feuervogel: photo of the statue of Victory and her chariot on the Brandenburg Gate (Default)
feuervogel ([personal profile] feuervogel) wrote2012-06-06 09:10 am
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Ask Tech Support LJ/DW

For those of you who have been following the saga of my Samsung Captivate and how I want to set it on fire, it's been acting weirder than usual, even after I got D to root it and put CyanogenMod 7 on it. Like, it gets really laggy, and at random it crashes to the skateboarding android boot screen. At 1 am, which wakes me up. This morning, it got stuck in a boot loop until I popped the battery. (The last time that happened, I had to re-flash it from recovery mode and lost 3 months' worth of data.)

As much as I hate the wastefulness of getting a new phone every two years, this phone just really sucks, and I can't even justify keeping it because it's a perfectly good phone. It's shit.

So, I need to decide between AT&T's Android offerings, the best of which right now is the Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket (the Galaxy Note is too big, and too expensive at $249), and an iPhone. (The Galaxy S3 was just released, and it's $199, the same as a low-end iPhone 4S. However, I am extremely reluctant to get another new-hardware phone, based on how fucking broken the Captivate/Galaxy S was at launch. You may recall I used my warranty replacement TWICE in three months.)

Pros of Android:
- seamless integration with gmail, gcal, gmail contacts, gtalk
- I'm comfortable and familiar with it
- I like widgets
- I can get a refurbished Galaxy S2 for $9.99 online (though that is kind of terrifying; the phones I replaced under warranty because they had the randomly-powers-off bug could be resold as "refurbished.")

Cons of Android:
- can't update the software without Windows (thank you, Samsung)

Pros of iPhone:
- can update using my MacBook
- just fucking works

Cons of iPhone:
- doesn't sync gmail contacts (afaik)
- requires workarounds to make gcal work
- I don't really use my phone to listen to music
- not sure I can back up my saved data (Angry Birds, and, dammit, I have a lot of hard 3-stars on that)

So, friends, tell me: have any of you switched from Android to iPhone? Are my fears justified? Should I be concerned about the new hardware issue on the Galaxy S3 (same price as iPhone 4S!) What other questions should I be asking myself?

I'm ready to throw this piece of crap across the room. Help me decide what phone to get next, internet.
princess: (Default)

Re: iPhone

[personal profile] princess 2012-06-06 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
The iPhone doesn't hide contacts without phone numbers, but it is easy to search (and will narrow with each letter until you get to what you want) which is a small price to pay. You can also sync it to your contacts on your MacBook, and export your Google contacts to import them into contacts on the MB. That's what I did until I unified my phone with GVoice.

The battery life on the iPhone is great (especially since I came off a Samsung that I was lucky to get 9 hours out of).

You might also want to go to a Best Buy Mobile, if there's one near you. I got *really* good service from them, they weren't at all pushy, and they knew a LOT about a LOT of phones. Plus they managed to hook me up with extra money off.
princess: (Default)

Re: iPhone

[personal profile] princess 2012-06-06 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
That I don't know, because my plan hasn't had changes in four years. Their website does have a "keep existing plan" option, so I think so?