I have been an HTC user since the original DINC, had a DINC 2, and have been a Rezound user since the $99 offer a while back. I've regretted the move to the Rezound since. Now that Verizon is doing a "Free DNA" offer, I don't want to jump on another sale just to regret using up my upgrade. Is the DNA more reliable and better with battery life than the Rezound? I've seen posts about charging issues and SIM card issues, but I'm not sure if this is as regular a problem as the dropped connectivity and battery drain of the Rezound. I also don't know if I should just scrap HTC products at this point and look for something else.
Any advice would be appreciated.
I've had my Rezound since Nov 11 and really, really liked it. I didn't experience much in the way of connectivity (other than occasional Bluetooth issues) but live in a major metro area, maybe that's why. I'm a heavy user and the battery life was dismal but I got used to it; charger in the car, dock with spare battery slot at work, swapping batteries mid-afternoon most days, charger at home, etc.
I received a new DNA as an insurance replacement recently and I'm absolutely loving it.
I've found the battery life to be dramatically better than my Rezound, in part due to the wireless charger on my desk at work that makes it so easy to just set my DNA down in between uses and have it automatically charging, and in part because it's easier on the battery, maybe due to the integrated LTE on the SOC. I left work with an 80% charge yesterday and easily made it to the end of the day.
The 720p screen on my Rez was a prime selling point (along with the $49 Costco deal!), but the screen on the DNA is gorgeous...unbelievably sharp, excellent color accuracy, good viewing angles, and way easier to see in sunlight than my Rez.
The 5" size is fantastic, and with my big hands I can still (mostly) run it one-handed. It's not quite as easy to hold as the Rez, but it's lighter and thinner and actually fits better in my front pants pocket. The look and feel of the DNA is a step up from the Rez, it feels like a much more premium phone (always felt like the Rez was aesthetically schizophrenic; smooth and nice on the front, chunky and kinda cheap looking from the back).
I'd loaded up my Rez pretty good, and lately it had been getting a bit...less than smooth from time to time. The DNA is completely lag-free, fast, responsive in every aspect. Don't know if it's the quad-core processor, the 2g of RAM, Project Butter, HTC's optimizations, or all four and don't really care, but this thing is smooooth...living up to it's testing as one of the fastest quads around.
Speaking of JB (which I fear the poor Rez will never see), it's a genuine improvement over ICS - I'm really liking Google Now, the actionable items in the task bar are great. Not sure if this is a JB thing or what but I was totally amazed that, as soon as I logged into my Google account on my new DNA, it started to automatically restore all my apps...that's never happened before! This next would be a minor point for most but I've begged Audible to code a lockscreen widget for years without luck and viola...here it is, enabled natively in JB.
Software wise, I actually really liked Sense 3.6 but I'm finding 4+ to be a refreshing change; a little bit less flashy but still unique and enjoyable. The fact that Beats now works on almost everything is huge to me, my phone is also my media player (music, audiobooks, Netflix, YouTube, etc) and I loved the Beats sound on my Rez music player but it rankled that it didn't work anywhere else.
So far the only downside I've seen is the limited storage. In almost 2 years with the Rez, I'd used up about half of it's combined 32g. I'm being more careful with housekeeping and am considering the move to Google Music to cloud most of my albums...I'm pretty confident I can make this part work without much problem. This phone as an insurance replacement kept me on unlimited so I'm not concerned right with streaming.
So far I've not experienced any SIM card errors, lockups, or other weird operational glitches. I think it kicked me out of the browser a couple of times, but I'd seen that on my Rez too.
All in all, I'm finding the DNA to be a dramatic improvement over my Rezound, and I'm absolutely loving it. If you can latch onto it as a free upgrade, I don't believe you will regret it. Even if you had to pay for it I'm not sure there's a better Android alternative (and I deliberately include the S4 in this) available on Big Red today. Short of the mythical Verizon One, I don't think you can do better.
Posted via Android Central App
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