Evil Claw

June 07, 2010 at 12:48pm

http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,2364549,00.asp

 After reading that you will have some back ground with which to haggle with various vendors. 

I will tell you short story. I had the V3 razor since 2002, used it to sync outlook and contacts everything short of email. I was looking for a decent replacement for the last 5 years. I had looked at the iphone, blackberry, etc..and all too pricey. I had even bought into the Pre and waited. My carrier is AT&T and this is why. Every coverage map has them at the top as you can see from the above link. I was able to use from Washington D.C. to Hawaii without dropped call. I bought a Nexus 1 in March when it was anounced that google was opening it up to AT&T network. I immediately yanked my sim card out of old phone and put in Nexus. WOW. # days later I went into AT&T store to upgrade my plan. The following day I got phone calls and emails about excessevie data usage and I had racked up $800 in data usage. Hmmm.... well, the emails were in $200 increments and were ticklers, but they didn't start arriving until I changed my plan. The phone calls I didn't answer and went to vmail because I thought they were salesman. I listened to the vmail and AT&T  was calling to tell me that I had gone over the original plan limits by $800 and that they know I have smart phone and recently changed my plan. They then said, "We are going to back your current plan up so as to include the overages in your new plan. You will be credited the $650+ back to your account on the next billing statement. If you have any questions....yada yada.." I about crapped my pants. I couldn't believe AT& T giving me my money back without so much as a thank you. Well, I got the bill and as mentioned before, it was taken care of and the normal billing was all I had to pay for and I never talked to anyone at AT&T about it. I have been an AT&T user since 2000 and cingular before that and Cellular one before that, perhaps they reward loyalty, who knows. I don't think any of the other mobile companies would do that. BTW, my plan is month to month because the Nexus 1(bought from Google online) is not an AT&T phone and I purposely did not want to stuck in anyone's 2 YEAR PLAN!!!

As far as hype on Sprints 4G and EVO, Evo I think is going to be a great phone. The 4G network however is a different story. I think most people will be disapointed with the LACK of 4G coverage. It
s only available in 25 markets and 11 other markets say they are coming
soon. Soon? How soon? In this economic market do you expect anybody to
be dishing out money for 4G coverage? For Sprint? Plus you are going to
have to pay $10 more to use 4G. Is that when you cross into the zone,
or whenever you enable 4G or is that a month. If its $10 a month, and I
only get 4G coverage in limited instances I would be pissed. Once again
the product is being pushed out before the support can be fully in
place.

If this info only helps one person out there make a decision,  then 'nuff said. Good Luck!

nadako

June 06, 2010 at 7:25pm

To be that uncommon. Some bugs are hard to find and they so happen to find the bug when the phone has already been released to manufactures. So what would be more cost efective? Recalling all made EVO 4G phones or just release an update? I think the update would be the best.

bluetorino1973

June 06, 2010 at 5:09pm

How is Sprint failing? AT&T is the one who is fucking up and their customers are eithe signing up with Verizon or Sprint. The EVO is really nice. I've played with the EVO and the IPHONE at Best Buy and the IPHONE sucks major donkey balls compared to the EVO. Later this week I'm going to pick up an EVO for myself. Coming from the CEO of Sprint the extra 10 dollars is for 4G service. You dont have to sign up for that service if you don't to. So you don't get charged the extra money if you don't check the box. My brother works in the mobile dept.(supervisor) at Best Buy so I would think he knows his shit.

johnalvarez

June 05, 2010 at 10:42am

 

I went to get the eagerly awaited HTC Evo and had to speak with Sprint credit. Having a Nextel account several years ago and not remembering the password apparently ruled out signing up in-store at Radio Shack. I was told Sprint works to prevent identity theft and was asked four "challenge" questions to prove my identity. The employee asked me if I knew four different women (one at a time) that had the same last name as me. I did not know these women and was told I failed the "challenge" questions and could not activate Sprint service. No matter what I did to try and convince employees I'm really me, it did not work.  I was told I could apply again in 60 days and quickly dismissed.

I have a common last name and I do not know what type of service Sprint is using to create their "challenge" questions. I have answered challenge questions before that were based on my credit and I was able to correctly answer the questions.

Nothing unusual was on my credit when I last checked, I have no defaults or negative marks on my credit, I have favorable debt to income ration, and I was issued credit very recently. I also left Nextel a few months after they merged with Sprint and I left on good terms with no money owed, so I cannot see that being the problem.

I emailed Sprint with a very detailed account of what happened and even offered to provide my information so they can investigate what happened to hopefully avoid having any other potential customers turned away.  We will see if they bother to take that opportunity.

I am not going to wait for Sprint to fix the problem and "allow" me buy an Evo so I will be purchasing an Incredible with Verizon.

 

TechJunkie

June 05, 2010 at 8:50am

I don't care about the $10 premium data fee because of what the EVO is capable of doing. Still, it's cheaper than any other plan on any other carrier. My EVO should be here monday and is replacing my Palm Pre which is going to my daughter. So yeah, I rushed to order it! I'll give a real verdict once it's in but the demo model I played with blows the iphone, and any other phone, out of the water.

emtownsend

June 05, 2010 at 12:30am

Never said it wasn't amazing nor did I say it didn't stack up to others.  It isa sweet phone, no doubt.

I said the $10 is a rip off because Sprint is charging the $10 just because they can.  There is no value added benefit and there is no end in site for the $10 charge, that's all.

Obsidian

June 04, 2010 at 11:30pm

Both my wife and I picked up HTC EVOs on release day.

The Sprint activation system was overwhelmed all day. From the time I sat
down at the register, it took over 1.75 hours to activate both phones and walk
out of the store with them. I dropped my plan down to the $70 everything plan
to compensate for the $10 4G premium charge. I do not live in a 4G area, nor
even close to one so that extra fee burns me. But if it helps subsidize Sprint’s
investment in 4G in Minnesota then I’ll be happy.

To all the haters out there please compare what you get from your carriers
and then tell us all it’s so much better. Even with the $99 Simply Everything
(we really mean it) Plan plus the $10 4G fee this phone was still cheaper than
the 'unlimited' AT&T iPhone plan month to month.

There's really no comparable device on the market right now hardware-wise.
The screen is amazing and the HDMI output is first class. The responsiveness of
the Sense UI is so much better than my old Windows Mobile device. The EVO has a
standard 3.5 headphone jack at the top which works perfectly for listening to
MP3s or video.

The camera is 8 megapixels. For as smashed in there as it is, the camera
works wonderfully. I can’t get rid of my point-and-shoot Canon quite yet. The
resolution is there, just not the clarity. It’s more than enough to print a
nice 4x6 or post things on a social networking site.

Battery life is lacking if you run a bunch of apps. Get an application
killer so you can shut down the stuff that will inevitably accumulate. I was
shocked to see that Sprint TV was running even though I hadn’t used it.

I’d like to see a Hulu widget and YouTube HD support … both of which would
require me to be in a 4G area anyway so I guess I’m not missing out there
either. I hope that HTC gets on top of the update for the Android 2.2 system. I
don’t feel as though I’m missing out right this second but it’s unfortunate
that I just got this cool device and it was already outdated.

The phone is faster than our old phones in every way. Android really got the
interface right, and the Android Market has some wonderful free applications.
This HTC EVO hardware is the best cell phone I’ve ever seen. It really has
remembered to be a good phone first, and it does all the other things well too.
I had crystal-clear call clarity over an hour conversation as if I were on a
land line today. That’s the first time in years I’ve been able to come close to
that ‘old’ experience.

chipbowl300

June 04, 2010 at 11:21pm

emtownsend can just shut the hell up! I was the second in line to get the phone yesterday and it is simply amazing. The camera I didn't even realize has facial recognition, but that doesn't even skim the surface of this gem. And although the 10 bucks for 4G is not preferred....its not that big of a deal. The internet on it is awesome, the zoom and pinch responds perfectly. But I'm sure that Max PC will do their own review. But yeah all, this phone is AWESOME!

emtownsend

June 04, 2010 at 8:56pm

Sprint is also charging an extra luxury fee for owning an EVO.  Seriously, they are charging an extra $10 per month, for the life of the phone none-the-less, just to have an EVO.

They are billing it as, "a premium data fee" and because, "it is wicked fast".  Both nonsense.  The data experience is the same as on any other Sprint phone.  Few areas have 4G and Sprint confirmed the fee is NOT for 4G, but simply because it is a fast phone!  

Brilliant.  Leave it to Sprint, who is struggling anyway, to impose nonsense fees simply because of the hype.  I wonder how many will return their phones when they realize they've been had?

Common Sprint, drop the nonsense fee and be a true success, not a money grubber!