Trying to way the pros and cons of upgrading to the octane

Question

3 lines, husband and son have ENV2's and I have an ENV3 with no problems at all with the shut down issue and have had it 2yrs.  We have no home phone and my phone is the main line so it's on 24/7 since I have an elderly Mom that lives in the area I have too.  I don't text a ton and I do receive some tweets and bettery life is very good.    We are due for upgrades and online at verizon it's saying we can all get the octane free.  Started reading all the user reviews and have some questions I need addressed if anyone can help.  For the most part I think the ENV2 and 3 are just about the same except I find the keyboard layout better on the 3.   I plan on looking at one in store and brining a list of stuff with me to check too.     Mary
Low volume-  Know there was a big discussion on this and complaints galore.  On my ENV3 on the front at the top where I listen to calls is that also a speaker and that's why I can hear it good when closed and the octane does not work like this when closed?  I can make my own ringtones and amplify them same for hubby but this would be big cons for us if they didn't do something to correct it on newer phones coming out.
Battery life seemed to be a complaint with some people.   I know if you text a ton and send photos that will eat up battery life so are some phones defective with the battery or are people maybe just sending a lot of photo message to eat up battery life I wonder.  With light texting and a few photos I can go a few days before I loose some bars now so hoping it would be the same on the octane.
Back light stays on when powered down- user specific defect?
To answer an incoming call, you must push OK first to unlock the device then press SEND to pick up the call. Should be a single button push to answer or at best OK twice, not 2 separate-  True or false or maybe they don’t have the settings for answering a call right?   Only have to push one button on my env3 and 2.
slow frustrating interface glitchy software awkward front keypad- front keypad looks like my ENV3 with a contact button and an ok button to push and navigate music and photos and such does the ok button do that?  Maybe they have updated the software so it's not glitchty now?
 you have to open the flip to see missed calls and silence the alarm.  True or false?  See missed calls and alarm function on front of ENV3 when it goes off and this is important to me
person on the other end of the line hears an echo. when i press "2" "12" is displayed-  User specific glitches?
2.5mm headphone jack. you cannot play music without the micro sd card-  I load music on my micro card now so have one and putting music on the actual phone itself is not a concern for me and I have the head phone adapter to use my regular head phones.
speaker isn't very loud while on speaker phone-  glitch with that users phone or all of them as I do use that function quite a bit.
keyboard set up a little wonky- from photo looks like my ENV3 with space bar in the middle which I love better than the ENV2 keyboard
dropping calls on regular basis- User specific to their area and service?  Hard to tell as they didn't state if all the other phones they have had never did that in their area.  I get no dropped calls at home or out an about with any verizon phones we have had, we get great service here, only exception might be if we are way out in the boonies which is rarely but for home and out and about in town I need good reception so would assume this phone would work the same on our service as the ENV2 and 3 do and our old flip phones did.
there is no indicator that I have a voicemail message- guessing that has to be a user glitch as every phone we have had has a voice mail indicator so does it not have one?
Case back is very hard to get off without bending the whole thing and I can see that once it’s a bit worn, it will probably be hard to keep on. I never dropped my ENV but have already dropped this twice due to a more slippery nature. Its also harder to open quickly- not sure if they bought a case other than the black rubberized one from verizon which I have for my ENV3 and is fine or they are talking about the phone itself?  Why would it be harder to open quickly?  Defective hinges on that one?
for the camera. It doesn't have a zoom in option, which is strange- My ENV3 does not have a zoom function.  Don’t care as I have $2,000 worth of professional equipment to take good photos so just need to snap something once in a while out and about to maybe send to someone and my ENV3 in daylight is great for that so assume this is just as good if not a little better camera quality.

Answer 1

We have 3 Octanes, I don't personally have one, I've not heard any complaints by any of them. My responses are in Bule below.
acraftylady wrote:
3 lines, husband and son have ENV2's and I have an ENV3 with no problems at all with the shut down issue and have had it 2yrs.  We have no home phone and my phone is the main line so it's on 24/7 since I have an elderly Mom that lives in the area I have too.  I don't text a ton and I do receive some tweets and bettery life is very good.    We are due for upgrades and online at verizon it's saying we can all get the octane free.  Started reading all the user reviews and have some questions I need addressed if anyone can help.  For the most part I think the ENV2 and 3 are just about the same except I find the keyboard layout better on the 3.   I plan on looking at one in store and brining a list of stuff with me to check too.     Mary
Low volume-  Know there was a big discussion on this and complaints galore.  On my ENV3 on the front at the top where I listen to calls is that also a speaker and that's why I can hear it good when closed and the octane does not work like this when closed?  I can make my own ringtones and amplify them same for hubby but this would be big cons for us if they didn't do something to correct it on newer phones coming out. No complaints
Battery life seemed to be a complaint with some people.   I know if you text a ton and send photos that will eat up battery life so are some phones defective with the battery or are people maybe just sending a lot of photo message to eat up battery life I wonder.  With light texting and a few photos I can go a few days before I loose some bars now so hoping it would be the same on the octane. Wife's phone goes 3-4 days without a charge.
Back light stays on when powered down- user specific defect? I've never seen this, but they are always on.
To answer an incoming call, you must push OK first to unlock the device then press SEND to pick up the call. Should be a single button push to answer or at best OK twice, not 2 separate-  True or false or maybe they don’t have the settings for answering a call right?   Only have to push one button on my env3 and 2. I believe it's one button to answer.
slow frustrating interface glitchy software awkward front keypad- front keypad looks like my ENV3 with a contact button and an ok button to push and navigate music and photos and such does the ok button do that?  Maybe they have updated the software so it's not glitchty now? Never heaard complaints.
 you have to open the flip to see missed calls and silence the alarm.  True or false?  See missed calls and alarm function on front of ENV3 when it goes off and this is important to me
person on the other end of the line hears an echo. when i press "2" "12" is displayed-  User specific glitches? This was a problem early on with octanes, it's been fixed.
2.5mm headphone jack. you cannot play music without the micro sd card-  I load music on my micro card now so have one and putting music on the actual phone itself is not a concern for me and I have the head phone adapter to use my regular head phones.
speaker isn't very loud while on speaker phone-  glitch with that users phone or all of them as I do use that function quite a bit.
keyboard set up a little wonky- from photo looks like my ENV3 with space bar in the middle which I love better than the ENV2 keyboard
dropping calls on regular basis- User specific to their area and service? Hard to tell as they didn't state if all the other phones they have had never did that in their area.  I get no dropped calls at home or out an about with any verizon phones we have had, we get great service here, only exception might be if we are way out in the boonies which is rarely but for home and out and about in town I need good reception so would assume this phone would work the same on our service as the ENV2 and 3 do and our old flip phones did. Never had problem with dropped calls and our octanes are used mainly in 3 different areas.
there is no indicator that I have a voicemail message- guessing that has to be a user glitch as every phone we have had has a voice mail indicator so does it not have one?
Case back is very hard to get off without bending the whole thing and I can see that once it’s a bit worn, it will probably be hard to keep on. I never dropped my ENV but have already dropped this twice due to a more slippery nature. Its also harder to open quickly- not sure if they bought a case other than the black rubberized one from verizon which I have for my ENV3 and is fine or they are talking about the phone itself?  Why would it be harder to open quickly?  Defective hinges on that one?
for the camera. It doesn't have a zoom in option, which is strange- My ENV3 does not have a zoom function.  Don’t care as I have $2,000 worth of professional equipment to take good photos so just need to snap something once in a while out and about to maybe send to someone and my ENV3 in daylight is great for that so assume this is just as good if not a little better camera quality.