HTC Evo

Last week after D-Flex I got home to find a little cardboard box by my door, inside was my brand new Evo.

I did have some issues originally using the Evo – I kept trying to swipe everything. So for the first few hours of very little interaction I could barely make a phone call. Then Friday evening I decided it was time to sit down and customize my Evo. Within a few minutes I had figured out how to get around and the phone quickly felt very friendly.

Now, the Good, the Bad, and the awesome!

The Good:

Google search everywhere!
All over the phone is Google Search. Search the web, search your stuff, search everything. And on top of that is the ability to speak your searches. The first night in a bind (while driving) I did a search for a bar I was trying to reach. I held the search button and immediately the phone was waiting for me to talk. I said “map to _________” and the phone switched right to Google maps with a route right to the location.

DONE! It was awesome.

Beyond that every application seems to have the ability to search. No reason to scroll through lists, instead everything starts with a search.

Speech to text
I brought it up earlier a bit – speech to text. That was something I was always annoyed with on the iPhone. Simple text messages and long notes always required typing… why? Now with the Google services we can get speech to text immediately everywhere that text needs to be entered. Heck, most of this blog post was written with this feature. The trick is that you need to do it one sentence at a time, but other than that it works really well.

The marketplace
Everyone talks about the AppStore like it is the end all be all location for applications. It took about 5 seconds after getting a list of cool apps from Rachel and Magnus to download all of the recommended applications. The download process was easier and faster than the AppStore, search was faster and download was faster… though I’m sure the 4g helped.

Widgets!
The way that applications can have both a widget form and full application form is wonderful. With the ability to set up main home screens with quick views and controls into your favorite application you save so much time and effort. I enjoy having a “utility” screen with the quick ability to turn on and off screen brightness, wifi, 4g, bluetooth and so on. It’s my screen for keeping my battery in check.

But I enjoy other widgets, like having my calendar or favorite call lists right on the main screen. Or even a Mint.com summary and my music together. In the end there is no limit to what you can set up and how helpful the phone can be.

Friends feeds

This is more of a widget than actual feature but it is still cool. When the phone first came on I went through a quick wizard and connected into my facebook and twitter accounts. Now my contacts are tied with my friends lists and I have a Friends Feed that aggregates all my facebook and twitter friends activity. When looking through my contact list I thought it was interesting to see under an entries name their last twitter or facebook post.

The Kickstand
I know it seems stupid but the kickstand is really cool. It’s nice to watch Uruguay in the World Cup live on the phone with the phone kicked up.

Removable Battery
As soon as I opened the box a smile came on my face when I saw the battery separate from the phone. I no longer have to watch the battery slowly die away fearing for the end of the phone’s life. Now I can switch out batteries as I please.

The Bad:

Battery life

I seriously feel like I should keep a second battery with me at all times. I carry around the usb charging cord like a safety blanket. Even when I turn off 4g, WiFi, and close applications the battery seems to run down quickly. I’m putting up with it for now, but I am hoping for a system update to help with power.

The Evo comes with a program to show what program and process used what percentage of power. Last night while taking a handful of photos I found out that the camera used TONS of power.

Consistency is Key
Also, there isn’t a great level of consistency even within the base applications. Some navigate through and initiate actions via long press. Some applications do it from the menu button. It’s a bit annoying when something doesn’t work right and you have to try both.

The Awesome:

4G
Absolutely beyond awesome is the 4g. It is so freaking fast that I really don’t see any reason to use the computer to search through the web. Applications and whatnot come down so freaking fast that there is no more waiting to do anything.

The Camera and Video Chat
I was only able to play with this shortly, but it was the coolest thing. Running on 4g it was instantly available. The dual cameras really help and the quality is perfect.

Conclusion
As you can tell I’m really happy with my new Evo. I’d really liked the iPhone before this, but with all the crap that Crazy Steve has been doing with the iPhone and Flash I am putting my money where my mouth is and ultimately I like having a device that I can develop for along with enjoy for the day to day.

I’m really looking forward to creating some fun apps and test cases in the near future with AIR for Android and my new Evo.