By As I sit down to work on our Android Phone Guide and eat some tasty General Tso’s Chicken, I notice something curious pop up on my HTC Incredible – a big “System Update” dialogue box:
Pressing the “More Info” button didn’t yield a very good explanation of what was included:
So we know its 3.5MB but that’s about it… and the link they offered to http://www.verizonwireless.com/droidincrediblesupport was currently a broken link. Time to install the update and do some sleuthing for myself! Here is the phone info from before and after:
So the Build Number changed from ending in 493 to ending in 494 and the Software number changed from ending in .0 to .2 – so this was definitely wasn’t a phantom update even though the Firmware version still reads 2.1-update1.
What exactly did this update accomplish? I’m not sure… but I’ve got word into HTC and Verizon and hopefully we can collectively figure out what this Indredible OTA is all about. I’m guessing it could be something to do with the glitchy signal bar display but that’s just a guess.
I’m kind of baffled by Verizon lately. The Droid Eris badly needed a fix for its locking issues, and it took them two months to release it (phone launched in November, fix came in January). The Droid Incredible already got a fix just two days post-launch?
This is great news. I really hope I get this soon. I am switching from AT&T and so far I have not been impressed with the signal on the Incredible.
The call quality seems fine until I’m talking and the person on the other end starts to interrupt. Their voice is extremely glitchy until I stop talking. Then, I have no idea what they said and have to ask them to repeat it. Is anyone else having this issue? Is this just standard on VZW? I certainly hope not!
weird…my wife’s Incredilbe and mine haven’t gotten the OTA update, my build number is the same…wonder why?
I haven’t gotten the update apparently since my version is still 493
@eleazar I have the same problem to. I usually have 4 bars here and now I only have 2. The speed is no problem but the call quality is a little off and glitchy to.
Haven’t gotten my update yet. Anyone else?
And yes, I’m having the same issue. Loading speed is good. Voice quality not as good as my flip phone that had great signal.
And I know with my other phone, a few hours in weak signal would kill the battery. The same battery with good signal would like 3 days easily.
Hope this improves.
ssue: Exchange Email only (On the native device email client for corporate use only. ):
• When an email is opened that has no recipients in the carbon copy (“CC” )field, if the user selects
”Reply All,” unintended recipients’ addresses can sometimes be added at random into the CC field from
previously received emails.
o POP/IMAP email accounts are not impacted.
o Third party apps, such as TouchDown, also not impacted.
Action: Sales Representatives need to qualify the customer during the sales process to identify if that customer
will use the native business/corporate email client with their DROID Incredible.
o If the customer acknowledges that they will use the native business/corporate email
client, communicate the information below:
“When replying to ‘all’ in an email, please ensure that there aren’t any unwanted or
unintended recipients in the ‘CC’ field before hitting the ‘Send’ button.”
Resolution: A fix for this issue is being tested now and will be released by May 6, 2010. You may communicate
this information to the customer, as well.
No action required for customers using consumer email services like AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, and the like.
Still no update here. :(
I just want it to fix my call quality issue and I’ll be 100% happy with my Incredible. :)
Hope I get it soon, if It fixes the signal bar issue, I have complaints whatsoever.
@Aaron and eleazar
I checked my system info and I am still on the old version,but I don’t get the update either.
Battery issues anyone?
@destardi, I haven’t had any problems with my battery life, but if they include some tweaks for it, I won’t be complaining. :D
get over the battery crap already damn…. The only issue there is, is that you have a cutting edge phone with a older gen capacity battery… Upgrade the battery and quit b****ing already
I dunno, I doubt they dealt with the signal issue so soon.. its probably just some minor update.. not hoping for much.. We need to all complain to HTC and then maybe they will do something about our signal issue…
The Droid Eris isn’t a good phone, the Incredible is. The Incredible is extremely popular and above all others, so to keep it at top HTC is going to fix any issues it has as fast as they can.
I’m guessing this isn’t a full release. I still haven’t received anything about this either. and I tried to do the update and it said none was available. Hopefully it welcome soon.
have the incredible and have not received an update as of yet. I did however just tether it to my mac using pdanet and it worked flawlessly :)
There is no signal issue, just the bars are not calibrated the best. If you go into settings and then about phone and into network you will get a true signal reading in dBm. I tested this side my side with my Droid all over town and they get identical signal strength. Bars mean nothing and are set by the manufacturer.
Still no update over here. Seriously, the signal issue is a tremendous flaw in the Incredible. My phone is blinking between one and two bars. The call quality sucks as well or perhaps it is signal related
@Lewis, the reason the eris wasnt updated as quickly is because it was not marketed as the best phone money can buy. the eris was a decent phone for someone who wanted the droid experience but not shell out the cash. the incredible however is essentially the droids big brother. any issues will be updated much quicker because vzw has more invested in the incredibles success than in the eris..
I live in a rural area and am familiar with poor reception. My Incredible get’s better reception than any phone I have ever used in this area. I just ignore the bars and go by call clarity and durability.
IF IT SOUNDS GOOD AND STAYS CONNECTED, WHO CARES HOW MANY BARS YOU HAVE?
My home screen changes by itself. It goes from the main screen and switched over to the favorites page by itself many times. Anyone else? Anybody else having glitchy problems?
I monitored the Incredible and a Moto DROID in test mode to compare signal levels versus bars, first thing I noticed is that the average RSSI and Ec/Io for both 1X and EVDO between the 2 devices in the same spot are pretty close. In fact, the Incredible had slightly stronger signal readings despite showing 2 bars compared with the permanent full signal that shows on my Moto. Something else worth noting was that the bars on the Incredible were for the EVDO RSSI, in test mode the RSSI of 1X was peaking at -41 dBm in a location which should be full bars even with this phone, while the EVDO RSSI would go between -84 to -64 dBm and the bars would fluctuate as this reading went up and down. This would explain why many report good call quality despite the number of bars displayed as voice calls would be going over 1X. Unfortunately it makes it harder to determine what’s happening with signal for the people that have low bars and call quality problems.
Haven’t gotten the update yet and I’m having the same problem. Did anyone have an issue with 3g for the first couple hours after activating??
There is NO signal issue! None! There is a signal INDICATOR issue! The signal is fine! If u look at the DBM in settings, and compare it to another (Moto Droid for example) the DI consistantlly gets a couple more db’s than my moto droid. Just FYI guys!
Yes, I had the 3G issues.. and even now, if I go to my Facebook app and refresh, I have 3G, but if I got to my Gmail account.. nothing.. at times.. it comes and goes.. a little disappointing since I want to tether. Also, Signal Quality sux. Especially in Phoenix w verizon anyways, but now I barely have a signal.
Oh, and i have not gotten any kind of update, and in fact my phone says there are none ant that it is up to date. …also had a couple dropped calls.. May have been me or them though, idk.
Quit trying to find something wrong with the phone. I haven’t had any dropped calls or had any issue with data. Yet my bars are the same as all you have described… I’m still loving this phone…
Yeah I fell that I am having some issues with my battery. My coworkers and I both have the phone and his battery seems to out last mine by a good bit. I am going to swap my battery next time I go to work and see if that helps.
I’ve had my phone since Wednesday. Phone clarity in the urban areas were solid. However, yesterday I had to go out to a jobsite, and my incredible dropped my calls on three occassions. This in an area that I travel to quite a bit and always had very good coverage and no dropped calls with my XV6900.
I LOVE my phone. I don’t like the dropped calls which I SAID could have been the other person. Im throwing the info out there in case it can help. Those are the only issues I have had, and I love this phone. I wouldn’t trade for anything else on the market right now. No joke.
I think the opinion is split, depending on each person’s experience. I personally believe both sides. But the conclusion is that something definitely is wrong, at least with those people that are experiencing poor connectivity. Don’t be paranoid and believe all those are making it up.
Anything I have ever owned and I have owned a lot of phones from VZW over the years, including my Moto Droid, have had some kind of issue it’s just part of it. However, I have been a very happy VZW customer and they have addressed any issue I have ever had and I love my Moto Droid and the Incredible is the most INCREDIBLE phone I have ever owned. Yes the battery on mine seems to drain faster, however, IT DOES SO MUCH MORE I do so much more with it and that’s probably why. Call quality seems fine and I live in Sevierville, TN (Dolly Parton Country). Not had a problem and no I have not gotten an update. Remember there is a reason they called it Incredible and I LOVE IT!!!
For those of you that have excellent call quality despite how many bars you have or don’t have, I envy you! This is my first smartphone and I love it. If I could have a phone just for calling only I would keep the Incredible, but my call quality is AWFUL. I live close to a tower in a very strong Verizon area and every few words from the person I’m talking to is dropped. When calling for example Verizon Wireless and you listen to their recording telling you which # to push for which service you want, every few words from the recording goes dead. It’s very difficult to listen to someone talk when the conversation is all broken up. I don’t know if it’s the area, the batch of phones provided by our local Verizon store or what, but I purchased two of these phones and both my daughter and I are having the exact same problem. I want to keep this phone but can’t with poor cell phone quality.
How do you put your last pictures first?
Also how do you put differenent ring tones per caller?
ok i dont get it…. which is better, -50 dBm or -100 dBm?
if your dealing with signal strength, then the lower number is better, in your case the -50 dBm.
or actually -50 is the higher number if you want to get technical, but you know what i mean.
is it possible that this came to you (rob) because you got a model direct from HTC which could of had an earlier build still on it when you got it?
anyone having reception issues should try an on and off cycle, you probably have, and it may not do anything, but its worth a shot, or refresh the network settings or something.
No update yet for me. Damn.
Also try a *228 option 2
ha, is that the customer service for verizon?
There is a serious issue that has not been discussed here. The North Carolina Triad market and a the Northern Louisiana market are experiencing a tower switch problem. When the incredible is trying to switch from one tower to another or in a weak area the phone will power cycle/reboot. Once if you pass through a deadzone but constantly if you happen to be idle in a weak spot. You may not live in these areas but if you travel through them you too will experience it. Some have said it has to do with old towers owned by Alltel. HTC technicians have been in the triad market since Friday trying to diagnose the problem. Before the problem was identified, Verizon and Best Buy was returning (and switching out) phones for nearly 48 hours. I am still waiting on the update. Doing a forced roaming updated (*228 Opt 2), staying hooked up to wall power, being on wifi, and being in a stable signal area have all helped lessen the reboots until a fix is pushed. I hope this is the fix that the local Manager said was coming in the next 2 days.
@bml
I got my Incredible the day it was released and it has the same version numbers as rob, but I still haven’t received the update yet.
notice that the number of bars increased from one to two after the update.. thats already progress! a couple more of these updates and we’ll get full bars haha
I bet it enables the internal memory to be used without an SD card installed. Cheaper to FIX the problem than to give out free SD cards with every new phone.. ;)
Has anyone else gotten this update??
I was bored and reading through the comments, and I think I just noticed someone comparing the DROID Incredible to an HTC Touch. There is seriously no comparison.
HEY.. I NEED THAT UPDATE FOR ROOTING PURPOSES.. PLEASE FOLLOW UP WITH ME.. I SPOKE WITH PAUL OBRIEN OVER AT ANDROID.MODOCO.COM AND THIS COULD BE OUR CHANCE.. THANKS..
lol, ^^– have to agree with Anonymous.
Also, where the heck is my OTA update!?
Tylar wrote on May 1, 2010
——————-
Go fuck yourself.
Modern, blabbity, blah blah blah.
My Droid Moto had a great battery, and I could actually USE THE PHONE. I just spend 200 goddamn dollars, “tylar” and I have a right to ask other users about their experiences.
Second, there WAS a ‘signal’ issue with my phone, since I had both the Moto Droid AND my HTC INC in the same spot at work for 8 hours, and the HTC couldn’t even pull continuous 1X signal, let alone 3G.
I took it to Verizon and they updated the PRL to a *H*Y*B*R*I*D* one, from a ‘verizon’ only PRL. It solved the problem.
Who appointed you the arbiter of the Phandroid blog buddy? Mind your own biz as I do, when I come across posts that aren’t relevant to me.
l8a
@destardi
Can you be more specific about what the Verizon tech did for you? Please be less “technical”. What is the PRL and HYBRID? Maybe others can go ask for it also. Thanks!
I was at a party when i noticed a strange icon in the upper left of my Incredible. Wasn’t sure how big the update would be so I figured I’d wait until I got home on wifi. Now that i’m home, the icon is gone, the phone says it’s up-to-date but i have the same build info as the “before” picture in this post. Weird.
@destardi It doesn’t take an “arbiter of the phandroid blog,” as you put it, to understand that htc put a battery in the phone that’s of lower capacity than many older htc phones. But I suppose if you want to spend your time fooling yourself with some notion that they are going to release a bug fix that will magically increase the capacity of your battery, be my guess.. As far as the rest of that garbage you said…. hurray for you, do you want a cookie?!?
Well no update as of yet, but if i dont get it soon i will be getting what i should have in the first place, the Moto Droid! I knew I shouldn’t trust anything from HTC, Moto is the only company that know’s what they are doing when it comes to phone’s!
Everyone listen up! Call 1-800-866-2453
They have a fix for this issue.
Engadget is reporting that Incredible owners in North Carolina and other places are having a major problem with their phones constantly rebooting. some have replaced their phones 2-3 times and are still experiencing the same problems. Verizon is working on it… and that it may have to do with switching towers in low signal areas, but at this time its anyones guess as to what the real problem is…. so this may be a emergency patch to try and fix the problem.
As for the battery issues… Facebook has a Incredible page. Lots of people around the world are complaining about the battery life. Many say that if you let the battery discharge to say 20% when you use it and go through approx. 5 charge cycles, the run time increases considerably as the battery is exercised.
Some tech sites are telling Incredible owners that they are gonna have to carry around a car charger and USB charging cable for use with their office computer– that many are only getting approx. 8-10 hours use a day on a single charge.
either way, Verizon r fail! =] :P
No sign of an update here. Maybe it’s hitting the left coast first? Or maybe it affects the network in certain regions?
LOL glad I didn’t rush out and get this phone…always best to wait out…any issues. Anyhey I was wondering does this phone go droiddddd! Like the First Droid does?
Hey you can always go back to an old school flip phone and zero other features and be done with it. Obviously battery technology hasn’t quite kept with current growth of cell phone advancements. These new smartphones are mini competers that can make phone calls. That means they’re going to need some power to keep going. I’ve had my Incredible for a couple of days and haven’t completed 2 cycles of battery life so hard to say how my battery will ultimately perform. I’ve been able to get a full days use (15+ hours) of heavy use, and I mean this phone hasn’t left my hands for more than a short time since I bought it. To me that ‘s not so bad. In any case a spare battery is relatively cheap and you will always have power available. This whole battery thing is kind of getting old already. The phone just came out on the 29th of April so give it chance. Batteries usually get a bit better life once they’re conditioned. I give this phone a big thumbs up and I will enjoy this one until the next “HOT” device gets me…
Why do I not have this? Why didn’t you snag it w/ ADB? You should know how. You should be fired!
Where is the facebook page couldn;t find it?
Got my phone Thursday afternoon. First time I used it I got 10 hours. Next charge I got 14 hours. Last charge made it 13 hours.
I have the first software… with no update. I just rebooted my phone to see if that was going to update my software. No change. but my live wall paper changed itself.
People who post requests for others to stop complaining are just ignorant.
Complaining is the way the market works!
Deal with it… embrace it… you’ll be alright…
I hate this phone, poor battery life, dropped call, random reboots etc…. please Verizon, fix it. I don’t wanna go back to my stupid LG Dare.
I was really excited about this phone, but will likely return it tomorrow, as the reception is _terrible_! Forget about the bars for a moment, I get worse reception than my old BB with Tmobile everywhere I go, with zero service in my home. Great toy, but lousy phone.
I love General Tso’s Chicken! I’m thinking the signal strength issue varies from phone to phone because I live out in rural nowhere and I get two bars, when I come into contact with civilization (a larger city,) I always get bumped up to three or four bars. That said, I’m happy with my Inc.
10:25 AM – May 2 – Boston suburbs: No update yet and phone says “Your system is curently up to date”. Are they rolling this out slowly?
@mensah – no it doesn’t have the Droid sound. It looks as tho the Droid name came well after the fact. All packaging is for ‘htc Incredible’ and the bootup screen says ‘htc Incredible’… I think Verizon tagged it Droid afterwards… Devour sales probably sucked, prompting it.
In terms of the battery- my incredible has pretty solid battery life. I have been very careful not to charge it overnight or let it be plugged in when it is fully charged.
The first 10 charge cycles are really important in any lithium ion battery. Make sure you are fully discharging, then fully charging, and not overcharging for those first 10 cycles and you will be good to go.
I have been messing around with my wife’s Droid, and my Incredible for a couple of days. Here’s my completely unbiased observation.
BATTERY LIFE of Incredible is slightly less than that of the Droid – maybe 7-10%. I tried to make a good judgment on this without doing a truly scientific run-down test of some sort. My test might be slightly detrimental to the Incredible, because no matter how hard I tried, I could not stop messing around with it. I suspect many feelings of poor battery life are a result of over-use of the new phone. This is a common circumstance with a new phone in the hands of an enthusiastic new owner.
SIGNAL BAR BEHAVIOR AND RECEPTION are essentially identical on both phones. I determined this by sitting in my own kitchen – a known fringe area. First, I had to turn off my Verizon Range Extender, which solves all of the problems I am about to describe. Next, I turned the WIFI off on both phones. Immediately both phones struggle to decide whether to lock to a weak 3G signal, or an equally weak 1X signal. The signal bars on both phones jump all over the place – between none and three, and they jump between 3G and 1X. I began continually calling a local time-service number that gives about 1 minute of information before disconnecting. In the course of an hour, both phones delivered reception that was either flawless, or slightly broken up. The Incredible dropped one call, the Droid did not drop a call, but one of its calls was way more broken up than anything I heard on the Incredible. Both phones suffered horrible battery depletion, which is a known result with any phone that is fighting to hold a signal. In this mildly scientific experiment, THE PHONES PERFORMED EQUALLY.
My advice to all new Incredible owners, is to stop watching the signal bars, and battery indicators. And one more thing, there is a Seidio 1750mah battery available for the Incredible, which is 34.6% more capacity than the 1300mah battery that came with your phone. It fits without needing a different back cover, and is in stock at Amazon. It is the same extended life battery that they sell for the Eris, and reading what reviewers say about its effect on the Eris, it should be a very nice thing to have. I ordered one.
Cell standy is at the top of my battery usage report at 35%. When I click on it, it says ‘ Time without signal 45%’
Is this causing the poor battery life?
The Judge wrote on May 1, 2010
————————————-
Judge, I guess the point is that between a conversation of 4 Verizon employees (one via the telephone with customer service claiming to be a tech person, and then a second one with a real tech person, and then 2 people at the Verizon store) the customer rep thought she knew what she was talking about, but did not. The guy second level support on the phone confirmed that what the Verizon store rep did could fix my issue.
He took my phone, and updated the “PRL” (preferred roaming list) on it, which took about 5-10 minutes.
It allows roaming on both verizon and alltel towers which is how my Droid was set up. With my Incredible, it allowed roaming on only Verizon networks, so the updated PRL allowed for a greater range of network accessibility.
***TYLAR***, you are providing no value to this post in any way; read the other posters comments, and take a hint. Majority rules.
And FYI, “garbage”? Dude, you stop eating the cheetos in your mamaw’s basement and sign up for an account with Match.com. You need to get laid.
My phone says 2.1update1 but the baseband is not changed. Am I missing something?
Flawless Victory for the smart ones in here, fatality for all morons.
Ryno wrote on May 1, 2010
My home screen changes by itself. It goes from the main screen and switched over to the favorites page by itself many times. Anyone else? Anybody else having glitchy problems?
My screen is switching from the home screen to other screens and when I try to text it locks for a sec, then it high lites the send button…. it’s like a ghost in the machine or something. I to am having worse reception & call quality than I did with my LG Dare. I really like this phone, it’s pretty “F’n” awesome…BUT I will take it back if there isn’t a fix. Too much of a hassle for such quality phone ya know?
First I would like to say that this phone is awesome. I got it on Friday afternoon and find myself constantly using it to play games, read emails and manage contacts. What I don’t like about it is the poor battery which can be resolved with a different battery, so no big deal. The other issue is voice quality- it is down right sad. I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for the last 5 years and always had the best call quality. Sadly if this update or an update soon does not fix this issue, then I will return my new phone and select another phone that works. This is unacceptable for Verizon and they need to fix this soon or they will receive a lot of barley use HTC phones due to the poor cell quality. Your choice Verizon, what’s it going to be?
You have to be a knucklebrain to go and buy a brand new Hi Tech version piece of electronic equipment and not expect a small glitch in hardware or software, So those of you getting all upset and using profanity, stomping and kicking about spending $200 dollars on your phone that doesnt work perfectly. Get over it. Obviously you cannot afford $200 for a new phone if you are this upset,go get your money back and buy an I phone or BB and be done with it, and when the HTC is $49.99 go buy one then. All the issues will be resolved by then.
I’m with BW. Well not as discouraged. My reception definitely isn’t as good as my previous phones, regardless of what the signal bars say. Still an incredible device, just not an incredible phone ironically. I’ll hang onto it hoping future updates will help.
No update yet over here.
I was told by a Verizion employee that it has Flash 10.1 on it. Someone try it out and let us know. I have not got the update yet.
@lah1120, I am having the EXACT same issues. People glitch out on every phone call. I’m constantly having to ask people to repeat themselves. I switched from AT&T to Verizon to get BETTER service. So far, it has been worse in every aspect; speed, coverage and reliability. :(
I want Verizon to fail by getting swamped with returns. They botched this one.
…due to their arrogance!
RickthePrick, what is a Verizon Range Extender?
seems like everyone should try and get their PRL thing fixed. maybe thats the problem since its only looking for verizon towers right now. im guessing its with all incredibles, you just got a bad one destardi
Sorry but you people are nuts. Incredible is great- call quality and signal strength excellent here in nyc.
*unless you
My Phone would not charge at all after two days and my indicator was not consistent. Verizon said my battery was the problem but they gave me a new phone. The new phone showed 50% charge and when Pulled the battery and reset it, it instantly showed 80% charge? I still don’t have an update hope it helps the charge indicator or battery management.
Do yourself a favor, do not order the HTC Incredible online, go to a local Verizon store, better yet go to two different Verizon stores as I did this weekend with both my new Incredible and my wifes new incredible.
You will see, as with all the incredibles on display, the phone has a reception problem and it is not the visual display of of the bars, theres a real reception problem, choppy calls and always 1 to 0 bars (this also kills the battery half way through the day).
I received my two Incredibles last Thursday. My wife called me from home when she received them an right away I got worried, she calling from her incredible, me on my office phone and the call was choppy, something you would remember from cell phones years ago.
My 3 days of testing were as follows. On Thursday, first call made from my home in NYC suburbs was choppy. That evening I tested again and again after trying to update towers on my phone with verizon tech support and never did I receive more than 1 bar in my home. Mind you Tmobile, ATT Full signal and my sister a Verizon customer with an old flip phone receives 3 to 4 bars at all times.
Friday, all day at work in downtown Manhattan, my Incredible received 0 to 2 bars reception, most of the time when I picked up the phone it had no bars, it would then start to bounce 1 to 2 bars as I moved around like a fool with his cell phone 15 years ago. This made me even more worried now (having given up my iphone and increasing my monthly charges). Towards the end of my work day I started receiving battery warnings then by 6 pm my phone had shut itself off do to drained battery. Got home an my wife told me she had already recharged her phone at about the same time mine started warning.
Saturday, I went to a Verizon store after a Verizon tech told me I could return them within 3 days without the restocking fee ready to return the phones. At the store they argued with me that even though it was under 3 days I had used more than 10 minutes talk time and I would have to pay $35 restocking fee for each phone. I showed them the problem even with the phones they had on display and they agreed it as an obvious problem and they said they would file a trouble ticket with verizon.
I then went to another verizon store to see if they know anything about a problem and again I found 2 Incredibles there with 1 bar while Palm and other phones next to it had full reception. I called home with an Incredible at the store and again choppy phone call, called with the adjacent palm and had an excellent call.
Final conclusion: HTC – Verizon – Google or whomever was to lazy to send someone out to the real world with their new “incredible” before releasing it all have about 22 days to resolve the issue completely, if not I will be returning my phones and gladly paying the $70 restocking fee and avoiding the $700 in termination fees later when I finally get sick of it. I say 22 days because I would be returning the phone a couple days before my grace period because I’m expecting a crowd at your return counters. Get cracking fellas!
Thanks,
Russ
I haven’t had much for issues with my Incredible. There was a little issue with call clarity, but it certainly seems to have gotten better with time. I to was a little disappointed with the battery life, but how can anyone really judge it when we all know we play with the thing ALL day long since it is a new “toy”. Until Ibecome familiar with it I find it hard to actually compare the battery life to my Droid.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the phone thats why I hope they fix my problem. I believe my battery issue would be resolved if the reception stayed at a decent level since the less reception the more searching and battery that is wasted.
It is the fastest interface of any smart phone I’ve used and it really is going to give apple a challenge but at verizons prices I want full reception in the NYC metro area or I’ll go back to a cheap tmobile plan on my unlocked iphone, no reason to donate my money for worse reception.
Well that sucks TF. No droidddd….then it should not have thai name Droid in it. I love that sounds….sheesh..oh sheesh….guess ill wait awhile and hope for motos Droid 2 soon.
Only other big complaint I have with android is how u have to watch your typing so close do to the spell corrector…sheesh
They should have forgotten this phone and brought the Nexus One to Verizon instead of this garbage ! The N1 is a far better phone , I returned the incredible on day 2 , way to many problems , The only incredible thing about this phone is how many people wasted there money on one !!!
You people got shafted. Or you’re just extremely nit-picky. Or neither and you’re simply disappointed in an overly hyped piece of technology. Either way it’s unfortunate, because in all of honesty my Inc. is more than I had expected. The signal strength is actually great, my calls are clear, and I somehow even managed to get a battery that I can’t bash on for the amount of usage I put on the device. I even live on a farm in rural nowhere, so I don’t know what else to say.. I guess I got lucky. :]
Has anyone else actually received this update yet?
I have no complaints with the phone, but I was hoping to get a full day out of the battery. I just ordered the Droid Eris extended battery (1750 mAh), which others on other forums are saying is interchangeable with the Incredible’s battery.
All they had to say was ‘update’ and everyone jumped all over it like some sick animal. And the ones who havent gotten this update are already freaking out. Is that some kind of record? The phone was released a few days ago and now those of you who have it still arent satisfied? Disgusting.
I think its just to redo the start up screen:) Make it go from HTC and Verizon screens to a “DROOOIID” screen:) and maybe some other fixes to make it more Verizon ready.
@ Pat– there is a 2150mAh battery coming for the Incredible. I have all the pre-launch accessories and its listed as VZW6300BATX1
The extended battery is available from verizon over the phone!!!! Comes with battery door so im assuming that ur stock case wont fit it.
Also I have confirmation from HTC (if you call verizon and ask for tech, the tech is a HTC guy) they said update is for exchange only. Not for the signal problem.
Also i have a new bug…everytime i receive a mms photo the com.android.mms force closes / crashes. Anyone else?
@ Magicmixr – the 1750 still is the same size as the original battery. If it’s able to get me through a full day of normal use that would be fine. If not, I’ll sell it. The original battery isn’t even a week old, and it seems to be improving as it goes through power cycles / I stop playing with the phone 24/7.
Are the signal and call quality issues fixable via update or is this a hardware problem some of us have to deal with fr all eternity?
My DI is working very nicely. I added an app which intelligently manages WiFi power (Y5 – Battery Save). Here’s a link to understand your Li ion battery better http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-12.htm
Webby,
It’s really called “Verizon Wireless Network Extender”. It is a $99 box that can be had at the Verizon store. It hooks to your home network via Ethernet cable, connects to Verizon’s network via that internet connection, and then acts as a mini cell tower for your home. It solves all of your problems if you are on a Verizon fringe. There is no monthly fee. It is transparent to the cell phone user, except that a double beep is heard when you place a call.
About all of these reception problems that people are bitching about. I’ve been all over my area (northern Indiana) and visited some known crappy reception areas. My Incredible works EXACTLY THE SAME as my wife’s Droid in these areas. I always thought the Droid was exceptionally good at reception, and I must say that my Incredible is its equal. There must be isolated regional network problems peculiar to the Incredible, or there must be some sour Incredible units out there. Logically, there’s no other explanation, if many are working fine, and a few are not.
I love this phone too… despite what the people (without the the REAL INC phone) are saying about battery life, dropped calls, and random rebooting… sounds like an iphone on AT&T! actually….
my INC has great reception, has NEVER rebooted, or dropped calls. My only complaint is the speakerphone could be louder…. otherwise this is the best phone out….on the best network… VZ SUX, but this time they might have got it right…. I just need a bigger memory card now…
I was ecstatic to get my VZW Droid Incredible last Thursday after pre-ordering it online. I was quickly disappointed when I turned it on and had only 1 bar on my signal, and the -db hovered around -96, while my wife’s World BB issued by her employer maintained a full signal.
Some background: I live next to RDU, home of the research triangle, UNC, Duke, NC State. This was rated by some organization, and I cannot remember which, as having top 3 wireless coverage and broadband in the US. Other posts have mentioned that the Triad region in NC had issues with towers and rebooting. Luckily, that has not happened in the Triangle. I have only the signal issues, like many are having.
Steps I took: First I needed to know if my phone was actually defective. So on Friday, I went to Best Buy first, and my phone signal was -80ish, while Verizon Incredible store models were -60ish. So I went to a Verizon store, where I was made to feel like a completely irrational person for wanting a phone that kept a usable signal for the money I was paying.
The models of Incredibles in the store had 20 point differences in signal strength. This is where I met Shawn, who is a complete moron with no social skills of which to speak. Shawn is a smug, unhappy, little man who works at the Verizon store in Durham, NC. He told me that the -db number is irrelevant and the bars are the actual indicator of signal (lie). He told me he would not exchange my phone, and I would have to wait for 24-48 hours for a hybrid PRL to get pushed to my phone. I told him that no PRL is going to fix the issue of having a bad antenna in the phone. He absolutely shut me out and did not listen to a word I said. I told the customer in line next to me that they should reconsider their purchase until VZW resolves the antenna issue, because if they got a defective phone like I did, VZW would certainly not do the right thing. This made Shawn angry. Shawn gave me my phone after doing something to it, and I left with a non-working phone to the parking lot, where I called customer uncare at *611.
The rep on the phone empathized and explained the hybrid PRL solution, to which I told him it still does not fix a defective device. I explained to him the variation in signal strength, and he said it was not a good comparison to use VZW store phones, as they are calibrated to use only the tower closest to the store. (fishy?) So I asked if the tower closest to the store would have picked up my phone if that was also the tower I was closest to? He said maybe. And I don’t doubt that VZW might do this to make the store phones appear to have the strongest signal available, but I bet mine had picked up the same tower.
VZW shipped thousands of these phones, right? A couple have to be defective? I would think so. Unfortunately, I got a bad one.
So, I left with my one bar signal/ -99db Incredible in an area that is blanketed with towers. And guess who is following me out of the parking lot. Apparently Shawn or one of his lackeys called the Durham PD, in case I decided to have a meltdown. The cop turned off after I got on I85. I never cursed or threatened anyone in the store, I would not jeopardize my livelihood and ability to support my family over any cell phone. So Shawn’s calling of the PD was completely unwarranted. If you cannot tell already, I really did not like the way I was treated by Shawn, the strongest word I used was “unacceptable” or maybe “reprehensible”.
So it gets worse from here: On Saturday, I spent my hour long work commute on the phone (different line) with VZW who told me that I would not be able to return the phone until I followed Verizon’s remedies. First the hybrid PRL had to be pushed, and I had already gotten it by Saturday and no big surprise here, it didn’t fix the issue.
So the rep connected me to tech support (a term I use loosely). That rep seemed to believe that I needed a Master Reset to fix the issue. She would call me back at 5pm on my lunch break and I would give her my work number and we would do it together. So 5pm came, she never called. I called Customer uncare, and a customer service guy and I reset the phone. I told him I would try it for 24 hours, even though I knew it wouldn’t work.
So later that night, I was sitting next to a nurse with a Moto Droid and she was using her phone. My hospital has Verizon signal repeaters installed in the hospital, one of my reasons for switching to VZW after my iPhone phase. She had full signal, and I had none…completely no signal whatsoever! She laughed and said my husband was wanting that phone so bad, but this is changing my mind.
So, Sunday on my way to work, I spent my hour commute with VZW again. This time, I was fed up. I was not called to troubleshoot; I was mad after having zero signal last night in the hospital while someone else had a full signal. I was calling to cancel.
I told the rep right away that one of two things were going to happen, either she replaced the phone, or she could connect me to the cancellation department.
This is where I learned something about VZW. They don’t care if you are happy, they care if you are a paying customer. All the time I was troubleshooting, I was using my 30 days of money back guarantee. I was being put off with a non working device. They were not out any money for additional equipment and in order to do this, they blame the customer. “I” needed a hybrid PRL or “I” needed a master reset.
She told me she would look at my account, then came the rebuttal and lie. “Sir, I see you are not running the latest version of the software” (the only update addressed exchange servers and not antenna) “This new software will probably fix your reception problem” I was not happy that once again I was not being listened to.
I said, “No, I am not going to troubleshoot anymore, I am done and I am canceling service”
Then and only then, did she finally utter the magic words: I will list your phone as “DOA” (Dead on arrival). They will fedex you a new phone, but you will need to let them bill you for the replacement, then it will be credited back in 15-30 days to your credit card when we receive the defective phone.
So this is what I did. I am not crazy about VZW holding even more of my money hostage. But if you are having trouble with your antenna, my advice to you is pop out the battery and call them and tell VZW it wont work at all, wont even turn on. You will solve a weeks worth of frustration, troubleshooting, being blamed for the defective device.
This horrible experience is hopefully ending, as I got my replacement via Fedex this morning, and have -10db to -20db signal strength out of the box. Now to wait and see if they botch the return of the old Incredible.
I got my update @4:30AM today
I received the mysterious update today @ 4:53 a.m.(EST). It updated the firmware – 2.1-update 1, Build- 1.22.605.2 CL161494, Software – 1.22.65.2. I am not sure what it updated but I will be checking through out the day to determine if I find signal improvement and/or battery improvement. I have never experienced the automatic recycling of the phone, so I don’t expect any improvements there…
No matter what, this is by far the BEST phone ever released on a Verizon Network, in fact any Network. The INCREDIBLE rocks!!!
So, I received my update this morning. I also went and found a copy of the .pdf that explains what is included in the update. I am not impressed…
http://support.vzw.com/pdf/system_update/incredible.pdf
It was for, functionality for composing and sending business email. That is all it lists… WOW!! Really?!?!
ditto @ #113
I got my update sometime around 5:00 am this morning. Not only did it change my screensaver, but it also erased some of my txt messages, AND disabled my alarm clock!!! I was an hour and a half late to work!!!
After speaking to a reliable rep at Verizon (technical), there are 2 things here that have to happen for a fix, gathering of information to determine a real signal strength vs signal bar problems or if it is a HTC hardware issue. From my observations it could definitely be both. I have a Network Extender in my house and my signal strength is -55 dBms when in the room with the Network Extender, which is excellent, however on the phone it shows 1 bar. But, when I walk out the room where the Network Extender is, my signal strengths drops again to between -85 to -99 dBMS, which is a poor signal. I further tested by going to a known excellent reception area here in Charlotte that usually reads between -65 to -55 dBMS, however, my Incredible never got a signal better than -88dBms, which is certainly a signal issue. Then it jumps to -65dBms then back to -88dBms.
I am a bit perplexed on if I am going to keep the phone or return it. Not that it isn’t one of the best smart phones made to date (I still do need to make calls) but I don’t want to run into the issue in 60 to 90 days, where it may be a bigger issue than software, they fix the problem and all new phones have the fix, however, us early adopters are stuck with these broke ones and our only option is a refurbished phone. As we all know, refurbished phones are garbage, they never work!
I will make my decision within the next 2o days to determine if I return and wait 90 days to pick it up again, hoping that HTC/Verizon have fixed the signal issue. What do you all plan to do?
Ok, I have received the OTA software update and it did not help the problem. Once again I even used the cell phone in the same room as the Network Extender from Verizon and it showed ZERO bars. So are they going to address this issue? Anyway if anyone from HTC or Verizon is reading this please have FIX for this problem, as I love the phone except for this crazy problem. I posted a video clip so that you can see what kind of issue is occuring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpEQH9_A5jw
Thanks
..I notice when making a Cell to Cell call it’s like using a voip call from a pc and the call quality is just horible..we have 2 of these DINC phones and my kid in college is getting the same issue..when we call a land line phone no grips what so ever!! All my cell to cell calls are mud and voice kept cutting in and out such that I could not even carry on a normal conversation ..it does not matter wheather we are using Bluetooth or not..I have a T-Mobile Pay as u go phone and it works fine…when we call the T-mobile phone we hear the bad audio
I have the phone I got the update I love the phone it is the best Android phone out there I got good single all the time I got the MOTO Droid to and the speed is so much faster and it flash work great if you hold the screen on the flash video it goes to full screen it better then the nexus HTC built both of them to stop crying and enjoy the phone all phones have glitches
For the most part I really like my HTC incredible there is just one thing that is really bothering me. I have had my phone for almost a week now and my cell service has not once gone above 2 bars. How can I have gone from having great service with my last phone to poor service? Is there anything that can be done about hopefully soon?
For all of you htc incredible, droid x and motto droid users the htc and motorola froyo updates are being released at the same time. The updates will start pushing out around 8/06/2010 which is next friday and we should all have it by 08/15/2010 this was confirmed to me today so get ready for some FROYO LOVE !!!!!!! P.S. This is not a rumor it has been confirmed !!!!!
So, where is the promised froyo??? Is big V too much of a nazi to allow tethering & hotspotting & browned all over the update? Can’t find any info on htc.com or verizonwireless.com & every other mention is some totally obsolete prediction by a click-monger.
Every incredible I have got has had hardware issues. I have gone through six phones and they will not let me switch to a different phone. They say there is nothing wrong and that they will send one that works. Its taken 2 months of my time. 100 missed calls. And now since they procrastinated they will not let me trade the phone for a different one. So the first one had a bad antenna, the second was the same, the third had a touch screen that did not respond, the next had a broken camera, and now I guess I was lucky enough to receive another one with a broken antenna.. Are they just sending me back the first one or what?