HTC INCREDIBLE'S connectivity,browsers applicatons and androis :review

Connectivity
The smartphone features Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1. The latter works fine, but the former is a serious problem. The device took almost ten minutes to pick-up a signal from DLink DIR 600 router. The Nokia N79 and Nokia N8 took about three seconds to discover the same hotspot simultaneously. When I moved into another room, the HTC did not detect the router at all. We let it scan for hours, but the router's SSID was never picked up. This is something that even the much cheaper Nokia C3 and Dell Mini 1018 had no problems achieving. We can't seem to tell if it is due to a weak radio or a software bug.


Whenever you connect this phone to a PC via the micro-USB cable, you get a list of options such as Charge Only, Disk Drive, HTC Sync, USB Tethering and Internet Pass-through. Everything is self explanatory, but in case you still don't get it, HTC provides a short description for each function. For Internet Pass-through it says Connect Phone to Internet via PC. This function is unique and is hardly found on any smartphone, as most manufacturers don't risk upsetting the carriers. HTC deserves credit for upholding the interests of the users over money grubbing telecom companies, who stand to lose money if we are allowed to (and rightfully, I must add) use our phones as Internet gateways.

The phone is preinstalled with the HTC Portable Hotspot app that comes handy to share 3G connectivity with your laptop. It's just like the good ol' JoikuSpot application, which has been available for the Symbian devices since the past three years. Interestingly HTC Incredible S is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) certified.  That means, the phone can pull of some 'magical' tricks like the Apple's Airplay. It isn't so magical now, is it? If you have a television set supporting DLNA, the HTC can stream videos onto it.

To be honest, the technology such as Airplay isn't anything new. Even DLNA, for that matter, isn't new. Nokia has a laundry list of DLNA certified devices up its sleeve. I remember streaming songs from my Nokia N82 to my PC. Nokia N95 8GB variant was the first device to boast that feature. Streaming obviously requires a wireless router. The basics are still same as those employed to achieve that on the Nokia, but the process is simplified and beginner friendly in case of the HTC Incredible S.

Browser
The browser has now become the most important aspect of a smartphone. This is where the Android OS stands tall against the competition. The default HTC Incredible S browser has support for HTML5 and Flash 10.1. There is hardly any website which won't render properly on this phone. The interface is superb and thankfully no virtual buttons spoil your browsing experience. Text prediction is spot-on in the address bar. There are usual buttons for basics like Back and Forward functions, but there seems to be no Exit button. Somewhat like Hotel California, if you must. I tried YouTube.com to the test the Flash capabilities of the browser, and it worked like a charm. Then we got a little ambitious and went for miniclip.com, and even then the site worked well.

We played a couple of games and everything worked like it should on a PC. No slowdown or any conflict regarding the aspect-ratio. The Flash games run almost in full screen and targeting is easier with the touch interface. We couldn't think of any more tests and simply accepted the fact that this is one of the best browsers on a smartphone. It proves that Flash websites can be handled properly on a mobile. I wonder what new excuse Apple will come up with for not including browser-based Flash support on their devices. Heck, even Flash being a memory hog doesn't sound plausible in this day and age. I mean, if a humble Incredible S can do it, why can't the magical Apple iDevices do the same?

Applications and Android Market
Applications like QuickOffice and PDF viewer are preinstalled. The former allows viewing and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. The latter is self explanatory. There is also a Flashlight application, but at this price it better double-up as a lightsaber. The dual-LED flash powered flashlight has three intensity modes. Somthing that's very useful if you live in suburbs. Social networking is covered with mandatory Facebook and Twitter apps. Everyone and their uncle knows how that works, so I won't bother. In case you don't, consider yourself lucky and move onto the next section before you end up doing something stupid like creating an account or two.

Posted in: Tech gadgets