Phone Problems...And Solutions

I have been on a roller coaster ride with my new phone, the HTC Incredible.  In a previous post I talked about all the problems I was having with the phone.  As an update, I thought I would let you know some of the things that have happened to make me decide to keep my phone.

After all my problems with not being able to get a signal, I took the phone to my local Verizon store. A Verizon employee told me that there was a setting wrong in the phone and he was able to change it (still don't know how because a Verizon tech later told me it wasn't even possible to change it) and Viola! my phone was able to get a signal. 


A few days later, I still was having problems getting the phone to recognize the 2GB miniSD card that came free with the phone. I took the battery out in the process of trying to get it to work (turns out the card was bad and I had to use an old one). Once I took the battery out, the phone went back to how it was and I had no signal again.


I was so frustrated, so I decided to call Verizon tech. The guy told me that they had several people call with this problem and that I would need to do a hard reset on my phone and that should fix it. I was so upset. I had spent the last week trying to download apps to get the phone to do what I wanted it to do, and a hard reset would mean that I would have to start all over again!


I eventually decided to do it.  I wrote down all the apps I had downloaded, backed up my contacts and hit the erase everything button.  Miracles of all miracles, when the phone booted back up, I was getting  a signal.  


To this day, I still have a signal. I haven't taken the battery out to see what would happen (I'm too afraid to).  I have found apps to get the phone to work the way I want it to (for the most part).  


I am still disappointed with the Android operating system.  It really doesn't do anything special; it is the apps that allow the phone to be really customizable (unlike the Blackberry which is customizable because of its operating system).


So I am keeping this phone until the iPhone finally comes to Verizon.  AT&T is not an option for me, so I sit and wait... and wait... and wait...

The HTC UNincredible!

Well...my HTC Incredible finally came in. I was Sooooo... excited for it. Unfortunately, it is a piece of crap. I cannot get a usable signal strength unless I am next to a tower. The only way all the extra features (apps and widgets) work is if I am around a WiFi signal. The whole reason I got the phone was so I could do those things without needing WiFi. Might as well just use my iPod Touch! I had read reviews on the Incredible, but they were all great...until I actually googled the signal strength. Then I found hundreds of negative comments! And apparently HTC and Verizon are aware of the problem! I'm furious!

So the phone is going back tomorrow. I'm probably going back to a Blackberry. I was thinking of trying the MotoDroid because it doesn't have the signal strength issues, but the Android OS has other issues that I'm not sure I want to live with. It seams like the OS itself doesn't do much; it is the apps/widgets that allow the phone to do anything worthwhile. I can do more with my old 8330 BB than without any apps on it than I can do with my Droid phone WITH the apps. For example: The only way I know that I have a new Facebook or Google Talk message is to actually open the application! At least that's the only way I've figured out how to do it. How inconvenient. On my BB, those are sent right along with all my emails, texts and tweets to the same place. AND I can set the phone to use different ringtones for each type of social media.

Basically, I'm trying to decide between the Blackberry Storm2 or the Blackberry Bold. Touch screan or keyboard? Not sure yet, but I'll probably try to get one of those two.

I'm hoping I don't get too much hassle from Verizon. I've read that they charge $35 to return a phone, even though it's in the 30 day exchange period. That will be something I fight!