Why I returned my Verizon iPhone 4

I've had an AT&T iPhone 3Gs for almost 2 years and love it. When I got that phone, I had a Verizon wireless phone, which I kept active for a couple of reasons:

1. My previous experience with AT&T wireless was not good, so I wanted to keep the option of going back to Verizon if things didn't work out.
2. I have a Verizon family plan with 4 different phones, and dropping one one of the lines would only save about $10/month.

My AT&T contract ends next month, and now that Verizon has the iPhone, I figured I could save some money by upgrading my old Verizon phone to an iPhone 4 and dropping my AT&T service. Rather than wait for my AT&T contract to end, I decided to go ahead and do the Verizon upgrade now, so I would be ready to drop my AT&T service as soon as my contract ends.

I got the Verizon iPhone and activated it a week ago. Yesterday I sent it back. Here's why:

1. Where I live, 3G data speed is much slower with Verizon than with AT&T. At times, I couldn't send mail or access web sites because the connection to the server timed out. I use the phone much more for data than for voice calls, so this was a deal breaker for me.
2. Although Verizon has a reputation for better coverage than AT&T, the Verizon signal in my house was very weak, to the point where some incoming calls would go right to voicemail. Since I don't make or receive many wireless voice calls, especially at home, I could have lived with this if it were the only problem. For what it's worth, my next door neighbor also got Verizon iPhone 4, and she has found the voice call performance to be pretty bad compared with her AT&T iPhone 3 (which she still has).

From what I've seen online, a year or two ago Verizon's 3G network was faster than AT&T's, but AT&T has been investing in their 3G infrastructure, and it shows, at least in my area. Part of the problem is the iPhone 4 itself -- another neighbor upgraded his AT&T iPhone 3 to an iPhone 4 (still AT&T), and found he got a weaker signal in some places.

When I called Verizon yesterday to make arrangements to return the phone, they were very accommodating. They charge a $35 restocking fee when you return a phone, but they said they would review my case and consider waiving that fee.

When I spoke with the Verizon representative, she told me Verizon would be getting the 4G-enabled iPhone 5 later this year, but she didn't know when. Given the iPhone 4 issues, I'll wait for the iPhone 5 to come out before upgrading my current iPhone 3Gs -- maybe I'll give Verizon another try at that time.

Samsung Galaxy Tab First Impressions

In April I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab WiFi-only 7" tablet, and posted the following review on Samsung's web site a couple of weeks after receiving the Tab. I've had the Tab for close to 2 months now, and my impressions haven't really changed. Despite the quirks, I'm glad I got the Tab. I had it with me on a recent trip, and it made web browsing a whole lot easier than it would have been using my iPhone.


----------- Original review:

 I bought the Tab because I wanted something larger than my iPhone, but not as large as the iPad (or the new larger Tabs coming out soon). I chose the WiFi model because I only expect to use the Tab at home and when traveling (where I can usually get WiFi access), so it wasn't worth paying for monthly 3G service. I can always use my iPhone if I have access to 3G but no WiFi.

 

The Tab is my first Android device. I knew that the Tab wouldn't support Honeycomb, but there weren't many 7" tablets to choose from, so I figured I could live without Honeycomb.

 

I've had the Tab for a couple of weeks now, and my initial impressions are mixed. On the plus side, it seems well built, the display is good, the e-mail app (which I use more than anything else) is pretty good, and it does what I bought it for. However, there are a number of things that are quirky or could stand improvement. Here are some of them, in no particular order: 

 

* Battery life isn't what I expected. I was expecting about 10 hours of battery life with moderate use. Even if I hardly use the Tab, meaning literally 15 minutes in a day, it will drain the battery in 2-3 days. Yesterday it was completely dead, wouldn't even turn on until I plugged it in. I have it configured to check e-mail every 15 minutes, it must be doing a lot of other background stuff. I don't see how the battery would last more than a few hours if you were using the Kindle app, for example. I'm sure there are settings I can disable or change to improve battery life, but I'm a bit disappointed. 

 

* I use Yahoo mail, but there's no way to sync Yahoo contacts directly with the Tab's contacts. There's a Yahoo Mail app that can allegedly do this, but it doesn't support the WiFi Tab (note that the Yahoo Mail app is different from the Yahoo app, which does support the WiFi Tab, but doesn't sync contacts). I managed to do this indirectly by syncing my Mac Address Book with both Yahoo and Google, and then syncing the Tab contacts with Google, but this option isn't available to Windows users (without third-party apps).

 

* Like the Yahoo Mail app, there are other Android apps that don't support the WiFi Tab. I tried to install the Android versions of apps that I have on my iPhone, and I think at least 3 of the apps that were available in the Android Market don't support the WiFi Tab. Of course, some iPhone apps aren't available for Android, but I was expecting that.

 

* Samsung makes a PC application to sync the Tab, but it's not available in the US, so you have to use WiFi for everything.

 

* The Tab is very thin and smooth, like the iPhone. It looks really nice, but it makes the Tab hard to pick up -- I'm always afraid I'm going to drop it. I've ordered a case, which should help.

 

* Like the iPhone, the Tab lets you set a passcode to help keep your content secure. Unlike the iPhone, the Tab locks whenever the display turns off, which means you have to enter the passcode every time you turn on the display. (I disabled the passcode after discovering that). On the iPhone, there's a separate setting for how long the device remains unlocked, and the passcode is only required to unlock the device, not to turn on the display.

 

* One of the oddest and most annoying things I've found is the placement of the underscore ('_') character on the virtual keyboard. To get an underscore, you have to tap the 123 key to select the number/symbols keyboard, and then tap 123 again to show the second number/symbols keyboard (there are 3), and that's where the underscore is. My e-mail address, like many others, has an underscore, so I would expect the underscore to be more accessible.

 

I'm still learning my way around the Tab, and despite these issues, it's still very useful and does what it's supposed to. I also thought it would be good to get some exposure to an Android device. To be honest, though, if Apple made a 7" iPad, I would have chosen that instead.