18 replies to this topic

[papi92]

Hello, today I received my Droid DNA from Verizon Wireless. Thank you Verizon even though I bought it =)! I decided that for the next week I will be posting my day to day reactions to having this smart phone. First off, let me say that all pictures for now will wait till my full review because we all know what this phone looks like brand new but we all really want to know what this phone will look like after real use and if it will hold up to conditions of everyday life. Second, if you want me to test something then please comment below and I will do my best to test that! So here we go!

Day 1.....

So, let me start off by saying no picture or video will do this screen justice. Honestly, no matter what people or science say you can tell the difference between a 720p display and a 1080p display. This screen blows all others out of the water including the Nexus 10 and the Iphone 5. The battery life on day one was average to be fair. I know phones get better after a few battery cycles so I won't go into more. I ran multiple games like Need For Speed and Grand Theft Auto to see if I could make the phone lag and I failed. This quad core processor with the 2 gb of ram would not studder. I ran videos in the background, opened up multiple tabs, and even tried running stress test on the phone and all I did was make me want to do more with this device. Music came out loud and clear thru the speaker. It by far has the best quality of music when comparing to other phones. One thing, I did notice was the camera was not as good as the One X. I don't know which the "tweaks" HTC did were good. Now, by no means were the pictures bad and if I posted them most of you would think I was crazy but a flagship HTC/Droid phone should not have lesser features then an old HTC flagship devices. Signal was on point with this device and I had no problems making calls. People on the other end said I sounded fine and I could hear them very well. The form factor of the phone makes it comfortable for calls as the phone microphone is right by the mouth while the earpiece is placed on the ear ( Obviously). Overall, for a day 1 experience I am impressed. I was not happy to hear though that a root exploit was found already though as this is a security concern if a user doesn't root. Only, applications like superuser can control what gets root permissions if this exploit is present so let's hope Verizon patches this hole quickly and root is okay with me if it is obtained with a custom recovery/unlocked bootloader but exploits are never good.

Day 2...
Well, I love the Droid DNA. This phone runs fast and I cannot see any lag. The one issue thought I did have today was battery life. I only was able to get 2 hours of screen time with LTE on. I hope over time this changes. I also took many photos today and I am glad to say I love the Camera. It takes beautiful shots in the sunlight and I was excited to not have to take my camera out. GPS also was spot on and locked on quickly even though my weather seems to think I am in California. I am in Ohio.

Day 3 and 4

I decided to wipe data and cache to see if it fixed my gps issues and it did. As for new stuff there isn't much to say but by far this device to own in 2012. If you are on Verizon and want a new device I have no problem saying BUY NOW! This phone is the champion of Android and I can't wait to see its competition. I can not find any reason to hate this phone besides for limited storage but who really needs more then 16 gb for a phone? I use cloud for my music and google play movies. I only takes pictures and save some documents on my phone. I will comment again on Saturday after a few more days of use then I will send this phone back under my Christmas tree because nothing will compare if I keep it too long.

[Tmc363]

Agreed sir its an awesome phone!!

[papi92]

We all know Jcase has tweeted that he did not want to release a root exploit because of conflict of interest. He also has said that it could/may work on Moto Devices that are running 4.1.2? but I hate exploits lol means there is a hole in security which means for none root users that malicious apps can use it to steal their info and such lol

[Tmc363]

We all know Jcase has tweeted that he did not want to release a root exploit because of conflict of interest. He also has said that it could/may work on Moto Devices that are running 4.1.2? but I hate exploits lol means there is a hole in security which means for none root users that malicious apps can use it to steal their info and such lol

Yeah I didnt quite understand the "conflict of interest" statement no clue what interest was conflicting for him but mines unlocked and rooted so im happy!! Great review so far bro its a great phone only issue I have so far is it seems the radios on them dont keep very good speed for data whats your data speeds ?

[papi92]

I live by a tower so ya but i am getting about 16 down and 9 up and signal is holding strong. I really like Sense right now. I hope they keep trimming it up!

[Dave12308]

Overall, for a day 1 experience I am impressed. I was not happy to hear though that a root exploit was found already though as this is a security concern if a user doesn't root. Only, applications like superuser can control what gets root permissions if this exploit is present so let's hope Verizon patches this hole quickly and root is okay with me if it is obtained with a custom recovery/unlocked bootloader but exploits are never good.

ALL devices are rooted through an exploit, though. And finding a root exploit early is considered a GOOD thing, not a bad thing. The LAST thing we want Verizon doing is patching root exploits. Your statement here goes directly against what most of us enthusiasts want, as well as going against what almost any developer would want as well.

[Memnoch73]

Anxiously waiting the arrival of mine. On Fed Ex truck, out for delivery. Come on, come on, come on....

[papi92]

I want an unlocked bootloader and a custom recovery. Give me that and exploit isn't needed.

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[papi92]

Added day 3-4

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[G8orDroid]

Added day 3-4

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... but who really needs more then 16 gb for a phone? I use cloud for my music and play movies. ...

To play devils advocate... Not everyone lives in an area where they get good 4g or even 3g coverage (/me are one) to be able to use cloud storage effectively. Also, with VzW doing away with unlimited data and stick you with costly, limited plans, wouldn't it make since to use as little of that data as possible for things that COULD be done through onboard storage? I really like the DNA, thought it was absolutely the most awesome smartphone I had ever held when I played with it in the store, but just think it was an enormous FAIL to limit the phone to 16gb with NO removable storage. Would have probably picked it up if it was 32gb.

That said, for my own personal purposes, 16gb is probably enough. I don't play many games and I don't keep all that much music, photos or videos on my phone. (only using about 12gb of my 64gb sdcard right now, LOL) BUT, I like to have the option to do those things or others if I want to.

Like I said before, I think this is a total FAIL on HTC part. Makes me wonder if it was at the request of VzW.
Less available storage = More bandwidth used = More $$$$$ in Big Reds pockets. Selling a "flagship" phone for $199 seems a little odd too.

For me 16gb + external storage OR 32/64gb internal storage would have made a sale. As it sits now, I'll probably buy the Note 2.

[papi92]

Per Techno Buffalo it was Verizon who requested non expandable memory.

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[trikotret]

papi92 can you check to see if the DNA can send and receive group mms and stay in one thread. Just like the razr. I do lots of group mms all day

[papi92]

Yes it can.

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[trikotret]

Yes it can.

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Wooo hooo. So hows the battery so far. How many hours you get with 2 hours screen

[papi92]

About ten hours but recently I'm getting 3-3 half hours of screen. I think it just took time for it to settle down. But I put the DNA back in the box under the tree. I'm testing a Maxx HD now.

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[trikotret]

About ten hours but recently I'm getting 3-3 half hours of screen. I think it just took time for it to settle down. But I put the DNA back in the box under the tree. I'm testing a Maxx HD now.

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hahaha. You must be in heaven to get to test all these different phones

[papi92]

I am I am lol its fun

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[trikotret]

I am I am lol its fun

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are you going to be able to test out windows 8 phone

[papi92]

Yes I am waiting on Nokia to get one that is a review unit. I know Matt is getting a HTC 8x

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