Sunday, June 24, 2012

Goodbye iOS...hello Android!

About two weeks ago, I had the misfortune of losing my iPhone 4s to some sticky fingered thieves while I was on-board the train (LRT).  I was on my way to the university for my late afternoon teaching stint and, the carriage being crowded, I did not notice that all the pushing had caused my phone to land in somebody else's hands.  Once I did notice that my phone was missing, I could do nothing at all but feel nauseous about it (only for a minute though).  I immediately BBM'd (I had another phone in my bag) my colleague to tell him to cancel my post paid line and to ask the telecom company to deliver me a new sim card (I am actually an Infinity Smart member so membership has its privileges :) ),  Since I was also registered with iCloud, I immediately went online and deleted all the information inside my iPhone 4s to avoid any future problems to myself and my friends/phone contacts.

Now, I've never been one to wallow over the loss of my material things and my next agenda was to replace my lost phone with a new one.  I kind of swore that I'll never get an iPhone again as they are too popular, not just with the users and the public but also with the thieves so my options were between a Blackberry 9900 or a Samsung Galaxy Note.  Since I still had my trusty Blackberry Torch 9800 with me, I'd find it weird to be carrying two Blackberry phones at any given time.  I was therefore left with the Samsung Galaxy Note.  With a screen measuring 5.3", I felt it might be too big for my Asian hands.  I then went online to check the reviews and surprisingly, majority of the reviews were positive.  The size of the phone was never a concern for the users.  It was the excellent performance that a lot of people raved about.

Two days after the loss of my phone, I decided to order my Galaxy Note from Kimstore http://kimstore.multiply.com/ , a reputable online electronic gadgets store.  I've never personally bought anything from Kimstore (my friends have and they all have positive things to say about Kimstore including the competitive prices and good service) but since their pricing of the Galaxy Note was the best, I decided to try their service.  After a few phone calls and text messages, my new phone was to be delivered the following day at around noon time.  It was a totally painless transaction, one that I wouldn't mind doing again in the future.


At a cost of Php23,200 (approximately US$ 552), the Samsung Galaxy Note is truly a joy to use.  The big screen is easy on the eyes, no need to squint through small print.  The S-pen made drawing at Draw Something so convenient.   Adroid took me a while to understand but eventually I realized it was way better than iOS as one can configure almost everything in the phone.  Some of the reviews that I read pointed to people switching from iOS to Android and now, I truly understand what they meant when they said that they didn't have any regrets at all.  There are times when I even tend to ignore my iPad and BB Playbook and just use my Note to do my browsing and book reading.  I think this will be my phone for a very long time (I heard though, that the new and bigger Note is to be launched this coming October...temptations, stay away from me!!!)

Size comparison between my Samsung Galaxy Note and iPod Touch