HTC Incredible S Review

Introduction:

Aiding in bringing Android to the mainstream, Verizon’s HTC Droid Incredible surely did its fair share of work in spreading the good word about the richness of Android – especially when it’s tastefully complemented with its favorable high end specs. And even though it was semi-regarded as being a variant of the also impressive Google Nexus One, it was able to build its own legacy on Big Red’s lineup, which even to this day, proves to be a contender in a crowded space. Now roughly a year later, HTC unveiled a supped up Android smartphone that retains the Incredible branding, while finding some moderate upgraded hardware. This time HTC is taking the Incredible line to Europe as well, since what we have here is the European edition of the new model, dubbed Incredible S, while Verizon's version is yet to be officially introduced, supposedly under the name of Droid Incredible 2. Still, both devices seem to be identical from what we've seen thus far, so we presume what we're looking at here is an accurate prelude to the Droid Incredible 2. The HTC Incredible S is looking to be yet another respectable high-end device from HTC’s camp, but will it shine radiantly amongst the new breed of next-generation Android devices out there?

The package contains:

Design:

Fully embodying the same identical minimalistic industrial design that’s found with the HTC Droid Incredible, the Incredible S is distinctive due to its contoured and unmistakable rear patterned design. Since its capacitive touch buttons aren’t printed on, we’re presented with a completely clean looking surface. Constructed out of black plastic, its soft touch feel all around enables it to better repel nasty baddies such as dirt and debris – while providing that adequate firm grip as we hold it. And obviously, it’s longer and wider since it utilizes a larger sized touchscreen, but its 0.46” thickness still enables it to tuck away in our pockets easily. Manageable in size, its overall design footprint is all too typical of what we see out of HTC’s camp, but it’s still nonetheless pleasant looking.



You can compare the HTC Incredible S with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Moving up the ladders with a 4” Super LCD capacitive display, its WVGA (480 x 800) resolution is still satisfactory even though we’re seeing more and more handsets employing higher resolutions. Color production might not be as saturated looking when compared to Super AMOLED displays, but thankfully, its Super LCD display produces some rich looking colors that retain their luster since it offers some great viewing angles. Even more, we had zero problems in trying to view it in outdoor conditions with the glaring sun present.

At first, some might be surprised to find a clean looking front surface, but turning on its display, its capacitive touch buttons come to life. Interestingly enough, they don’t appear to be painted on, but rather, they seem to be nothing more than LEDs underneath there. However, they actually rotate when you place the device in landscape – but it only works when you rotate it to the left; not right.


Thanks to the front-facing 1.3-megapixel above its display, we’re given the opportunity of video calling and shooting self-portraits more easily.


The narrow looking volume rocker is positioned on the left edge of the phone, but despite its flushed appearance, it actually exhibits a reasonable tactile response. Also, the microUSB port is located on the same side as well for charging and data connection. Meanwhile, the top edge plays host to both the 3.5mm headset jack and dedicated power button – the latter of which is recessed, but still provides a moderate tactile feel when pressed down.


On the back side, which utilizes the same exact interestingly shaped design of the HTC Droid Incredible, we find the 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash and speaker grill located towards the top edge of the handset.


Placed squarely in the middle of the bottom edge, there is a small notch that allows you to easily yank off the rear cover – thus giving you access to its SIM card slot, 1450 mAh battery, and microSD card slot.

Interface:

Packing on the same processor that’s used in similar devices like the HTC Inspire 4G, the 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor might not have the same allure that accompany some of today’s modern dual-core chipsets, but it works rather perfectly. Specifically, it provides a sensual platform experience that’s exemplified by its responsive tendencies. From executing basic functions like opening up apps to navigating around the platform, the Incredible S zips around at a blazing rate to embody the characteristics of any favorable high-end device. And even when it’s tested, such as activating graphically intensive live wallpapers, it doesn’t stutter that much at all in its response.

Now that Gingerbread is available, it’s somewhat of a drawback to see a contemporary device like this to still flaunt Android 2.2 Froyo – but it’s not that bad at all considering you’ve got the latest version of Sense on board. Even to this day, it’s still by far one of the better customized Android experiences out there since its wealth of HTC widgets add more functionality on top of the traditional ones. Naturally, we’re presented with a total of 7 homescreen that you can personalize with various items, but executing a pinch gesture will transform it to helicopter view. From here, all homescreens are displayed simultaneously, and you can instantly jump to any of them by clicking a specific one.


Although it might not be a drastic departure in presentation from previous versions, there are some exciting new features with this version of Sense that make it an evolutionary step in experience. Actually, you can sign up for an HTCSense.com account which provides some useful functions such as automatic backup, the ability to make your phone ring, or completely wipe the device remotely in the event it’s lost or stolen – all through the comfort of your computer.

HTC Sense takes a smidgen of getting used to if you've never used it before, however is no more challenging than vanilla Android. In fact, it’s easier. For example, you can personalize the homescreen and add icons without a long-press of the homescreen. Instead, just tap the paintbrush and palette symbol on the bottom left of the homescreen - very intuitive. As already mentioned, there are plenty of pre-loaded HTC widgets which are very functional further improving usability. For those of you who want a list of HTC Widgets, in alphabetical order - your wish is our command: Bookmark, Calculator, Clock, FM Radio, Friend Stream, HTC Likes (app suggestions), Locations, Mail, Messages, Music, My Shelf (ebook shelf), Navigate, News, People, Photo Album, Photo Frame, Search Anywhere, Stocks, Sync All, Tips for Home, Twitter, Weather.



Organizer and Messaging:

Tap the "Phone" button, centered in the bottom of any one of the 7 homescreens and the dialer is pulled up. This works wonderfully, enabling you to numerically enter a name (i.e. bob as 262), with the HTC Incredible S displaying it instantly. Behind the dialer are all your contacts, so minimize the dialer, and intuitively, you're left with your contacts - great. The phonebook works well once you learn how to control it. By this, we mean that HTC Sense pulls in ALL your contacts from EVERYWHERE by default. This feels overwhelming at first, however, open "People", press "Menu" and then tap "View" and you can select which contacts to display (Google, Facebook, SIM etc). Once done, your contacts are a pleasure to thumb through. As for voice recognition, it works better than most, but still gets it wrong every so often.


Organizer tools performed very well indeed. Running Android 2.2,1, the HTC Incredible S is perfect if you use Google calendars and contacts for example, it all functions as would be expected from a high-end Android phone (great), with the added sprucing up that comes with bespoke widgets courtesy of HTC, such as calendar and calculator. There is also a swish alarm interface, a flashlight and voice recorder along with all the other organizer tools you would expect.


There are tons of keyboards that can be used with Android, but much like the Sense UI as a whole, the Sense keyboard strategically presents a useful layout that provides quick access to numbers and some punctuations all from the main keyboard. Surprisingly enough, this is still one ideal aspect that’s rarely adopted by other keyboards to this day – and that’s exactly what makes the Sense keyboard so uplifting. Of course, it’s able to keep up with our speed typing with its responsiveness, but the landscape option proves its worth more than the slightly cramped portrait one.


Much like any Android smartphone, the Gmail experience is top notch with its slick set of features that’ll continue to keep you productive on the go. With things like threaded conversations, labeling, and the ability to load more than one account, there’s plenty to like about its wealth of serious features. As far as setup is concerned, its email client will automatically load your emails by simply providing your email address and password. Granted that it will setup most generic accounts, others might require some additional pieces of information – such as server addresses and ports.

Camera:

Photo enthusiast will adore the myriad of specialty modes available with the HTC Incredible S since this adds a dose of fun when shooting photos. Moreover, its camera interface provides enough manual controls, such as the ability to modify exposure, contrast, saturation, to enable the user to perfectly capture specific shots in all of their glory. And finally, its vast mix of effects will entertain just about anyone who wants to add a sprinkling of quirkiness or fun to their shots.


You’d think a handset packing an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera would produce some slick looking shots, but sadly, it goes on to prove once again that bigger isn’t necessarily better. Snapping up some shots outdoors, we’re treated with some muddy looking visuals that cough up cooler looking colors that ultimately make them look over-exposed. Furthermore, low lighting quality isn’t all that great either with its grainy looks – though, there isn’t as much digital noise evident. Luckily though, its dual-LED flash is capable of illuminating dimly lit areas, but it still doesn’t hide the fact that quality is sub-par.

As usual, we can’t expect much out of its front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, but it does come in handy for self-portraits. Precisely, there are a ton of photo effects available that are best applied with its front-facing camera. Additionally, our video chat experience with Fring is tolerable, considering it was done over 3G, but its performance will vary depending on network connection.

More of the same below average quality is seen with its 720p video recording, regretfully, so don’t expect to find much detail with it. Not only does it produce some muddy looking visuals once again, but it captures video at the jerky rate of 21 frames per second. Compounding its almost forgettable performance, its audio recording is dreadfully painful to listen to since there is an abundant amount of distortion heard with its recording – resulting in voices sounding muffled in tone.

HTC Incredible S Sample Video:



Multimedia:

There isn’t much transformation with the Gallery App on the HTC Incredible S as it lays out content in the typical grid-like formation in portrait, while turning it to landscape, switches it to a camera roll like carousel. With photos, there is a finite set of editing tools available, such as cropping or rotating, but there are additional after-effects that you can apply on them as well.

Getting down with its musical abilities, we’re glad to see its music player bucking the trend by presenting us with an updated presentation. In portrait, it looks similar to previous ones on other HTC Android smartphones, but its smooth look when browsing through our albums shows off its processing prowess. Moreover, tilting it to landscape switches to a very Cover Flow-esque look – which seems to work very well with the Incredible S. And with its audio quality, it doesn’t crackle at the loudest setting, but its missing that extra pop to make it commanding. Regardless, you can enable SRS enhancement, but it still lacks that extra kick. Additionally, there are a few different equalizer settings you can use with the headphones connected.



Thanks to the beauty of its colorful looking Super LCD display, watching videos is such a pleasure seeing that its processor steadily plays high definition content. Loading both a video encoded in MPEG-4 1280 x 720 and DivX 1280 x 720 resolution, the HTC Incredible S didn’t stutter or slowdown in playback for one moment.


With an 8GB microSD card preloaded, it supplements the handset’s built-in 1GB of internal storage. So if you’re heavy into multimedia, it should prove to be sufficient, but you can always replace its microSD card with others up to 32GB in size.

Connectivity and Internet:

Geared for the European market, the HTC Incredible S is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM and tri-band (850/1700/2100 MHz) UMTS device. So if you happen to constantly travel around the world, you’ll be able to get some sort of connection with it in most locations. In the event you’re outside the parameters of your network provider, you can always switch on its 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi for a solid fast data connection. In addition, it features aGPS for your location based service needs and Bluetooth 2.1 to have it connect with other close by wireless devices.

As expected, the web browsing performance with the HTC Incredible S is indeed incredible in itself thanks to the aid of its peppy processor. In fact, it once again shows off its potential as it presents us with buttery fluid kinetic scrolling and responsive pinch zooming gestures. Of course, support for Flash 10.1 is on board thanks to Android 2.2 Froyo – which essentially provides that desktop like experience. All in all, we’re supremely satisfied with its solid web browsing capabilities.

Performance:

Emitting some strong tones with its earpiece, which makes conversations audible, it doesn’t hide the fact that calling quality as a whole is average with the Incredible S because voices sound rather hollow through it. Luckily though, our callers fared better since they stated that our voice was natural and distortion-free on their end. However, the speakerphone produces some crackly tones with its output – but at least it still makes conversations comprehensible.

In our time with the handset, it seems to solidly retain a connection in high coverage areas since signal strength stayed put at -81 dBm. Also, we didn’t experience any dropped calls either with it in the greater Philadelphia region.

Even though it manages to put out 8 hours of talk time with a single charge, which is more than plentiful for most people, the Incredible S doesn't quite reach the 9.66 hours of talk stipulated by the manufacturer. In our real world usage, its 1450 mAh battery is able to provide a single day of normal usage – which should suffice for heavy users in getting by an 8 hour work shift without the need to recharge it.

Conclusion: 

For all the high-end hardware accompanying the HTC Incredible S, its arrival is somewhat late to the market and doesn’t quite seem impressive versus other newer Android smartphones. Although it proves to be one well-rounded handset, which is evident by its wonderful platform experience, there are devices out there that simply have stronger presence right now since they’re priced similarly – such as the Motorola ATRIX 4G and LG Optimus 2X. Specifically, it seems to be already behind the new standard set by those two devices since it doesn’t feature things like a dual-core chipset, HDMI out port, or higher resolution display. In the end, the HTC Incredible S would have been a tough handset to beat if it were released a few months ago, but instead, it’s being overlooked by the current crop of competition. Then again, it’s still a decent smartphone in its own regard.

Software version of the reviewed unit: Android 2.2.1, Build 1.36.405.1 CL335771

HTC Incredible S Video Review: