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 ›
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HTC Droid Incredible just keeps going & going & ...
It's been years since anyone reviewed this little gem on Phone Scoop. If you want a phone that fits easily in your hand, is reasonably thin, has a removable battery, can be legally rooted, and has ROM mods that bring it into the realm of Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) -- then this is the phone for you!
What has been said elsewhere about signal strength is not true. Wherever Verizon signal is present (and that is just about everywhere in the USA) my "dinc" works. That said, just about all mobile phones have tinny sound and clipped syllables -- it's the nature of the beast so far. WiFi calling can actually be a better experience.
Battery life -- well I give you that. It is pretty poor. But the solution is so cheap and simple! Get an extra wafer battery or two for $20. When juice runs low, turn off the phone, pop the back cover, swap batteries, re-close, restart the phone. It all takes less than 2 minutes. If you just have to leave your phone on, get a super-mini recharger; they come in wafer-thin packages containing -- you guessed it -- a mobile battery. Get the most out of your batteries by getting an external charger that really tops off a battery. Charge them up, put them in your phone, and carry an extra or two. That will get you through 1-2 full days. And it pays to buy micro adapters (AC-to-USB and 12V-to-USB) so you can charge using a standard microUSB cable -- or better yet very short cables that are easier to carry. A little belt-worn camera bag is an excellent smartphone carrier, with a zipped side pouch for the batteries, cables and adapters.
Much of this advice is generic, so it will benefit any smartphone owner who can remove batteries. This feature is becoming less common in newer models, which makes the "dinc" an even more precious commodity.
Biggest plus -- the CyanogenMod (CM) ROM v10.2 has been further adapted to work on the "dinc". It can be found, along with FAQs and support from its developer "Tiny", on the XDA-Developers website.
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Piece of Junk, Horrible Customer Service!
A few months after purchasing my phone, it began to turn off. It began to happen more and more frequently, and the battery was also too hot to hold the phone. When we called HTC, they were rude and unhelpful. I asked for a supervisor several times and was finally connected with a woman who identified herself as a supervisor. After calling corporate, I found out she was not a supervisor at all!
When I finally got in touch with someone who tried to help, they said it wasn't under warranty and might cost $100-200 to attempt to repair. Now I have a piece of junk that won't even turn on.
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Still good in 2013
Was using a Moto Droid X which I loved but always wanted to try the Incredible. After bad luck with the smaller original Droid 2, I finally got the Incredible off of Ebay for around $40. I gotta say I love this phone!
As much as I did like the X I was starting to get tired of how big it was. I did sacrifice a couple things, going from 8MP camera down to a 5MP but it still takes respectable pix and vids. Also hard getting used to the smaller size when typing text or email but I still like that it's smaller than the huge Droid X. The sound is also very good but the speaker is on the back which was pretty common back when this came out. I'm not an Apple guy but this is about the same size of the MePhone which is about the only thing I liked about it when a friend showed me his. Yeah I guess I could love a Galaxy SIII but for right now I'm totally loving the size of the Incredible. The processor is very fast and I like the HTC UI better than the Moto as well.
Call quality is decent and it's hard to get a handle on the battery indicator so I downloaded another one from the app store.
The biggest drawback is definitely the battery and how fast it drains but I can live with that and will probably look for an extended on Ebay, but I'm never really far from a wall or car charger so it's not really a deal breaker.
If you're looking for something a little old school and don't have to get a new cell every single time you're eligible, this may be a cool alternative to check out especially since you can them pretty cheap now without breaking your bank account.
I would only give a perfect 5 if it everything was exactly what I wanted, but what is like that nowadays?
Still a great phone.
Who needs 4G?
I just replaced my ailing and sluggish LG Ally for the Droid Incredible. I was toying with the idea of going iPhone but have become used to the Android OS. This phone is ridiculously fast compared to the Ally. Where the Ally would stumble and lag with a few apps open the HTC doesn't even slow down one bit. Also With 8 gigs of internal space and a 16gig SD card I don't think ill be running out of storage space anytime soon.
One thing however I have noticed is the Droid Incredible seems to get worse reception then the Ally, and the Droid Incredible seems to go in and out of 3G alot.
One low point and is obviously battery life. Why HTC only gave this phone a 1,300Mah battery I will never know. My Ally has a bigger battery then this phone, I can kill a charge in half a day. I ordered a 3,500 mah extended battery and backing so I hope this will solve battey life problems.
Overall though this phone is a powerhouse and I think ill be keeping it for alot longer then I did my Ally.
garbage
HTC made a nice screen and had a decent UI that did not last long. It got choppy, i went through 5 phones in 10 months. 2 the speaker blew, and 2 had HORRIBLE reception. Shame because android has a lot of potential. It is thin which is nice, but th back is made of something not much better then saran wrap. Also i would switch out the battery and then my settings would change? once all my contacts were gone? And forget trying to use it as an ipod. It just doesn't compare to the iphone. I am glad it was around to get me through the ridiculousness of verizon not carrying the iphone but I will not miss my incredible.
Not so Incredible
I have had this phone for almost a year. Correction I have had six of these phones in almost a year. Never experienced that before. I went from a Blackberry user to a Droid to an Incredible. Never had a problem with my Blackberry Curve or my Moto Droid. In fact, my son is still using the Droid.
Pros:
Lovely to look at screenwise
The speed is addictive
Cons:
HTC Sense - let me customize my phone - isn't that the idea that Google started with
Battery life is abysmal - you should not have to buy another battery to use a phone
Signal strength is nothing like Blackberry or Droid
The problem I encountered recently is the phone began rebooting after about 30 min of use (not helpful when using GPS) so Verizon sent a new (refurbished) Incredible. It rebooted haphazardly and more often than my original phone. So they sent another one. It rebooted constantly even after factory resets, soft reboots, etc. I don't know what this rebooting issue is but it was happening on three of these phones. I even switched batteries (since I have 2 due to the short battery life) and that wasn't the issue.
In conclusion, I do not recommend this phone and I am not thrilled with HTC. I have liked my Motorola Droid and now they are sending me a Samsung Continuum. Hope I like that one. Looking forward to the release of the Bionic.
HTC Dinc - AMAZING!
This phone does anything and everything I ask of it! The battery life is pretty much my only gripe with this phone but with caution and some appropriate apps and settings, it can last much longer. The screen is brilliant and the HTC Sense UI truly holds supreme with the deep integration of Facebook, photo gallery, and many other features. All the knock-off widgets available in the Android Market leave you asking for more. The 2.2 update made the phone fly even faster.
Great android phone!
To begin, I have had the phone now for 5 days. This is my second android device coming from the mytouch3G from tmobile. That phone became agonizingly slow over the year of use and when I first picked up the Incredible I was blown away at the speed. I hope it does get bogged down like my previous phone.
Pros:
Screen
Speed
Swype
Call quality, volume, signal
Nice feel
Ability to customize
Great browser
Only $80 now
Froyo 2.2
Cons:
Apps you can't uninstall like Skype, City Id, facebook, Friend Stream, and more. Real annoying.
Battery life as usual but I might try that 1750mah battery
All in all, this is a terrific device.
Best Phone on Market
First off let me say that no, I have not owned every phone on the market, however, as far as android devices go, this one beats all others. I have had Blackberry, Windows mobile, and palm devices, all are inferior to the Incredible. I purchased my Incredible days after Verizon released it and knowing that it was a new phone did not complain about some minor glitches, I say minor as I have relatives with the Droid, Droid X, and Droid 2, all of which have had far more complex and irritating problems than the Incredible ever did. Battery life as many others have stated is somewhat short, however, with some knowledge of how to use the phone properly(get a task manager and use it!, set programs to update only as needed, change power settings to your liking, and turn off bluetooth, gps, and wifi when not in use), I use my phone nearly all the time(texting, email, facebook, twitter, and calls), yet I only need to charge it every 2-3 days. Now that all that is out of the way, I hope that all of you Incredible users have received your FROYO update as it only makes the phone better. 3G mobile hot spot is the best feature that the update added. As far as reception goes, this phone has it. I have reception in places i have never had any kind of service before.
Pros: HTC Sense, high res capacitive touch screen, 8MP camera, 720P video recording, great reception, Google Maps with navigation(don't have to pay for VZ Navigator), FROYO 2.2 updateable
Cons: none after 5 months of use phone is still as good as the day i bought it!
GREAT PHONE but......
I've had the phone for a week and I really like it. It took me less than a day to figure everything out. The PRO's far outweigh the CON's. The only CON I can find is BATTERY. It's amazing to me that they can build a phone of this caliber but they can't make a battery that does not last more than a day. It's still a great phone.
