HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE Review: One Alternative
by Jason Inofuentes on July 13, 2012 9:24 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Droid
- Mobile
There’s nothing that gets the tech press, us included, frothing at the mouth as a top-of-the-line consumer electronics device being announced in some grand spectacular way. If there’s any moments gestalt to us it’s in that instant when the pinnacle of a category is revealed and we all gawk, and fawn. So, with so many column inches devoted to the halos, is there any space for the mid-range? Not just in the pages of tech websites, but in the US cellular market? Or should the mid-range belong to the halos of the past? Whether tailor made for the mid-range or a former champ reduced to the second rung, it still seems risky to spend $149 on second best, when $199 will get you the rest of the way. But with the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE nipping at the internal specs of so many class-leading phones, why does it come in $50 cheaper? Could smaller simply be a better bargain? A real value product?
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Unfortunately, that’s not quite what you get out of the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE. I can forgive the diminished clock speed, the real world impact is negligible and is really only evident in benchmarks. But in their desire to bring bill of materials costs down we’re left with a phone that costs only slightly less than phones that take no compromises. The camera is very good, but not nearly so as the One X camera. The body feels sturdy, but belongs to a design language that felt dated last year. And while we have our concerns that signal may be playing an issue in our battery life testing, there’s a reality that has to be faced that the phone should be outperforming these results. The only standard by which HTC has been able to be uncompromising, is in their choice of display panel; it is bright and vivid from any angle, and suffers not a whit for its resolution.
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There’s no doubt that carriers and OEMs can collaborate to create innovation. Verizon's Motorola Droid brought the landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard to the masses while advancing Android handset design and giving Android a marketing identity that resounded with consumers. The HTC One X and One S move Android handset design forward by being thin, elegant, and sturdy and feature top-notch internals; they’re an easy recommendation to anyone looking to buy an Android handset today. So, it’s a shame that Verizon Wireless isn’t featuring either of these handsets in their line-up. HTC’s Droid Incredible 4G LTE has a fantastic screen and a powerful processor, but is otherwise compromised in too many ways. At $149, you’re only 10 days without your latte away from something better. Then again, perhaps this phone is destined for even lower priced bins. Perhaps, Verizon has a phone that trumps even the just released VZW Samsung Galaxy S III. Perhaps the GS III is the mid-range phone you'll want in a few months, as another 'halo' phone arrives. We'll wait and see. In the meanwhile, save your pennies.
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lunarx3dfx - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
It will be interesting to see what happens with the new iPhone, but just like Mac vs. Windows, Google and Microsoft can only do so much to optimize for devices considering how varied they all are. Throw in some LTE radios and things get even more interesting. On that point though, I have a Galaxy Nexus and a Focus Flash, and I was completely impressed by the battery life Microsoft was able to squeeze out of Windows Phone. Of course, they restrict what SoC's manufacturers are allowed to use.As far as Android is concerned, I don't know which phone you have, but my Galaxy Nexus running the stock rom but rooted outlasts my girlfriends iPhone 4S in battery life. With Android devices, it has been my experience that battery life truly varies device to device.
As far as UI responsiveness, Google started to fix that with ICS and have made it almost perfect if not perfect on Jellybean. However, you can't really blame them yet again for how laggy Android has been in the past considering the fact that hardware acceleration for the UI was pretty much not an option until ICS was released. Anything running ICS or higher has to be designed to a standard, meaning a GPU that can handle hardware acceleration.
Microsoft and Google have a much more difficult task than Apple when it comes to designing, maintaining, and improving their mobile OSes because of how varied the hardware is. They don't have the option to optimize to the extent that Apple does. Considering that I think they have both done a fantastic job so far, and it is only getting better.
sssbbb - Thursday, July 26, 2012 - link
What's 3G?legoman666 - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
How is that a $150 phone + 2 year contract is considered budget whereas a $200 phone + contract is not? The difference after 2 years is a whole $50 out of approximately $2300.Please stop ignoring the cost of contracts in your consideration.
MrSpadge - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
Doesn't he say clearly enough that the difference is just 50$, and this is not very much - from where ever you look at it. And that difference remains, whatever else you're spending on the phone, contract etc.tbutler - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
Except that the contract cost is going to be the same no matter which phone you choose. So by reductio ad absurdum, phone cost should never matter, because it will always be a small fraction of the contract cost.... right?But, y'know, people do care about these things for some strange reason.
bill4 - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
With these absolute garbage Motorola and HTC droid phones-usually incredibly overpriced too boot-, being their "flagships".I mean this thing is pathetic by todays standards, 960X540? I'm not surprised it's overpriced too, Verizon phones always are. I'm actually shocked they only charge 199 for the GS3 instead of 299 like they usually charge for top phones, but I think they just didnt want to look horrible compared to the other carriers on that one, if they could have gotten away with it they probably would have priced the GS3 at 399 on contract.
I still remember when Verizon had the "HTC Thunderbolt" and everybody thought it was so awesome, ATT got the same phone a little later called the inspire for $100 less and nobody cared, because ATT customers dont have nothing but garbage to choose from on a regular basis.. I think Verizon customers rival Apple for their love of being overcharged.
Verizon is absolutely awful.
danjw - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
So Verizon made HTC nerf their version of the HTC One XL? Most of the benchmarks seem to come in worse then her counter parts on AT&T and Sprint. Epic fail Verizon!chrnochime - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
I'd be happy with a 4" screen phone instead of something even larger. I don't use the phone to play games and nurture my fb page every 10 minutes like a lot of people do or even browse that often, so anything larger is just too bulky to carry around.Looks like I'd end up with an iphone, if there's nothing that's not huge running android in a few months...
geniekid - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
Too bad about the battery life. I really want a 4 to 4.3" phone, but form is secondary to battery life for me. As it stands, I'll probably give up one-handed usability for battery life by getting the SGS3.amdwilliam1985 - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
One-handed usability with SGS3 is very possible. Don't get fool by the Apple cool-aids about 3.5" one-handed and >3.5" 2-handed.I'm surprise to see a lot of girls in the NYC subway using SGS3 with 1 hand, if they can do it you can too. It just takes some time to get use to it. But once you got used to it, you can't look at or type on a puny 3.5" anymore. Trust me, I went from 3.5"(iPhone 3gs) to 4.5"(TMobile SGS2) and I can't go back anymore.