HTC Incredible S Android smartphone
The Incredible S is latest in HTC’s extensive line of Android handsets. It runs version 2.2 of the OS, includes a 1GHz processor, 8Mp camera and lots of clever tricks, but despite its distinctive rubbery look, it isn’t hugely different from its siblings. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, since it’s still got plenty going …
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80%?
For phone that basically does everything right (according to the review)? Seems a bit mean.
The only downside appeared to be it not using a dual core, which by the reviewers own comments appears to be unnecessary.
80%
It offers nothing new that the Desire HD doesn't offer, it's £500 which is a lot of money for an older version of the OS.
I really don't see why HTC produce so many handsets with only slight differences. They could at least have different form factors, one with keyboard or a slider.
Looks nice...
But I think I'll carry on with my Desire HD, looks basically the same phone but with a (marginally) smaller screen.
So a very good Android smartphone with everything right
only gets 80%?
I'm guessing it got 15% deduced for no Apple logo...
iPhone 4 only got 75%
So there you go. It's subjectively better than an iPhone.
I'm only guessing here
But 80% is damn fine score for any phone. If every phone received a score of 95%, it wouldn't be much use as a means to determine quality.
If I had to hazard a reason, it would be that the Incredible is not a huge leap forward in terms of new technology. So it is a good phone with a good score, not a fantastic phone with a fantastic score.
I'm guessing
you missed the part where it said it doesn't come with Gingerbread and only has a single core CPU?
Single core works for now, but just wait till the next release comes around maybe in less than a year? Not so great future proofing therefore not eligible for full marks, imho.
Sounds nice
It has the most important thing (to me) that the Desire is missing, which is a front-facing camera for video calls. For those of us with friends and family in other countries, the ability to use skype away from a pc would be very handy.
Skype?
Last time I checked, Skype for Android didn't support video calling!
title
Only an observation: I use Skype all the time, but almost never use the video facility. I generally know the people I'm talking to, and don't need a blurry image of them talking to a camera.
@Loyal Commenter
Shame the Skype Android App doesn't support video...
@David Evans
>Shame the Skype Android App doesn't support video...
He's probably thinking of Fring which used to support Skype video calls on Android until Skype killed it off.
Android Fring still works fine with video chat on its own and most other networks though - AFAIK on Nokia, iOS handsets too. Its great if you're on the road a lot and have young kids, but I suspect most other applications tend more towards the sordid.
HTC Sense
My regular Desire has Sense and while it looks nice and has some advantages over a vanilla Android 2.2 display I'm starting to dislike it for all kinds of little things and a few big ones.
The biggest by far is the Phone screen fills up with list of frequently called numbers and its far too easy to dial one by accident. I can't even count the number of times I've done it, either lightly brushing the wrong contact, or sticking the phone in my pocket only to dial a number in the process. There really should be an option so list can be hidden or protected by inadvertent touching.
Other gripes include the lack of initiating a speaker phone call, apps that auto launch even though I never asked for either to launch (Stocks & Places), some incredibly retarded widgets such as a favourite callers list which is very difficult to edit, a sense that the UI can get a bit janky / crashy after a few days running and a lot of needlessly duplicated stock widgets and apps bloating up the firmware size and menus.
I don't know if other phones are any better but I wish they'd all stop doing it. Google should help here by making their UI more skinnable, hopefully allowing manufacturers to customize the experience without writing UIs from scratch.
Call Confirm
....its far too easy to dial one by accident...
There's the Call Confirm app for that. Should have been standard in Android though (as should the switches for WIFI, GPS, etc...)
Redundant Phone...
Seems a bit of a redundant phone to be honest - it's essentially just a Desire HD with a smaller screen and a rubber back. Yay.
windows fail
Has the things I wish my windows phone 7 had. DLNA and exandable memory, plus no need for Zune.
Incredible...
...but is it magical?
Oh wait...I'm in the wrong distorted reality. Carry on.
Great phone
It seems to have everything the Desire HD has which makes it better then the standard Desire, but in a smaller and much more manageable package.
Pity about the 80% marking, it certainly deserves at least 90% (dropping 10 off for the lack of 2.3, but even that is a bit harsh considering HTC have confirmed it will be updated in early Q2)
80%... based on preconceptions?
85% for the slower smaller plasticy Defy
85% for the very similar Nexus S
Yet a phone with seemingly more (rugged, fastest processor, better cameraS etc) only gets 80%, I cant help but feel this result is skewed by some preconception of the reviewer as the sub head seems to indicate.
I'm starting to get curious about what scores a 90%+ around here...
@AC
>85% for the very similar Nexus S
No NFC, no SIP, lacks the gorgeous ergonomics of the curved screen.
>Yet a phone with seemingly more (rugged, fastest processor, better cameraS etc)
There's no difference on the CPU, GPU-wise the PowerVR SGX540 of Nexus S has twice the power (via 3D Mark Mobile) of the soon to be defunct Adreno 205 used in the Incredible S.
I'd give it 75% were I being generous - especially as the Nexus S has been floating about since last November.
Hmmm.. a phone.
Can it make calls... Yes
Can I install apps without selling my soul to Apple/MS/Google... Yes
Is it easy to use... Yes
Is the hardware fast enough... Yes
Can you control the phone... Yes
Great phone but at that price I'll buy it used off Fleabay.
design and features stagnation?
Is it me or since the HD2 have phones really not progressed that well (at least from HTC)? They all seem to be roughly the same shape and feature set ......
Come on HTC, you were an innovator (briefly!), get back on to pushing the boundaries!
FM radio?
I have a HTC Desire which is a great phone, but the FM radio reception is really crap. The review of this phone which look pretty similar presumably didn't test this?
Dual Core!!!??
What's this obsession with dual core on phone? It makes no sense!
I'm sure it's just because it's a buzzword-catchphrase that the zeitgeist sucked on, masticated, churned, digested and popped out the other end.
Not once have I ever thought to myself "my android phone needs to be quicker". The only times I've ever wondered about speed were animations that I'm positive are GPU accelerated on magical, revolutionary iDevices. So throw in some clever code and a good mobile GPU, job done.
What's the point in taking a 1Ghz mobile chip and dual coring it? Threaded applications on your mobile? Ha!
It's just a pointless suck down of juice. Go imagery!!
Re: Dual Core
Agreed... With one hand they're screaming "We want dual core, deduct point for not having it" and with the other hand they would be screaming (yes, hands screaming, just go with it) "Battery life only 12 hours!!!!", or maybe "The 3000mAh battery makes the handset to heavy at 350grams".
The Desire Z, which I have, only has an 800Mhz single core, but is quite capable of 720 video recording and movie play back. In fact it feels snappier to use than the 1Ghz DHD, even with all the crap I've cluttered it up with! (Does it have a better video chipset?)
Its about pushing limits....
Its about pushing limits and boundaries. If we followed your advice, we would probably still be running around naked, jumping from tree to tree...
Re: Its about pushing limits
How about we push the limit of battery design and low power consumption a bit more first before we start adding things that suck up even more juice. A phone that can last 24hrs is about as low as is really practical.
It's a pity we lost that leaping from tree to tree skill.
Why 80%?
Battery life not exceptional
No dual core
No froyo
Costs £500 for an unexceptional phone
Picture quality of the camera looked alright tho.
@HMB: Why is dual core useful? You can turn one of them off when you don't need it, and run them both slower, increasing battery life if you do it right.
Product range
Is it just me, or is the entire HTC Android product line (god help us if you try and include WinPho too) utterly mystifying?
Does anyone actually understand where each phone sits in the range? My suspicion is that HTC have just rearranged their components into every possible unique combination, and given it a name.
Re: Product range
Yup, that sounds about right!
My take on it is:
HTC Desire - First one
HTC Desire Z - First one with some new chips and a keyboard
HTC Desire HD - First one with some new chips and a bigger screen
HTC Incredible S - The HD with a slightly smaller screen
That's about as far as I have managed to work it out... Another difference which has had a mention in some circles is the Incredible S is a complete bugger to get permanent root on, HTC have included ROM signing on it's loader, which is a pity.
One reason?
I think they get paid by mobile operators to build them a phone. They then sell this design under their own name with a few tweaks to make them look different. It happened with the Nexus one, that became the Desire, they just changed the trackball.
In the end it just means more and more work for their ROM development teams, so that firmware updates take longer to come out.
Oh......wow...
....it's an HTC phone with an outdated version of Android on it....
....never seen that before.
Dual core
Dual core can lower power consumption by quite a bit, especially on properly designed CPUs. (X86 is a kludgefest)
Power consumption isn't linear to speed.
More slower, lower powered cores can make for a smoother experience - IF the developers can make use of them correctly.
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