Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
[Merged] HTC / Verizon Droid Incredible
- Thread starter FlavaFlavez
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I thought about it, but there are some major issues.
1. The phone doesn't sense the 8 gb internal storage for apps. This means that you use the small amount of ROM for apps, and anything more than that you need an SD card. And apps can't be fully installed on the SD card alone. 3 different sources of memory you have to worry about just sounds obnoxious.
2. OLED screen and sunlight don't play well
3. Sense. I know a lot of people think sense is cool, but I think froyo's right around the corner. And all these new incredible owners are going to go crazy when it takes HTC 3 months to upgrade to the new version.
4. The built in music player isn't as nice as the iPhone's, and I'd rather have one device in my pocket than an iPod and a phone
5. The narrower screen than the iPhone makes typing on the keyboard more difficult (but I hear the sense keyboard's pretty good and you can type fairly well - but do you see how small that spacebar is??)
6. Lack of games - the iPhone kicks ass in this category so hard. The Snapdragon's GPU sucks compared to the iPhone's as well.
7. No desktop integration. Managing the phone is a bit more of a pain when you don't have accompanying desktop software to help you out.
8. I feel like java on Android just doesn't provide as smooth of an experience as cocoa on iPhone. It's just a little bit laggier/jumpier, even with a 1 GHz CPU. See what an iPad can do with a processor that speed? It's outputting higher resolution and still the speed of the experience runs circles around Android. iPhone OS is just more optimized.
Despite all these things, Android has a LOT going for it, like nicer notifications, more capable multitasking, google voice, and the ability to pretty much install whatever you want. I just don't think it's quite up to the maturity of the iPhone yet.
1. The phone doesn't sense the 8 gb internal storage for apps. This means that you use the small amount of ROM for apps, and anything more than that you need an SD card. And apps can't be fully installed on the SD card alone. 3 different sources of memory you have to worry about just sounds obnoxious.
2. OLED screen and sunlight don't play well
3. Sense. I know a lot of people think sense is cool, but I think froyo's right around the corner. And all these new incredible owners are going to go crazy when it takes HTC 3 months to upgrade to the new version.
4. The built in music player isn't as nice as the iPhone's, and I'd rather have one device in my pocket than an iPod and a phone
5. The narrower screen than the iPhone makes typing on the keyboard more difficult (but I hear the sense keyboard's pretty good and you can type fairly well - but do you see how small that spacebar is??)
6. Lack of games - the iPhone kicks ass in this category so hard. The Snapdragon's GPU sucks compared to the iPhone's as well.
7. No desktop integration. Managing the phone is a bit more of a pain when you don't have accompanying desktop software to help you out.
8. I feel like java on Android just doesn't provide as smooth of an experience as cocoa on iPhone. It's just a little bit laggier/jumpier, even with a 1 GHz CPU. See what an iPad can do with a processor that speed? It's outputting higher resolution and still the speed of the experience runs circles around Android. iPhone OS is just more optimized.
Despite all these things, Android has a LOT going for it, like nicer notifications, more capable multitasking, google voice, and the ability to pretty much install whatever you want. I just don't think it's quite up to the maturity of the iPhone yet.
I thought about switching to a droid or other newer phone. Then I punched myself in the face. I will never own a cell phone other than the iPhone, no matter how much better some of them might be.
Not really. I was thinking about it with the Motorola Droid, but the Android ecosystem is going forward at such an insane pace right now that it is hard for me to think that the Droid Incredible won't be replaced by an even more amazing device in 90 days.
Android's shortcomings don't bother me. I used a friend's Motorola Droid as my primary phone for three days and found it fairly intuitive with a few problems. There are a few (big) issues that need to be addressed.
1) Firmware updates.
The Android ecosystem offers OTA updates which is an excellent way to handle phones that do not have computers to sync to, but the lack of desktop syncing and overall ecosystem fragmentation (1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1 etc) among different phones makes it difficult to know if your phone will be updated any time soon.
Apple's original iPhone (2G) received regular firmware updates from 2007 - 2010. Three years from the date of purchase. That isn't bad compared to some Android phones that haven't received 2.0 yet even though it has only been 6 months.
2) Desktop syncing.
This can be handled by Doubletwist, but there is really no substitute for iTunes in being able to manage your media via your computer. Even consider Doubletwist a solution for media only is amusing when it is a third party program used to fill gaps where Google and the handset makers have left a huge hole.
3) Quality control
Android itself is a top notch OS. It is fast, open, and supports most everything anyone would ask it to. 2.2 - 2.5 will make it even better.
The downside of the open part is the lack of QA from Google or others into the quality of applications making it into Google's App Marketplace. Is this application going to keep the GPS active until I find a random setting buried somewhere in a submenu? It will run my battery down if it does. Crap. I needed that phone call.
Google taking a more active role like Apple would reduce this problem while still allowing people to download applications from other locations if they wanted to bypass the restrictions at their own risk.
Having somebody watching your back is nice, other than the censorship.
Android's shortcomings don't bother me. I used a friend's Motorola Droid as my primary phone for three days and found it fairly intuitive with a few problems. There are a few (big) issues that need to be addressed.
1) Firmware updates.
The Android ecosystem offers OTA updates which is an excellent way to handle phones that do not have computers to sync to, but the lack of desktop syncing and overall ecosystem fragmentation (1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1 etc) among different phones makes it difficult to know if your phone will be updated any time soon.
Apple's original iPhone (2G) received regular firmware updates from 2007 - 2010. Three years from the date of purchase. That isn't bad compared to some Android phones that haven't received 2.0 yet even though it has only been 6 months.
2) Desktop syncing.
This can be handled by Doubletwist, but there is really no substitute for iTunes in being able to manage your media via your computer. Even consider Doubletwist a solution for media only is amusing when it is a third party program used to fill gaps where Google and the handset makers have left a huge hole.
3) Quality control
Android itself is a top notch OS. It is fast, open, and supports most everything anyone would ask it to. 2.2 - 2.5 will make it even better.
The downside of the open part is the lack of QA from Google or others into the quality of applications making it into Google's App Marketplace. Is this application going to keep the GPS active until I find a random setting buried somewhere in a submenu? It will run my battery down if it does. Crap. I needed that phone call.
Google taking a more active role like Apple would reduce this problem while still allowing people to download applications from other locations if they wanted to bypass the restrictions at their own risk.
Having somebody watching your back is nice, other than the censorship.
I switched, but for network reasons. AT&T is pretty bad in my area and Verizon is really good. AT&T's nearest 3G coverage is a 2.5 hour drive for me and Verizon's is great here. Oh well, what can I do?
I would have rather kept the iPhone, but it just wasn't practical for me. I'm more excited about being able to use my phone reliably than I am about getting the Incredible. Not that I'm not excited to use it, it is new technology, after all..
I would have rather kept the iPhone, but it just wasn't practical for me. I'm more excited about being able to use my phone reliably than I am about getting the Incredible. Not that I'm not excited to use it, it is new technology, after all..
No. The hardware seems nice, but for me the apple integration and ecosystem work really well. Also, I've used some other android based phones and I still prefer the UI of the iPhone. But, if it's for you rock on!
Not anytime soon since I'm still under contract with AT&T with my iPhone 3GS but next year when my contract is up, I will seriously consider an Android phone, depending how cool the next iPhone is.
I honestly believe that the iPad is a better platform for the iPhone OS than the iPhone itself is. An Android phone and an iPad might end up being the best of both worlds.
I honestly believe that the iPad is a better platform for the iPhone OS than the iPhone itself is. An Android phone and an iPad might end up being the best of both worlds.
No ..everything Apple does has more polish than their competitors and I like that. While I can make phone calls on any phone if I'm going to rely on my phone to do more work for me I want the UI to be fluid.
I use Macs for the same reason. No one else gives me the combination of performance, aesthetics integration.
I use Macs for the same reason. No one else gives me the combination of performance, aesthetics integration.
Android is pretty good and the sense UI is great. I would defiantly take it over my current iphone 3GS... almost....
Android should be avoided until google figures out how to update the devices. It sometime takes a few months, keyword..not a couple, but few....to actually bring the next os to its phones, and then the chase begins again. It just makes no sense to get it until google fixes their issue. ANd all OSes need improvement and bug fixes so not being able to update just kills the deal for me.
Android should be avoided until google figures out how to update the devices. It sometime takes a few months, keyword..not a couple, but few....to actually bring the next os to its phones, and then the chase begins again. It just makes no sense to get it until google fixes their issue. ANd all OSes need improvement and bug fixes so not being able to update just kills the deal for me.
Well I'll be the first to say on this thread that I went for it. I've been eyeing the N1 for quite a while, and once I found out that it wasn't coming out on Verizon, I decided to jump on the Incredible. I'm fairly stoked about it too.
There's definitely been some fear factor stuff stated above. Here are some thoughts below in red.
All in all, I need a phone that works. AT&T is crap where I live. The Android experience is just as nice as the iPhone experience IMHO. And I managed to get on a family plan with the in-laws to save some serious dough. Lots of positives in my mind for Android. I would've been super stoked on an iPhone HD as well. Perhaps an Android phone and iPad is the best setup these days. Either way, there's a lot of OS bashing going back and forth. I feel safe in saying that we're all getting some pretty sweet shiznit this days.
There's definitely been some fear factor stuff stated above. Here are some thoughts below in red.
All in all, I need a phone that works. AT&T is crap where I live. The Android experience is just as nice as the iPhone experience IMHO. And I managed to get on a family plan with the in-laws to save some serious dough. Lots of positives in my mind for Android. I would've been super stoked on an iPhone HD as well. Perhaps an Android phone and iPad is the best setup these days. Either way, there's a lot of OS bashing going back and forth. I feel safe in saying that we're all getting some pretty sweet shiznit this days.
DL16,
How is the reception and battery life on the Incredible? So far I here those are it's weak points.
How is the reception and battery life on the Incredible? So far I here those are it's weak points.