Back To The Smartphone

As part of the fallout from the AT&T nightmare, I have a Samsung Epic 4G smartphone. I've learned from the past experience:

Do not overload the phone with apps. They eat space, battery, and in my case, incoming phone calls...

As above, let it go to voice mail. I've also found that a proper, dedicated GPS for the car, in a HUD mounting, is better than looking down at a smaller screen, or listening to voice directions from the phone. We learned this lesson back on the F-15.

Buy the biggest SD card available, and just live with it. Get whatever data you can off the old SD card, and then format it. Moving to SD card is only a partial solution for app addiction, as processes will still run in background for the app, and eat your battery and performance.

Accept the loss of your ringtones. My barking dogs singing national anthems are gone. And, I had paid through the nose for them. Can't find them anywhere. If anybody has an idea where they are, please comment.

Speaking (BARK!) of ringtones, do not go hog-wild. Ringtones, if not well done, are a curse. It can be tiresome to hear a ship's bell everytime a co-worker is messaged or texted.

Buy a phone with a physical keyboard. I did that, and I'm much happier. Some of the custom keyboard skins have keyloggers embedded in them, as well.

Apple Vs Android: I have an I-Touch as well. The apps are generally more stable than the apps on the new Android phone, and it is the superior music player. None of the Android music apps have truly matched I Tunes. But the Android phone is more versatile, and cheaper, and has a better screen. We are not yet to the point of the one size fits all phone. If Apple would cut their pricing, and make the screens larger, they would greatly increase market share. Not to mention going to more carriers (which is rumored to be in progress).

Do NOT attempt to root the Android phone. Yes, the bloatware is annoying, and root level control is nice. But having a brick, instead of a functioning phone is worse than being stuck with "Sprint (insert bloatware)". It's all too easy, even for experienced users, to trash the phone. And, just try to get a replacement phone... :(

Jailbreaking the Apple is even more useless. Apples Thought Control Policy keeps the apps and phone stable. This makes Apple perfect as a media device- but limits it as a multi-purpose device. The I Touch is kept around the house as a media player, and on an FM radio stalk in the car. This leaves the phone free to be a phone. It's not too bad as a Kindle/e-mail reader, either, working off the Wi-Fi in the Doghouse. 32 GB of onboard storage makes it a great library device.

Network service quality is once again better on Sprint, than on AT&T. Voice quality is by far superior. This is a problem that AT&T has been justly mocked for.

Apple may learn eventually (in the next couple of cycles) to loosen up, have removable batteries and media, and above all, cut pricing. Google needs to purge a great many of the developers writing bad apps, and come out with an official Google I-Tunes. Which happens first will determine the smartphone wars.