It's like an iphone...if you could also use an iphone as a phone!

I became eligible for a new phone under Verizon's "New Every 2" plan a few days before the Incredible came out. I was torn between the Motorola Droid and the HTC Incredible, mostly because I prefer physical QWERTY keyboards and didn't know how well I'd adapt to texting or emailing without one. However, some other perks made the Incredible more attractive, those being:

1: The faster Snapdragon processor. My experience playing with the Motorola Droid was limited, but this certainly seems faster & more responsive.

2: The better camera. 8MP over the Motorola's 5.

3: The built-in memory. I have a very long commute and got used to having a 160GB mp3 player handy, using it for music or video while surfing the net on my motoQ (lest it need to be said, I'm not driving). Now that the battery on that bad boy is getting weaker and weaker, I was looking forward to having one device to handle instead of 2, but I really miss having a ridiculous amount of entertainment options at my disposal (plus extra storage to boot). While I'm still waiting on a 32GB microSD card, having a 16GB card PLUS the 8GB that comes built in to the Incredible won out over the piddling amount of built-in memory the Motorola Droid has.

4: The built-in FM Radio receiver. Why FM radio? Because a Droid with a built-in 8-track player would be just too damn big. But seriously, ladies and germs, without going into too much potentially grisly detail, if there happened to be some sort of catastrophe - natural OR manmade - the sort of thing that knocks out cell service, and I was on foot with no access to a wifi signal, I wanted that one additional option to potentially get information I may need. I may never actually use the radio, but it adds a small measure of comfort knowing it's there.

As far as the phone itself, I've only had it for a few days, and haven't explored all the bells and whistles it has. Nor have I gone too crazy downloading apps. But I'm a convert. The clarity on the phone is amazing, and using it as a media player as often as I do, I'm struck by the audio quality, even just using bare-bones Sony in-ear phones (the earphones with a built-in mic as part of an Incredible after-market package leave a lot to be desired, however). The difference between surfing the internet now and when I had the Q is akin to the difference I noticed when I dropped dial-up service for a cable modem on my home computer. It's that drastically better. The phone came delivered with a bonus 2GB card and USB card reader, and I thought the reader would get a lot of use transferring files from my Powerbook (I could never get the memory of the Q to mount on my Powerbook, not sure it was ever supposed to be able to do it). But the Incredible opens up on my Powerbook just fine, as 2 different storage devices (built-in and memory card). Pictures look amazing, instant uploading is easy, it's exactly as good as the reviews I've read and seen made it out to be. Biggest negative (currently the only negative) is the battery life, and will be swapping it out for an extended life battery soon. To be fair, I've used it a lot for internet and watching video, and for someone who's mainly using it to talk on the phone, with the screen not being a factor, your battery life will probably be better. And the standard battery on my Moto Q was awful, too, so I'm used to having to get a better battery. If I could only take a half-star off a review, I would.


The HTC Droid Incredible is a really good phone, and couldn't recommend it more highly.

(And I've become much more adapt at typing without a physical keyboard. Damn thing seems to get better at knowing what keys I'm trying to type with my stubby digits, rather than the keys I'm probably tapping)