I couldn’t help but post this as I’m a contributing factor to the story, seeing how I’m now an HTC EVO 4G owner. Sprint, the 3rd largest wireless network in the U.S. has added 110,000 new postpaid subscribers in it’s second quarter. With the addition of it’s 4G network and without a doubt the addition of Google’s Android OS and phones from HTC (the EVO 4g and Hero) Sprint is finally showing off in front of it’s competitors (been a while huh sprint). All this on the eve of it’s second 4G phone, the Samsung EPIC 4G, soon to be deployed.

Click here for the full press release.

Apple has announced via it’s online store that it’s now selling all-new “Turbo Charge” iMacs. It’s obvious to see from the picture depicting the new computer that Apple is now honing in on gamers with a screenshot of the MMORPG (massively multi-player online role playing game) EVE online (I guess Blizzard’s WoW was not a favorite of the designer of the ad).

Here is a small list of new features coming in these power-houses:
- New Intel i3, i5, and i7 core processors

- New Graphics Cards:
21.5-inch models, one of the following:
ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory

27-inch model with dual-core processor:
ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory

27-inch model with quad-core processor:
ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

- SDXC Card Slot

For a full list of specs check out the product spec page.

Motorola, on it’s official facebook page, has made a clear and direct stab poke at Apple. The ad below which clearly points out that the Droid X uses two antenna’s works and allow you to hold your phone anyway you feel comfortable. This comes after Apple used the Droid X as it’s latest guinea pig to show customers that “All” smart phones lost reception. The ball has been returned and is in your court Apple…

Courtesy of the fine folks over at Engadget comes news that Best Buy is giving away free ZAGG invisible shield covers which since the release of the iPhone 4 has changed. It now includes thin stripes for the metal band as well as covers for the front and back. I bought the full cover for my iPhone 4 at Best Buy before I returned it. I wonder if I can get a refund since they are free now and I bought it less then 30 days ago. If anyone else has it’s worth a call to your local Best Buy, assuming you purchased yours there.

The iPhone iOS4.1 Beta 2 is out for download, if your a developer. This update will supposedly fix the proximity sensor in the iPhone 4 that’s been causing people to accidentally hangup or dial other number while talking.

If you’re a developer download it now and let me know if it solves the problem.

So as I’m sure everyone’s heard by now the Library of Congress has made the process of unlocking aka “Jailbreaking” or “Rooting” your phone legal now. Now I have to ask a question, does this really change anything? I mean those who have phones that they’ve unlocked did it while it was “illegal” so to them it doesn’t matter. Those who haven’t unlocked it already either don’t care or don’t know how and really don’t have an interest in learning. The fact that Apple has already made a statement regarding it and basically said you do it and your warranty is toast again puts us in the same position we were in last week. All this law or rule does is make it legal for users to unlock their phones, it doesn’t however, make it illegal to for Apple, HTC, Samsung, Motorola or any other manufacture from locking their phones and telling you, go ahead we dare you, you do it and say bye bye to your warranty.

This is really just a BS story but what the hell the rest of the community is covering it. Tell you what, here’s the link to the actual Library of Congress statement and not some linkback to some other blogger posting a story written by the Associated Press.

Enjoy!

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-169.html

So I picked the EVO. I did this for a few reason and I can justify all of them (at least to me). So let me get straight to it.

Reason number one, like I said before the iPhone has the smallest screen on the market. With Steve Jobs quote of “no ones going to buy a big phone” after his press conference about the iPhone’s antenna issue (or non-issue, depending on who you ask) it would seem pretty evident that Apple or Jobs for that matter have no immediate plans to go bigger on the screen. This to me was a big deal. If I’m going to sign a contract that’s going to keep my locked to one phone for 2 years it better be on the bleeding edge of design and technology. Yes, the retina display is stunning. I can not deny that and won’t even try. But it’s a lot of pixels concentrated squeezed into a small display. The EVO’s screen while BIG is nothing to cough at either (more on that in my official review of the EVO). Since I mentioned the 2 year contract thing I might as well toss thing in as well. Had I stayed I wouldn’t have gotten a new phone for another 2 years. With Sprint after 6 months of service with them I’m eligable for an upgrade after 12 months, so yes, I get new upgrades once a year as opposed to every 2 years. That to me is another BIG deal.

Reason number two, stale and confined app store. Apple’s app store has carved a niche that before it, was a meager attempt to sell apps that didn’t do a fraction of what apps do today. Suffice to say, Apple redefined what we think of as an App Store. Now, having said that they are also what’s hurting it. Their big brother antics are causing some to defect, outrage, and downright refuse to use Apple’s App store. You remember the company that pulled out and said “You Win” Apple, if not click and read it. That’s only one example there are more. The android market is growing and growing fast. Almost every major corporate or big business app is available with more and more popping up every day. When I got my EVO and started downloading apps that were on my iPhone I found almost everyone with the exception of 2, WeRule and Angry Birds, both of which have said they expect to be on Android with in the next few months. I enjoy my freedom of being able to install what ever app when I want it. That leads me to…

Reason number three, freedom. As I mentioned in part 1, I jailbroke my iPhone 3G. I installed wallpapers, themes, and all sorts of good stuff. Most interestingly was a wallpaper that had a slight animation or looping effect. The funny thing? My iPhone ran smoothly and it worked fine. So imagine my surprise when I downloaded and installed iOS4 (the week before the iPhone 4 was released) on my 3G and I find out that you can’t use custom wallpapers. This small feature was somehow left out of Jobs keynote and no one picked up on it until it was released. When we finally got an answer as to why it wasn’t available to the 3G owners we are told by Steve “it just didn’t work well enough”. Really Steve? Cause mine sure did with animation to boot? If you want my honest opinion (your going to get it anyway) this was a tactical move to get people to upgrade to the 3GS or 4. Which if it’s true…really pisses me off.

Reason number four, Customization. After 3 years of looking at the iPhone OS, I was tired. I wanted to look down and see something new for a change. For those who are going to defend Apple on this point and say they added wallpapers and folders, I say nay, Wallpapers (which have been available on non-smart phones and just about every phone since ’97) are not a UI (user interface, for the non-geeks) they only serve as sort of a “icing on the cake” kind of thing. I’m going for the icons, the layouts, the inability to have icons where you want them and not just one after the other. If I wanted my top two rows blank, I can’t, unless, I jailbrake it and install an app called Blank Spaces. Overall the iPhone OS, while it’s gotten faster and a little more polished hasn’t changed. The moment I started using Android on my EVO it was like someone picked me up and dropped me off in Norway (people look the similar but spoke a lot different). I understood the general functions so I was able to make my way around and then after using it I felt perfectly at home. Just in a home that had been re-modeled by IKEA. Regardless, the EVO let me move my icons anywhere I wanted. If I didn’t like that big clock widget, it’s gone. If I wanted no clock, my choice. This was the MAIN reason I switched. I was given the ability to pick and choose what I wanted and how I wanted it. If the iPhone 3G ran a little slow with a Wallpaper, tell us that Steve, but give us the choice to use or not. It’s our phone, after we purchase it, we should have right to do whatever we want with it. I’m on my MacBook Pro right now, with any Program I want, any wallpaper I want and if there is something I want to change, I can do it. Why should the iPhone be any different. Steve Jobs is not my father and doesn’t need to tell me porn is bad and that it will never be on the iPhone (side note: uh, Steve, your to late cause those sneaky bastards in the porn biz have made their videos play in your fancy HTML5 format that you love so much, so your Safari browser on the iPhone and iPad can play them perfectly, Tube8.com and LubeTube are just two examples….not that I go there or recommend them.) It just seems odd that Apple has their Mac OSX format that for the most part is open for users to do whatever they want and the iPhone is like some sort of higher power that must be protected from anything they don’t want you to use. WHY??

There are several other reason that I could delve into but for your sake (you the reader) I’m going to stop here. I think I made my point and have defend my choice. If not, fire back at me and I’ll be happy to do the same, further stating my reasons.

Let me also point out that while I’m obviously frustrated with Apple and iPhone 4, I am still very much an Apple fan and supporter. While it may not sound like it from this post and the previous one, it’s just due to frustration over the iPhone 4 and how it’s situation was handled.

To end this little tirade I’m going to do an EVO 4G review. There are plenty of places on the net where you can get “technical specs” and such but I’m going to give you a real person’s review. I’m going to explain what’s nice, what’s not, how do certain things, how does it compare to the iPhone (it does some things really well, correction, a lot of things) and more. So if your interested cause you’ve wanted a real EVO 4G review, then please come back tomorrow.

So let me start off with a little explanation since many (ok, almost all) of you don’t really know me. My day job is as a graphic designer and some tech support. I work with a Mac Pro all day then I come home to a MacBook Pro. Since college I’ve lived and breathed Mac’s as I think most designers do. Needless to say when Apple announced in 2007 that it was making a phone I was on board without even seeing it. I drank the Kool-Aid so to speak. Next up was the iPhone 3G, got it. When the 3GS was released I decided to skip it. I didn’t think the upgrades were all that much more than what I had already. So I waited. At the end of 2009 I was getting bored with the iPhone, I was tired of looking at the same icons, same screen, same everything. So since my phone was out of AppleCare I decided to hack (jailbreak) my phone. I got to use wallpapers well before iOS4. I even installed a tethering app that allowed me to hook my phone up to my laptop and use my 3G connection for my MacBook Pro any where I had service (this is AT&T after all).

In January, when the iPad was released I again was in love. Then 3 months before Apple’s Annual WWDC (World-Wide Developers Conference) Tech Blog Gizmodo infamously leaked photos of the new iPhone (aka the iPhone 4) to the world. At first, I was in love again. I thought to myself what an amazingly crafted device. Jony Ive really outdid himself. Then, Fast forward to June 24, D-Day, the release of the iPhone 4. Yes, I pre-ordered in time and was able to pick up my device on the launch day.

When I got the phone home and got everything working and looked down at this glossy, sexy, device sitting in my hand, the same way my old iPhone did, it kicked in…buyers remorse. I just realized I just signed a contract with AT&T for 2 more years. I was going to have this device for 2 years. I was going to have this device with a 3.5″ screen (although absolutely stunning, I can’t lie), the smallest of the new smart phones being released. The same OS, with a few upgrades, BUT, I decided to wait it out and see if it would pass. It didn’t. Then as the whole world knows by now, Antenna-gate hit. But I still wasn’t able to give up my iPhone. I thought Apple, nay, Steve Jobs would surely nip this in the bud. So I waited again, this time for a real response. When Steve Jobs finally made his mini-keynote to journalist (with whom he couldn’t even look in the eye) I knew the antenna wasn’t going to be fixed. Their solution? A rubber Bumper® aka a band-aid. I don’t use cases, never have, never will. I think these phones are designed with style and thought and they are beautiful and I’m not going to cover up a $600.00 phone with a piece of .20 cent rubber.

After that press conference was over my mind was made up. I was going to return it. It hurt, the thought of betraying Apple, the thought of not having the phone and OS that I’ve know for over 3 years in my hands and in my pockets was actually scary. Everything I was comfortable with for my instant gratification of news, emails, social networking was going to be gone. Sure I could get a 3GS but I really don’t want outdated technology.

I thought what are my options…a regular phone, pssh right, or the slim pickings of smartphone OS’s. So I studied them all, WebOS, Nokia’s Symbian, Window’s Mobile …(yeah like that was going to happen), BlackBerry and finally Google’s Android.

In the end, I did the unthinkable. I chose the OS that’s competing head to head with Apple. The company that is matching Apple tic for tat. The company that many think of as evil, the parallel to the Terminator’s SkyNet. Google. Yes, I decided to go with Google’s Android.

I figured if I’m going Android then I’m going all the way. I was going to get the beast, the super phone of phones… the HTC EVO 4G.

To find out why I picked up the EVO, my initial thoughts, a comparison vs the iPhone 4, come back tomorrow night for the conclusion.