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  • Yep, I think this would be a good phone for me. I need a good camera,speaker and the HD screen is a bonus. The amps for the speaker and headphones round it out. The lack of an SD cars is a bit disconcerting but I can live with that.

  • Got mine today and it is amazing! Feels amazing the screen of course is wonderful battery life is fine but I am coming from a 1400mah Droid X so everything is an upgrade. Sense isn’t that big of a deal I think at least with me, I even kind of like it. The only thing I HATE about this phone is that FoxFi doesn’t work as of now which means no hotspot but I guess that isn’t a big deal. If anyone knows a way to get it or has gotten it to work on their DNA I would love to know.

    Overall great phone! Looks great runs great good battery life and just a sexy phone! You can’t really go wrong with it.

  • was playing with one at the VZW store and i couldn’t get past the sense skin. i know it’s a popular and almost cliche complaint at this point, but it really ruined the experience for me. i even rebooted the device before playing with it and some of the transitions just took forever (relatively speaking) compared to stock Jelly Bean. it’s priced well, but i’d wait for it to drop even more before i consider this. maybe by then there will be some nice roms to choose from.

  • I just got my Droid Dna today :),. I love it so far :), Battery life is superb,. You’re all wrong about the rumors !. lol

    • So now that you see the battery is legit, you gotta start gripin about updates…hah, ok…the DNA has JB out the gate!

          • Riight…you’ve (and others) been bashing Sense, battery and now how HTC sucks with updates. Facts? What facts? As if HTC is the only manufacturer that still has devices to update!? Besides, this post is about the DNA which is an iota away from the most recent OS version available to date. So I can give a rats ass about any updates for a while…so go on with your ‘blind’ comments…I know a good thing when I ‘see’ it.

          • I bash sense because it slows down the phones. Look at reviews and see how the same chip in other devices runs more smoothly. Most wont notice it yes but it’s nothing new for sense to be a resource hog and not let the phones run to their full potential. I never said the DNA isn’t a good phone I was stating what I do not like about it. Sorry you get butthurt like the iPhone fanboys because I don’t agree with you. Plus never said they are the only ones to not update they are just much slower

          • “I bash sense because it slows down the phones.” Really? On recent phones in the last year? Prove it. Because nobody ever does. Reviews? Yes I can see you’ve been drinking the koolaid. I wonder what’s up with the N7 w quad core, it has hiccups and not always smooth and running to its potential…so again, your blind comments are just that. Oh I’m fine with a disagreement, as long as you can justify or back it up…otherwise its just tired and old hot air.

          • http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9233837/HTC_Droid_DNA_review_A_superphone_with_flaws?taxonomyId=15 That’s why I’ve been very surprised with how inconsistently the Droid DNA performs. While tasks such as app loading are impressively fast, the phone suffers from a lot of jerky and glitch-filled performance in other areas. System animations frequently stutter, and scrolling on the Web is slower and less fluid than what I’ve come to expect from a high-end phone.

            Beyond that, the system seems to struggle to keep up at times: When typing, for instance, the phone will often freeze up for a few seconds and ignore my input — then quickly burst out the backlog of letters it’s collected in a rush to catch up. I can’t remember the last time I experienced anything like that on a computing device.

          • Nah man, no jerkiness or glitches on my device… Maybe on the “demo” device you were playing with. Also if you were using Chrome, then yes… It is slow and quite a mess… but that isn’t the DNA, that is Chrome, which is barely usable on my N7. I’ve uninstalled it on my DNA. The stock browser is 10x faster and smooth as butter! No problems with input or swipe…it’s fast and accurate.

      • How is the battery life legit by any means? The numbers are all over the place in every review. That is far from legit by any means

  • Just picked it up a few hours ago. Coming from an S3 it will take a few days to get used to the button layout on the bottom of the phone.

    What I have noticed is the on off button on the top is stupid. Why the heck is it not on the side. The phone doesn’t feel that much bigger then my S3 but turning the phone on/off requires a weird grip or two hands.

    The cover on the mirco usb slot wont last long either. It feels like the cheapest plastic that will eventually break off after a couple weeks use.

  • 2020mah battery – non removable – killer. im not even going to go in to test it out at this point

    • I’m worried about it when it starts dying in 14 months and not holding the charge as well. I like to be able to buy a brand new battery and just replace it.

      • Yep! People don’t realize that ALL rechargeable batteries lose more and more of it’s charging capacity with every recharge. Which is why no matter how good the battery is (razr maxx) I won’t be interested in a phone with a sealed-in battery.

  • Selling on wirefly for 150, if you don’t mind waiting a day or two to save 50 bucks. Bummed i already preorded mine- at least i get it today!

  • In getting it today. play with it them return it for the Galaxy note 2 before the 30 days is over. I

    • It’s actually 14 days. But, you should have time, if Verizon releases it on the 27th as the Samsung rep told me they would.

  • I went to VZW corporate store to check it out at lunchtime. It looked and felt great but when I saw that it was stuck on 3G while my RAZR Maxx was on 4G I put it back on the shelf and walked out. No thanks.

  • Manage a small Verizon store on Long Island and have had a lot more requests this morning and orders placed for this device then I thought. Looks like it’s gonna be somewhat of a winner. Just hope HTC does the right thing and keeps it updated.

  • Can anyone offer some advice/their opinion on what I should do? I ordered this phone on a dumb phone line to get the subsidized price. To activate phones, you have to use the automated thing–reps don’t just do it on their own. My question is… should I call a rep first or call them after I do it and cancel the dumb phone line’s data package? This was my elaborate ploy to keep unlimited data and get the subsidized price. Thanks.

    • You are always better off making changes to your plan in person. I don’t trust the automated systems — I have heard too many people screwing themselves that way, and it’s a huge pain in the ass to fix. Go to a Verizon store and be honest with the rep about what you’re trying to do. Thousands of people do the same thing every day, so it’s not like you are doing something out of the ordinary. A decent customer service rep should have you set up and out the door within 15 minutes. If they give you static, simply walk out and go to another store.

  • My Corporate Store received NONE. We have a population of 150k. 45 minutes away is a town with less than 1/3 our population…they have 15. They’re holding me one. Way to go Verizon.

  • I was able to handle one of these last night in the store for about 15 mins. Everything is nice. But there is only about 11GB available to the user. That is a BIG DEAL.

    I think HTC will be missing a lot of sales because this does not have more memory of expandable SD. I am sure they will sell a lot of the DNA, But the would sell so many more if there was more memory. 11GB for the user is just not enough, especially for a phone this awesome otherwise.

  • I went in to check it out today… Compared it to my gnex and i just went and looked at the note 2 a few days ago. The phone seems almost as large as the note 2 which I have preordered. It was extremely fast. I wanted to do a sound test through my headphones to test the advertised amp… Ouch. Thing is abnormally loud as hell for sure. I played a 320mbps mp3 from the net. One thing that was weird is the volume kept going on max on me out of nowhere. Maybe it had something to do with the verizon display program it was running but it was not cool. Also did a speed test. 16000kbps appx down 7000kbps up compared to gnex which was like 15000kbps down and 6000kbps up. Also both the gnex and dna came in at full signall bars on lte. The power buttons and volume rocker buttons suck. Too flush… Power button location DOES Suck. Microusb cover… why? As for the screen, while it WAS nice, i couldn’t tell the difference in 1080p on the DNA vs the 720p on the Note 2. Mind you it wasn’t side by side. But to me considering the phone seemed pretty large I would have rather had a slightly larger phone with a bigger screen, better blacks, a pen, removable battery, multi-app, equal reception, and friggin storage to make use of said ridiculous screen with some friggin 720p hd movies from my own collection! The note 2 will eat this thing for breakfast. How do you like them apples?

    • Oh forgot this part… kind of a big deal. The phone crashed and rebooted on me while it was playing my mp3 through the browser. It did reboot fully in about 10 seconds though at least. LOL.

      • I went to see it today too……not good enough to give up the gnex for…..the icon text on the home screen seemed blurry and the signal was showing 3g whilst the razr’s on the next display were showing 4. After a few minutes with each, the note seems like a nicer phone

        • Perhaps they didn’t update the graphic assets for Sense? Or were you talking about the icon “label”?

          • icon label E.G. You are in an app, close it and return to the home screen,,,,,the icon label looks blurry. As i said, most probably just me seeing ‘things’

      • That sounds like my old Thunderbolt. I actually spiked the thunderbolt like i just scored a touchdown when my Bionic arrived. Anyways fast forward a gnex and s3 I’m waiting for the Note 2 myself.

        • That sounds like both of my GNEX and TBOLT. I blame the first Generation LTE radio. Don’t know about the DNA though, but that 1080p res screen has gotta affect the processors somehow.

  • Called the VZW store near me here in Pittsburgh and they said they didn’t get any in. So I can either wait until next week to go in and play with one before I buy it, or just trust the reviews and order it online from Wirefly and get the 50 dollar discount… hmmm…

  • So what is the actual battery life span? nobody seems to have an idea of time. most of us have our phone laying on our desk at work.. check some email or txt… surf a little during lunch.. how long does it last in that eco-system?

    I can seriously say I miss the days that i would only have to charge my phone once a week / every couple days.

    Sure my Ericsson GA318 wasn’t as thin, but at least it lasted!.. and it still fit in my back pocket just fine. Standby time 67 hours… come on.. technology has improved; no reason we should be going backwards!

    • Kellex averaged about 22 hours per charge under different conditions (heavy use/text and email, etc.) One screenshot showed his phone on for over 24 hours and he was still at 40%.

      • Aye, but what was his screen on time? 24 hours is nothing if you don’t actually use the phone.

  • wifey is gonna get it today or tomorrow!! to replace her trash A$& thunderbolt!! can’t wait to caress that phone! my GNEX gonna get a lil jealous ^-^ I told her to get it since it’ll be bease for a while as other companies catch up to the specs

    • I’m gonna keep my Bionic ’til Jelly Bean. Since ICS, I’ve done a lot of tweaks (per suggestions online) and it’s so much faster than with Gingerbread and got the battery life under control. Since ICS, I’m no longer impatient for a new phone. I’m good….for now!

    • Ditto, but per a post yesterday, I got unofficial CM10 on my Bionic and its somewhat more tolerable now. The slowness seems to have gone away, but I’ve only really used it for about an hour.

  • i got lucky and received mine yesterday around 3pm… very nice device… sense doesnt bring as much to the table as it used to… had to put on nova launcher after trying to deal with it for 4 hours… and htc trace lags if you are really good at swype… downloaded the Swype beta and its extra fast o this

  • You know what would help me make up my mind? Finding out what Nicholas Alexander Cusmina feels about this phone.

  • Mine is on some delivery truck while I’m stuck at work, but at least I have it pre-signed. It’s going to be a looong day.

  • Gonna go try to find it in a verizon store today. They are terribly uninformed around here and nobody knew if they would get one today or not.

  • Thinking about it but the lack of an SD card worries me. That was my only gripe about my Gnex. I have the S3 now and really like it.

    • I agree, expandable storage (more specifically lack of it) is a huge dealbreaker for me. Just my opinion though

      • Appearantly its not just your opinion because the lack of SD is what’s keeping a LOT of people from buying the DNA, including me. I was reluctantly willing to go without the non removable battery but no microSD?! NO WAY!

        • I am just the opposite. I’d rather have a removable battery (or Razr Maxx size battery) than expandable memory. The DNA’s lack of both completely wipes it off the radar for me.

        • Yep, I’d go for the DNA if it had removable storage, or if they bumped in the internal up to 32 GB.

          • For me its battery life. After using the gnexus for a year I just won’t buy a phone without a ridiculously large battery because nobody mentioned the battery life on the gnexus in the reviews either and I just can’t believe that a battery smaller than the gnexus extended will last a 1080 display for a good amount of time. If I actually use my nexus it’ll drain its battery so ridiculously fast it hampers my ability to use the phone.

          • Yeah, battery is a concern for me too. I blame my Nexus for me never playing games on a phone anymore. I used to quite a bit when I had a Droid X, but the GNex battery life was SO terrible, I felt like playing games was essentially out of the question. The Maxx HD is enticing because you know you’ll never have to worry about your battery again (minus the non-replaceable part…).

        • I would actually go with a phone with no expandable memory but a big battery over a small battery and expandable storage

          • But if the battery is swappable then even a sub par battery is a non issue because one can be charging while you carry on using you phone. I just don’t see why we

          • yeah but then you have to carry multiple batteries around. HTC needs to get out of this mentality that everyone wants a super thin phone because their phones can’t even be that thin with tiny batteries in them. Moto can fit a huge battery in a phone thinner than this and samsung has no problem putting adequate batteries in their phones. Especially with non-removable batteries bigger should be the main focus. They would have had a home run if they made the battery 3000+ in this.

          • I agree with you about the dumb notion that thinner-is-better with smartphones. But even though the razr maxx has a 3000+ battery I STILL fault Motorola for sealing the battery because with every charge rechargeable batteries loses its charging capacity incrementally.

  • People who picked one up would tell you, but their phone ran out of battery before they could post. I kid, I kid.

  • Just picked mine up! This thing is fast… it is my favorite phone since the DX, honestly reminds me of it a lot, just way more polished…. just traded in my S3 and will never go back. The screen is amazing, the battery life so far is not as bad as they say, just a little bit worse than the S3, but far better than my old GNex. Also the little battery port everyone complains about is not an issue. Thanks HTC for making another droid worthy phone, its been forever since the original DINC!

      • The secret is to always buy off-contract. I change phones usually twice a year. Selling my old one usually recoups at least half the cost of the new one.

    • You picked this up a half hour ago (as of this moment), and you can already tell people that the battery life is good? Exactly how can you do that?

    • Yeah, the Eris was so “Droid worthy” *rolls eyes* Droid is just a name they throw up from time to time, means nothing.

    • Man, people are terrible fanboys on here. It’s not bad enough that it’s android vs apple, but if you say that you like something other than the Note, people will give you the thumbs down. Thanks for posting your experience.

      • Yea it really is sad that our own community bites at each other. It started to make me kind of ashamed to be apart of such a group, but then I remember that kids will be kids. They need to feel like they have the best of something.

    • The DNA is a supercharged phone that does everything current and past phones do. Watch the Engadget review and see all the stuff the Note2 can do. Mind blowing.

      • The Galaxy Note 2 is on a level on of it’s own. Compare the Htc Dna to the other android devices not the Note 2. The Note 2 stands alone in every category except screen otherwise the Htc Dna is not even on my scale…..

    • Yeah I can’t help but laugh at this offering of the HTC DNA. Looks great screen wise but let’s be serious this is pretty soft. My Galaxy Note 2 on tmobile gets 20 plus hours of battery life daily. That’s with 7 to 8 hrs of on screen time wjich is heavy use on this device on a daily basis. So imagine if I was a light user looks like I would get 2days of battery life easily. Trust me the HTC DNA couldn’t touch the Galaxy Note 2 on it’s BEST DAY. Plus features and software alone the GALAXY NOTE 2 PISSES ALL OVER THE HTC DNA. People on Verizon won’t allow the Galaxy Note 2 to pass without purchase you can trust that….

      • how long you been working for Samsung? I just picked up my DNA, I got a better screen, better processor, I’m avg about 14 hours battery , I got better sound, I got a camera that runs circles around Samsung and a design that dosnt look like I’m holding a shoe box to my head.

  • Mine shows “on vehicle for delivery today”. At 37yo I feel a little silly getting this exited over a phone…. But it was the same thing when I got my GNex too.

      • Why do you say that? I am stoked for everything about this phone except for Sense… Having been a huge HTC fan for the last couple years, and then having been on a GNex for about 4 months now, I don’t know that I could go back to Sense. It seems so stale and unneeded anymore, now that Android has come so far. I love the specs, but the UI is a big deal to me now that I’ve tasted pure vanilla Jelly Bean goodness.

  • i really wanted to like this phone. I love the specs on this bad boy but that battery is going to disappoint me especially after i put all my apps on it. Waiting for GNOTE2.

      • yea my GS3 doesn’t last a day with all the apps it has on it. it absolutely has more battery than my GNex but if the DNA doesn’t last as long as the GS3, then no way. bottom line is HTC should have thrown a bigger battery in that thing. if you have NO apps installed or are not constantly checking emails, facebook or twitter, then im sure your battery on the DNA would be great.

      • I wanted to like this phone too, but battery and memory are dealbreakers. My S3 battery life is acceptable, but I definitely wouldn’t want *less* battery. I can almost always get through the day on my S3 without charging or swapping battery. My GNex was embarrassingly bad…it needed a mid-day charge/battery swap about 50-60% of the time.

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