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Problems with EVO?

A

Ashton

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 13, 2004
Messages
2,514
I'm planning to upgrade to the EVO (fighting the urge to do it at 8:00:00 sharp tomorrow - beofre even breakfast! lol) I want to know what I'm getting into. I played with the Evo and Epic today at my local sprint store and honestly the Epic's hardware KB was so bad (keys had little or no profile, no tactile feedback, not even a 'click' when I pressed them) that I decided on the Evo (who's on-screen keyboard didn't give me any trouble after about 5-10 min of playing with it)

I know the evo has a *MAX* battery life of liek 10 hours but I can live with that

Anything else I shoudl know? Any "deal breakers" that make the Epic a better choice other than the KB?
 
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I have had my Evo for about a month, only downside i have seen is battery life. I need a charger at work and home, depending on how much email activity there is that day
 
i don't think the battery life is that bad ! you can go about 1 day and half with noraml usage
since the last update the batt life has improved. It is a good time to get an evo they just uncapped the 30fps thing and now the phone flies !

as far as keyboards all you need is swype!
 
i love mine had it since a week or 2 after launch. yes the battery life is horrible. i have a charger for my home car and office.
 
Battery life on the Evo is certainly an issue, but there are ways of extending it. Rooting and running SetCPU is a must, in my opinion. It downclocks the CPU to 245mhz when the screen is off or even when it's on and the processing power just isn't necessary. It's been very effective at extending my Evo's battery life.

If you're close to a wifi router at home and at work like I am I'd suggest keeping wifi on since it seems to use less battery than the 3G radio. I use Locale to monitor my location and turn wifi on/off based on where I am. That helps as well.

I typically get a full 18 hour day out of mine, so long as I'm not playing Quake3 on it or anything.

I do hear that the Droid X gets slightly better battery life and has better GPU performance to boot. I believe the CPU in it is made on a smaller manufacturing process. So if you're not locked in to Sprint you might want to look into that as well.
 
the latest evo update i believe they added that cpu scaling. I think they called cpu voltage regulator.
 
123Lanoix said:
i don't think the battery life is that bad ! you can go about 1 day and half with noraml usage
since the last update the batt life has improved. It is a good time to get an evo they just uncapped the 30fps thing and now the phone flies !
as far as keyboards all you need is swype!
Click to expand...

This may be a dumb question, but is this update (I'm assuming the Froyo 2.2 kernal) available in a rooted format? I've been reading up on rooting and after prolly 1-2 hours (just to guage speed, etc) I'm gonna root it (since I need tethering and wont pay MORE for LESS internet...)
 
iam talking about the update that came out last friday i dunno if its rooted yet?
 
If you're running stock 2.2 right now and update to last week's version you can just run Unrevoked 3.21 (available on their site) to get full root. Takes about two minutes.
 
Step 1. Root
Step 2. Install CyanogenMod 6
Step 3. ...............
Step 4. ...............
Step 5. Profit!
 
Who told you the EVO has a max battery life of 10 hours :rolleyes: Uh no way, well unless you leave it on your desk and don't touch it, then maybe it will last that long.

For me it is dead before lunch time, maybe 4 hours at most :( And I have 4G and WiFi turned off 90% of the time. I run my own Millwork business, and am on the phone a lot with my clients, as well as e-mailing vendors and texting people too. I surf the net too a bit, but not a lot. And by the time I leave the house at 7:30am it goes to a red bar for battery life before lunch time.

But besides the absolute worst cell phone battery in the history of smart phones, I do LOVE this phone. It feels like a mini laptop, does almost everything a home computer can do, just shrunk down to a cell phone :) I owned a iPhone3GS before this, and also a Blackberry 9700, and the EVO 4G blows both those other phones away by a long shot in my opinion, except the sh!t battery life. My Brother also owns an EVO too, and he agrees, great phone, but horrible battery, he said you just have to always have this phone plugged in anywhere you go. In your office have a wall charger nearby, in your car, you must have the phone charger on it.
 
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Zorachus said:
Who told you the EVO has a max battery life of 10 hours :rolleyes: Uh no way, well unless you leave it on your desk and don't touch it, then maybe it will last that long.
For me it is dead before lunch time, maybe 4 hours at most :( And I have 4G and WiFi turned off 90% of the time. I run my own Millwork business, and am on the phone a lot with my clients, as well as e-mailing vendors and texting people too. I surf the net too a bit, but not a lot. And by the time I leave the house at 7:30am it goes to a red bar for battery life before lunch time.
Click to expand...

ouch... lady @ the sprint store told me "I take it off charger @ 7:30am and it's down to (1 bar? red bar?) around 7pm" Tho it may be as you said she just leaves it on her desk all day. no idea.

That really sucks. But I'm already looking at ordering extra batteries (a guy on ebay is offering them 2 for $40 iirc) I already have a car charger, and since it uses the same Micro-USB I can probably use my Intrepid's charger for the 3rd.

If you dont mind my asking, how bad does 4G drain the battery? i live in a 3G area so I wont find out until I travel down to Atlanta (which I only do a couple times a year)

Someone (I think on here) said if you use data, your better off with WiFi (when available) because it drains the battery less than 3G does... no idea, not been my experience at all on prior phones, but I cant say about the EVO yet... (looking back it was actually in this thread up above a little ways)

If you're running stock 2.2 right now and update to last week's version you can just run Unrevoked 3.21 (available on their site) to get full root. Takes about two minutes.
Click to expand...

Cool! Thanks! (I was looking at some 60-step rooting guide! X_x)
 
Ashton said:
If you dont mind my asking, how bad does 4G drain the battery? i live in a 3G area so I wont find out until I travel down to Atlanta (which I only do a couple times a year)
Click to expand...

4G drains the battery like a fire hose lol. On 4G the highest speeds i have gotten is around 6 Mb down, which is pretty darn good. but when the 4G radio is on, it drains the battery quick
 
Zorachus said:
Who told you the EVO has a max battery life of 10 hours :rolleyes: Uh no way, well unless you leave it on your desk and don't touch it, then maybe it will last that long.

For me it is dead before lunch time, maybe 4 hours at most :(
Click to expand...

You have something wrong with your phone, bring it to a Sprint store to have the battery tested. I can easily get 20 hours of frequent use out of an EVO, a lot more if it's moderate use.
 
entropism said:
You have something wrong with your phone, bring it to a Sprint store to have the battery tested. I can easily get 20 hours of frequent use out of an EVO, a lot more if it's moderate use.
Click to expand...

I want to know what settings your using. your the first person to say "20 hours" anywhere I've looked. 8-10 seems average with a few saying ~12 and a few saying ~4 (which was common before a lot of updates/tweaks)
 
entropism said:
You have something wrong with your phone, bring it to a Sprint store to have the battery tested. I can easily get 20 hours of frequent use out of an EVO, a lot more if it's moderate use.
Click to expand...

I actually use my EVO as a phone. Running my own business I can be on the phone almost non stop sometimes in morning, taking and placing at least 30-50+ calls. Then I am e-mailing vendors at same time, and Texting clients too.

I keep 4G off. And before lunch time my phone has red bars.

It seems this phone is not designed for heavy non stop use all day.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
^-- uses an EVO with the $10.00 Ebay 3500mah battery, contrary to the naysayers the it does not make the phone too thick - it's still slightly thinner than the Epic4G and it lasts me all day with MODERATE use, I can stream audio, SMS, call, and moderate surfing. Be careful with the USB port, I would much rather have a mini USB than micro. When you get it, root it and then with the higher cap battery you will have the perfect phone.
 
root, install CM6, snap kernel, use setcpu. I turn 3g on when i want to browse. battery is not an issue like this, love my evo.
 
Ashton said:
Someone (I think on here) said if you use data, your better off with WiFi (when available) because it drains the battery less than 3G does... no idea, not been my experience at all on prior phones, but I cant say about the EVO yet... (looking back it was actually in this thread up above a little ways)
Click to expand...

That was me. It has been my experience that my battery lasts a good deal longer if I keep it connected to WiFi all day at work and at home. I read somewhere that the 3G radio uses more juice searching for a signal than WiFi uses finding the one ten feet away.
 
Absolutely true, headcase, but make sure to go into your wifi settings, hit menu, advanced options, and select "never sleep". This way you don't revert back to 3g/4g when your screen shuts off, you stay on wifi the whole time.
 
I love my EVO. Battery life is no worse than when I had the HTC Touch Pro and there is no comparison between the two phones feature/performance wise. I got mine on June 4th (launch day), and although I'm sure that better phones will come along, I am definitely liking the one I have now.

Be careful with the USB port. My daughter has already had to replace one EVO because of it and Sprint said it wasn't covered by warranty - she had to use the $100 deductible insurance to replace it.

@RagingSamster,

Thanks for the tip about the 3500 mah battery. I have two and a charger ($22.99) on the way from Hong Kong... :) I wish HTC had made the cover less of a hassle to remove and install.
 
Sick Willie said:
Be careful with the USB port. My daughter has already had to replace one EVO because of it and Sprint said it wasn't covered by warranty - she had to use the $100 deductible insurance to replace it.
@RagingSamster,
Thanks for the tip about the 3500 mah battery. I have two and a charger ($22.99) on the way from Hong Kong... :) I wish HTC had made the cover less of a hassle to remove and install.
Click to expand...

Yeah, did you know if you brick your phone during an update (OFFICIAL update) it's not covered under warrenty either? I've already had 1 phone upgraded (Samsung "blackjack" (dont remember sprint's name for it) was out of production so I got a free upgrade to the intrepid) and 1 replaced due to keyboard issues (which happily also coincided for me with a huge scratch on the screen _and_ damage to the headphone jack, so I just smiled and said "do it!" ;))

So far I've never broken a USB port on a phone *knock on wood* but I believe anyone who is rough with a phone while it's charging could easily damage the port as tiny as it is. I really wish they'd stuck to MiniUSB (same goes for the Micro-HDMI, I see that as a very easy damage point)

I ordered mine the day AFTER I ordered 2 cases... (Silicone slip and a flip belt case) I'm hoping the "generic but a perfect fit" case has enough wiggle-room to hold the extended battery, if not I may have to upgrade to a backpack ;) (love everything I've seen about the phone, including the screen size, but still it's freakin' "hooooge!" when I tested it, I had this odd flashback to the 80s for a moment :p)
 
Ashton said:
Yeah, did you know if you brick your phone during an update (OFFICIAL update) it's not covered under warrenty either?
Click to expand...

Completely untrue. Any Sprint repair store will gladly fix or replace your phone due to a bad flash. Hell, my store will even do it if you bricked during a hacked rom flash.
 
entropism said:
Completely untrue. Any Sprint repair store will gladly fix or replace your phone due to a bad flash. Hell, my store will even do it if you bricked during a hacked rom flash.
Click to expand...

Mine told me I had to pay for insurance. Considering how hard I was on phones, I figured $5/month wasn't that bad to get a full replacement every few months... though it does piss me if they WERE supposed to replace it at no cost... :mad:
 
Ashton said:
Yeah, did you know if you brick your phone during an update (OFFICIAL update) it's not covered under warrenty either? ...
Click to expand...
The only phone I've ever bricked during a flash was a Samsung Moment and Sprint replaced it without complaint or charge.
 
I had the chance to use the evo for about a month and while I have my iPhone 4 at the same time. The evo is no doubt a good phone, but the only reason I returned my evo is not because of the phone itself, but due to lack of quality apps and market place feels like the heart of downtown Oakland...

Overall, the evo is a great phone and will just get better.
 
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Ashton said:
Mine told me I had to pay for insurance. Considering how hard I was on phones, I figured $5/month wasn't that bad to get a full replacement every few months... though it does piss me if they WERE supposed to replace it at no cost... :mad:
Click to expand...

I SERIOUSLY doubt you're going to a corporate store. First off, insurance is $7, not $5. Secondly, the ONLY reason to go through insurance and pay for a replacement is liquid damage, fire damage, loss, theft, or physical damage (including cracked LCDs). Software is definitely NOT a reason.
 
I cant get into my account, it may be $7, not sure. And No, I just checked and it's not a Corporate store... Apparently that's why they wouldn't replace the phone for free...?

I got my EVO today and strange thing... the Sprint Mobile Hotspot app was fully functional. Now whether this was because i was on 1xRTT (due to my Airrave) or whether it's an oversight in security (just like how my Samsung Intrepid supports Bluetooth or USB tethering out of the box) remains to be seen. But That was the main reason I planned to root my device - to enable WiFi tethering. If it works like this I see no real reason to run the extra risk of suing the device as Root (except maybe to delete all the NASCAR stuff since I'm not a big racing fan...)
 
Ashton said:
And No, I just checked and it's not a Corporate store... Apparently that's why they wouldn't replace the phone for free...?
Click to expand...

Corporate stores make their own rules, and a main reason why I always recommend avoiding them.

As for the hotspot vs root/wifi tether, root your device and install CyanogenMod. it's the best thing you can do to your EVO. You're not going to cause any permanent damage even if the root goes bad, so try it out.
 
I went ahead and rooted using unrEVOked 3 (awesome program, downlaod, run, like 3 clicks and its done!) and installed the CPU scaler so it clocks down to 2xxmhz when screen is off. I did not install the CyanogenMod because the main page said it lacked support for 4G and HDMI-out, which I will use (I do travel down into 4g coverage areas, and I specifically chose the EVO for it's video-out option so I dont have to carry a laptop for presentations)

I cant figure out how to unstall the crapware sprint apps (I can force stop, but not uninstall...) but otherwise I'm thrilled. I'm hoping scaling back the CPU will save my battery some (likely I'll scale it back when I'm using it too since 90% of the time I'm smsing, calling, or surfing forums and I dont need a 1ghz of CPU power)

If anyone has any more suggestions (I do have an extended battery on order, hopefully it will get here in 7-10 days --- thou I wonder if it will still fit in it's case I got) I'd love to hear them, I agree with everyone else, this is by far the best phone I've ever used (and it has an amazingly accurate auto-correct for 70% of the time)
 
Ashton said:
I cant figure out how to unstall the crapware sprint apps (I can force stop, but not uninstall...) but otherwise I'm thrilled. I'm hoping scaling back the CPU will save my battery some (likely I'll scale it back when I'm using it too since 90% of the time I'm smsing, calling, or surfing forums and I dont need a 1ghz of CPU power)
Click to expand...

Titanium Backup is free and will let you uninstall the bloatware easily once you're rooted.
 
Zorachus said:
I can be on the phone almost non stop sometimes in morning, taking and placing at least 30-50+ calls.
Click to expand...

the EVO does not do well under heavy talk time. It finished dead last among today's high end smartphones in Anand's recent review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3957/samsung-fascinate-review-verizons-galaxy-s-smartphone/8

unfortunately for sprint users, the Epic 4g isn't much better.

The EVO actually does better (relatively) under 3G browsing conditions, and is one of the better phones while using wifi.

For heavy talkers I suggest using a headset and multiple phone chargers for your EVOs.
 
I had the evo for a month just a week or 2 after its launch before I returned it. The battery will really hurt if you rely on your phone for a lot of email, phone calls, etc which I do sadly. Also leaving your phone on wifi will ease the battery drain BUT it seemed to muck up the push gmail client (possibly the Mail client as well). This happens on other phones too so it's not an Evo or android thing. It would give me email late or just not at all, but maybe it was fixed in the few bug fixes or the 2.2 patch(?). Otherwise the phone was great, just wished it would have worked out for what I needed it for :mad:
 
jebo_4jc said:
unfortunately for sprint users, the Epic 4g isn't much better.
Click to expand...

Actually, the new software update for the Epic plus removing some of the DRM checkpoints dramatically increase battery life. I went from having to recharge by 8pm to not having to charge until 2am with heavy usage.
 
Yeah the update last week for the evo helped battery life too. That wasn't factored into anand tests.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
I decided to go ahead and install Cyanogen.

I entered the boot loader
I wiped my data
I chose install from SD card
I chose the proper Zip

FAILURE

So far I tried 3 versions (current "stable" the "RC2" exparimental and "Nightly Build" for tonight, and all 3 have failed...)

I'm googling for help, anyone on here got suggestions?


EDIT:
Seems that on some phones there is a pre-requisite of EVO_HBoot_0.76.2000.zip found it, installed it now I got it working!
 
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Ashton said:
I decided to go ahead and install Cyanogen.

I entered the boot loader
I wiped my data
I chose install from SD card
I chose the proper Zip

FAILURE

So far I tried 3 versions (current "stable" the "RC2" exparimental and "Nightly Build" for tonight, and all 3 have failed...)

I'm googling for help, anyone on here got suggestions?


EDIT:
Seems that on some phones there is a pre-requisite of EVO_HBoot_0.76.2000.zip found it, installed it now I got it working!
Click to expand...
nice, I'm curious to know how you feel about it after using it for a while
 
jebo_4jc said:
nice, I'm curious to know how you feel about it after using it for a while
Click to expand...

the only things I miss are a few sprint apps (visual voice mail, Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV) and the HTC Sence keyboard (takes me like 5 different key presses to get an underscore, which I use in a lot of my usernames) Otherwise it seems to be working a lot better and the battery life is doing better even with 1-bar of signal vs my usual 4-6 bars.
 
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