iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO
I’m deciding between the iPhone 4 and the HTC EVO. I’ve wanted to try out an Android phone, but I’m really on the fence here. So I’m rounding up the benefits of each that are important to me (so I’m not including things like how the iPhone 4 supports wireless-N, or how the EVO has a 1.3mp front-facing camera as opposed to the 640×480 one on the iPhone 4, or how the iPhone 4 has a higher-resolution display).
iPhone
- Better battery life. The first iPhone and the 3G models had pretty crappy battery life, but this seems to get better with each iteration. All reports of the EVO say that its battery life is horrendous.
- I’m already used to the interface. This is a minor quibble, but I already know how things work on the iPhone.
- More refined user experience. Even with the modified version of Android that the EVO runs, the interface on the iPhone is more refined.
- I’m already with AT&T. I’m really not a huge fan of them, but neither do I hate them. Familiar devil, I suppose.
- Better video chat. The EVO has the front-facing camera, but the only real video chats supported are through Fring and Qik, and that doesn’t seem to work too well. Then again, realistically I’m not likely to use video chat a whole lot anyway.
HTC EVO
- Not a closed system. Anyone can make Android apps.
- Integrated kickstand. Yes this is lame, but could definitely come in useful, especially with video chat.
- Better alert system. It’s not limited to one alert message at a time like the iPhone. I suspect since this is a big flaw in the iPhone future updates might fix this though.
- About $20/mo cheaper. That’s almost $250 per year, $500 over the life of a 2-year contract.
- Tighter Google integration. You can actually have an app for Google Voice, and the built-in navigation system uses Google Street View, which is rather awesome.
- Supports Flash. This can be a big one for web browsing. Apple, get the fuck off your high horse; HTML 5 is not going to replace Flash.
One big features I didn’t include with the EVO is that it’s 4G. Frankly, I don’t care. 3G is fast enough for everything I want to do with my phone — if I’m going to stream HD video, I’m going to do it on my iPad. Plus from all accounts I’ve seen, using 4G sucks the battery life out of the camera like a nympho just out of solitary.
My friend Eddy Webb at White Wolf just got himself an EVO, and posted about it if you’re interested in reading his take.
So far I’m leaning toward the iPhone. I’ve got 3 days to decide.