Personal Smartphone History

For some odd reason or another I recently got to thinking about how many smartphones I've gone through in the past three years and dawned on me to do a write up about this history.  It's been a long road that has been fraught with dashed hopes, tried patience, and a continuing desire to find the device that would be "just right" for someone like me.  All but one of the pictures in this post are of the actual devices I used with the exception being the old Q9c which I never got around to taking a picture of back then.

Without further ado I present you my personal history of smartphones.

Click to read more ...

Why I'm Leaving Sprint

As you already know from reading previous posts one week ago I purchased an iPhone 4 on the Verizon network and signed a new two year contract.  I did this with under a year left on my Sprint contract which means I'm having to pay an Early Termination Fee.  Right now this is worth it to me, but why?

First off, Verizon is offering, for a limited time, unlimited data plans for new iPhone customers on their network which for me was a pretty big lure.  I do quite a bit of streaming of both video and audio to my mobile device and having the peace of mind that I would not have to pay any overages for data is peace of mind.  Part of my new plan also includes unlimited text messages.  I subscribe to several text alerts so that is another bonus.  My plan only includes 450 any time minutes with unlimited nights, weekends, and mobile-to-mobile calls which should work out well as I typically use less than 90 minutes a month.  Far less.

A perk of my employer is a discount on both my monthly bill and any accessories I purchase through Verizon.

I purchased the iPhone at Best Buy which was including their Buy Back program for free with all new smart phone purchases which gives me some peace of mind later on down the road whenever I decide to upgrade.  Let's be honest with ourselves here, I'll probably be upgrading inside of seven months given my track record with smart phone devices.

That covers why I'm moving to Verizon.  Let's go over why I'm leaving Sprint.

The main reason is the changes to their Premier Program effective April 1, 2011.  Unless I was willing to move to a more expensive plan, around $40 per month more, I would no longer get annual upgrades.  I'm not saying Sprint owes me this.  Instead it was a selling point keeping me with the company.  It's not going to be there any more so that was one less reason to hang around with them.

While the Premier Program changes were something that had me less than happy the changes alone would not have been enough to push me away.  No, the thing that really pushed me over the edge was the fiasco of their Times Square event in New York City last week with David Blaine and everything that led up to it.  Just scroll down or click that previous link to read just what I thought of that farce.  Essentially Sprint issues invitations during CES to a major announcement from them that turned into a joke device.  Reading the tea leaves scattered around the internet in both the news media and blogosphere is indicating that Sprint will NOT be getting an iPhone this year and that there really don't have anything exciting in the works (other than that joke phone from NYC) for this year.  One year ago there were leaked device road maps and the Evo to look forward to.  This year there is nothing except for some vague references to the Black Berry Playbook coming to Sprint.  Yawn.

As much as I enjoyed being a Sprint customer for three years I just can't see staying there under these conditions.  If the best they can offer up is a device from Kyrocera that has to come with a spare battery then it's time to bail out.

By becoming a Verizon customer I will have access to much more advanced devices down the road, and to me that is very important.  Sprint looks to be getting leftovers, if even that.

Why I Got An iPhone

Since I got my new iPhone 4 with Verizon I've caught quite a bit of flak from a few friends over why I did this so I thought I would take the time to answer some of those questions, comments, and accusations here with my blog.

The number one reason is that I happen to like the ecosystem of devices and services that Apple offers.  My first computer was an Apple IIc back in 1983 and I've had an affinity for their products since then.  During the 1990's after Steve Jobs was forced to leave the company I left the Apple fold and embraced the Windows ecosystem as at that time that was where the "action" was as far as devices went.  My first semester at East Carolina University I purchased a Power Mac 6100 and went back to Apple for a time.  After my time at ECU I was simply not in a position financially to go back to Apple products and had to make do with an assortment of Windows based machines, most built by myself.  However, over the past three years I've managed to get to a point where I could afford the "Apple Tax" and have done so with no regrets at all starting over a year ago with my old Macbook and followed by my iPad and iMac.  Now with an iPhone everything is in place.

The second reason for an iPhone, and going all Apple, is that I just want my stuff to work.  I want to turn it on and have it ready to do what I need/want it to do then.  I do not want to have to spend time trouble shooting why something is acting up or crashing.  The one thing I hate about Windows the most is registry bloat that required me to reformat a computer every six months and then spend time reinstalling software and settings to my liking.  Windows 7 was probably the best experience with Windows I've ever had but it still required me to do reformats and reinstalls every six or seven months.  

I'm at a point in my life where my time is very valuable to me.  Between work and family concerns my free time is very limited, even more so over the past year.  This is part of the reason I refuse to do tech support or computer repair for anyone, even friends and family, anymore.  I simply do not have the time to spare nor the patience for it.  Using Apple products and services makes my life easier and saves me my valuable time.  I don't have anything to prove as far as my "Geek Credentials" go.  I've been there and I've done that.  I even created a Hackintosh a few years back when it wasn't so easy as it is now so nothing else needs to be done there.

The third reason for getting an iPhone is the ecosystem of content that Apple has created.  I have over a terra byte of movies and TV shows that I have purchased through iTunes over the past few years.  That is a HUGE investment and now that I have an iPhone I can view this content on my iMac, my iPad, or my phone.  This is important to me.  Yes, I have an iPad and could take that with me but it's an iPad!  It's not the smallest device to be lugging around on a daily basis whereas I never leave home without my phone device.

And the fourth and final reason is that secretly I've always wanted an iPhone.  Since day one back in 2007 when it was first announced for AT&T only.  I hate AT&T so much that I refused to even consider it then.  Now that it's available on another network, and one that is giving me a rather sweet deal thanks to the fact I can get a discount through my employer, it's a no brainer decision on my part.  For me it's worth the Early Termination Fee from Sprint.

And at the end of the day that's all that really matters.  I don't care if some accuse me of being a traitor.  I've had seven smart phone devices in three years covering four different mobile operating systems.  I'm not betraying anyone.  I don't care if some say I'm dumbing down and can't believe I would "sell out".  It's what I want and it's what I'll be using.  I'm happy, who cares what others think.

Phone Plans: 2011 Edition

After much debate and research I've finally determined my mobile phone plans for 2011.

I'm giving Sprint until mid-June to wow me with something.  Anything.  I'm already paying the extra $10 per month by virtue of owning an Evo 4G so their new smart phone pricing requirements do not effect me adversely so that is a non-issue.  I am still very much perturbed by their announcing that come April of this year the change of their Premier membership requirements.  One of the main things that kept me with Sprint was the upgrades every year.  That is a big one for me as I tend to average two smart phone devices per year and it was nice knowing one of those devices would be subsidized.  Because of that one change I will not be using my upgrade before April, I just do not want to extend my contract any further.  It currently expires in twelve months (February 2012).

I have two lines with Sprint (the second contract ends in December this year) and based on some budget calculations I can afford to eat a pro-rated Early Termination Fee come June and jump to another carrier.  Actually, I could afford to eat it now if I really wanted to but I would rather give it a few more months to see if Apple announces an iPhone for Sprint and T-Mobile as well as the two carriers it's on right now.

That's right, I said I was waiting to see if the coming iPhone 5 would be on Sprint.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Android very much.  In fact I would say that I probably like Android more than I do the iOS that powers the iPhone and iPad.  However, Android is starting to fragment due to various manufacturer customizations of their devices.  My honest preference would be a "stock" Android device with no such manufacturer changes but that is just not in the future, sad to say, and I do not feel like I should have to go to all the trouble to "root" a device and install a custom ROM to get it.  I simply do not trust customer ROMs as you have no idea what the hackers that create them are really putting in there.

With all that being said there is also the fact that I now have quite a bit of capitol invested in the Apple ecosystem in the form of hardware, software, and media.  Just in TV shows and movies purchased from iTunes I have more than 1TB collected so far.  It would be nice to be able to take some of that with me when I'm out and about.  Granted, I could bring the iPad with me but at almost 10 inches that is a little too large for daily schlepping and I do not want to get an iPod Touch as then I would be carrying TWO devices anyway (smart phone and iPod).  I've also deliberately purchased universal apps for my iPad as a hedge against a day when I may get an iPhone.

I also have to admit to seriously considering getting an iPhone 4 on Verizon sooner rather than later due to the limited time availability of unlimited data plans.  No one knows just how long such plans will be around and I don't expect them to last more than a month, maybe two, at most.  Getting in now would let me grandfather in for future devices.  I'm thinking of maybe getting it in the next couple of weeks and just carrying two phone lines until the summer.  The cheapest plan offered by Verizon would allow me to swing this from a budget perspective at which point I could cancel my Sprint plans, pay the ETF, and sell my Evo to recoup the costs of the ETF.

So, that's my 2011 mobile plans.

Sprint Needs Help

Sprint just announced their newest "It" thing in mobile, the Kyocera Echo, a dual-screen Android smartphone.

At this point I have to seriously wonder just what the leadership at Sprint was thinking last month when they sent out invites to their media even at Times Square in New York City complete with David Blaine to announce this device.  As if the company did not already have enough problems loosing subscribers, dealing with the Nextel side of their business, and not making all that much money they decided to add this thing?  At a media event?  Really?!?

Click the link above to see a quick hands on review, some video, and pictures of the device.  You'll see what I'm talking about.  The Echo doesn't even use WiMax, Sprints 4G network, and they seem to be billing this thing as some sort of flagship product.

Here is what makes this sad to me.

I actually like my service with Sprint.  I've had them for over three years and considering just how fickle I am about stuff like this that should say something about what I think of their service.  In three years with them I've owned six smart phone devices.  I still love my latest one, the HTC Evo 4G!  However I have to admit that once again I'm starting to get a bit bored and I was hoping for something new to get me excited and instead I'm left wondering just what the heck is going on at their company.  The Echo almost feels insulting.  No, wait.  It IS insulting.

Other US carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all made several impressive mobile device announcements at CES last month not to mention the Verizon iPhone launching on Verizon this very week.  There are indicators online that over the next four weeks at MWC and CITAA we can expect to see some more impressive announcements from those carriers.  Where is Sprint?

Can you hear me now?

Sad as it may seem to me personally I have to admit I am a bit of a gadget hound and right now Sprint is leaving me high and dry.  

To that end I am setting a personal deadline of June 2011 for something to grab my attention from Sprint.  If nothing from them has created a "WOW, I've just GOTTA have THAT," moment then I will look to pack my mobile bags and head to one of their competitors during the summer.  By that time my ETF with Sprint on the two lines of service I have with them will be below the $150 mark which is an acceptable amount to me.  Based on the usage patterns on my two lines I could actually get a plan with Verizon that would save me around $40 per month (1 smart phone device and 1 feature phone device) considering that the monthly minutes usage for my two accounts is less than 300 minutes per month and that I typically use less than 200 text messages per month.

You can probably guess by my already having hard numbers handy this is something I've been debating for some time anyway.  It looks like LTE 4G technology is really going to be where the "action" is over the next three or four years and if one wants a nice gadget experience one must follow the majority of the pack.  My only concern is the tiered data pricing structures that are taking shape but I can learn to live within those limits if I have to.  I'll start tracking my monthly data usages to get a handle on what works best for me.