• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Why I might return my Incredible.

Sorry but there is not a phone that exists that will do that.

Nearly every phone with GPS will eat battery with it on, stop thinking of it as a phone, and more of a laptop. If you want a phone get a standard flip phone and go for 4 days on a single charge.

All good responses and tips, but the bottom line is I don't want to compromise.. I don't want to turn GPS off, which in fact doesnt use extra battery life unless it is being utilized by an app..

I don't wanna manually check email....

I want everything to work like it should, I shouldnt have to baby this phone along..
 
I've had mine for a little over a week. I've had a few forced closes but I promptly uninstalled those applications and replaced them. No more problems in the last 4 days. As for the battery I feel your pain, but Thursday I got the 1750mah extended battery (same size as the oem) and I'm doing great now.....

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm typing this on my incredible with 53% battery after 13 hours off the charger with wi-fi and 3g on and moderate usage all day. Maybe an hour of Pandora, some email, games, and web browsing.
 
Where do you get this? I am on auto brightness and my display reads that I don't get more than 8% on heavy use (3% light use).

It's one of the first things I learned when joining the forums with my Eris. I know it from testing it out with my iPod touch and everyone I work with's iPhones. Wether or not it's major, it's definetly something that does something. I just keep my brightness set at a fixed point, and never really think about it. I don't really see a need for auto-adjust.

No need to get jumpy, just offering my what i found helps after my personal experience with a phone that is pretty much the prototype/has the same battery as yours.
 
All good responses and tips, but the bottom line is I don't want to compromise.. I don't want to turn GPS off, which in fact doesnt use extra battery life unless it is being utilized by an app..

I don't wanna manually check email....

I want everything to work like it should, I shouldnt have to baby this phone along..

If you run through the suggested steps you will not need to shut anything off. I am like you to and dont feel like i should have to shut things off.

Also what type of battery life are you expecting? Any smart phone will need to be plugged in nightly
 
You have to just understand the time we are in.

We are in a time where cell phone technology is skyrocketing and batteries aren't. You have to make sacrifices or buy a bigger battery.

Can't be pushin and pullin 10 programs while playing video games and surfing the net for hours expecting to get a full days worth.

It's just technology reality right now man.

Perhaps your right and this realization is why, I may go blackberry... I have realized that I can get done everything I want, on a blackberry,

They have Pandora and Slacker,

They have 3.5 jack

They have 3.2 megapixel cam, which takes nice shots,

Keyboard is great, and I prefer it to Touchscreen.


Web browsing isn't bad.... I could use Opera Mini,,,

They have facebook!


And most of all, apps dont randomly crash like I have experienced...

Battery life is superb also..


Well Atleast I gave it the college try...
 
...People keep talking about turning the screen down but I doubt that's your biggest consumer.

It depends on now one is using the phone, but the "screen" is generally the "Droid's" largest battery drainer...at least per the Android power usage meter.

As for force closes, try to remember that there are numerous apps written by "the community", and not formal business entities. Some of the apps will be buggy, even after multiple revisions.
 
Battery life is superb beacause they are boring.

The browser sucks, no matter how you look at it. The screen is just too small to be effective at viewing web pages.

Android has Pandora, Slacker, and hte Inc has a 3.5mm headphone jack, an 8mp camera with LED flash.

I'm staying with my Eris, but I am picking one up for my dad tommorrow so i'm half convincing myself why he's going to like it.
 
I do appreciate the community here, lots and lots of responses.. Thank you all... I might have to give it until the 30th day before i truly decide..
 
It's one of the first things I learned when joining the forums with my Eris. I know it from testing it out with my iPod touch and everyone I work with's iPhones. Wether or not it's major, it's definetly something that does something. I just keep my brightness set at a fixed point, and never really think about it. I don't really see a need for auto-adjust.

No need to get jumpy, just offering my what i found helps after my personal experience with a phone that is pretty much the prototype/has the same battery as yours.

Jumpy? It was an honest question relax.

The problem with keeping brightness at a fixed level to save battery is that when you are in the sun, it will be hard to see.

Autobrightness brings it to high when you are outside so that you don't have to spend the time doing it. For the minor % it uses according to my display settings, it's worth it.

I could see if you have a vibrant/extreme background though.
 
No matter how much you bump up the brightness, the screen won't do much outside in the sun. I just tend to try and angle it away from it :P
 
Ok, So I have had the phone for 2 weeks now and here are my observations.

1. As it has been said countless times, the battery is barely adequate.. I can barely make it through the day and that is with what I consider moderate use.

2. Android OS is very unstable in my opinion. Many many many times daily the app im in will pop up and say an error has occurred and this app must be forced closed.... This happens way to often.. Its irritating as heck.

3. The good, The camera I love, I love the apps, I love the hardware the screen is gorgeous... Phone calls are clear, and I haven't had reception problems...



But this is becoming a thorn in my side... If I can't get through a day without the battery giving up, or having my apps constantly force close This phone is a lot of hardware without any polish IMO.


I may keep it, but it pains me when non 3rd party apps will force close, like sms, mms, gmail, and even the Sense UI... This is when im not taxing the phone, and use task killer every once in a while.


Does anyone here feel me? I want to love the incredible, and do love most things about it, but its just not ready for mass market I don't think... Bigger battery and stability issues need to be addressed.

I am thinking of getting the bold 9650...

Thoughts?

1. Try a hard reset, 75 percent of problems in anything electronic or computer related can be fixed by rebooting the device.

2. Be more selective with the apps you pick.

3. Get the Seido battery, people have been having much better battery life from that.

4. Finally, Kill the Task Killer, you don't need it because Android is not like Windows, apps or programs only use memory when they are actively doing something, like you being in the app. Also the phone has enough speed and processing power to handle several apps at once without much if any lag at all.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
1. Try a hard reset, 75 percent of problems in anything electronic or computer related can be fixed by rebooting the device.

2. Be more selective with the apps you pick.

3. Get the Seido battery, people have been having much better battery life from that.

4. Finally, Kill the Task Killer, you don't need it because Android is not like Windows, apps or programs only use memory when they are actively doing something, like you being in the app. Also the phone has enough speed and processing power to handle several apps at once without much if any lag at all.

Just my 2 cents worth.


Thanks man. I may pick up that seidio.
 
All good responses and tips, but the bottom line is I don't want to compromise.. I don't want to turn GPS off, which in fact doesnt use extra battery life unless it is being utilized by an app..

I don't wanna manually check email....

I want everything to work like it should, I shouldnt have to baby this phone along..

Sounds like you are baiting people to me, trying to start a riot. :D It's either that or you are being to critical of the phone, there isn't a phone out now that will do all that you ask without eating the battery. The Incredible is top of the line spec wise for the moment, and it struggles, batteries also need to be broke in.
 
it shouldn't be said to people not to use tasks killers(Its an issue thats been debated...task killers work for some and not for others)

Keep using the task killer if it makes your phone feel snappier and better or dont use it if it makes you feel better without it

task killers are subjective

Also, the app selection you pick really doesn't have much to do with the phone. One you don't know what's a bad app till you download it and two, i've had nothing but stock apps and still gotten force closures on 3 out of 4 android devices i've had
 
The funny part is a task killer will drain your battery because it is always running in the background. It is not in the suspended state like the other apps it is constantly monitoring what programs are in use. This goes for battery widgets as well. Why they make battery widgets is beyond me, they constantly check the battery and there for constantly use battery. Once I turned off GPS unless I am going to use it my battery life is acceptable, I can compare it to my other Androids.

On part two of your reasons Android as an OS is very stable. The more likely answer to your FC's are the app themselves. I would experiment having different apps installed for a day. If Android was unstable you would be getting a Android FC notice not the app itself giving you a notice. I have seen plenty of people get angry with their phone when it really turned out to be the app themselves. You have to remember the app devs are not who you might think the all are, some if not most are not that great a developer. Many of these apps in the Market are half rate apps but they are the best someone could do. They can't test their app running with every app in the Market so when you see FC's that is an indication that apps are conflicting on your phone. Thats been my experience from day one with Android so take it for what its worth.
 
I do agree with you paritally...

But as i said, task killers and the phone having enough speed and power to run multiple apps is subjective

I've had an eris and now hero and some people believe that the eris is a perfectly good phone without any lag and no use for a task killer, however i use task killer...

True, it probably does have an effect on battery but it's a smartphone and im a heavy user so i don't really worry about the battery as long as I have my charger with me.

So again the use and need of a task killer is subjective

and about the apps, i've gotten force closures for sense and android with stock apps only as well as Force closures on my 3rd party apps.

But that's my take
 
The funny part is a task killer will drain your battery because it is always running in the background. It is not in the suspended state like the other apps it is constantly monitoring what programs are in use. This goes for battery widgets as well. Why they make battery widgets is beyond me, they constantly check the battery and there for constantly use battery. Once I turned off GPS unless I am going to use it my battery life is acceptable, I can compare it to my other Androids.

On part two of your reasons Android as an OS is very stable. The more likely answer to your FC's are the app themselves. I would experiment having different apps installed for a day. If Android was unstable you would be getting a Android FC notice not the app itself giving you a notice. I have seen plenty of people get angry with their phone when it really turned out to be the app themselves. You have to remember the app devs are not who you might think the all are, some if not most are not that great a developer. Many of these apps in the Market are half rate apps but they are the best someone could do. They can't test their app running with every app in the Market so when you see FC's that is an indication that apps are conflicting on your phone. Thats been my experience from day one with Android so take it for what its worth.

oh Jesus Christ...LOL..love your name.
 
So far I've had 2 instances where I had to force close an app and it was a stock app, the web browser. It didn't ask me to force close but the app hung and I went into the settings then applications then manage applications and force closed it. The reason I believe it hung was the flash plugin on the site. This I believe will be solved when/if we get Flash 10. Other than that it has run perfectly. I had a task killer for about a day, but saw it was a bigger resource hog than the apps it was managing. Without the task killer I had zero lag on it, so I removed it & haven't looked back. FWIW
 
I think on older hardware with older version of android OS, task killers are needed to make things runs smoothly. But I don't think it is necessary for the INC. It seem to manage itself just fine. Plus it has plenty of resources to play with. So far I only had to force close once and it was with the browser. Everything else is great. It is still super fast.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my battery is fine too. I get about a days worth with moderate usage. And this is with mobile network on always and gps on.
 
TD*, can you try the simple test described in this thread. I think there is something real at the hardware level that is faulty regarding power consumption on some phones, and is easily testable. I have seen issues like you, and am in the process of getting a replacement for this very reason.

Cheers
RoboCuz
 
+1


I also have had android since droid. Last november.

The only problems i have had was with stuff i was tinkering with. If i didn't tinker i never had a problem.

Most likely your kill tasks that programs need to run thats why stuffs force closing.

Stop using task killer for a few days you should see the FC stop.

^^ this :)

The only time I've had a app force close was a experimental app... I.E. Fenec :P BTW when they say "pre-alpha" they mean pre-alpha... Can't wait for later builds though, looks like its going to be a great browser :)
 
Back
Top Bottom