What Happens When Your Phone Breaks
Not the first time this has happened.
Phones have always been a bit of a problem for me. I’ve cracked screens while drunk, cracked screens while sober, dropped them off my car, ran them through the washer….you name it I’ve gone through it. Considering Verizon only gives an “upgrade” every 2 years, I find myself in a bit of a pickle every so often. I never pay for insurance either because the monthly payment combined with the $100 co-pay doesn’t seem like a good deal. The process begins.
My very first problem is that I really like Verizon. People complain all the time about these big companies but the service is excellent and my bill is under $60 a month for unlimited call and text and 1gb of data. Previously I’d use the “I can go to another provider” in negotiations but the fact of the matter is I can’t get this deal elsewhere (I tried with AT&T and a similar plan was $100 per month). I called Verizon at least 4 times trying to get them to sell me a phone at an upgrade price and had no luck. I tried pretty hard too but I never got to yelling and screaming. I should note I’ve been using Samsung Galaxy S4.
After Breaking Your Phone
I broke my screen while trying to remove it from the charger, fumbled it, and it fell face down cracking the screen. I went to a mall kiosk to get the screen replaced for $110, they used shittier glass and I broke that screen within 1 week by putting too much pressure against it without even realizing it. I got a free replacement of that screen with the intention of turning it in to the Edge program with Verizon which isn’t the greatest deal but I was limited in options. As luck has it, I broke that 2nd screen within another week or so the same way I broke the first one.
Not willing to pay full retail for the same phone I had, the Galaxy S4, or even more for the S5 ($599 retail) or S6 ($699 retail), I went to the black market. Verizon was willing to sell me a refurbished S5 for $419+tax. I did some searching online and came up with an S5 for $279 through a highly rated dealer through Ebay. I was unsure of how the process of buying an “unlocked” phone was but I was assured it was just swapping the SIM card. Out of options, I purchased the refurbished model.
The Galaxy S5
I received the refurbished model yesterday. There were hardly any scratches and it looks like new. It shipped in a white, unmarked box and only contained a charger with it and no instructions. I backed up all my contacts to the cloud on my S4 and removed the sim card. I installed the SIM card to the S5 and powered it up. After some brief installations instructions, I had a brand new phone (to me) that appeared to be working in order.
In less than 10 minutes I had my phone configured to where I was previously. I connected to the WI-FI, handled all the email settings, then started downloading apps. Here are the list of applications I use:
- Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, Instagram, Fantasy Baseball & Football, Paypal, Venmo, PNC Mobile, Comcast, HBOGo, Uber, Shazam and SiriusXM
I called Sam and sent him a test to make sure it was connecting and there were no issues. Overall I don’t think the process could have been any easier and I’m incredibly surprised that the SIM card is the key to your entire phone.
People say, “why don’t you get an IPhone?” I’ve read Jobs. Aside from actually using the IPhone, I disagree with the fundamental approach from Apple. They design their products with the need for total control. Google / Andoid is an open source platform. Now IOS may have changed and allows more of an interactive approach from it’s developers but I side more with Google than Apple on this. I fundamentally don’t like Apple. Not saying it’s right or wrong, but I’m entitled to my own opinion on the biggest company in the world.
As I’m sure you know, I had an android phone (Revolution) prior to my current iPhone. I didn’t want to be the typical Apple fanboy, so I went with Android. It was the worst phone I’ve ever owned. Not the worst smart phone – the worst phone, period. Worse than the Razor, worse than the NV3, worse than everything. I I had that phone for a little over 2 years before switching to the iPhone and my world changed.
It was an LG, which people say are bad, but that wouldn’t happen with an iPhone (at least it hasn’t to me yet). Why would Android even provide a bad option? Maybe I was stupid and picked the bad phone, but they lost a customer because they were offering it. I’ll be loyal to Apple until my experience changes, but thus far, it’s been spotless.
I’m hoping Evan chimes in here but I’ll educate you on Apple and IOS, from my limited knowledge, and how that compares to Google’s android.
Apple controls every aspect of the IPhone. There are no other “Apple” Manufacturers. They make sure the software works functionally and that it is “approved” on iOS (i Operating System). This gets viewed as both good and bad. Good because it assures consistency and bad because it limits creativity. Steve Jobs would argue that HE should tell the consumer what they should want.
Andoid isn’t a phone, it’s an operating system. Other manufacturer’s use Android’s OS to make a phone. There are thousands of phones that run off Android. So just because you got a shitty phone from LG doesn’t mean that Samsung’s phone is going to be shitty because it could have different hardware and run a completely different version of Android.
Like buying any other electronic device, research is crucial to knowing what’s best for you.
The market share of IOS and Android are nearly identical from this latest poll:
https://gigaom.com/2015/02/04/android-and-ios-are-nearly-tied-for-u-s-smartphone-market-share/
Your delineation between OS vs. hardware is correct. A few of the major perks of Android phones is that they are much more customizable, can relatively easily be rooted allowing for more technical use of the device and applications, and do run on a wide variety of form factors and manufacturers if you find one you love.
I’ve tested no less than 100 different combinations of devices by nature of my job, and while I’ve grown to like some of the more recent Android phones (particularly ones that are running Lollipop – the Nexus 5 and Galaxy S6 are awesome) – I’m definitely partial to Apple. I always suggest people try out both platforms for a contract cycle to see which one suit their style. I have a strong feeling you’d like iOS better and never go back.
The iOS app submission/approval process doesn’t limit creativity, either. Mostly just makes sure the apps are not abusing any of Apples APIs or services, and that if they are upselling from within the app – Apple gets a piece of the pie.