Thinking of going from IPhone to Incredible

[khaos]

I wonder if Verizon will let me trial run this phone.

They will. Within thirty days the early termination is waived i believe, if you return the phone. If you return within three days i think it is free, within thirty you just pay a thirty folksy restocking fee, which is not much.

Four reasons to switch...
Open coding, little restriction
Swype, which is phenomenal
Verizon
This really has some great hardware. Don't care what people day this phone is a workhorse

 

[Mikhailov]

Couple things don't like about the Incredible is it feels cheap compared to the iphone. And iPhone has a ton more quality games. I am a Mac user too and it can be a pain syncing to your phone everything. I love Macs, even like the iPhone but really just go tired of the missing features.

If you don't have a gmail account, get one. You can sync google calendar with iCal, and you can sync your mac address book with the google one. This way all your contacts and calendar events will not have to be re-done when you get the phone (if you do)

I love iPhone's games too, but I seldom ever play them. The battery life cuts out on me if I do. I do more social networking on my phone than anything else. I browse the web, check facebook, and check Twitter. Even iPod and movie watching are secondary since I got the iPad.

I wonder if I can visit Homestar Runner on the incredible. Can't do that on an iPhone.

 

[Rimzy]

I dont have an iphone but i have an ipod, and the only reason i am keeping my ipod is because of itunes, music, movies.... I want my phone to be a wonderful experience thats why i dont want to clog it up with songs and stuff, i know there has been some battery issues with the incredible, but i am a student, i am almost always with my laptop and i can charge my phone anytime, plus with an extended battery i am all set. the only thing for me is, i have seen the leaked photos of the motorola shadow and that looks amazing, but i prefer sense, so i am waiting till august to upgrade, i go into the vzw store every week for my incredible fix though

 

[FlyPenFly]

Media sync with my 16gb itunes library with podcasts and smart playlist is an absolute pain. None of the current solutions work correctly. The android media players are also very basic and a little cheap feeling unpolished. Full a2dp is good though.

To be honest the primary reason im switching is because of google voice integration and the verizon network. If apple released a high res fast iPhone on verizon with gv and swype, I'd still use the iPhone. It has better apps and ux and just feels a lot more polished. Alas gv and verizon will never happen so Im stuck in android land which is not a bad place to be.

 

[Mikhailov]

I'm going to check this week if my AT&T contract is really up (I'm sure it is, but my gf bought the 3Gs when we added her to my line, and then handed it to me while she took my 3G). Shouldn't be an issue to drop the company if I keep her phone on it. Pending that discussion, I'll head to VZW and find out about the Incredible. If all goes well, this phone will be in my hands by Friday.

 

[Mikhailov]

Contractually, I'm looking at a $95 termination. That's if I terminate before the 1st I think? (with Att's new plan-maybe that's for new contracts). Part of the reason I want to switch is because of that contract increase. Don't want to be bogged into a $300+ early termination.

 

[xmnj]

Contractually, I'm looking at a $95 termination. That's if I terminate before the 1st I think? (with Att's new plan-maybe that's for new contracts). Part of the reason I want to switch is because of that contract increase. Don't want to be bogged into a $300+ early termination.

You won't get hit with the new ETF, unless you make a contract change after the 1st. Your current contract ETF will remain the same.

 

[live4spd]

I converted from an iPhone 2 weeks ago and here are some of my impressions.

1. AT&T worked fine when I was in Michigan; since I have moved to ND, they don't work for squat. So having VZW is a big plus since things actually work.

2. Speed of Verizon's network is not great but it's reliable.

3. Google Navigation on the device is awesome. I had CoPilot on the iPhone before but the google's nav is way better.

4. Web browser is at least as good as Iphone (3GS) or better. It seems faster then the 3Gs. Mosts tests say the iphone is faster but whatever, my websites definitely render quicker.

5. Screen on the Incredible is georgeous. It does not work well outside as most report, I would say you lose about 33% of brightness over the iPhone outdoors.

6. Auto rotate doesn't work on as many apps as iPhone. On top of that auto rotate only rotates one direction you can't flip the phone 180 degrees and have something work. It will just be upside down.

7. Camera on HTC Inc, is not as good as iPhone. Same story with video. Does come with flash but so what, the pictures are still grainy.

8. Itunes is non existent. You'll have to find / buy other apps to download / buy music podcasts etc from the phone. It is possible on the Inc, but not nearly as easy.

9. Live wallpapers and widgets are cool on the Inc.

10. in general the HTC Inc, is way more customizable. But some options are not really that useful and almost rather it be fixed.

11. Android market is full of a lot of crap that doesn't work on certain phones. So now you have the case where you might find an app you like but it wont' work on the HTC inc. That sux. The market should "filter" this for you or something.

12. Integration with Google is nice. Gmail and google apps, calender, finance all that can be synced up. That is pretty cool.

13. Form factor is about the same, but the HTC Inc is noticably lighter.

14. All your iPhone stuff will be useless, chargers, docks, speaker systems etc.

15. You can get tethering on the HTC Inc. Free and pay options.

16. No hardware switch to change between vibrate and ring options.

17. HTC Inc feels more flimsy and seems not sealed very well. After 1.5 years of the iPhone in my pocket there is NO DUST under the screen. I know in a month I'll have dust in the HTC Inc.

18. Battery life is probably 10 - 20% less then iPhone. But you could carry a spare.

19. Bluetooth doesn't work as good as iPhone. The range is similar to other phones I have had about 10-20 feet. iPhone I could walk outside with phone sitting inside, it worked amazingly good.

20. Call options to switch between speaker, bluetooth, and phone not as friendly.

21. HTC Inc. puts off some weird interference in the car, on the radio. Not nearly as much as the iPhone though.

So overall I like it, but if Verizon comes out with iPhone, the Incredible of mine will be on ebay.

 

[Mikhailov]

That's a bit of a relief. So I can try the Incredible on Friday and terminate my contract with At&T after the WWDC then. I checked with a Verizon brochure I got my hands on last week. I get 30 days to try it out. The only thing is I want to port my number over. If I switch without terminating my contract first, I may not be able to do that.

Talked to the gf at least. If I give her the 3Gs and let her use my iTunes account, she'll consent to me selling the jailbroken 3G for at least the cost of the Incredible.

 

[xmnj]

That's a bit of a relief. So I can try the Incredible on Friday and terminate my contract with At&T after the WWDC then. I checked with a Verizon brochure I got my hands on last week. I get 30 days to try it out. The only thing is I want to port my number over. If I switch without terminating my contract first, I may not be able to do that.

Talked to the gf at least. If I give her the 3Gs and let her use my iTunes account, she'll consent to me selling the jailbroken 3G for at least the cost of the Incredible.

I would try out the phone before porting, as the port will cancel the line. I am in a similiar situation as you, I ordered the Incredible on Friday, expecting to receive it around the time of WWDC, so by then I should have an idea on whether I will keep my iPhone or switch to the Incredible.

 

[Wrathenn]

I dumped my AT&T iPhone 3G about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago for the Incredible, and haven't looked back since! For me the decision came down to 2 major things, the first being that the network performance I was getting from AT&T was just terrible. When the iPad came out I did a ton of research on it, and on the various 'rumors' regarding the impending iPhone 4G launch. The conclusion that I came to, as both a consumer and as a technical user (I am a network engineer by trade) was that the iPhone just wasn't for me anymore.

Luckily the number port from AT&T to VZW for my Incredible happened literally on the last day of the AT&T billing cycle, so I didn't get nailed for another month of charges. On top of that, the ETF from AT&T was only $105, not the $175 I was expecting.

So, do it, you won't regret it!

 

[Mikhailov]

One of the issues I have is iTunes syncing. I have all my playlists through them, as well as some DRM protected stuff. I can download TuneSync and sync wirelessly (which I like), but the DRM thing may be an issue. Like I said, though, I can just use the iPad for that (coupled with my non-drm songs and Pandora on the Incredible.

Are there any other issues I need consider in switching? I am going to get this on Friday and hopefully cancel the AT&T after WWDC.

Also are there any CT owners who switched and are happy with it? I live in CT.

Thank you to everyone for your help, input, and testimony. Seems a lot of iPhoners are switching to Droid phones.

 

[Asterdroid]

I work for at&t , and have had an iphone for a few years now!
I made the switch and haven't looked back! Bigger screen, higher resolution, faster, and over all a better phone. Plus the fact that Apple is turning into what Apple used to be!

Fixed.

They almost went out of business back in the day because of their proprietary B.S. It almost killed them once, and they still haven't learned their lesson.

 

[wedgemoose]

Because you'll be on Verizon!!!!! PERIOD.....

Don't take offense anybody. I may not be a phone pro like most but I am a network pro. I have had every service there is (along with a million "early termination fee's). I travel all over the country and use my phone NON-Stop...

If your not on Verizon network, you don't even have a phone....(again, don't take offense). I'm just saying that verizon is ten times better then the next (no exaggeration). I had someone at Verizon explain it, with a good analogy, to me on how the phone connects to the network. But i can't remember what they said. it was perfect though. something like this; 'take a fuse box in your house. all other networks connect multiple calls to one fuse. Verizon calls each get their own fuse'.

again it was something like that but much better.


the Incredible is the BEST phone i have ever had. I wanted the I-phone bad and checked EVERY day to see when Verizon was getting it. Now i could care less(althought the I-phone 4 is nice).

 

[mrspeedmaster]

I am using my Incredible full-time until the iPhone 4G comes out. Do not dismiss the iPhone.

There are a couple of issues with the Incredible and I think it may be more HTC Sense related than Android itself.

1) Very unintuitive quirks they need to fix.
I'll just list 2 examples of bad UI design:

a) If you click on the favorite tab in the default scene and hit the "+" plus button to add a contact, it goes to the list of users in your contact. Normal UI dictates the next action is when you click on the name, the user should be added to your favorites. This is not the case. Why would the 1st window have a plus button? It should be a search icon or something because I am clearly not adding a user to my favorites.

b) Marketplace search. This is one example where the app doesn't work with the input interface. I would type something in the search bar and hit the physical "search" button on the device at the bottom. Instead of searching the market place, it goes to Google's search result? What? This is a google app. The app should know that the search button is a submit click. Some may say, it is a separate thing and not related to the app. I've heard that it is only suppose to launch the internet search. I'll refute that because it clearly is related because it takes whatever I type in the Marketplace search input and uses it to get my (internet) result. So what was the solution? Simply ignore using the physical search button and click on the search icon WITHIN the app.

Again, example of really piss-poor UI interface design

2) Killing tasks. Some things should not be killed and I learn that the hard way. When I run out of memory, I usually just kill everything with taskiller.
Well, this kills my alarm clock. I use my phone as my alarm clock. The Alarm clock icon is still in the task bar on-top. You would think it is still running. I guess taskiller killed the daemon process but still lets the OS keep the icon on top. Well, I think alarm clock notifications should be part of the phone core's services like ringing when a call comes in. This is clearly not the case.

These gripes may be all HTC Sense related. I have not worked on a stock Android so I can't comment.

 

[Mischka7]

Can you former iPhone owners tell me why you switched, and help me break up with At&T?

90% of my business calls in downtown San Francisco were failing or getting dropped. Otherwise, I would have waited until the 4G came out before breaking my contract w/ ATT.

That said, I need a jack-of-all-trades smartphone w/ good integration w/ Google and reliable phone/data connectivity. The Incredible fits the bill in that sense.

However, I should mention that whereas the iPhone had one way to skin a cat there's ten different ways to the skin a cat on the Incredible. That translates into a more customized workflow on the Incredible, but it also means that people who are more accustomed to Apple's "full service" approach will get frustrated easily.

 

[goodbyeiphone]

I did it. I just forwarded my iphone calls to the dinc until I decided to keep the dinc. After 7 days, I canceled the iphone. Seriously, the dinc is way more sophisticated and makes the iphone seem like the "grandma" phone. Give it a try and see!

 

[Mikhailov]

I think every phone has its quirks. iPhone has them too. It's a matter of preference for me and I think I'd prefer Android at this point for a phone and Apple for everything else.

How did you forward your calls to the Incredible?

 

[gorenut]

However, I should mention that whereas the iPhone had one way to skin a cat there's ten different ways to the skin a cat on the Incredible. That translates into a more customized workflow on the Incredible, but it also means that people who are more accustomed to Apple's "full service" approach will get frustrated easily.

Pretty much sums up what I think about Android vs iPhone. I think once you get the hang of how Android works and knowing using the right apps at your disposal to customize your phone, you can really make your phone your own.

The clock thing in the post before this one (the one where taskkiller was shutting off the alarm clock) shouldn't be a problem at all once you understand the apps and how they work (you should only really be using a task killer to close crashed apps or ones actively taking up resources when you don't want them to anyways).

IN the end, as mentioned, its all about preference. What one phone can do, the other probably has a way of doing it. However, my iPhone friend did get jealous of Swype - which I thought iPhone had, but I guess its an independent keyboard vs tying itself as the default keyboard and he also wish he had something similar to AppBrain (allows me to install stuff on my computer to my phone, handy cause I browse apps at work sometimes ).

 

[goodbyeiphone]

I think every phone has its quirks. iPhone has them too. It's a matter of preference for me and I think I'd prefer Android at this point for a phone and Apple for everything else.

How did you forward your calls to the Incredible?

Just go to settings > phone > forward, I think....its there!

 

[oBIGTo]

Wow. Even AT&T workers are switching? I should look into this then. Maybe by the end of the week. I need to see if it'll be an issue to leave the network. If I have 30 days with Verizon I'll have to do what you say and see if it'll work for me. It's the only way I'll truly be convinced.

It's funny because I can hardly even make a call from my at&t office! Most of the time they drop, and say call failed on the iphone but I can even get 4 bars on the incredible in the basement of the same office, while the iPhone has no service!

 

[Mikhailov]

That's what I need. I get Edge and 1-2 bars in my work building. If I can get 3G and 4-5 bars on the Inc, then the phone is very worth it.

 

[mobilehavoc]

Surprised nobody else mentioned this yet...but two words...

Google Voice.

 

[ashykat]

I wonder if Verizon will let me trial run this phone.

Verizon WILL let you trial run this phone. If you keep it more than 3 days you'll have to pay the Activation fee ($35 I believe), your prorated plan/usage, and a $35 restocking fee, so it's a bit expensive if you end up returning it, but could be worth it to know.

If you want to try the Evo, which is what I'm getting, Sprint has a full money back policy. Meaning, you have 30 days to return the phone, as as long as you don't go over your plan minutes, etc. you get everything free. You won't pay for your plan, data, activation, or anything like that. It's basically risk free. Couldn't hurt to see their coverage in your area.

 

[ChiTownJim]

You have to take advantage of the trial. IMO all Android phones arent as ready to use as the Iphone is out of the box. So you can't just take a couple minutes in a store and compare it to your Iphone. The beautiful thing about Android is when you buy it, it's basiclly a blank canvas and you make it your own.
I have now 4 friends with Iphones that converted and 3 of the 4 like the iphone better (all came from the 3gs) and I have another friend that is waiting for his contract to end and make the switch to Incredible

If you love the Iphone layout , design and Service stay with the Iphone if you're unhappy give the Incredible a wirl , I think you'll like it and even if they make you pay $35 restocking if you don't like it ohh well