My Verizon "upgrade" finally came up and I spent several weeks prior to that evaluating the available phones trying to decide which one made the most sense in terms of cost, functionality, and the potential for still being somewhat relevant at least a year from now, if not longer. I had been using an original Moto Droid which I liked very much and used contantly as most importantly a phone (for home and work), email, texting, weather, sports scores, and as a valuable GPS device (saving me $100 on a Garmin update, using the phone instead). I didn't like the size of the phone, and the speed of the on Internet the phone was always a problem, it would freeze, but otherwise I appreciated the quality of the phone, it's built like a tank.
My wife has the original Incredible, and I was impressed with it's quality and ease of use, but didn't initially want what seemed to be essentially the same phone as hers in the DINC2, and I kept reading how wonderful 4G is, and how foolish anyone would be to buy a new 3G phone. So what choices?
The Thunderbolt is just too big, and with the horror stories of battery life this seemed to be the classic first generation "brick" that would be in the bargain bin come next spring. The LG Revolution appears to have quirky problems (shutting off unexpectedly, etc.) and the Netflix thing I discovered is available for every new phone, just an app, nothing unique there. The Charge seemed flimsy to me, and I wasn't happy with the pricetag. I did really like the big clear screen, but the clincher was when I called home using the one at the verizon store, my wife asked me right away what was wrong with the connection. I tried again with another display Charge and she said it sounded just as bad, faint and tinny. So no 4g phone, I wasn't going to wait for the Bionic, at that time no fixed release date was set, and I expect a high price tag and more unknown problems. I'd like more speed, but anything was going to be lightening quick compared to my original Droid, and a conversation with a Verizon guy hinted that 4g comes and goes in Pittsburgh, depends on where you're standing.
So what's left? The X2 apparently has music player problems, again too much new technology without good testing, it seems. The Droid 3 is a big phone, and I know two people who are very disappointed with their Droid 2's, so that one wasn't an option for me. I took a look at the Casio Commando, but read it was slow, and had kind of a "toy" look to it that I didn't like, and I'd read the actual phone part of it wasn't all that great, although taking pictures underwater did have an appeal. The only other option from Verizon then was the DINC 2. I saw no advantage to an Iphone4. I'm betting people who say how great they are now will be tossing them away once the 5 comes out, and the specs for the DINC 2 appeared to match the Iphone4 if not exceed them, at less than half the cost. My son has an Ipod and I have yet to figure out how to even put music on the thing, let alone just edit a URL if it's typed wrong, and I hate the idea of fixed memory sizes. So I bit the bullet and ordered the DINC 2 from Amazon wireless for $80.
I can say that I'm not disappointed in any way. The size of the phone is perfect, not too big like I was afraid the X2, Charge, Thunderbolt, Droid 3, and Revolution would be, and so far I've had no issues, no disappearing calenders, email all works, etc. (knock on wood). The phone is very quick, uses the same processor as the Tbolt, so aside from downloads, it's essentially the same phone in a smaller package with better battery life. Everyone works great, Netflix, music player, Facebook, you name it. It does use the battery quicker than my old Droid, but it seems that's mainly due to the much bigger screen, hasn't been an issue yet. I don't see any other phones aside from maybe the Iphone with really long lasting batteries. And the most important thing, the PHONE, really does work great, very loud and clear, easy to pull up contacts and call them.
These are the kind of real world comments I was looking for when I was researching, so I hope this might help someone else when making a decision. Obviously this won't be the best available phone for long, but for right now I'd rate it very high in terms of value for it's cost, functionality as a phone, lack of any serious bugs, and overall design, things the professional phone reviewers don't always consider.
My wife has the original Incredible, and I was impressed with it's quality and ease of use, but didn't initially want what seemed to be essentially the same phone as hers in the DINC2, and I kept reading how wonderful 4G is, and how foolish anyone would be to buy a new 3G phone. So what choices?
The Thunderbolt is just too big, and with the horror stories of battery life this seemed to be the classic first generation "brick" that would be in the bargain bin come next spring. The LG Revolution appears to have quirky problems (shutting off unexpectedly, etc.) and the Netflix thing I discovered is available for every new phone, just an app, nothing unique there. The Charge seemed flimsy to me, and I wasn't happy with the pricetag. I did really like the big clear screen, but the clincher was when I called home using the one at the verizon store, my wife asked me right away what was wrong with the connection. I tried again with another display Charge and she said it sounded just as bad, faint and tinny. So no 4g phone, I wasn't going to wait for the Bionic, at that time no fixed release date was set, and I expect a high price tag and more unknown problems. I'd like more speed, but anything was going to be lightening quick compared to my original Droid, and a conversation with a Verizon guy hinted that 4g comes and goes in Pittsburgh, depends on where you're standing.
So what's left? The X2 apparently has music player problems, again too much new technology without good testing, it seems. The Droid 3 is a big phone, and I know two people who are very disappointed with their Droid 2's, so that one wasn't an option for me. I took a look at the Casio Commando, but read it was slow, and had kind of a "toy" look to it that I didn't like, and I'd read the actual phone part of it wasn't all that great, although taking pictures underwater did have an appeal. The only other option from Verizon then was the DINC 2. I saw no advantage to an Iphone4. I'm betting people who say how great they are now will be tossing them away once the 5 comes out, and the specs for the DINC 2 appeared to match the Iphone4 if not exceed them, at less than half the cost. My son has an Ipod and I have yet to figure out how to even put music on the thing, let alone just edit a URL if it's typed wrong, and I hate the idea of fixed memory sizes. So I bit the bullet and ordered the DINC 2 from Amazon wireless for $80.
I can say that I'm not disappointed in any way. The size of the phone is perfect, not too big like I was afraid the X2, Charge, Thunderbolt, Droid 3, and Revolution would be, and so far I've had no issues, no disappearing calenders, email all works, etc. (knock on wood). The phone is very quick, uses the same processor as the Tbolt, so aside from downloads, it's essentially the same phone in a smaller package with better battery life. Everyone works great, Netflix, music player, Facebook, you name it. It does use the battery quicker than my old Droid, but it seems that's mainly due to the much bigger screen, hasn't been an issue yet. I don't see any other phones aside from maybe the Iphone with really long lasting batteries. And the most important thing, the PHONE, really does work great, very loud and clear, easy to pull up contacts and call them.
These are the kind of real world comments I was looking for when I was researching, so I hope this might help someone else when making a decision. Obviously this won't be the best available phone for long, but for right now I'd rate it very high in terms of value for it's cost, functionality as a phone, lack of any serious bugs, and overall design, things the professional phone reviewers don't always consider.
