HTC Droid Incredible Review

Android 2.1 and the HTC Sense user interface work in combination with the Incredible's 1GHz processor to deliver a user experience that's speedy and responsive. In fact, the HTC Sense UI is actually one of the features that sets the Incredible apart from other Android 2.1 devices out there right now, particularly the Nexus One.

HTC Droid Incredible Sense UI Demo

The Sense UI adds a few features to various functions of the phone. For example, in addition to viewing a list of all of your email, Sense provides a tabbed interface at the bottom of the screen that lets you view unread messages, attachments, conversations, and more using a simple touch. The Sense UI also offers a weather widget that displays current weather conditions based on your location directly from the home screen. Using Sense, you can arrange your contacts by groups, view online directories, and more. The Sense UI also provides a feature called Friend Stream which collects data from Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr into a single location. 

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Android's music player has never been one of the most attractive or elaborate players out there, but it gets the job done and HTC Sense does make the interface slightly more attractive. The player supports many popular formats including AAC, WMA, MP3, WAV, 3GP, MP4, WMV, and OGG. The phone also has an FM radio, but you'll need a headset to work as an antenna, and one doesn't come in the box.

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Definitely one of our favorite new features found on the Incredible is the Leap screen, which you can access by pinching the home screen or pressing the home button if you're already on the center panel. This screen brings up a thumbnail view of your seven home screen panels, making it easy to jump between apps and widgets. These home screens are customizable using the various "Scenes" included with the Incredible. The Scenes provide various preset home screen panels that fit the theme of the Scene (Verizon, HTC, Social, Work, Play, Travel, and Clean Slate).

Thanks to Android 2.1, the Incredible also has a voice-enabled keyboard which makes it easy to dictate text messages and emails, search, and more. In fact, since the microphone button appears on the keyboard, you can speak just about anywhere you'd typically type.

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Android 2.1 also enables live wallpaper and Google Maps Navigation. As far as other apps are concerned, the Incredible comes with many of the typical Android apps such as Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube, QuickOffice, and of, course, the Android Market. HTC adds a few of its own apps as well, such as Twitter, Peep, and Footprints. The latter of these apps lets you geotag photos and add notes and audio clips to photos.