junk and i felt the game was more suited to a phone screen over a tablet, Im not sure I'll drop $3.99 to unlock the full version, but as a demonstration of what the Tegra 3 could do in terms of graphics I found it a lovely demonstration
The stock browser is pretty nice as well and supports flash, Performance on it is VERY good, Seems on par with my Flash-browser of choice on my GNex (Dolphin) theres a really stupid and annoying toolbar enabled by default but 5 seconds in the settings menu banishes it to nothingness, Of course for non-flash sites I use Chrome, but the stock browser is the nicest stock browser I've ever used
About the only complaint i can throw at Sense is the keyboard, Which is pretty bad for me personally, Lots of typing errors and problems... But to be honest thats a minor complaint given how many alternate keyboards there are for Android
Performance
Performance wise this phone is a powerhouse, I have not had any issues with it stuttering, slowing down or anything no matter how hard i push it, No games have had noticable framerate problems (The GNex had problems with a couple games I played) the interface works smooth and buttery and it definitely feels like the most powerful Android device I've owned, Flash works smooth and buttery and gives me no issues as well which is VERY nice
Gaming I havnt found a single game it cant run perfectly(Albeit, i havnt done TOO much gaming on it)
As for other performance, the radio and antenna seem to be excellent, Unlike the S3 my One X+ doesnt hop on and off between HSPA+ and LTE every 2 seconds schizophrenically (Which made my S3 lose 20% of its battery in a 20 minute long errand and signalled the final nail in the coffin that lead me to return it), My One X+ hasnt lost connection even when I've taken it to the places I know have poor coverage so I'm quite happy with that bit of it
LTE performance will vary on your area but I get around 8mbps in my house (Which is 2-bar bordering the edge of LTE territory) to a high of 36mbps i got when i was out of the house at a 4-bar LTE location, Which is certainly nothing to scoff about, Wi-Fi works well for me, and I've yet to notice any problems with my Wi-Fi dropping at night or when its been locked for a long time like other users have reported...
Call quality is excellent, People are loud and clear, The speakerphone is also the first one i've found i can actually USE in a car and hear the person...
Camera
I'm the worst person to ask about camera quality on smartphones, For what I use them for even the "Bad" Galaxy Nexus camera was great for me, I carry my EOS 7D with me just about everywhere so if I want to take a nice picture I will pull that out instead..
That said, the cameras are very nice, I love how responsive it is with pretty much no shutter lag, it focuses quickly and very accurately and tends to do a good job with exposure as well, Photos have a good amount of detail to them and skintones are rendered pleasingly, Theres plenty of artsy filters if thats your thing as well, Only complaint is the focal length of the front facing camera seems a bit long for a self portrait, i have more problems framing it than with other smartphones I've owned, But the quality is also far superior to the other phones I've had
The stock sound effects for it are REALLY FREAKING ANNOYING however
Audio Quality
Obviously one big reason I picked up the One X+ was to get something with better audio quality than the GNex, The GNex isnt THAT shabby, but it does lack "oomph" and struggled to drive even my mobile headphones (I had to have it cranked to 100% all the time to get them decently audible and even then it was eh...) Volume+ helped a bit but 4.2 broke Volume+ leaving me in a bit of a rut...I also personally felt it made the phone sound "Strained" at times to deliver the volume i desired... The external speaker was also frequently barely audible, I usually heard the phone vibrating over the actual ringer...
Thankfully the One X+ is worlds apart from the GNex in that department, The external speaker is LOUD and easily heard, its also of surprisingly good quality and is actually one of the best little built in speakers I've heard, it also has a good amount of "depth" to it and renders low frequencies admirably for what it is, Overall the external speaker impressed me
But that pales in comparison to the headphone output, Which has simply left my jaw on the floor and exceeded my expectations, the headphone output is easily the best I've heard of any smartphone or MP3 player I've owned, it has exceptional clarity and detail to it with or without the Beats optimizations on... Speaking of those optimizations I was actually shocked I liked them and I did find they made a very noticeable difference in the output quality, Now note... they are simply a set of equalization curves they may not work for everyone due to differences in music and headphones... but in my case they've worked well and further enhance the music and video watching experience
For the record I've tried my One X+ with three sets of headphones, a set of Shure IEMs, a pair of Klipsch Image Ones and a pair of Sennheiser HD280s, Only the HD280s gave it a bit of trouble... they still sounded good, albeit not to their full potential (For the record the HD280s are a set of cans that REALLY need something meatier than a smartphone to drive them..) My primary music listening is Rock and Metal, with a bit of electronic, pop and other things thrown in there for good measure, So far I havnt found anything that the One X+ doesnt excel at playing back
Oh and the headphone output will also go VERY loud, I dont even turn it up past halfway except with a couple very low volume songs i have...
Battery Life
And now onto the massive elephant in the room whenever folks talk about the One X+... Battery life... The best way I've found it is "Jekyll and Hyde"... Let me explain
Use the phone normally, for phone calls, text messaging, maybe reading a webpage or checking email and the battery life is superb, Even some light gaming, like a little Cut The Rope or some such and the battery is VERY good and should easily get most folks through a day, Even watching a youtube video or two, either using the Youtube app or the stock browser and desktop youtube website doesnt excessively drain the battery...
....But fire up say, Mass Effect Infiltrator and watch your battery life burn...
Which seems very "No crumb sherlock" but it was definitely surprising to me after coming from the Galaxy Nexus where the screen, not the processor, was the worst offender to my battery life, Which simply means it didnt much matter what i did on the GNex if it involved the screen, the battery was going to drain at the same rate
Truthfully in my experience, the One X+ is as good as the S3 I had, Primarily because of that aforementioned issue the S3 had with staying connected to a tower, Its actually equal to my GNex's stock battery as well, which is very impressive considering this phone is packing LTE and a Quad Core processor in its svelte package
In terms of numbers, according to GSam my average battery life is 14h 40m, The most I've run it for was 16h with almost 3 hours of screen on time, To me, this is perfectly fine considering the rest of the phone and for most folks, you should easily be able to get through the day without a problem, I am connected to Wi-Fi pretty much all day, but even using LTE didnt seem to impact the battery life all that much...
Now a note, I dont really try for battery saving either... I have my phone syncing to gmail, syncing to google now, location services on, GPS on, i have that little weather widget thingy i mentioned up above on too which uses battery.. Screen is fixed at 33% brightness.. I just use it, like i usually use it, so a mixture of a bunch of things depending on what im doing that day...
One nice thing I also noticed is unlike the GNex, when the battery hits 20% its not a panic moment, 20% on my GNex meant "Find a charger in 20 minutes or im dead, Jim", on my One X+ 20% means i still have a few hours left and theres no need to rush... Which is nice, I had to buy an extended battery for my GNex, for this? I dont really feel I need one (I might get a battery case however)
Do I wish it had a 3500mah battery? Of course, But it doesnt, and thats fine, For me its an acceptable sacrifice
Quick Comparison To Other Phones For AT&T and Why I Didnt Buy Them
Galaxy S3, I technically actually bought one of these and returned it, theoretically it has better battery life, but only a dual core phone, also it runs TouchWiz which i found naggy annoying and way too like iOS for my tastes, it has a MicroSD slot, but that just adds an extra $20 to the price tag to get a 32gb card (and if you want 64gb you're looking at an extra $60 to that price tag) , not built as well and ergonomically it was a pain in my hand and i constantly felt i was about to drop the dumb thing when i was using it, in my case the battery life was completely atrocious because it could NOT hang onto a signal and would scizophrenically bop between HSPA and LTE every 2 seconds which made doing things on it virtually impossible, I also didnt feel it was all that fast over the GNex running 4.1 (At the time however, the S3 only had 4.0 so.. I guess this isnt entirely fair) Also I feel the blue color looks like someone colored it with a Bic pen... Really my ownership of the S3 went from initial jubilation over a brand new shiny smartphone to finding problem after problem before i even got home with the darned thing...
Galaxy Note II, Bigger screen, bigger battery, cool S Pen features, but it runs TouchWiz which I consider worse than Sense and the ergonomic problems I had with the S3 are even worse because of it, its also a bit too big to fit in my pocket comfortably and I was way too worried Id end up dropping it, I tried it out in the store even and it just wasnt comfortable for me, and a bunch of the things i just rattled off about the S3 are likely true about the Note as well... So yeah
LG Nexus 4, Better processor, stock Android 4.2, better battery life (I think?) and a great price ($350 no contract) however it only has, at best, 16gb of storage and that just wasnt working for me as it was, Plus theres no LTE on it as well which is a negative when you have LTE available where you live
Summary/TL;DR
Overall the One X+ is easily my favorite smartphone on the market right now, I'm immensely happy with my purchase and I dont see another phone I'd rather have right now, it would be my number one recommendation to anyone looking at a phone on AT&T, it just has a great combination of features and in my opinion the only real big drawback is the so-so battery life, But even then I'd call the battery life "Average" and not bad, The only phone I've seen with truely spectacular battery life is the Droid Razr Maxx HD.. Which isnt available on AT&T... Personally I can live with the battery life, Im never too far from an outlet and even if i was, the phone seems to do just as good as most of the other smartphones I've owned, I've tried so hard to find little problems with it and honestly, I gave up, I'm really not having problems with it (Well except the bloody keyboard..) and just constantly finding new things to love about it...
The only reason I'd caution against it for some folks would be if they were really intending to play intense 3D games on the thing constantly, Because thats going to murder your battery stupidly fast... And people who do need VERY good battery life are best looking at a different phone as well, or considering a battery case for it...
I gotta give it to you, Kenji, that's like one of those high-end-in-depth reviews one would read from many of tech sites...nicely approached and couldn't find many typos I'm sure people looking to buy 1X+ Will find it helpful, thanks, as you promised
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2
Dottcent said:
I gotta give it to you, Kenji, that's like one of those high-end-in-depth reviews one would read from many of tech sites...nicely approached and couldn't find many typos I'm sure people looking to buy 1X+ Will find it helpful, thanks, as you promised
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I do my best, I was worried it was WAY too long but I wanted to be as complete as possible and make sure I mentioned everything I could think of
I was also concerned I was going to catch flak for railing on the S3 and Galaxy Nexus
KenjiS said:
Thank you, I do my best, I was worried it was WAY too long but I wanted to be as complete as possible and make sure I mentioned everything I could think of
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say 99% of us enjoy reading positive reviews of our fave devices, so the longer the read and more in-depth info the better.
KenjiS said:
I was also concerned I was going to catch flak for railing on the S3 and Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You posted in the right device thread so you'll only get positive criticism here
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda premium
I found the radio in the SGS3 to be pretty poor myself. HTC seems to make phones that can catch and hold a signal when you're out in the boonies and I've only found Motorola radios to be better. And the better it can keep a signal, the less battery you loose so all the better!
As for dumping on the SGS3 and the Note 2, you are preaching to the choir here Kenji, but your review puts it through the same paces as the bigger tech blogs. We like our HOX+ here and, while you can always argue for the Samsung phones because they are good in many ways, they're just not "right" for folks like me.
Thanks guys
I'm kinda regretting not applying when one of the Android blogs recently put up a Google+ Post saying they were looking for writers
As a side note, I installed Swiftkey, I'm enjoying it, though im really not used to auto correction (It DOES work very well in this instance because its learning some of the stuff i type)
Second note is that today's battery life is currently at 2.5 hours screen on, 13 hours 18 minutes total, 17% left (Roughly another 2-3 hours standby/light usage for me) I really have to say the battery life is not atrocious and thats more than enough to last me the day obviously (Took it off the plug at 9:30 this morning, its now almost 11 at night..) That included some Radiant Defense in there (Not the most demanding game, but i enjoy it! Its a shame Neon Defense which was my favorite now doesn't function 100% right because OpenFeint is no more... At least thats what im assuming is the problem...)
I wonder if my lack of using Facebook/Twitter on my phone is why im getting such great battery life..
Anyways, my only debate is to sell my Galaxy Nexus (Which likely will cover what i paid for my One X+) or keep it around as a modding toy...
Now this is me being VERY bad with my battery:
Basically nothing but Youtube and PlagueInc for 3.75 hours.. Not really sure how many other phones would beat this (Even my GNex with the extended battery might, MIGHT have gone to 5 or 6 doing this, but still, Thats with a 3500mah extended..)

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