HTC Droid Incredible user reviews (Verizon Wireless)

5.0 stars

"Best Verizon phone available right now" on May 21, 2010 by jt74gd

Pros: 1 GHz processor
Best voice recognition software Ive ever seen
Customization, not tied down to any software
Verizon 3G = fast
Convienent 8MP camera on phone+decent quality = can replace digital camera
8 gigs internal storage+ 16 gig micro SD card

Cons: Android learning curve is a bit more than iPhone OS
Sometimes u can customize too much and simple tasks become frustrating
Media player is terrible, Android Market offers alternatives for free
BATTERY LIFE!! needs a 1500mAh OEM battery

Summary: First things first, it has the best voice recognition software Ive ever seen and when paired with Google everything.... it makes life much simpler. Ive reduced the amount of text I have to input in text fields by 50%, all you have to do is speak what you want to type and it is accurate 90% of the time (depending on background noise of course). I can get a full voiced turn-by-turn directions in about 20 seconds flat just by using the voice input, instead of opening up the maps app and then typing my destination or searching first then selecting it. My Tom Tom car GPS is now completely obsolete.

OS: This phone is for people who are a bit more tech savvy and care about how/why a phone can do what it does. The Android OS is a bit more complex than the iPhone OS, but this is mostly due to the amount of customization available. The HTC Sense UI alleviates some of this with a unified inbox, friend stream, widgets, etc. The best part about this phone is that if you dont like something about the OS, there is usually a way to change it. Also, IF YOU DONT HAVE iTUNES or DONT LIKE iTUNES, YOU CAN STILL USE THE PHONE! Although the stock HTC and Android media players are not very good, you can download better players for free. There are syncing software out there that can help transfer music, movies, pics, docs, etc, but you can still mount the phone as an external HD and use the old drag'n'drop method to transfer anything you want. HTC Sense has plenty of useful widgets that can eliminate digging through menus, etc. and there are always more on the Android Market. Also, dont worry about how many Apps are available compared to the iTunes store..... there are plenty of good, free apps to download and besides how many do you really need? of the 100,000+ apps, probably only 40% are actually decent enough to download and of that 40%, how many do YOU actually need? Quality should be paramount over quantity

Hardware: As usual, the phone hardware is tops in the market right now, but will be surpassed in the near future. Its just the nature of the cell phone industry. Dont worry about other phones coming out w/ better specs, etc. The Incredible has enough RAM, processing speed, camera quality, touch sensivity, call quality, signal reception, and style to last you through a 2 year contract.... and by then, another awesome HTC phone will be available. Pop in a 16 gig micro SD card and you have 24 gigs of total storage. The processor is pretty fast, and it helps when "multi-taksing". I use quotations because most people dont intend to "multi-task" but do so inadvertently, i.e. listening to music while playing a game, then you get an email and check that. Then you go to the web browser to look up something, and finally you ask to navigate to an address. So far you just opened up the 1) music player 2) email client 3) web browser 4) Google Maps 5) Google Navigator. UNFORTUNATELY, all those applications will stay open until you close them (sucking up battery) so you need to download a free AppKiller that can close things once youre donr with them. But still, with 5 or more applications open, the phone does not slow down because of the 1 GHz processor.

Style: The form factor is great. Some dont like the rubbery & topographic battery cover, but I say it helps hold onto the device and prevents it from sliding when placed on inclined surfaces (car dashboard, couch, your lap, etc ). The display is amazing, has one of the top resolutions out there, but washes out in direct sunlight. The phone is just as thin as an iPhone and the optical trackball is actually useful. SERIOUSLY, people frown at extra physical buttons on the front face, but the 1) Home 2) Back 3) Menu 4) Optical trackball are time savers and MORE IMPORTANTLY fingerprint eliminators. If you can reduce the amount of finger swipes you have to make in order to perform a simple task, it helps reduce smudging up the beautiful screen.

2.5 stars

"Awsome phone,horrible reception" on April 29, 2010 by edstreiff

Pros: > Great Screen
> Super fast
> FM Radio

Cons: > Sense UI, can't sync two exchange accounts
> Battery Life
> Signal Strength

Summary: I got this phone the otherday because of a shipping issue with verizon and so far I have had mixed results. The phone itself is awsome its crazy fast and the screen is amazing. Its much better than the Motorola Droid I had but a potential deal breaker has developed and that is the signal strength

Now I know the bars on the phone are not a good indicator so I launched the android test application and sure enough I had like 4 to 5 bars in the DB sense of things so why am I complaining?

The 3G will not stay connected, I'm always on 1X I have tried this phone in all sorts of different areas around pittsburgh and the results are same I rarely connect to 3G and when I do its painfully slow. The speedtest.net application only reported .23MB download speed when I was able to connect to 3G. My Moto Droid on 3G would usually get around 1.50MB download. In fact my 3G speeds are very close to my 1X speeds on the Moto Droid which makes me think that even though my Incredible shows the 3G symbol that it may not be connected at all.

I will give this phone the full 30 days before I return it and return back to my iPhone 3GS (I hate AT&T so much). I ended up leaving Big Read 3 months ago after a month of terror with the Moto Droid.

I'm really hoping that this 3G issue gets fixed fast, this phone is as good or better than the iPhone and I really really really don't want to have to go back to AT&T.

Just checking now on my wifes Storm she has full signal and 3G and I have 2 bars showing (-78dB) and 1X

Updated on Apr 29, 2010

Forgot to mention that when I am connected to 1X I can't get any data at all, the speedtest app just fails and the android market place says that its failed to connect

Yes, I did all the *228 non-sense again and talked to a tech who claimed the phone was fine

Updated on Jun 17, 2010

Update: Today I finally sent the Incredible back the lack of 3G coverage was too much for me

Now I was able to make phone calls anywhere the 1X side of life was always full signal but my 3G even next to a tower was lacking.

I download an app in the market called Real Signal (Free) it showed the bars and signal strength for the 1X and the EVDO separately. The phones signal strength bar is not wrong its perfectly correct its showing you the signal strength of the EVDO not the 1X almost everywhere Real Signal was showing full 1X signal and practically no EVDO(3G).

Now I emailed HTC about this issue and they said its a known issue and they are working on it but couldnt give me a time frame, I think thats bull there is an issue wit hthe 3G chip for sure.

Now verizon was kind enough to send me a replacement to try but it was the same, the best thing they did was extend my worry free guarantee which allowed me to return the phone today without penalty

Updated on Jun 17, 2010

I reactivated my Blackberry Storm which to my great surprise had a giant Software update since I last used it the phone actually is pretty great if it had WIFI I would be more than happy to use it for a long time.

When I returned the incredible today they representative showed me a new phone (a flyer) called the Motorola Droid X now that phone looks simply amazing and it was even better than the EVO,

Right now the Incredible is on back order till July 14th which is like 5 days short of this new phones release if you are considering the Incredible I would wait and get the Droid X Motorola phones were always solid devices I will not buy and HTC product again my last 3 phones where HTC's and they were all so far Garbage,
1.) HTC Touch Pro 2, sooooooo slow (Likely because of Windows Mobile)
2.) HTC Droid Eris, Really really slow and sluggish
3.) HTC Incredible, Awesome device, poor 3G signal, poor wifi

Updated on Jun 17, 2010

Final update on this review since I no longer have the phone the WIFI chip was also very poor in this phone, more than 5 feet from any one of my 6 Access Points in my house and the Incredible would give up and switch to 1X, my laptops all reported excellent signal strength in my home no matter where because I have 2 access points on each floor. Now my access points all have the same SSID but are on different channels its seems like the incredible would grab my upstairs access point North Facing since it was channel 6 which is the default common channel on Wireless G so perhaps this could be fixed with a software update. My iPhone, HTC Touch Pro 2 and laptops had no issues what so ever connecting and always showed full signal strength

5.0 stars

"Great smartphone" on April 29, 2010 by BenMNSTATE

Pros: FAST processor, lots of memory, nice big screen, android 2.1.

Cons: Battery life is good for a smartphone, but isn't going to last mulitple days like a simple flip phone.

Summary: I got the Droid Incredible after having a Blackberry tour and Motorola Droid. This is the best by far. If only for the processing speed alone, it's worth the money. No lag or slowdowns, even with multiple apps running. The camera is at least as good as the Motorola droid. The screen is awesome. Responsive and bright. I was at first very worried about typing without a keyboard (especially after coming from a blackberry), but this screen is so big that I'm not finding it to be a problem. Android is a GREAT OS. I loved it on the Motorola Droid and I love it on the Droid Incredible. Once you get used to it you really see how outdated the blackberry OS is.

Battery life is pretty good. In my test day I was streaming music from pandora, browsing the interent, and texting. I got a full day of use and that will probably increase once the battery cycles a few times. Yes, I would love a smartphone that could go five days without a charge, but really the Droid Incredible's battery life is on par with what your going to find in smartphone these days. Battery tech is still catching up to smartphone energy demands. That being said, is it really that hard to plug in a phone every night?

Overall, GREAT smartphone. If you want a touch screen only smartphone with Android, there arn't any better (for now).

4.5 stars

"iPhone? Who needs it!" on April 30, 2010 by NewYorkbizlawyer

Pros: I'm finicky about phones. I held onto my Blackberry while passing on the Storm, the Eris and the Droid. Since the iPhone isn't coming out soon, I bought the Incredible based on my gut. The Incredible is just that: Truly incredible.

Cons: Everything. I'm pretty much blown away. As the title of my review indicates, "Who needs the iPhone?"

Summary: Maybe it's because I live in NYC but I haven't even come close to dropping a call and my reception is fine. The battery life is surprisingly good. My charge lasts an entire day with moderate internet and phone usage. Many people warned me that I wouldn't receive my emails as quickly as with my Blackberry. Not a problem - I receive my hotmail and pop (business) emails almost instantaneously. The browser speed is outrageous - almost as fast as my home computer. I kid you not. The interface is gorgeous and user-friendly. I've never owned a touch screen and was able to pick it up with ease in a day or so. I was concerned about the keyboard because I'm not a spring chicken and I have clunky fingers. Big surprise. The keyboard, at least when turned to landscape is not a problem. Not a problem at all. The interface is gorgeous and I'm having so much fun with all the free Apps (especially, Open Table and Swirl - I'm a foodie!). Oh, did I mention that the phone is a whopping 8 mega-pixels. Are there glitches? Sure. Voice dial has a long way to go yet, synching to Outlook was troublesome initially and navigation probably could be simpler. I'm still having some trouble with call waiting but I probably just need to read the manual for answers. All-in-all, I'm thrilled.