HTC Incredible vs N900
 

Unfortunately, I had to discontinue my T-Mobile plan. My work decided to stop paying for T-Mobile and wanted me to switch to Verizon. Roughly a week after that happened (while I was still shopping for a new device) I LOST (might have been stolen, don't know for sure) my N900... *cry*.

The N900 was the best device I've ever owned.

I received the HTC Incredible in the mail yesterday. It has some nice features, and overall is a pretty good device, but after 1 day, I am already pining for my N900 again.

Below is a quick rundown of what I like and don't like about the Incredible and how it compares to the N900 in various categories. Please keep in my mind that this is my first Android device so I'm still a bit of a novice with that OS.

For those who don't know, the HTC Incredible is a new snapdragon device on Verizon in the USA. It is very similar to the Nexus One, except for the fact that it has a better camera.

Look and feel - HTC Incredible
The HTC Incredible is definitely a slicker looking device than the N900. It is nice and thin and has a solid feel to it. Of course, I wouldn't mind if it were thicker and had a physical keayboard!

The OLED screen is pretty good. The colors are bright and "pop" pretty well. However, even though it is the same resolution as the N900, it doesn't look quite as sharp when reading text on web pages. It seems like there is a very slight blur when you look at it closely.

Touch screen - Tie.
The capacitive touch screen is the best I've tried, including the iphone. Overall it is very sensitive. The virtual keyboard works well for a virtual keyboard (I prefer a physical keyboard). In comparison to the N900, there are some things I like the capacitive screen for and some things that the resistive screen is good for. I think the resistive screen is still a bit more precise, but for things like panning, etc where you have to move long distances across the screen, the capacitive touch seems to work better.


OS - Maemo is best.

1. OS speed - I'm going to call this a tie with Maemo. Android with the snapdragon processor seems a bit faster, but then again, we are talking about more powerful hardware.

2. Usability - This is a hard one, but I like Maemo a bit better. I'm still getting used to Android, but everything seems pretty mazelike. In Maemo, everything is easy to get to, and keyboard shortcuts make certain tasks more efficient. I do like the home screen that HTC sense provides (a ui layer that sits on top of Android). It gives thumbnail of each of your 7 screens all on one page, so it is easy to get to the one you want.

3. Task Manager - I like Maemo's way here too. There is no task manager in Android... you have to install a 3rd party task killer. I know Android is supposed to handle this for me, but it just bugs me that I can't kill apps without launching a 3rd party program. I found myself wishing for fn+backspace on several occasions, not just for killing apps, but to switch apps as well. As far as I can tell, you have to go back to the program icon to restart whatever application you were running. I know Steve Jobs says no task manager is better, but sorry, I just don't buy it.

4. Application installation - On the other hand, installing apps is cake. The Incredible/Android is easily better here. I never run into dependency errors, like I did occasionally on the N900, and I never have to type aptget -install or dpkg or anything like that. I also found that the repositories were frequently having issues on the N900. Most times they would work ok, but occasionally they'd be down or fairly slow (maybe this was just the "in development" repos, but still...

Web browsing - N900 wins easily.
Don't get me wrong, the browsing on HTC Incredible is pretty good. I'd say that it falls somewhere in between the Iphone and the Mozilla based browser on the N900. It has pinch to zoom, but the problem is that it reformats the text every time you zoom, and sometimes this causes your zoom to miss, so you have to pan over after you zoom. I like how the in the N900 it maintains the exact ratios and formatting when you zoom in. I find that pinch to zoom is a little faster than swirly zoom, but not as precise. Flash works in this browser, but not real well. I'd say flash on the N900 is a little more mature. Also, I often get mobile site versions, even though I have the load mobile site when available option unchecked. Finally, like I mentioned earlier, text seems slightly fuzzier on the incredible. I don't know a better way to describe it.

Battery life - Incredible wins, but not by a lot.
Battery life is bad in both devices, but my experience so far is that I get slightly better battery life with the Incredible. As far I'm concerned, poor battery life is to be expected with small, powerful hardware. You can't have everything.

The phone part - N900 wins.
Ok personally, I think one thing actually makes the HTC Incredible a little better, the fact that the Incredible works really well with Ford's SYNC. Since most people don't have that system though, I'm going to give this one to the N900. Call quality is high on both devices, but the N900 has Skype integration, which I love.


Navigation - HTC wins this one.
There is free voice-guided navigation out of the box.


Applications - HTC Incredible/Android wins easily.
There is an app store with 25k apps and lots of choices. I can easily get paid content as well as free content. I liked all the free goodies on the N900, but choices are so abundant on the Android that I have to give this to the other team.


There are lot of other things I could judge, but frankly, I'm not experienced enough with the Incredible to judge them fairly. I don't use exchange, for example, so I can't review that. I am not yet familiar enough with the contact manager to judge that fairly either.

Overall though, the HTC Incredible is probably the best device I've used other than the N900. As far as the N900 goes, I hope Nokia keeps working hard on that OS and allows other manufacturers to use it too. I'd like to see it grow. From what I've seen of Meego, it looks like things are going in the right direction. Someday I'll probably get myself a Meego phone, maybe after this Incredible is retired...

Disclaimer: I know nothing. Expect me to be wrong about every point. Thanks.

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

I checked it out today, as a supplemental option for my 900, as it has CNBC mobile app support, and soon to have Slingmobile support, but the signal levels were worse than with the Droid I had. In "both" Verizon stores down the road from my house, both Incredibles could manage only 1-2 bars and -88dBm. Droids in the same stores had 3-4 bars and -74dBm. Same experience as with the HTC TP2 I had on AT&T. I'm thinking its an HTC "weakness".

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

It's because Incredible, Nexus and Desire "cheat" a bit on the resolution. While they all have 800x480 in pixel count - not every pixel has R, G and B component. In fact, each pixel has either the red and green or the blue and green. So, when you count the actual numbers of RGB pixels, its resolution is more like 653 x 392 resolution, while N900 has a true 800x480 display and looks sharper.

More info on:
http://www.slashgear.com/fuzzy-nexus...2x653-2579127/

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

Ah, well that would explain it then! Thanks for the info.

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

I'm not really surprised, as HTC does the same with CPU and RAM stats.

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

I'm quite surprised the Incredible is outlasting the N900. I came from a Nexus One to the N900 and I'm getting nearly twice the duration from the N900 off a charge. I haven't changed my usage habit and have both phone's screens on maximum brightness, but I could not get the Nexus to last more than twelve hours from the plug.

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

I should qualify that a little bit. I'm not one of those who sits around and tweaks battery settings. I like my devices pumping everything they can. I like full bright screen, all my wireless connections, etc, so my experience is under those type of conditions. I didn't get battery life that lasted as long as some others on this forum (with my n900).

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

I've just had a detailed look on youtube of the HTC incredible vs Nexus One...

Both phones look really impressive, however i can see how making a jump from the N900 to android can be a big mistake.
It seems to me that both android devices are running close to their full potential, and whilst this looks good you kind of wonder what else is their to offer? Sure the apps look great, live wallpaper looks impressive and everything looks clean however i can't see any new innovation coming out that camp until they release a newer version of the Droid OS.

The N900, is an extremely frustrating experience, if you follow football/soccer it's like supporting Real Madrid. There is so much potential to be fullfilled you kinda of hang around waiting for it blossom:D

However, no-one can deny that if Nokia fixed some minor issues (which we know they can) and ovistore was packed with goodies such as new apps, games widgets etc then nobody would be complaining about their N900, in fact they would be showing it off constantly!

I was thinking about purchasing a Nexus One just out of share frustration with my N900 (i.e the slow development from Nokia), however now i think i'll bide my time, play a bit of pro evo on PS3 and wait for PR 1.2 to be released :)

Hopefully we will see better days before the end Q3.

Nath

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

Problem is APP development seems to have ground to a standstill. It was barely "OK" in the beginning. Now seems to be nothing.

Re: HTC Incredible vs N900
 

I agree. I keep getting tempted to just jump on one of my parent's plans, just to get a decent Android hardware platform, but then I keep thinking of the poor reception, no Skype via 3G, and SIP solutions that require a bit of work.

But then again, Android is getting Sling mobile support this summer. :mad: