HTC - DNA

[Gatormb]

Was in Gainesville last weekend and upgraded my Samsung Charge to the HTC - DNA. Quad processor. This phone rocks.

Super knowledgeable (and genuine nice young man) at the Verizon store down near Sam's on 13th Street (441) north of campus.

His name is Stacey. Tell him Gatormb sent you If you check it out. UF grad. BTW, Sam's doesn't sell the DNA.

[helix139]

I checked out the DNA when I upgraded from my Galaxy Nexus in December. Love the screen but was turned off by the limitation of 16GB of storage with no expansion slot and the non-removeable battery. I've also become less of a fan of Sense since ICS and JB have been out. I ended up going with the Galaxy Note 2 myself and am running beanstown's Jelly Beans ROM couldn't be happier with it.

[ValdostaGatorFan]

I hade the same gripes, no removable battery, expansion slot, etc. I went with LG Spectrum 2, not the most popular phone, but I love it.

[Gatormb]

I checked out the DNA when I upgraded from my Galaxy Nexus in December. Love the screen but was turned off by the limitation of 16GB of storage with no expansion slot and the non-removeable battery. I've also become less of a fan of Sense since ICS and JB have been out. I ended up going with the Galaxy Note 2 myself and am running beanstown's Jelly Beans ROM couldn't be happier with it.

I don't do music or movies so 16GB is fine for me. I understand "cloud" takes care of that problem. Supposedly the Quad takes care of no removable battery. I use a lot for calls, emails etc. during the day and haven't used half the battery yet.

[helix139]

I don't do music or movies so 16GB is fine for me. I understand "cloud" takes care of that problem. Supposedly the Quad takes care of no removable battery. I use a lot for calls, emails etc. during the day and haven't used half the battery yet.

The cloud does and doesn't take care of the problem. For media like songs, yes, but it doesn't if you run titanium backup or do frequent nandroid backups and have a need to store multiple gigabytes locally. As far as the quad core, it is definitely an efficient chip (moreso than dual cores or even the quad in the note 2), but it still doesn't mean there aren't some drawbacks. What will you do if your phone freezes up since you can't pull the battery? It doesn't happen often, but it happens, and when it does your only recourse is to pull the battery. Happened to someone I know with a Droid Razr the other day and they had to let the battery die which took hours. What about if the battery goes bad? That's been known to happen and will require replacement of the phone. There's also the issue of what happens if you get into a low signal area which will run any phone battery down quickly. IMO there are just too many potential pitfalls to give up having a replaceable battery.

[Minister_of_Information]

Hell my old azz Thunderbolt has 32 GB

[bakaduin]

Hell my old azz Thunderbolt has 32 GB

I just got rid of my bolt. God I hated that phone. Hated it so much that I bought a used iPhone 4 just to be rid of the bolt. Hate the way the promised upgrades and never received them. Hated the bugginess. Hated the inability to have a workable group chat with iPhone users.

[OaktownGator]

I got a DNA a couple of months ago, and I love it for what I got it for... I have very light sensitive, aging eyes (need big fonts on a big screen) and I need to be able to use the phone outside on a regular basis.

The screen on this phone absolutely rocks. I can see it in bright sunlight, and text is absolutely crisp. The display reviews that indicate the higher screen resolution doesn't matter above 320 or so ppi are absolutely full of crap.

I don't use it for a lot of media so the 16GB limitation isn't a big issue for me although the limitation made me think twice. I read that you can use USB storage with it, so if I need it, that's the way I'll go.

As far as using the "cloud", that's a drive to make you use more data and purchase more expensive data plans.

Other pros and cons on the phone...
- seems to mostly get good reception, but it drops calls more than my prior phone did
- the battery life could be better, but it's completely workable for me and how I use the phone. If you want to watch movies and play video games all day this isn't the phone for you. But I keep a charger at home and in the car and I'm good. Helix makes a good point on value of replaceable batteries, though.
- the algorithm that tries to interpret and "fix" your texting does some bizarre chit... I don't know if it's much different from other phones, but it can be a pain
- camera is quite good for a phone camera

[Minister_of_Information]

I just got rid of my bolt. God I hated that phone. Hated it so much that I bought a used iPhone 4 just to be rid of the bolt. Hate the way the promised upgrades and never received them. Hated the bugginess. Hated the inability to have a workable group chat with iPhone users.

I hear you, though Verizon's recent firmware update of the Thunderbolt platform seems to have solved a lot of those issues. As for me I'm captive to my unlimited data plan for the time being. If they give in to subsidized upgrades for unlimited users or bring back unlimited data plans in general I'll upgrade.

[helix139]

I hear you, though Verizon's recent firmware update of the Thunderbolt platform seems to have solved a lot of those issues. As for me I'm captive to my unlimited data plan for the time being. If they give in to subsidized upgrades for unlimited users or bring back unlimited data plans in general I'll upgrade.

Unfortunately it looks like the unlimited plans are gone for good and at some point they will force everyone onto a tiered plan. Best to stay off contract and just look to ebay for devices or pay full retail. That's what I did for my Note 2 and kept my unlimited data plan

[Minister_of_Information]

Unfortunately it looks like the unlimited plans are gone for good and at some point they will force everyone onto a tiered plan. Best to stay off contract and just look to ebay for devices or pay full retail. That's what I did for my Note 2 and kept my unlimited data plan

Yes, I'm standing pat for now but I'm more optimistic about unlimited plans coming back eventually. Bandwidth like everything else will become increasingly commoditized and progressively cheaper. For now you have service providers penalizing users for consuming increasing amounts of their product, which inverts the usual economic processes. That is not sustainable IMO, and gradually Verizon will realize that it is in the business of competing for overall bandwidth market share with all data providers including wifi and landlines, rather than continuing to artificially limit the consumption of its product. Eventually they'll have the capacity just sitting there waiting to be utilized. And so will Sprint.

[ValdostaGatorFan]

I just got rid of my bolt. God I hated that phone. Hated it so much that I bought a used iPhone 4 just to be rid of the bolt. Hate the way the promised upgrades and never received them. Hated the bugginess. Hated the inability to have a workable group chat with iPhone users.

x3 on the Thunderbolt. That thing was terrible.

[fwhite42]

I've got the DNA and love it (posting from it now). I'm rooted with a custom kernel and Venom ROM, and both the performance and battery life are great. I was leery of the storage and non-removable battery, but neither has been an issue for me at all.

The wireless charging capability is great, and with my 25% corporate account discount, getting a wireless charger for home and one for the office has made it almost impossible for me to worry about battery on a day to day basis. I also picked up a Pebble external battery that's about the size of a roll of dimes and I take that with me when traveling, just in case (just like I used to carry a spare battery with me everywhere when I had removable battery models).

All in all, I think this is one of the best phones on the market.