With the holidays around the corner, I've been doing a lot of thinking. I decided to write it all down in a script format with a free program called Celtx. This is my first script and I don't know if I did everything right so be forgiving.
It appears that Verizon is taking on the major US cell carriers one at a time. First it was the 3G coverage maps debacle with ATT. ATT complained that the ads were misleading because many viewers took the maps to be overall coverage when they in fact cover most of the US with 2G Edge. ATT was shut down in the effort to stop the commercials because the maps are true and the court didn't deem Verizon to be purposefully misleading viewers.
Now Verizon has set its sights on Sprint for claiming to be "America's most dependable 3G network.". The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus asked Sprint to stop using this slogan because a Nielsen study claims that Sprint users have a higher percentage of dropped calls than Verizon customers.
Here's the rub - the Nielsen study should be thrown out unless phones in the study were forced to only use 3G for the calls made. Both Verizon and Sprint only cover certain areas of the country with 1X which Verizon probably bests Sprint in coverage.
Verizon, it's a double standard to claim that you only are trying to point out the difference between 3G coverage with ATT and not imply that the map is the extent of their coverage - but then you mix it up with Sprint over 3G coverage but include data not related to 3G.
Verizon's customer service is sub par. Their service is over priced. The coverage for me is worse than Sprint's even in one of the biggest cities in the country. It's time for consumers to realize that Verizon is run by a lack luster group of executives, and jump ship. Sprint customers need to make youtube videos, blog posts etc. debunking all the bad press out there.
I updated to WebOS 1.3.1 last week for my Palm Pre and have been experiencing several issues. First of all and most annoying are the random resets where the phone shuts off and takes 2 minutes to start back up. Secondly the phone is a lot slower opening apps and scrolling through pages on the launcher.
On the plus side you can now forward texts without having to apply a patch - Whoo hoo! Not really worth the resets and slowdown. I like to take care of my phones especially when they are as poorly constructed as the Pre; however, the snap on cases are ok but if you have to take them off to pull out the battery and reset the phone (which I have had to do several times after the update), then the tabs that hold the case on will break and there goes $30.
I am seriously considering going back to the original Samsung Instinct for a few weeks to see if I can make the adjustment back after having a true smart phone for several months now. I am starting to come to the conclusion that I should just have a phone like the Instinct and just get a netbook for internet surfing and watching movies. I want a phone with a battery that lasts longer than a few hours. Some netbooks can get 10 hours with the lower end being 4 hours. I carry a backpack of some kind around most places so I can easily bring a netbook with me.
With the increase in demand for performance from cellphones the batteries aren't really able to reasonably keep up. Until they come up with a cellphone battery that charges in 5 minutes or lasts for 24 hours of talk time, then I'm probably going to stick with something like the Samsung Instinct.
I have been keeping up with the reports and reviews that have been coming in since the big Verizon Droid release yesterday. So far the results are positive. A friend of mine bought the Motorola Droid and he is thrilled with it. He said it's "Blazing Fast" and "Ridiculously Customizable". I am slightly disappointed that Moto Droid docking station doesn't not pull any A/V data through the USB port. That's kind a fail in my book but it has so many other plusses that I will have to consider it.
