Is it reasonable to buy Inc2 now.

[TheOldFart]

I have been looking at phones to replace my over 2 year old Droid for a couple of weeks now. I have considered the Inc2, Droid 3, Rezound, Stratosphere, Bionic and Nexus. Looking at the best compromise between size, weight, speed, operation, battery life and cost, I keep ending up liking the Inc2 the best. I'm retired, so I'm close to my computer most of the time. I use the phone for calls, checking email, weather, news and playing some simple games like FlickGolf. I don't download movies or TV shows, as it is much better to do that on my PC. I only use between 100 and 800MB of data monthly.

Now the question. Is it unreasonable to get a 3G, single core processor phone and expect it to be usable for the next 20 months? I would probably still be happy with my Droid if it were not out of memory and running slow. Screen draws are slow and so is loading of programs. I'm using Go Launcher EX on it and have cleaned all cache. Downloading a large weather page took 70 seconds for my Droid at the local Verizon store and 29 seconds with the Inc2. For some reason, the Stratosphere took 82 seconds. We don't have LTE yet, but they expect the first half of 2012. When I was in another city with LTE back in October, the Rezound took 15 seconds to download that page and the Droid 3 took about 60 seconds. I don't know why the Inc2 was so fast on 3G today. I haven't tried it before. Is it that much better than the Droid, Droid 3 or Stratosphere in loading web pages, like the weather page with maps?

I would have bought it 3 days ago, but I keep asking myself if it is smart to buy a 3G phone now.

 

[nikecar]

I have been looking at phones to replace my over 2 year old Droid for a couple of weeks now. I have considered the Inc2, Droid 3, Rezound, Stratosphere, Bionic and Nexus. Looking at the best compromise between size, weight, speed, operation, battery life and cost, I keep ending up liking the Inc2 the best. I'm retired, so I'm close to my computer most of the time. I use the phone for calls, checking email, weather, news and playing some simple games like FlickGolf. I don't download movies or TV shows, as it is much better to do that on my PC. I only use between 100 and 800MB of data monthly.

Now the question. Is it unreasonable to get a 3G, single core processor phone and expect it to be usable for the next 20 months? I would probably still be happy with my Droid if it were not out of memory and running slow. Screen draws are slow and so is loading of programs. I'm using Go Launcher EX on it and have cleaned all cache. Downloading a large weather page took 70 seconds for my Droid at the local Verizon store and 29 seconds with the Inc2. For some reason, the Stratosphere took 82 seconds. We don't have LTE yet, but they expect the first half of 2012. When I was in another city with LTE back in October, the Rezound took 15 seconds to download that page and the Droid 3 took about 60 seconds. I don't know why the Inc2 was so fast on 3G today. I haven't tried it before. Is it that much better than the Droid, Droid 3 or Stratosphere in loading web pages, like the weather page with maps?

I would have bought it 3 days ago, but I keep asking myself if it is smart to buy a 3G phone now.

You answered your question. If by all the criteria this phone meets, then get it. I'd probably look for an LTE phone just because I'd do more streaming visa and such, but my inc2 has been fine without it. Faster than my old nonsmartphone.

I'd endorse it if you don't care for LTE speeds and you've been ok with 3g speeds. I've downloaded apps galore lately and this thing still has plenty of space.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

 

[TheOldFart]

You answered your question. If by all the criteria this phone meets, then get it. I'd probably look for an LTE phone just because I'd do more streaming visa and such, but my inc2 has been fine without it. Faster than my old nonsmartphone.

I'd endorse it if you don't care for LTE speeds and you've been ok with 3g speeds. I've downloaded apps galore lately and this thing still has plenty of space.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

Thanks for the reply. By the way, I do use more data than I said, but on wifi when we are at home or out for coffee and such. I normally only download or update apps when on wifi at home. As to answering my own question, I have made up my mind that the Inc2 is the phone that I would get now. I'm just wondering if I will be happy with it for 20 months. I don't think that I will change my usage, as I haven't in 2 years. It is $0 now at BB for both new contracts and upgrades.

 

[ABQNM]

Incredible 2 is definitely the best 3G smartphone on Verizon. Will you be happy for 20 months? Maybe not completely, but you should be still running just fine at 20 months. Around that time is when AT&T will start to have an LTE presence like Verizon is now and we will start seeing high-performance mobile-optimized pages. If you are not demanding the cutting edge all the time I think you will be very happy and good luck with the new toy!

 

[nikecar]

It should last you that long. I'd suggest an otterbox commuter or defender case.

The biggest thing I think you need to answer is LTE. Are you prepared to be with 3g speeds for that long or do you feel you need LTE?

I decided I liked the phone and the UI over the LTE when I was getting mine, but then I only had three LTE phones to choose from and I came from a non smartphone, so 3g is faster than what I had. My next phone obviously wills be an LTE one.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

 

[TheOldFart]

It should last you that long. I'd suggest an otterbox commuter or defender case.

The biggest thing I think you need to answer is LTE. Are you prepared to be with 3g speeds for that long or do you feel you need LTE?

I decided I liked the phone and the UI over the LTE when I was getting mine, but then I only had three LTE phones to choose from and I came from a non smartphone, so 3g is faster than what I had. My next phone obviously wills be an LTE one.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

The Rezound is actually my favorite, but I don't want to pay $270 for a phone. Also, the Beats software and earphones are useless to me. I would consider the Bionic at $150 if it didn't still seem to have problems. As far as cases go, I sort of like the Incipio silicone + plastic shell case that Verizon has at the store. I like the Defender, but it looks too big. I have never used a case on any phone that I have had and have never dropped a phone (so far). I use either a leather sleeve or a belt clip slip case to carry the phone though. Without a snap-on case, the Inc2 will fit in the 2 slip cases that I have for my Droid.

 

[ABQNM]

The Rezound is actually my favorite, but I don't want to pay $270 for a phone. Also, the Beats software and earphones are useless to me. I would consider the Bionic at $150 if it didn't still seem to have problems. As far as cases go, I sort of like the Incipio silicone + plastic shell case that Verizon has at the store. I like the Defender, but it looks too big. I have never used a case on any phone that I have had and have never dropped a phone (so far). I use either a leather sleeve or a belt clip slip case to carry the phone though. Without a snap-on case, the Inc2 will fit in the 2 slip cases that I have for my Droid.

The Rezound is only $149.99 from wirefly.com for new or upgrade. I have purchased from them before and they are good. The only issue is they will charge an extra $250 if you cancel or change phones within 6 months. That is in addition to anything Verizon charges, but I wouldn't worry about that.

If you want 4G, the Rezound is awesome, but we don't have S-Off, so no custom ROMs yet. Plus it will get HTC's version of ICS, whatever that may be.

 

[TheOldFart]

The Rezound is only $149.99 from wirefly.com for new or upgrade. I have purchased from them before and they are good. The only issue is they will charge an extra $250 if you cancel or change phones within 6 months. That is in addition to anything Verizon charges, but I wouldn't worry about that.

If you want 4G, the Rezound is awesome, but we don't have S-Off, so no custom ROMs yet. Plus it will get HTC's version of ICS, whatever that may be.

I have to use my wife's upgrade, as she used mine last year to get her phone. We have been out of sync for years now. I don't think that WireFly, Amazon, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, etc can transfer the upgrade because they all use Simplexity (SP). I know that Verizon and BB can transfer. At least BB did last year for her purchase. My upgrade is not available until the end of April 2012.

 

[ABQNM]

Have you contacted Verizon about moving the upgrade eligibility to the other line? I know a friend in a similar situation was able to work something out so he could buy from Amazon, but not sure what they did exactly.

 

[TheOldFart]

Have you contacted Verizon about moving the upgrade eligibility to the other line? I know a friend in a similar situation was able to work something out so he could buy from Amazon, but not sure what they did exactly.

I haven't checked at the store. I can transfer it when in My Verizon, but it only lasts during that session. When I log out, it goes back to her phone. Her phone is the primary line. It is in my name, but we got her a phone first many years ago when she had to travel. We are heading to BB now to get the Inc2. Hopefully they can still transfer the upgrade like they did last year. Besides, my wife likes it and would want it if I get a LTE phone after April. Thanks for the advice.

 

[ABQNM]

I haven't checked at the store. I can transfer it when in My Verizon, but it only lasts during that session. When I log out, it goes back to her phone. Her phone is the primary line. It is in my name, but we got her a phone first many years ago when she had to travel. We are heading to BB now to get the Inc2. Hopefully they can still transfer the upgrade like they did last year. Besides, my wife likes it and would want it if I get a LTE phone after April. Thanks for the advice.

Ah that nice family trade-in program. lol It is still a nice phone and good luck getting it all handled!

 

[nikecar]

Does she have a data plan too? If so and you are both unlimited, just upgrade hers, then swap phones online. Wirefly and those companies just care about the plan being kept. You can swap phones as long as the plan is in effect. Now if she's not on a data plan, then it won't work.

 

[ABQNM]

Does she have a data plan too? If so and you are both unlimited, just upgrade hers, then swap phones online. Wirefly and those companies just care about the plan being kept. You can swap phones as long as the plan is in effect. Now if she's not on a data plan, then it won't work.

You have to be careful. With Verizon it is not usually an issue, but it could be. The retailer states that if you cancel the data package or move the phone to another line within 6 months it will charge you the $250. I do know people who have done it without issue as it seems Verizon doesn't go after the retailer's commission in those cases (they could though). My cousin did the same thing on Sprint and wound up getting charged $250 because that MEID was no longer active on that particular line. YMMV with doing that.

 

[TheOldFart]

Does she have a data plan too? If so and you are both unlimited, just upgrade hers, then swap phones online. Wirefly and those companies just care about the plan being kept. You can swap phones as long as the plan is in effect. Now if she's not on a data plan, then it won't work.

She gave up her unlimited data plan 2 weeks ago and went back to my old env. She never even hit 100MB a month and the $30 was not worth it. We are retired and together most of the time, so she just got the Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 and loves it much better than her Ally. If Verizon comes out with a family share data plan next year with something like at least 2GB for $30 then we will probably go to that, as we have never totaled 1GB together in any month. I will then use the upgrade that is available at the end of April and get a LTE phone. She likes the Inc2, so that will work well. If we cannot get a family data plan like the above then we will stay the way we are now.

Edit: I now have my new "free" Inc2. It is doing it's update. I got the Incipio case at Verizon, but cannot find a belt case that it fits in and comes out of easily. I might take the Incipio case back and get the Otterbox Defender and holster.

 

[jntdroid]

I think, as long as your needs/wants don't drastically change, you'll be very happy with the Inc2 for 20 months. I've had them all, including the latest and greatest, and still consider going back to it (my wife still has one). LTE is great and fast, but just not reliable. It's the perfect combination of reliability, solid build, ergonomic, GREAT battery life (best of any 3G phone I've ever used), smooth UI, solid dev support with some great custom ROMs if you wanted to (but it's excellent stock as well), wonderful sound quality/volume, etc. Unless you end up with a bad unit, it should meet all of those things I just listed off.

The ONLY negative, is the screen is hard to view outside in bright light. But up until SAMOLED / PENTILE (Bionic, D3, DX2, Razr, etc), that was common anyway.

edit: there's already an ICS port being worked on for it... and I'm sure there will be some ICS based ROMs - so you should stay relatively up to date, software-wise anyway