How long did your smartphone last?

[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.

Verizon carries at least one ruggedized smartphone: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/s...edPhoneId=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/s...edPhoneId=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.

[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.

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 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!

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!