Purchased a new Droid DNA from VZW today (instead of Note 2) - Impressions and thoughts...

[GolferChris68]

I've gone back and forth between the DNA and Note 2 for the last couple of weeks. I've read posts and reviews on both phones, and am well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each phone. Today, I went to VZW, played with display models for both phones, and after 40 minutes, walked out with a Droid DNA. The thing that finally tipped the scales for me was the screen. It wasn't just the 1080p that attracted me, but also the brighter and more accurate color temperature, saturation and tone of the DNA screen over the Note 2. The color accuracy of the Note 2 screen (as with most Samsung phones) is just awful, and looking at them side-by-side in the store, the difference was pretty clear.

I've charged up the DNA this afternoon, and plan to give it a few charge/discharge cycles, before I pass judgement on battery life. I'm probably what you would consider a moderate phone user - some voice calls, checking email/Google+/Facebook/Twitter, an occasional YouTube video, and music streaming. I am thinking (hoping) that the DNA battery holds up to a day's normal usage for me. Assuming that is true, the other tests for determining if this will be a keeper are:

• Speaker quality on phone calls is good.
• Bluetooth in car connects properly, streams music, and has good sound quality for calls and music
• Enterprise email connectivity
• I must be able to receive calls during the night (I've seen a few posts that concern me about this, with phone going to sleep - hope these are isolated incidents)

So far, email/tasks/calendar are syncing properly with Exchange and GMail, so we're looking good there. I'll be checking the bluetooth connectivity and quality in my car this evening. My biggest concern is the reports I've seen regarding the phone entering a sleep mode at night, with users unable to receive calls during that time. I plan to test that later tonight, and am hoping that's not an issue. That would be a deal breaker for me, and would likely result in me returning the DNA and picking up a Note 2.

Things I like so far:

• Screen quality (obviously; amazing clarity and brightness, accurate color)
• Responsiveness - very quick, little to no stuttering
• Sense - I know a lot of people don't like Sense, but this version is nice; the widgets are great, and I like the various clock and weather widgets that come with it
• Beats Audio - This is another area where opinions are varied, but in general, I like Beats. There were one or two songs that I played that may have had a bit too much bass for my liking, but most songs sound great.
• Have taken a few test shots, and so far, image quality is comparable to the iPhone 5

I also own an iPhone 5 for work, which I like. However, it's an iOS phone, so there are things that it can't do like Android can. Its screen is smaller than the DNA phone, which is also a nice improvement for me. I like both phones, but I feel like Android software and hardware is progressing at a faster, more innovative pace than iOS. Now, if Google can just find a way to prevent US carriers from delaying OS updates, Android would be perfect.

I'll update this thread with my experiences as I continue to use this phone, for the benefit of any others who might have been on the fence about committing to the DNA.

 

[GolferChris68]

There are some really cool clock widgets that come with the phone - just found this one, which I think is pretty great looking (the seconds indicator actually moves around the dial).



Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[Sooks]

I love the phone as well man good choice, used the note 2 and dna for a week at the same time after day 3 with the note 2 I knew the DNA was my choice. Good choice!

 

[swenpro]

I am also so far very pleased with this phone. The screen is the clearest, smoothest one I've ever seen.

And I agree regarding color reproduction, HTC is much more accurate, especially if you enjoy looking at photos. This point has been a major turnoff for me with the Samsung SAMOLED screens.

Sent from Tapatalk on my HTC Droid DNA

 

[GolferChris68]

Captured a few quick shots with the DNA tonight. It was dark, and the only lighting was from the decorations and some weak overhead lights outside (except for the dinner shot). Considering the conditions, the camera didn't do a bad job. I hope to capture some shots in better lighting later this week.

 

[GolferChris68]

Ran into an issue tonight with bluetooth, my car (a 2012 Camry), and streaming audio. There were no issues with the connection itself, and a couple of phone calls I made in car, hands free, via bluetooth, sounded great. However, streaming of music was problematic.

I use Spotify as my main source of streaming music. The first song would start to play fine, but as soon as I would skip to the next song with the steering wheel controls, the music would stop streaming. The phone itself still had music coming in, but the audio wasn't making it to the car audio system. Slacker had this same issue. However, Google Music and Pandora - no problems with the music streaming in over bluetooth, and I was able to skip to the next song via the steering wheel control, without the music stopping.

I'm not sure if the issue is with the DNA bluetooth implementation, or if the problem is with Slacker and Spotify. I do know that my iPhone 5 doesn't have this issue. A shame, and kind of disappointing.

 

[akira751]

Ran into an issue tonight with bluetooth, my car (a 2012 Camry), and streaming audio. There were no issues with the connection itself, and a couple of phone calls I made in car, hands free, via bluetooth, sounded great. However, streaming of music was problematic.

I use Spotify as my main source of streaming music. The first song would start to play fine, but as soon as I would skip to the next song with the steering wheel controls, the music would stop streaming. The phone itself still had music coming in, but the audio wasn't making it to the car audio system. Slacker had this same issue. However, Google Music and Pandora - no problems with the music streaming in over bluetooth, and I was able to skip to the next song via the steering wheel control, without the music stopping.

I'm not sure if the issue is with the DNA bluetooth implementation, or if the problem is with Slacker and Spotify. I do know that my iPhone 5 doesn't have this issue. A shame, and kind of disappointing.

Very strange it worked great on JBL head units in the 2012 Camry and 2013 Avalon. Even better on 2013 Avalon the car read my emails and txt out loud. Very cool

 

[GolferChris68]

Very strange it worked great on JBL head units in the 2012 Camry and 2013 Avalon. Even better on 2013 Avalon the car read my emails and txt out loud. Very cool

What music applications were you using for streaming? Google Music and Pandora worked fine. It was Spotify and Slacker than didn't work smoothly with the steering wheel controls. The other issue was that the song information and art weren't being displayed for anything other than Google Music.

 

[akira751]

What music applications were you using for streaming? Google Music and Pandora worked fine. It was Spotify and Slacker than didn't work smoothly with the steering wheel controls. The other issue was that the song information and art weren't being displayed for anything other than Google Music.

I used Spotify just fine, The steering wheel control will not unless you plug in the usb, the same for the song info on the screen. waiting for update to correct these issues. Its not your phone. Remember Toyota thinks are phones do not work with the display audio and nav systems. Because they have not tested this phone yet. That's my job

 

[TriangleZ]

I think you should keep the DNA even IF the battery life doesn't live up to your expectations. Why? Because just like me, you hate the AMOLED display technology. I was due for an upgrade in September or October and I was really digging the S3 from online reviews. I was about to order online but I thought it'd be best if I walked into a store to check it out before buying. Walking into the store, I had a 99% mindset of leaving the VZW store with a brand new S3. I spent 10 seconds on the S3 and I said no, good thing I didn't buy the phone online.

I was coming from the first Incredible, and I'd rather keep my phone and wait for the next new phone because like you said, all colors were over saturated, and whites were blue/green. Yes, the display was sharp with text, but the colors were too inaccurate, I'm surprised most people are OK with that. So if you're like me, the display of the phone is what I'm going to be looking at 100% of the time, I want to make sure I enjoy it and not hate looking at the display. Every other top phone in VZW is AMOLED like the RAZR MAXX HD as well, except for the Iphone5, so for the best phone for a moderate phone user would have to be the DNA for me.

 

[lou61166]

I see a lot of comments about the Samsung screen and I agree I love the screen on the DNA

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[GolferChris68]

I used Spotify just fine, The steering wheel control will not unless you plug in the usb, the same for the song info on the screen. waiting for update to correct these issues. Its not your phone. Remember Toyota thinks are phones do not work with the display audio and nav systems. Because they have not tested this phone yet. That's my job

Ah, great idea about using the USB cable! I hadn't even thought about that. I'll try it at lunch and post back here to give my experiences on whether that helps with my Spotify/Slacker streaming issues.

 

[GolferChris68]

I think you should keep the DNA even IF the battery life doesn't live up to your expectations. Why? Because just like me, you hate the AMOLED display technology. I was due for an upgrade in September or October and I was really digging the S3 from online reviews. I was about to order online but I thought it'd be best if I walked into a store to check it out before buying. Walking into the store, I had a 99% mindset of leaving the VZW store with a brand new S3. I spent 10 seconds on the S3 and I said no, good thing I didn't buy the phone online.

I was coming from the first Incredible, and I'd rather keep my phone and wait for the next new phone because like you said, all colors were over saturated, and whites were blue/green. Yes, the display was sharp with text, but the colors were too inaccurate, I'm surprised most people are OK with that. So if you're like me, the display of the phone is what I'm going to be looking at 100% of the time, I want to make sure I enjoy it and not hate looking at the display. Every other top phone in VZW is AMOLED like the RAZR MAXX HD as well, except for the Iphone5, so for the best phone for a moderate phone user would have to be the DNA for me.

Yeah, I also had the S3, which was a great phone, with the exception of awful color accuracy. I would only go back to a phone with an AMOLED screen if I had no other choice. The DNA screen could a 720p screen, and still blow the other screens out of the water.

So far, I've charged the battery once, and have gotten about 15 hours out of it, with 25% remaining. It's been on WiFi most of the time (less battery usage), with the exception of about 3 hours yesterday evening on LTE. I spent several hours with the screen on, installing apps, playing with the phone, watching YouTube videos to test the screen. While on LTE last night, I was using the camera, streaming music, and making a couple of phone calls via bluetooth in the car. I also have push mail set up for my corporate account and gmail, and have Facebook/Twitter/Google+ all set up and synchronize automatically. I also updated the built-in weather widget (and weather displayed on the lock screen) to update every hour. Bluetooth and GPS have been enabled the entire time. Basically, I wanted to really stress the phone and battery as much as possible. In a normal day, I would use the phone less than I have in the last day, so if the battery does well now, it should have no problems going forward.

One thing that really stands out is that on standby, the phone uses very little battery. It's pretty comparable to the iPhone 5 that I have, and blows the older Galaxy Nexus (with extended battery!!) that I still have out of the water.

I plan on letting the battery run down to 0%, then will do a full recharge back to 100%. With more normal usage, and a second full battery charge, I expect the battery life to be even better. So far, so good.