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How do you go through 11 Droids? Are you especially clumsy? Or does that say something about Droid construction?
I love Siri and get frustrated that my laptop doesn't have it. I don't have to open many apps anymore. I just say "call so-and-so" or "wake me up at 7:30." I've had no problem with voice recognition (but I was trained as an actor and speak very clearly). If you're using it for business, and especially if you work freelance, Siri is invaluable. The time you save doing calendar entry alone is worth it.
I think that's the thing: you need to have a purpose to use it.
I wouldn't really have any use for it, not to mention it just feels weird to talk to a machine like a person, uncanny valley and all that.
How do you go through 11 Droids? Are you especially clumsy? Or does that say something about Droid construction?
A lot of different things. Many of them had or developed defects, mostly software problems. One, the on/off button on the top just stopped working about a week after I got it. My current one suddenly started switching to the camera in the middle of working in other applications. I took it to the Verizon store and they said "this is really wierd. good thing you bought the extended warranty" Some were not the fault of the phone. 1 was stolen, one fell out of my pocket and got run over by a car, one was destroyed in a car accident. Some were poor construction: 1 died becuase i had it in my pockect while cutting wood. I got somewhat sweaty and the moisture was enough to make it quit working. 1 was in my pocket when I was walking down a hallway, I moved aside to avoid someone in a hurry and very lightly brushed my leg along the wall. That was a enough of a jolt to kill the phone. One went berserk after about a year. It woudl ranomly call people, send texts etc while merely laying on the desk. One or two were caused by the insurance program. They send you refurbished phones that somene else returned. Somtimes they cannot find anything wrong with it and send it back out. If it is an intermittant problem linked to a specific use, you do not discover the defect for a few days or even a week.
When I walk up to the verizon store (actually it is a booth), they have someone greet me off to the side. THe last thing they want is to have someone come up and say "My eleventh Android went bad today" while they are trying to sell an android to someone. It is moslty not Android/Motorola's fault. They are cheaply made, but no more cheaply than any others (excpet maybe iphone). I just have unusually bad luck, especially with electronics. I gave up on watches years ago.
When I had a Samsung Blackjack I went through five. Before that I had a blackberry and that was another five, but over a longer period of time. Before blackberry it was that popular sprint flip type smart phone (I cannot recall the name but it was super popular, it had palmpilot built into it, in fact it may bace been a palm pilot phone). I went through four of those.
Some people just have wierd bad luck with electronics. It is a recognized fact. I am one of them. Some claim that it is related to body chemestry or some electronic vibe given off by your body. I suppose that is as good an answer as saying that it is just bad luck.
[quote=tpk-nyc;22192808I love Siri and get frustrated that my laptop doesn't have it. I don't have to open many apps anymore. I just say "call so-and-so" or "wake me up at 7:30." I've had no problem with voice recognition (but I was trained as an actor and speak very clearly). If you're using it for business, and especially if you work freelance, Siri is invaluable. [B]The time you save doing calendar entry alone is worth it.[/[/b]quote]
Frankly, this is probably the sole reason that i have not already bought a Razr. I have a very hard time getting calender entries into my droid and I am very calender depndant. It is one of the most important aspect of my work.
On the other hand, I rely heavily on the navigation in my droid. Without it, I lose hundreds of hours a year trying to find things. Iphone has a map system, but it is nearly undreadable, not very accurate and does not he vocal reminders. Because I tend to forget that I need to watch for my exit, I foten drive right by an exit without realixzing it. Plus if I am using the phone, I cannot see the map so I need the vocal reminder to tell me the exit or turn is coming up. Sometimes I go ten or more miles before I realize that I missed the exit.
There are lots of other issues (like Apples lack of compatibility with stadrad business computers and software and the apparent superior stablity and durability of Iphone), but the most common issues that pop into my head whenver I say "Ok I need to decide this now" are the ease of calendring with Sir vs. the far superior navigation of Android.
Either phone works great for phone calls and texting, OK for e-mail. Calendering and navigation are the only other things I really care about. The other features are mostly irrlevant to me.
Originally Posted by tpk-nyc;22192808I love Siri and get frustrated that my laptop doesn't have it. I don't have to open many apps anymore. I just say "call so-and-so" or "wake me up at 7:30." I've had no problem with voice recognition (but I was trained as an actor and speak very clearly). If you're using it for business, and especially if you work freelance, Siri is invaluable. [B
The time you save doing calendar entry alone is worth it.[/[/b]quote]
Frankly, this is probably the sole reason that i have not already bought a Razr. I have a very hard time getting calender entries into my droid and I am very calender depndant. It is one of the most important aspect of my work.
On the other hand, I rely heavily on the navigation in my droid. Without it, I lose hundreds of hours a year trying to find things. Iphone has a map system, but it is nearly undreadable, not very accurate and does not he vocal reminders. Because I tend to forget that I need to watch for my exit, I foten drive right by an exit without realixzing it. Plus if I am using the phone, I cannot see the map so I need the vocal reminder to tell me the exit or turn is coming up. Sometimes I go ten or more miles before I realize that I missed the exit.
There are lots of other issues (like Apples lack of compatibility with stadrad business computers and software and the apparent superior stablity and durability of Iphone), but the most common issues that pop into my head whenver I say "Ok I need to decide this now" are the ease of calendring with Sir vs. the far superior navigation of Android.
Either phone works great for phone calls and texting, OK for e-mail. Calendering and navigation are the only other things I really care about. The other features are mostly irrlevant to me.
I don't really use the calender a lot but when I do, I do my calender updates on my computer through my google account and it then automatically pushes it to my android phone. It doesn't get much easier than that.
I don't really use the calender a lot but when I do, I do my calender updates on my computer through my google account and it then automatically pushes it to my android phone. It doesn't get much easier than that.
That is how I usually do it now. I send an E-mail to my secretary and ask her to input it into my computer calender. This does not work if it is after hours and the event is tomorrow. Even with events a few days off, if she is really busy with deadline items, she may not get t it for a day or two. She also gets a bit exasperated if I have her do a whole bunch of entries for personal stuff.
I've had 3 Droids and never had Calendar issues. Works flawlessly with Exchange.
As for Apple not having voice navigation "there's an app for that". Download the free and slightly better then Google's Navi by a company you may remember: Mapquest.
I too am ready to upgrade away from a Droid1, and would consider the iPhone, except I like using PDANET to tether my company laptop on occasion. The company pays for my service, including the unlimited data plan, through Verizon. So, I think I am pretty much stuck with Android, but, due to my experiences with the Droid, I am not about to get one that I cannot remove the battery to completely reset the phone at times. That eliminates the RAZR from contention.
I need input from people here as to which Android phone seems to have the most stability. Nexus? Bionic? Other?
Also, does anybody know if I will be able to maintain the unlimited data plan when i switch to a new phone?
You can switch and keep unlimited data. I am fairly certain that you can switch to Iphone and also keep unlimited data.
One of my partners has the Samsung Charge and likes it a lot. THe Phone store guy said that he does nto recommend the Charge though. He said it is too slow.
I was about to buy the Razr and then talked to some more people who have tried both. They said that the Iphone is absolutely stable and virtually never breaks or gets software glitches that make it not work. Even the new Droids are fraught with problems. Everyone agreed that the Iphone navigation is terrible in comparison. However there are other Apps you can buy for Iphone navigation (Garmin or tomTom), but they are expensive and no one I talked to knows how well they work.
I remain undecided, but if I can find a navigation app that works as well as the droid navigation (i.e. it has turn by turn vocal instrucitons, it will interrupt a phone call with warnings of turns, I can tap on a calender entry or E-mail with an address in it and go right to navigation without havine to input the address.), then I will probably end up going with Iphone.
However a whole lot of people when I asked about Siri, said "it is stupid. I never use itafter the first couple of weeks pplaying around with it. "
Also, does anybody know if I will be able to maintain the unlimited data plan when i switch to a new phone?
The last I heard, Verizon was grandfathering the "unlimited" part of their 3G data plan for customers who established service prior to their move away from unlimited plans. So if you established service before ... what was it, July 1 2011? ... then you SHOULD be able to upgrade to 4G and remain unlimited.
You can always call and ask. Better still, contact them by email using the "contact us" link in your account manager. That way you'll have it in writing if there's ever any question.
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