Ok guys, I am not normally the sentimental type, but I have a few things that are important for me to say to the group collectively.
As most of the folks that have been here since the beginning already know, I have been waiting for an upgrade since early June. I had a Samsung Rogue that I loved until my needs out grew the functions. My ex wife decided to get drunk and throw it across the room and it was never the same again. The GSII was next on the horizon and I was hooked. I scoured the internet for information and came across the Android Forums. This is where my life changed.
I lurked in the GSII forum until the day that Verizon announced they were passing on the GSII and I was crushed. This takes us to late August, and I am sure I am not alone in this thread of those waiting for the GSII only to be shat on by Verizon, and told to keep the faith, because they passed for a better phone.
Wow, I'm in a VERY similar situation. I, too, bought a Samsung Rogue, and thought it was a pretty good phone. I was bummed the app support never really developed for the Samsung OS, but I shouldn't be surprised because Android blew up shortly after the Rogue came about. While it remained a good phone I was always frustrated that my bill was about the same as it would have been with an Android phone and I had FAR less functionality. I knew I wanted to go with an iPhone or Android for my next device but I decided to hold off until I was eligible for upgrade pricing.
When I was eligible for my upgrade I did the research and decided I wanted the Samsung Galaxy SII whenever it came available on Verizon. At the time the rumors were saying June...then they said July...then August...then never.
In the meantime, from lurking here, I discovered that unlimited data was going away. Since my phone had a data plan but not a "smart phone" data plan I was worried I wouldn't be able to get grandfathered. In July I borrowed my buddy's OG Droid (he said I could keep it until a phone I wanted came available). I activated it 2 days before unlimited data went away and I've been using that ever since. It only cemented that I wanted to go with an Android phone over iPhone. It also got more and more frustrating as sometimes texts wouldn't come through, calls wouldn't ring, etc. It was a good phone in its day, but its day is in the past.
With the Galaxy SII looking like it was never gonna hit Verizon I then found myself on the Samsung Prime, Samsung Stratosphere, etc forums before FINALLY settling down on this Galaxy Nexus forum.
I've been lurking here for months and months following all the news and I really don't know why I never registered. Heck, I'm not sure why I decided to register now and share my story; I guess I figured I owed it to the forum for all the great info I've gotten here.
After reading in this thread that the Corporate store in my area had the phone I figured I'd stop by there on my way home. When I got there they brought the phone out from the back for me (it was performing the OTA). I got to play with it for a good 5-10 minutes and knew that it was definitely the phone for me. At the time they told me that they were seeing on their company intraweb that they were going to FINALLY be able to sell it tomorrow...but they also reiterated that Verizon could still pull that since they hadn't announced it publicly yet. Part of me expected to log on here tonight and see that it was delayed (AGAIN), but lo & behold they are FINALLY making it official with the release!
So, I guess I just wanted to thank everybody. I've been lurking on this forum during work and random evenings for months. I've learned more about phones in that time than I ever imagined. I'm not going to take the time to name names, but suffice to say that you all have been great. I'm glad I got to be part of this thread/forum, even if I never really had anything to contribute. This is a pretty great community you've got here!
) *LetsTalk deal*
