HTC Droid Incredible
Phone Scoop Review
Apr 18, 2010 by Eric M. Zeman
Phone Scoop offers up a full review of the HTC Droid Incredible, Verizon Wireless' new flagship Android phone. This monster offers a 1GHz engine, an 8 megapixel camera and HTC's Sense UI. Dare we say it's better than the Droid? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Great Phone!
I have used this phone for almost a month. Since it was very different from the BB Tour and the Storm1 & 2 I have used, I thought I would give it awhile to get over the difference before commenting. I am a heavy phone user that uses it for business and traveling.
So here is my take on this phone:
-Very fast interface- easy to use & organize to my liking.
-Touch screen is perfect; very accurate and easy to type on-even in portrait mode.
-Great Apps of which my favorites were free!
-MS Exchange works like a charm-I find myself using the Incredible to respond to emails rather than my computer.
-WiFi was simple to establish and works very well, although I haven't REALLY had a need for it yet 3G is good for me.
-Phone connectivity is excellent and voice clarity is great. Some have complained about the signal bars being inaccurate-I haven't noticed that.
-Physical-very thin & comfortable in the hand, feels well made. Already survived the 3 ft drop test onto the tile floor without a ding.
-Screen- WOW! The colors and clarity are outstanding, except in any form of sunlight. This was the reason I deducted .5 points. I would suggest getting a non-glare screen saver. It cuts down on fingerprint smudges and helps marginally in direct sunlight.
-Camera works great- it's better than the Olympic digital camera I have!
-Battery- I swapped out the OEM for a second party 1750 mAh battery. After a couple of weeks I have found that turning on the phone at 6:30AM every morning and using it all day with occasional Bluetooth, lots of voice calls, and constant email usage that by 9:30-10:00PM I have about 20-25% battery left. I now use the OEM as a spare when I travel as a backup, but haven't had to use it yet.
Summary:
I think this is the best phone I have ever used. I am very critical-I think a $500 device should just work, without me having to make excuses for it. Not only is it a great business phone, but plays videos and music well, and is really fun to use.
Great phone
I was one of the first on the block to get the new Incredible. I had given thought to the Motorola but decided on the HTC because of the camera, and the fact that I don't need (or like) the keyboard on the Motorola.
I found that I was able to access about 90% of the phone's features right out of the box without going to the user manual. The phone is very user phriendly. Phinally. I, like others, have a big complaint about the battery life. Perhaps one day HTC will come out with an extended life battery.
The incoming voice sound is not as high as I'd like nor as high as other phones I've used but it's probably something I'll need to get used to.
There is no docking station yet, but I am told one is on the way. Meanwhile I have to keep the phone on the desk while it's charging. Hardly a bad point but I'm looking forward to the docking station.
I have checked with tech support with Verizon, the Verizon store, and also HTC directly about the screen. A previous Storm I had, had a virtually scratch PROOF screen. A demonstration of a razor going over the screen convinced me that the storm's screen was indestructible. I have not yet tried that on the Droid, and am hesitant to until someone can show me the same demonstration. HTC doesn't know if it's scratch proof or not so I have a screen protector on it.
The operation of the phone is ridiculously simple. I am very impressed with the looks, the operation, the ease of use. The typing on text is very easy, very accurate, and the buttons, especially in landscape mode, are big enough to use.
The calendar application does not rotate to landscape and I understand it's the program, not the phone. I wish it did.
The 7 home screens are going to be hard to fill. One screen I use for "frequent calls" and another is used for "media, photos, music. I have 4 screens left and have no idea how I'll fill them but in time I'm sure I'll find something to add.
I dont think you'll be disappoined. I wasn't.
AWESOME PHONE
Pros:
On screen video play
Speed of phone
8mp Camera fast
WiFi
Music player (will scan all media for music)
Speaker Volume very loud.
Browser nice and fast as well
On-screen keyboard nice and big.
voice text great as well
touch screen is excellent!
Lots of apps
Cons:
Battery must be charged 2-3 times a day.
Screen a little weak in sunlight.
App store a little hard to find things.
Not sorry I changed phones. Now the wife has one as well.
HTC Incredible Review
I have owned nearly all the android phones that have been released, minus ones released on sprint and at&t. I have, however, had a phone on every provider (i am a gadget geek). The HTC Incredible is an excellent phone. I have had it since it was released last thursday, and I love it more and more every day.
The phone is incredibly fast, for starters. It has the fastest processor I have seen utilized on a phone to date. The Sense UI is a great overlay to the Android OS. It brings many functions that I believe should have been included by default.
The screen is crisp and clear, and the fact that it is hard to see in bright daylight is true, but not a huge deterrent for me, because the quality of it everywhere else is worth it to me. The screen glides smoothly with your fingers. There is absolutely no lag, to my experience anyways, like you find on most other smartphones now a days.
The app market obviously could use some work, but that is unrelated to the phone itself. They just need to dress up some of the features in the market is all (google).
The reception for me has been great. I have had some minor 3g connectivity issues for a few days, but that was due to tower issues in North Carolina. I haven't had much of a problem with it however since Verizon acknowledged the tower issues. I can hear people clear and crisp, and it has a nice speaker for speakerphone.
The vibration feature could be a bit more powerful, but not necessarily a problem for me.
Pros:
+screen quality
+Sense UI
+Reception
+speed
+light weight design
+social network integration
+SWYPE (I have installed it myself, seeing as it does not come on it publicly yet)
Cons:
-Battery Life (To be expected, so to me, this is not necessarily a con. I do not expect a smartphone such as this to last all day long with the amount of texting I do)
-None for me personally, as I do not really think I would change much about this phone at all.
Good job HTC, you knocked this one out of the park. beats iphone
Beautiful and Fast, But Still Lacking
First of all, I love almost everything about this phone. I just got done with a Moto Droid which I used and loved for 6 months. There are noticeable differences for the good and bad when you compare the two.
Some have said the speed on the Incredible is only slightly faster than the Droid. Don't listen to those people, the Incredible is noticeably faster, especially when you are multi-tasking this phone. My Moto Droid always got caught up and glitchy when I tried to run Google maps and something else at the same time.
One thing that has me worried about this phone is the battery life and reception. In my office the Moto Droid worked flawlessly, full signal, impressive. The Incredible is really struggling. As far as battery life, without very much usage, the Incredible is draining like crazy. I've got task killer on and barely run background apps, but it's not good. I need an extended battery but what can I really do about the reception?
Here's an overall pros and cons:
Pros
Lightweight, strong build.
Amazingly fast with the 1 gig processor
Vibrant screen with sense UI which kicks a$$
Android OS is awesome
Cons
Battery life
Reception
Camera says 8 mp but it's far worse than that. It's equal to a 3-5 mp legitimate digital camera. Phone cameras still have a long way to go.
Overall I am a week in and deciding still whether I should keep this phone. Hopefully the battery life or reception issues are addressed.
Very satisfied!
I am very happy with this phone it does anything I could ever want it to. Access to a large apps market is a plus. Call quality and signal strength are as good or better than all my previous phones. Best phone I have ever used.
Pros:
-speed(very very very fast)
-hardware
-camera w/ dual LED flash
~7gb internal memory
-WiFi
-Multimedia playback:movies,music and -YouTube.
-32gb microSD card support
-comes with 2gb sdcard.
-speaker phone is very loud and clear
-onscreen keyboard is easy to use, even better if you get swype.
Cons:
-screen visibility in sunlight.
-battery life(if you aren't used to it)
-Now everyone on my family plan wants one.
-requires a $29.99 data plan monthly.
other thoughts:
This is my first android phone and I found it very easy to figure out. After playing with it for one day knew where to find everything and how to change anything. the transition from Windows Mobile phones was easy. The Battery life is fine for me. a last a whole day no problem. There is a short breaking time to get the most out of the battery. It does need to be charged every night. I am used to charging my phones every night so no big deal, for everything this phone does I think one day of battery life is quite acceptable. Get this phone you wont regret it!
Great Device
I had been with Verizon 7 years before making the switch to the Iphone 3gs. That was a great device but the AT&T network was poor.
After trying my first HTC and first Android device I am very pleased. Just by comparing specs the Incredible is way more powerful than the current Iphone 3gs. Both have great apps, ui's and touch capabilities. The Incredible is lightning fast and camera with flash is superior. Verizon's network is superior.
More powerful device, best network = winner.
Incredible Phone...really
I had high expectations for this phone from the reviews, and I would say that the reviews did not give this phone enough props. It is way nicer than the iPhone and the network is noticeably more reliable already.
Features I love that I did not quite see on any review:
1) Links to my facebook account and got all my friends mobile numbers if listed, so I don't have to type in all the numbers. Also, if you use Gmail stuff Android is a must!
2) 3 out of 3 people could not tell they were on speaker phone and remarked how much clearer I sounded.
3) HTC's user interface is very intuitive and reminds of the very customizable features that linux can have (without the bugs). By this I primarily mean, I like having arrangeable desktops that are easy to scroll through.
4) The touch pad has some really nice features that allow you to switch to different characters without changing the keyboard. This is explained in the introduction app
5) Generally, I am very impressed by the Android Apps compared to Apple's Apps. They seem more functional. Also, there are already apps for just about anything.
6) Making your custom ringtones is very easy with the music player on the phone.
7) The "living backgrounds" are cool although they waste battery.
The battery life is probably comparable to all smart phones since they all have about the same size battery in mAh. If you charge it once per day you will be fine. It would be nice if they could release a better battery in mAh if technology permits.
The name says it all
I'm a true windows mobile phone person going on six years now, so I figured with windows mobile 7 coming this out this fall being brand new O/S, I would have to start all over again anyways, This was the perfect opportunity to try out this incredible phone with android finally. The first hour was a learning curve, coming from windows mobile for so long, but that ended very quickly. After just a few hours with the incredible I was starting to wonder why I put up with windows mobile for so long. Android combined with this HTC phone, and the sense interface makes for the best phone on the market right now. 50000+ apps, the phone is screaming fast, 8mp camera, screen is super responsive, and the google
voice search widget is pretty cool too. HTC got it right when they picked the name for this phone. I just hate that it took me so long to jump ship from windows mobile, but better late than never.
How can you love a phone
I have tried many phones and this phone is by far the best. its so fast and having the android apps store is so nice because I can make my own apps. how cool is that. cant do the with apple.
Pros: EVERYTHING
Cons: NONE (people its a smart phone that does everything and you will be on it a lot battery will go fast)
