[EVO Shift 4G General] kertong:
I am in the exact same boat! I left AT&T (after they suspended my account without warning multiple times for using an unlocked beta dell streak) for T-Mobile, and had been very happy with them. But after the news of the acquisition, I was steaming mad.

I got myself the EVO shift after a few days of reading a bunch of reviews. I go through phones like candy (recent phones before the shift: G2 (2 of them), nokia n8, htc hd7, samsung vibrant, dell streak 5, att captivate, epic 4g (returned within the 30 day), att backflip, palm pre/pixi, bb storm2, etc, etc...). Anyways, the G2 was one of the rare phones I could keep. With CM7, it lasted me all day, it was easy to type on, my only complaint was the poor washed out display. I also loved the HSDPA+, I clocked an average of 2-3mbps down, and since it's still a 3G radio, I didn't see the fat powerdraw like you'd expect from the wimax/lte radios.

Anyways, I only got the evo shift yesterday, and I'm surprised at how remarkably similar it is to the G2. If you put them side by side, they are *very* similar phones, and the dimensions are 95% identical. Since both are on the same qualcomm MSM chipset, I'm guessing they use the same PCB and display connectors, with the evo shift having a 4G radio (while the G2 has a slightly different front panel with the z-hinge and optical pad).

The G2 felt great in the hand - like a heavy, solid german car with no give in the frame. But, also like an oafish pewter german sedan, I didn't think it had much aesthetic appeal. The evo looks great (though I don't dig the dark blue so much, I prefer black), and it feels good in the hand, though not quite as solid and expensive feeling as the G2. The soft touch back is very nice, though.

The keyboard wins on the shift, for me. It's very similarly spaced to the G2, and while the key height feels slightly lower than the G2's, it requires much less effort and provides quite a satisfying "click" (like a pixi's but without that bubble feel). The G2's required a bit more effort, and it slowed my typing down - I am flying on this shift!

My two worst complaints about the evo: the 4G usage is a bit weird, having to consciously balance and compromise between 3G and 4G. The 4G eats a lot of battery, and even more so if your area has spotty 4G. And once it disconnects, you have to manually scan it and reconnect it (unless there's a setting I'm missing somewhere?), so it's just something extra to think about. The other is that weird dark blue color - reminds me of an old dark blue sidekick LX I used to have, haha. Kind of cheapens it imo - if anybody knows of a way to dye it black, I am all ears. :)

Oh, I used to average 800kbs at home on TMobile's 3G (not HSDPA) on the G2. Sprint's 3G gets me about 400-600kbps here. Peak speeds of the 4G counterparts though - Tmo got me 3-5mbps on average, Sprint gets me about 6mbps average (though I get sprint 4G coverage far less than I did tmo's "4G").

I'm actually *very* happy with the evo shift. I would've been just as happy staying with my G2, but in light of the news, this is the next best thing, imo. Once 4G is deployed more, and CM7 gets a few more RCs under its belt, I have good faith that I'll be very happy with the phone. :)

Sorry for the novel. Hope it helps, at least :)