The Name Is Perfect For This Smartphone

I have tried a number of different smartphones and was actually planning on holding out for an Android 2.1 phone with a large screen, fast processor, and a qwerty keyboard. But when I tried this phone out at the Verizon store, I was sold. I have used the iPhone onscreen keyboard and I actually feel that the Incredible keyboard works better. I can actually type about 20wpm using the Incredible onscreen keyboard. I do not know if it is just the way I type, but I get more typos when I try to type at the same speed using the iPhone keyboard.

I thought the topography style back plate would be weird, but I actually like it a lot. It not only gives you a better grip when holding the phone, but it is actually well implemented. The build quality is excellent, with no loose parts or squeaky components. The display is bright and crisp, and I have not yet seen the phone stutter because of lack of processing power.

Apps are plentiful. It is true that Android Market currently has 50k apps versus the iPhone App Store's 190k apps, but I believe it is more like 30k versus 60k, as many, many apps are completely useless, redundant, or both. It has all of the apps I need along with some amazing Google apps. Android Market is also growing exponentially with the widespread adoption of Android. The Incredible also has widgets which the iPhone does not have. A calendar widget allows you to see what is on your agenda on the home screen with having to launch any calendar app. The built in FM tuner is nice.

This smartphone is also highly customizable. You can change widget placement, widget sizes, app placement, active wallpapers, and your Incredible can look different from other Incredibles. However, because of its customizability, it is a little more complicated than the iPhone. More options and features necessarily entails slightly more complexity, but the Incredible is still amazingly intuitive. I have not yet needed to reference the instruction manual a single time, and I have used the smartphone extensively for about a week.

I have separate mailboxes for Gmail, Exchange, and Yahoo Mail. The contacts and calendar synched from my Google and Facebook accounts surprisingly perfectly. They helped me set mine up in store and installed the free 2GB memory card. I actually purchased mine the afternoon of the release date. The store had 45 at the beginning of the day, and they had 2 left when I got mine. The store manager said that the first three people waiting in line for the Incredible when the store opened were iPhone users who decided to switch.

The Incredible allows Flash, giving you the option of viewing Flash content if you like. The iPhone does not even give you the option of using Flash because Steve Jobs does not like Adobe and Flash. The Incredible also allows you to download apps from Android market or other sources. Not only does Apple restrict you to downloading apps only from Apple's app store, Apple censors the apps in the app store based on some opaque and whimsical criteria. Apple recently censored an app from a journalist who was critical of Steve Jobs. In my opinion, Steve Jobs is becoming too powerful and is showing his inner Big Brother. Sure the iPhone is double plus good, but this Droid is Incredible.

A Nice Piece of Hardware for Android!

I am on my 3rd Android phone: T-Mobile G1, Motorola Droid and now the HTC Incredible. The OS has progressed in usability much since it's initial 1.0 version and the current 2.1 with Sense UI add-ons makes the experience much more enjoyable.

The phone is fast and the Verizon 3G network is fast. Web browsing is great and the phone has native GMail support as well as Exchange support. It has an 8MP camera that takes decent pictures (save for the flash is over kill in low-light and up close) and comes with 8GB of memory that can be supplemented with a MicroSD card (it comes with a 2GB, but that is pretty useless- get at least a 16GB)

There are about 50,000 apps at present, but this number is growing every day. Most notable is a Google Voice application which is the only way to use voice mail. The included Google Maps has 3D Google navigation. The other Google apps are all present and work as they should on a Google OS (Earth, Shopping, Tracks, etc).

There are rumors of upcoming desktop and car docks (later for GPS) and an extended battery- but these have not appeared on Verizon's site as of yet. The 'glossy silicone' phone case from Verizon is excellent for $15- and looks pretty nice with the diamond patterns on the back.

The phone is not without issues; there are battery life issues (mostly when the phone gets into a 3G/1x EVDO area and keeps switching) and the optical trackpad can be a little wonky at times.

To get into some of the really neat features, you will need to do some 'under the hood' work. For example: If you want the alarm clock to wake to a particular MP3, you need to put the track in the SD Card under /media/audio/alarms. If you want to use an MP3 as a ringtone, same as the alarm, but the MP3 needs to go under /media/audio/ringtones.

I use both an iPhone 3GS (for work) and the HTC Incredible. The iPhone I use for playing games (Space Miner, PvZ, etc) as the game developers aren't all on board with Android yet; I use the Incredible for everything else: Phone calls, photos, music, email, web browsing, texting, facebook, webcam viewer, etc.

In closing, if you are looking for a phone to play games, buy a cheap phone and get a Nintendo DSi or a Sony PSP- or as a last resort an iPhone will work. If you are looking for a great phone that has tons of useful features that can replace 90% of what most people use a laptop for, get the HTC Incredible!

HTC Droid Incredible

Let me get this out of the way first: This phone is significantly better than any other smartphone in its class, including the iPhone 3GS.

Coming from a ROOT-ed Motorola Droid running 2.1, I had a difficult time not being able to remove the crap apps (like City ID, more on that later) on the Incredible (also running 2.1). Also, getting used to the interface changes that the HTC makes is difficult, but once I got used to them I found them great. I like how it can integrate so many things into HTC's Sense UI; Google Contacts, Facebook contacts (and galleries!), Flickr Galleries, Twitter, Company Directory, etc etc. I actually signed up for Verizon's Visual Voice Mail because of the fantastic integration that the HTC Messages app has with it. Some, but not all, of the standard apps are still there, like Calendar. HTC removed some standard Android apps probably to help avoid confusion and redundancy.

The HTC Clock/Weather widget is pure eye-candy, if you don't mind it taking half your home screen. The HTC Widgets are top-notch, for sure, especially the Calendar widget. The Friend Stream widget shows your Facebook, Flickr and Twitter updates as a whole, and not just cut-off messages. But, if you launch the actual app, from the Widget icon, for example, the app itself allows browsing all of the galleries, status updates, etc. in an organized and easy to find fashion. The Add Widget interface has a link to download more HTC widgets such as a Coin flipper, Dice, Notes, "Today In History, and a Tip Calculator/Check Splitter. Note that this device is missing the HTC News widget, but, using EStrongs File Explorer I was able to install the Android 2.1 GenieWidget.apk New Widget from the Nexus One (upon install it gave an error, but actually worked after a reboot).

There are a few others tweaks that people might appreciate. The first thing that someone may notice is the "black glass" theme, with widgets to match. It's fairly well done and reminds me of AdamZ Smoked Glass ROM. Reopening the app drawer takes you back to where you recently left off, instead of having to scroll back down (handy if you have a lot of apps). There is also a feature called Scenes, which allows you to save your device's current customization state (widgets, wallpapers, screens). There are some default ones like Work, Travel, Play. I'm not sure if Scenes integrate with Locale. Of course there are the 7 home screens with screen preview (also possible with Helix or ADW Launcher).

I did not care for the physical keyboard of the Motorola Droid. After finding gesture-based keyboards, I will likely never go back (ShapeWriter, Swype). But, the HTC IME keyboard is fanstatic, too. It's on-par if not better, than the iPhones'. The OLED screen is stunning. Everything looks so much better on it than on the Moto Droid's LCD screen, it's hard to describe. The auto-brightness works great, too. Note that the Incredible's resolution is slightly less at 800x480 versus 854x480 for the Moto Droid, but it's not really a problem or even very noticeable.

Compared to the Motorola Droid, this smartphone feels significantly lighter. I know it's only about a 1.5 ounce difference and about the same thickness, but it feels much thinner and lighter than the numbers suggest. I suppose at this scale, every little bit really does make a large difference. I haven't put the trackball to any use other than having to click it for the camera. I'm not really sure what I would use it for that isn't already easy enough to do on the touch screen.

As for speed, this device is ridiculously fast. This phone has a 1GHz processor and 8GB of internal storage with capacity for up to 32GB more via microSD card. It is a huge improvement over the Motorola Droid, even when it was overclocked to 1Ghz. It's super-stable, too. I haven't had a single Force Close at all. The camera takes photos super fast. The browser loads super fast. The interface and animations are super fast. Everything about this phone is just pure speed. The battery life seems to coincide with the quickness of the phone, with significantly increased drain on the battery compared with my Motorola Droid.

This phone runs on rocket fuel with a ten-gallon tank. It's going to get you where you need, fast, but you'll have to filler-up to continue. I will admit that strangely enough, the battery life has been slowly getting better with each charge (about 10 charges now). It has been difficult pin-point the exact issue with the battery, since the Battery Usage section shows Android System as using nearly 90+% of the battery every time I've checked. The Motorola Droid was more specific (display, WiFi, Android OS, Android System, etc.) Seidio has a 1750mAh battery that is the same size as the original which provides a nice boost without adding bulk to the phone.

Hopefully, the few complaints I have can be addressed with the availability of ROOT for this phone, which is in the works. The ability to under/overclock it should address some of the battery concerns. I suspect that trimming down the OS will help as well, as I'm sure some of those background service apps are taking a toll on battery life.

In conclusion, this is a very fast, beautiful device. It truly lives up to its name.

I'd also like to take a moment to give a big F-U to Verizon for forcing the City ID app on us. A $1.99 monthly subscription app that comes preinstalled as a 15-day trial on the phone and cannot be uninstalled! It is supposed to "display the city and state of an incoming call", but that is false and misleading. It displays the origination of a caller ID number, not where the caller is actually physically calling from. I could have a Los Angeles, CA cell phone number, but be in Las Vegas, NV and it shows up as Los Angeles, CA. Stupid, stupid, stupid. On top of that, some people are reporting that after 15 days are up, it nags you about subscribing each time a phone call is received. I've only had my phone for about a week, but I'm not looking forward to this.

Great phone, iPhone 4g competitor but battery life is horrible

I had been looking to get a new smart phone for the last 4 months and heard about the future release of the incredible so I waited until it arrived at Verizon and I then took the plunge. The phones features are everything that was anticipated and then some.

THE GOOD STUFF:

I love the voice recognition, you can search for contacts, enter text for sms messages and email, and search for items on the web by pressing a single button and then talking into the microphone. The phone listens to your voice audio and converts it into text. The voice recognition is surprisingly accurate and I use this all the time (great time saver).

The phone is infinitely customizable and allows you to tweak and change all sorts of settings. To a "techy" person this is great but this could be a bit of an nuisance to a less savvy user because there are a significant amount of menus and sub-menus to navigate through to find all the settings.

Screen resolution is absolutely amazing (900x480) and even though it is slightly lower resolution than the new iphone 4g (which is 960x640) the incredible screen size is a bit larger which is more useful in my opinion. Touch sensitivity is great, no problems entering text with the on screen keyboard.

The 8 megapixel camera and 800x480 video capture work great too. the new iPhone will trump the video resolution of the incredible with a 720p capture at 30 frames per second, but the incredible camera will surpass the new iPhone by 3 megapixels.

Pop email and gmail setup is a snap.. really easy. Love how the phone synchronizes with all of my google stuff like contacts, calendar etc. This is something that the iPhone wont have but the iPhone will offer an alternative via Apple's MobileMe service.

The browser works great. Easy to use, intuitive and allows you to open multiple browser windows as well. Zooming in and out is easy with the pinch gestures.


THE BAD:

HTC really screwed up with putting a 1300mah battery in this phone as it is far too small causing absolutely horrible battery life. Even when one turns off power hungry services like GPS, wifi, mobile data connection etc the battery life is pathetic. Getting through 8 to 10 hours is a challenge even with minimal web surfing, texting and email checking. The addition of another .1 or .2 inches of thickness (hardly noticable) would have allowed for a larger battery and acceptable battery life. This issue alone is probably going to cause me to return the phone as there is no point in turning off all the bells and whistles that you paid good money for, and even then the battery life is unacceptable.

Another issue is the signal strength. The signal strength reported on the meter is almost always at 1 bar when all other phones (even on the same Verizon network) report two or three more bars. Not sure if this is just a stingy display issue or if this is a real issue. My calls don't seem to get dropped due to this, but if the phone thinks the signal is low it's going to use up more juice cranking up the data connection to compensate for the perceived signal strength.

The phone also gets warm when in use. This shows that the phone is really gobbling up battery power (batteries get warm when being drawn from).

Love the phone, love the functionality but HTC really missed some cell phone 101 design concepts with the pathetic battery life and signal strength issues.

Will probably ditch the phone (i'm still in the 30 day grace period) and get the new iPhone as it is going to have a battery that is reported to be increased by 20+ % over prior iPhones.

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)

Best Android out there

Basically, if you can live without a keyboard, this is the best android out there. 2.1 OS with the HTC Sense UI. It is an experience that I would call good.

If you used the Motorolla Droid (Milestone) you have an idea of what you get here. Really slick interface, lots of fun apps, integrated navigation, the list is endless.

Specs:
-a 1GHZ processor, I think it is downclocked to around 700 MHZ but there is no slowing or wait time like you get from the Hero.
- built in 8 GB flash storage. Also ships with a 2GB card. Annoying that you can't install apps onto this 8GB space, but it works fine for videos and music.
- half a gig of ROM and RAM. All you really need for speed and applications.
-800x480 AMOLED capacitive touch screen 3.7". This comes out as twice the resolution of the iPhone. Same screen as the Motorola one and same resolution as the EVO coming to sprint in a bit.
-8 Mpx camera with 480p video recording, dual flash. Better than many cameras out there, minus the optical zoom.
-Video out via an HDMI propriatary connector.

The OS itself is amazing. Last night I installed my SNES emulator and was rocking some old games. Deposited a check to my bank using the camera scan function (this depends on your bank). Scanned a barcode on a store and did a price comparison, then had a map drawn to the best place close by. Took a picture of a book cover and found it online. Really amazing stuff. With open development, you get great apps that are not pulled just because any company doesn't like the competiton (i.e. Google Voice on the iPhone). The store may be lacking right now, but I found everything I wanted. Tethering applications, apps to track hiking progress, fist bump for some crazy reason, all of it great.

HTC did some nice stuff here with the UI, the addition of some on screen buttons to turn bluetooth and WiFi on and off rather than scrolling through menus. That lovely weather and clock on the main page, and 7 home screens (if I recall the Droid only had 3 or 4). I also noticed that the built in browser supports pinch zoon unlike the Motorola one. No need for Dolphin browser for me now.

Engadget had an amazing review on this, and I agree with their thoughts for the most part. This is the best android OS phone on the market today. It is so good that Google has decided not to release the Nexus one to Verizon. If you can live without a keyboard (I havent decided on that yet) then this is the phone for you.

I give 4 of 5 for the hardrive flash install issue and some other strangeness. Having to rip the phone in half to get to me SD card is scary. Seroiusly, you don't slide the back plate off, you rip the phone in half. I didn't like this and I hope not to do it often. No landscape keyboard in some places is annoying. Messaging and internet stuff you get it, but entering contacts was a chore with the upright keys. I see great things for this phone, need to check out the video out function, but this looks like the big open source phone that I have been waiting for.

HTC Incredible compares well to Nexus One

Some of you might be wondering what is the difference between the HTC Incredible (Verizon) and Nexus One (T-mobile) other than the obvious difference in the mobile phone carriers network. I just bought my HTC Incredible from the Verizon store and will try to explain the differences and similarities (My friend has the Nexus One).

* Side-by-side, both color saturation, clarity and contrast are great on both HTC smartphones since they are equipped the same excellent 3.7-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with a native resolution of 480x800. If I have to pick a winner, I believe the Incredible is slightly better, probably because it is brand new and free of fingerprints and dust.

* The Incredible uses optical trackpad for navigation, whereas the Nexus One uses the trackball (like the older Blackberrys). The trackpad on the Incredible seems to be more responsive and can scroll quicker, however, I have to say the trackball on the Nexus One seems to be more precise and easier to control while not overshooting the target. But I think I can master the trackpad with a bit more practice and getting used to how much pressure to use to control it precisely.

* The Nexus One and Incredible both have 4 capacitive buttons for Home, Menu, Search and Back below the screen. Both devices' buttons are very sensitive to touch, no difference here.

* The Nexus One has 5MP cameras with a single LED flash, whereas the Incredible has a better 8MP sensor with dual-LED flash. Both cameras have auto-focus.

* In terms of raw processing speed, both smartphones run on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, which is the state-of-art and both phones can open/close and switch between apps quickly without any noticeable delay.

* For system memory, the Nexus One has 512MB of RAM while the Incredible has 64MB more (total of 576MB). Another hardware difference is the Nexus One has a unique dual mic system for ambient noise cancellation. This feature is unique to the Nexus one and is not available on the Incredible. I am not sure how effective it really is, but I use my Plantronics 975 Bluetooth headset with arguable the best noise cancellation system so it is not a big deal for me.

* You will notice the UI software is different when you turn the phones on,. The Nexus One uses the standard Android 2.1 OS (Eclair) home page UI, whereas the Incredible and Desire run the proprietary HTC Sense UI . I really like the Sense Inteface better than the basic Android 2.1 standard UI. It is more than skin-deep; it replaced and refined much of the standard (boring) interface for most of the Android operating system experience. There are more usable space on the home screen, better media apps and a sleeker number dialer. The visual appearance is amazing (Incredible!). It is very attractive and stunning and best of all, none of the eye-candies seemed to affect or slow down the performance of the Incredible when comparing with the Nexus One.

* Yes, the Nexus One does have an advantage due to the T-Mobile 3G network, which is you can use voice and data at the same time. Being on the Verizon network, the HTC Incredible can't. Is it a big deal? I think only you can answer that question, but for me, I can honestly say I can't remember a time why I would really need/use this `feature'. I have Pandora and it stopped streaming when I am on a call, but I don't want to listen to my music anyway when I am on a call. And if I have to look up something why I am taking to someone, I can always call them back. I guess if I am using the Android Google Maps Navigation while talking, I might have a problem, but my car has built-in navigation so it is not an issue for me.

Since I just got my Incredible today, I can't comment on battery life or reliability, but since HTC already made similar phones (Nexus One, HTC Desire, etc.) I believe battery life shouldn't be an issue. So far the call quality over my Plantronics 975 bluetooth headset is great and no drop call when I was driving to work for an hour on the phone. I will append my reviews in a few months if I discover any significant issues. For now, I am very happy with my HTC Incredible.

First impressions of the HTC Incredible and why I left iPhone...

I recently switched my mobile service from AT&T Wireless and the iPhone, to Verizon and the brand new HTC Incredible.

Why did I switch? I've been a customer of AT&T / Cingular / AT&T for over a decade. I've usually had great service and great phones. I've also had a wide variety of phones from the iPhone to the BlackJack II, to the Cingular 8125, to any number of flip and candybar style phones. At one point I was getting a new phone every year - until I got the iPhone.

The iPhone is the phone I've had the longest, because it pretty much did everything I needed it to do. The problem was that AT&T didn't.

For some time now I've been growing frustrated with dropped calls and lack of signal in places where I don't expect there to be a problem. Sitting in a cafe in midtown Sacramento and the phone telling me it's "searching" for a signal is displeasing to me. I was also hearing great things about the Android phones (Nexus One, DROID, etc.) including the brand new HTC Incredible that was on its way to market.

And so I did some research and made the switch!

First impressions? The phone gets pretty close to living up to its lofty name.

It started out as the HTC Wow! as I began to explore the differences from the iPhone and was filled with excitement. It was all new and it was all fresh, and I enjoyed figuring out what it could do in an of itself, and what it could do that was better than other phones. It's got a fast 1GHz processor, 8MP camera, wireless/GPS/bluetooth, Flash (which is a BIG win over the iPhone), customizable everything, live widgets (sort of like Google desktop), and more!

Then I moved into HTC Uh Oh! when I encountered a known issue with the native email client and IMAP email servers. There is no fix that I've seen so far and I had to install a different email program (K9) in order to get consistent access to my IMAP email accounts. Ok not TOO bad but still was unexpected, because on the iPhone it just "worked". I was also concerned with the native Twitter app called "Peep". It kept notifying me about messages I'd received days in the past - so I installed the brand new native Twitter app and removed Peep and all was well. The final part of my uh oh was that tethering isn't native. You not only have to download software, but there's a fee with Verizon to enable mobile tethering. AT&T didn't even offer it on the iPhone unless you were jailbroken, but I don't understand why this is an extra monthly charge and I dislike it.

Then I phased into HTC Really Good! as I got email working and started to customize my home screens with the applications I use on a regular basis. Things like Google Voice (which deserves it's own mention in a moment), Facebook, Twitter, Ustream broadcaster, Amazon, Wordpress, music streaming, NPR News, TMZ, and a few others including a Bejeweled clone. Battery life popped up as a possible down-side, and I've heard this complaint from other users - but I charge the phone every night and I've turned off the constant GPS fix option and it seems to help. At this point - not enough to drop me out of Really Good.

And then it was time for HTC Wow! again when I realized just how amazingly integrated Google Voice was on the Android system. No longer was it just an app on the iPhone that connected me to my web-based Google Voice account, now it was so integrated that it can actually bypass my phone's native voicemail and send it to Google Voice. This was a special wow because Verizon charges for visual voicemail (note that AT&T does not - it's part of the package). I didn't want to pay for that feature because it was just a nice to have, but I was super pleased that Google Voice can take care of it for me (including transcription and the other awesome features of the tool).

I've finally settled at HTC Great! after about a week of using the phone. Some of the initial issues I experienced, plus the concern about battery life have kept me from reaching the full HTC Incredible! level for myself. It seems as though HTC is paying attention - they have already released an Over the Air update that fixes a potential issue with incorrectly showing service bars - so I'm hoping that updates are going to be regular and beneficial. I love that it happens over the air vs. having to tether to iTunes to do an update.

I love that I can customize every single screen (I'm currently using a 7-screen theme); add live widgets that can show weather, calendars, email previews, facebook updates, twitter updates, and pretty much anything else; the touch screen is intuitive and responsive; and it's just easy to use and personalize to my specific needs.

Having a phone that can be so personalized is a welcome change from the iPhone that wouldn't even let me have persistent wallpaper on anything but the home screen (something that never made sense to me but is apparently being fixed in the 4.0 software release). But that personalization can have tradeoffs. You can load this thing up with so many applications and so many widgets that it becomes unusable, so you do have to watch what you're doing.

In terms of form factor it's very similar to the iPhone but doesn't feel as heavy. The buttons are in intuitive positions, and it seems like they took a lead from the iPhone in design. Buttons can perform multiple functions depending upon the application you're sitting in, and it's super-fast switching from one application to another (thank you intelligent backgrounding).

Overall I'm really happy with the phone and satisfied with the service from Verizon that I've received to-date. So I'm giving my first impressions a 4 out of 5 stars for the HTC Incredible!

* Products and brands are copyrights of their respective companies. Also note - I still have an active iPhone on AT&T service in addition to the new HTC Incredible on Verizon.

Great phone, and a serious challenger to the iPhone

First of all, I'd like to tell you a little about myself so you get an idea of where I am coming from. I am a college student in computer engineering, and have never had a smartphone before. My previous phone was an LG env2, which while a solid phone had little in the way of multimedia features. I've been waiting for months to purchase an iPhone (and jealously eying my dad's iPhone in the process), but decided to go with the Incredible instead when it became clear the iPhone wasn't coming to Verizon and I couldn't be happier.

The primary reason I decided to go with this phone initially was because of Verizon. My dad has an iPhone 3GS, and even though it is a slick device with great apps and a nice interface, he struggles to get reception both at home and at work (and he lives near a major university and works on that university campus). No matter how awesome a phone is on it's own merits, what good is it if it can't receive calls in the two places where you spend the majority of your time on a daily basis? Note that he is clearly within the stated coverage area for AT&T. As for Verizon, they have an awesome network - I can get 3G in the building where I work while all other networks can't even get cell phone signal.

The second reason I went with Android over the iPhone was because of development. While I don't plan to be a heavy developer, I like the ability to write a simple application if I see the need without having to have both a mac and a developer's license. Additionally, the ability to supply an app outside the app store gives nice flexibility if I don't want to go to all the trouble to have it listed or if I just want to share it with a few people. On that note, while the Android store isn't great and certainly isn't anywhere near as good as the Apple app store, I find that ~95% of the apps I want are available there (plus the awesomeness of several google apps like navigation, maps, goggles and gmail that aren't available through apple), and find that using google search in combination with the Android store is a viable (if somewhat less elegant) alternative to the apple store. Also, the ability to run live widgets (applications that show information passively without being interacted with on home screens) is a nice feature of the Android phone over the iPhone as well.

Now that I've explained why I went with a Verizon Android phone, I'll explain why I went with the HTC Incredible over several other worthy options. The main choices I had with Verizon were the Moto Droid and the HTC Eris. The Eris is designed to be a cheaper, mid-level android device and while there is nothing wrong with that, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. As for the Droid, it is in my opinion the only serious competitor for the Incredible in the Verizon lineup. While noticeably inferior hardware-wise, it has the advantage of slightly better battery life and a physical keyboard, as opposed to the Incredible's soft keyboard. This does come at the price of making the device noticeably thicker, however, so that's something to be aware of. Personally, I find that with the text-to-speech features and custom on-screen keyboards like swype (which allows you to slide your fingers between keys to make words instead of pressing them - very handy), I can actually type faster than I can on a physical keyboard. But if a physical keyboard is a must, go with the Moto Droid. Additionally, this is definitely personal preference but I really do like the Sense UI of the HTC phones much better than the UI for the Moto phones - it comes off as much more polished and usable in my opinion without sacrificing any of the power of the base interface.

Additionally, be aware that there is another Moto Droid on the way in the next month - the Droid Shadow or the Droid 2 as it is sometimes called. It apparently has, among other things, an updated UI and the same processor as the Incredible (1 GHz snapdragon), but details besides that are sparse. If you aren't sold on the Incredible, it may be to your advantage to wait and see more details on this phone to see if it fits your needs better.

I guess I should probably say a few things about the Incredible itself now - it feels great in my hands, is responsive when I move between applications and windows and has a very nice camera. I was a little disappointed by how much battery the camera uses, but that's to be expected I guess. That leads in to perhaps my biggest disappointment with the phone - the battery life. Coming from an env2 which I had to plug in about once every 10 days, I find myself having to plug this in more than once a day to make it through the day. While a much shorter life than my env2 is to be expected, I was hoping it would last at least a full day of on-and-off moderate to heavy usage, but it can't. However, I have a microUSB cable at work and at home, and I find that if I just put it on the charger whenever I am near my computer and let it charge overnight, that it lasts long enough to get me through those times when I can't charge it.

To summarize:

Advantages of Incredible over iPhone:
-Verizon
-Open platform
-Customizable
-App Deployment/Development
-Live widgets
-Full multitasking with any app
-No iTunes dependency and the ability to sync with multiple computers

Advantages of iPhone over Incredible:
-Apps/app finding
-Ease of use/learning curve
-Battery life optimization
-HD video shooting
-Better integrated multimedia apps (music, video watching, etc)
-Standardization (development for one platform vs. many platforms)

Almost Incredible except for...

I summarize my month long experience with HTC incredible:

I had been waiting to get a smartphone for some time. So when I heard about the latest and greatest droid in the market, I got one finally (or so I thought).

Out of the box: the phone looked great. The display is really nice. Having multiple home screens is great (unlike iphone). The weather feature is interesting. The camera is awesome (though don't think 8mp real camera).

The keypad is nice with some kind of haptic feedback. The voice to text feature of keypad means you don't need to use keypad if using standard english. It is that good.

The phone is blazing fast. Very responsive compared to both droid DOES and iphone. And verizon network was better than ATT as well.

Now the not so good stuff: The voice mail had some shrill. Then I realized that the voice quality was in general bad when calling. The phone heated up little when used. Iphone and Motorola droid(DOES) don't seem to heatup. Heated up significantly when being charged and more if used while charging.

I was somewhat surprised to find that there is no voice dial or speed dial feature in true sense. You had click in three places to ready the phone for voice dial or speed dial, which kind of defeats the purpose.

The phone is sleeker than iphone but is still pretty big compared to non-smartphones. Looked frail so I put a sleeve on it and then it would not slide properly in my pocket. I bought the holder but hated using it. This is something for all first time smartphone buyers to think about.

I went back to the store and they immediately confirmed that the voice quality had issue. So I got a refurbished phone in exchange. I did not like paying for a new phone and getting a refurbished phone. The voice quality had improved but still had issues esp when accessing voice mail for some reason. I blamed it on my imagination. The replacement phone somehow seemed to have lower bars. Almost always a single bar unlike the previous phone. The only place I got the full bars was at the airport.

The battery life is very bad. I thought I used it very carefully (which again takes away from the always on, always available sense of mobility) and still had to charge frequently. On a busy day it would have definitely proved unreliable.

I just needed a robust phone first. True this phone is loaded with lot of smart features but I paid higher price for those features in terms of initial price and data plan. So I was less willing to except deficiencies in basic functions that I value every day.

Anyway the last straw happened to be the rebate. The replacement phone did not come in a new box and hence I was not able to claim the rebate. Calling customer service and visiting verizon store to explain the situation did not help. So I returned the phone as it was still in 'no-worry' period.

Awesome phone with a few minor gripes

I've waited for this phone for months. First I thought the Moto Droid would be my LG Dare's successor. Then I saw the leaked photos of the Nexus One and finally the Incredible. After all this time, it has finally arrived and I've spent the last few days playing with it.

The number one question everyone will ask is "How does it compare to the iPhone?" and I think possibly for the first time ever, the answer is that it is *better* in many (or most) ways.

First, the hardware. In person this thing looks like a murdered out (black) version of the iPhone, with a few catchy red accents and a unique faschia around the back. It looks very cool and feels great in your hand. Some places have reported that the backside feels "cheap" and I'll agree -- when the back panel is removed, it feels cheap. But when it's on the phone (99.99% of the time), it feels quite solid and the whole package feels balanced and complete. I like the soft-touch backing because it doesn't show fingerprints. Nice. Yes, the screen will show fingerprints, especially if you run greasy.

Next, the interface. I had never used the Android OS before and wasn't sure what to expect in terms of simplicity, layout, and general elegance. In my opinion, Android nails it. No, this phone doesn't have the sheer simplicity of the iPhones interface. Instead, it gives you something that the iPhone doesn't: control. You get to decide where your icons are. You get to add widgets to your home screen(s). You get folders, program shortcuts, and various wallpaper choices (including animated wallpapers, if you're into that). The interface and customization options are really excellent. This is great if you have even a little bit of tech-geek in you, and it's still intuitive. Everything runs smooth and responsive. And it does multi-tasking, without breaking a sweat.

The external speaker (for music/speakerphone) is excellent for a cell phone; one of the best I've heard with little or no distortion. Of course it doesn't have any bass, but that's to be expected. Multi-touch works perfectly (there were some known issues with the Nexus One because it used an inferior touch processor that has been upgraded in the Incredible). There are all kinds of widgets and programs that come standard so you can get a good jump on customizing your experience. Camera is fine. Sure, it's 8mp (I'd rather have a 3mp with excellent picture quality). No, it is nowhere near a dedicated point and shoot camera. Above average for a cell phone, but don't expect miracles here.

I do have a few gripes so far, and some of them are more of an HTC/Google software thing and not a direct issue with this particular phone. First, the widgets, while nice, are limited in their customization. You often have a choice of 2-3 display styles for a widget, but aside from that there are very few "widget options". They each work pretty well but are limited in their individual flexibility.

Another small annoyance is in some landscape mode keyboards (like when writing a text or filling out a form) you have to hide the keyboard before accepting what you've typed; you can't just hit enter to accept or continue. Sounds small but at times it can be kind of annoying. In portrait mode this problem doesn't really exist, because either there's a button present or you can scroll through content to find it. (Landscape mode overwrites the page content with your text editing area.)

Random note in the middle of my review: the Android Marketplace does not have as many apps as the iPhone. Personally, I don't care. iDon't need a million apps to make my phone useful. The ones that are available in Android have provided everything I've needed (so far).

Finally, there are going to be a lot of people disappointed in battery life. I've only charged mine a few times so far, but this is definitely a phone you're going to need to charge at the end of the day with moderate use, or possibly even sooner with heavy-duty use. I wish they would have packed in a higher-capacity battery, but then at the same time with all of the features on these types of high-end smartphones, I can't expect the battery to do the impossible.

Overall this is THE best phone on Verizon and quite possibly ANY carrier, at least until the Evo 4g and next iPhone. Since Verizon is the best network, though, I give the Droid Incredible 4.5 stars and three big thumbs up. That's right, three.

HTC DROID INCREDIBLE Android Phone (Verizon Wireless) (Wireless Phone)

This is my first smartphone having been a fence sitter with my old voice / text phone till now. I'd been waiting in anticipation for Verizon to confirm / deny the rumors about the Nexus One since February. Then I started reading online reviews / comparisons between the Nexus One and the newly announced Incredible and felt myself leaning more the the Incredible though the two phones are very similar.

I was happily surprised when Verizon finally broke the silence and announced the availability of the Incredible. And though I was only halfway through my New Every Two plan, upon my request Verizon graciously offered me the phone at the promotional $149 and then simply restarted my New Every Two the moment I activated this phone. THAT'S good customer service.

I've had the phone for over a week and I absolutely love it. Yes there are grumblings about the lean battery life. I won't lie, you do need to be prepared to charge it daily, especially for the first few days. But you have to keep in mind it's a small computer that does REAL multitasking. This is nothing new for those who have owned smartphones previously and does take a little getting used to by the basic voice / text phone crowd (my old voice / text phone went 8-9 days between charging).

The battery is a tad undersized for the power of the phone but then again we consumers want a small, thin form factor. Already there's a 1750 mAh battery available (exact same dimensions as the one it ships with) and rumors of an upcoming 2100+ mAh. And remember, something you can do with this and most every non-Apple mobile device - easily carry a spare & swap / upgrade batteries.

Following the advice on the Android forums, for the first few days I put my phone through full charge / discharge (till completely dead) cycles and have noticed a good 50% gain on battery life.

The screen is gorgeous. Because the phone does true multitasking you have a selection of animated backgrounds including a really cool swirling galaxy, blades of grass waving in the breeze, etc. Touch sensitivity is great albeit a little too sensitive at times (a screen protector really helps in this area). The multi-touch is great and while surfing the web, with most sites you can "drag zoom" (opposite of a pinch) text and pictures and then pan around - especially for those sites that prefer to use annoyingly small microfiche fonts.

Voice quality is excellent - both what you hear and what your caller hears

The speaker is decent for a phone but plug in a decent pair of headphones (uses a standard jack) and you have sound quality rivaling an iPod. Plus the cord on the headphones acts as an antenna for the built-in FM radio.

wifi setup is a breeze though with Verizon's unlimited data plan the biggest benefit to wifi connectivity is speed. I find the range with my home network is as good as my laptop and the phone will automatically switch between known / configured wifi networks and the regular 3G network, with a preference for wifi over 3G. When using the YouTube app, if you're connected on wifi it will automatically always try to get the highest quality version of the video. If you're only on the 3G network then you have to tell the player to use higher quality (since it can take longer to load and possibly not stream as smoothly on 3G).

I've been using the free Pandora app to stream internet radio and have quickly gotten addicted to always-on Internet connectivity. Sound quality doesn't change between wifi and 3G and I can't even tell when the phone switches as I get out of range of my configured wifi hotspots. There is something to be said for the Verizon 3G network coverage. I live in Phoenix and haven't had any connectivity issues.

I do need to mention there's a current issue in the app that shows you 3G signal strength in the phone status bar. It doesn't seem to show true signal strength. That is at times it has shown zero signal strength and I've made calls, surfed, listened to Internet radio with no quality issues. Once again, this is a new phone and nothing an update (they download via the 3G / wifi network, by the way - you don't have to plug it into your computer or take it to the Verizon store) won't correct.

Voice recognition is pretty flawless (actually performed by the Verizon server farm, I believe) and can be used pretty much anywhere you can use the onscreen keyboard.

Integration with Gmail email, contacts & calendar is seamless. In fact if you have a Gmail account you'll see there's no longer any need to keep contacts on your phone. You can assign ringtones, notes, etc to your Gmail contacts exactly as you can to contacts stored locally on the phone so why bother backing up with Backup Assistant, etc? Every time the phone syncs with your Gmail account any changes are "backed up". You do have the option to sync with other email providers but I haven't explored that feature since I only use Gmail.

I've had hit and miss success with Flash video on sites like [...]. But at least the Android OS is committed to supporting Flash so I have full confidence that this will be corrected in an upcoming update.

All this chatter about the Apple store having hundreds of thousands of apps vs Google store only having twenty thousand or so seems rather irrelevant to me. That is, I'm finding PLENTY of apps available and a surprising quantity of great quality FREE apps. And as the Android OS gets more and more popular, and as Apple gets more and more unfriendly toward their "loyal" developers, there are going to be more and more apps available for the Android OS.

Finally, at least in my case Verizon only shipped the anemic printed "Quick Start" guide which did little more than tell you to charge it fully first and gave a quick overview of the phone and setting up Gmail, Facebook, etc. If you do a Google search for "Droid Incredible Users Guide" you'll find a great 206 page PDF of the full users guide. I'm not sure why Verizon isn't shipping it (printed OR CD) though it has their logo on it. If you're new to smartphones and/or the Android OS (like I was) this guide is a must and can help you make the most out of this incredible (ha!) little device.

If you're still a fence sitter like I was, yes, there will always be a better phone "coming". But if you're ready to finally join the smartphone crowd I think the Droid Incredible is an excellent phone to make the leap with.

Outstanding Alternative to iPhone

I had been an iPhone/AT&T customer for the past couple of years, since the first 3G release. The iPhone is a great device, but hampered by the poor AT&T voice network, and the spotty 3G coverage. As a former Verizon customer for years prior to that, I knew the voice quality and coverage was superior, but their smartphone selection really didn't rival the iPhone, and I was stuck with the 2 year contract. I'm glad to say that dumping that contract early to jump back to VZW and the Incredible was well worth the penalty!

The Incredible is fast - almost too fast as it responds quickly to short flicks of my thumb. The optical joystick option for navigation works nicely, especially to avoid extra smudges to the touch screen. The seven page HTC Sense display is unique and has unlimited options for customization - the ability to have functional "widgets" vs. just application launch icons vs. the iPhone make this stand out - as well as the several default configurations to help guide you towards customizing your own configuration. The display itself is bright, sharp, and the higher resolution (compared to the 3G) makes everything pop out, making you "wow" when you first look at it. Customization options are abundant, further allowing you to customize to your heart's content. The seamless integration with Google mail/calendar, Facebook and Twitter, and well as the ability to sync Outlook Calendar and contacts provides a novel method of linking various contacts together for streamlined management of your contacts - for example, if I had you in my Outlook contacts, and also as a friend in Facebook, and followed you in Twitter, the HTC allows me to link those together, so your contact info on the phone allows me to interact with you without having to actually go to those various applications. I even like the fit of the phone in my hands - an iPhone (without a case) always feels like it's going to slip right out of my grasp, but the case of the Incredible seems to "stick" to my fingers, and I never feel like it's going to slip through.

The camera is worlds better than that of the iPhone 3G. Photos are clear, and colors are true to life. The led flashes work well. The only drawback is pushing the optical joystick to take a picture - same problem as with the iPhone. A button on the side of the phone would be preferable.

If you are worried about apps, there's no need to. Just about every app I had on the iPhone has a version in the Android Marketplace, or at least another app that is of equal quality/function. The Marketplace is more cumbersome to use as it's only available through the phone interface - a store to browse and shop via the web on my computer, similar to how the iTunes apps store functions, would be a great addition and make finding apps much easier. The phone interface is quite functional, but trying to compare and select between similar apps would work better on the computer. **Update** Thanks to a comment, I've found Appbrain, which looks like a good solution for this!

If you are tired of AT&T's network and/or the iPhone, the Incredible on VZW is certainly a prospect to investigate. I give it a hearty thumbs up! 4 stars for the Incredible itself, as it can use some software improvements, especially to the Marketplace, and 5 stars for the VZW voice and data network (but 1 star for VZW's continual poor documentation of the phones they provide).

Pros:
Fast processor
beautiful display
great camera quality
wealth of applications through Marketplace
fit and feel
VZW Network quality
highly customizable interface
integration of contact data

Buy the HTC Droid Incredible!

I've had this phone since April 28th and I'm actually rewriting my original review using my HTC Incredible as my laptop's internet connection via EasyTether Lite (free). I must say I'm really impressed with this phone. It's super fast, good looking, and customizable. It's a treat to finally have a great phone paired with a great network!

Update: If you are looking at this phone and aren't yet locked in with Verizon, you might be comparing it to the HTC Evo 4G. The Evo 4G is for Sprint, and has some pros and some cons compared with the Incredible. I'll let others compare to the Iphone 4 / 3GS in detail (Honestly, I think either of these HTC phones are superior at the very least by hardware with the exception of the Iphone 4 screen's resolution which is a bit better, 640x960 vs 480x800)
Incredible lacks compared to Evo 4G: 4G Speeds (In Select Areas), HDMI Output (720p max), Kickstand, Larger Screen (4.3 inch compared to 3.7 inch - same resolution), Front Facing Camera (Incredible does not have a front facing camera, a bathroom mirror can fix this problem though), Sprint TV included to watch live tv and old episodes (Verizon VCast is $10/month for similar service)
Incredible is better than the Evo 4G: Form factor (In my opinion the Evo 4g is too big for my liking), Battery Life (Incredible is nothing spectacular, but better than Evo 4G), Internal Storage (8 GB Incredible, Nothing Extra for Evo 4G), $10/month 4G fee no matter what for area for Evo (nothing like this for Incredible)

I would choose the Incredible over the Evo 4G if I had to make the decision again.

Note: I was trying to find a way to watch the World Cup, and the best way seemed to be using the Skyfire browser, and going to the Univision website to find the live feed. The picture has been clear for me, and while it did take some time to load, it is Free (commentary in Spanish)!

It's got 7 screens, which can be viewed individually or all at once. I've got mine setup like this:
1. Home/Main Screen - Weather and Top Used Apps (Pandora, Skyfire, Gmail, Market, Battery, Mint, Flixster, Camera)
2. Agenda
3. Text Widget from HTC Sense
4. Stock Widget from HTC Sense
5. Favorite Contacts
6. Power Widget and Empty Space
7. FriendStream - HTC Sense seemlessly integrated Facebook/Twitter/Flickr

I don't intend for this review to be the end-all of reviews, so I'll try not to cover things other people did already.

Something others have mentioned and I've noticed as well is that battery life could be better. This is the one thing I would change if I could, and I might just do that. It comes stock with the 1300 mAh battery as you can see in the specs below, which just barely cuts it for me. I'm strongly considering upgrading the the Seidio 1750 mAh slim battery which fits in the same space, and should yield about 30% more charge for somewhere around 40 bucks here on Amazon.

I didn't notice you can drag your finger from the top of your screen to see ongoing applications, and current notifications. Hopefully this helps someone else figure this out too! Someone showed me this a couple days in, and it's very nice. Basically this is a quick link to what's just happened on your phone.

One thing you might not notice right away is that the Android Market actually varies from other phones. Specifically, it has some apps that other Android 2.1 phones don't have (ie 'Shake Them All' - a live wallpaper), while it's missing apps that other Android 2.1 phones have (Google Earth). Both of the examples I noticed when comparing to the Motorola Droid, and I'm sure there are other differences. This is a little irritating but one can get around this by downloading the .apk files and installing the programs manually. I did this for Google Earth, and it runs flawlessly! It's annoying that Google doesn't make it nice and easy. You could also do something similar via Astro File Manager if both you and your friend use Astro, they could backup their app on microSD, give you the microSD, and you could install from there.

Another thing I didn't see in my brief look through reviews is a list of free apps to get you started with brief descriptions:
Advanced Task Killer Free - Kill any application running
Astro File Manager - Manage Files, Backup Applications, Install Applications from Backup
BatteryTime Lite - Keep track of Battery Left, Battery Temperature
EasyTether Lite - Tethering App, free version does not access https sites, pay version does
Engadget - Tech Review Site Application
Flashlight - Simple help when you need it
Fring - Skype, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo, Twitter, ICQ, SIP, and MSN Live Client (works on Wi-fi too unlike Skype's basic app)
Google Goggles - Cool app for image based google searches
Google Sky Map - Star Gazer App, based on phone location and phone orientation, shows what stars and planets are out there
Layar - Imagine Google Sky Map for restaurants, bars, etc.
MaplePaint - Painting App
Mint - A great application for tracking personal finances
Movies/Flixster - Great movie app (theater and dvd) integrated with Netflix/Rotten Tomato, able to watch trailers instantly
My Verizon - Helpful for tracking phone usage
Pandora - Streaming Music
Scanner Radio - Police Scanner
Shazam - Figures out what song is playing
Skyfire - Slick web browser (or maybe you prefer Opera)
ShopSavvy - Barcode Scanner, Web and local price-checker
The Weather Channel - A good alternative to the Sense Weather Widgets

Games I like (I'm a simple minded phone gamer, all free as well, no descriptions):
Action Potato
Jewels
Labyrinth Lite
The 'Papi' Series - PapiCatch, PapiJump, PapiMissile, PapiPole, PapiRiver
Super Tetris
Texas Holdem - Red Poker Club
Toss It

Nerdy Details:
Size/Weight: 4.63 x 2.30 x 0.47 inches / 4.6 ounces
Screen: 480x800 3.7 inch AMOLED
Processor: 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon (QSD8650) CDMA version of Nexus One Processor (QSD8250)
Wi-fi: 802.11 b/g/n (I've clocked my phone on speed tests over 6 Mbps when connected to Comcast)
microSD: 2 GB included / up to 32 GB supported
Radio: FM using headphone cable as antenna
Operating System: Android 2.1 (Eclair) with HTC Sense
Camera: 8 Megapixels with Dual LED Flash
Bluetooth: 2.1 with A2DP Stereo and EDR
GPS: A-GPS (Assisted GPS, can be used for locating you during a 911 call, or more commonly navigation)
Keyboard: Virtual Only
Speech to Text: Basically can dictate texts, web addresses, and almost anywhere you can type
Text to Speech: Google Navigation can speak directions
Network: Verizon!
RAM: 512 MB
ROM: 768 MB / 512 MB for user
Internal Storage: 8 GB moviNand
Battery: 1300 mAh Lithium Ion (checkout Seidio 1750 mAh slim which fits in same space, if you need more power)
Physical Buttons: Volume Control (up/down), Power/Lock (share same button), Optical Joystick (with click)
Additional Sensors: Multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, Ambient Light Sensor, 3-axis accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity Sensor
Audio Out: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
USB: micro-USB (charging and data)
Audio file types supported: AAC, AMR0, OGG, M4A, MID, MP3, WAV, WMA
Video file types supported: 3GP, 3G2, MP4, WMV

I'm excited to see this phone get rooted someday (soon?)! Please rate my review up or down as you see fit! Thank you!
Update: Rooted! As of June 10, 2010. Flash 10.1 also works (gotta do a little searching/work to get this running)! It's a bit of a hack now, but when Froyo (Android 2.2) comes out for all, it should be very solid.