I was lucky enough to get my hands on an HTC Incredible S this morning, obviously I haven’t spent enough time using it to produce a comprehensive review but here are my first impressions.
Well it’s a big phone, not massive but sizeable. Fortunately the viewable area of the screen is large enough that the phone doesn’t look too big, the rounded shape and slightly rubberised texture make it fit snugly in the hand.
The buttons are completely flat with the screen so the front of the phone is flat aside from the speaker grill.
On the back is the 8Mp camera and dual LED flash, the back is quite heavily contoured around the battery to make it more ergonomic.
Once it’s switched on the HTC Sense UI is pretty familiar, and the underlying Android 2.2 OS is also largely the same as most other Android phones.
The first thing that stood out from similar android phones was the Incredible S’ screen, it’s bright, responsive and the viewing angle is large.
I tried watching some high quality movie trailers on youtube and the playback was flawless, as was video from the SD card. The included live wallpapers all looked fantastic and the weather effects in the Sense UI also looked great. Another nice feature of the screen is that the buttons at the bottom, although they aren’t actually part of the screen, still rotate when you turn the phone to landscape mode.
Truthfully the stills camera pictures weren’t great, 8Mp they may be but the colour looked washed out and the depth of field was poor. The 720p video recording was better, although I haven’t yet had chance to view it back on a large HD screen to properly judge the quality.
The Incredible S is very fast, it zipped through everything I did with it without so much as breaking a sweat, it compares very well to every other android phone I’ve seen and is probably the best of the current Android crop along side the Nexus S.
If you were hoping for a quantum leap forward in mobile phone design then this isn’t it, but I get to see a lot of phones, and this is the most exciting one I’ve seen this year.
Would I rush out and spend alot of money on this phone? No.
Would I choose it over the competition as an upgrade? Definitely.
Hi! Question. I currently have the original HTC Incredible and was thinking about switching to the Incredible S. Do you happen to know if the camera is similar on these phones, and whether or not the S has addition features or modes for the camera?
I also hear it has a front-camera. If so, is it something worth getting the phone over? 🙂
Hi Erica,
Yes, the Incredible S does have a front facing camera for video calls and such. The main camera is 8Mp, as far as I know it’s the same as the camera on the original HTC Incredible. The software that powers the camera is stock Android software, if you want extra features and modes you’ll need to look at third party apps. Hope this helps.
Hi Ben, I too had the pleasure of trying this phone out and comparing side by side with the Desire HD.
I was impressed with this phone, the speed and especially the screen. I must say it is definitely a model I would consider alongside the Desire HD.
I have recently had hands on with the Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S, Desire HD and my own Nexus 1, and the short time I had with the Incredible impressed me the most followed by the Desire HD.
Great release HTC, now just need too wait for other networks to offer it in the UK