Goodbye i7500

[Yathushan]

Hey all, just wanted to say that I finally picked up enough courage to complain to my service provider about the lack of support for Samsung Galaxy. They have offered me a change in mobile phones.

So, I am wondering before I reply which would be a good option to switch to the Samsung Galaxy S or the HTC Desire.

I would just like to say a big thanks to the entire community for support the phone. It really has made my life with the Samsung Galaxy much better.

 

[gastr]

personally i'd never buy a samsung product again (let alone a phone) after their lack of support of the galaxy, even though the galaxy S is a sweet phone. I have friends with each of those phones & was more impressed by the galaxy s, but both are nice.

i just ditched my galaxy for a palm pre plus & i couldn't be happier, but i'd have to know more about your wants & needs before recommending it to you.

 

[Yathushan]

Well preferable I want good support and steady platform. I don't mind tweaking the phone once in a while to get what I need. But also, I would like a good performance phone. That is the only thing I've heard that the Galaxy S has over the Desire.

 

[gastr]

yeah if prerformance is a big deal for you go the galaxy s, it's lightning fast. Desire isn't slow by any means but the galaxy s is in a league of its own.

performance on the pre is good but not in the same ballpark- but there's about 500MHz difference! Fewer apps too.

 

[Hark]

Well done! I've given up on trying to persuade o2 to let me switch. Going to leave them even though i'm sure the others are just as bad.

Tough call between the Desire and the new Galaxy. Obviously a little biased against the Galaxy after all the problems with the i7500 so the fact that Sense is better than Touchwiz (they say) and the Desire has a camera flash swings me that way. But the Galaxy has a better screen. Galaxy is bigger you may prefer that or you may find it too big, that's a personal thing. Also the Desire is already on 2.2 while the Galaxy you'll have to wait another month (at least - we all know what Samsung are like with their promises - though they have to update this time as the S is selling in big numbers). Good luck with your choice.

 

[Yathushan]

Hark I think I'm gonna stick with HTC Desire to be on the safe side.

If you want to know how to do the same then all you need to do is complain to their actual complaints department. They are amazing as initially they only gave me two month no line rental as they thought I was complaining about the Galaxy S. Then when I specified it was for the i7500. They were like they would exchange the phone for me as a gesture of goodwill!!!

I now love O2 again!!

 

[Hark]

I guess it just depends who you speak to. I went in to the store and the manager was lovely and really helpful, said he'd arrange for me to get an exchange. But then their system wouldn't let him do it. I went back a few days later and spoke to some kid who was useless and would hardly even listen to my complaints... I wrote o2 an email an hour ago after seeing your post, who knows maybe i'll get a nice person to read it. But really the phone works fine now, the only problem is just 1.5 so i don't have much to back me up. But i do feel months with dropped calls, dialpad issue should be enough - but then if that was the case they'd have given me another phone by now instead of just giving me different i7500's.....

Well hope I get to love o2 again, but not feeling optimistic. Enjoy your Desire (i think the right choice).

 

[Yathushan]

If you emailed the complaints department then you can get the change otherwise its not really possible because no one else has the power to do that type of stuff except them. That is what I personally think anyway.

I had emailed customer service and had no reply. It was really frustrating because I waited three weeks before I took it up a level to complaints. And that has seemed to do the trick. I'm now waiting for the conformation of the exchange.

 

[Hark]

I just got a reply telling me to wait for a firmware update on the o2 site that will have a newer version of Android. No date suggested. I will be amazed if that happens, but I guess there's stable versions of 1.6 out there so it's not beyond possibility. Still hoping as you've (hopefully managed) to get them to let me swap handsets.

Well the manager said he'd get me a different phone, but then the next week they replaced it and said their system wouldn't allow it. It's in a way more galling and frustrating because I thought I was finally getting rid of this phone. I hope you don't have the same experience!

 

[Cougar]

I've just called O2 for unrelated reasons and it took me five calls before I could get the f!"$ing dialpad working consistently enough for me to navigate their automated call filter, and it set me thinking along the same lines. What would I get if I could swap the Galaxy? Galaxy S or Desire?

Just spent a bit of time looking at reviews and comparison websites. Long and short of it is, both have their merits and there's not a lot in it.

So I came back to the Android forums and looked at the phone-specific threads for the two devices. What do you know, the Galaxy S sub-forum is full of people asking for help with problems. The Desire one isn't.

Suddenly, the choice is a lot simpler.

 

[Cougar]

The more I think about it though, much as I love the Galaxy, it's a pup.

The showstopper is the complete lack of updates from Samsung, of course. But then there's the diabolical NPS, and intermittent faults including: lag which renders it unusable at times, force-close messages constantly, peridoically losing the data connection completely forcing a reboot, dialpad working when it feels like it during calls, touchscreen which goes mental if your hands aren't completely dry (so good luck if it's spotting with rain), lacklustre GPS performance, bluetooth which fails to connect to the car half the time, missed calls and SMSes which I swear never ring, sloppy headphone jack, what have I missed?

It's a lovely phone, and I'm sold on Android, but my god is it ever buggy.

 

[Yathushan]

Lol that is so true no matter what handset your on though it will always have crashes. II was talking to a few friends apparently blackberries crash out for like 10 minutes and they boot up again. Iphones are similar in that they have their own flaws. I think that all smartphones will have bugs. Its about finding a manufacturer that will consistently try to sort them out that is more important.

 

[Cougar]

Whilst I'm not convinced by your initial comments, I think your closing point is massively important.

I don't mind too much with early faults, it goes with the territory of being early adopters of new technology(*). What's absolutely critical though, is that any problems are speedily dealt with. NPS is a prime example of this; it's incredible that it was so fundamentally broken out of the box, but the fact that it's -still- broken now is absolutely inexcusable. The former I can put up with, the latter I can't.

(* - it shouldn't, but it does)

 

[Bomberman]

How long have you people who are swapping had the phone? I've had mine since October but would be very happy to get rid, despite the great work of Drakaz and the modding community

 

[Yathushan]

I have been using it for about a year now. I have a year left on the contract so that is why I decided enough was enough.

 

[Hark]

Likewise, I've had mine since October. I've just been trying to not complain and get by, but suddenly decided i'm being foolish and I shouldn't have to put up with such a faulty (and expensive) product.

 

[Bomberman]

Really? Me too... How are you approaching it? I mean, you've been using for damn near a year now?

 

[Hark]

Well, I'm not having a whole load of luck so I don't know if you want to emulate me....

Firstly I had the handset replaced about 4 times now. Due to missed calls months ago and the dialpad issue last month. So I have a history with them of replacing the phone and it being faulty. In a way you could say I only now after so many months have an actual phone that works and I can test. So i'm in the "month trial" period. But you know... And it sucks, it's slow, 1.5, bla bla bla we all know the problems.

So i'm basically saying to them that i've put up with this phone for months, it's been a real pain, one problem after another. One thing is fixed another crops up. I've tried to be patient, but i've had enough. I genuinely have gone 2 months without the phone during the contract as it's been away getting repaired/replaced so many times. I've also had 2 or 3 months when it was all but useless due to dropped calls (looking back i've no idea why I was so patient). So I think i've got more than genuine cause to complain and get a replacement (and compensation!). But so far it's just "there will be an update to the firmware, we are not sure when, keep checking the website, we are not sure what...".

I think like Yathushan I may raise this to the complaints department instead of the o2 Customer Service emails that I have been doing. Or call them instead, they might be more useful there. Good luck yourself and any thoughts on what I could do better always appreciated...

 

[Bomberman]

Fair D mate you have had a run of it You certainly have a case - I'm not sure they'll consider I do as still on 1st handset and not complained in months (since I went to Galaxo)...
What's this about new firmware? Are they actually still considering pushing 1.6 out in the UK?

 

[Hark]

Yeah I went to Galaxo and stopped complaining as well, then when I had the dialpad issues I got it swapped again so back to 1.5. Thought I'd try that before trying Galaxo or GAOSP and then thought "screw this i've had enough they should let me swap handset....". Pffff

Well I imagine they plan to finally release 1.6, hard to believe Samsung are still working on it and producing anything more recent. Hard to believe o2 are still testing the last firmware. But who knows. I have asked "what is the new firmware" but nobody knows what's in it, or when it'll be released. Just say "keep checking the website"... Like I have any expectations.

 

[Bomberman]

Samsung released a 1.6 in Italy so I'd imagine o2 are looking at localising that - there's no way Samsung are looking at doing anything else for the i7500.

 

[Yathushan]

Just wanted to let you guys know that I just received my HTC Desire today.

It has been an amazing year. But I would like to say thanks to everyone for al your help and maybe see you on the Desire forum.

 

[Bomberman]

Congrats mate They've been sat on my complaint email for nearly a fortnight now, time to send a second I think

 

[Hark]

Congrats on your Desire, I hope you get a lot my pleasure from it than you did the Galaxy.

My latest model just started intermittently displaying the dialpad bug yet again. It's almost worse cos when I went to the store to complain it decided to work yet this morning it was back! I feel I'll never get rid of this clunker.

I've finally gone ahead and written an email to their complaints as well.

 

[Cougar]

Yathushan, which email address did you use to address your complaint? And how long did it take them to turn around?