Sprint HTC EVO 4G

[Henning]

Save yourself the trouble, as much as Verizon can be a pain in the butt sometimes, they're still one of the better companies out there for cell service.

I agree with you on Sprints service, horrid is a nice word to use, I used to have one of their phones and still have an Aircard which was a nightmare to get going properly.

However, I've had Verizon before as well and I consider their service somewhat superior to Sprint, but in no way would I put the term "Better" to it unless it was something like "Dealing with Verizon CS is a bit better than being hung by your testicles..." I'm like you, I've goine through a lot of providers, been using Cells since back in the "Bag Phone" days of... I think I got my first one in '87 or '88. The only company that has really provided me the quality of customer service I would deem as adequate is T-Mobile.

 

[Henning]

I have to say, this all sounds pretty appealing. Especially impressive is that it works over a sat net link. How's the lag on that?

Out of curiosity, I looked up T-Mobile's coverage map for the country place I go to regularly, where I am able to "connect" to AT&T, but the connection is extreeeeeemely slow and unreliable. T-Mobile shows "good" signal, on GPRS/EDGE there, so I wonder what kind of functional operation I might expect?

Interesting stuff...

There is latency involved, no doubt about it, but that is the nature with any SatPhone. The issues are the same if I use any of the other SatPhones onboard, but this one doesn't cost anything extra (we have an unlimited Data package) where as the handset phones range from $.07-$2.00 a minute depending on which set I use and where I'm calling, plus it's not my own phone number on the other phones. For a person at home though with a cable fed wifi network, you truly loose all incentive to have a landline because you just set Network Selection for "Wifi Prefered" and you now have a home phone when you're home that is not on your "minutes", same at the office. Most people can switch down to very inexpensive rate plans.

 

[Henning]

Maybe I'll try T-mobile. AT&T coverage stinks on toast. EDGE network stinks on toast. I love my iPhone though, so whatever phones they offer would have a real mountain to climb to compete for me.

I us my iPhone on T-Mo and they have a technical service department that helps you with iPhone issues.

 

[Ghery]

There is latency involved, no doubt about it, but that is the nature with any SatPhone. The issues are the same if I use any of the other SatPhones onboard, but this one doesn't cost anything extra (we have an unlimited Data package) where as the handset phones range from $.07-$2.00 a minute depending on which set I use and where I'm calling, plus it's not my own phone number on the other phones. For a person at home though with a cable fed wifi network, you truly loose all incentive to have a landline because you just set Network Selection for "Wifi Prefered" and you now have a home phone when you're home that is not on your "minutes", same at the office. Most people can switch down to very inexpensive rate plans.

The only problem with VoIP phones is that they don't work when the power fails. Comcast tells me that they have a battery backup. Good for up to 8 hours. The problem is that I've seen power out for up to 10 days. Then what? My land line stays.

 

[PilotAlan]

The only problem with VoIP phones is that they don't work when the power fails. Comcast tells me that they have a battery backup. Good for up to 8 hours. The problem is that I've seen power out for up to 10 days. Then what? My land line stays.

I'm with you. The telephone line is the lifeline.
That said, I am switching to VOIP at home. We have two lines, one voice, one fax. All the major VOIP services will automatically send you calls to a landline if your data is down.

I will keep the fax line at a dirt cheap rate, that's also the line for the alarm, the Dish receiver, and the backup to VOIP. All in all, a fax line and a VOIP plan will save me over $100/mo.

Make sure you have an old-school telephone that plugs into and is powered by the phone line and doesn't require external power. I can't tell you how many houses I see where everything's cordless and they literally don't own a phone that will work if the power's out.
The PHONELINE is up and running, but they can't use it.

 

[Ken Ibold]

Put it this way: I would throw out my Mac, iPad and iPhone in favor of a Windows laptop, a Windows tablet, and a Windows Mobile phone before I would EVER go back to Sprint.

YMMV. I've been a Sprint customer for more than 12 years. Occasional foibles, but for the most part a non-annoying relationship. Which is more than I can say for Comcast.

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Well, so far, so good with this new phone. Getting it set up took a bit of time; still working on getting e-mail on here. Some neat applications like scanning bar codes at the store and locating good prices. Still getting some web sites on here. I really like the voice recognition for texting, but it didn't seem to be programed to recognize Texan very well <g>. Great a short sentence recognition. I'm not good at saying short sentences, though.
Many really nice features.
We had some trouble getting the old numbers ported over and they tried to bill us from the time they shipped the phones instead of from when we activated them.
Do they intentionally hire CS folks that only repeat the company line? We finally found someone in tech support that got the phones activated and understood us not wanting to pay for service until we had it--seesh.

Best,

Dave

 

[rpadula]

And then your productivity dies. That thing is addictive, at least for a week or three.

Speaking of that, saw this story today:

Man Returns iPad Because It's Just Too Awesome

Here's a new one.
At Harvard Business Review, management consultant Peter Bregman writes that he returned his iPad because it was "too good."
He was never bored when he had an iPad and his best ideas come to him when he's bored. Seriously.

 

[bigred177]

YMMV. I've been a Sprint customer for more than 12 years. Occasional foibles, but for the most part a non-annoying relationship. Which is more than I can say for Comcast.

I agree, I just had to deal with them to get a warranty replacement phone. Nothing too terrible.

 

[rpadula]

Two pretty funny (and NSFW!) videos on the EVO vs. iPhone debate:

http://laughingsquid.com/iphone-vs-htc-evo-htc-evo-vs-iphone4/

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Getting more comfortable with this phone and have noticed there isn't the normal MS office suite on here. So, how does one compose a memo, do a spreadsheet? Is there something I can get free to do that or must I purchase something?

One glitch, I just received an incoming call from 1-608 phone number. I get a lot of calls from family on there. When I punched the number to return the call, 011 jumped in front of the area code and I was dialing an international number. I had to way to know it was international when received. I reported it to Sprint and they had no idea how it happened and said not international changes had been made. I hung up before it connected when I noticed the 011. I'll take a pic of the log to document what happened.

Best,

Dave

 

[RJM62]

Getting more comfortable with this phone and have noticed there isn't the normal MS office suite on here. So, how does one compose a memo, do a spreadsheet? Is there something I can get free to do that or must I purchase something?

One glitch, I just received an incoming call from 1-608 phone number. I get a lot of calls from family on there. When I punched the number to return the call, 011 jumped in front of the area code and I was dialing an international number. I had to way to know it was international when received. I reported it to Sprint and they had no idea how it happened and said not international changes had been made. I hung up before it connected when I noticed the 011. I'll take a pic of the log to document what happened.

Best,

Dave

How's the battery life?

-Rich

 

[Dave Siciliano]

The battery life is decent if you're not a heavy user or can get to a charger in 5 or 6 hours. It's won't last all day if you have GPS; 3/4/g and e-mail going all day. I'm sure there will be an after market battery upgrade. If you're near a laptop, that can also keep it charged. Not for heavy users that can't recharge after the above time frame for now. Not normally an issue for me. I can usually get to my laptop, car or a normal outlet within that time frame. For a heavy traveler--not good now.

Best,

Dave