Comparing HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE and Droid Incredible 2 and Droid Incredible 1: Operating Systems

For those of you wondering about the differences between the original Droid Incredible, the Droid Incredible 2 and the HTC Droid Incredible 4g lte, this post is for you.  There a bunch of reviews out there already telling people what the Incredible 4G does or does not have, but not many that are comparing how the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE stacks up against the prior phones in the Droid Incredible line up.

In case you missed it, see my earlier post comparing dimensions and sizes of the Dinc 1, Dinc 2 and Dinc 3 and my rant about why you should not compare this phone to the HTC One X or Galaxy S3. 

Operating System
As you all know, all three Dincs use Google's Android operating system.
The Original Incredible maxed out at Android Gingerbread 2.3.4 (don't remember sense version, I think 2)
The Incredible 2 (as of this writing) is at Android Gingerbread 2.3.4  (don't remember sense version, I think 2) as well, but has some extra features over the original Inc
The Incredible 4G shipped with Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.3 and Sense 4

So what's the difference?
In real world application, the main changes from the Incredible 1 to the Incredible 2 where all extremely minor.  The processor and ram boost of the Incredible 2 made for a better experience, but overall the interface of the two units was extremely similar.  There were a couple of enhancements and improvements to the mail client in the Incredible 2, and it ironed out a couple of minor email and calendar bugs.  A big improvement is that it removed the annoying out of disk space bug that the Incredible 1 had.  The Incredible 2 offered more customizable screens and backgrounds, but overall, the OS and overall experience was incredibly (pun intended) similar. 
Now, how about moving from the Incredible 2 to the Incredible 4G?  Well, now we have some big differences.

• ICS manages memory and storage much better.  What does this mean to you?  It means that you dont' have to install a task manager to kill tasks just to speed up the phone (incredible one owners).  It means that you don't get the dreaded out of disk space message on the og Incredible (though that was solved in the Inc 2).  And for Dinc2 users, it means that the new operating system, combined with more ram and a better processor, absolutely flies.  I rarely see any lag on the phone.
• You don't have to Root the device to get rid of Verizon bloat.  Well, technically the Verizon bloat is still there taking up space, BUT you can disable it so that you do not see it in your menus and that it does not autostart.  So, slacker radio, Vcast, VZNavigator and all that other crap can be disabled from the application management screen in the Incredible 4G and you don't have to worry about it again.
• Email is improved yet again, with email grouping.  This means that you can delete whole groups of emails (from one sender) with just a couple clicks, which is really useful.  
• Huge improvements to the lock screen.  You can now set you lock screen to show you calendar appointments or the weather, and can also set it up with quick unlock settings so you can unlock your phone right into texts, email, camera or a web browser.
• The HTC Incredible 4G  has more background and color choices available out of the box compared to the Incredible 2.
• The camera on the Inc4G takes photos lightning fast compared to the Incredible 2.  I actually think the camera speed and focus was better on the original incredible than the incredible 2, but the incredible 4G is better than them both.  It is true though, the HTC One series with the discreet imaging chip, is better than the 4G Incredible.  Even so, you still take acceptable images at a fast rate, and you can take snapshots while video is recording.  The inc 4g also supports taking 1080p videos.  Not bad.

I'll add more to this list as I think of it.