Got Vibrant on tuesday, returning it today

[mrancier]

Bought the Vibrant on amazon for 99 bucks. Not a bad deal. Had it shipped overnight (amazon prime).
Sadly, after testing for 2 days, I have to return it. The phone would not allow access to internal or external storage over USB. Tried on 4 different computers (2 win7, 1 XP, 1 Mac), no dice. Replaced the external SD and nothing. Formatted the card (did not want to erase Avatar), nothing. The other issue was signal : The phone kept flipping between 3G and Edge constantly. This happened all over town. The institution I work for has 6 branches. I was able to go to three and the results are disappointing : 2 branches had very low edge indoors, and one had no coverage at all. My old iPhone 3GS was on full 3G the whole time. Signal would drop significantly indoors, to the point that I had no signal at home or at work. After talking to TMOBs elevated support, they acknowledged that it is a network issue in my area and filled out a service request. They told me to call amazon for a replacement, which I did. Apparently, amazon does not do replacements. You have to return the item and then buy a new one. Also, it takes up to 4 weeks to get your money back. At that point I just gave up. Called TMOB and cancelled. It was just not meant to be.
The only high point was the screen : amazing picture quality and color. I really do like the form factor, although the device is way to light and feels somewhat fragile.
One other thing : The TMOB movie that plays when the phone powers on or off is way too loud and annoying.

 

[2FR35H]

Bought the Vibrant on amazon for 99 bucks. Not a bad deal. Had it shipped overnight (amazon prime).
Sadly, after testing for 2 days, I have to return it. The phone would not allow access to internal or external storage over USB. Tried on 4 different computers (2 win7, 1 XP, 1 Mac), no dice. Replaced the external SD and nothing. Formatted the card (did not want to erase Avatar), nothing. The other issue was signal : The phone kept flipping between 3G and Edge constantly. This happened all over town. The institution I work for has 6 branches. I was able to go to three and the results are disappointing : 2 branches had very low edge indoors, and one had no coverage at all. My old iPhone 3GS was on full 3G the whole time. Signal would drop significantly indoors, to the point that I had no signal at home or at work. After talking to TMOBs elevated support, they acknowledged that it is a network issue in my area and filled out a service request. They told me to call amazon for a replacement, which I did. Apparently, amazon does not do replacements. You have to return the item and then buy a new one. Also, it takes up to 4 weeks to get your money back. At that point I just gave up. Called TMOB and cancelled. It was just not meant to be.
The only high point was the screen : amazing picture quality and color. I really do like the form factor, although the device is way to light and feels somewhat fragile.
One other thing : The TMOB movie that plays when the phone powers on or off is way too loud and annoying.

Oh well tough luck. Although you didn't really search this forum for answers did you? because there is a post addressing the problem of accessing the sd card issue.

 

[RJA]

Problem is solved but i still can not understand how these changes to the phone happened. Probably some installed software changed in Vibrant something. Could be it's the "addition" from the tethering software

Anyway, here it is, it's very simple, but this is an additional step to what it was before nevertheless. After usual USB cable connection and confirmation of using the phone as a mass storage device on the phone popped up menu (if you've made this selection on the phone settings), say into Voice dialer: "Open SD Card", and when new screen appears, click "Enable USB mass storage"

there

 

[landale]

Also you can turn off the sounds when the phone turns on and off by adjusting the system volume. Sorry you didn't give it more of a chance but I hope something else comes along more to your liking.

 

[Cycrow]

Enable USB mass storage or the "mount/unmount storage option" access storage files while connected to pc

 

[mrancier]

Oh well tough luck. Although you didn't really search this forum for answers did you? because there is a post addressing the problem of accessing the sd card issue.

I did look for answers. I spend all day yesterday troubleshooting this issue. Searched in modaco, xda, here, and several others. If you search, you will find that several folks have had this issue and have had their devices replaced. I tried many different possible solutions to no avail. Master Reset, different cables, 4 different computers. The device is, in fact, defective. I am not sure exactly what else I could have done. I am not a n00b at this.

I understand that you have a lot of love for this device, but I did not say it was a piece of junk. Amazon's policies were a bit hard to ignore, and, most importantly, TMOBs own admission that their network is faulty in my area is not exactly encouraging. Perhaps I didn't express myself clearly enough.

I started this thread in the hopes that others that find this issue can see that their experience is not unique, and maybe some of you fine people could help them find a quick fix. There is no fix for me : TMOBs network is just not good enough here, so I have to move on.

 

[mrancier]

Also you can turn off the sounds when the phone turns on and off by adjusting the system volume. Sorry you didn't give it more of a chance but I hope something else comes along more to your liking.

In trying to get this thing to work I had to reboot the phone hundreds of times. I know you can adjust it, but I was so frustrated with the issue that I just kept putting it off and realizing that I had forgotten to adjust it.

 

[MyFishWagon]

You have to return the item and then buy a new one. Also, it takes up to 4 weeks to get your money back.

Completely off topic I know, but FWIW, I have returned various items to Amazon, and Ive NEVER had to wait more than 24 hours after they have received the item to get credit back on my account..

 

[mrancier]

Enable USB mass storage or the "mount/unmount storage option" access storage files while connected to pc

Did this. USB debugging. Cleared all data. Cleared cache. Pulled battery. Replaced MicroSD. Nothing. Device was defective.

 

[mrancier]

Completely off topic I know, but FWIW, I have returned various items to Amazon, and Ive NEVER had to wait more than 24 hours after they have received the item to get credit back on my account..

Good to know. The CS told me it could take up to 4 weeks, and, naturally, I freaked. Thanks for the info. You've put my mind at ease.

 

[phatlipboardz]

I'd also like to confirm that Amazon is really good about returns.

This is not a phone experience, but I ordered a leather chair that arrived in two days (love the prime shipping). There was some damage to it that was discovered out of the box. I immediately logged on, submitted a request for return, was taken to a screen that verified it, printed out the return invoice and put it in the box with the chair.

UPS picked up the next morning and my account was credited the same day they received the chair. Love Amazon. I order hundreds of items a year from them. Hope your experience is good with them.

Unfortunate about your phone experience. I'd say don't force yourself to love a device if it isn't working for you.

 

[shawn1224]

Another solution would have been to roam AT&T's network since you say you had decent coverage with the iphone 3G. Local roaming is free on TMO and uses your regular minutes.

 

[mrancier]

I'd also like to confirm that Amazon is really good about returns.

This is not a phone experience, but I ordered a leather chair that arrived in two days (love the prime shipping). There was some damage to it that was discovered out of the box. I immediately logged on, submitted a request for return, was taken to a screen that verified it, printed out the return invoice and put it in the box with the chair.

UPS picked up the next morning and my account was credited the same day they received the chair. Love Amazon. I order hundreds of items a year from them. Hope your experience is good with them.

Unfortunate about your phone experience. I'd say don't force yourself to love a device if it isn't working for you.

I am certain that under different circumstances I would have loved this phone. The device I got was defective, and that does not change the fact that it was impressive. I have been looking for alternatives like the EPIC, or the verizon variant, but they aren't out yet. TMOB ruined the experience for me with their network coverage in my area. Their customer service, though, is excellent, I will say that. Very courteous and eager to help.

 

[mrancier]

Another solution would have been to roam AT&T's network since you say you had decent coverage with the iphone 3G. Local roaming is free on TMO and uses your regular minutes.

I did not know that was the case. Wished I had tried it. CS did not mention that.

 

[spiz]

It's completely reasonable to assume you had a defective device. There are always some bad apples out there. Hopefully something comes along that works for you!

 

[WxAxGxS]

Another solution would have been to roam AT&T's network since you say you had decent coverage with the iphone 3G. Local roaming is free on TMO and uses your regular minutes.

Could you expand on this? Many of my coworkers run AT&T (iPhone 3/4G mostly) and have great coverage while I have crap on t-mobile. I tried roaming on AT&T but the phone told me I wasn't allowed to.

THANKS!

::edit::

The actual message on the Vibrant (just tried again):

MENU-->Settings-->Wireless and network-->Mobile networks-->Network operators-->Default setup-->Manual

"Registering on AT&T..." (wait 5 seconds...)
"Unable to select network, selecting automatically."
"Your SIM card does not allow a connection to this network"

::double edit::

Of course, now I do all that and I'm magically getting a -81 dBm / 16 asu signal off t-mobile in my office (I normally get -110 / 1 asu)

 

[DKYang]

Clearly the main problem here the OP had was the network. So, it makes sense, but there is no need to make a thread about it when there is already tons online discussing about similar issues that you had. Especially on xda and T-mobile forums.

One other thing : The TMOB movie that plays when the phone powers on or off is way too loud and annoying.

You know this can easily be solved by leaving your phone on vibrate/silent before shutting it off or even lowering the volume, right?

 

[jree]

Where r you located? I would not be with tmo if it wasn't for the fact that they have never tried to **** me over and have been nothing but courteous and helpful. I was even tempted to leave them but they gave me unlimited everything with two lines for $150 or so after taxes. You should try Verizon's network cause they got some pretty sweet phones now.