I finally bit the financial bullet and ordered a smart phone. I got the Droid Incredible. When I ordered it I specifically asked if it was really available and was assured it was and that I would have it in 3 to 5 days. A week later I tried to find out where the phone might be and the first 4 Verizon folks I spoke to could not find my order. Finally someone found my order on the fifth call and they told me that the phone wasn’t available and wouldn’t be for another week. He apologized for my trouble. I have noted that the Verizon people have been well trained, they were all polite and pleasant but somewhat clue less as to why I had been told the phone was immediately available.
Finally the phone arrived and I followed the instructions to activate it. Imagine my frustration when I couldn’t get it to activate. The onscreen message told me to call customer support. Apparently 5 is a magic number for Verizon because I had to call five times before I could get through their voice mail system and find a human being. She too was exceedingly polite and very pleasant to a, by this time, rather grumpy customer. She had me pull the battery while the phone was turned on, in spite of the fact that you are cautioned never to do that in the accompanying literature. She got the phone to activate and I thought I was home free.
Wrong, Verizon’s claim to have the best coverage is totally bogus or the other wireless companies are abysmally worse because I can’t get a reliable connection in my own home, nor my front yard, back yard or jumping up and down like a crazed lunatic in the cul-de-sac. Even though Verizon’s coverage map shows my area as “thoroughly” covered, I beg to disagree. If I wasn’t tapping into my own WiFi I wouldn’t have any useable feature whatsoever on the phone.
The battery life is by far the worst I have ever had with any of my phones, ever. It doesn’t last through the day and I am not watching videos or playing lots of games.
Frankly I am still trying to decide whether to wade in and attempt to return it due to the abysmal reception or tough it out. I have had it 6 days and I’m not very happy. The phone has a lot of interesting features and as long as I have access to my own Comcast Wifi I can access some of those features but as far as Verizon’s vaunted 3G network, balderdash!
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