The Droid Incredible is finally available on Verizon Wireless. How does it stack up?
Some of our readers may recall that in November of last year, we reviewed Verizon’s Droid. Some of you may also recall how we commended Verizon for quickly jumping on the Android train and providing the best (at that time) Android handset available. Well, it’s nice to see that all the praise didn’t go to Big Red’s head. Verizon just launched its new flagship phone, The Droid Incredible. With the battle of the super smartphones under way, Verizon has shown they’re not afraid to strike first. But does the Incredible live up to its name?
Design and Features
HTC continues its attempt to stand out with the designs of its handsets, with no two handsets looking identical. HTC continues that trend with the Incredible, making it look almost “futuristic”. Though the Incredible doesn’t look as luxurious as the Nexus One, it still manages to capture a unique and pleasant look. In actuality, the Incredible doesn’t seem large, but its 3.7” AMOLED touchscreen makes it appear larger than it truly is. Its other dimensions are pretty similar to HTC handsets such as the Nexus One, so it’s safe to say that it feels great in hand and is very pocketable.
As with most super smartphones, the true strength of this phone sits under the casing. Equipped with a familiar Snapdragon 1Ghz processor, the Incredible also sports a jaw dropping 8GB of internal memory. Couple that with a microSD slot that’s expandable up to 32GB (with a 4GB card included) and gone are the days of users keeping a watchful eye on their internal space for apps. It also packs a clickable optical mouse, 8MP auto-focus camera with flash and a WVGA AMOLED 480×800 resolution touchscreen, along with industry standards such as wifi, bluetooh, GPS, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. All of these goodies packed into the Incredible make it a solid mobile media device.
Performance
The Incredible isn’t the first Android OS handset offered by Verizon, but it is the first one to be released with Android 2.1 and the first with the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI. That’s right; Android 2.1, the same 2.1 that first appeared on the Google Nexus One is on the Incredible. That means speech-to-text is available, along with Facebook-to-Contacts integration all wrapped in a buttery smooth OS that makes web browsing, media playback, or navigating through any one of its 7 home screens a breeze. The Sense UI brings back its custom HTC widgets, cool animations and a few new features.
Some new features to Sense are HTC’s “People” widget and “Leap”. The “People” widget is HTC’s own social networking aggregate that allows you to see what your contacts have posted on Facebook, Twitter, and Flicker, all from the same spot, while the “Leap” feature allows you to pinch any 1 of your 7 homescreens, get a view of all 7 simultaneously and then jump to any one of them. HTC has succeeded in making Sense and its unique features not only work well with Android 2.1, but they have actually made it feel like a root part of the OS.
The Rest
Now even with all this Android goodness, there are some things that may cause concern. HTC has been able to make the Incredible pretty light, but it may come across as plastic or even fragile to some. In-call sound quality is good, but in comparison to the Nexus One (its “predecessor”) with its noise cancellation and dual mics, the difference is noticeable. Also, the Incredible DOES NOT have a physical keyboard, so those with fat snausage thumbs like mine may find the 3.7” screen a bit small to dual thumb text on. I suggest trying before you purchase!!
Overall, this phone is a bona fide BEAST! The Incredible is able to take what the Nexus One started and successfully build upon it. It’s arguably the best smartphone out currently, but by far the best smartphone on Verizon. With other smartphones like the Apple 4G and HTC EVO looming around the corner, this move by Verizon shows that they aren’t taking the smartphone fight lightly. The Droid Incredible is well worth the price of $199 (with standard 2yr contract) and its moniker “Incredible.”
The Apple argument is really misdirecting as they bunch together together the iPhone and the iPod, which is not a telephone, and tell the competition is not catching them up on gross sales, when Nokia and RIM have been always crushing them since the day the iPhone was put out and at present Google is outselling them in the US.
People truly underestimate how powerful the and effective the Apple marketing machine is. Couple that with their willingness to step outside the box on occasion and u create an environment where blind followership may be an issue.