HTC Droid Incredible 2 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 3, 2011 11:44 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- HTC
- Verizon
- Droid Incredible 2
- Mobile
Final Words
Using the Incredible 2 brought back memories of the earlier phone that I was so fond of. It's still not perfect but a year's worth of evolution has resulted in a phone that's all around much better. The Incredible 2 is faster and generally has much better battery life than the original. If you own an Incredible and aren't in love with AMOLED, you'll appreciate the upgrade to the Incredible 2. The addition of world-mode support to the Incredible 2 does make it a unique option that will appeal to some business travelers.
In the continuum of Android smartphones, the Incredible 2 is nothing extraordinary. It is a good, well rounded phone that performs well but it doesn't win any awards beyond that. The lack of a dual-core SoC definitely doesn't hurt, but it's also something I don't like recommending if you're going to hold onto your phone for 1 - 2 years.
The fact of the matter is there aren't many dual-core smartphones available on Verizon today. In our upcoming Droid X2 review we look at one option but it's a much larger phone. If you're not ok with the Droid X2's 4.3-inch screen then the Incredible 2 definitely gets the job done, but if you're fine with a larger phone (and Motoblur) there's a better option out there on Verizon.
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jigglywiggly - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
single core and no amoledphone sux
TrackSmart - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
Those items don't bother me. It's the lack of LTE on a new Verizon smartphone. Of course, if having a world phone is more valuable to you that might be an okay tradeoff...nomagic - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
I cant stand AMOLED.AMOLED has awful color balance.
Why do people like AMOLED so much?
synaesthetic - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
Not sure. I like the SLCD on my Glacier just fine. Sure, blacks aren't quite as black as they were on my old Galaxy S, but the color balance is much nicer and white webpages don't slaughter my battery.vol7ron - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
I like the options, but Droid has some identification problems. Apple doesn't come out with a lot of phones, but when it does, it's easy to tell it's an iPhone and what version it is. Part of having a smartphone is having those bragging rights.Droid has many options and features, but their products are becoming more and more ambiguous by the time they hit the street. Combine that with all the different version names and it makes it tougher for consumers to remember what one they really wanted.
I think this problem begins with the manufacturer. So while I might like this, or another phone, I hope I write it down because a month from now, I doubt I'll remember its name.
The0ne - Tuesday, July 5, 2011 - link
People follow reviews no matter what, that's how AMOLED is loved.kmmatney - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
I have to admit - I don't see the real need for dual-core on a phone. What's it going to do for you? My lowly iPhone 3GS is already pretty darn smooth, and has no trouble browing the web, doing email, playing games. Maybe there are apps that can use it, but the only thing I can think of that really needs the dual GPU would be hardcore games.vision33r - Tuesday, July 5, 2011 - link
Good software code, trumps any higher end hardware + poor code. In the case of Google, 98% of all their phones run crappy because of OS with OEM modified UI.Download any top end game on the Android Market and compare with top end game in iOS.
It's not even a contest at the moment in terms of software and app quality.
Death666Angel - Friday, July 8, 2011 - link
I wonder how well your 3GS would play my extensive .mkv library consisting of mostly 1080p series and movies. Or how well it would be able to browser flash websites or use google docs etc. :-)Just because it's good enough for you doesn't mean it is for everyone else. If everyone thought like you, we'd still go around with 30km/h trains and ride on horses most of the time.
makken - Monday, July 4, 2011 - link
It seems like HTC's hardware has been going downhill lately. IMO, HTC's hardware design peaked with the Tmobile G2 / Desire Z.Every HTC phone since that has just felt cheaper. I especially loved the metal battery cover with a dedicated release lever; and I wish HTC would incorporate that design into other phones they make instead of the plastic-rip-off cover that they've been going with lately.
I also liked the fact that it had a dedicated camera button and an optical trackpad, things that HTC has elected to delete from this generation of android phones. I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me on the trackpad, but I found it useful as a wake method (instead of having to push the power button on the top), as a D-pad for quickly repositioning the text input cursor, and as a notification LED.