My first 24 hours with the Incredible

[irishjoeyo]

Pros

1. Very, very fast.
2. Beautiful and extremely clear screen
3. Access to tons of awesome apps (true for any Android phone, but this is my first)
4. Nice 8.0 MP camera
5. No Verizon crapware
6. Music player works GREAT and sounds GREAT

Cons

1. Facebook: 30 min is the shortest available interval for synchronizing. This sucks horribly. On my BlackBerry, my FB notifications were instantaneous. Also, the notifications are not clickable. You can only click the globe next to it which takes to the actual FB website, not the FB app, and it works less than half the time.

2. Battery life sucks, even with WiFI and Bluetooth off. Lost about 25% of my battery life just leaving it sit there all night while I was sleeping.

3. The screen is smaller than I anticipated. I knew it was 3.7", but that only tells me the diagonal length, not the width. Though my BlackBerry 8330's screen is shorter, it is actually a tad bit wider.

If anyone has any tips/suggestions for me, especially with respect to Facebook, feel free to post them!

 

[jwm2]

You are losing battery life due to it updating facebook, weather, email and etc while you were sleeping. Chances are it was connecting to them via 3g and maybe your signal strength isn't very strong so its searching for signal at times as well.

 

[ac2basis]

Yeah I find that facebook thing to be annoying too. I don't understand why it can't just launch the app instead of the mobile website.

It's hard to judge the battery life yet for me since I haven't put this thing down since I got it

 

[jamor]

Good thing I don't use facebook or push e-mail.

How many times have you charged and discharged?

Professional reviews note this has good battery life so you are doing something wrong.

 

[irishjoeyo]

You are losing battery life due to it updating facebook, weather, email and etc while you were sleeping. Chances are it was connecting to them via 3g and maybe your signal strength isn't very strong so its searching for signal at times as well.

If that's the case with the signal, then I can see that being the issue. Searching for signal will kill the battery on any phone. I'm comparing apples to oranges when I say that my BlackBerry has never had an issue with a signal in my apartment because it was originally an Alltel device, but nevertheless, the signal was fine with that.

 

[PowerCosmic]

"Good" is a very relative term. This is my first fully featured smartphone (I had an AT&T "Tilt" (TytnII) and a Samsung Propel Pro but those didn't even come close in terms of functionality) and I'm a bit surprised by how quickly this beast chews through battery life.
Of course, I realize a great deal of it depends on which connections I have going (WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS) as well as my usage but still...dayumn! I'm definitely going to be getting the higher MaH battery when it becomes available.
Having said this, I'm not complaining. I'd rather trade battery life for this much horsepower any day.

 

[irishjoeyo]

Good thing I don't use facebook or push e-mail.

How many times have you charged and discharged?

Professional reviews note this has good battery life so you are doing something wrong.

I've fully charged it twice, but I never let all the juice run out before re-charging, which I've heard is the best way to maintain and maximize battery life. But just because "professional reviews" show decent/average battery life (which is what I've read, not "good") does not mean that I'm doing anything "wrong". There is certainly the possibility that there is a hardware failure, or as jwm2 pointed out, the phone searching for a signal could cause the issue.

 

[ChiTownJim]

Pros

1. Very, very fast.
2. Beautiful and extremely clear screen
3. Access to tons of awesome apps (true for any Android phone, but this is my first)
4. Nice 8.0 MP camera
5. No Verizon crapware
6. Music player works GREAT and sounds GREAT

Cons

1. Facebook: 30 min is the shortest available interval for synchronizing. This sucks horribly. On my BlackBerry, my FB notifications were instantaneous. Also, the notifications are not clickable. You can only click the globe next to it which takes to the actual FB website, not the FB app, and it works less than half the time.

2. Battery life sucks, even with WiFI and Bluetooth off. Lost about 25% of my battery life just leaving it sit there all night while I was sleeping.

3. The screen is smaller than I anticipated. I knew it was 3.7", but that only tells me the diagonal length, not the width. Though my BlackBerry 8330's screen is shorter, it is actually a tad bit wider.

If anyone has any tips/suggestions for me, especially with respect to Facebook, feel free to post them!

I have Bloo for facebook it gets updates within seconds of posting definetly give it a try. I really think Android needs to get Facebook to improve theyre software it's really really bad I mean they just got an Inbox a couple days ago for Android Facebook. Iphone has a great Facebook app even supports Chat, don't know what the hold up is , Facebook needs to get on the ball

 

[jlb0305]

I found the Non-sense (LOL) facebook/mail apps update more often... i have those sitting there on one screen and the Sense ones on another just for comparison.

 

[irishjoeyo]

ChiTownJim - Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to try that app!

jlb0305 - Which non-sense (I like the pun, too ) Facebook app do you recommend?

 

[kayst]

You are losing battery life due to it updating facebook, weather, email and etc while you were sleeping. Chances are it was connecting to them via 3g and maybe your signal strength isn't very strong so its searching for signal at times as well.

Is there a way turn off all these updates for when you're sleeping and don't need them, without actually turning off the phone? How do you get background apps to stop using up battery without task killing them?

 

[PowerCosmic]

P.S. I'm sad to say, but my 3G connection here is poor (1-2 bars at best) compared to my AT&T connection. There might be a correlation between this and why my battery life has been so shoddy.

 

[ChiTownJim]

P.S. I'm sad to say, but my 3G connection here is poor (1-2 bars at best) compared to my AT&T connection. There might be a correlation between this and why my battery life has been so shoddy.

I wouldn't pay much attention to your bars, Android phones seem to be very finicky with the bars even though your connection is good it will jump around I believe it's a software issue

 

[jamor]

I've fully charged it twice, but I never let all the juice run out before re-charging, which I've heard is the best way to maintain and maximize battery life. But just because "professional reviews" show decent/average battery life (which is what I've read, not "good") does not mean that I'm doing anything "wrong". There is certainly the possibility that there is a hardware failure, or as jwm2 pointed out, the phone searching for a signal could cause the issue.

I guess I didn't mean you were doing something "wrong."

What I meant is that their are fixes and apps and methods to prolonging battery life that you may not have taken advantage of.

It can take 10 cycles for a battery to become optimal from what I've heard.

 

[kvandivo]

Is there a way turn off all these updates for when you're sleeping and don't need them, without actually turning off the phone? How do you get background apps to stop using up battery without task killing them?

Check out the 'locale' app and let us know if it suffices.

 

[douger]

Check out the 'locale' app and let us know if it suffices.

Yeah. You spend the eleven bucks first...

 

[kvandivo]

bah.. Didn't that used to be free? That's a real bummer. That's one of the apps I was wanting..

 

[kvandivo]

http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/41771-locale-free-10-wtf.html

Yep.. used to be free

 

[tats_06]

Well, with the blackberrys, they all have wider screens for their physical qwertys...No BB comes even close in performance

From pictures, looks like Incredible's screen is same size as Droid's.

 

[jwm2]

I wouldn't pay much attention to your bars, Android phones seem to be very finicky with the bars even though your connection is good it will jump around I believe it's a software issue

I wouldn't say it an android phone issue but more of a os 2.1 issue. You can only go by the db rating in the settings menu to know for sure. I know when i had my droid eris at os 1.5 i had 3 bars in this chair i am sitting in right now. When i rooted and updated it to 2.1 it dropped 1 bar, so it only showed 2 bars, but the db rating was the same. So imo its a 2.1 issue not the phone.

 

[irishjoeyo]

I'm also having trouble figuring out how to get my contacts from the address book on my BlackBerry to my Incredible. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[weizilla]

glad i'm not the only one with facebook notification issues. and i hate it how it downloads ALL of my gmail and facebook contacts.

 

[ChiTownJim]

I'm also having trouble figuring out how to get my contacts from the address book on my BlackBerry to my Incredible. Anyone have any ideas?

Easiest way is just to go to a VZW store they'll do it for freein less then 5minutes