Got mine! First impressions & questions...

[jamala00]

See, that's fine with me. I prefer the form factor of the OG Inc & Rezound to that of the Inc2 and Thunderbolt. For one they should show videos with less of or without the black bars on widescreen content. That and the less width is easier to hold.

I had the Org Inc for 2 years and the Inc 2 for about a month. I could go either way on this one. I really like both of them. I have to say though, when using the Inc 2 in my car doc with Nav, I like the Inc 2 better. I think I would get this phone today if they would wave the $30 "upgrade" fee... That fee leaves a bad vibe with me...!

 

[kjarrett]

On the camera, could you maybe post a shot in regular and lower light. Some of the reviews are saying that the low light shots are extremely grainy.

They are right. See attached. To be fair this same shot taken with my DINC2 is WAY worse, but, if low light photos are important, this could be an issue.

Then again, IIRC, the camera has a ton of settings so maybe you could tweak it.

 

[vzwuser76]

You'll have to get one yourself and check it out. Return it in 14 days if you don't like it... LOL, I was debating that..

Would if I could. I have to wait for my preordered SGS3 to ship before I can even exchange. Since I can't exchange except at a corporate store (which I won't be able to visit until the 20th) I'm hoping some on here will post their thoughts.

 

[question729]

Would if I could. I have to wait for my preordered SGS3 to ship before I can even exchange. Since I can't exchange except at a corporate store (which I won't be able to visit until the 20th) I'm hoping some on here will post their thoughts.

Yes, please post thoughts! I'm so used to Sense, I really don't want to discover missing options and new problems on Touchwiz...

 

[TzuDohNihm]

Any confirmation on ImageSense being present? The store materials do not mention it so I am assuming it isn't.

NVM, review on CNET says no ImageSense.

 

[vzwuser76]

Any confirmation on ImageSense being present? The store materials do not mention it so I am assuming it isn't.

NVM, review on CNET says no ImageSense.

Quite a few of the reviews are saying it has the software, just not the chip (one of which is The Verge). BGR was claiming it had the ImageSense software & chip.

I read the CNET review, the first time I've read one of theirs in awhile. They only gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.

It's kinda sad the reviews we're reading. Used to be when a phone would launch, you'd have reviews from Phandroid, DroidLife, Android Central, Engadget, & BGR at the very least a few days if not a week before the phone launched. I think I read on DroidLife that they just got their review phone a couple of days ago. There aren't even any reviews of the Verizon variant of the Galaxy S3 yet, everyone's going off of the AT&T, T-Mobile, & Sprint versions. It's like Verizon doesn't care about their devices anymore, all they care about is their new data share plans. It's getting to be pathetic for the number one carrier.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Remember, it takes a while for batteries to reach their full charge potential. And, people like me are still actively configuring the phone to optimize performance. We should have good info in about a month or so I'd say.

That's fair enough. I'm just looking at reviews different sites have posted and comparing them to reviews they've done of the DInc2 and the Rezound as those are the handsets I'm most familiar with. The battery life has been less than the Inc2 and closer to the Rezound everywhere I've seen.

 

[hilmar2k]

That's fair enough. I'm just looking at reviews different sites have posted and comparing them to reviews they've done of the DInc2 and the Rezound as those are the handsets I'm most familiar with. The battery life has been less than the Inc2 and closer to the Rezound everywhere I've seen.

It can't be as bad as the Rezound. If it is, the one on its way to me will be going right back. The Rezound is basically useless with the stick battery and a behemoth with the extended battery.

 

[shrewoc]

Well, got mine yesterday an spent the night at work with it. I work where signal is sketchy at best and no wifi so depending on where I am it will have 4g and some areas no signal at all. I did turn off wifi but I left the radios on since this is one thing that will kill a phone fast even if you are not doing anything. To my surprise it lasted all night with some light use, and when I found the 4g spot checking speeds and doing some downloading. So from about a 65% charge and a 10hr shift I still had about 20% left and thats on the initial charge since I didnt have time to do a drain and complete charge before work. First impressions are that this is an amazing phone that I cant wait to root to fix the dumb bloat verizon is trying to ruin this phone with, and most every other phone they sell. I am coming from an OG DINC so I was well overdue for an upgrade. The DINC served me well, but she was thirtsty and getting pretty long in the tooth.

I did call the corporate store that is closest to me first to see and the lady didnt even know it was released and they had none on display. When I got to the store the guy that helped me didnt know they even had them in, they were still in the shipping box in back. They really dont seem to want to sell these, so I know I was the first one at that store, had all the attention of the other sales people wanting to see it, and unless someone knows about this phone they are not likely to walk into a store and be persistant as I was that they could sell me the phone.

Again I am very impressed with it so far. Having not seen any real in depth reviews it was kind of a gamble to pay retail for it and not even get to play with it before basically telling the guy I was going to buy it. I will try to get some use out of it over the next couple days and do a review on it. Im just sad that people are so quick to dismiss this phone just because its not the next phablet with a 4k display. Its fast and the battery so far is impressive.

 

[A.Nonymous]

It can't be as bad as the Rezound. If it is, the one on its way to me will be going right back. The Rezound is basically useless with the stick battery and a behemoth with the extended battery.

That was my exact experience with the Rezound. I had it a week and the battery was dead by noon every day but one. I bitched so much about it that people on here told me I had simply got a bad unit. So I bought another one. It was exactly the same. Then the extra life battery was suggested to me but when I looked at it, it basically triples the size of the phone and I'm not even exaggerating much when I say that. It was ginormous. I'm very curious to know what your experiences are with it battery wise. I've fallen in love with the battery on my Inc2 and I'm not sure I want to give that up to get a 4G phone.

 

[hilmar2k]

That was my exact experience with the Rezound. I had it a week and the battery was dead by noon every day but one. I bitched so much about it that people on here told me I had simply got a bad unit. So I bought another one. It was exactly the same. Then the extra life battery was suggested to me but when I looked at it, it basically triples the size of the phone and I'm not even exaggerating much when I say that. It was ginormous. I'm very curious to know what your experiences are with it battery wise. I've fallen in love with the battery on my Inc2 and I'm not sure I want to give that up to get a 4G phone.

I wonder if Mugen or somebody else will make an extended battery that will fit under the stock battery door. I grabbed the one they made for the Inc2 and it has served me well. Picked up about 20% additional battery life. I would think they might be able to get 2000mAh in there.

 

[jamala00]

Can one of ya test something? How did HTC handle the Apple lawsuit? If you go into the stock browser and do a search for a place. When the search results give you the buttons.. "call", "directions".. etc... click the directions button and does it bring up a pop up asking you if you want to open it with maps or browser? or does it just open it in the browser?

 

[A.Nonymous]

I wonder if Mugen or somebody else will make an extended battery that will fit under the stock battery door. I grabbed the one they made for the Inc2 and it has served me well. Picked up about 20% additional battery life. I would think they might be able to get 2000mAh in there.

I found no need for an extended life battery with the Inc2. My usage gets me 10-12 hours at least and usually 14-16 and that's on the stock battery.

 

[hilmar2k]

I found no need for an extended life battery with the Inc2. My usage gets me 10-12 hours at least and usually 14-16 and that's on the stock battery.

Oh, I had no need either. I'm just greedy.

 

[vzwuser76]

I found no need for an extended life battery with the Inc2. My usage gets me 10-12 hours at least and usually 14-16 and that's on the stock battery.

Just a question, when you were having the Rezound die at noon, what were y using for your data connection? I currently have the Rezound, but don't have access to 4G (unless I travel about 200 miles) so I'm on WiFi and can usually get around 10 hours out of it (depending on how much I'm posting, that seems to really suck up battery).

When I have been in a 4G area, it does suck it down, but I used WiFi unless I really needed the speed. I do have the extended battery also, and while it does add size & weight, it doesn't seem so bad to me. Of course, I started out on a phone that was 3 times the thickness and weight (Moto MicroTac 650e analog phone), so even with the extended battery it feels like a featherweight.

But I will agree with you on the Inc2, that phone would get me around 1.5-2 days on a charge, but it was also 3G only. Battery optimization does help, but these OEMs really need to work on making batteries that can pack more juice in a smaller space. Granted, a 65nm cpu would probably be dead in about an hour on LTE, but even shrinking the die seems to only net a slight improvement over the previous generation.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Just a question, when you were having the Rezound die at noon, what were y using for your data connection? I currently have the Rezound, but don't have access to 4G (unless I travel about 200 miles) so I'm on WiFi and can usually get around 10 hours out of it (depending on how much I'm posting, that seems to really suck up battery).

When I have been in a 4G area, it does suck it down, but I used WiFi unless I really needed the speed. I do have the extended battery also, and while it does add size & weight, it doesn't seem so bad to me. Of course, I started out on a phone that was 3 times the thickness and weight (Moto MicroTac 650e analog phone), so even with the extended battery it feels like a featherweight.

But I will agree with you on the Inc2, that phone would get me around 1.5-2 days on a charge, but it was also 3G only. Battery optimization does help, but these OEMs really need to work on making batteries that can pack more juice in a smaller space. Granted, a 65nm cpu would probably be dead in about an hour on LTE, but even shrinking the die seems to only net a slight improvement over the previous generation.

I live in a 4G area so that was what it was connected to. I had many, many, many people tell me to just turn 4G off. To me that seemed as silly as your doctor telling you not to lift your arm above your head if doing so was painful.

 

[today]

I live in a 4G area so that was what it was connected to. I had many, many, many people tell me to just turn 4G off. To me that seemed as silly as your doctor telling you not to lift your arm above your head if doing so was painful.

Or a mechanic who turns the radio louder to drown out a noise in the engine.

 

[vzwuser76]

I live in a 4G area so that was what it was connected to. I had many, many, many people tell me to just turn 4G off. To me that seemed as silly as your doctor telling you not to lift your arm above your head if doing so was painful.

Okay, I remember getting into an argument with ya about this a few months back. We'll stop it here so we don't hijack the thread again.

But if your arm hurts when you raise it above your head, why would you keep doing it? JK

 

[NightxFall]

Glad you all are enjoying your phones Maybe I'll join you all someday

 

[jamala00]

Can one of ya test something? How did HTC handle the Apple lawsuit? If you go into the stock browser and do a search for a place. When the search results give you the buttons.. "call", "directions".. etc... click the directions button and does it bring up a pop up asking you if you want to open it with maps or browser? or does it just open it in the browser?

No? Nobody is able to try this out for me??

 

[kjarrett]

Can one of ya test something? How did HTC handle the Apple lawsuit? If you go into the stock browser and do a search for a place. When the search results give you the buttons.. "call", "directions".. etc... click the directions button and does it bring up a pop up asking you if you want to open it with maps or browser? or does it just open it in the browser?

Mine went straight to the browser.

 

[jamala00]

Mine went straight to the browser.

damb it, that is what the last update did to the Inc 2. How can Apple patent some basic function like this. Come On... Google Nav and Goolge Search and you can't link the two so it opens right up in Maps and start Navigation? I wonder if the SG3 does the same thing when it comes out... Sorry but that is a joke, my old Org Inc prompted you to open in the browser or Maps... I think I am going to have to root this Inc 2

Thanks for checking kjarrett!!

 

[hilmar2k]

Mine went straight to the browser.

Yup...same here.

 

[jrmckins]

can someone test if they can go into maps and search for a location while talking on the phone?

 

[hilmar2k]

can someone test if they can go into maps and search for a location while talking on the phone?

Huh? What are you asking us to test?