The HTC Droid Incredible is in many ways the new standard-bearer for Google’s Android operating system.  It is the most advanced phone on America’s top carrier, Verizon Wireless.  In fact, it is so advanced that Google decided to forgo releasing its own Nexus One phone for Verizon after the Droid Incredible came out.  This was probably a smart decision on Google’s part, because the Incredible matches or outdoes the Nexus One almost spec for spec.

Those specs on the Incredible certainly are impressive.  The main hardware might sound pretty familiar if you have been looking at any other high-end smartphones lately: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3.7″ WVGA (800×480) OLED capacitive touch screen, 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 8GB of built-in flash storage, and Android 2.1 (Eclair) with HTC’s Sense UI overlay.  For many folks, this combination of hardware alone will keep  iPhone envy away from Verizon’s customers.

So how does the Incredible actually perform in day-to-day use?  Is it, well, incredible?  In many ways, yes, but incredible might be a bit strong.  However, we certainly consider it impressive.  See what we mean below.
* First off, from a hardware design standpoint, the Droid Incredible is slimmer and smaller than it looks in pictures.  When I first picked it up, I was surprised by its svelte frame and that the screen is not nearly as monolithically huge as I expected from photos.  Also misrepresented in photos is how stepped and contoured the back cover is.  The layered look on the back cover is much subtler and less dramatic than pictures make it appear.  I came down on the side of liking the overall design of the Incredible, and if anything found it a little plain vanilla, which is a common feeling I get from recent HTC smartphones.

* After turning on the phone, the first thing you will notice is how vibrant the OLED screen is.  The truer black levels really make the color contrast pop.  However, the display is not very good in sunlight though.  Even cranking up the brightness all the way still results in a pretty washed out image.  Looks like we will have to wait for Samsung’s Super AMOLED screen in the Galaxy S to fix the outdoor readability issue.

* Although it is nice that the Incredible has 8GB of built-in flash storage, I still find it annoying that Verizon did not decide to bundle a microSD card, not even a small 512MB one.  This is particularly annoying since some apps, such as Evernote, require a microSD card to fully work.

* Most of our other thoughts relate to the Android OS in general and the custom Sense UI that HTC includes with the Incredible.  Overall, we like Android but must concede that it lacks the polish of webOS or the iPhone OS.  It feels a little geekier to use than those other systems and for some people, it is a good thing to have greater control over their phone.  However, we feel most consumers do not care for the additional complication.  Android’s biggest flaw is the lack of continuity between apps, the interface from app to app lacks coherence, so the learning curve for the OS is greater.  The addition of Sense UI, which makes many aesthetic upgrades, further confuses this lack of unity.  Sometimes there will be 2 versions of the same app or widget (one from HTC, the other from Google).  Finally, the on-screen keyboard for the Incredible is spacious and easy to type on, however it is lacking multitouch for ‘Shift’ or ‘Alt’ usage, which really holds in back.

* There are many I like about Android and specifically this Sense-ified version.  For instance, the Leap feature which you get by pinching on a homescreen is great.  It is like Expose for your home screens and shows miniature versions of each one.  HTC has really out-Appled Apple.  Another feature that Apple should have done long ago is widgets.  Widgets have been on Mac OS X for years, so there is really no excuse why they are not on the iPhone.  Widgets really make Android much more powerful and easy to use.  It allows pertinent information to be easily glanecable.  The combination weather/clock widget that HTC puts on the Incredible also has some really cute active graphics (such as a wiper for the screen that pops up when it is raining).

* Finally, despite the smaller number of apps available on the Android Market, as compared to the iTunes App Store, I did not feel like I was missing out.  All the general bases for smartphone apps are covered by the Android Market.  Also, Google’s laissez faire style to apps allows for developers to be imaginative with their apps.  For example, the lack of restrictions allowed for the creation of the Metal Detector app, which actually works alright!

* While doubleTwist is pretty good for managing music and videos, it is not as complete as iTunes is in managing the content that goes onto Android phones, coming up short mostly in the areas of podcast and app management.  I wish there was a more closely integrated solution to connect Android phones with the PC/Mac.

Overall, we think despite some of the nitpicking above, the Droid Incredible is still the best smartphone on Verizon and one of the top Android phones to date, probably 1a if the HTC Evo 4G were number 1.

It has been quite a long time since we have taken a stroll down Memory Lane and today’s edition is not exactly technology related, but it was so obvious that we could not resist.  Last week, American Express announced their brand new prepaid card for teens called Pass.  Almost exactly ten years ago, American Express was rolling out a new non-credit card for teens, the Cobaltcard.

So clearly, the idea behind Pass from American Express is nothing new. It is a plastic card that looks and feels like a credit card, but instead of being attached to a line of credit, there is a reloadable, prepaid value placed on the card presumably by the young person’s parent.  It has some advantages over giving a teenager access to a credit or debit card such as built-in spending control and access to some unique AmEx perks. The main price behind the Pass is a $3.95/month fee for the privilege of holding it.

However, this idea is not new, not even to American Express.  And it was not particularly successful in the past.  In late 2000, AmEx released its Cobaltcard as a stored value card for teenagers, whose parents could theoretically add more funds on it when necessary.  Presumably, the card was called Cobalt since it is a less prestigious transition metal than Gold and Platinum, the cards that AmEx hoped these teenagers would one day aspire to hold.  The Cobaltcard quickly failed because it had relatively high fees and did not add much value over giving a teen a debit/credit card linked to his/her parents’ account.  These two qualities are shared by the Pass, so perhaps it is not long for this world either.

However, American Express is probably thinking these same teenagers from a decade earlier must still want an AmEx card though, since earlier this year they announced the Zync charge card aimed at 20-somethings (yet another card named after a less luxurious transition metal, albeit misspelled to look like ‘sync’ and seem hip and trendy).

Now even before AmEx’s Cobaltcard, there was the Visa Buxx card.  Visa Buxx is yet another prepaid card for teens that for the most part had lower fees than the Cobaltcard, which might explain how it has survived to this day.  However, availability of the Visa Buxx card is more limited since the only sizable banks offering it are U.S. Bank and Wachovia.

Yet another offering in the teen prepaid card space is the Current by Discover.  Unfortunately, it no longer seems to be accepting new applications.  Most likely, the popularity of the card was reined in by its minimum $50 annual usage fee.

Given the lack of success of the Visa Buxx, Current and Cobaltcard in the past, it is really surprising to me that American Express would take aim once again at this market that I am not convinced exists, especially with the exact same formula as before of high monthly fees.  Perhaps AmEx feels that the current consumer climate critical of credit cards might provide the opening necessary to gain a following for Pass.  If Pass were even a mild success for American Express, it could benefit greatly from gaining a mindshare with today’s teens.  American Express operates much like Apple in that it is not the market leader but relies heavily on the perception that it is a higher-quality product.  So if AmEx were able to get its foot in the door with today’s youth, they could turn into the Gold, Platinum and maybe even Centurion holders of tomorrow.

[Read the Press Release for the Pass from American Express.]