Inspire 4G First Impressions/Reviews

[Cory Streater]

Howdy everyone,

The purpose of this thread, is to hear members thoughts & opinions on how the HTC Inspire stacks up amongst a suggested list of attributes:

• Aesthetics
• Screen
• Hardware
• Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage
• Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense)
• Widgets
• Signal quality (Compared to other devices)
• GPS
• Social Networking
• Email/Calendar
• Battery Life
• Performance
• Media (music, movies, DLNA)
• Keyboard's
• Camera (both still & video)
• How the Inspire compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)
• Disappointments (if any)

Feel free to provide as little or as much detail as possible, while trying to make it as useful as possible. Hopefully this will help others who are considering the Inspire, but would like to hear some user feedback first. Also, please do not review the Inspire prior to having one

And if you read a review that you found helpful, please use the Thanks button to show them your appreciation!

 

[Cory Streater]

Congratulations to those who got their Inspire today!

 

[mrnserv]

[Reviews] HTC Inspire Members Initial Thoughts & Reviews

Switched from Blackberry about 2 weeks ago to Captivate, not sure at first, but after 3-4 days, never wanted to look back. Traded in Captivate today for Inspire shortly after AT&T store opened. Have not used phone too much yet, but initial impressions...

Aesthetics - feels well built and sturdy, slightly heavy feel more like an iPhone than some of the plastic feeling phones. Appears much better build that the Blackberry Torch I had. Inspire is more like a MacBook Pro in build as many other phones feel like cheap plastic notebooks.

Screen - Crisp, sharp and similar to Captivate. No complaints. Photos and media look great.

Hardware - Well built, looks and feels of high quality construction.

Phone - Good call quality so far, only made a few calls, clear and good quality even when only saw 2-3 bars. Have not tried Bluetooth headphone yet.

UI - Still need to get used to this. Was just getting used to Captivate and switch from Blackberry, but seems to have more customization options and HTC provided/downloadable backdrops/widgets. Samsung had none. Still working to customize. HTC UI tweaks seem to be better than Samsung. Like iOS, like the find phone feature and remote wipe via web.

Widgets - Still playing with these, but many more that Captivate.

Signal quality - about the same, limited locations so far, decided to try out a 3G microcell today as well, so use in home is probably bad comparison. WiFi signal is better, seems to be locking on closest AP in house better than Captivate. Captivate had trouble with multiple AP's in house and never seemed to find closest one or switched as moving around, HTC Inspire is doing much better.

GPS - locked on much quicker than Captivate but need more real world testing outside of home.

Social Networking - Looks interesting but don't use much and have not set-up yet.

E-Mail - couldn't get HTC email set-up with SBC account yet, read there are some issues and some solutions, but have not tried yet. Used K-9 email in past and works fine on Inspire.

Battery Life - too early to say, only charged to 75% at Noon, now at 59%, 5pm, but lots of screen use setting up.

Performance - Fast, much faster than Captivate, snappy and no noticeable lags between screens or programs.

Media, Camera, Video - not tried yet.

Compared to previous - Blackberries...forget about them, unless all you do is text and email, no comparison...better screen, better customization, better apps, better hardware, won't go back to Orwell 1984 smartphone. Compared to Captivate...faster, more customization, better UI, Froyo 2.2!!!, better build.

Disappointments - too bad this phone wasn't available 2 weeks ago when I purchased the Captivate, would have saved me a trip to AT&T store today. None so far.

 

[snilloconator]

SnilloC's on the Inspire

I'll keep most of my replies short and sweet. Overall I'm really liking this phone. Enough to get online and post about it

* Aesthetics - Looks sleek!
* Screen - Crisp
* Hardware - Fastest I have ever owned!
* Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage - Call quality is good. Have not tested bluetooth or speakerphone yet. Update coming...
* Overall User Interface - Very new to droid so a bit lost right now. But able to pick my way through OK so far.
* Widgets
* Signal quality - Better than my previous BB's
* GPS - Quick
* Social Networking - I was use to my BB's so this is a tad diff so far. Need some time.
* Email/Calendar - Still learning
* Battery Life - It likes the juice!
* Performance - Fast! Did I say Fast?
* Media (music, movies, DLNA) - Love it!
* Keyboard's - Very responsive and easy for me. More so than other touch I have played with.
* Camera (both still & video) - Camera bad images in low light/YELLOW Video is awesome but grainy in dark.
* How the Inspire compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable) - So far there is no comparison to me I'm totally blown away by the speed and overall features.
* Disappointments (if any) Camera with the yellow tint in low lit areas... I'll post if I find out more but that's the only real gripe I have right now.

 

[JoshuaExline]

Much like the user above me I switched from Blackberry to Captivated about 2 weeks ago. Was pleased with the Captivate for about a week then it started acting up...found out I had a phone from a known bad batch. Traded yesterday about 4pm (the earliest I could get to the store.) So glad I did...this phone is amazing.

My only problem is the moron working at ATT took me off my unlimited data...after I specifically told him I wanted to keep that...put me on some kind of pay as you go data plan. Spent an hour+ on the phone with chat service fixing this; they put Mr on the 2gb a month plan until this is resolved (the had to open a case to appeal it or some such thing) I am going back to that store this morning when I get some free time and raising 6 kinds of help....I don't take kindly to having things like this screwed up.

Anyway, other than that initial screwup...and a lack of any kind of cases or screen protectors being available in this town...I love the phone.

 

[snilloconator]

Much like the user above me I switched from Blackberry to Captivated about 2 weeks ago. Was pleased with the Captivate for about a week then it started acting up...found out I had a phone from a known bad batch. Traded yesterday about 4pm (the earliest I could get to the store.) So glad I did...this phone is amazing.

My only problem is the moron working at ATT took me off my unlimited data...after I specifically told him I wanted to keep that...put me on some kind of pay as you go data plan. Spent an hour+ on the phone with chat service fixing this; they put Mr on the 2gb a month plan until this is resolved (the had to open a case to appeal it or some such thing) I am going back to that store this morning when I get some free time and raising 6 kinds of help....I don't take kindly to having things like this screwed up.

Anyway, other than that initial screwup...and a lack of any kind of cases or screen protectors being available in this town...I love the phone.

I actually had a great rep at BestBuy. When I asked him if I would be keeping my data plan he said absolutely! So glad I had a common sense rep.

From what I have heard it's hard to get the unlimited plan back once they take it away. Good Luck!:-\

 

[gmurphy0487]

As everyone has stated, this phone is amazing. I am switching from a blackberry bold 9700. The one and only issue I have so far is after a few hours the screen stops auto rotating. A reset will fix, but still annoying. But I kind of expect little glitches on a new launch. If it is found to be a hardware issue and not software, I will trade it out. Anyone else having this issue?

 

[Cory Streater]

You guys are writing some awesome reviews!

 

[nelsontx]

Deep thoughts from nelsonelite.......

* Aesthetics - Love the look and feel
* Screen - switch from Captivate - love the real estate!
* Hardware - first HTC phone, solid build quality
* Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage - speakerphone is a bit tinny, bluetooth works with my Alpine IVA-W900BT
* Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) - don't know why it has taken me this long to switch to HTC...
* Widgets - so far so good!
* Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - dumped the iPhone a long time ago also haven't had any dropped calls on a non-iPhone....
* GPS - 1 Million times better than the Captivate...it just works!
* Social Networking - Friend Stream is nice, ability to see updates in a contact is cool, not a deal breaker for me though
* Email/Calendar - Google Apps User so works great, single sign-on
* Battery Life - could be better but I am used to turning off GPS, turn-down display, etc. I stay charged in during the day anyway, just wish it had a dock
* Performance - AMAZING!!!! Very quick, snappy
* Media (music, movies, DLNA) DLNA feature is awesome!
* Keyboard's - took me a second to realize that Cappy and HTC have different haptic keys and different layouts for KB's but I got use to it very quickly
* Camera (both still & video) - great quality
* How the Inspire compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable) - I had iPhone 4, Torch, and Cappy....besides FFC this phone is hands-down the best phone I have ever purchased!
Disappointments (if any) - no Front Facing Camera - oh well for $99 this phone is the best deal around...until HTC release a Dual Core monster with FFC

 

[anon(153966)]

Impressive reviews thus far.

I am curious, for the 'social' section, can anyone confirm if Facebook does in fact send\receive notifications?

 

[nelsontx]

Impressive reviews thus far.

I am curious, for the 'social' section, can anyone confirm if Facebook does in fact send\receive notifications?

From what I have used so far, PUSH is still spotty for me. I have a feeling that, like everything, time will bring a better Facebook program. It is not a deal breaker for me since I am in front of a computer almost all day. Direct Messages seem the most responsive!

Hope that helps!

 

[JoshuaExline]

You guys are writing some awesome reviews!

mine was full of massive amounts of "keyboard still learning words and spitting out the wrong thing" mistakes lol

 

[mrro82]

Aesthetics- Very sleek. It's a very slim phone and feel light despite the size.

Screen- Very crisp.

Hardware- Well built and sturdy.

Phone - including bluetooth & speakerphone usage- Bluetooth took a tad longer to connect to my car than my old BB did but that isn't even an issue with me. Call quality was amazing compared to my old phone. Crisp and clear and didn't sound "tinny".

Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense)- Very snappy and easily navigable UI. This was one of the reasons I got the Inspire instead of waiting for the Atrix.

Widgets- Still toying around with these.

Signal quality (Compared to other devices)- In all honesty, it's the same in my apartment. Crappy. That's not the phones fault at all. It was a problem with my old phones as well. Stupid walls.

GPS- I used waze for a bit and it locked on pretty fast. It never lost me for the short distance I used it.

Social Networking- I started using the installed friends feed but downloaded Tweet Deck as I knew how to work that properly since I use it on my laptop. Plus I use foursquare too and it integrated seamlessly.

Email/Calendar- I had this all set up and working properly before I left the store. I've used gmail and google calendar for a while now so all I had to do was sync my account with the phone. Easy peasy.

Battery Life- Can't say quite yet as I've been playing around with it all day so it's constantly doing something. I'll know more by the end of the week.

Performance- Snappy and smooth. The menus transition very well and I haven't had a hint of lag while doing anything yet.

Media (music, movies, DLNA)-You tube videos looked awesome! I'm syncing my music library now so if it sounds as good as my speaker phone call earlier I'll be happy.

Keyboard's- I've gotten used to touch screen keyboards since my last BB. Didn't have many issues. Took a bit of getting used to the layout as it's different than my BB's was. No biggie though.

Camera (both still & video)- Camera pics looks awesome. Way better than my previous phone. Very crisp and clear and having no physical shutter button hasn't been an issue yet.

How the Inspire compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable)-
I came over from a BlackBerry Torch but I've been on the BlackBerry platform since 2008. Various ones. So looking at the Inspire coming from that is a huge leap.
Disappointments (if any)-None so far. I've ecstatic with my new phone.

 

[spoiler61]

This phone is absolutly amazing. I am comming over from an iphone, I had a captivate for awhile and that is when I became hooked on android. This phone has a great look to it, it is by far the fastest and most responsive phone i have ever owned, the call quality is very good and I really like the speaker phone, images are crisp and clean. I was planing on getting the atrix when it comes out, but that wont happen now, this is the phone for me. The price of this phone for what u get is awsome, they could of easaly sold this phone for $199. Good job HTC and AT&T.

 

[Shempster]

As everyone has stated, this phone is amazing. I am switching from a blackberry bold 9700. The one and only issue I have so far is after a few hours the screen stops auto rotating. A reset will fix, but still annoying. But I kind of expect little glitches on a new launch. If it is found to be a hardware issue and not software, I will trade it out. Anyone else having this issue?

Yes, I had it & exchanged it for another. So far today its done it one time. If it keeps doing it I'll return it & probably go for the Atrix when it comes out.

 

[CutRiteFX]

The screen did that to me too once where it would not rotate. Just rebooted and all is good. I am coming over from a long list of iPhones starting from the first one. There is only 1 thing I miss from the iPhone4. The camera on the iPhone 4 took great photos and video.

Over all I have NO plans to turn back to the iPhone as this phone does everything my iPhone did and them some. This phone is true multitasking.
I LOVE THIS PHONE.

 

[constantschange]

A little intro: Hi guys! I'm Julian, new to the forums and just bought my Inspire on the 13th and gave my mom my Captivate. Sorry mom!

(Smart) Phone History: Original iPhone, iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Bold, Nexus One, Captivate, Inspire!

* Aesthetics- Coming from the Captivate (and Nexus One before that) I gotta say I love the look and feel of this phone. The added weight is plus for me as well. Heavier phones always make the phone feel sturdier to me.

* Screen- Although the AMOLED is supposed to be better than Super LCD, I honestly can't see much difference. Very nice and crisp.

* Hardware - Like the Nexus One, the metal body just feels better in the hand than high grade plastic.

* Phone - Good call quality so far (have made about 15-20 calls so far), have not used bluetooth yet. Speakerphone could be a little louder...
* Overall User Interface (including HTC Sense) - First phone with sense and love it. In my opinion Sense KILLS TouchWiz (Captivate). No lag whatsoever, very responsive.

* Widgets - Love the assortment of widgets! Even downloaded a couple from HTC (they have a pretty cool to-do list and sticky notes widget + more!). I'm very hesitant in using more than a few as the battery isn't the best on this phone.

* Signal quality (Compared to other devices) - Although we all have our gripes with ATT and their reliability, I gotta say that I haven't had any dropped calls since I was on the original iPhone. So far so good on the Inspire!

* GPS - What can I say? The Captivate found my location no more than 2 times in the 3+ months I had it. Inspire has found me every single time.

* Social Networking - As of right now, I'm using the FB app and not friendstream. I used it when I first got it, but I just like the overall look of the FB app vs. friendstream. Nice addition tho!

* Email/Calendar - Don't use the stock email app so I can't say much about that, but gmail syncing was a breeze!

* Battery Life - Like previous posters have said, the battery isn't the best. Usually unplug around 9-10AM, heavy usage, usually have to charge by 8-9PM.

* Performance - No complaints whatsoever. Quick, responsive, and out performs most if not all my previous smartphones.

* Media (music, movies, DLNA) - Have no used these features yet but will update once I do. DLNA seems like a pretttttty sweet addition tho!

* Keyboard's - Love the keyboard. Took some getting used to... well, still getting used to it. Layout is a lot different than the Captivate.

* Camera (both still & video) - No complaints here! Both have performed very well. Love the added filters that the camera gives you!

* How the Inspire compares to your previous smartphone (if applicable) - Bigger screen than any phone I've had previously (could be a con to some, but definitely a pro to me!), GPS works in a pinch, no lag whatsoever. Definitely the best phone I've purchased to date (again, with the exception of battery life).

* Disappointments (if any) - Wish they would have added a bigger battery, the volume rocker and power button are a little recessed. The speakerphone could be louder and I've noticed some distorting in my custom ringtones. They sounded near perfect on my Captivate. Not sure if anyone has had a similar problem.

 

[Lefty2004]

Just starting day two with my Inspire. Replacing a stock Nexus One. So far seems much snappier performance wise. I agree the buttons are just a bit too recessed.

The reception and data speeds on the mobile network seem pretty good but I'll wait until we has HSPA+ in my area to comment further. The AT&T guy said my 3g sim will work on the upgrded network, then he said there might be a new sim coming. He really didn't know.

I found it interesting that even when I completely disable mobile network I still have the H+ icon displayed. Seems like a con job to me.

I'll report back as I spend more time with it.

 

[chief113]

mine was full of massive amounts of "keyboard still learning words and spitting out the wrong thing" mistakes lol

This is my first touchscreen, coming from BB. I was having trouble too. One word. Swiftkey. It really is incredible.

 

[mediq91]

Inspire review

Hey guys. My name is Jordan. I have been on Android Central for a while now and have been working on starting to do my own reviews and stuff and have started a website I am looking to see what peoples opinions are. I have my first post up there and plan on doing more just want to get some opinions from the people on AC. Please let me know. Link removed by moderator

Oh where to begin. For me I have come from many Android Devices such as the Moto Droid 1, Droid 2, Droid X, HTC Aria, Samsung Captivate, and Dell Streak along with getting to play with many others such as the HTC Evo, LG Ally, LG Vortex,
all of the LG Optimus series, Nexus 1 and Nexus S. All of these phones have been fun and I have been in the constant toss up of weather to stick with my Captivate or move over to one of the new phones. I work for AT&T currently and we have 3 new phones that are coming out within the next few months. I took a look at everything and have been sitting there for about 2 weeks and finally decided it was time to switch. I loved my Captivate but it was behind the curve and got tired of waiting for the offical 2.2 update to come out.

So after I decided if I wanted to switch it was time for me to pick which one of these 3 new phones I wanted to go with. So I sat down and did my research and looked at everything I could. The first phone to get knocked off was the Samsung Infuse. The phone seems like it will be cool but it had some negatives. After having the Captivate and waiting for the update that kind of got me fed up with Samsung. I know that it is partly At&T's fault but is also part Samsung's also. The other thing about the phone is that it is a 4.5 inch screen. Witht that size it is pusing it beyone beleif. I personally feel anything larger then 4.3 is going to be to big. Yes the Super Amoled + screen will be nice and so will the 16 gig internal storage but to me the 2 main problems I had with it were way to large of negatives. So that left me in a toss up between the Atrix and the Inspire. I looked at the Inspire and figured that I really couldnt find any negatives about the phone. The Atrix
on the other hand is hard. I like the fact that it is Dual Core but it is also a negative where it will suck a lot of battery. Next I hate the price tag. $199 and $459 for the laptop dock. That is flat out rediculous. The $199 for the phone is fine but the Dock is to expensive. Next is Moto Blur. I am not a fan it seems to slow phones down and is a big pain in the butt for most users. So after all of that I decided the Inspire was the way to go.
So I picked up the Inspire with a 4G sim card and have been using it for the last few days. The phone has been running really smooth.

First off is going to be overall looks of the phone. The phone is absolutely beautiful. The size is just right it isnt to small, not to big, but right in between. I like the look. It dosent look like a cheap plastic phone either. It seems like it has a good build quality to it. I like where they have the buttons positioned and am happy that the speaker grill and buttons are all chrome finished. It gives the phone a nice look. The battery door is the one big negative. It is a pain to pull off but if you are a person that dosent see yourself doing this often then you will be perfectly okay with this. Another think that is kind of inconvinent is the position of the 3.5 MM headphone jack.

Next I want to go into the overall User Interface of the phone. The UI is awsome. I have always been a fan of HTC Sense and this definantly dose it justice with it being the newest version of Sense. The clock widget with the weaher and temprature is awsome.
It dose not slow the phone down at all. It is very snappy and I like the set up of it. Along with sense you get a lot of cool backgrounds that are cool and fun to use. With the new sense you are also able to create and account that will alow you to track your phone if it is ever lost and maybe even wipe the phone which I am not completely sure about that but I beleive you can.

Next is the screen. So the screen is something that I was really surprised about with this phone. To be quite honest it was my biggest fear in switching. Coming from the Super Amoled to the LCD wasnt bad at all. To be quite honest they look almost identical. The phone displays pictures and video quality very well. It works awsome and is clear I have no complaints. Along with that the screen is also very responsive. It dose not have any issues with not responding to my touch and it is clear and very snappy. Part of this snappiness is because of the nice 1 GHZ proccessor.

So how about that 8 megapixel camera? It is a very nice clear camera for both still and video quality. I have used it for multiple purposes so far. One of the big ones is when I have been working on my girlfriends car the last few days. I was able to take pictures of parts that were broken or things that may be causing the issue and they were clear and able to displayed perfectly. I sent the pictures to multiple people and they were all very surpirsed. Another nice feature is that you are able to zoom in very far with the camera. It was needed for a few pictures and kept it very clear along with a few dark shots that LED flash helped quite a bit. Video is perfect also. I was doing a few videos for a friend that was
doing some random BMX stuff also. Worked good and was able to send them to my friends for them to use as they want.

So what good is a phone if it has crappy call quality. I have used many different phones as previously noted and to be quite honest this is one of the most clear call qualities I have ever had. I have called friends on different carriers and different devices and all said that I sound clear and I was not muffled and using speaker phone was the same thing just fully clear. On my end calls came through clear and wasnt muffled also sounded amazing with the speaker phone. Both spearks are clear and allow you to turn the phone up quite a bit if need be. Another very good quality.

Signal Strength is awsome I have not had any dropped calls and seem to be running in Hspa+ and HSPDA. I have gotten signal in a few areas where I previously
would not have been able to.

So the last thing and one of the most important is Battery life. It is something that could be better. I have tuned setting and the phone seems to only get me through about 7 or 8 hours with minimal texting and internet browsing and a few phone calls that come up to less then 1 hour. This is alright but is not the best. I was able to get a 12 hour day out of my Captivate but this is something I can work around and that isnt a big issue for me beacuse I am normally out for that time and have a tendancy to charge my phone multiple times a day without even thinking about it. So for some people this may be a major negative but for me not so much.

So overall I have fallen in love with this phone and am happy with it. I will be posting some benchmark scores here soon. I will continue using this phone and can not see any issues with what I used to have.