I've had a pretty interesting time finding the right phone/carrier over the last few months and thought I would share my experience. It's pretty long and detailed but has some good info and hopefully helps others avoid some of the problems I ran into.
I first found Android when it was literally brand new and I pre-ordered G1's (Fall 08 I believe) for me and my wife from T-Mobile because I liked the specs, physical keyboard and Google. We loved the phones.
Fast forward to 6 months ago and my G1 finally dies and won't boot up one day. I'm really bummed because I didn't want to get another G1 as it wouldn't seem like much of an upgrade but I didn't want T-Mo's other myTouch offerings because they're basically thinner G1's with no keyboard and no real advantage. I had been with T-Mo for 8 years and felt a lot of loyalty because they had always treated me great, so I decided to try the myTouch for the 30 day trial period, but as suspected they offered nothing over our G1's and we returned them.
After playing with my buddy's new purchased Moto Droid, I was amazed how fast the phone and Verizon's 3G data was. I was sold. We purchased 2 new Droids from Verizon and loved all the features and how we got a physical keyboard and only spent $199 each, about the same price as the G1 and myTouch prices. However, a couple days in we found a fatal flaw in that we were both having a terrible time having actual phone conversations on the phones. It sounded like we were in a tunnel with bad interference and I knew it was a phone flaw as I already had Verizon as a work phone and had never experienced any of this. After a couple of exchanges at the Verizon store that didn't help at all, I researched online and found that a lot of others had the problem but some didn't. Regretfully, we returned the phones before our 30 days.
Reluctantly, my wife convinced me to have us try iPhones as we were running out of options and tired of switching phones. I knew all about them and have always liked Apple's products but despise AT&T due to poor customer service/billing issues I had when using them back in the late 90's. But after using one everyday, I will say that the iPhone just works well. It is smooth running, has good battery life and a great App store. I missed some of the things I had become accustomed to on Android such as the task bar, Gmail synchronization, multi-tasking but thought I could get used to it. But, after just a couple of days we started noticing quite a few issues with signal. We had poor signal (usually 1 bar) at our new home which is outside of the city and experienced about 10 dropped calls in the month we used them. Not having a home phone, we couldn't get by with this and decided to return the phones.
Feeling discouraged and in disbelief that we had so many issues, I contemplated going back to T-mobile or ordering Nexus One's from Google but wanted to keep our family plan. I had obviously been searching all over the internet hoping for a new Android device to hit T-Mobile or Verizon and finally felt confident the Incredible would be coming to Verizon in the near future. So, I took a chance and switched back to Verizon using the Droid Eris as I waited for the Incredible to show up within my 30 day trial period. The Eris served it's purpose for the time being but was very sluggish in general and had some strange bugs(probably due to low memory and the Sense UI) but call quality was good and I really liked the size and feel of it. Luckily, the Incredible arrived just in time, we pre-ordered at Best Buy, picked them up the first day they were out and from there on we couldn't be happier!
After using the phone for the last couple months, I can say the Incredible really is phenomenal. It's basically the perfect size, is very fast and has a great screen and camera. We don't have any of the weird call issues we experienced with the Moto Droid, none of the restrictions of the iPhone or bugs of the Eris. I've even grown quite used to the on screen keyboard and it works very well, don't know that I could even go back to a physical keyboard now. The Sense UI took a little getting used to but once you figure it all out, it adds a lot to the Android experience. The battery life isn't great, but I get through my day with normal use. Through trial and error, I realized that certain apps really do drain battery and avoid using certain ones. The Incredible is a great phone backed by a great network and although it took a long time to get here, I'm happy.
What have I learned from my experience? I still prefer Android over anything else and have grown to trust HTC and am happiest with this combo. I would think twice about buying another Motorola as I couldn't believe how bad the call quality was on those Droids. T-mobile has great prices and customer service but I feel relief in not having to constantly defend them because they were my carrier. Their coverage isn't as good as the others, and they're just always behind in getting 3G, newer phones, etc. AT&T's coverage is probably fine for most people in metropolitan areas but didn't work well for me call wise and their 3G wasn't very fast and kicked back to edge quite often even in the city. I had a terrible time with customer service getting refunded for my iPhones (took numerous phone calls/faxes after returning the phones to a store). I think their only real appeal for people is the iPhone and when they finally lose exclusivity a lot of people will go elsewhere. In my opinion, Verizon is the best option out there. Customer service has been as good as with T-Mobile, coverage is fantastic and data speeds are fast. They're not cheap, but I guess as the old adage goes, you get what you pay for. (Unless you use AT&T)
My Incredible Journey
