Drooling for a smartphone

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I've got the hots for a new smartphone. I've never had one before, but I know I want one now. My T-Mobile plan expires in July.

Not sure what to get, but thinking it will need to be an Android phone. Been looking at the new Droid Incredible (Verizon)and it looks pretty sweet.

[LMITOUT]

Yeah, I'm about to pull the trigger and pre-order an EVO but I'm still hesitant to give up my Blackberry. The EVO is available June 4th on Sprint and I'm eligible for a phone upgrade June 1st. Perfect timing.

I believe T-Mobile has one of similar size to the EVO, the HTC HD2, if you are thinking of hanging with them.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

HTC HD2 is a windows mobile phone. Besides, T-Mobile does not have enough coverage for me.

[LMITOUT]

Oh! Never even realized that. It looks almost identical with the large clock face and all. Windows copied Android that much? wow. That's pretty sad.

I watched a comparison video the other day between the HD2 and EVO and they almost looked the same, but I was watching the EVO a little more closely and didn't even notice the HD2 was a Windows phone.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Yeah, I'm going to check out the EVO, once it goes live. Not sure I like the size while in the pocket, but in use it would be awesome!

[DTro]

I was toying around with an incredible the other day. WOW that thing is sweet!

I'm going to try an pretend I didn't see how much better the browser was than my BB

[CJH]

My buddy just got an Incredible and can't say enough good things about it. My contract is up in July........

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I've read that many Incredible owners are disappointed in signal strength. How is his?

[LMITOUT]

Seems to be common to HTC phones as many owners have reported, not just isolated to the Incredible.

[CJH]

I've read that many Incredible owners are disappointed in signal strength. How is his?

He's on Verizon and I am pretty sure its been fine. I think they were on ATT before, and hated it.

[DTro]

From what I've read the signal is not as strong as the Motorola, but most complaints were only how many bars they had and not actual reception. Maybe just a simple software update.

[jac714]

I really like my htc Hero, my only gripe is the battery life. The voice quality is amazing and you can get an amazing number of apps for it adn many of them are free.

I have noticed that the number of bars is lower than expected but it seems that the recepton is fine so it seems to be a conservative signal strength indication.

They are amazing devices, remarkably capable and small.

[CAMAN]

The bars is a terrible way to accuratly measure signal strength. For instance, the ATT 'More Bars' campaign they run, its actually just... get this...AN ADDED BAR they programmed in! And there is no standard for what the bars actually mean between manufacturers.

The best way to measure signal strength is to measure the dBM. This is the signal power level, in decibels, referenced to a signal power of 1 milliwatt. The level will ALWAYS be a "negative" number as your signal level will always be less than 1 milliwatt. -1 dBM is better than -100 dBM.

I'm sure other brands are capable of this, but with a Blackberry you can change the 'bars' to dBM by simply holding down the left 'alt' key and keying 'NMLL'(on the Curves atleast, may be different on other models, a quick g00gle search should get you your answer.) Doing the same thing will revert back to 'bars'.

Monitoring the dBM will allow you to adjust the way you hold the phone to get the best signal, which may also extend battery life.

Its doubtful you will ever get a signal better than -40 dBM and a signal any lower than -100 dBM will be very weak and the phone may not work.

[deadeye]

Yeah I am one to believe that he bars don't mean that much anymore. I get better reception with my Droid than I did with my gzone but it shows less bars while it does that.

I got to say with that incredible I am a little envious already but think I'm going to try and ride the new every two out with the Droid. I want a android tough phone and I know there is at least one out there with more on the way.

While I am on the android bandwagon it would be sweet to see a 4g iPhone on Verizon. Plus given crackberry's dominance out there, they have got to be coming up with something awesome here soon. The bar keeps getting raised everyday and I am curoius to see the 4g stuff in full force.

[Nick Kuhn]

I think the Incredibile and the Evo are pretty much the same phone except that the Evo has a bigger screen, kickstand, and is better in the camera department. It also will have a WiMAX receiver to make it 4G (which won't matter in Minnesota until at least the end of this year).

I don't think you'll be disappointed with either of those phones. I've only read one review of the Incredible but it really only had two negatives: one was the 3g web surfing battery life (and 4 hours isn't bad, it'll last at least a day unless you use your phone for web constantly), and the other was that when the Sense UI syncs to your facebook/email/twitter/etc it adds everyone to your contact list. Not a big deal unless you're the kind of person who has a lot of facebook friends that you have no intention of ever talking too. Also if your friend has an old number or old email listed on facebook, it will initially have those incorrect numbers in your phone.

[CJH]

Has anybody heard anything more on the potential iPhone for Verizon? Seems like I have read it both ways (is and isn't).

[Nick Kuhn]

Has anybody heard anything more on the potential iPhone for Verizon? Seems like I have read it both ways (is and isn't).

Current reports have Apple on a contract with AT&T through 2012. Both the prototypes of the new iPhone that have turned up are GSM phones, and thus would not work on Verizon.

This is just opinion, being seeing as how Verizon initially turned down the iPhone because the contract Apple wanted was awful, they are probably in no hurry to get the iPhone now as Apple would still want a contract that is awful for Verizon. Instead Verizon will be content with all the other phones it has (which frankly are better than the current iPhone and will likely be on par with the upcoming model for AT&T).

Just wait a couple weeks and Apple will reveal anything you need to know about the iPhone for the next year.

[CJH]

Thanks Nick!!

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Saw a review on the EVO tonight and was disappointed to hear it doesn't have a real button to work the camera. Also, the screen is not bright enough outside. I guess none of these phones are perfect

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

"Qualcomm today announced that it has begun shipping its next-generation SnapDragon processors for smartphones. The two new modules -- one for HSPA+ and one for EV-DO Rev. B -- have two processor cores that run up to 1.2GHz. Qualcomm says the SnapDragon processors support 2D/3D graphics acceleration, support for Open GLES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1 acceleration, 1080p high-def video playback, integrated GPS, and support for 24-bit WXGA 1280 x 800 displays. Qualcomm says the chips also support low power modes for improved battery life. Qualcomm expects the chips to be used in smartphones and netbooks."

Gee, I guess now I need to wait for one of those!

[LMITOUT]

You know what they say: If you keep waiting for the latest and greatest you'll never get anywhere.

I hear you though. There is always something better coming around the corner and the smart phone industry is exploding in this aspect. The problem is that you may find a really nice device but then it goes to a carrier other than the one you're on. This is where I'm fed up with Blackberry in that Sprint is always last to the party in getting the new BB's. I guess that is the tradeoff for paying low monthly bills.