Commentary: Why I Recommend Getting an iPhone

Within the last few months, several family members have wanted to make the jump to a modern smartphone, each for different reasons, different carriers and different levels of experience.  One had a dumbphone, one a Palm Pre, another a BlackBerry.  With two of them, I felt the iPhone was the best choice; the third, the iPhone came third to the Galaxy Nexus and Droid 3.

You might wonder how I could give such a recommendation when I have an Android phone that I love and have sworn to never go back to iOS.  I don't like to call myself an Android fanboy, but I admit it: when I see a stranger fiddling around with his iPhone, I smile patronizingly as he plays with his Fisher Price phone.

The truth is, I know the iPhone is still a great smartphone. In fact, if you're not sure what you want in a smartphone, then the iPhone is my top recommendation.  Sure, Android is great, but it still has aways to go before it becomes a phone for the common man or woman.  It's great for power users and thrifty users, but for everyone else, there's the iPhone.  I'll tell you why the iPhone works for most people: it has the qualities they want (aesthetics, ease of use, stability, apps, and battery life) and most people don't care about the features it's missing (4G, customizability, no closed ecosystem, a file system, size)

Windows Phone 7 phones are an alternative that share most of these qualities, but I feel like it's an iPhone for people who don't want an actual iPhone.


Qualities You Want:

Aesthetics
The iPhone 4 and 4S are beautiful devices.  Even though many gadget fans raged over the lack of a new design for the 4S, I can understand why Apple didn't want to make any changes: you don't mess with a good thing.  Aside from the Motorola Droid RAZR and the Sony Ericsson Xperia series (which I have yet to see in real life), I have trouble thinking of any truly beautiful Android phones.

Ease of Use
Explaining this quality is a no-brainer.  Apple has a history of making simple, easy-to-use products.  Their user interfaces are the best in the industry.  This is partially due to their limited functionality, which we'll talk about later.  But iPhones are the simplest phones to pick up and begin using.  Their icons are well-designed, their stock apps look like the functionality they emulate (Notes looks like a notepad, Voice Recorder looks like a microphone, etc.).  All apps are plainly displayed on the home screen.  Siri has taken user-friendliness to a new level with fairly good natural language processing.

Stability
iOS crashes less than Android.  Aside from various bugs with setting alarms in iOS, I feel like there are no known issues with the software.  There have been antenna issues, battery life issues, and exploding issues, but these are all relatively rare or have easy workarounds (stop holding it wrong).

Apps
I still miss TowerMadness and consider it a good reason to own an iPhone.  The number of apps on Android is increasing and, inevitably, the number of Android apps will surpass or at least match the number of iOS apps.  But Android can't match the quality of many iPhone apps that aren't yet available for Android, especially games.  Where Android Market shines is utility apps (tethering, rooting, settings, etc.).

Battery Life
The battery lives of most Android phones suck. Sure, most of them have removable batteries, so you can swap when your battery is low (unlike iPhones), but this is a necessary feature for Android phones.  The lack of a removable battery is more of a minor annoyance for iPhone users.

Support
Because Apple controls the hardware and software of the phone, you can go to Apple for good technical support. Whereas Android phones have Google software and hardware from some other company (HTC, Samsung, etc.) and you are more likely to have to go to your carrier for support.  Carriers, who have no hand in the making of your phone, don't know how to diagnose issues as well Apple can for their phones.

Especially if you pay for services such as Applecare and One to One, you can get excellent service for your phone and one-on-one lessons on how to use the phone.  They're expensive, but if you need help, there's no comparison for any other phones out there.


Qualities You Don't Care About:

Size
I love my EVO 3D's glorious 4.3" screen.  Video looks so much better and webpages are so much easier to read, yet the phone still fits nicely in my pocket.

But many people think their iPhones are the perfect size.  Dustin Curtis pointed out that the iPhone's 3.5" screen is perfect for one-handed use, since he can press anywhere on an iPhone screen but he can't reach to the other side of a Galaxy S II screen.  This may well be true for people with tiny little hands.  But even users with larger hands may just prefer a smaller phone that fits in tight pockets.

4G Data
My favorite line from the new Samsung Galaxy S II commercials is when the girl with a Galaxy S II asks a group of people waiting to see if the new iPhone has 4G, "Why don't you just get a 4G phone?"  Android has so many 4G phones, it's ridiculous.  I don't think they even release 3G-only Android phones anymore.  4G data makes browsing the web, downloading photos and downloading videos so much faster, who wouldn't want it?

This is where I have to own up and admit that the iPhone kinda is a 4G phone.  At least on AT&T.

You see, "4G" is a very loose term and means different things on different carriers.  On Verizon, 4G means blazing fast ~20 Mbps data (depending on some factors).  On T-Mobile, 4G means blazing fast 21 Mbps data.  On Sprint, however, 4G means 3-4 Mbps data (for me at least).  While that's noticeably faster than Sprint's 3G network, that's pretty slow.  In fact, Sprint's 4G can be slower than AT&T's HSPA+ network, which the iPhone supports and some people maxed out at 13 Mbps during one Gizmodo study. Using their iPhones.  Although the average speed for an iPhone 4S was 2.3 Mbps for that study, it's hard not to call the iPhone a 4G phone when it's getting speeds that are similar to Sprint's "real 4G" network.

So if iPhone users really want decently fast data, they can get it on AT&T.  If they want blazing fast 4G speeds or just want a different carrier, they have to just put up with what they got and console themselves with the fact that LTE and WiMAX are huge battery killers.

Also Interesting: The iPhone 4S, HSPA+, and When HSPA+ is Real 4G

Customizability
Android has many ways to customize the user interface, from using the manufacturer's skins (TouchWiz, Sense, etc.) to using 3rd party apps like LauncherPro.  You don't even need to hack your phones to do this.  Not only can you change the way the phone looks, you can change how it works by using 3rd party apps that have the same functionality as stock apps.  For example, Android has plenty of free music players and web browsers.  The web browsers and music players available in the App Store are pretty weak and usually still cost money.

However, as I said earlier, Apple does good work designing their UI and apps.  The iOS user interface is simple and easy, if lackluster, and the stock apps (Safari for browsing, iPod for playing music, etc.) are decent.  Many people might even prefer Apple's stock apps to Android's best stock or 3rd party apps.

No Apple-Only Ecosystem
Owning an iPhone means having an iPhone-only compatible charger and using iTunes to manage your phone.  Want to output video to a TV?  You'll need a special iPhone cable or the Apple TV device.  Whereas Blackberries, Android phones, and WP7 phones all charge with the same micro USB charger and I haven't opened the incorrigible iTunes program in weeks.  Most Android phones have HDMI out.

However, since a lot of people still have iPhones this incompatibility with other devices is not a problem for everyone yet.  If you need to charge your phone, your friend is just as likely to have an iPhone charger as he is to have a Android/BlackBerry/WP7 charger.  He might have the video cables, too.  And now that the iPhone can be activated without iTunes, you can forgo installing iTunes on your computer if you want.

The File System
Say a band is giving away a free song at their website.  Using my Android phone, I can download that song, add it to my music collection, play it with whatever music player I want, and then add it to my music collection on my computer later.  If you want to download a song with an iPhone and keep it, you need to use iTunes, where the song may or may not exist, and if it does, it's probably not free.

Similarly, say I want to download any file from the Internet and save it for later.  Be it a Word document, PowerPoint slideshow, .AVI movie, text file, or even a Windows-only executable, I can download it using my Android phone.  Even if I can't use the file on my phone, I can save it and transfer it to my computer later. iPhones can only do this with pictures.

There are lots of workarounds for iPhones, like emailing files to yourself, but I suspect most people just don't care about this functionality.

Cost
Charging cables and A/V cables that work only with the iPhone cost money.  Buying ringtones through iTunes costs money (instead of just using your mp3s as ringtones).  And, unless you get the 2-year-old iPhone 3GS, an iPhone will cost you at least $100 on contract, whereas you can get great Android phones like the HTC Thunderbolt for less than a dollar on contract if you know where to buy (Amazon).  Going iPhone means paying more money, plain and simple.  In my opinion, Android even has a better selection of free apps.

The expense of owning an iPhone seems not to bother people.  The iPhone is still the most popular brand of smartphones and UBS predicted 11.7 million iPhones were sold in the US this quarter.  It sorta makes sense when you look at the cost of owning any smartphone.  A data plan will run you about $20 -$30 on the major four carriers and the contract runs for 24 months.  That means you're paying at least $480 more when you upgrade to any smartphone.  Spending a few bucks more for one may consider as the best smartphone available doesn't seem unwise.

Other Functionality/Qualities
In addition to the features listed, only Android phones have glasses-free 3D, or NFC.  No iPhones have physical keyboards, removable storage or removable batteries.  The iPhone's Retina Display screen can't match the HTC Rezound's pixel density or the Samsung Galaxy S II's rich, colorful SAMOLED+ screen.  My  EVO 3D's front camera at only 1.3 megapixels still blows away the iPhone 4S VGA front camera.  There are innumerable Android phone features and tech specs that are worse or non-existent in the latest iPhone.

They don't matter in the long run because Apple will catch up.  In the last couple of years, iPhones got copy/paste, wireless sync, a decent notification system, multitasking, and many more features that Android had first.  It's only a matter of time before they get other Android features as well, either through operating system updates, or new hardware.


In Summation
I still recommend the iPhone for many people--perhaps most people--because while I'm extolling the virtues of 4G data and DLNA to others, their eyes gloss over and I realize that iPhones are sufficient.  People coming from dumbphones and old BlackBerrys don't care about tech specs, open source, or cool power-user features.

If you don't realize why Android phones are better than iPhones, they probably aren't (for you).

Wish List: Smartphone and Tablet

Not to scale.

I don't know what I'm going to do.  When I first got into phones a few years ago--and tablets even more recently--there was so much more room for improvement.  Now, they're getting so powerful and thin and beautiful, there's not a lot else to wish for. At least, not spec-wise.  Every phone and tablet comes with front and back cameras, they all have capacitive multitouch screens, they all have at least 16 GB of memory, and all the (non-Apple) phones have 4G.  In fact, my dream phone is pretty much the Galaxy Nexus and my dream tablet is mostly accomplished through the Transformer Prime.  Nevertheless, I'll list the specs of my dream devices since there is still room for improvement on both devices.

Dream Phone (Galaxy Nexus features denoted with a ✓)
OS: Stock Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) ✓
Processor: Quad-core
Expandable Memory: Micro SD slot
Display Tech: Super AMOLED Plus
Display Resolution: Full HD (1920x1080p)
Display Size (horizontal): 4.3 - 4.5" ✓
Thickness: <9mm ✓
Battery Life: 10 hours talk time
Charging/Connectivity: Micro USB or MHL ✓
Video Out: Micro HDMI or MHL ✓
Back Camera: iPhone 4S or Nokia N8 quality
Front Camera: 5 megapixels
4G: LTE or T-Mobile HSPA+ ✓
Design Other: Camera button, Kickstand
Other: Gorilla Glass or Fortified glass screen ✓, DLNA ✓, NFC ✓, Pixel Qi?
Price: $200

Further Description
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus almost fits this description.  It has Ice Cream Sandwich, a 4.6" screen (a bit over 4.5", but that figure didn't account for on-screen buttons), MHL, LTE, a fortified glass screen, DLNA and NFC. It's also 8.9mm thick.  The display tech (Super AMOLED) and resolution (720p), are close, too.  It's $300 now, but it'll probably be $200 at Amazon.com in 3 months.  Some people like name brands and the fortified glass screen is not technically Corning® Gorilla® Glass.  However, some have suggested that Gorilla Glass doesn't work well with high resolutions, so this nameless glass will suffice until Corning releases their newest big thing: Lotus Glass.

What it doesn't have is the removable storage.  16 GB might be enough for me now, but what if I want to upgrade to 32 GB?  Plus, files are easier to manage when I can remove a micro SD card and put it in my computer.

Also missing is great battery life.  This is probably my biggest wish for any smartphone, especially for battery-consuming Android.  iPhones claim 8 hours of talk time and I think that is barely sufficient.  10 hours would be nice and would start us on the path to dumbphone-esque battery life.

The rest is mostly me setting the bar high because I can, not because I actually need it.  I'm just throwing quad-core out there.  Full HD? Why not?  If we have HD phones now (the Galaxy Nexus and the Rezound), full HD can surely happen this year.  The camera is fine on my phone, but I am a little jealous of the iPhone 4S camera, which takes better shots than my Coolpix.  I really like having a camera button on my EVO 3D and don't see why more phones don't have it.  Kickstands are always great.  I put Pixel Qi with a question mark because I haven't seen a Pixel Qi screen in real life and suspect that the display may not be as gorgeous as Super AMOLED Plus.  And $200 is just how much any new smartphone should cost.  It's what my iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and EVO 3D all cost at release, and it's the max price I want to pay for a phone.

Didn't put RAM here because I don't know how much it takes to make a phone great.  My phone seems to be doing just fine with the standard 1 gigabyte.


Dream Tablet (Transformer Prime features denoted with a ✓)
OS: Stock? Android 4, Windows 8 compatible
Processor: Quad core ✓
Expandable Memory: Micro SD ✓
Display Tech: Super AMOLED Plus
Display Resolution: Full HD (1920x1080p) ✓*
Display Size (horizontal): 9" - 11" ✓
Thickness: <9mm ✓
Battery Life: 10 hrs battery life without keyboard ✓
Charging/Connectivity: USB, Micro USB or MHL ✓
Video Out: Micro HDMI or MHL ✓
Front Camera: 5 megapixels
Antenna: Wi-Fi only ✓
Design Other: Kickstand/Keyboard Stand ✓
Other: Gorilla Glass or Fortified glass screen ✓, DLNA ✓, Pixel Qi?, HDMI In
Price: $500 ✓

Further Description
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime is nearly this tablet. It's got a quad-core processor, a Micro SD slot, a 10.1" screen, roughly 10 hours of battery life (plus 6 more with the keyboard dock), and a full USB port. It's 8.3mm thick (!).  Although there is a proprietary charging port, you can charge the tablet with USB (but not the dock).  There's a Mini-HDMI port, a Wi-Fi-only edition, the optional--albeit expensive--keyboard dock, Gorilla Glass, and DLNA.  The expected price is $500 (again, keyboard dock not included).

Drawbacks: Although it's got Android 4, it isn't stock, which is not something I'm sure I need on a tablet.  It also will require some hacking to get Windows 8 on it, if it's even possible, because of the Android bootloader.  Instead of Super AMOLED Plus, ASUS opted for a Super IPS screen.  While I haven't seen it in person, I can't imagine it will match the rich colors and deep dark blacks of Super AMOLED Plus.  The 1280 x 800 display is better than 720p, but not quite full HD, which I think is achievable in the near future.  In fact, there's a rumor that Samsung is releasing a 2560 x 1600 tablet next February (which is not quite as good as the iPhone's Retina Display, but better than 1080p).

The front camera at 1.2 MP is good enough for video chat, the only real purpose of a front camera.  But I don't see why they couldn't have stuck the 8 MP rear camera on the front.  I still think it's ridiculous to take pictures with a rear camera, since holding a tablet to take pictures is awkward.  If I want to take pictures, I'll use my phone and email/Bluetooth/SD card transfer/beam the photos to my tablet.  I don't even need a rear camera.

Pixel Qi, once again, is something I still have (fading) hopes for, but I can't call it a hard requirement, or even a soft requirement.  The truth is, Pixel Qi might suck.  But I believe in its promise: backlit LCD for inside use and an e-reader-like display for use in direct sunlight.  It may not be the Pixel Qi brand... it might just be an upgraded version of SAMOLED+--but mark my words: someday I will have an inside/outside screen on my phone and/or tablet.

Lastly, tablets have nice big screens.  Why can't they be used as displays for your phone or other devices?  Transferring files or looking up a webpage that's already open on your phone can be time-consuming.  Tablets should have a HDMI in port for simple displaying of stuff on smaller devices.  Perhaps, this can be achieved with DLNA; I'm not sure.


*Update: ASUS is releasing an updated Transformer Prime (TF700T) in the second quarter of this year that will have better than full HD resolution.  It will be 1920x1200 pixels!

Review: HTC EVO 3D

The HTC EVO 3D is the successor to the HTC EVO 4G and is one of the HTC's flagship phones for Sprint.  It's comparable to the HTC Thunderbolt and the HTC Sensation.

Overall Experience
The HTC EVO 3D is a flagship phone on Sprint and it feels as such.  It's fast, it's got 4G, and it's got a nice screen.  The bugginess of Sense and Android as well as some hardware omissions make it far from perfect, but it was one of the best phones when it was released and remains a strong contender today.  If you want an Android phone on Sprint, it's between this and a Galaxy S II.


3D
3D is the main marketing point of the EVO 3D.  It's a gimmick, for sure, but it's a gimmick that might be worth buying the phone for.  At least, it was for me.  3D is unique.  Except for the poorly-reviewed LG Optimus 3D, this is the only glasses-free 3D out in America (that I know of).  And when I show friends and family my phone--and these are people that used to old iPhones and BlackBerrys--it's not the HTC Sense UI or my 4G data speed that wows them.  It's the glasses-free 3D effect.  It's a fun feature that I haven't personally seen anywhere other than the Nintendo 3DS.

This awesome pic was taken with the EVO 3D

So, coolness aside, what's glasses-free 3D actually like on the EVO 3D?  It's… um, interesting.  There's some special screen technology that allows one eye to see one what one camera sees and your other eye to see the other camera's vantage point.  It's not unlike one of the magic-eye 3D pictures where you have to cross your eyes, except your eyes are crossed for you, if that makes sense.   However, it's really easy to look at the screen from the wrong viewpoint and then you just appear to be looking at a blurry mess of a picture.  I think this is also the reason some people get headaches from looking at the EVO 3D's screen.  Headache time may vary: some people instantly complain of eyeball assault when they see a 3D picture, and some people can look at 3D for minutes or hours, like me.  You can only take 3D pictures and 3D video in landscape mode, and although you can view them in portrait mode, that's not really worth doing.

However amazing it is at first, the awe of glasses-free 3D will eventually wear off.

Cameras
The front camera is decent, it's better than the iPhone 4S's front camera, yada yada, etc etc.

The defining point of the EVO 3D is the 3D camera on the back.  Since there is very little 3D content anywhere on the web and on this phone, most of the 3D photos and videos you watch on the phone will have been created by you on this phone, using the back cameras.

There are two 5 megapixel cameras on the back of this phone (though 3D photos are only captured with 2 megapixels resolution).  As long as the subject is not too close (more than a few inches), it can be captured in 3D.  If the subject is too far away, the 3D effect is minimal.  The best 3D pictures have something in the foreground and something in the background to compare against.

As I said above, you'll eventually grow weary of taking 3D photos that can only be seen on the phone and will opt to take mostly 2D photos.  There's a very convenient 2D-3D switch on the side of the phone for this.  The back camera takes nice 2D images, helped by the dual LED flash.  Like most smartphones that aren't the iPhone 4S, the camera is a little slow, so most of my shots have a significant amount of motion blur (like most of my shots on any camera, really).  But the dedicated camera button is a nice feature that I feel all phones should have.

Build
In terms of build quality the EVO 3D is no iPhone, but then again, nothing really is.  But it doesn't feel cheap.  Those of you used to the glass and metal on the iPhone may be disappointed at first, but while the plastic back doesn't feel expensive, it also doesn't feel as scarily fragile as the iPhone.  The ridges on the back feel nice against your palm.  The red trim around the dual cameras is a nice signature touch.  Pulling off the back part of the case (to replace the battery or micro SD card) is scary the first few times because you feel like you're going to break the back, but you get used to it.

The only thing missing on the back is the kickstand from the EVO 4G.  Every now and then I wish I had a kickstand so I could put my phone on a flat surface and show off video to friends.   Also, another drawback is that you have to remove the battery to access the micro SD slot.

The front is a typical HTC phone with few frills, just four capacitive light-up buttons.  Unlike the back, there's nothing to make it stand out from other Android phones.  Gorilla glass protects the screen.  Between that and the plastic back, I feel like I can drop this phone and it will still work.

My one problem with the hardware is the overly touch-sensitive screen.  I don't need to physically touch the screen for my fingers to register on the phone; I can just hover my finger a millimeter above the screen.  This leads to me accidentally pressing buttons when the fat of my palm spills over to the screen and accidentally registers as a touch--and I'm not a fat guy.  I also blame the sensitivity for unlocking the phone when I put it in my pocket.  The only reason I have a password on my phone is to prevent this pocket-unlocking.  But as for the screen's appearance...

Display
The screen is a 4.3" qHD (960 x 540) screen.  While it doesn't have the gorgeous resolution of the HTC Rezound's HD screen or the amazing contrast of the Samsung Galaxy S II's Super AMOLED Plus screen, it's still a beautiful with a better pixel density than the Galaxy S II.  This screen gets pretty bright.  As for the size, I was a little worried it would be too big, but it took me maybe a day to get used to having more screen real estate.  I don't think I can go back to the iPhone's paltry 3.5 inch display.

I honestly love this display.

Battery
I hate the battery life.  After a year of owning the iPhone 4, I probably could get got about 10 hours of light usage (email, web browsing) with 3G turned off.  With this new EVO 3D, I can probably get 3-4 hours of battery life using it lightly with 4G off.  I keep the phone charged when in the car and have a backup battery, just in case.

It's well-known that HTC phones have terrible battery life, and you get used to turning off all your antennas, lowering the brightness and killing any apps that might be battery killers.  Some of this poor battery management is Android's fault.  For example, if I'm in an area with no Sprint coverage, the battery will dwindle down to nothing looking for a signal (literally, 100 to 20% battery in a few hours with 0% use and no apps running).  So it's necessary to put the phone in airplane mode when in an area with no coverage.  But then some apps will still take a lot of battery, since they don't realize the phone is in airplane mode or something.  It can be frustrating and sometimes I just turn my phone off if there's no coverage.  I think the OS could manage battery better by freezing apps that require Internet connections and handle signal-searching better.

This thing has crappy battery life, no matter how you cut it.  I'd easily sacrifice half an inch of thinness for more battery.  However, I'm told that the battery life is better than the EVO 4G.

Performance
The phone feels zippy and fast all the time.  Well, the phone can take a while to boot up if you have it off, but once you're in, navigating around the UI is a joy.

Data Speed
Unless you're stuck on 3G, Sprint's 4G (WiMAX) is nothing to write home about.  I usually get around 3-4 Mbps, which is nothing compared to Verizon's LTE and T-Mobile's HSPA+ which both reportedly get over 20 Mbps these days.  Only AT&T has similar lackluster speeds.  Since 4G is such a battery hog and this phone already has lackluster battery life, I usually leave it off.

3G is obviously worse, averaging around 500 kbps.  It serves its purpose when I need to browse the web and my battery is low.

Audio
Ordinarily, I wouldn't include an audio section because most phones measure up about the same, but the speaker doesn't get very loud.  When you crank the volume up to 11, you'll really get an 8.  Some voice calls also sound a bit tinny.  But generally, it's not a problem unless you're watching a really quiet YouTube video or calling a friend who mumbles a lot.  In that case you'll find yourself putting your ear as close to the speakers as possible.

Preloaded Apps (Bloatware)
The EVO 3D is a non-vanilla Android phone on an American carrier, so of course it comes with free bloatware, such as a NASCAR app, Sprint TV, HTC Watch and some other stuff.  Unlike several other phones, these apps can be uninstalled without rooting the phone.  I am pleased with just removing them from my app drawer.

The one good thing the phone comes with is a free copy of The Green Hornet 3D.  While it's not a very good movie, it's still entertaining and great for showing off the phone's 3D capabilities.

OS
The EVO 3D comes with the latest version Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).  I haven't had much experience with earlier versions of Android, so it's hard to review Gingerbread in and of itself.  And there aren't that many Froyo and earlier phones out there.  The important thing to know about the operating system on the EVO 3D is that you have the latest OS and will probably be upgraded to the next version, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), a few months from now.

Sense 3.0
Before I had an Android phone, I often wondered why manufacturers put their skins on Android.  Then I got this phone and messed around with some other Android phones.  One reason is this: stock Android (Gingerbread) is ugly.  It begs to be skinned.  Most manufacturers didn't do a very good job of skinning Android, but HTC has created the 2nd best-looking skin (after Sony Ericsson's skin, which looks gorgeous).  The version that comes with the EVO 3D is Sense 3.0.

There are several Sense apps worth noting, one is the clock/weather widget, omnipresent on all HTC phones.  One click takes you the gorgeous weather app, which shows you the weather with a full-screen looped video of whirling clouds, frightening lightning, or whatever is happening outside.  Another is the Sense launcher, which has a "carousel" effect when turning pages at the homescreen.

However, I believe that most of the EVO 3D's bugginess can be blamed on Sense and not on Android.  The stock music player crashing (seems fixed with an update) was Sense, the display only showing half of the screen (fixed in an update) was Sense.  This leads me to believe that other bugs, like some app crashes and Swype sometimes not showing the trail, are also Sense's fault.

There are obvious glaring omissions in Sense, like the lack of a vibrate toggle at the lockscreen.  Stock Android has this and HTC could have removed this if they added a physical vibrate toggle button to the phone (like the iPhone has), but they didn't.  Now, if I want to put my phone in vibrate from the lockscreen, I have to unlock my phone, enter in the pass code, go to my homescreen and press the vibrate widget on my homescreen.  I know, I know, it's a real First World Problem. But a simple vibrate toggle at the lockscreen or a physical button would be preferable.

Conclusion
A lot of this review sounds negative, and I do have some serious gripes with individual aspects of my phone.  However, when it comes down to it, I love my EVO 3D and think it's clearly superior to other superphones like the iPhone 4S.  It's got a big, beautiful screen; a gimmicky-but-fun 3D camera; a micro SD slot that lets me put as much music, movies and whatever else files I want on the device (32 GB max, 8 GB micro SD included); and all the freedom that comes with Android.  You gotta love free unlimited wireless tethering! (only available with root)

I think this phone was the best smartphone available when it was released (tied with the Nexus S 4G).  Though it's now outdated with the release of the HTC Rezound and the impending release of the Galaxy Nexus, that's just how it goes with Android phones: today's greatest phone will be outdated in 4 months, tops.  But if you want to be on Sprint, this is one of the best phones to get.  It is arguably on par with the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch.