HTC EVO Review

The EVO is a great phone with poor software choices.

Like

• The kickstand on the back
• HDMI port
• Front facing secondary camera
• The huge display
• Fast processor

Do Not Like

• Pre-loaded apps on the system partition cannot be removed
  • Footprints, Friend Stream, HTC Mobile Guide, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Peep, Qik, Quickoffice, Sprint Football, Sprint Zone, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, and many others
  • Many of these apps are configured to automatically start, so less savvy users will experience reduced battery life and slower performance.
  • Even disabling and removing apps from the home screen leaves the “all applications” list cluttered.
• The hardware buttons (home,menu,back,search) are easy to mistakenly hit. If you get a chance to try this phone, try tapping the bottom edge of the phone completely outside of the home button’s bounds. Your tap will still register!
• The dialer is not Android standard. The HTC replacement is cluttered and harder to navigate.
• The large size is nice, but the corners should be more rounded, like the Nexus One. The boxy shape of the EVO makes it feel even larger than it is.
• The soft keyboard is not Android standard, and it is cluttered.
• *** UPDATE: InputMethod full screen mode fails to show a “Next” button, even when android:imeOptions="actionNext" is specified as an EditText attribute. This means when users are entering text in landscape mode, they don’t see the Next button, resulting in a very confusing UI.
• This phone has no trackball. When editing, you see a bunch of extra soft key arrows on the keyboard for navigation. These arrows add complexity:

Android makes vendor customizations possible and this phone demonstrates just how poorly that can be done.

Posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 8:07 am in Android, Opinion, Reviews.