Space

By far, this is my biggest complaint. As I began to add apps, I was running out of space on the phone itself. I installed App2SD so I could more easily locate and move apps to my SD card, which I swapped out from the default 2GB — but some apps simply can’t run on the SD card. The Evo offers only half a gigabyte of space. Less, really, when you consider the OS files itself. The problem is, HTC’s launcher, Sense, starts acting up when you dip below 100 megs of free space. I was always right around that point for months. I finally wound up switching to another launcher because Sense was crashing and reloading dozens of times a day. Bleh.

Updates

I don’t think my phone is popular enough for the Android 4.0 update; however, HTC and Sprint pushed out 2.3 quickly and it updated without problems. Unfortunately, the Sense reloading problem was supposed to be fixed after that but I experienced the problem on both my phones, on 2.2 and 2.3 so that’s a busted myth. The updates to firmware and to Sense made a huge difference. The download included Swype and, even though I use a different keyboard, it’s nice to have it included by default. Updating the home page seemed to be a little easier, too.

Performance

I have seen a slight performance degradation over the months but this is most likely due to the fact that the processor just isn’t that amazing. Considering how frequently I use my phone for, well, everyone, I’m still satisfied. It overheated once or twice but that was definitely a fluke.

Battery

Battery life, unfortunately, is nothing to write home about. I have to charge it at least once a day and, frequently, twice. I know this is an issue that can be remedied by rooting and using a different ROM but I’d love to see HTC work on battery performance. I have gone through my share of battery helper apps but find that manually adjusting settings works a little better for me because I’m so often streaming music. However, the battery-saver mode that came with the 2.3 update does help.

Quirks

Aside from the Sense reloading issue, I experience a few quirks now and then. Occasionally, the keyboard stops responding and I need to reboot. Everyone once in a while, the volume buttons experience some serious lag. We’re talking 10 – 30 seconds. Considering how much I listen to music, this is an issue.

WTF Facebook

The existence of both a Facebook for Sense and Facebook app continues to confuse the fuck out of me. Facebook for Sense integrates feeds and pictures into the contacts app while the official Facebook app also pulls feeds into contacts view. One of them downloads pictures in really bad quality (pixelated) and they both lag when getting updates. I upgraded the official app but downgraded because it performs poorly on my phone — the fault of the phone, not Facebook — but sometimes the notifications won’t take me to my wall or inbox like it should and the app itself won’t list those alerts. Oh, and remember how I never had enough space? The Sense app had 50-megs of data that I just cleared. I don’t know why but it wasn’t refreshing the way it should.

Updating

Market updates always lag. If I set apps to automatically download from the market, they usually wind up stalling and I have to cancel and manually re-start the download. Push updates from the Market on my computer stopped working months ago.

Overall, the EVO Shift by HTC isn’t horrible but it’s not something I’m going to keep past my contact, either. I still never use the physical keyboard and I do find myself desiring something thinner sometimes. Despite using it in Chicago, I’ve never had a chance to try out its 4G capabilities — bummer!

Originally, I wrote a pretty good review for the Swiffer Sweeper+Vac and I must admit I have cooled on it these recent weeks. It seems that the suction has become severely impaired and I’m not sure if it’s just because it’s a poor product or if I’m not switching the filters frequently enough. One thing’s for sure: the filters are a pain and seem really wasteful. I’m almost considering a Kone vacuum or Dust Buster instead. Still, I do like the Swiffer products and think my mom ought to have one for her hardwood floors.

I also wrote about the Strawberry scented Carmex I had just discovered and recently finished up. I am sad to say that, as time goes on, the product seems to much less strawberry scented and much more Carmex scented. Toward the end of using it, it seems like you can’t really tell it’s scented at all. Needless to say, I went back to Chapstick.

I can also say that my Time Warner Cable service has not gotten any better. In fact, I’ve noticed a lot of glitching and lagging recently which doesn’t make it any easier to enjoy a program on the television.

Remember a few posts about my previous host? Well, I decided “enough was enough” in January and have since been with a new and wonderful host these last couple months. I can say, with all certainty, I would never recommend Neureal to anyone.

Currently, I am at Mom’s for a few weeks so reviews might be scarce but, then again, you never know! It’s surprisingly cold for the beginning of March here and I hope it warms up or Samantha’s spring break will be frigid!