Jofaba - 1st Droid - Testing Aria/ATT

[Jofaba]

Hey all, I'm Joshua. I've been ready to jump back into the smartphone game ever since my Audiovox 5600 started to finally die after 6 years of faithful service. I obviously wanted something like the Incredible or the X since I'd be stuck with the tech for 1-2 years.

Unfortunately, my credit report isn't that clean and Verizon wants me to put down a $400 security deposit. Add to that the fact that I need a phone NOW, and the Inc is still 4 weeks out, and who knows what the availability of the X will be? Considering what I'd have to dish out on day one, I'd really be scraping buy and ignoring some important bills just to get a phone, so I decided to check out what ATT had to offer, since I was already on my family's plan.

So it was down to the iPhone4 and the Aria, the latter of which I had only discovered via suggestion a day or two earlier.

Well, obviously based on the title of this post I chose the Aria. I am very happy with the device so far, but am no sure if I'll stick to it and ATT beyond the 30 days. If the Inc or X becomes in-store available and I have the cash, I may jump ship. But until then, I'm going to be getting used to Android and seeing if the 2gb/month max is a real problem for me.

Obviously you'll use your phone more at first than you will once it becomes a regular part of your routine. If I were to use it as much as I did on the first day then I'd be looking at 5-6gb a month. Keep in mind, that's me installing every semi-interesting sounding app over 3G because we had a storm, cable was down; so no wifi.

What will make me jump ship:

Camera
Data plan (really wanted to be able to watch occasional tv on this)

That list may grow as I get more face time with the Aria. As you can see, there's very little right now keeping me from sticking to Aria/ATT. I may just go buy a nice camera (although I REALLY just wanted to carry 1 device), and if the data plan ends up not being a problem then I chose wisely.

I'm a huge fan of droid though so I plan to stick around here beyond my testing and troubleshooting. I apologize for the length of this post but I'm a writer and can't help it. Most of my posts (cept from ones from my phone) will be fairly meaty I'm afraid. =P

 

[UBRocked]

Hi and welcome to Android Forums!

I post the "meaty" comments as well so I completely understand

Well, good luck with whatever you decide with your cell phone options! I haven't spent any time with the Aria but it looks like a pretty sleek device.

As for the data, I am ALWAYS screwing with my phone and streaming music, etc. I have never gone above 2GB of usage but I am at wifi at home and at work. If you were to connect your phone to your car and stream Pandora (or alternative) to you car's radio, that could possibly change things. I personally think 2GB is a pretty tight cap that AT&T put on it...but reasonable use shouldn't exceed it IMO.

Again, welcome to the forums and good luck!

 

[Steven58]

Welcome to the Android Forums!! You made the right choice! Please feel free to jump in!

 

[cajunbeast]

2GB? Its 200mb or 300mb from what I understand.

 

[Jofaba]

2GB? Its 200mb or 300mb from what I understand.

There's two options. Well, really there are three. One's not advertised.

1. 200mb for $15
2. 2gb for $25
3. 3gb for $35

Option three kicks in if you go over your 2gb. They automatically give you another gb for an additional $10 (if memory serves).

 

[Jofaba]

I'm not going to give a day by day update, BUT I do have a few things on my mind to share:

1. Every time that I start moping over settling for this phone it goes away when I actually use it. Snappy little ****er! So far it's a solid check next to each "to-do" requirement that I've had for a phone and figured you needed the greatest and bestest for. No lag, web pages load "fast enough for a mobile", os is very responsive and user friendly, and many google apps make it a dream to quickly and easily find info online.

My only gripes are no flash on the camera, and I've yet to really see how the camera performs. Not too happy with the software side so far. Hard to get a quick clear picture. Also, quite a bit of crashing so far. May be my own fault as I had my default noob app orgy on day one. Hoping as I clear out the duds things clear up.

I was checking the iphone out today and even though I could walk in tomorrow and get one, the only things that really impress me about it are it's game inventory and the camera; the latter of which I've yet to see very much "real world" shooting taking place with. Loving the droid os though, so may just take the money Verizon wants me to let them hold onto for a year and buy a nice standalone camera (although to be perfectly honest, this is a huge disappointment to me).

 

[Jofaba]

Used search to no avail: Anyone know how to turn off ATT notifications? They seemed helpful at first, but most of my apps let me know that I've got an update. So, for example, I get an email. My mail icon shows me how many new messages I've got, and I get two notifications in my top pull down list. One says new email, the other gives me some of the text. So I have to clear that. Is there some auto clear or something? Same for downloading stuff. I just have to keep going up and clearing stuff. It's annoying...

 

[Jofaba]

On Captivate now. This is me being serious while studying it:

 

[G.Armour]

Welcome to the Android Forums!