Getting a new phone soon, having a hard time making a decision...please help

[Zerozx]

Well, after having my ENV2 for almost two years, it's on the verge of breaking..literally. It's worn out.

Anyway, that's not important. It's time to move on to a new phone, and I'm almost certain it's going to be a Droid. One thing I do not keep up with is cell phones. Sure, I'll see the name of the phones being released, but as far as specs, operating systems, functionality, etc. go...I really don't take the time to keep up with that, and now it's coming back to bite me after almost two years of not paying much attention.

Today, for the second time in the past week, I went to Verizon again to browse through the phones...except this time I think I actually narrowed down my choices.

I -think- these are my final choices:

• Droid 2
• Droid Incredible by HTC
• Samsung Fascinate
• Droid X*

*Now, the Droid X...I really don't know about that one. It at least caught my attention, but I'm really turned off by how big it is. I'm barely considering that one, so just pay attention to the top three that I listed.

I'm going to list my concerns and what I see as pros/cons to each of the three. Someone here can hopefully help me out and help me make up my mind... lol. Keep in mind that, on the first day I went to Verizon, I hadn't narrowed it down at all and I was messing with almost every phone within 45 minutes...today, though, I was in there for about two hours messing with 3-4 phones (although I still felt kind of pressured and rushed, wasn't able to fully grasp each phone's capabilities and functions). Alright, here are my initial thoughts:

Droid 2:
Buttons: I don't know if it was just the display phone or if all models are like that, but is the camera button on the side of the phone rather difficult to push? I had to push it rather hard to switch to the camera.
Display: I thought the display looked nice, but had second thoughts later on (you'll understand why after reading more). It obviously has a great display, I don't have any complaints, it's just a matter of being blown away by another phone..
Functionality/Smoothness: It seemed to function well, and was mostly smooth...but again, when compared to another phone, I felt like it was just laggy afterwards. Maybe it's a psychological thing.. xD
The keyboard: This is one of the main things I'm concerned about. If I choose this phone, I'm afraid the keyboard could break eventually or something...a part of me wants to just move on to complete touch-screen, but another part of me is accustomed to my ENV2 and feels as though the keyboard could be useful. If I got one of the other phones, I may end up regretting not having the keyboard...but I don't know. Honestly, it may be the keyboard that's making my decision so difficult.


Droid Incredible:
Buttons: The buttons seemed to be nice, much bigger than on the Droid 2..but that's minor. The trackball (is that a trackball or a small sensor? xD) seemed to be kind of annoying to me, I'm not sure if I can see myself using that.
Display: The display on this phone seemed much more crisp and had brighter colors than on the Droid 2. Since I've been using an iPod Touch for the past two years, I'm a sucker for sleek, smooth functionality and colorful applications and just an overall great display. As you can imagine, the Incredible (the Samsung Fascinate as well) just blew me away with the display...
Functionality/Smoothness: The Incredible seemed to scroll much more smoothly than the Droid 2..but I'm not sure.


Samsung Fascinate:
This one really had me in awe.

I had very similar thoughts on the Fascinate as I did on the Incredible, except it seemed to be even more crisp in the display, and smooth in its functionality..so instead of making a list on this one, just look above to the Incredible and multiply that by 2..

One thing, though, that peeves me (about the Samsung Fascinate)...is the automatic Bing search on the Fascinate. I've been using Google for years now and it's just what I'm accustomed to using and enjoying. Another thing is the fact that the Fascinate (from what I've read) apparently gets the latest Android versions late. I think it's still on 2.1 and the latest version is 2.2 or 2.3, right?

Sorry for the lengthy post (my first post on here!), but I'm completely new to the Android-based phones and I think it would be a great experience to start. I would appreciate any help, advice, suggestions, etc. that I'm given. Thank you if you've read this far!

edit: another thing I was wondering, is I've read that these phones come with a bunch of applications that you cannot get rid of and most likely won't use (I forgot what someone called it, lol maybe crapware?)..but is that true? Basically like on some computers? I also read you can "root" into your phone and get rid of these things, is this similar to jailbreaking an iPod touch?

 

[Tillyswilly]

incredible thats a sensor lol....yea I have the D2 and love it I have 2 friends that have the incredible and there alright I just like to have my keypad....and if you plain on rooting it seems to me that there are more options out there and more people specifying there apps to the D2 and DX like bootstrap overclocking and others....I didnt like the X myself bc of the size (i already own an Ipad I dont need another 1 lol)...I dont really care for samsung myself just never had good experiences with them at all....but remember you have 30 days if you dont like it carry it back and get another one

 

[Zerozx]

incredible thats a sensor lol....yea I have the D2 and love it I have 2 friends that have the incredible and there alright I just like to have my keypad....and if you plain on rooting it seems to me that there are more options out there and more people specifying there apps to the D2 and DX like bootstrap overclocking and others....I didnt like the X myself bc of the size (i already own an Ipad I dont need another 1 lol)...I dont really care for samsung myself just never had good experiences with them at all....but remember you have 30 days if you dont like it carry it back and get another one

lol I was leaning more towards a sensor xD

Thanks for the input. and yeah, I was wondering about the 30-day thing too...so if you just don't like your phone you can come back in and trade it for a completely different one, no charges? Seems like Verizon enjoys charging for everything..

 

[Wefler]

Hey the sheer Bad Assness of the X makes up for its size. I just upgraded from a Dare and the possibilities on this phone greatly outweigh the size.

 

[leftcoastsrt04]

Hey the sheer Bad Assness of the X makes up for its size. I just upgraded from a Dare and the possibilities on this phone greatly outweigh the size.

Agreed

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App

 

[blakscribe]

I love my phone although I found that there was quite a learning curve coming from a BlackBerry Storm. But you're already in the right place, asking the right answers.

The size of the Droid X was never an issue for me. Yes it is long and wide but its thinness somewhat compensates for this.

This is my first Android phone so I cannot compare it to others. It's my understanding that it outperforms most other Android models in terms of processing power and speed. Even after owning this baby for several months I am still blown away by its ability to smoothly run multiple apps and play hi-res video games.

My major complaint is the camera which produces horrible red eye effects when shooting people and pets with the flash.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[superglen99]

Just wait till january 6th. That's when ces is and verizon will be debuting several new phones including dual core and 4g phones. You'll be kicking yourself if you buy now. Patience.

 

[en28so]

Just wait till january 6th. That's when ces is and verizon will be debuting several new phones including dual core and 4g phones. You'll be kicking yourself if you buy now. Patience.

I just got a droid x and I'm no going to kick myself. I don't want to pay extra for lte right now. I barely get 3g at my workplace, since it's outside of La county, so I'm pretty sure I won't get lte there. Anyways,isn't it going to take Verizon about 2 yrs to fully implement lte? By then maybe it's cheaper. Just my 2 cents. Also, I don't think there are any apps to take advantage of dual core phones right now correct? That may take some time also. I got my droid x from Dell for $129 (secondary line) with free shipping and no activation fee. It costs $19. 99 for the primary line. Check it out.

 

[evor1]

the new phones may debut in january but from what ive read wont be available for purchase until summer 2011.

 

[octoberdana]

I had a hard time deciding between the incredible and the fascinate. In the end I chose the incredible. Both phones had features I really liked but the incredible won out because of a few things.
It was the most ready to go out of the box. The only thing I really felt like I couldn't live with stock was the messaging application.
The size was perfect for me. I have smaller hands and the fascinate was just a little too big but incredible felt just about right.
Google apps and navigation are standard without rooting.
HTC makes good phones and I liked the look of the sense ui.
Good luck with your decision!

Sent from my ADR6300 using DroidForums App

 

[Pyzon]

Son and I have Droid 2 globals and like the keypad. (BTW, the Global D2 was not one of your choices, so just to complicate it further, take a look at it for the couple of benefits over the standard D2)

Other son has the DroidX and loves the touchscreen and size. Seems big to me as I carry my phone in pocket, he says it is perfect.

Wife has the Fascinate and loves it, she is rapidly becoming a serious geek after swearing she had no use for a smartphone until a week ago.

I was lucky to find a super helpful person at my local VZW store that was more interested in helping me make a good decision for me rather than him. Hope you can find somebody like him.

 

[streetkid]

I have a D1 and my brother has a fascinate. The fascinate is suuuppperr sexy, the screen is awesome, and its really fast and smooth. But yeah, I can't stand the bing and feel bad hes still on 2.1

 

[Beka27]

I also came from an EnV2... I thought I HAD TO HAVE a physical keyboard, but with the advances in touchscreen technology, I don't miss it at all. I can "swype" much quicker than I was ever able to text using the qwerty keyboard.

I decided on the X because I wanted the size. My friends make fun of my "gigantic phone", but when we need to google-on-the-run, it's always, "Beka... let me see your phone for a second."

 

[Benton]

The four listed in the OP are all great, not a bad one in the bunch. It comes down to personal preferences as example, I use mine as a personal device but mainly for business while in the field to compile data and even write prelimary project engineering reports so a keyboard is a big advantage to me (ever try typing or skyping on a screen with half-frozen fingers?).

As for the camera on the phones, I mostly use an icon on my home screen to initiate the camera and use the screen's button to take the picture rarely using the side mounted button for anything. I believe all four phones have this feature/ability, at least the D1s and D2s do but don't see why the others would not.

Let us know whatever your choice becomes and how much fun you are having with it...you won't be the same again!

 

[Zerozx]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and all of the input. I can tell this is a great place to find help.

and about waiting until January until those new phones are released, I probably won't do that. My reasoning is because technology is always changing and being upgraded and updated, so if I waited for that...it would only be a matter of time before something better came out. They're supposed to showcase it sometime in January, but there's no telling when they would actually be released...so I think I'll just choose from the selections they have now.

I still haven't made a decision, and I would love it if everyone continued to give their input and maybe even tell me some things I should know about the Android operating system or just anything in general about these phones.

Thanks!