I think this is the Android on Verizon that people should get if they want a solid, reliable phone that they don't have to think about or worry about. I just posted a question here tonight asking why this forum was kind of low-activity and I think one of the reasons is that unlike some other phones, doesn't really have any big hurdles to overcome, which would necessitate a lot of discussion and idea exchange.
It's perfect in the hand. The weight is perfect, the size is perfect, and the feel is perfect. The weight is so perfect that even a featherlight gel case just barely tips it over the edge so that you know you were right on the sweet spot before that. I'm going to take note of the weight of this phone and use it as the yardstick for all future phone purchases. The Thunderbolt, by comparison was just too heavy. It was way too noticeable in a loose shorts pocket as I walked. Bonk bonk bonk. And even that would have been fine but the Thunderbolt sucked battery like it was going out of style. I don't want to have to think about that. With the Incredible 2, I don't.
The phone's primary known downside is the relatively quiet and tinny speakerphone. That seems to be universal. Some people get a power button that is too far recessed. And currently there are bugs that got pushed on us in the update to Gingerbread. Those will get fixed eventually but they are currently annoying. Among the Gingerbread update bugs, some people lose the ability to use the phone function. They'll lose the ability to access the clock app. They'll lose the ability to access the market. Stuff like that. The answer to all of them is factory reset. I'm currently living with a clock app that has again stopped being accessible. I did a factory reset and fixed it but the problem came back a few weeks later. I could factory reset again but don't feel like it so I just downloaded Alarm Clock Plus so I could have alarm, stopwatch, and timers. As long as your contacts are synced to Google (or otherwise backed up by your method of choice), it's not a terribly big deal to factory reset. But I just have so much stuff in folders and have all my widgets set up and stuff that I don't feel like doing it again. But the point of all that is just to illustrate that the problem is minor enough that I just live with a workaround and don't think about it.
As for whether this phone will still be good in 2 years, we can't know, but I suspect it will be. It depends on what you mean by good though. I think it will still be functional and reliable and plugging away. But it won't be updated to the latest version of Android (absent root) and it won't be anywhere near as fast or capable as the phones coming out at that time. It won't be competitive. But that's true of any phone you buy today. But think about, say, an iPhone that someone might have gotten in summer 2009. It's probably still doing great and is still considered a capable modern smartphone, participating in the current smartphone ecosystem. There are faster processors and better screens and newer features and whatnot, but it still does the job.
Verizon's next generation of 4G phones (or maybe the one after that) will be better at battery use and will be less bulky than the current crop. If I were buying right now, I'd probably still buy this phone instead of one of those, just for battery reasons. I'd be tempted by the Bionic, but from what I've read the battery is still an issue, if not quite as bad as, say, the Thunderbolt's. So I say buy with confidence.
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