HTC Droid Incredible Review

Introduction:

Continuing Android's legacy brought forth by the Motorola DROID's release with Verizon, news about something truly incredible were already simmering out of the seams a month after the DROID made its mark. There is no denying at this point that Verizon is clearly at ease now that Android's launch has proven to be such a huge success and will venture even deeper by following up with HTC Droid Incredible that will take its reign in the US as the most powerful Android device currently available. Verizon customers aren't strangers to an Android powered HTC device; they've all been well adjusted with the HTC DROID ERIS and its Sense UI. The Droid Incredible is yet another product out of HTC's camp that will hopefully take up its arms and prove to be a stellar hit just like the Motorola DROID, but one can only imagine how this device, like the Nexus One, will be adopted by consumers who are easily scared away from the prospect of it being outdated already. Diving head first into the thick of the battle, the HTC Droid Incredible will need to be packing enough heat to entice owners for a warranted purchase.

The package contains:
HTC Droid Incredible
Quick Start Guide
Wall Charger
microUSB Cable
Product Safety & Warranty Brochure

Design:

Building up to this point, we've been hearing all too often how the HTC Droid Incredible would test the limits of its hardware specifications – but we've begun to notice its Achilles Heel as we took a closer look at it. Up until this point, we've been treated to some spectacular designs from the Taiwan based manufacturer, but the HTC Droid Incredible just doesn't breathe in anything remarkable in its build to substantially give it the cool factor – something that the Nexus One clearly wins over the Droid Incredible. Rather than utilizing premium materials and a futuristic design, the handset's design approach is lackluster due partly to its mundane clean slate form factor that doesn't scream the industrial designs that made HTC's products stand out. Instead we are greeted to a completely all black plastic shell that is quickly complimented with the subtle red accents and a soft matte rear finish that attempts to tack on a sense of style to the device. Its back side might have some interesting shapes, but ultimately, the HTC Droid Incredible lacks that overall quality feel and construction that was witnessed with the Desire and Nexus One – the cheap feeling materials make us question its durability over time as well. Thankfully, the weight distribution (4.6 oz) is spread out evenly to make it balanced when holding on the hand – plus it looks and feels a bit more compact (4.63” x 2.30” x 0.47”)  and manageable in the pockets.



You can compare the HTC Droid Incredible with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Many have already argued how the HTC Droid Incredible is basically a re-branded HTC Desire when you look deep into what's under the hood and found in its software. Taking an almost identical approach, the Droid Incredible's 3.7” WVGA AMOLED touchscreen will continue to be a staple of the current line of high-end Android handsets – its support for 16 million colors eloquently jumps out from all angles. We found its capacitive touchscreen to be quite responsive to the touch, but it continues to be a treasure trove for those pesky finger prints and smudges. Aside from the lack of visibility when viewing the phone outdoors in direct sunlight, we found very few faults with the performance of its display – even fine text are detailed enough to read out from a zoomed out view. Above the screen, both the light and proximity sensors are found next to one another and give the user the most optimal viewing experience when the display brightness is set to automatic. Nonetheless, the display's luminance is clearly one of its most attractive and prominent features.


Unlike the HTC Desire, the standard set of buttons typical to Android have reverted back to being touch sensitive ones – which are built into the surface of the touchscreen and blend well with the black finish to have an overall clean look. The optical track pad is in effect on the Droid Incredible and offers a decent responsive feel; even when pressing it down to make a selection. Again, it is flush with the surrounding surface and is the only item to stand out distinctly when the screen is not turned on or in use. As for the rest of the physical buttons on the handset, they are only limited to the volume rocker and dedicated power button – both of which are slightly raised and are accompanied with a decent tactile response. The only other things to be seen on the sides of the phone are the 3.5mm headset jack on the top edge while the microUSB port is on the left side. On the back, the 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash slightly protrudes from the rest of the phone – so laying it flat on its back will result in the camera coming in contact with the surface. There is also a single notch near the camera which is used for the speaker phone. Finally, you literally have to yank out the rear cover to gain access to the completely red innards of the device, battery, and microSD slot.

Interface:

There is one clear advantage that the HTC Droid Incredible offers here in the US – it's the only one to pack the latest version of the Sense UI running on top of Android 2.1. The only other device to provide the same level of experience is none other than the recently launched HTC Desire in Europe. Other than that, they are identically the same in almost every aspect in its software experience and performance. However, it'll still prove to be an attractive option to customers as there won't be any others to contend in the same space for a tiny bit – that's of course until the HTC EVO 4G arrives.

Speaking of operational speed and specifications, we just have to admit the HTC Droid Incredible is lighting fast. It's like a cheetah. This is to be expected, of course, given the snappy 1GHz processor and 576MB RAM. Still, nothing is perfect and the rules applies here as well – you can sometimes witness software lagging when switching on an interactive Live Wallpaper, especially if you try to bring down the machine to its knees by running too many applications at the same time (say player, browser etc.). The peppy nature of the HTC Droid Incredible just makes the experience of using Android such a pleasure; especially when there are few instances of it crawling to a standstill.

The home screen consists of seven pages that can host various widgets, shortcuts, and folders. Some of the available widgets come with compact versions that do not take up much screen space, but others like FriendStream require a whole page. By the way, this is an application that provides the latest Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr updates from your relevant accounts. Moreover, it allows for simultaneous Facebook and Twitter status updates. We cannot call the program innovative, since it closely resembles the Happenings widget of Motorola’s MOTOBLUR interface, plus it cannot really replace dedicated applications for access to the mentioned networks.


You can save your home screen page settings in the form of themes called Scenes or, alternatively, use one of the preloaded ones made by HTC. We do like the “helicopter view” that shows all seven pages at the same time. You can enter this mode by double-pressing the home button that takes you to the home screen or simply “pinching” the screen. Thanks to the extra feature, you can get right to the page you need in a snap, without having to scroll pages until you get dizzy.

For the most part, there were relatively few instances when we noticed the handset straining to keep up. Plus the customized Android experience with the newest version of the Sense UI goes far deeper in offering some conveniences without having the hassle of running separate applications. Lastly, the HTC Droid Incredible's power packed specs exemplifies its ability to run the platform so smoothly without sacrificing the seamless experience.

Phone Contacts:

The application "People" is one of the seven great wonders of modern smartphone software. You might need some time to get used to it and learn how to get around, but the phone book offers access to an excruciating amount of information and shows your Facebook contacts. You can also add a great number of extra details about each person, browse their latest pictures and profile status updates.



Organizer:

As a whole, pretty much everything here is awesome. The calendar can be synchronized with various sources of information like Google (multiple accounts), Facebook and PC Sync. Moreover, you will be able to take a look at the weather forecast for your region on opening the calendar in daily view, which is handy indeed. The alarms, world clock, stopwatch, desk clock, and timer functions are unified in a single and totally cool menu. Unfortunately, the HTC Droid Incredible lacks pre-installed tasks application, although Android Market is brimming with programs with similar functionality.



Messaging:

You are allowed to set up several email accounts, but you will have to put up with the fact you cannot browse them at the same time, meaning only one can be active at a time. Like all other contemporary handsets, the HTC Droid Incredible offers automated email set up if you are registered with a popular service provider. Still, all settings relating to specific servers, like our own, require manual entry (it seems only BlackBerry devices can automatically handle the task).

Typing away is a dream come true when using the screen keyboards of the HTC Droid Incredible. The 3.7-inch display and its high native resolution provide ample space for keys. It’s available in several modes, including the phone keypad, compact QWERTY, full landscape and portrait QWERTY keyboards. Important symbols are brought onto all full QWERTY layouts and they can be typed in by holding the corresponding key pressed for a while. The feature may come in pretty handy, especially in case you need to enter passwords containing several special symbols. All told, the HTC Droid Incredible is really comfortable when it comes to message composing.



Connectivity & Internet:

Just like the HTC Legend and Desire, the Droid Incredible supports Flash (its Lite version, if we have to be punctual). This makes web pages more lively, because animated elements get loaded properly, plus you can watch videos (not everywhere) and listen to online music. Whatever it is that Apple claims, Flash is still in power today and we don't think this will change soon.

The browser does a great job in rendering web site properly as you would see them on a desktop computer, but in addition, it handles the rearrangement of text succinctly to the point where it is most optimized. As you change your level of zoom, the text will automatically format so as to fit the width of your screen. Zooming can be accomplished by either double tapping or executing multi-touch actions like pinching. Scrolling as a whole was smooth in every direction while pictures instantly displayed even when you continuously scroll. Multitaskers will especially be pleased by the Droid Incredible's ability to retain web content when multiple pages are opened. You're given a preview of each active page and can scroll to a specific one. Hands down, the HTC Droid Incredible easily takes the flag away from the Motorola DROID in the web browsing department and now lays claim to offering the best experience on Verizon's lineup.

Camera:

One clear numerical value where the Droid Incredible trumps the Desire can be found in the camera department. It ups the ante now that it is packing an 8-megapixel camera with auto-focus and dual-LED flash to supplement its status over its brother. We adore the fact that you can simply touch a section of the screen for the camera to focus on and that snapshots are almost instantly saved to the device. The interface is relatively poor in terms of options, although it does feature modern functions like manually adjustable contrast, color saturation and sharpness – but the face detection feature seen on the HTC Desire was inherently missing. Similar to the Desire, when it comes to video capturing, the maximum resolution is 800x480 pixels and the frames per second vary from 26 (outdoors) to nearly 17 (indoors).


Quality was on par with what we experienced on the HTC Desire, but the higher 8-megapixel camera didn't offer any stunning images over its brother to make it stand head above the water. We still experienced the somewhat overcast look in outdoor shots, but it didn't take away from the overall decent images that were captured. Indoor shots can prove to be trying even with the dual-LED flash it packs because shots taken in close proximity, say 3 feet, resulted in over-exposed images. We found that taking photos with the flash from a reasonable distance of 5 feet proved to offer the best quality – at the same time, it attempted to focus in on the shot the best it could. When taking photos in complete pitch dark conditions, image quality varied as the phone had a difficult time auto-focusing. Thanks partly to its ability to capture videos at a high resolution, the Droid Incredible can easily save precious moments without missing a beat. One thing we noticed was that the handset only recorded at one specific focus level that we set initially before recording – so that means it won't focus if an object moves closer or further away,



HTC Droid Incredible sample video at 800x480 pixels resolution

With a serious focus on being connected, the Droid Incredible's ability to capture images and videos clearly places it in the upper echelon of Verizon's offerings. It's not to say that it can't become a replacement for a digital camera, but there are still other elements that could be improved to make it a clear differentiator in being an all-around hit.

Multimedia:

With high end specs in tow, we knew beforehand that its video playback was going to be truly spectacular – and we weren't disappointed by the results. Even though it lacks support for DivX and Xvid, multimedia buffs will be glad nonetheless by how easily its able to play high resolution videos. We were able to load up videos with various resolutions and found all to run smoothly without any slowdown to hinder the experience. After playing a video coded in H.264 with a resolution of 720x306, the Droid Incredible didn't even stutter at any point – which ultimately goes to show its prowess in this department.

The HTC Droid Incredible also features TV Out with support for the following formats: NTSC-M, NTSC-J, PAL-BDGHIN, PAL-M and PAL-N. However, a TV Out cable is missing from the box, so we guess it will become available as an additional accessory at some point.


HTC's audio player is certainly not a sight unseen. It features various content filtering options and none that pertains to audio playback modification (lacks equalizer). In case you don't like that, you can always visit the Android Market and get one of the numerous players available there. Personally, we like "³" (also known as Cubic) best, because of its spectacular interface.


After we've tested out the riveting performance on the Motorola DROID's speaker volume, we weren't too keen in thinking the Droid Incredible could match it – especially when a tiny notch on the back is all that stood between the speaker and environment. We were thoroughly surprised by its near deafening tones. It'll easily cause an alarm to unsuspecting individuals who aren't prepared for its bombastic tones. Audio quality sounded sharp at the highest volume setting, but toning it down allowed for a more suitable experience that is pleasant to the ears. One of the biggest shocks with the handset is that it lacks any headphones in the packaging – which sticks out like a sore thumb because it looks like every high-end HTC offering comes packed with one. To add further insult to the situation, the FM Radio requires you to plug in a pair of headphones to get it to work. Despite all of that, it’s actually a novelty feature for the Android line-up of HTC and comes with a super simple interface. Still, what’s important here is the application is snappy and equipped with functional RDS that detects radio channel names instantaneously.

GPS & Software:

The only software pack for navigation and maps that is pre-installed on the HTC Desire is Google Maps version 4 that brings certain novelties like information layers. If you decide to help the GPS module and activate it in assisted mode, getting your exact location pinpointed will take just a few seconds. Without it, you will have to wait for 4-5 minutes to find out where you are (after hardware reset) and less than a minute if you have already been located exactly.


We post news about the evolution of the Android Market in our news section on regular. The latest data shows more than 9,000 applications have been added to the application catalog in March alone and some estimate the total number of programs is well in excess of 40,000 today. Still, keep in mind that some applications are unavailable in certain regions, for an instance, you might be unable to access paid-for programs. As a whole, the Android Market is a great source of more (or less) useful software, but is exceptionally poor when it comes to proper games (alongside of Apple's App Store). One of the titles with the best graphics we have seen is Raging Thunder II that plays relatively smoothly on the HTC Droid Incredible, although not as much as on the iPhone 3GS.


The smartphone even includes the nifty Car Panel app that brings up a simple interface with larger than normal sized icons to some additional apps – it essentially is a hub for some of the location based services offered on the phone.

Performance:

If the HTC Desire's exceptional phone quality was any indication of what to expect with the HTC Droid Incredible, we weren't disappointed with what we experienced. Just like it, the Droid Incredible utterly beat our expectations by offering a sensible calling experience which is accompanied with clear and distinct voices on both ends – no apparent static noise could be heard in the background. Speaker volume was more than ample to make out conversations without the need for repetitions, but switching over to the speaker phone proved to be a bit more difficult. Despite having some serious loud tones, the speaker phone made voices sound somewhat muffled – but lowering it a bit made it tolerable.

HTC claims that the HTC Droid Incredible provides up to 5.21 hours of continuous talk time and remains operational for up to 6 days of stand-by on 3G networks. On our first round of testing with an extreme focus on sending text messages and web surfing, we were able to get past the 12 hour mark before a notification came up to connect it to a power source. When we tested it out for a second time, this time we were moderately using the handset, we were able to get an almost full day before requiring a recharge. Naturally this would be more than enough to clearly justify its normal operation for most users.

*Update (April 26, 2010):
After conducting a few battery tests we were able to get up to 5 hours and 30 minutes of continuous talk time on a full charge, or up to 20 hours with mixed usage.

Conclusion: 

There were many incredible aspects that we were able to experience with the device that ultimately shows HTC's continuation in being a leader in the Android world. With two similar handsets already out on the market, the Nexus One and Desire, the Droid Incredible manages to follow suit more with the latter of the two. Unfortunately, the minimalistic design approach is the one glaringly eye sore that hinders the Droid Incredible to be elevated to a level beyond its brothers, and with the HTC EVO 4G on the horizon, it'll have a small window of opportunity to make its impact. Verizon customers are once again being treated to the best Android phone to hit the US market – easily supplanting itself as the premier offering on their lineup; even when the Nexus One finally arrives on the scene. In the end, Verizon and HTC will clearly make out well on both ends as they both become the driving forces for Android's ubiquitous appeal.

Software version of the reviewed unit: 1.22.605.2