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Still in my 30 day window with Sprint, thinking about returning the Intercept

Muckrak3r

Newbie
Aug 31, 2010
11
3
I have had all kinds of problems with slow downs and freeze ups. I had to remove nearly every app in order to receive text messages. The phone can't stream Sprint TV without getting choppy unless I am on wi-fi at home. The screen resolution is so poor, it's laughable. The 4 buttons at the bottom of the screen rarely work when I want them to. And the search button seems to get pressed by a ghost. The return button almost NEVER works.

If the phone was 2.2, it might be something I could manage with, but as it is, this is nearly a busted ass phone. Anyone else return a phone in the 30 window? How do you do that? Thinking about getting the Epic, even though it's another Samsung.

Any advice, tips, suggestions, anything? Thanks in advance.
 
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I bought my Intercept from Wirefly.com so I had to go through them for the replacement. They shipped the Epic this morning and I will get it Wednesday. For a bit I was concerned that maybe I jumped the gun on the negatives on the Intercept and maybe I could survive with the faults of this phone.

On my way home from work today, the 'back' touch button worked maybe 20% of the time, but probably less. It is so annoying. I can not wait to get the Epic and start enjoying my phone. It will be light years better.
 
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No problem. Trust me, I really wanted this phone to be the end all for me. It just has too many issues. It's so close to being a perfect budget android. What keeps it from being a perfect android, makes it a budget android. For a kid or something, this phone should be plenty. But for an adult, I just don't see myself using a device like this that I have to wait for it to respond, etc. on a regular basis.
 
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I've had the Intercept for about two weeks now and haven't had any problems with it. Sprint TV works fine. GPS is great. The buttons all work quickly and videos and music come in loud and clear!! I get all my texts and e-mails and calls sound fine. I wasn't ready to pay extra on my bill for the EVO (even though I know its an awesome phone) since I don't have 4g in my area yet, so with Sprint, the Intercept was really the only option for right now. So far I am very happy with it. Just wanted to put out there that at least one Intercept is working right! lol. Hope this helps.
 
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I don't mind seeing both sides of the story. On nearly all things tech related, I am a super BUDGET minded person. My entire H.T. setup is great. But I pieced it together over years of time with items on SALE. Usually a huge sale.

However, with the Intercept, I had to make the jump from budget priced and 'ok' to premium priced and 'awesome' with the Epic. I just got the Epic in a few minutes ago and I am waiting for Wirefly to activate it. It may have issues like the Intercept does, but I am far more confident that the Epic will get software fixes and patches, and I am 100% certain it will get Froyo. Not so sure about that with the Intercept.

*It is possible I just got a funky Intercept and other Intercepts are better. For me, several of the 'Android 4' permanent buttons at the bottom of the screen wouldn't respond when pressed. Or they would respond when not pressed. Streaming Sprint TV in areas where I had great reception bars, it would crack up and I would have to kill it off. The phone froze on me several times in 10 days to where I had to yank the battery. I had to remove nearly all of the apps I downloaded from the Market in order to receive text messages on a regular basis. I'm not trying to bag on the phone, just listing my experiences. It is so close to being awesome, it just doesn't quite get over the hump.*
 
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My wife's phone had tons of problems from day one. The back and home buttons wouldn't work sometimes. GPS rarely worked, wifi stopped working completely, and the data connection would die forcing a toggle of airplane mode to get it back.

I did a hard reset of the phone, and it is working flawlessly now. It's not quite as quick as my overclocked Hero running CM6, but I think it will do for her now. I was ready to throw her phone into a wall, but now it's working great.

To get into the recovery to reset the phone, turn the phone off, then hold the volume down button, send, and end. Keep holding all three buttons until it boots to recovery, then wipe that SOB. Just make sure everything is backed up, because you will have to restore everything.

I hope this helps other people out.
 
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I have an epic and my wife has an intercept. She got hers before I got mine and I thought it was great. Now...well, it sucks. Wifi stopped working (it just scans, can't find a network and shuts off) and it is painfully slow. Some apps won't work with it due to the low resolution (haven't gotten swype to work), but if you are coming from an older phone it's really not that bad. If I had to switch from my epic to the intercept I would not be happy though...
 
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I have had this phone for 3 weeks. And I use it for the computer part NOT the phone. And it sucks!!!!! I am now going to get the EVO or Epic i don' know which one yet. It depends on which one plays the most types of files.Yes for Porn. I just wish the guy at Radio Shack would of told me this phone was a entry level phone for android.
 
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It depends on which one plays the most types of files.Yes for Porn.

Ohh really, thanks for sharing.
handjob.gif
 
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I've had my Intercept for a week longer than my 30-day free return. In general, I like it, but the Android 4 buttons at the bottom work less than half the time (and as others have said, Back, Home, and Search have a mind of their own).

The Samsung Transform comes out Sunday October 10 - camera has a flash, slide keyboard, and hopefully the Android 4 buttons work more reliably. I'm hoping maybe the Sprint people will take pity on me and let me swap the Intercept out for the Transform (which is $50 more). We'll see once I actually get my hands on it and see what I think. otherwise, I'm stuck with Intercept for a couple of years (if I don't throw it against the wall first).

It's fine if you are NEVER in a hurry - but just try finding a contact or trying to navitage while driving, with back and home buttons that don't work most of the time (I know you're not supposed to do that, but that's when you need it to be the easiest to use).
 
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well, you can have your contacts linked to a Gmail account, but there is also something called Titanium backup that should do the trick as well....

i also am curious about the reset via the menu and via the volume, button way....

i am thinking of wiping one out as well and want the best way... thanks! :)

Titanium Backup is for Root only...... :(
 
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I've had the Intercept for a week now with Virgin Mobile. The only reason I chose the phone is because of the $25 plan. I'm very happy with it but it does freeze sometimes.

Now, let's say Virgin Mobile gets a better phone like the EVO, I would have to spend an extra $100-200 to get it. You're going to have the phone for a couple years. You can pay less than $10 a month over that time frame and get a really bad-ass phone.

If you're paying $70 a month anyway, you might as well put the money up to get a better phone.
 
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I've had the Intercept for about two weeks now and haven't had any problems with it. Sprint TV works fine. GPS is great. The buttons all work quickly and videos and music come in loud and clear!! I get all my texts and e-mails and calls sound fine. I wasn't ready to pay extra on my bill for the EVO (even though I know its an awesome phone) since I don't have 4g in my area yet, so with Sprint, the Intercept was really the only option for right now. So far I am very happy with it. Just wanted to put out there that at least one Intercept is working right! lol. Hope this helps.


I Agree! If you're a hardcore smartphone user and want it to be like Mcgyver then its probably not the phone for you, but for someone who just needs a typicall phone for text messages, email, simple games...etc this is the phone to get...you cant expect to get all Corporate with this phone...I love it ..it works great! Iam very happy with it!!
 
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My wifes intercept had the slow buttons too and I told her she would have to deal with them since she insisted on having that phone and would not wait for the epic. Yesterday I took the phone to sprint because of other issue and not only did they fix the issues they put a new screen on it and the robustness is so much better now. Almost as good as my evo. I would suggest taking to sprint and having them put on a new screen. It worked wonders for hers
 
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