Who is to blame?

[Chancho1978]

I know a lot of us are upset about a couple of left out fretures of this phone, namely the no micro sd slot and the battery size. I was just wondering who is to blame for this. Is this a HTC decision? Is this a carrier decision? Is this a google decision? The HTC butterfly has the same size battery, but it did have a micro sd slot.

 

[Bearcats]

Why worry about it? Its not going to change anything.

 

[viper689]

Well HTC designed, developed, created, and manufactured the phone... so HTC?

Not that it matters anyway...

 

[NightAngel79]

VZW definitely has a huge say in this process as well I would think

 

[AntimonyER]

I wouldn't be surprised if Verizon is pushing manufacturers to not include an SD card slot, more data possibilities that way. The battery is all HTC though.

 

[NightAngel79]

^agreed

 

[Chancho1978]

The only reason I bring this up is the ever burning question, how much control is to much control. Should carriers have that much say about a phone, because I believe Verizon had a lot of say in this phone. These decisions the leave us consumers wondering why, and then having to upgrade to the next latest and greatest. It's all about some making money and leaving us the consumers mad. I thought android was about openness and freedom, but it's hard with limited choices.

 

[AntimonyER]

Well thats the problem, as long as a carrier gets complete control of the devices on its network (as Verizon does), they are going to manipulate the devices and their features to their own benefit. The most common way has always been bloatware, but I do believe Verizon is asking manufacturers to limit memory in order to push the cloud, and more data usage. The funny thing is they and Google are on the same page there (we are complaining about 16GB, what about the 8GB of the N4?!) albeit for different reasons.

The one light at the end of the tunnel, if the FCC can withstand the serious lobbying by VZW regarding the very restrictive regulations of the Block C spectrum Verizon procured, once VZW switches over to VoLTE and shuts off their CDMA network, they become just like every other GSM network, unable to have a say in which devices come onto their network. I can only hope and pray that day comes soon.

 

[pegs520]

I hate that it has no SD card, but I can live with that. I only use 8gb on my current phone, so I have no problem with only 11gb being available.

What I can't stand is the piece of crap battery they have in these phones, and the way they restrict you from upgrading the battery. Don't they make money off of people buying bigger batteries for their phones? I don't get why they did that.

I feel like everyone loses because of that - and I think it was stupid of them not to include a bigger battery, and lazy of them not to make their battery removable. Screw HTC, I'd rather go with the Razr Maxx HD.

 

[NightAngel79]

I hate that it has no SD card, but I can live with that. I only use 8gb on my current phone, so I have no problem with only 11gb being available.

What I can't stand is the piece of crap battery they have in these phones, and the way they restrict you from upgrading the battery. Don't they make money off of people buying bigger batteries for their phones? I don't get why they did that.

I feel like everyone loses because of that - and I think it was stupid of them not to include a bigger battery, and lazy of them not to make their battery removable. Screw HTC, I'd rather go with the Razr Maxx HD.

The battery will surprise you I think.

But yea, its all about design. To make battery removable they would have had to design a completely different phone essentially. And not that they shouldn't have tried harder to do so, just saying....

 

[TangledThorns]

From the reviews I've been reading this is Verizon's fault and the conspiracy theory is for us to use the cloud storage.

I think we can work around this by using separate memory sticks with a microUSB to USB connector. I can use that for when I'm on long trips and want to carry movies with me.

 

[Bearcats]

From the reviews I've been reading this is Verizon's fault and the conspiracy theory is for us to use the cloud storage.

I think we can work around this by using separate memory sticks with a microUSB to USB connector. I can use that for when I'm on long trips and want to carry movies with me.

I have no intention of using cloud storage. Ill move important stuff to my computer and store there where its reliably backed up. I need my tin hat in order to store personal stuff on the internet.

Which brings up a point; can you mount the phone like mass storage like the Dinc and browse folders?

 

[Deleted User]

Who cares about 16gb and the battery. The amount of memory will be fine for 90% of the population and with things like Google drive and 5gb of free storage, there are creative ways to increase your memory.

Also, don't forget the price is $199. They are trying to market this phone for everyone...not just the well off folks. Phones that are $299 are getting a little out of hand IMO. We all don't have $300 to drop on a phone every 18-24 months!!

I think the features and price point are about as good as we are going to see for a long time, and I think the DNA will be pretty much one of the top 5 phones available for at least the next 9-12 months...and in phone years, that is an eternity!

 

[Wolfedude88]

The price is nice, but that is the norm for a lot of phones, the GS3 and the Razr HD.

I think the cloud is a joke, everyone talks about how most people dont care about expandable memory, and to just use the cloud.

I honestly only know one person who actually uses the cloud, more techie people use it more than most. At the same time they are usually the people who use sd cards as well.

I dont have unlimited data, the cloud is worthless to me, I would like to have expandable memory but at the same time it is not a deal breaker for me. As long as I have 16gb I am okay, would prefer to have 32gb or sd card to be safe, but I should be fine.

 

[pegs520]

Who cares about 16gb and the battery. The amount of memory will be fine for 90% of the population and with things like Google drive and 5gb of free storage, there are creative ways to increase your memory.

Also, don't forget the price is $199. They are trying to market this phone for everyone...not just the well off folks. Phones that are $299 are getting a little out of hand IMO. We all don't have $300 to drop on a phone every 18-24 months!!

I think the features and price point are about as good as we are going to see for a long time, and I think the DNA will be pretty much one of the top 5 phones available for at least the next 9-12 months...and in phone years, that is an eternity!

Or, you could find deals - Target is selling the RAZR Maxx HD for 200, and if you don't want to deal with Target, you can always do a price match at Best Buy. I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with a similar deals for the Note 2 in a few weeks, or a month.

 

[PsychDoc]

When is 2020ma not really 2020ma?

When it's powering a super LCD3 screen, that's when. These screens, sourced from Sharp, are incredibly energy efficient and draw far less power than equivalent sized AMOLED screens. I think it would be wise for us all to withold jusdegement of this beast's battery life until we have it in our hands and see what it's capable of. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it equals or betters the GS3 in real world conditions. I think many of us are quick to rush to judgement and just assume that the phone's battery is woefully underpowered when that might not be the case at all. After all, HTC was and is not oblivious to the fact that most of us want our phones to make it though at least eight hours of moderate to heavy use and it really wouldn't have been that hard to design in a 2500+ma battery if they believed it would be necessary.

Just sayin'. ;-)

 

[Chancho1978]

I just don't see how these phone manufactures can justify a phone with a battery like this, especially if they slap 4g LTE in it. I know i dont have to use it, but is it nice. Some of these features they are putting in these high end phones are really daunting on the battery. It would be nice to be able to use the phone with its nice features and not worry about it only lasting 5 or 6 hours.

 

[lou61166]

A question to members about non removable batteries,when the phone completely locks up how do you shut down/restart to recover,i have always owned Android phones with removable batteries

 

[AntimonyER]

I know on the RAZR's its a combination of the power button and one of the volume buttons, held down for a period of time, cuts the battery power. I am sure its something similar to that.

 

[NightAngel79]

A question to members about non removable batteries,when the phone completely locks up how do you shut down/restart to recover,i have always owned Android phones with removable batteries

According to HTC holding down the power button for 10 seconds is the same as doing a battery pull, fwiw

 

[jroc]

I think with phones like the Maxx, or phones with just huge stock batteries...the DNA is getting a bad rap for battery life.

If its on par with the One X and GS3, thats good company. For a battery that size.

 

[mush10]

Also, don't forget the price is $199. They are trying to market this phone for everyone...not just the well off folks. Phones that are $299 are getting a little out of hand IMO. We all don't have $300 to drop on a phone every 18-24 months!!

You could also make the argument that because of the subsidized US market there is an expectation of cheap phones that allows the carriers to continue to dictate features and software additions that may or may not be necessary. It will be interesting to see how the Windows Phones on Verizon are handled. On AT&T they come with bloat that is actually removable to free up memory. That is how it should be, but I could see Verizon saying they will only carry Windows Phone if the bloat is not removable. Please understand, I am not saying your are wrong with your opinion, simply giving the other side.

My bigger problem with the 16 gb is that it really is 11 gb due to phone software and added bloat. I will still probably pick up the phone (How can I not have the first phone with 440+ppi), but I am definitely frustrated with some of the compromises. However, the nice thing about Android is we will probably have a few similar variations from other manufacturers to choose from in the next few months.

I flip back and forth on whether I should continue to support Verizon's marketing tactics and influences on their phones. Clearly they are holding up the Note 2 in order to market this phone, but their network is the best in my area and LTE is just about everywhere I go throughout the country. My options are AT&T and I can choose whatever phone I want on B,B+ service or continue with Verizon's "A" service and have occasional delays and device compromises. I still don't no the right answer for myself, so I certainly won't spend my time trying to convince one side or the other is better for them.

 

[OverByter]

While I personally don't agree with it having a non removable battery it increases design flexibility and also removes one of the most frequent and usually unnecessary replacements for the carrier. Also I think that manufacturers are taking a cue from Crapple regarding the storage. There's a $50 difference between the 8 GB and 16GB Nexus phones, but you can easily get a 8 GB micro sd for less than $5. Despicable, I will never own a phone without removable media, cloud computing on phones isn't quite practical yet, I am a voracious consumer of media, my 64 Gb card is 90 % full.

 

[AntimonyER]

You could also make the argument that because of the subsidized US market there is an expectation of cheap phones that allows the carriers to continue to dictate features and software additions that may or may not be necessary. It will be interesting to see how the Windows Phones on Verizon are handled. On AT&T they come with bloat that is actually removable to free up memory. That is how it should be, but I could see Verizon saying they will only carry Windows Phone if the bloat is not removable. Please understand, I am not saying your are wrong with your opinion, simply giving the other side.

My bigger problem with the 16 gb is that it really is 11 gb due to phone software and added bloat. I will still probably pick up the phone (How can I not have the first phone with 440+ppi), but I am definitely frustrated with some of the compromises. However, the nice thing about Android is we will probably have a few similar variations from other manufacturers to choose from in the next few months.

I flip back and forth on whether I should continue to support Verizon's marketing tactics and influences on their phones. Clearly they are holding up the Note 2 in order to market this phone, but their network is the best in my area and LTE is just about everywhere I go throughout the country. My options are AT&T and I can choose whatever phone I want on B,B+ service or continue with Verizon's "A" service and have occasional delays and device compromises. I still don't no the right answer for myself, so I certainly won't spend my time trying to convince one side or the other is better for them.

Yeah, for the vast majority of consumers, Verizon's style is much better. Not everyone cares about the latest and greatest phone, and when they get it, and when it gets updates, etc. But they love the coverage, and reliability, and now, speed. It is definitely frustrating for those of us who know better, that Verizon isn't the best at device management, release, and updating. But there is no other carrier in my area that can compete with their coverage, so its the only carrier I will ever use. They got me, and at least they are getting competitive devices, even if it takes them a little longer to release.

 

[mush10]

Yeah, for the vast majority of consumers, Verizon's style is much better. Not everyone cares about the latest and greatest phone, and when they get it, and when it gets updates, etc. But they love the coverage, and reliability, and now, speed. It is definitely frustrating for those of us who know better, that Verizon isn't the best at device management, release, and updating. But there is no other carrier in my area that can compete with their coverage, so its the only carrier I will ever use. They got me, and at least they are getting competitive devices, even if it takes them a little longer to release.

That is really what it comes down to. For the majority of consumers that is the best model, so I can't argue. Of course that won't stop me from complaining for time to time.:beer:

Truthfully it really is a shame for HTC who I have liked since the 8525 days. I think their designs should make them a major competitor with Samsung, but the fact they seem to have to compromise across carriers instead being able to release the One and One + series across the big 4 in the US means they have trouble competing against the Galaxy.