BerryScoop reports that the HTC Eris will be replaced by the new HTC Incredible as early as April 1st. The new phone has already been spotted in the Verizon inventory system.

The Incredible is expected to be a close cousin to the Nexus One, sporting a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, AMOLED display, 5MP auto-focus camera with flash, and running Android 2.1 + Sense UI.

In essence, the Incredible will be Verizon’s branded version of the Nexus One, sold through their retail stores. Contrary to some rumors, the actual Nexus One will continue to be sold directly by Google and should become available for Verizon around the same time.

The trade-offs between the two phones will come down to choosing:  A carrier subsidized HTC Incredible with a mobile contract and less frequent software updates over an unlocked Nexus One without in-store support and higher up-front cost.

If the current sales performance numbers of the Nexus One are any indication, I think the traditional retail sales model will continue to outsell the online-only Nexus One, and the Incredible could become the next Android hit for Verizon.

via pocketnow and berryscoop

]]> http://droidstory.com/2010/03/09/htc-incredible-replacing-droid-eris-at-verizon/feed/ 0 http://droidstory.com/2010/03/08/skip-the-motorola-devour-get-a-droid/ http://droidstory.com/2010/03/08/skip-the-motorola-devour-get-a-droid/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:09:40 +0000 sm http://droidstory.com/?p=750 I checked out Motorola’s latest Android phone, the Motorola Devour, yesterday. I was really excited when I first heard about this phone, hoping for a great entry-level Android device with a physical keyboard, but my hands-on experience, albeit short, wasn’t great.

My first impression: This phone is a tank! Depending on what’s important to you this may not be a bad thing. The Devour feels rock solid, big and heavy. The keyboard slider mechanism works great and the aluminum casing should protect it from many physical abuses. Still, the headphone jack is in a strange location and the overall aluminum body gives it somewhat of a retro look.

Did I already mention this phone is big and heavy?!

Considering the overall size of the phone its 3.1-inch screen feels puny. Touch screen accuracy is good, but unfortunately the screen would not switch to landscape when turned on its side until you opened the slider keyboard. The phone does have a 3-axis accelerometer, so perhaps there is a setting somewhere to make the screen layout switch automatically. The keyboard does feel better than the Droid’s. The keys are spaced out & responsive and the little touch pad works great.

The phone that I played with had Android 2.0 installed, even though it was previously said to ship with Android 1.6. It also comes with MOTOBLUR, targeting people that don’t want to deal with all the individual apps for Email, SMS, Twitter, Facebook , etc. MOTOBLUR uses a simplified concept  of two main information categories called Messages and Happenings that are displayed as widgets on your home screen. Messages are in essence the traditional one-to-one communications, like email and sms. Happenings are all your social feeds from twitter, facebook and the like. People that are heavy into Twitter and Facebook may like the always-on social feed on the home screen. I found the update bubbles to be cluttering the screen, forcing me to use the menu for any other functions.

The 3.1MP camera on the Devour is probably the biggest disappointment. I took a couple of test pictures that looked blurry and dim. No flash and fixed focus make this camera pretty useless.

My overall conclusion: With the many promotions Verizon is offering, the price difference between the Devour and Droid is almost negligible. The Droid is a far superior phone in almost every aspect – the keyboard perhaps being the only exception.

Skip the Devour and get a Droid instead!

I didn’t notice either problem, so far. Even the new pinch-to-zoom feature works flawlessly on my N1.  Then earlier this week the following video surfaced that  shows how to reproduce the problem with an app called Multitouch Visible Test, created by Robert Green of Battery Powered Games.

I downloaded the app from the Android market, and sure enough I was able to reproduce what is shown in the video. It seems that the Nexus One touch screen gets confused when your fingers get too close together on an axis using multi-touch. That’s not something you’d notice when zooming in and out on maps or pictures, but with games this could be an issue.

Is this a hardware or software bug? As it turns out, it’s neither – it’s a limitation of the touch screen hardware used in the Nexus One. The same problem was already reported with the “original” Google phone the G1. The touch screen used in both phones only supports two-finger touch gestures (e.g. pinch, pivot, rotate), so it’s really a side effect of dual-touch vs. multi-touch.

There may be a way to overcome this hardware limitation with an improved software algorithm that better tracks all touch movement, but for now this is a non-issue for my everyday use of the N1.

And all you Droid owners, it’s your time to brag – as this is not a problem on the Motorola Droid.

“Due to your contribution to the success of Android Market, we would like to present you with a brand new Android device as part of our developer device seeding program. You are receiving this message because you’re one of the top developers in Android Market with one or more of your applications having a 3.5 star or higher rating and more than 5,000 unique downloads.”

For the US market Google will randomly award either a Droid or Nexus One, while in Europe and other GSM only markets developers will receive a Nexus One.

Why is Google doing this? As it turns out many app developers still don’t have access to the latest devices running Android 2.x and it’s in Google’s best interest to have a flourishing app market with as many applications that take advantage of the latest features that Android 2.x has to offer.

I can’t wait to compare the 3G performance of the current T-Mobile GSM version against a Verizon CDMA model and see if the signal strength and 3G performance is still as sensitive to environmental factors e.g. holding the phone. The unreliable 3G connectivity and general network performance is probably my biggest gripe with the N1 right now. I have not observed any touchscreen problems as other people reported.

This newest phone in the Verizon Droid lineup could turn out to be a great entry level Android device. I think its sturdy aluminum case with slide-out keyboard combined with MotoBlur is going to appeal to many current Blackberry users and people that are looking for a simplified Android experience. 

Although the specs are not as impressive as some of the other Android phones, it will satisfy most users:

• Android 1.6 with MotoBlur
• 3.1-in.; HVGA (320 x 480 pixels)
• 3MP Fixed Focus Camera with Video
• WiFi 802.11 b,g
• GPS
• Dual microphone noise cancellation
• 1400 mAh Li Ion Battery

Verizon just released an app exclusive to the Motorola Droid that allows you to control your FIOS HD set-top-box from your phone. Just install the free mobileremote app from the Android Market Place, connect to your Wi-Fi network and pair the Droid with your FIOS Box by using the Mobile Remote Widget on your TV, enter your phone number, and you are all set.

Now you can use your Droid just like your FIOS remote to change channels, pause, rewind, fwd, etc. In addition, you can view pictures stored on your Droid directly on your TV, either individually or as slide show. The app will even mute the TV when a call comes in. Pretty cool, huh?

Of course, you can also use this to prank your family and change channels from another room, since Droid uses Wi-Fi to remote-control the FIOS box.

The way the app works is that your own phone reports its network experience, combined with location information (GPS and/or cell tower) back to Sensorly’s servers. The more people participate the more detailed maps get built.

Frankly, I’ve been wondering for a while why the wireless providers are not using this kind of technology to map out their problem spots.

It is not clear how many data samples are required and what statistical algorithms are being used for building a map. Also, problem phones like the Nexus One could potentially skew results by reporting insufficient 3G coverage for areas that in fact are working with other phones.

The app itself is a basic map viewer with a color coded overlay, with each color and shade representing a specific network and signal strength level.

The Android version currently maps only GSM and some Wi-Fi networks – sorry Droid users, but CDMA (Verizon and Sprint) maps are planned to be rolled-out in the coming weeks.

The company also plans to release versions for the iPhone and Windows Mobile.

The following maps are now available for free:

Here’s an excerpt from my recent forum post.

I’ve been saying all along that this is a RF issue. I noticed this right away when I got my phone and even posted this video on Jan 9 to show how the N1 drops 3G as soon as you hold it in your hand.

The problem occurs only when you are in an area with a weak 3G signal, anything less than -80dBm. (Higher negative numbers mean weaker signal.)

Basically, if you have -90dBM or less signal strength with the phone sitting on your desk, holding it in your hand will push it down to -100dBm or less. At that point all bets are off. Before the update it would switch to Edge around -100dBm, now it seems to hold on until about -105dBm.

The “dBm” (dB-milliwatt) is a logarithmic measurement of signal strength, and dBm values can be easily converted to and from mW values. So a decrease of roughly 3dBm yields a change of roughly HALF in the mW value.

1mW = 0dBm
-96dBm = 0.0000000002511mW

In essence, the difference between a -80dBm signal and a -100dBm signal is HUGE. Check it out yourself here.

So here is my big question: Why is the N1 getting such a weak signal in solid 3G territory, and why does the signal degrade that much more when holding the phone in your hand?

IMHO the recent update just tweaked the switching thresholds, while the actual problem may be rooted deeper in the RF guts of the Nexus One.