How long did your smartphone last?

[ny biker]

My HTC Incredible is on its last legs. It will no longer charge the battery.(I've tested the battery with a wall charger; it is not the problem.)

So I need to decide which new Verizon phone to get. Before doing much research, my initial list is the Incredible 2, something 4g like the Thunderbolt, or an iPhone.


I'm happy with the Incredible except for its shirt life -- I've only had it for 18 months. The new every two program is no good if the phone dies in less than two years!!

So I'm curious, how long has your smartphone lasted before it malfunctioned and needed to be replaced??

Thanks as always for your input!!

[OakLeaf]

I also have an HTC Incredible that I got soon after they were released, so, about 16 months old. It's fine so far, but the microUSB port does seem fragile. One thing that helps me is that I put a mark on the charger to keep me from trying to plug it in backwards.

Just to be sure, have you tried a different cable? What happens if you gently push the cable around in the port, not that that's an ideal solution?

If you're pretty sure the port is the problem, considering it's a standard microUSB, you ought to be able to get a local electronics shop to repair it pretty inexpensively. It would void the warranty, but if you're having to get a new unsubsidized phone anyway (:eek:), might be worth the try.

Or a wireless charging mat ... I think those are pretty inefficient, and obviously bulkier to transport, though.


FTR, DH had his first iPhone for almost two and a half years and it was working fine when he decided to upgrade.

[jessmarimba]

My iphone 3GS is still going strong, had it about two years. The silent switch is broken but that's because I dropped it on the one corner that isn't really covered by a case (due to the location of the headphone jack).

My previous iphone worked great for a year and a half until I dropped it in a puddle and didn't notice it was gone until the next morning.

Their battery life isn't the longest to begin with but I'm rarely separated from a computer, wall plug, or car plug long enough that it's been a problem. If you need the battery to last and don't necessarily need data, turning the 3G network off will make the battery last forever.

I'll have to check with my bf to see what phone he has - not sure if it's the same as yours, but whatever it is you do NOT want it. It's been a cr@pshoot since he got it whether it charges, holds a charge, or even accepts texts or phone calls. Plus with Verizon's call system, it doesn't always go straight to vmail if the phone is off - sometimes it rings first - so you never know if the phone is off, broken, or currently working. Unfortunately I think it completely bit the dust yesterday so it may be a day or two til I find out!

[Becky]

My Blackberry Curve just passed the 3-year mark, and is just now beginning to have battery life issues. DH had a similar experience with his, which needed a new battery ~3 months ago.

That said, I'm not sure I'll buy another Blackberry. RIM simply hasn't kept up with the app market, and there are many fantastic apps for iPhone/Android that aren't available for Blackberry.

[Dannielle]

I've never had an issue with iphone dying. I used my first one (3Gs) for 3 years and it still works (kids use it for games but I don't have a service plan on it anymore). My husband and I have both had out iphone4s for nearly a year...no problems at all. Pretty much our entire extended family has iphones (several family members work for at&t) and I don't think any of us have ever had a phone die of old age.

[Aggie_Ama]

I have a Blackberry Torch for 11 months and am thoroughly unimpressed, enough that as a fairly big Blackberry fan it will be my last. I have similar issues with the charger not working, it is the phone not the charger. It seems the micro-USB has to be sitting just right or it recognizes it is plugged in but won't charge. I am planning to replace my Blackberry with an Iphone or Android because they have a lot better apps available. I hope it will make it another year so I can get a discounted upgrade though. :rolleyes:

[laura*]

My first smartphone, a Palm Treo 600, lasted from 2004 through 2009. It still works, but the battery is seriously degraded. What's worse though is that by the time the phone tries to warn of a low battery, there isn't enough charge left to announce the problem!

I looked into getting a new battery, but discovered that the Treo 600 was considered obsolete and thus good new batteries weren't available. I also discovered that Palm was ditching their venerable PalmOS - i.e. the company was commiting seppuku.

I ended up eBaying several of the last PalmOS Treo's - the 750. I'm now on the second one because the audio jack broke on the first one.

The Treo 750 is about the newest smartphone that Verizon will allow on their network without a data plan. Me need is just for a dumb phone and a PDA, hence I haven't gotten anything newer. I also won't put up with the horrid user interface of a "numeric keypad only" phone - writing the Great American Novel via the equivalent of Morse code was a cool thing 20 years ago, but not anymore.

[zoom-zoom]

I WISH my Incredible would f'ing die. I hate it. And I REALLY liked it...for 8-9 months. Before the widespread "data space low" bug hit, even though I have nearly no added apps on my phone (and removed a bunch when I started getting that alert, even though it made no difference), no music, etc. Then HTC FUBARd the "upgrade" to 2.3.4. I am stuck on build 4.06, along with a lot of other people. 4.08 has tried to go through 3x, but crashes on restart...again, insufficient data, even though I have WAY more than enough available space. It's affecting many phones.

My once stable phone has become a buggy mess in recent months (I've had it barely over 11 months), crashes at random, and is slow. I've decided to go iPhone for my next phone, as soon as I can upgrade. With the Droid there are 3 factors that have to play nice: phone/phone mfg., OS, and cellular provider. With the iPhone the OS and hardware are essentially one entity. Fewer things to go wrong. Worth the added cost, IMO. Plus I use an iPod shuffle on my runs and bring my phone. I could bundle the 2 in one device. And my home computer is a Mac.

[nscrbug]

I just purchased my first smartphone this past Friday. I went with the Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T). While I cannot attest to it's longevity or performance yet, I can say that I am quickly getting sucked into the whole smartphone phenomenon. I hadn't even considered getting a smartphone until very recently...when my old Nokia flip-phone started dying a slow death. But I simply could not pass up the deal that Sam's Club was offering on Black Friday for the Samsung Galaxy - .96 cents for the phone with activation fee waived. The total came to $1.04 for a phone that everyone else was selling for $199. I just hope it survives for more than 18 months.

[ny biker]

Well this is all very interesting. It is certainly not an easy product category to navigate.

Part of me doesn't want to jump on the iphone bandwagon -- I'm happy with android, and I think it's important to support strong alternatives to it for the sake of consumer choice. And it would be great if I didn't have to get all new accessories in addition to a new phone. But if it seems the most reliable option, I'll get one.

Anyway, the plot thickened today. I finally had a chance to use the car charger for several hours, and it fully charged the battery in only two hours. When plugging the phone into a wall outlet, it only charges halfway and then stops charging -- in fact the battery status says "discharging" -- no matter how long I leave it plugged in. If I unplug it and plug it in again, it will start charging again, but the battery never gets past half-charged.

Unfortunately I'm not often in the car for that long, so I can't rely on the car charger or even do more testing with it to prove today was not a fluke.

It looks like I qualify for "new every 2" at the end of January, so no matter what I will try to make it that long before replacing the phone. A co-worker's Incredible died a few weeks ago, and he had had a second battery with a wall charger which he gave to me. I've been using that to charge the battery for the past few days. I will also look into buying a new cord/charger to plug the phone into an outlet, though I don't want to spend a lot of money on that.

I have not updated the phone's OS -- I tried, but it said I didn't have enough memory so I should delete some email messages. I figured if email messages are enough to fill the memory, I don't want the "upgrade."

I googled "HTC Incredible won't charge battery" a couple of days ago and found a link to an Android users' forum. I'm going to look for that again and see if I can find more info on which phones are more reliable and which to stay away from.

I just spent my holiday weekend playing "tech support expert" for various members of my family who needed computer help. Now I guess I need to become more of an expert on phones.

[zoom-zoom]

I have not updated the phone's OS -- I tried, but it said I didn't have enough memory so I should delete some email messages. I figured if email messages are enough to fill the memory, I don't want the "upgrade."

It's BS. If you look at the available memory I'd put money on you having plenty. I have 5.9GB (of 6.46) of available internal storage and 582MB of 748 available phone memory. As of last night my phone will no longer sync with gmail. The low disk space error is also popping up, again, which was supposed to be fixed with 2.3.4.

I've had this phone 11 months, so I am a LONG ways away from being eligible for replacement.

The Droid Incredible forum on VZW (http://community.vzw.com/t5/DROID-Incredible-by-HTC/bd-p/DROIDIncredible) is overrun by people with FUBARd phones. I have seen no one successfully helped by Verizon or HTC, either. Both companies are washing their hands of the issues and blaming the other (though it's definitely looking like an HTC problem. They screwed up the roll-out of Gingerbread for Incredible that was supposed to happen back in Aug.).

Whatever phone you end up looking at, if I were you I would rule-out HTC. They've not shown themselves to be a company that stands behind their products or software.

[Norse]

My current phone is a Samsung Rogue (not a smartphone but does most everything) and I have been very happy with it. I was eligible for the upgrade in August but have not made a move yet because I currently have a cheaper unlimited data plan that Verizon no longer offers. My data plan expires in Dec though so I have been looking. I want the smartphone features but alas, I do not like the size. These things do not fit well in a bike bag! Because I am hard on my phones, and take them biking, hiking... I was thinking of a "rugged" smartphone. Anyone have any experience with these?

[nscrbug]

My current phone is a Samsung Rogue (not a smartphone but does most everything) and I have been very happy with it. I was eligible for the upgrade in August but have not made a move yet because I currently have a cheaper unlimited data plan that Verizon no longer offers. My data plan expires in Dec though so I have been looking. I want the smartphone features but alas, I do not like the size. These things do not fit well in a bike bag! Because I am hard on my phones, and take them biking, hiking... I was thinking of a "rugged" smartphone. Anyone have any experience with these?

Hmmm..."rugged" smartphone almost seems like an "oxymoron" to me. Not sure if such a thing exists. My new Samsung has a glass screen which is prone to scratches and cracks. I purchased a screen protector shield, but who knows how well it will actually work. And I wouldn't plan on dropping a smartphone...unless it lands on a soft surface or you have it insured. Good luck in finding a "rugged" smartphone...do let us know if you come across one. Oh, and I agree on the size thing too. This new phone I got is huge...not sure where or how I'm going to carry it on the bike as it won't fit in my seat bag or my top tube bag. I guess I'll have to carry it in one of my jersey pockets and hope that it doesn't fall out. :eek:

[jessmarimba]

My current phone is a Samsung Rogue (not a smartphone but does most everything) and I have been very happy with it. I was eligible for the upgrade in August but have not made a move yet because I currently have a cheaper unlimited data plan that Verizon no longer offers.

Usually when you upgrade your phone you just extend your current plan, even if it's no longer offered. I'd think your data plan should be fine. I'm on my original data plan from AT&T and it hasn't been offered in a few years, and I also kept a phone plan for 650 minutes about 5 years after they stopped offering that, too.


Apparently my bf has some sort of Samsung, also, but he's had his for maybe a year and it's terrible. Doesn't charge, doesn't stay charged, doesn't work when it should.

[ny biker]

I guess when I go to choose a new phone I will bring my bike bags with me to check for fit.

So this morning while at home I plugged my phone into the usb port in my laptop, and it seemed to be charging okay. When I got to work I plugged it into the usb port in my work pc to see if it would finish charging. What a mistake!! The pc came to a complete halt. I had to reboot it. And now the phone won't connect to the 3G network.

[Norse]

Hmmm..."rugged" smartphone almost seems like an "oxymoron" to me. Not sure if such a thing exists. My new Samsung has a glass screen which is prone to scratches and cracks. I purchased a screen protector shield, but who knows how well it will actually work. And I wouldn't plan on dropping a smartphone...unless it lands on a soft surface or you have it insured. Good luck in finding a "rugged" smartphone...do let us know if you come across one. Oh, and I agree on the size thing too. This new phone I got is huge...not sure where or how I'm going to carry it on the bike as it won't fit in my seat bag or my top tube bag. I guess I'll have to carry it in one of my jersey pockets and hope that it doesn't fall out. :eek:

Verizon carries at least one ruggedized smartphone: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5634. They also have a few ruggedized not as smart phones. Perhaps I need a bigger bike bag.

[bluebug32]

I had my iPhone 3G for two years and then it got incredibly slow due to Apple's new operating system. I was having some trouble with a button sticking too and took it to the Apple store. I was really impressed when they offered to give me a 3GS as a replacement, even though it was out of warranty.

[zoom-zoom]

I had my iPhone 3G for two years and then it got incredibly slow due to Apple's new operating system. I was having some trouble with a button sticking too and took it to the Apple store. I was really impressed when they offered to give me a 3GS as a replacement, even though it was out of warranty.

It's stuff like that that has me ready to toss the Droid as soon as my contract allows. HTC/Verizon wouldn't do that. I know one person with the same phone I have who had major issues...they simply gave her another of the same. Which is now having the same issues.

[Irulan]

Otterbox makes some super nice rugged cases.

[Dannielle]

I'm a HUGE fan of otterbox cases! My husband, who breaks *everything*, has done fine with his iphone in an Otterbox Defender case.

[beccaB]

My son desperately wants the HTC rezound. I think that's the name of it. It's supposed to have amazing sound quality. I have the motorola droid 3 which the technogeek teenagers don't like because it's quirky and isn't meant for high usage. I haven't had any problems with it yet.

[OakLeaf]

Verizon carries at least one ruggedized smartphone: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5634. They also have a few ruggedized not as smart phones. Perhaps I need a bigger bike bag.

That Casio thing is at least a couple of years old, and it runs some off-brand OS, so there wouldn't be many apps available for it, and synching might be problematic.

I don't recommend it ;) , but DH doesn't use a case for his iPhone, and he's prone to dropping it, yet after two and a half years of his 3G and about six months with his 3GS, all he had was a few issues with the camera on the old one. iPhones also seem to be less prone to sweat damage than other brands - I have a feeling both of those might be the up-side of the sealed case and non-user-replaceable battery.

Basically the only reason I use a case for mine is for traction, even though I really don't like the added bulk. It's not that I think the case really protects the phone when I do drop it - it's that I'm that much less likely to drop it when I've got something besides the slippery bare phone to hold on to.


I got the latest firmware update with no problems, either. Apparently Verizon pushed an intermediate update in August to some subscribers, and it's mostly people who got that one who are having trouble with the latest update. There are workarounds posted on the forums (the issue isn't that the phone doesn't have enough space for the update once it's installed, it's that it doesn't have space for the expanded update before and during installation) - but yeah, that's a PITA.

It's a little distressing to hear that I'm the only one here who hasn't had any trouble with my Incredible ... but I hope mine continues to be problem free. :o

[zoom-zoom]

I got the latest firmware update with no problems, either. Apparently Verizon pushed an intermediate update in August to some subscribers, and it's mostly people who got that one who are having trouble with the latest update. There are workarounds posted on the forums (the issue isn't that the phone doesn't have enough space for the update once it's installed, it's that it doesn't have space for the expanded update before and during installation) - but yeah, that's a PITA.

It's a little distressing to hear that I'm the only one here who hasn't had any trouble with my Incredible ... but I hope mine continues to be problem free. :o

Interesting...I didn't get the update in Aug. My phone worked like a charm until about a month ago. What we've determined to have been the problem is not enough space in the tiny partition that HTC set aside for ALL apps. 4th post down (http://community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/91/p/13648/57575.aspx) in this thread details the issue. Because I had my phone sync'd with my FB contacts that meager 150mb of space was being used by a single space-hogging app, even though the rest of my phone had ample room to work.

The only way to unsync FB contacts from my phone contacts was to hard reset it back to factory settings (and going through a lot of work to get as much of my contacts' info into Gmail contacts via Yahoo Mail and then my Mac Address book, since FB won't directly let people download their contacts' info, anymore...but one can upload them to Yahoo Mail, then load them to a Mac Address book, then transfer that info to Gmail...I had to do a LOT of snooping to find that solution, in an effort to avoid having to retype everything into my phone). I was able to install the most recent build (4.08...) of 2.3.4/Gingerbread, as well.

All is not well, though. Last night, AFTER the fix, the whole thing locked-up with the wallpaper showing, but no icons and the screen wouldn't dim. I couldn't even soft reset. Only fix was to remove the battery. I've never had to do that before.

Even my frugal DH is totally on-board with no more Droids in our house. Or, at the minimum, no more HTC phones. HTC seems to be THE brand that everyone I've talked to has had the most issues with. Motorola Droids seem to be the ones that people have had the best success with.

[ny biker]

One of my co-workers has an Incredible that is working fine. He installed the update and doesn't see any benefit from it but hasn't had problems, either. Re: the co-worker whose Incredible died recently, he had a spare battery with its own charger so when one battery died he would just take it out and replace it with the other one. But I don't think he ever turned the phone off first -- he just opened the back, yanked out the battery and popped in the new one. He did this several times every day, and I can't help but wonder if it was bad for the operating system to do that.

My phone seems to be working again. Also it seems to charge fine while plugged into my lap top at home. My next test is to use the charger for my mp3 player (Sansa Clip) to try to charge it by plugging it into a wall outlet. Like the phone, the Clip charges by plugging a USB cable into an adaptor that fits in an outlet. If the Clip's adaptor works, then the problem is the adaptor that came with the phone. Which would be weird, because you'd think it would either not work at all or charge the phone 100%, rather than charging the phone half-way and then stopping. Anyway, it would be a cost-free solution, so I'm hoping it's the answer.

I'm still choosing "Install later" for the upgrade. I just don't want to deal with it right now.

[ny biker]

Well, the battery charging problem seems to be solved. The mp3 charger worked last night.

So now I'm getting the "Application data space is low" message. It started yesterday afternoon. Moved a few apps to the SD card, deleted all the emails from the trash folder, deleted a few apps that I don't really need, cleared the cache on the two apps that had anything in cache, turned the phone off, took out the battery, let it sit for a minute, put the battery back and turned it on, still getting the message.

And I still have Froyo on this phone. Although their messages to make me install Gingerbread are coming more and more often.

BTW zoom-zoom, check with Verizon to see when you qualify for new every two. I only got my phone in May 2010 but according to My Verizon I am eligible on 1/28/2012.

[zoom-zoom]

Well, the battery charging problem seems to be solved. The mp3 charger worked last night.

So now I'm getting the "Application data space is low" message. It started yesterday afternoon. Moved a few apps to the SD card, deleted all the emails from the trash folder, deleted a few apps that I don't really need, cleared the cache on the two apps that had anything in cache, turned the phone off, took out the battery, let it sit for a minute, put the battery back and turned it on, still getting the message.

And I still have Froyo on this phone. Although their messages to make me install Gingerbread are coming more and more often.

BTW zoom-zoom, check with Verizon to see when you qualify for new every two. I only got my phone in May 2010 but according to My Verizon I am eligible on 1/28/2012.

Yep, I had the low data crap with Froyo. Gingerbread was supposed to fix it...ha! :p

I think the new-every-2 thing usually allows a person to get a new phone after about 18 months, so I figure I still have about 7. I'll probably be hitting Verizon on that very day.

[zoom-zoom]

Oh, and I see that one of the phones you're considering is the Thunderbolt...a friend of mine has it and has had similar issues to my Incredible. I'd definitely rule-out HTC.

[Becky]

Oh, and I see that one of the phones you're considering is the Thunderbolt...a friend of mine has it and has had similar issues to my Incredible. I'd definitely rule-out HTC.

Oh no....the Sensation is on my short list after much hemming and hawing! It looked like, after much internet reading, that HTC's sync utility actually plays nice with Outlook, so I was actually leaning towards their phones.

:(

[ny biker]

Oh, and I see that one of the phones you're considering is the Thunderbolt...a friend of mine has it and has had similar issues to my Incredible. I'd definitely rule-out HTC.

Yes, since I wrote my original post I have ruled out HTC as an option.

If I have time this weekend, I'll go to a Verizon store to look at the phones they currently offer to see what I might like. Then I'll hit the 'net and research them. I'll consider Android phones from other manufacturers if they have good reviews and people on the various forums aren't having problems with them.

[luv2climb]

I've had three smartphones so far. The first one was a Samsung Code with metroPCS. It worked fine, but only had Windows Mobile 6.1, so I was limited by the OS more than anything.

A friend who works at Verizon gave me a HTC Touch Pro 2, which he had upgraded from the default Windows Mobile 6.1 to 6.5. It had the Opera browser, so it worked much better for browsing. I also got a heck of a deal on the service, since it was on a family plan. I got unlimited data, texting, unlimited nights and weekends, and 1400 shared peak minutes for $21 a month.

Unfortunately, it too became obsolete and I couldn't even access my email via Hotmail. It kept telling me to enable Java even though it was already enabled. I also suspected it was starting to get flaky when it wouldn't ring sometimes, and the person attempting to call me told me it rang normally on their end instead of going straight to voicemail like it would in a bad signal area or if the phone was off.

Recently the same friend sold me his HTC Thunderbolt. It was (and still is) in mint condition. When I got it I did a hard reset. It had Froyo 2.2.1. Like a fool, I upgraded to Gingerbread 2.3.4 as soon as the update was available. I should have waited until the next update, which fixed the frustrating voicemail notification bug introduced by Gingerbread. The only way I was able to see if I had a voicemail was to tap on the "Voice Mail" icon on the home screen.

Another bug caused by the Gingerbread upgrade is related to ringtones. I made several unique ringtones that I put on the microSD card and assigned to different people in my contacts list. That way I know who's calling without even having to look at the phone.

After Gingerbread, if someone called me, the next person to call me would set off the ringtone assigned to the first person. If the first person who called was not assigned a unique ringtone and the second person was, the second person would set off the default ringtone.

Deleting the call history does not solve the problem. This bug has not been fixed yet and it sucks!

[zoom-zoom]

Oh, great...can't wait to encounter the ring tone bug. :rolleyes: One thing I have already discovered with Gingerbread is that I can no longer have a custom ringtone for my alarm clock. I also can't have custom tone for texts. I used to have a bicycle bell sound for texts. The alarm thing I can fix with a different clock app than the stock one.

[luv2climb]

I wanted to use one of my own ringtones for texts too, but even in Froyo I could never figure out how to do that, let alone Gingerbread. It would be nice to do the same for the alarm clock.

[zoom-zoom]

I wanted to use one of my own ringtones for texts too, but even in Froyo I could never figure out how to do that, let alone Gingerbread. It would be nice to do the same for the alarm clock.

Download the Ringdroid app. That will convert ringtones sent to your phone so that you can use them.

[zoom-zoom]

Just noticed another new and annoying thing. I have my phone set so that the ringtone gets quieter when I pick it up. No...instead it actually gets louder. Much louder. Embarrassingly so. :mad:

And I found the date that I can get a new phone...not until Aug. 24. Damn, that's a LONG time away. :(

[ny biker]

Just noticed another new and annoying thing. I have my phone set so that the ringtone gets quieter when I pick it up. No...instead it actually gets louder. Much louder. Embarrassingly so. :mad:

And I found the date that I can get a new phone...not until Aug. 24. Damn, that's a LONG time away. :(

That's too bad.

I posted on facebook to get input from friends about their smartphones. One guy said his Incredible is working fine. I really don't want to go into all the details about why he's one of the lucky few.

[luv2climb]

Download the Ringdroid app. That will convert ringtones sent to your phone so that you can use them.
Will it allow me to use them for texts and alarm clock tones? I already have my own homemade ringtones set as phone ringtones. I just can't get them to be used as text and alarm tones.

[zoom-zoom]

Will it allow me to use them for texts and alarm clock tones? I already have my own homemade ringtones set as phone ringtones. I just can't get them to be used as text and alarm tones.

Well...it did with Froyo. It doesn't with Gingerbread...but that's no fault of the app.

[zoom-zoom]

I posted on facebook to get input from friends about their smartphones. One guy said his Incredible is working fine. I really don't want to go into all the details about why he's one of the lucky few.

Hmmm...sounds vaguely dirty. Does it involve sexual favors? :p

[ScaldedCat]

I don't keep a phone more than 2 years as I always get a new phone when my upgrade comes around.

I had an HTC Touch Cruise 4 years ago, I kept it for two and then when I upgraded I passed it on, it's still going stong with it's new owner.
The iPhone 3Gs I got two years ago is still going strong and looks immaculate, my son has that now.

Currently I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 but have only had that since September so too early to comment on that yet.

[zoom-zoom]

Gah, I just had to pop the battery out, again. My phone locked-up after a phone call and wouldn't hang-up. This is ridiculous. :rolleyes:

[ny biker]

Gah, I just had to pop the battery out, again. My phone locked-up after a phone call and wouldn't hang-up. This is ridiculous. :rolleyes:

I just had a chat with a guy at the Verizon kiosk at the nearby mall. He cleared out the memory error on my phone by clearing data for Facebook for HTC Sense. I had logged out and cleared cache, but apparently you have to clear data, too.

More important, he told me they are phasing out "new every 2." They have two prices for phones -- the price if you are switching from another phone during the time that you qualify for an upgrade, and the regular price. If I wait until the end of January, I can get $30 off the upgrade price as a result of new every 2. Another customer might save more with their remaining new every 2 if it's been longer since their last upgrade. After new every 2 is totally phased out, everyone will either pay the regular price or the upgrade price -- nothing will be free and there will be no added discounts.

Anyway, it's kind of confusing. But the impression I got is that you might want to talk to them about just how much you would save by waiting until August, and also find out if you qualify for any earlier upgrades that might cost you a little more than new every 2 but still save you money over the regular price.

I also asked him if he had any general sense about some brands being more reliable than others. He didn't really answer, but he did say that some Samsung phones are also having problems with the Gingerbread upgrade. He has an Incredible that is having battery problems -- the battery was dying after only 20 minutes, and since he got a new one it's been running really hot -- but he is planning to get another HTC phone anyway.

I looked at the phone he wants to get. I don't remember the name, but it's 4G (not the Thunderbolt) and I must say the screen looks really good. Much crisper than my phone. And yes, they are all bigger than the Incredible so I will definitely have to bring my bike bag for a fit test when I buy a new phone.

Also, the iPhone 4S is only 3G. So if want 4G I have to stick with Android.

I think there is no good decision here, just a bunch of trade-offs.

[zoom-zoom]

I think there is no good decision here, just a bunch of trade-offs.

Yup. I'd like to wait until the iPhone 5 comes out. The rumors I've read have this happening anytime between March and June. Though I don't really care about 4g vs 3g. 3g is plenty fast for my needs. I'd perhaps look at a 4s once the 5 comes out, since I'd likely save a lot of $$ doing that.

[luv2climb]

Another bug caused by the Gingerbread upgrade is related to ringtones. I made several unique ringtones that I put on the microSD card and assigned to different people in my contacts list. That way I know who's calling without even having to look at the phone.

After Gingerbread, if someone called me, the next person to call me would set off the ringtone assigned to the first person. If the first person who called was not assigned a unique ringtone and the second person was, the second person would set off the default ringtone.

Deleting the call history does not solve the problem. This bug has not been fixed yet and it sucks!
My friend who works at Verizon told me about an update last night. It supposedly fixes the ring tone bug. I didn't have enough charge in the battery to do the update when he told me about it, so I figured I would wait until the battery was fully charged.

After the battery had been charging for a while, I heard my phone reboot. I checked it and it appears that Verizon pushed the update automatically once the battery had enough charge.

[zoom-zoom]

Funny that this thread should pop back up. Last night I took my phone to the Verizon store, since the service warranty is only for a year.

Told the guy my issues (the daily crashing/freezing) and he laid out a couple of options:
• restore the phone to factory settings, which would likely do nothing for more than a week or two, as I have already done the factory restoration, then update to Gingerbread.
• exchange my phone for another identical phone. Again, I'd most likely run into the same issues within a very short time.
• make use of one of the 2 eligible for phone upgrades on our 3 phone account.

I didn't even know I could do the 3rd! Our "home phone" is a freebie phone that we just have for a contact for DS's school, doctors, and anyone else who might otherwise not have our cell #s (older family members, etc.).

So I took the 3rd option and applied it to my cell #. Sometime in the next week a shiny new iPhone 4s will be in my hot little hands! :D:cool:

DH is going to take over my Droid once there's a way to root it. He rooted his ancient HTC Eris and loves it, but it's WAY slow. My Incredible is pretty fast and works much better for playing Angry Birds. :rolleyes:

[ny biker]

I'm glad you were able to get that iPhone!!

My phone has been okay since the guy at the Verizon kiosk cleared the data from the bad facebook app. And it's been charging well with the charger that I use for my mp3 player, or at least it was until I lost it. I just got a new charger today that can charge 2 devices at once. So far it's working okay. The phone is plugged into it right now as I type this.

I keep declining the gingerbread upgrade.

[zoom-zoom]

Wise move!

BTW, there must be a lot of charging issues with the Droid. A friend of ours couldn't get hers to charge with any charger. Then when I was waiting around for help at the Verizon store I was behind a couple who was also having issues with their Android phone not charging. Perhaps these are all one model that's having the issue. I forget which phone my friend has...I want to say it's the X or 2 or something. One of the larger ones with a slide-out keyboard.

[ny biker]

So, back to this thread. I've managed to make my HTC Incredible last, and I've had it for about 25 months now. I go through the running apps several times each day to clear cache and clear data/force stop the ones that Verizon insists on running automatically even though I never use them.

But, yesterday I noticed the power cord was frayed near the plug that goes into the phone. My father is going to wrap it with electrical tape, but this is just a temporary fix. I see no point in investing in new accessories, so I'll be getting a new phone shortly.

I really don't need a giant screen. 4g would be nice. I don't really want to spend lots of money.

I have decided against an iphone -- I just really want to have navigation based on google maps on my phone. So I'm looking into Motorola phones. The Droid Razr Maxx gets good reviews but is expensive and big. The Droid Bionic and regular Razr also get good reviews and are big. The Droid X is only 3g but is cheap and reviews say it's fast and it's a bit smaller than the 4g phones. The downside for all of them seems to be poor photo quality, specifically re: color reproduction.

Anyway, I'm heading to a store to look at them now, though I'm not buying anything today.

[smittykitty]

If your problem really is just the cord, I would go buy a new charger. Incredibly they seemed to have standardized for now and all of the phones are using the same size charger!!!! About time! So you could get a new charger and potentially use it when you have to upgrade.

We have both 3 and 4G is our house and their is no comparison. The 4G is really, really fast!

I've got the original Droid, 2 1/2 yrs olds. The battery is doing great. Ms. Droid gets a little tired when I try to multitask with it (ask her to do too many things in a row). I think its the memory filling up. Its a bit frustrating when I'm in a hurry and it doesn't want to do anything for 30 sec. or so. Somewhat like this laptop! (Gee I'm complaining about waiting 30 sec. What a world we live in today!)

Its not bad enough to replace it yet, but I've done a bit of looking and if she were to give up the ghost today, I would get the Razor Max for the battery life. I'm in no rush because of the size, cost and I'm too busy right now to learn a new phone. She does make me want to toss her across the room sometimes though! I wish she would either behave herself and live on or just die so I could then justify the expense.

I find the camers good enough for quick pics. I have a DSLR for anything else.

[OakLeaf]

That's right, Incredible uses a standard micro USB cable. Same as a Kindle or a lot of cameras.

Mine is hanging in there too, and now that I see how freakin big the new phones are, I REALLY don't want to replace it. Supposedly HTC's 4G phone that's coming out this summer will be a little smaller than its competition, but still bigger than the Incredible and Incredible 2. I literally can't fit another millimeter in my running vest.

I guess that's what we get instead of a new 17" MacBook - everybody has to have 17" phones.

[ny biker]

I was wearing a red shirt today and a took a photo of it with one of the Droid phones and it looked okay. Of course my regular camera is not working right anymore, so I need to get a new one of those, too. But that will have to wait until after I replace the phone.

The Razr Maxx costs $100 more than the Razr, but since the batteries are not removable, you have to replace the phone when the battery loses it's ability to hold a charge. So maybe the Razr Maxx would last longer before you reach the point of needing to replace it.

I need to go back to a store with my bike bag to see how the Razr/Maxx fits in it. But it seems like they're pretty much the choice at this point in time if you want something from Motorola through Verizon. The Bionic would cost less but the guy at the store said the battery life is not good so I'd want to get a better one (the battery is removeable on that model).

[ny biker]

Well alrighty then. I ordered a Motorola Droid Razr Maxx today. It was only $199 at Radio Shack -- $100 less than I was seeing last week, so I figured I needed to jump. And after having to nurse the battery of my old phone this weekend while the power was out, I figured it made sense to pay for the extra battery life.

It fits in my current bento box (the LG Gel Box 2), but with not much room for other things. I am going to look into the LG Gel Box Plus. I can't find any dimensions for it online except for "40 cubic inches," which doesn't tell me if it's long enough. I had to cancel my planned trip to the LBS this weekend due to the storm (they still have no power, two days later), but soon I'll head out there to get more info and hopefully buy it.

Anyway. I'm oddly not happy about my purchase. All the press reviews are great, customer reviews are also very good, though there are some potential problems that I read about. I just really would rather not need a new phone right now. I like the user interface of the Droid Incredible and was happy with most things about it. I just don't like having to go through the apps that I can't uninstall to constantly delete data from them. I also resent the forced obsolescence in this product category.

And then there's the change in Verizon's calling plans -- I'm now paying the same amount of money for limited data that I paid for unlimited data before. And they charge a $30 "upgrade fee" even though I'm not really upgrading anything. It's like they want you to be unhappy by the time the purchase experience is over.

I did spend some time playing with the new phone today -- I had to go to Verizon Wireless to do that, but they're located in the same shopping center as the Radio Shack, so it was easy enough. It got hot pretty fast, which I hope is not typical. I was able to type some texts, enter data into the address book, do some google searches, take some pictures, etc., to get a feel for the phone. It will take time to get used to the different interface, but I hope it will be okay.

Anyway, the new phone should arrive in a few days, though it may be Friday or Saturday before I have time to take it to Radio Shack to activate it.

Meanwhile, I guess I will have to re-download the apps that I like on the old phone when I activate the new phone. I could try storing them all on the sd card and using the same card in the new phone, but I don't know if that will work. Switching from one brand to another, I assume there will be some incompatibilities. They say they can transfer my photos and videos to the new phone, but I think it's easier to just transfer them to my pc and let them live there. Most of them are already on the pc already.

I'll post my thoughts on the new phone when I've had a chance to put it through its paces, in case anyone else is thinking of buying it or a similar Motorola model.

The adventure continues...

[Miranda]

DH just got that phone and broke it :eek:about a month after.:(

Somehow we accidently got checked outta the Verizon store with insurance on his line. Which I don't normally get and don't want to pay for every month. However, it saved us paying just the insurance deductable, versus a whole new phone retail. Btw, it was dropped and I think part of the breaking was due to the fact it's so thin.

Personally I just got a new smart phone as well. My old Droid Incredible died (wasn't 2yrs old yet, couple months short). Just about like yours. And frankly I was happy to see it die. I hated a lot of things about it since day one. And wanted the iPhone to start. But Verizon was just short of getting the iPhone at the time my cell before that died.

So far I love my iPhone:cool::).

With Verizon you do have 14 days to exchange and or change your mind. And when you originally posted this you could have also upgraded early. You just need to check you eligibility date. Thinks it's up to six months early.

ALSO, you could have possibly kept your unlimited data package and gotten it grandfathered. That's what I did. I don't know how because I thought I was going to get screwed out of it. But, I didn't.

FWIW... Good Luck!

[ny biker]

DH just got that phone and broke it :eek:about a month after.:(

Somehow we accidently got checked outta the Verizon store with insurance on his line. Which I don't normally get and don't want to pay for every month. However, it saved us paying just the insurance deductable, versus a whole new phone retail. Btw, it was dropped and I think part of the breaking was due to the fact it's so thin.

Personally I just got a new smart phone as well. My old Droid Incredible died (wasn't 2yrs old yet, couple months short). Just about like yours. And frankly I was happy to see it die. I hated a lot of things about it since day one. And wanted the iPhone to start. But Verizon was just short of getting the iPhone at the time my cell before that died.

So far I love my iPhone:cool::).

With Verizon you do have 14 days to exchange and or change your mind. And when you originally posted this you could have also upgraded early. You just need to check you eligibility date. Thinks it's up to six months early.

ALSO, you could have possibly kept your unlimited data package and gotten it grandfathered. That's what I did. I don't know how because I thought I was going to get screwed out of it. But, I didn't.

FWIW... Good Luck!

As of June 28, the only way to keep unlimited data is to pay full price for the phone, which is more than $600.

I have read that the screen is fragile, but also that it's the same glass as an iphone, so I don't know how concerned to be about it.

I think mostly the problem is that I don't want to need a new phone. I had my old (not smart) phone for 5 years, and the one before that lasted for years also.

I played with my sister's iphone but really didn't like the interface.

I don't remember if I mentioned this already -- I did think of a good reason to have a phone with a larger screen. As my eyes get more and more far-sighted, it should be easier to read things on the larger phone. I just hope they stop with the current sizes instead of making them even bigger. Otherwise we'll be back to carrying bricks.

[ny biker]

OMG. I generally want to support businesses that sponsor cycling teams, which is why I checked the Radio Shack site to see what they were charging for the phone I wanted, and it was a good price so I bought from them.

But I am more than paying the difference in aggravation. It is a nightmare dealing with these people.

Update: The terms of this sale are unacceptable, and were not given to me when I made the purchase, and their service is horrible. I'm returning this phone to Radio Shack.

Update 2: OMG these people are idiots. The return authorization number they gave me on the phone is different from what they sent in the confirming email. So now I have to call them AGAIN.

They actually make Verizon Wireless look good!!!!!

[OakLeaf]

First generation Droid Incredible owners, beware the latest firmware update.

There's a bit of reassurance in these (https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/775916) threads (https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/776768), but since I only applied the patch yesterday and experienced the 2 a.m. reboots for the first time last night, I can't say whether mine is going to be one of the ones that finishes up and settles down.

[Blueberry]

Read this (http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/08/11582479-discount-cellphone-sites-come-with-double-dose-of-termination-fees-hassles?lite) (termination fees from Radio Shack) and make sure you don't get bitten.

Good luck - I hate dealing with cell phone stuff.

[OakLeaf]

It was my only lifeline when the electric, DSL and landline went out. (We don't have cable, but that was down too.) I could charge the phone in the car on water and ice runs - otherwise we'd have been completely cut off at home.

Another good reason to have phones from multiple providers in a household. The AT&T towers went down (metaphorically, not physically) so my Verizon phone was our only connection to the outside world at home. Weather, which stores were open and had ice, what roads were closed, special notices from the emergency services, which gas stations were open and still had gas (we'd luckily filled up right before the storm and didn't need gas, but many people did - and the car was our only way of getting water) - none of that would've been accessible to us without my phone.

Other reasons to have a smartphone have been rehashed ad infinitum in other threads. But I have a new appreciation for their value in an emergency situation.

[ny biker]

Read this (http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/08/11582479-discount-cellphone-sites-come-with-double-dose-of-termination-fees-hassles?lite) (termination fees from Radio Shack) and make sure you don't get bitten.

Good luck - I hate dealing with cell phone stuff.

Yes this is why I returned the phone immediately. I asked what would happen if the phone broke, and they said I would have to either buy my next one from them or pay them $400.

I sent a letter with the returned phone to explain that the people on the phone gave me one return authorization number but the email had a different one, just to be on the safe side. They processed the return quickly. My guess is they have lots of practice handling returns!!

Now that the return is done and Verizon reinstated my upgrade qualification, I will buy the new phone from them, probably tonight.

update: New phone ordered from Verizon, expected to arrive in 2 business days. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and that I like the new phone.

Next project: trying to figure out why I get so attached to inanimate objects just because I've had them for a while. Because I'm still wavering between looking forward to the new phone and feeling oddly sad about getting rid of the old one. I can be so weird sometimes...

[ny biker]

So, some initial thoughts about my new Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, for anyone else who might be in the market for a new smartphone...

Physically -- I think the phone is too big. At 5'7", I am not a small woman, and my hands are not small. But even with a textured case on this phone, when I hold it in one hand I feel like I don't have a secure grip on it because it's just a bit too wide. Also when writing text messages with the phone sideways, the keyboard is a bit bigger than I would like for thumb-typing. And if I want to carry it in the front pocket of my jeans, I'm lucky if half the phone is inside the pocket, so I'm always worried about it falling out.

If you do have small hands or want a smaller phone for other reasons, I don't know what your options are for smartphones. Iphones, I guess, and I noticed the new HTC Incredible 4 is smaller than the Droid Razr and Razr Maxx. The latest hot new thing from Samsung (Galaxy III? I can't keep track) is even bigger than the Razr.

<rant> It makes me really angry that so many of the phones on the market are so big. They are all clearly designed by and for men. </rant>

Another issue I have with the physical phone is the buttons. The power button wiggles and feels like it might break off the phone. (From reading the android forums, I'm not alone in feeling this way, though no one has complained about the button actually breaking off.) It's also too recessed -- I have to press it several times to wake the phone up or put it to sleep sometimes. Same with the volume rocker -- when I try to adjust the volume while talking on the phone, I can't always press the rocker from the right angle to get it to respond, so I have to move the phone away from my ear to adjust the volume.

I should note that I'm using a Motorola case for the phone. So the case might be contributing to some of the problems accessing the buttons, but with an officially sanctioned case from the same company that made the phone, that shouldn't happen.

There is one other issue I'm having with the phone -- my primary email address is with aol, and the built-in email app has known issues with aol mail. I first set up my account by choosing the aol icon from a list of common email providers, but I found the phone never updated my email. So after several days I deleted the account and set it up again by following the steps for a generic provider, and since then it sometimes updates automatically, sometimes updates if I hit the refresh button, and sometimes won't update at all.

Now, on the positive side, the battery does last longer than other phones (I generally get > 24 hours on a charge, despite a fair amount of game-playing which tends to eat the battery). The screen resolution is excellent and it does work faster than my old 3G phone. I think the added speed is both from 4G and from having a dual-core processor -- my brother has an older 3G Motorola phone and he told me that its dual core processor made it faster than his previous 3G phone.

In general I found it very easy to set up and personalize the phone with the shortcuts and widgets that I want on the various home screens. There are a couple of handy toggle shortcuts for turning on GPS, Bluetooth, airplane mode and stuff like that so you don't have to go through the settings menu to access them.

I did have problems when I transferred my contacts from my old phone via Verizon's backup assistant, but I don't know if that was the fault of Motorola or Verizon. In my old phone, you chose how to display each contact name when you entered or edited it, and for most I chose "last name, first name," but for some I used the default "first name last name" either because it wasn't relevant (for a business name) or because I just forgot to change it. When all of this transferred into the new contacts app, most of the names were messed up, with last names in the first name field and vice versa. So I had to go through and manually correct most of them.

Once those corrections were done, I created some contact groups, which was very easy to do. And on this phone there is one setting for name display that applies to all contacts, so it will be consistent for me now.

I haven't had much chance to use the camera, but it's easy enough to do. I like the slider switch that makes it fast to switch from still photos to video. It's also easy to switch between front lens and back.

As for the actual telephone functionality, I have no complaints -- call quality has been fine so far.

I copied some music to the phone from my pc, which was easy enough. HUGE BONUS: while listening to songs on the phone's music player, it displays the lyrics. Since I like to learn songs and sing them to myself while I ride my bike, this is very helpful for those lines that I could just never figure out on my own.

There are some other features of this phone (and maybe others from Motorola) that I either haven't had a chance to play with or see no point in using. For example, Smart Actions can be set up to automatically make changes to phone settings for things you do often, like turning off background data and phone volume while you sleep. And Motoprint allows you to print documents directly from your phone. And something called Motocast will sync with your pc so you can access video and music from one to the other, but I don't really see that as being useful for me.

So in general I'd say it's a good phone. I think the HTC Incredible was better from a physical standpoint, but the Razr Maxx is generally better in terms of software.

p.s. There's a lot of good information on the android user forums about maximizing the phone's battery life, as well as dealing with various issues that might crop up. In particular, the phone comes with the Gingerbread version of the operating system, and I've read that many users have had to do a factory reset after installing Ice Cream Sandwich to fix problems with shortened battery life.

p.p.s. I still don't have a bento box that is large enough for this phone. I can squeeze it into my LG Gel Box 2, but it leaves no room for anything else. I've ordered an LG Gel Box Plus, which is larger than the Gel Box 2, but it's on backorder.