As usually happens with these blogs...somebody asked me a question. I wrote up the answer and thought maybe some of you might find this useful as well. I was asked about my thoughts on the HTC Incredible. Well, if your'e thinking about getting one, this might be useful to you as well.
The HTC Incredible is a pretty slick phone. It's quick and the touch screen is very responsive vs other Droid phones and its iPhone counterparts.One of the major selling points for this phone for me was the 8 mega pixel camera. The camera is heads and tails above the resolution of its Droid and iPhone peers--not to mention it has a flash (unlike iPhone).I use the camera probably more than most other functions on the phone and I have been very pleased with the quality of the auto-focus, zoom and even some of the downloaded camera effects.Beyond loads of pictures, I use the phone as an aggregator for my numerous email, social and SMS messaging. It may take a bit for the "auto correct" to learn some of your favorite phrases. And, much like any phone or computer -- the speech to text functionality is an absolute mess.I love the integration with Google Calendar. I maintain a Google Calendar and I sync it with my desktop, laptop and phone. The "widgets" which show upcoming events on your home screen--along with date, weather, etc...make your home screen a wildly useful and dynamic tool -- rather than just a launch pad for apps.There is definitely a huge library of apps--just a little different from the environment from iPhone.My take would be that because the Droid OS is more of a web environment, a lot of the apps tend to take on a little more of a mobile web feel. Whereas, with the iPhone OS, there are some native actions that can be built into the apps that give them a different feel from just a mobile web.On the other side of the coin, you don't have all the proprietary restrictions that iPhone OS has. So, you CAN view Flash, which is still a big part of the web experience--despite whatever Steve Jobs says.The built-in GPS and magnometer are fantastic. Droid OS has integration with the mobile web and its navigation program (free and included). So, you can search the web for a venue and if it has an address listed, you can highlight that address and navigate to it.The navigator also includes satellite view and StreetView(tm) where available. In addition, you can also make use of the GPS and magnometer to enjoy Google Earth and Google Sky.Googke Sky will actually augment reality so that you can tilt and rotate to see exactly what stars (or planets) that you are looking at.Layrs also makes use of similar functionality to let augment reality to see anything around you, including recent Tweets, Wikipedia locations, apartments for rent, FourSquare/Gowalla venues and YellowPages sites.The down side of all this functionality? This phone is an absolute battery pig. I'm not joking when I say for you to keep your charging cord with you. If you use this power phone the way that it is meant to be used -- plan on charging it mid day (and again at night).The OEM battery is only 1300 mAh. It's no lie when I tell you that I spent the better part of the first week tweaking all of my settings so that I could get through a day with my usual FourSquare, Gowalla, Twitter and eMail activities.I've found a happy medium with the power settings while I am waiting for Verizon to release the extended-life battery in July. I've heard it will be a 2150 mAh battery and will be discounted for current Incredible owners. Needless to say, I'll be picking one up.One key to managing your battery life will be managing the apps/functions that you have running in the background. It's great that Droid OS enables you to run multiple apps. But, remember, that's multiple draws on the battery. And, even while you're not using an app, it can still run in the background and draw on your battery.One of the best ways to balance your multi-tasking and battery life is to download a free app -- Advanced Task Killer. As the name implies, this app kills all the background apps you may have running. This is great for conserving battery life and getting more enjoyment from your phone.Some free apps that I would suggest you look into to enhance your experience would be:- Advanced Task killer
- AP Mobile
- Camera 360 Free
- CBS News
- Digg
- FourSquare
- Fox News
- Fx Camera
- Google Goggles
- Google Sky Map
- Gowalla
- iHeartRadio
- Layar
- Mashable
- Thompson Reuters
- Pandora
- Pittsburgh (WPXI)
- TwiDroid (much better than Peep or Twitter app)
As far as accessories go, I did not buy a case, but my father did. He bought a clear case. I just purchased the protective screen covers. They're outrageously overpriced at Verizon, but my phone always ends up in my pocket with my keys -- and these little plastic covers take the hit for my screen.As I eluded to earlier, I am holding out for the extended life battery. So, I will be purchasing that. But, until then, you may want to look at a car charger. I would NOT buy the one from Verizon. Your power cord also doubles as a USB charger. You can buy a USB car charger adapter at Target or WalMart dirt cheap. Then voilà, you have a car charger.All-in-all it's a great phone. The combination of the speed of the HTC Incredible with the Droid OS makes it a worthy opponent to the iPhone.As the OS matures and more apps become available, I'd even venture to say it could be better than the iPhone. But, for right now, it is simply Verizon's first legitimate contender to the iPhone--keeping in mind, it comes with a much stronger network than its iPhone counterpart.Let me know if you come up with any questions or see anything you think I should check out. I'm still tinkering with mine as well.
As I indicated above, if you have any thoughts or tips that you used to make your HTC Droid Incredible a better phone, let me know.
