Technology Tuesday-Courtney Got a New Phone

Two things we should address before we get into the meat of this blog: I am a procrastinator and I am very resistant to most change. That being said, I have been meaning to get a new phone because the one I have, while still mostly good, has slowed down tremendously and was struggling to do many small tasks. I had an iPhone 4... correct, there is no "s" there. The logical step for me was to get the iPhone 5s. Mallory has had one with work and went and got her new personal iPhone 5s about a week or two ago.

Things took a turn when one of our other friends, Kayla, went and got her new phone. Fed up with Apple and her iPhone 4s, she defected to Samsung as many members of her family had already done. She got the Galaxy S5 and absolutely loves it. I started playing with her phone because, suddenly, I had a choice to make. Should I stick with what I know and mostly love or try something new. To the internet! 

I read several articles comparing the S5 to the 5s and what really attracted me to the Galaxy S5 was the 16 mp camera (that's more megapixels than my actual camera has... yes it is also old) and the fact that you could add an SD card to it for additional storage. I do take a lot of pictures with my phone so that was a major selling feature. I knew that I did not like the size of the phone though and the bigger screen did not at all attract me to the phone. How should I reconcile this in my mind? Go to the phone store! 

I headed down to Walmart's Connection Center in Dawsonville. I know, I know, "really, Walmart?" Well, the fact of the matter is, we have used this place before for phones and always been very satisfied. Admittedly, my parents are somewhat old school so they have fairly basic flip phones, and love them, but they purchased them at Walmart and had no trouble transferring their contacts or getting a great deal. The sales associates we dealt with there are very helpful and most of them still work there today. I talked to Colton, who has a Samsung Galaxy S4, and he told me all about the good traits of each, but ultimately that the S5 is better. He did say that if I was comfortable with the iPhone, though, there might be no real reason to switch. He also told me that the picture quality on the phones was about the same, but the S5 started outperforming when it came time to enlarge the images, or to crop them. He said he was very happy with his switch and would never go back to Apple. Colton was very helpful, but the phone was cheaper with Verizon because of a mail-in rebate and Walmart cannot match mail-in rebates, so I headed off to the Go Wireless Verizon authorized retailer across the street.

When I got there, I told the guy that I was torn between the 5s and the S5. He proceeded to berate the 5s and talk about what a superior phone the S5 was in every way. He also talked about how far behind the times Apple is and how they lock you into their tech. Well, yeah, anyone with any business sense knows that this is a smart move as long as you can continue to provide a worthy product. Nearly everyone uses iTunes, and if you move away from Apple, it is not compatible. He told me there are apps to move everything over from the iCloud, so, though I was already leaning towards the S5, this pushed me further towards it. I figured, I could always use my iPad for any apps I already own. However, this guy came off like a total know-it-all and could I have gotten the S5 for the price at Walmart, you had better believe I would have. I inform him of my decision and he gets the Galaxy S5 for me. He tells me there will be a restocking fee of $50 if I should choose to bring the phone back, but I do have 14 days to return it. He tells me there's an app to switch stuff over from the iCloud to android and shows me how to use it. Then, he rings up my total, grabs a pair of headphones and says "you get free headphones today", and tells me my total is $288, but, I will get a $150 mail-in rebate on a Visa card. On Verizon's website, it said the phone was supposed to be $149, with a $50 mail-in rebate. I didn't mention this, assuming that the retailer has different procedures and the end result would be the same, and chalked the extra money up to sales tax. I go back to Walmart and purchase my OtterBox and car charger because they were super helpful. Also, the car charger was about $20 cheaper. 

I get home and am looking over my receipt and noticed that there was a $20 device set-up fee on there. The guy at Go Wireless didn't tell me there would be a fee for him to set up my phone and when I got home, all of the "transferring" turned out to be nothing. I still had to go in and download all my apps myself. Thanks for nothing. Had I been given the option, I would have declined it. I know at least three other people with this phone, we will figure it out. I get my main apps downloaded and plan to go back the next day and get a refund on my $20. 

I played with the phone throughout the rest of the day. After the initial show-my-parents-the-cool-stuff-it-does phase had worn off, I began to quickly turn on the phone. All of the extra awesome things it would do were apparently things I didn't need. I felt like crying every time I picked the phone up to do anything (I may have just been extra sensitive that day for some reason, but either way). That could not be a good sign. I didn't like the size, it didn't fit well in my hand, one-handed operation is next-to impossible, and it wouldn't fit in my wristlet. When I went to make a call, I felt like I was holding a tablet on my face. I thought the screen was too bright and I couldn't find a way to dim it and maintain the auto-brightness feature. As I went through the day, I noticed little lights blinking at the top. Kayla told me these were notifications and the different colors meant different things. When messages came in, it didn't say who they were from, just that you had a message. None of my notifications were pushed to me, which is fine for some apps, but I like my Scorecenter apps to be pushed through and they weren't either (I did still get the Sportscenter noise when I got a score update though). The man at the store had told me there was a help guide that would tell me how to do everything, so I consulted it, but still could find no way to get the notifications pushed through. There may be ways to fix all the things I didn't like about the phone's operating system, but, I had neither the patience nor the will to figure them out. Did I mention that I'm also impatient? Should've put that in the opening too. By the end of the day, I was done. Especially, after I got home and found about five messages I hadn't received on my new phone (my fault for not disabling iMessage, but still it was annoying). I didn't like the phone and decided to take it back to the store the next day. Yes, I would be out $50, but I wasn't going to be stuck with a phone that I didn't like for two years. 

The next morning, I got up and got dressed ready to head out. Walmart didn't open until 10... Go Wireless didn't open until 12. Son of a gun!!! Better go work out and relieve some tension. I went and rode 22 miles on a stationary bike and then, it was time to go to the store. Dad asked me if I wanted to eat lunch first, so we stopped by Little Peking and ate. Whilst there, Mallory came in with her mama and grandmama. Dad asked for fortune cookies and I grabbed one. Until this fortune, no other fortune had ever been so guiding and probably no other one will be: "You will make many changes before settling satisfactorily." (insert heavenly angel noise of dawning understanding here). On the way out, I tested Mallory's phone and wristlet to make sure it would fit. It fit in mine and hers, so I headed out to the Verizon store. I worked with a different person this time, who seemed a little annoyed but he was having trouble getting what he needed to work with me from his higher-ups. He also had the Galaxy. He did refund the full amount net the $50 restocking fee, which was good. I asked him how much the iPhones were and he said $99 after mail-in rebate, so I told him just to reactivate my old phone because I could go to Walmart and get it for $99 without a mail-in rebate. He reactivated my iPhone 4, double checked the system to make sure my upgrade was back, and gave me all my receipts.

Back to Walmart. I went in and told them I wanted the iPhone 5s. I got the silver one. I worked with Kevin, I believe, because Colton was on break. Colton came in and said "didn't like your new phone?" and I said "No, I'm sure it's a great phone, but it's not for me." He just nodded and said "if you really like iPhone, there's no real reason to switch." Kevin told me that they could switch my contacts and pictures over for me. When I asked how much it was, he told me it was free... thanks a lot Go Wireless. I asked them to switch the contacts but not the pictures. Colton came off break and started switching them over. Kevin told me I had a one-year manufacturer's warranty and Colton told me "Oh, and there's no restocking fee." If anger/annoyance was fire, I probably could've burned holes through the walls with my eyes. I just laughed and thanked them for all of their help. I went home, got my apps all synced up and moved around (the backup was corrupt probably because my iPhone 4 had too much stuff on it and was still on iOS 6), and now my phone is exactly where I want it. The camera works great and I am super excited. I found an extra cord at Best Buy for $15 (it was cheaper there than at Walmart, but Walmart will price match), and am on the prowl for an OtterBox. Life is good with my iPhone 5s.

-Courtney