Phone upgrade - Verizon - Incredible 2?

[Demo24]

My mom is due for an upgrade off her Eris which she got back during the promotion of buy 1 droid get an eris. The phone works ok, but its obviously pretty slow and the battery life sucks on it. I realized the Incredible 2 is out now and from the reviews it seems like a pretty good phone. My only hold back is that it's not dual core, but she's hardly a power user. I would say battery life and ease of operation win over max power. The IN2 seems to do very well in that department, and it's getting gingerbread very soon.

LTE won't do much good as she would only get to use it on the weekends when going to town.

So do you guys think this is a good route? Technically she's on 1 yr upgrade cycle, but it's unlikely shes going to be tempted to dish out another 200 bucks in a year. So I am thinking this phone would have a fair bit more longevity than the Eris which was outdated when she got it.


(no iphone, she doesn't want it)

 

[Bateluer]

The Inc2 looks like a solid phone, I'm assuming she's never going to root or mod it all though. Its a big upgrade from an Eris, similar CPU/GPU to a TB, Desire HD, Desire S, or IncS.

 

[thedosbox]

I have an Incredible S (basically the same device with some chrome), and have rarely found the battery below 40% after 24 hours. That's with moderate surfing over a 3G connection, along with synching of two accounts (gmail + exchange) every 15 minutes. The screen brightness makes a big difference to battery life.

The size is about as large as I'd want for one handed operation, and the grippy back is a nice, confidence inspiring, featue.

The only issues I have with mine are:
- the back creaks a little on one side. I suspect this is because the material is fairly flexible
- notification LED doesn't stay on for more than a few minutes
- need to use the power button to wake the screen after it's timed out. I can see this being a point of failure after awhile.

 

[XJustMeX21]

there's an app that will allow you to use the volume keys to wake the thunderbolt, hopefully it makes its way to the incredible 2 as well

 

[s44]

It's thoroughly locked down. It may see root someday, but don't *expect* it. Why spend $200 on this over a Droid X exactly?

 

[illusion88]

Im looking at the droid inc 2 as well. It looks like a solid phone. It's not exactly cutting edge, no LTE and only a single core. But I won't be doing a ton of CPU intensive things so I dont think it will matter. What I mostly want the phone for is occasionally browsing, email, texting, calling, and a few pictures here and there.

 

[Bateluer]

there's an app that will allow you to use the volume keys to wake the thunderbolt, hopefully it makes its way to the incredible 2 as well

Whats the name of this app?

It's thoroughly locked down. It may see root someday, but don't *expect* it. Why spend $200 on this over a Droid X exactly?

Pretty sure it'll be rooted in short order, if it hasn't already been. I'd link something, but a lot of sites of blocked at work.

 

[s44]

Pretty sure it'll be rooted in short order, if it hasn't already been.

The Inc S has been out for a while and still doesn't have permanent root. HTC is the new Moto -- there's a reason why Cyanogen is sporting a G2x.

 

[Bateluer]

The Inc S has been out for a while and still doesn't have permanent root. HTC is the new Moto -- there's a reason why Cyanogen is sporting a G2x.

Other than it being a pretty badass phone? And LG giving them away to a dozen different devs via Twitter?

 

[Demo24]

Highly unlikely to see root or any sort of mod. Modability is not a determining factor as I want this phone to be solid and stable. The only reason root might be seen is to uninstall some proprietary apps, whatever they might be.

DX is already a year old, figured we'd go for the newest phone out there. Rumors about the DX2, but no idea when that might release.

 

[Bateluer]

DX is already a year old, figured we'd go for the newest phone out there. Rumors about the DX2, but no idea when that might release.

12-14 May is what the blogosphere/rumormill is saying now, with instructions to clear Dx stock. Might see Dx on sale for some good deals, though, as you said, its a year old.

 

[boomhower]

Highly unlikely to see root or any sort of mod. Modability is not a determining factor as I want this phone to be solid and stable. The only reason root might be seen is to uninstall some proprietary apps, whatever they might be.

DX is already a year old, figured we'd go for the newest phone out there. Rumors about the DX2, but no idea when that might release.

The internals of the Incredible 2 are far from cutting edge, seems to be more of just a rehash with a bigger screen. Have you looked at the Droid 2 Global?

 

[shah456]

I would get the Thunderbolt or the Bionic, when it comes out.

 

[Demo24]

12-14 May is what the blogosphere/rumormill is saying now, with instructions to clear Dx stock. Might see Dx on sale for some good deals, though, as you said, its a year old.

I see, may wait on that then but only if the specs are drastically better.

The internals of the Incredible 2 are far from cutting edge, seems to be more of just a rehash with a bigger screen. Have you looked at the Droid 2 Global?

INC2 does have the newest qualcom chip in it, which does make it a bit faster and more efficient than the previous one. Screen is suppose to be quite good as well.

I would get the Thunderbolt or the Bionic, when it comes out.

Thunderbolt - no need for lte and it has horrid battery life, and older specs than the INC2. No reason to get it.
Bionic - no one knows when that will ever show up, and again no need for LTE on her phone. I may upgrade to LTE later in the year.

 

[s44]

INC2 does have the newest qualcom chip in it, which does make it a bit faster and more efficient than the previous one. Screen is suppose to be quite good as well.

Still worse on both processor and screen than the Fascinate.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

INC2 does have the newest qualcom chip in it, which does make it a bit faster and more efficient than the previous one. Screen is suppose to be quite good as well.

TBH the increases in Quadrant have been from:

1) Software improvements
2) GPU improvements

The CPU isn't actually faster. The CPU in a well optimized Nexus One is darn fast too. It's the slowass Adreno 200 holding it back in benchmark scores. You're not gonna get a blazing fast Incredible S experience unless you're doing gaming.

 

[thedosbox]

Still worse on both processor and screen than the Fascinate.

If you're referring to the Samsung Fascinate, then it's worth noting that has the dreaded Pentile screen.

Battery life on the Incredible S has been reported to be superior to the previous generation of 1GHz phones.

In short, sometimes usability and reliability are more important than keeping up with the Joneses.

 

[s44]

If you're referring to the Samsung Fascinate, then it's worth noting that has the dreaded Pentile screen.

Which is still better than any non-SAMOLED screen except arguably the iPhone's.

edit -- I mean, you could prefer the larger space of the Droid X or Thunderbolt's LCD, but at an identical 4" there's no comparison. As for battery life, it definitely kills the Inc1, but the Droid X was excellent in its own right, and so is the Charge...

 

[thedosbox]

Which is still better than any non-SAMOLED screen except arguably the iPhone's.

People who read a lot of text would disagree with you. And given that Samsung have dumped Pentile in their "Plus" screens...

 

[XJustMeX21]

Widgetlocker will let you use any hardware button to wake the phone.