We tucked this into our review of the HTC Sensation 4G, but it's worth mentioning on its own. We've talked about how Sense 3.0 appears to be just a little bit faster on the EVO 3D, even though both phones have a dual-core processor running at 1.2GHz. Our bet (and it seems like most of you agree with us) is that the EVO 3D's faster because it has a few hundred extra megabytes of RAM inside. That could well be the case. But remember that there are any number of tweaks that have to be made from one carrier to another -- so the hop from Sprint to T-Mobile could be it, too.
Or if you're into flaming, you could just argue that anything is better on Sprint, period, end of story.
Reader comments
Sense 3.0 on the HTC EVO 3D vs. the HTC Sensation
PLEASE HELP!!!! I HAVE A HTC SENSE and all of a sudden this "blue line" is on the screen evrytime I touch it!!! Also some sort of measurements @ top of screen. Don't know I accidentally DL app or something. But drivin me nuts!!!! Anyone able to help??? Plz!!!
My 2 cents...I just received the Sensation on TMo. I absolutely LOVE the device, BUT ... TMo has loaded SO MUCH RUNNING BLOATWARE that truly disappoints me. Out of 500 + available RAM , with all of TMo's apps running in the background...with NO WAY to delete them, the phone is QUITE LAGGY. I do think that Sense 3.0 is good ( coming from Nexus One ) is useful & can run just fine as is, but with So Many useless apps running, it's Much More Laggy than the single core N1... no doubts about that! If I could remove those apps, I'm quite confident that ALL lag would disappear. Sense 3.0 uses about 3mb...TMo apps use about 30mb. In the BRIEF moments where all TMo apps are stopped, available memory goes from 124mb to 350mb plus. That's a HUGE difference. Bravo to both HTC & SPRINT for allowing Bloatware to be removed! Now, if only TMo Would do the same...(sorry for the novel length, but people need to know !!!). The HTC Sensation is Everything I want in a phone : good grip, size, screen response & size...even though I WAS disappointed in the storage, I'm finding it more than adequate. GREAT PHONE, LOUSY BLOATWARE that causes 'MASSIVE LAG'. I'll definitely keep this phone & root (even if I'm a newbie to rooting). Using LP helps, but...Perfect, otherwise.
Mine doesn't lag either. A swipe or two and my carousel is spinning just like the EVO 3D in the video. I know there are two screens for the Sensation, one made by Sharp and one by Acer. Could that have something to do with it?
It's not the RAM as Sense 3.0 only uses 103MB. Mine doesn't lag at all so far.
Lol your hearing bad reviews about the sgs2? Where??
I can't believe all the people saying SGS2 will be the best phone out there after reading all the negative reviews about the display having terrible banding, supposedly only being 16bit color! That's a joke if you ask me
HAHA! Take your pick.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?aq=2&oq=sam&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=sa...
What about the evo 4g??? Is it getting sense 3.0???
You wont want it on your evo, it uses an enormous amount of memory which is even making these new phones run a little slow let alone a year old phone. Vanilla > sense....
The lag is from the insane amount of memory HTC sense uses... Depsite having a lot more ram than most phones, you end up with about 75mb of free ram when the phone is running and syncing with all the HTC sense bloat. My G2x which has less ram has > 200mb free ram almost at all times making it waayyy smoother. Once they root both the evo3d and sensation and get a vanilla rom or custom sense rom, things will get much smoother. Now lets just hope stupid HTC unlock their bootloaders in next update.
Its the ram. Hurry up and get your hands on a SGSII to see what its like when android is running with 1GB of ram.
LTE you may have but the whole world is going crazy over the SGSII because it hauls ass. I can't wait for it to set the states alive.
Also most reviewers who have had the sensation and the SGSII have all felt the Sensation is ok but held back by sense.
Its simple maths to me..........
.........All the phones need more ram to play with.
P.s. Why wait for the nexus3? simply buy the SGSII asap then skip one weekend of drinking or going for a meal every month and spend your saved cash on the Nexua 3 when that comes out for Christmas.
Call yourselves GEEKS!
What are you a sales rep for samsung? this is a HTC review... My Moto Xoom tablet has 1gb of ram and can see no difference with my G2x which uses same processor but with half the ram (512mb). I own both the g2x and sensation and can definitely notice the difference but it is unfair because my g2x is running a vanilla build which will ALWAYS be more smooth because sense uses so much ram. When i owned my HTC incredible as soon as I rooted and got rid of stock rom, I noticed a huge improvement in battery life and performance. I do not understand why people love sense so much, if its the damn clock widget you like so much, buy beautiful widgets for 1.99 and boom you have a much more customizable sense clock..
I've had HTC phones, a x10 for my sins and my current is a Motorola Milestone 2/droid 2 which I bought off sim. This will be my first Samsung phone and not to sound like a rep for Samsung but I've played with it and the difference in use simply opens your eyes to a superior android experience. Simple!
This year will be the proving ground as the other manufacturers will reluctantly but eventually install more available system ram and the phones will benefit from it greatly. As ever its a case of cost vs necessity, the EVO 3D has more ram but only a little bit more because they need to make sure the 3D element of the phone doesn't cause the phone to perform badly. As a result that little bit has given it better performance. Your Xoom has a bigger screen than your G2X so it will need the ram to store how many times larger images around the screen which illustrates again that because it was deemed a necessity the zoom has more ram but they didn't double it so it would really fly and handle more apps running while cooking your eggs to perfection at the same time.
I'll bet the nexus 3 will be sporting 1GB of available ram when the specs are released.
As for the SGSII don't take my word for it, do a review hunt in the search engine of your choice. Engadget, Tech radar, Cnet, GSM Arena, the list goes on then checkout how many comments follow them of very happy users with more than a handful of them being ex-iPhone owners.
Get more Ram up your droid!!!
P.S. I agree that Sense like most bits of fluff is simply clutter standing in between the user and a responsive phone. Plus all those glossy rounded buttons and menus are looking very dated regardless of being able to change the theme.
Really -- this is hard to figure out? Easy answer -- your GPS is going crazy on the Sensation. Sure to lag even the fastest of devices.
Then how come many other websites are reporting the Evo 3D being faster and with alot LESS lag than the Sensation when it comes to the interface and overall experience?
Ridiculous comparison. Phil enjoys ripping into anything T-Mobile and that is fact.The Sensation is a better phone then the 3D bologna. The Sensation is 3 times better build quality, very smooth IMO. Another good reason to hold off is because Sprint is changing their 4G to LTE like Verizon so all the older 4G phones will be paper weights as will the T-Mobile phones. The Sensation is very smooth as I said, I have one and am very happy. Have all the latest and greatest phones, Sensation is the best. 3D. come on just crap being pushed down your throat. Maybe Phil is getting a kick back, are you Phil????
Only kidding you Phil, listen to all your podcasts.
Could it be some carrier-forced background app or service loaded on the Sensation that is stealing some CPU?
Evo 4g
You can edit comments on here now....
What about for the evo
Doesnt the sensation sport the dual core that's msm8260 and evo 3d sports dual core msm8660 maybe they have a small difference there.
No, that 6 vs 2 just denotes CDMA vs GSM. I doubt the RAM's the culprit, and if it is, then the Sense launcher is so poorly optimized that it isn't even funny. I'd be interested in how 3rd party launchers behave on both phones... I like everything about Sense except their stupid launcher with the big old phone button and no customizable dock (a staple of Android almost everywhere else); and yet there's people that think Sense is JUST the launcher, ugh.
I've tried several different launchers on my Sensation and they ALL smoke the Sense launcher! Something is just not tuned correctly in Sense3 on the Sensation. I sure hope an OTA will tweak this puppy out.
No. The Sensation uses the same processor.
Nah.....I think the difference is that the 8660 is the same thing as the 8260 just with the addition of CDMA radios.
Bought for $200 and some change, selling my EVO to Sprint for $150 (already printed out packaging label)... a little more than $50 and don't have to wait months for a potentially better phone, easy decision for me.... especially with 30 days to change my mind, but I won't.
All these phones are awesome.
YUCK. In this comparison you can clear see that the EVO3D's screen is washed out. What a disappointment!
Ummm..... The Evo 3D is the one on the RIGHT-hand side....
The washed out one is the HTC Sensation. You can tell by the carrier logos on the phones, ya know.
On another note, i will say that I don't think its the RAM. That simply doesn't make any sense. There could be some hardware difference between the two devices that we aren't aware of, or it could be that the Evo 3D has a more tweeked version of the software running, or perhaps there is some kind of performance limitation on the Sensation to maximize battery life?
Even the time of day on the EVO 3D is faster than the Sensation, and the temperature on the EVO 3D's weather widget is one degree cooler! =)
Phil,
you all must be bored today. You're just begging for a flame war with this one.
Flame war between who, though?
I'm going to get the Evo 3D, yet I recognize the Sensation as a great device still. Hell, I believe Sprint should have released both the Sensation AND the Evo 3D.
Take a look at the debate going on in the forums on this topic.
Just wait til the Motorola Photon is ready for release...."There will be blood."
You are probably right though...
Why does the Sensation look so dull and dark? Is the brightness down?
Are both devices running at the same frame rate?
You can check them with this app.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.edburnette.fps2d
I live in Thailand and have the HTC Sensation and the Samsung Galaxy S2, they are both unlocked without any carrier useless add ons. I must say that the lag is the same on the international Asian Sensation version. It is quite frustrating. I also have the HTC Flyer that seems to be smoother but not that much more...The SGS2 is faster but also not lag free when running on touchwiz. I hope that a software update will fix the lag on the HTC and that the problem is not because of the lower Ram:(.
"Asian Sensation"
Wasn't he a WWF wrestler in the late '80's? ;-)
She is a pole dancer!
You are all invited to Bangkok for some pole dancers testing....:)
Highly doubt it's the RAM. If the RAM was being maxed out during use on both devices (or at least, the Sensation) then that would more than likely be the culprit. But, as it stands, the Sensation (and probably the E3D as well) still have quite a bit of free RAM when the lag occurs. I'd wager that it's simply software optimization (or lack thereof) and possibly even a touch screen issue (I hope not though). A Sensation update would probably fix it.
My sensation is really disappointing me right now, besides the lag, there is also the low audio quality, i wish i had waited for the Samsung
Aren't you still within your return window?
Anything is better on Sprint, period, end of story.
;)
Jk, it's probably the RAM difference. Can't wait for the Evo 3D!!!
As you said: "For what it is worth." Not sure that spinning (rather than flipping) is the way Sense 3.0 was designed. Sure, faster and smoother spinning (like a top---not what an OS is designed for) on the EVO 3D. Uh, so?
Keeping my Nexus One 2.3.4 for a while. It don't spin either.
I have noticed that swiping left is easier to get the homescreens spinning than swiping right... Weird..
I have confirmed this. That is a weirdest thing. Leftist phone!..power to the people!
I am waiting for the SGS2, and the new Nexus phone to come out before I decide.
By the time the Nexus 3 or whatever they are going to call it comes out both the E3D and SGS2 will be somewhat out of date. It's pretty silly to hold out for a phone like the Nexus 3 that doesn't even have ONE credible rumor floating around yet. I'm interested in the SGS2 as well but who knows when it's coming to Sprint.
And by the time the N3 comes out, there will be a kick-ass quad core phone rumored to be on the horizon, which will make you wanna hold out even longer!
Moral of the story:
In the world of electronics (especially mobile tech) if you continue to wait for the next best thing to come out to make a purchase, you will end up never buying anything.
I have the Evo 3D preordered but Im about to cancel it and wait for the SGSII. Any thoughts on why I shouldn't ?
Because there isn't a clear release date
Here is a thought. Your on Sprint, play with the phone for 30 days and if you don't like it take it back. All the comments and reviews we have read mean nothing until you get the phone yourself. What matters to some may not matter to you so try the phone out and make your own opinion.
Amen! The reviews have been all over the place and each one has been more contradictory than the last. I pre-ordered mine and haven't had any 2nd thoughts about my decision. Either I'll like it or I won't.
I especially noticed the contradiction when CNET said the battery life was "So much better" than the 4G lol . . . I just don't know. I'll wait till I can play with it in a store and wait for some actual user reviews
True. But the processor/graphics chip doesn't seem up to par. Super Amoled+ is the best. What really bothers me is the measly 4GB internal memory. 3 of which is locked away until custom roms
1) It is not "memory" it is "storage"
2) The Evo 3D comes with an 8GB card
3) You can swap the 8GB card with a 16 or even 32 if you want
4) Most apps support being installed on the card, an more are being converted all the time
5) 4GB of internal storage is not "measly" by today's standards. More would be welcome, of course, but it is not crazy, unrealistic, or even unusual.
I would say it is a non-issue.
4GB and 1GB available to user is pathetic. SGSII and Phonton are both coming with 16GB internal. That is the least amount that should be included. HTC skimps on this while Samsung, Motorola, LG etc do not. Apps load faster installed internally. And the bigger issue is media. If it had a decent amount of internal storage I could get away with 8GB sdcard. 1GB of internal storage (user accessible) is actually quite measly by todays standards. Check out some of the other devices being released
HTC Evo 4G owner running CM7 nightly 107
I actually agree with you here. 4GB (with only 1-2 GB available to the user) is very pathetic and I'm very enthusiastic about picking one up on Friday.
However, I see it as a cost cutting measure. HTC understands well that people have gotten very used to the $199.99 price point. (though many of us would pay $50 more) With the cost of adding a secondary camera for 3D and a 3D display, along with a WiMax radio, add the cost of development of Sense 3.0, they had to cut costs somewhere, and that happened to be the internal memory.
They include a class 4 (capable of 4MB/sec data transfer) 8GB Micro SD card. With the ability to store most apps on there, this really should not be a problem. You can spend about $25 at Radio Shack for a 16 GB replacement Micro SD card. Lets be honest here, 16 GB is plenty for a phone. thats thousands of photos and hundreds of songs and videos. The Songs don't matter if you got a Google Music account, so thats even more space.
My point is that 4GB may be a pathetic amount of internal memory this day in age, but with an 8GB included SD card, its a feature/price trade off that many of us are more than happy to make.
As far as I know, there has been no SGSII phone even announced for Sprint yet. Yes, they said Sprint will get one, but they haven't specifically told us anything other than that.
Why do people talk about it like its a real thing?