McMahonWeb

I have been an iPhone user since the first day of it’s release in 2007. When Apple released the 3G model, and my town was stuck in EDGE misery, I patiently waited for AT&T to upgrade our area to 3G, and eventually, they did. Since that time, their network has slowly improved to a point where my phone calls don’t completely suck.

After seeing the Gizmodo and Engadget articles showcasing the new iPhone 4, I was happy to see another round of worthy improvements to my favorite phone. At the same time, I have been watching the Android software mature, and see it coming to a place where mainstream adoption is growing, and giving Apple needed competition.

When AT&T announced their new rate plans, limiting to users to 2GB per month, including charging an additional $20/mo to allow tethering, I was terribly disappointed. So much, that I decided to look at Android phones on other carriers. This search led me to the HTC Evo on Sprint. This new flagship phone for Android is rich with features. A 1Ghz snapdragon processor, Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, an 8MP Camera and a basic camera on the front. It records 720P HD video, and uses a nice 4.3 inch touchscreen that makes typing very easy.

The moment I picked up the phone, I was impressed. The screen alone made the device a pleasure to use. My first day at work, I used the phone to stream Pandora for about 30 minutes, run Meebo chat in the background, and occasionally check email. Three hours later, I noticed my battery was at 50%.

At this point, the love story began to fall apart. Over the next two hours, the battery went from 50% to 20%, and by the sixth hour of the day, it gave me a warning to plug in. 10 minutes later, the phone was dead. This is not what I want from a phone half way through a day.

After a brief amount of research, it became obvious that I was being overrun by multitasking. You know, that thing Apple has been avoiding for so long. It turns out that you can’t leave programs like Meebo running long in the background without killing your phone. I downloaded the advanced task killer, which helped ensure other things were kept in check.

After a few days, even with the task killer running, the battery was still disappointing. I came to the realization that while the features are great on paper, the reality is that you can’t actually use many of them, unless you keep a charger nearby. I don’t have such a luxury on many days.

For me, this battery issue is a total deal breaker. What a disappointment. With a better battery life, this phone would really give the new iPhone a run for its money. On top of the battery issue, I noticed a couple things with the camera. First, the 720p recording is basically useless in indoor light. While they advertise 25fps, that only happens in places with a LOT of light, like direct sunlight. At night, under my living room lighting, I got 9fps, which is pretty terrible. Additionally, I found that the camera software would often crash on me.

I hear that things might be better when Google releases Android 2.2. Unfortunately, I am not interested in signing a two year contract on that hope.