Librarian by Day

My previous phone was a Pre, I’m so happy to see it go. If you follow me on Twitter or have seen me with it any time over the last year, you know how much I hated that thing.

These are my first impressions of the Evo – the short version – I love it!

Battery life – I heard rumors of the battery issues & after experiencing a Pre & iPhone the first thing I did was tweak my settings. I took brightness off of auto and dimmed it further, I turned off Background Data (you have to turn this back on to access the App Store so remember to turn it back off).  I hit App Killer frequently. I also believe I rule my phone & not the other way around so all push notifications are turned off.  I haven’t had an issues with the battery life. I used it like crazy the first day and when the battery died I was not at all surprised.  We’ll see how it holds up during a “regular” day at work and at an upcoming conference.

Size – its big. But that’s good. The display is huge making the phone its self huge. I carry my phone in my purse or hand most of the time so the size isn’t an issue for me. I could see where it might be for a man who carries a phone in his pocket. It feels comfortable in my hand, solid and I can easily type with the small keyboard when I hold it vertically.

Display – LOVE it! Its huge. The keyboard is nice sized the quality of the images and video are great.

Interaction – I didn’t get any instruction on the phone, I just entered my Gmail info and went for it.  Things seem pretty intuitive.  I like the different scene options and the ability to add widgets and shortcuts as well as apps. I’ve spent a lot of time rearranging these 🙂

Speed – this baby is lightning fast compared to the Pre. I hear Froyo is gonna be even faster, Evo is rumored to get the upgrade later this year

Power button – I’ve read some complaints that it doesn’t stick out enough.  This hasn’t been an issue for me. Maybe because I immediately put a silicon case on it and the case provides a larger button than the phone itself.

Navigation – the four buttons at the bottom are easy to use and I find navigation a breeze. Even when I mess up it is so fast to get back to where I was that it isn’t that big of deal.

Price – even with the $10 add-on required for the Evo I still pay less than I would for a comparable plan elsewhere.

Apps – love them! Really wish there was a Kindle app. I’ve been using Kindle Desktop for reading books lately and I’d love to be able to read  them on the phone. I hear one is coming. All the other apps I used regularly on the Pre are available and more.

Storage space – I know you can insert a larger SD card and people are excited about being able to save apps to the card with Froyo, but honestly space is not an issue for me. And I would say I’m closer to a power user than an average user.

Camera(s) – AWESOME the 8 megapixel camera on the back takes great pictures, even allows you to do black & white, sepia, negative, solarize, posterize and aqua. The front facing camera is great. I know its supposed to be for video conferencing but I’m happy just to be able to take pictures of myself easier 🙂 As far as the lens sticking on the back it totally does. I could see it being an issue if you don’t put a case on the phone. With the silicon case I bought it isn’t a problem.

4G – is not available in my area and I didn’t buy it for the 4G connection.