Thanks guys.. Have been reading some of the reviews on Amazon and most seem to love the Skyrocket, especially for $99. However, there are a number of comments that mention the following:
1. Contacts: Many feel it's awkward as opposed to iOS. Am curious if there's a good way to set this up on the current OS on the Skyrocket
2. Yahoo mail: It appears there are some issues accessing Yahoo, which is my default account. Anyone have this problem and if so, how to you rectify it?
3. Bluetooth voice commands: Evidently the out of the box set up does not allow using voice commands with a Bluetooth headset like "Call Ralph" etc and other Bluetooth issues. Anyone have this problem and a solution? One buyer installed the "Hands Free Voice Dialer" app to resolve it, though the reviews on the app aren't great.
4. Locking up: A number of people say the phone locks up and the solution is having to remove and replace the battery. Is this true?
5. Battery life: Those that complain may not be setting it up to maximize the battery life.
1) Contacts are easy. If you have Gmail account and store your contacts there, they automatically sync when you set up the phone.
Once you get the contacts set up (regardless of whether you sync Gmail or some other method), accessing them is as simple as touching the "Contacts" icon - not really sure how it could be any easier than that.
2) No clue, as I use Gmail, but there is a Yahoo Mail app, and others have said it's not complicated to deal with Yahoo Mail at all.
3) No clue on this.
4) Haven't had this problem myself that I can recall on the Skyrocket. I've done battery pulls for other reasons, but not because it was locked up and non-functional. Ultimately though, doing a battery pull is not difficult if you ever needed to. If you ended up having to do it a lot because the phone is freezing, it may be due to an app that is causing problems as opposed to the phone itself.
5) I've had the HTC Inspire and now the Skyrocket (after coming for an iPhone 3GS). My parents both have iPhone 4S, my wife has an Android as does my brother-in-law, and the battery life is definitely less on the Androids than on the iPhones. However, the screen on the Skyrocket is about 29% larger than the screen on the iPhone 4S (or older model), and since the screen takes up a large amount of power when it is on, it goes without saying that the battery is going to last a shorter amount of time on the Androids. But at least you can carry an extra battery with you if you want and switch it out.
Also, the iPhones are not LTE, and LTE can drain the battery very quickly if you are in an area that has LTE (I will be interested to see how the iPhone 5 does on battery life, since it is rumored to have a larger 4" screen and be LTE compatible). But, LTE is pretty awesome compared to 3G. In fact, one of my friends was complaining last night about how slow his iPhone 4 data was when he was trying to look something up - and we are in Dallas, where my top download speed on LTE has been 61.38 (tend to average in the mid 20 to low 30 Mbps range on LTE) and my top upload speed was 17.28 (tend to average in the 10-12 Mbps range on LTE).
Additionally, there are many ways to customize the Android to help with battery life that don't markedly decrease usability. You can set up profiles in the Tasker app (for example, I have one to turn off Wifi when I leave a specified Wifi network range for more than a few minutes, and turn it back on when I get within range of certain cell towers near those specified Wifi networks so that when I am out, the phone is not burning battery always looking for Wifi hotspots), you can use Juice Defender (which a lot of people like, though I'm not that fond of it personally), you can set Facebook, Twitter, weather, and similar apps to update less often (and if you need them updated sooner than the set schedule, you can just do it manually when you open the app), etc.
The point is, there are ways to extend the battery life, and the bottom line is, unless you are a very heavy user or you are away from an electrical outlet or your car charger for more than 12-15 hours a day, you should have no problem with the phone completely dying on you (and again, you can always pop in a second battery).
I came to Android from an iPhone 3GS and I will never go back (and I know this for a fact because when I play with my parents iPhones for any reason, I can't stand it - not sure that even an iPhone 5 with a 4" inch screen and LTE would help).