There are already bunches of reviews of these two, the top Android phones currently available on Sprint. The following isn't mean to be a comprehensive review, really, but rather some things that I've noticed in using both of them as my primary phone for a few weeks. My last phone was an HTC Hero, and both of these are miles beyond what the Hero was capable of. Let's get started:
- Both phones had good battery life. I could use them both pretty heavily (mostly for data -- little for talking) and they would last through the work day.
- The screens on both phones are beautiful to look at. I couldn't tell you which one I prefer.
- Though I was a bit concerned at first about the ginormity of both phones, I quickly got used to them -- and spoiled by their huge bright touchscreens.
- The G3's TouchWiz skin/UI is more esthetically pleasing and easier to use overall than HTC's latest iteration of Sense. Icons are stylish, matched, big and bright - ideal for the phone's monster screen. The most common switches (wifi, sound, gps, etc.) are easily accessible (and configurable) via the notifications panel, much like vanilla Android.
- HTC's Sense UI is not as elegant, or as useful. The icons and widgets are a mishmash of styles, some of which look as though they were ported from clamshell cell phones, or at least earlier versions of Sense. Some of the icons and widgets use gradients, some are solid, some transparent. Some are squared off, some use the lawsuit-ariffic rounded corners. The friendly screen overlays that offer guidance on how to do things in white text in a handwritten-style font are difficult to read. And with an incomplete set of toggles available on the notification panel, you're stuck either working your way through the settings menu or putting an array of widgets on your home screens that don't really match the styling of the phone. I made it work, but I wouldn't call the end result pretty.
- TouchWiz's gestures system as well as its check to see if I was still looking at the screen were handy. I didn't really use the S3's S-Voice all that much though. Talking to your phone in public is awkward.
- I like the ideas behind some of the widgets that come with Sense, but wish they had more flexibility. The social media aggregator FriendStream, for example, only brings together Facebook and Twitter. It would be great if I could add Google+. And I wish I could add Google Music to the car app -- or truly integrate it into the HTC Music app.
- The cameras on both phones are frustratingly inconsistent, despite all the hype. Though they are quick with minimal shutter lag and have a lot of Instagram-like filters, it was obvious that most photos I took were from cell phones -- even in good lighting outdoors. Photos tended to be overly sharp and harsh or lacking in detail. Or just blurry. Both phones have a burst mode, but I was never able to get any worthwhile photos in that mode.
- The S3 has issues with Bluetooth when the headphone jack is in use, making hands-free use problematic. Connecting the S3 to my car stereo via a patch cable prevented me from making or receiving calls over Bluetooth. Neither Sprint nor Samsung would confirm if this would be fixed.
- Both phones sometimes struggle staying connected. I frequently got 'no connection' warnings, even in areas where coverage should be good (according to Sprint). This occurred more often on the S3 than the EVO. Sprint's recently launched 4G service in Baltimore didn't help matters either. Both phones often got hung up switching between 3G and 4G. Switching the mobile network on and off corrected the problem, and made the data flow again. But it was still annoying.
- The EVO also occasionally had similar problems with WiFi. Even though it showed that it was connected, sometimes it just stopped receiving data.
- The S3's smooth and glossy one-piece back is very slippery - not a good thing for a clumsy person like me. The EVO is less so, with a split anodized aluminum and plastic back. Neither has the rubbery, grippy back of my Hero, which I used for about 3 years without a case and rarely dropped.
- Plugging the S3 in to my computer to charge would cause the computer to keep beeping at a regular interval. I have no idea how to make that stop.
- The power cable for the EVO is really really short. It was a stretch to plug it into the wall and set the phone on my dresser to charge. It's easy to replace it with a longer standard USB to MicroUSB cable, but still...
- Is it ironic that the EVO comes with Beats Audio yet no headphones?
