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Let's get this out of the way right off the bat. VZW has arguably the best coverage, call quality, and reliability. I've had T-Mobile and ATT in small cities and big cities. And while they do MUCH better here in Phoenix, than in podunk Indiana, they still suffer when either:
a. I visit small towns
b. call quality
c. dropped calls
For the longest time I've suffered with shitty phone after crappy phone on big red. From the razr and it's keyboard created by the very devil himself to the Env and it's incredible limitations due to the HORRIBLE BREW software. DIE!
To keep me further pinned under VZW's reign, my entire family uses them. Although w/ the fab 5 or whatever other plans out on the alternative companies, that's less of an issue.
So I'm stuck w/ VZW. First up, the Curve. The software SCREAMS 1988 and I just don't like rolling, and rolling, and rolling that ball all over the place. To make matters worse, the browser's an exercise in frustration. I tried the Env2, but it made calls in my pocket and reading contacts 1 by 1 on the front screen's pretty much a fail. Then came the Dare. This phone really does a wonderful job when compared to the other "dumbphones" I've used. The browser can be tolerated, the camera's GREAT, and the touchscreen...oh damn it to hell, why must I PRESS a screen to swipe up and down!?!?! Further feature hunting led to more disappointment in the way of limits of the software. It's a great alternative, but just left me wanting more.
Enter the Storm. OMG, the store display on release day made me want to kill people. "Hello mr. phone, I've turned you sideways...please move now...thank you." And oh, it would move, but it paused. It paused EVERYWHERE. Total failure of a device.
Then about a month or two later news of a newer more solid firmware came about. I went back into the VZW store to test again. Hmmm...maybe I'll take this home, play with it, and then decide whether or not to invest in BB's first attempt at stealing the iphones thunder.
Home it is. Oh god, why oh why does everyone still suffer along with .75? .103 has DRAMATICALLY increased the usability of this phone. Everything from the accelerometer to the camera to the keyboard, to the browser have been improved or sped up. They've added a portrait QWERTY keyboard to make things a bit easier when typing short replies or entering data fields. Leaving the browser running along with some other apps will not slow this thing to a crawl any longer. 11MB free for apps to 43MB free's a pretty massive improvement.
If the firmware continues to improve at the current rate, this phone WILL deliver for those of us that want a phone/organizer/email FIRST, web/media/camera second.
I'm going to eat some food now, but go ahead and get me riled up. I'm more than willing to fight off iPhone users, though I've not yet tried a G1 extensively enough to compare that.
Cheers,
Jod
a. I visit small towns
b. call quality
c. dropped calls
For the longest time I've suffered with shitty phone after crappy phone on big red. From the razr and it's keyboard created by the very devil himself to the Env and it's incredible limitations due to the HORRIBLE BREW software. DIE!
To keep me further pinned under VZW's reign, my entire family uses them. Although w/ the fab 5 or whatever other plans out on the alternative companies, that's less of an issue.
So I'm stuck w/ VZW. First up, the Curve. The software SCREAMS 1988 and I just don't like rolling, and rolling, and rolling that ball all over the place. To make matters worse, the browser's an exercise in frustration. I tried the Env2, but it made calls in my pocket and reading contacts 1 by 1 on the front screen's pretty much a fail. Then came the Dare. This phone really does a wonderful job when compared to the other "dumbphones" I've used. The browser can be tolerated, the camera's GREAT, and the touchscreen...oh damn it to hell, why must I PRESS a screen to swipe up and down!?!?! Further feature hunting led to more disappointment in the way of limits of the software. It's a great alternative, but just left me wanting more.
Enter the Storm. OMG, the store display on release day made me want to kill people. "Hello mr. phone, I've turned you sideways...please move now...thank you." And oh, it would move, but it paused. It paused EVERYWHERE. Total failure of a device.
Then about a month or two later news of a newer more solid firmware came about. I went back into the VZW store to test again. Hmmm...maybe I'll take this home, play with it, and then decide whether or not to invest in BB's first attempt at stealing the iphones thunder.
Home it is. Oh god, why oh why does everyone still suffer along with .75? .103 has DRAMATICALLY increased the usability of this phone. Everything from the accelerometer to the camera to the keyboard, to the browser have been improved or sped up. They've added a portrait QWERTY keyboard to make things a bit easier when typing short replies or entering data fields. Leaving the browser running along with some other apps will not slow this thing to a crawl any longer. 11MB free for apps to 43MB free's a pretty massive improvement.
If the firmware continues to improve at the current rate, this phone WILL deliver for those of us that want a phone/organizer/email FIRST, web/media/camera second.
I'm going to eat some food now, but go ahead and get me riled up. I'm more than willing to fight off iPhone users, though I've not yet tried a G1 extensively enough to compare that.
Cheers,
Jod
