RESPONSE TO:
Looks like they found a way to block the features that I wanted so they can charge for using features that come with the update. This really stinks. Honestly if we do not get the full use of the update without having to pay more then I will leave verizon and go with ATT. I am tired of my phones being locked out just so verizon can make even more off of me forcing me to use thier versions of applications that come free with the updates. This happens with the Blackberry and was supposed to stop with the Droid. WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR APPLICATIONS WHICH COME FREE WITH THE UPDATES. I really hope im wrong because I really like th customer service and the signal is always great better than most other carriers for Oklahoma but im not going to keep paying more for what other carriers let thier customers have for free. Especially when I pay full price for the phones I have.
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Now THAT would be a brilliant move and you would figure that out on Day One (the realization will hit you, followed by an expletive or two). Now you will want to read up on AT&T's Buyer's Remorse provisionof the contract because I am certain you will be needing that (my guess is even before you complete the first battery cycle), and here's why:
AT&T Android Phones (and given AT&T's implementation, to describe them as Androids is a stretch)
- NO option to accept applications from Untrusted Sources. They removed the option completely.
- At least on the Backflip, which I owned briefly before leaving AT&T, but probably on all the others, the search widget and other search settings are set to Yahoo! with no way to change them. The best you can do is set Yahoo! as your browser homepage.
- Packed with AT&T applications that cannot be removed and 95% of them cost a subscription every month to use and the ones that don't cost aren't even worth launching.
- NO mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot on ANY of their phones (given AT&T's adopted Apple-like philosophy, are you kidding?) AND to get tethering ability you have to purchase their new $25 2GB Smartphone Data Plan AND then pay an additional $20 for tethering. (And as of two months ago, no more unlimited data for any smartphone)
- The Backflip launched with Android 1.5 then recently upgraded to 1.6. No firm date as to when (or if) it will ever make it to 2.1 and very doubtful it will ever see 2.2. ALL of the others are at 2.1 with NONE of them yet committed to a definite upgrade to 2.2.
AT&T Service
- SLOW data, dropped calls, poor signal. Sure, you may be lucky enough to live in an area with good coverage and 3G availability, but try to travel a couple of hours from home and I can guarantee that you will lose service. You will either lose it for good once you leave town, or will lose it and get it back again a dozen times between Point A and Point B. In my area, in fact, in most of my state, 3G is not yet available with a couple of exceptions. The final straw was the day I was sitting on my front porch, where I have line of sight view to the tower (I can literally see it with my own eyes), and my call dropped after the phone struggled through most of it to even maintain two bars of signal. This was not a one-time thing... this happened every day, several times a day! It was only when I got my Droid and made my first calls to people did I realize how bad the sound quality was, too. Nearly every person asked if I got a new phone because they could actually hear and understand me! Yup... and new phone AND a new provider!
- AT&T is all about the iPhone. The iPhone is clogging up AT&T's network and they are spending so much time and money catering to that elite crowd of iPhone users that should be being spent upgrading and maintaining the existing network for EVERYBODY and expanding service to areas that are lacking or are totally without! As a result, iPhone users' experience is suffering, but even worse, so is everyone else's. You hear all the speculation about Verizon getting the iPhone and the thought makes me shudder. As soon as it happened, Verizon customers would have the same crappy phone service as AT&T has due to overloading and allocating resources to support the iPhone users' experience at the expense of everyone else. All that just to kiss Steve Jobs' butt and keep him in the money and keep the Apple lawyers off their tails! I just left that mess behind and I hope it NEVER follows! iPhone would be the worst mistake ever and we would be the ones paying the price! I still can't figure out why anyone, after having a good Android, would even consider going iPhone. Guess if you like cookie cutters, you could live with it, I guess. Personally, I don't want my smartphone experience to be as seen through Steve Jobs' tunnel vision.
Since coming to Verizon, I have been thrilled with the quality of service, access to 3G Data, and Unlimited Data Plan, and the same features that I had with AT&T (plus a couple of additional ones) all for less than what I was paying AT&T for their crap! I have had my Verizon service for two months now and have yet to drop a call.. NOT ONE! I dropped two in an hour on a typical day with AT&T. You know, AT&T claims to cover 97% of the nation... and that is probably true. But, there is still no comparison... Verizon has the same territory covered with a nice, thick quilt (so to speak), and sure, AT&T has 97% of the U.S. covered... with a thin, ratty, dirty sheet.
Think twice before you leave over a software upgrade. Yeah, I'm a bit annoyed that all the rumors and delays surrounding the fate of FroYo have swirled without even so much as a peep from Verizon, and I feel a bit let down that they would care so little as to keep their customers informed, but I still feel like I'm better off than I was a couple of months ago. If you do switch, I guarantee you will regret it. Unless you live in an area where they can sell you their TV package, and landline, and DSL, and can get you to buy them all, they really won't care much about you anyway, so unless you are able to pony up the $$, don't plan on being one of their "valued" customers. To them, you'll just be another troll.
More info about AT&T and their "Android" offerings: http://blogs.computerworld.com/16595/att_android_phones
I'm gonna make a runthrough video on it today or tomorrow.
