Showing posts with label phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phone. Show all posts

Friday, June 8, 2012

A Follow Up On My Very Important Smartphone Opinions

A comprehensive review on my thoughts and feelings about the Samsung Galaxy S 2, the Samsung Infuse  and the HCT Vivid, with a little Apple 3GS thrown in for fun. ( Just let me keep believing that you care).

So back a couple  months ago I wrote a post about my feelings on leaving Apple and jumping onto the Droid bandwagon.  I told you how much I loved my Samsung Galaxy S II.  I told you that it was a million trillion times better than my broke ass Apple 3Gs.  And that was 100% true.  For exactly 36 days.

What happened on Day 36, you ask?   Did my Samsung turn on me and I became broken hearted about leaving Apple?  No.  That is not what happened.  What happened was much much more tragic.  I had sat my phone on our fire place mantle one random day in May.  You know, a nice high location to avoid small sticky fingers who may or may not love Angry Birds.  And when my phone started to ring from this high altitude location, I went to grab it and... well... it just slipped.  Right out of my fingers.  It came crashing down onto the tile below, face first.

It was a horrific death, really. And I know, I know. I should have had it in a case.  I SHOULD HAVE.  But i hadn't picked my favorite yet.  And... you know... these decisions are important. And I wanted to take my time about it.  And so while I shopped, I dropped the damn thing.  And I knew.  I  knew before I even flipped it over, that my phone had gone to that lonely place that broken smart phones go.  That it was all over.  My phone had died.

Small short rant here, but WHY do they make smartphones with glass screens?  Even gorilla glass is breakable (as my phones suicide leap from the mantle proved).  Why can't they be plastic?  Is it that hard to make a plastic touch screen??

Anyway, I flipped over my beloved Galaxy S2 and saw the single large fracture cutting across the screen.  "I can live with that..." I thought.  But then I tried to turn it on, and apparently the screen was beyond repair.  The phone worked, but the screen remained black.  I couldn't see it, and therefor I couldn't answer calls.  It was was gone.

So Nick was working in the back yard and I felt that panic.  The panic you feel when you have to tell your significant other (or parents. the feeling happens with parents too) that you have done something that is REALLY dumb.  That it is going to cost money, and that... you know... you are sorry and all, but what's done is done so lets just move on, OKAY?  I opened the back door and looked at Nick working in the yard.  I said "I dropped my phone.  It's broken.  REALLY broken."  and I shut the door. I didn't even wait for a reply.  I just saw his body tense and I figured he needed time to process, and that processing might be done best without me right there saying "So... how mad are you??  Scale of one to ten? You sorta look like a ten...".  He came in about thirty minutes later and just asked what the plan was.  Luckily, I had already thought of one!

We had an extra upgrade in the family (after begging AT&T to give it to us a few months early) and I would use that to get a new shiny smart phone!  One I would put a case on RIGHT AWAY!  Alas, the Galaxy S II was $100, and Nick stood strong on that being too much money that we don't have to spend on a phone just because I broke my brand new one after 35 days.  I agreed.  So I went for the Samsung Infuse, which cost the acceptable price of one penny.

So here is where you might be interested in my opinion (or at least let me believe you are interested in my opinion... ) The Samsung Infuse, which looks basically exactly like the Galaxy S II, sucks.  It sucks bad.  It wouldn't answer calls.  It constantly locked up, several times I had to remove the battery because it was so frozen it was the only option.  I couldn't really take calls inside of my house, because the reception on it was so bad.  I hated the Samsung Infuse.  I hated it with a deep passion.

So 20 days after I got the infuse I called AT&T and said "I hate this phone with a deep passion. I think it's defective. Will you send me a new one".  And you know what they said?  They said to just pick a different phone!  So I get on their website and see they aren't even selling the Infuse anymore (That one penny price tag was too high, I guess).  So I got the HTC Vivid, which fit the price tag we were wanting (It was $10) and you guys, my love of Droid is restored.  This phone is awesome.  The battery life is actually much better than even the Galaxy S2 (and a million trillion times better than my broke ass iphone).  The camera is great, it never locks up, the call quality has been better than my apple or either samsung, it is heavier, but in a "I feel strong and sturdy" good kinda way.  The screen is big (in a good way), and the phone fits easily in my back pocket, this HTC Vivid makes me happy. 

And it has a very nice cover on it. 

Untitled
So, in sum, in the last three months I have had four smart phones.  I would rank them as follows:

1. HTC Vivid
2. Samsung Galaxy S II
3. iphone 3Gs
4-99. every other smart phone ever
100. Samsung Infuse

I know I don't mention the iphone 4s on here.  I also didn't mention the new Samsung Galaxy S3. I have never had either.  This is more to help the people who don't want to pay $100-$300 for a phone.  All of these phones can be ordered from AT&T online for between $10 and a penny (the Galaxy S2 when it is on sale).  So... if you have a tight budget, this might be helpful.  I love my HTC, and I am officially still a Droid girl.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

A Very Important Post About My New Smartphone

You like how I have two posts up this week about my very important opinions??  Me too!

What?  You don't find my new phone important?  Clearly you do not live inside my head.  This is TOP NEWS around here!  

FINE... scroll down to the bottom. I will include a picture of Henry.  JUST FOR YOU.

So I have had an iphone 3Gs for the last two and a half years.  I wanted one way before that, but our budget was too tight and I had a tiny little baby so I just made due with what I had. Then, one magical day I turned 30 and my sisters decided it was high time I joined the rest of the world and got me my very first bonafied smart phone.  I was ecstatic.  I bought the Apple Care Plan for the extra $100 and thought I was bullet proof.

After nearly a year my phone's wifi stopped working.  I marched into the apple store and they handed me a new phone because I had the Care Plan!  MAGIC!  Except... it sorta bothered me.  I mean, did I have to have the care plan to have them fix an apple product they made that I was contractually obligated to keep for two years?  It felt... I don't know, annoying.  Like if you sell me a phone and say I can't upgrade that phone for two years, it should work for two years. 

But whatever, I was happy.  I had a BRAND NEW PHONE!  I mean... it was exactly like the old one, but still... SHINNY!  NEW!!  And I was happy.  Right up until I dropped my phone a week later on the sidewalk outside of the hospital and it shattered into a million tiny pieces.  It was impressive.   So I called up apple again and was like "So... this care plan..." and they laughed and hung up because things like care plans only work if the product is defective, not for owners who have fingers made of butter. 

So... I did a little finagling and managed to use my upgrade (my sisters had used my mom's to get my original phone) to get a refurbished 3Gs for $20.  I wanted to get the 4, I wanted to get a BRAND NEW PHONE, but really... my butter fingers just destroyed a brand new phone, and we didn't have the money so Apple refurbished it was.  I tried to get the care plan, but they wouldn't give it to a refurbished phone.  "Don't worry"  I was told, "Apple's refurbished are just like new.  It will be fine!"

That was a year and a half ago.  A few weeks ago my battery died.  Like, after charging all night it would stay charged for 1-2 hours. I went to apple and they said there was nothing they could do.  I went to my AT&T store and they said they would be happy to let me an upgrade early!!  BUT because of their Apple contracts it couldn't be on an iphone.  I. WAS. HORRIFIED.  How DARE they keep me from my beloved new iphone that I have been DREAMING ABOUT?!  I am an iphone user!  I CANNOT CHANGE!  Except, I have owned two apple phones, and both died before two years was up.  I didn't want to get refurbished again, but if I waited out the rest of my contract with this terrible dying phone and was allowed to get an Apple, the phone would cost me $200, the Care Plan another $100, and the case to protect it another $50.  That's $350.... which, to me, is sorta a lot of money.  But STILL.. I CAN'T LEAVE APPLE!

Except... I did.  Nick and I did a lot of research, we read reviews and we talked to people, and we found out that apparently these people who make Droids know a thing or two about phones.  So... for a total of $10 each (Not $100, TEN.  TEN DOLLARS) We each got a new Samsung Galaxy S II.  (How did Nick get involved?  Don't even get me started.  That boy has needed a new phone for nearly a  decade.)  You guys, it is so awesome. SO. AWESOME.  Everything about it is compatible to Google, and I don't know if you know, but I am a Google girl.  Every picture I have ever put on my blog is already on my phone, because Google owns Blogger.  All my contacts are there because Google Contacts were imported automatically. It has all the voice activated stuff, so I tell it to do things, AND IT DOES! It's like magic!  In a DROID!

I have yet to find a single thing that my iphone did that this phone can't do.  I realize I was using a three generations back iphone.  I do.  So don't consider this a comparison of iphone vs droid. I can't say I love this phone more than I would the iPhone 4s.  But my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone is the total shit.  No lie.  Every app I have wanted is free except for People Magazine (shut up. A girl needs her celebrity gossip), the widgets are awesome, it takes great pictures, It is light a thin and honestly rather impressive looking. It cost TEN DOLLARS and if the battery dies or the wifi breaks in the next two years, it is under warranty and I get a new one for free.  For six dollars a month I can get insurance on it, and if I drop it in the lake they will give me a new one. So basically... it makes me happy.  And I wanted to share.

It even has a forward facing camera, which Henry REALLY enjoys.
"MAMA!  MAMA! Take picture with Henry, Mama AND ANGRY BIRDS!"
 

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