i'm seeing quite a few complaints...

[crimton]

i'm seeing several of the same complaints namely battery life, yahoo mail problems, weak signal, etc. for me this phone has been almost perfect, i have noticed a few bugs but nothing worth getting too upset about. the yahoomail one is not that big of a deal because i can just turn off wifi and get my yahoo mail real quick. battery life, yea thats a biggie but if you watch what your doing and give your battery a chance to live up to its full potential then it should last through the day. also the extended battery will be out soon as you all know and will almost double your current battery life. mine doesn't feel cheap or poorly built at all, especially with my case on it. it is however very light so i guess i see how people could think that. i think we all just came in with too high of expectations and we forgot that this phone was still built by humans. all in all i am very satisfied and have no thoughts at all of returning it, as of right now.

 

[jwm2]

Yup great phone, i love mine. Can't imagine being without it The wait was definately worth it.

 

[photographx]

1. Battery life: The battery was kind of weak for the Eris. I think this holds true for the Incredible too (same battery in both).

2. Yahoo Mail: It's a Google phone. That said I had no problems with Yhoo mil on the Eris running 2.1 (or 1.5 that I recall). Have not set up Yahoo accounts on Incredible yet though...

3. Signal Strength: Seems like people think a "bar" is a unit of measure. The number of bars is not relative between disparate manufacturers. I have not had reception issues with the Eris that has been displaying lower bars than the Razr it replaced.

 

[atex03]

Agreed. Amazing phone.

 

[cmantelope]

Yes, I agree -

No matter what the bars say at the top...I always have great call quality, and signal where I'm used to having it -

No complaints at all - had a random camera issue last night, but works fine now -

*Favorite tip I found today on the forum*- use the power widget from android, tap the "sync" button at night, to eliminate sound notifications from v mail, email, mssgs - but still receive phone calls - when you wake up, tap again, and everything syncs back up, & sounds are just the way you have it set up in "settings" - AWESOME

Happy with my purchase - oh yes - first smartphone for me, and will be my phone for long long while.

cm

 

[5thElement]

Most of the complaints stem from not having an education in Android smart phones.

1. Some people have complained about battery life the moment they got the unit. What they dont understand is that you have to cycle the battery 4-5 times to reach full charge. Not only that but they dont understand what uses the most battery power. For example turning off the internet connection when not needed saves huge amounts of battery power. They need to learn how to you the phone correctly. Not only that but many people complaining about battery life are people coming from dumb flip phones and they dont understand that ALL smartphones dont have anywhere near the battery life of stupid dumb flip phones.

2. They dont know how to setup Yahoo for Android. Simple as that. (People still use Yahoo????)

3. The signal bars mean nothing. There are no issues with signal strength, just look at the db numbers and you will see for yourself.

 

[crimton]

yea i think people are just focusing on any and all imperfections or differences from their old phones. we've only had this phone for a few days, we need to give it a fair chance. i saw one guy who was returning his and his wifes after 1 day. thats just not giving this phone a chance. not to mention 2.2 will fix alot of things people may not like right now. any complaints i have now can be fixed with software updates and hopefully will be.

 

[goldviper]

Hello All,
I am a dumb flip phone user. This is an awesome phone and I am on this forum trying to learn how to use it. Like set up yahoo mail, yes I still use it, it works great for me. I will try to get used to gmail though. Very satisfied with the INCREDIBLE.

 

[Berner]

The battery complaints are legitimate. Users shouldn't have to cripple the functionality of the phone in order to get a full day's worth of usage. Turn off internet? Disable GPS? Yes, these "suggestions" will work .... but at the sacrifice of functionality.

The signal bar issue appears to be purely cosmetic. My Incredible and my Storm show the exact same signal strength in technical terms, even though the Storm shows 3 bars and the Incredible 1 bar.

My additional complaint is that the screen is too small, and definitely too narrow. For all the functionality the phone offers, I constantly find myself aggravated with how little can be displayed on the phone's screen at one time.

 

[justbrae1]

The battery complaints are legitimate. Users shouldn't have to cripple the functionality of the phone in order to get a full day's worth of usage. Turn off internet? Disable GPS? Yes, these "suggestions" will work .... but at the sacrifice of functionality.

The signal bar issue appears to be purely cosmetic. My Incredible and my Storm show the exact same signal strength in technical terms, even though the Storm shows 3 bars and the Incredible 1 bar.

My additional complaint is that the screen is too small, and definitely too narrow. For all the functionality the phone offers, I constantly find myself aggravated with how little can be displayed on the phone's screen at one time.

Yea.. your screen size complaint is really stretching your credibility.

 

[Vihzel]

The screen is too small? It's 3.7". I guess the only thing that can satisfy you is a 4.3" screen.

 

[Berner]

Yea.. your screen size complaint is really stretching your credibility.

If I was the only person to comment on the narrow screen, you might have a point. However, this issue has appeared in professional reviews since the day the media embargo was lifted.

Besides, its not really a "credibility" issue. Its a personal preference and opinion issue. If you're happy with your phone, great for you.

 

[5thElement]

Screen is 16:10 which is FANTASTIC for view webpages and watching videos. Try viewing webpages and videos with an iphone and you will know what Im talking about. You will never go back to a square screen. iphone is unfortunately "stuck" with a square screen due to so many apps utilizing that ratio. There is nothing Apple can do but to put out another phone with square screen (iphone 4g). Sorry iphone fanboys!!! You're stuck in 1999 with the iphone 4g! lolz

 

[JonnyBadd]

If I was the only person to comment on the narrow screen, you might have a point. However, this issue has appeared in professional reviews since the day the media embargo was lifted.

Besides, its not really a "credibility" issue. Its a personal preference and opinion issue. If you're happy with your phone, great for you.

where in a pro review? the screen is a tad smaller than the IPhone?

 

[Plumrt]

I'm seeing silly complaints. The phone is fast, no lag like my OmniaII. The internet works fast. Seems to be alot of software to explore(need one to freeze time till I find the ones I want)
It's new and incredible. can see that it will only get much much better.

 

[Rubik76]

You'll see a lot of complaints. This is a brand-new product, and those who are having issues are likely to come here looking for help, and comment about their experience.

That doesn't make the complaints invalid, but keep it in mind.

As far as the battery, some of the people complaining are coming from standard or multimedia phones to the Incredible - with the highly-connected nature of a smartphone, there is a certain amout of shock that comes with discovering what this means in terms of battery life.

There will also be a few lemons in any batch of products - especially new ones.

Based on my experiences, most of the reviews I've read, and the majority of comments posted here, I think the Inc is great - Not without some minor flaws, but great.

For those having issues, my recommendation would be to evaluate your expectations. If you think you got a lemon, return it. It seems like VZW is pretty much exchanging them with no questions asked, even though a lot of the devices being returned are probably just fine. If that's not it, consider a different phone. No one device is going to meet everyone's needs.

 

[krispy_mobile]

One happy AT&T blackberry convert here. Everyone I call says the call quality is better. Not one dropped call vs daily dropped before.

My battery life was poor out of the gate (7.5 hrs med/heavy use). But, I read the forums, setup widgets to turn on/off gps and wifi as needed, removed the task killer I had installed. This helped quite a bit it seems as I now have 45% battery left after 7 hours use that has included a google voice call of almost an hr, a few standard calls, 1/2 hr wifi web surfing, some gps use playing with tasker profiles, 50-75 pushed and checked emails with some replies, and light texting.

Very pleased so far and am hoping the seidio (sp?) higher capacity standard sized battery will get good reports as it will allow same thin size and more case/dock options.

My netbook is already seeing less use for quick internet checks.

 

[5thElement]

These complaints stem from lack of knowledge of smartphones and specifically Android OS. Nothing wrong with the device, you clearly knew the specs when you bought it. It clearly showed battery life in the specs. Dont blame the phone because you dont understand what battery life talk time means and how it relates to the overall battery life of this Android phone....

 

[5thElement]

I also think most people dont understand the the biggest battery killer is leaving "Mobile Network" on when you dont need it. No, You dont need Mobile Network on to make calls, or received txts or emails.

Again lack of knowledge....oh well.

 

[rob316]

I also think most people dont understand the the biggest battery killer is leaving "Mobile Network" on when you dont need it. No, You dont need Mobile Network on to make calls, or received txts or emails.

Again lack of knowledge....oh well.

From a previous thread about saving battery life, I turned off Mobile Network and it has helped the battery life alot. I still get emails, texts and calls with it off. So yes I agree turning off Mobile Network does make a difference.

 

[golfinglenn]

I am also new to this platform, coming from the bb Tour. I am learning something new everyday. Love that I just learned how to quickly turn on/off wifi/bluetooth/sync/and gps.

Still wish I had the ability to talk and surf as it would have come in handy today trying to find a restaurant for somebody that called. I understand that is not phone issue, but Verizon issue.

My only gripe is the battery. Some of you are very fortunate to get great life, but I have been through several cylces and my phone is not lasting 1/2 a day with what I would call light use. Gonna try the mobile network off trick unless I want to surf web and see how it does. Also tried the airplane mode for a minute trick and still seems like phone switches from 3g-1g constantly. Time will tell.

 

[Patkid]

The great thing for me is that I did not have to UNLEARN anything.........Incredible is my first smart phone. I LOVE IT and still have a ton to learn

 

[Rubik76]

I am also new to this platform, coming from the bb Tour. I am learning something new everyday. Love that I just learned how to quickly turn on/off wifi/bluetooth/sync/and gps.

Still wish I had the ability to talk and surf as it would have come in handy today trying to find a restaurant for somebody that called. I understand that is not phone issue, but Verizon issue.

My only gripe is the battery. Some of you are very fortunate to get great life, but I have been through several cylces and my phone is not lasting 1/2 a day with what I would call light use. Gonna try the mobile network off trick unless I want to surf web and see how it does. Also tried the airplane mode for a minute trick and still seems like phone switches from 3g-1g constantly. Time will tell.

I get through a day of moderate use with mobile network on. Turning it off will certainly help your battery life, but - all things being equal - it shouldn't be necessary, especially with light use. I'd suggest checking the sync frequency of your apps, and downloading SystemPanel to monitor - not kill - your active apps. If something is open all the time and it doesn't make sense for it to be... look into it.

Also, the battery monitor in the Settings is really nice. Make sure what you are changing is one of the main causes of your battery drain or there is no real point in making the change.

 

[5thElement]

I get through a day of moderate use with mobile network on. Turning it off will certainly help your battery life, but - all things being equal - it shouldn't be necessary,.

Yes it should because you are basically leaving your cell radio on. This is nothing new and is well known in the Eris forum. Turning the Mobile Network off is the single most important thing you can do to increase battery life. You will get DOUBLE the battery life if you turn it off when not needed.

Again, people are complaining but what they dont realize is that it is their own lack of knowledge that is causing the battery issue the are having. Its funny how they can even call it an issue since HTC CLEARLY states the talk time of the phone being 5.2 hours.

Talk time = having the Cell radio on.

Talk time = Same as Mobile Network on

Thats life people, you either have the knowledge or you dont....

 

[Rubik76]

Yes it should because you are basically leaving your cell radio on. This is nothing new and is well known in the Eris forum. Turning the Mobile Network off is the single most important thing you can do to increase battery life. You will get DOUBLE the battery life if you turn it off when not needed.

Again, people are complaining but what they dont realize is that it is their own lack of knowledge that is causing the battery issue the are having. Its funny how they can even call it an issue since HTC CLEARLY states the talk time of the phone being 5.2 hours.

Talk time = having the Cell radio on.

Talk time = Same as Mobile Network on

Thats life people, you either have the knowledge or you dont....

I'm not going to get into an extended argument over it, but if I make it through the day with both my Eris and now my Incredible having mobile network turned on all the time without problems, I fail to see where I am stupid for not agreeing that mobile network needs to be turned off when not in use... Maybe I'm just too dumb to realize how dumb I am.