Greetings from a reluctant Android user.

[jckatz]

My smart phone history was BlackBerry followed by Palm webOS followed by HP webOS. However I was forced to give up on webOS when Microsoft changed the API for Skype. You might not no this but webOS didn't have a Skype App because Skype was baked into the OS. living in China having Skype built into the dialer was perfect.

So when Skype stopped working I bought the new Blackberry Q10 with Paul physical keyboard. However the new blackberry App Store didn't have Skype for download in China.... Basically every country but China was listed.

So I returned my BlackBerry 1 hour after buying it. But they would only let me get a phone off equal cost. So I bought HTC One 803w.

Which broke 6 weeks later and was told it was fake and they couldn't fix it. So I bought another one. For the same price and still regret it to this day.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Sorry to hear about your poor initial experience. Why do you regret it? Maybe there's something we can help with.

 

[jckatz]

Well I still dislike virtual keyboards if there was a decent Android with a QWERTY keyboard I'd buy it this afternoon. But Android in China is horrible because China's firewall blocks Google. Google Play store blocked gmail blocked even push notifications that aren't Google are blocked. I use IMAP email and a 3rd party email client but only get notifications when my vpn is on. Yet I get emails with one.

 

[belodion]

Hello jckatz. Sorry to hear of your difficulties but you are very welcome here with us.☺

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[LeoRex]

Glad to see you've joined is here... Hope your second go around with the phone leaves you more satisfied

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. I think the lack of a physical keyboard is what the market dictated. I haven't seen a physical keyboard on an android in quite some time. Have you looked on websites that sell used phones, like ebay or Amazon?

 

[jckatz]

I disagree with market dictating. I used the Motorola Slide for a week yes it had a keyboard but it was useless. So to claim the market didn't want them when people only sold crap is disingenuous. That's like a bar saying people don't want Vodka because no one bought the stuff they made in their bathtub.

 

[STARGATE]

Hello jckatz, welcome to the forums at Android Central!

I also had a BlackBerry a long time ago, with Nextel! After that I had a couple other phones until I finally got the best device in the whole universe at that time; my beloved Palm Prē!
I got it on launch day, still have it and still use it from time to time. Just to keep my gesture loving fingers happy.
Heck, my wife and I still have a PalmPad (HP TouchPad) each!
Still use them sometimes, even though we have a Lenovo and a Samsung tablets.

I'm also sorry about the bad experience. About physical keyboards, I agree with Golfdriver97.
I hope you find a suitable Android, I hear the Chinese phones are very popular, have you looked into those?

 

[B. Diddy]

I disagree with market dictating. I used the Motorola Slide for a week yes it had a keyboard but it was useless. So to claim the market didn't want them when people only sold crap is disingenuous. That's like a bar saying people don't want Vodka because no one bought the stuff they made in their bathtub.

I disagree with your disagreeing. The market always dictates these kinds of changes. When Blackberry was king, everyone was trying to figure out how to get a QWERTY keyboard on their phones. Now it's getting hard to find a QWERTY keyboard even on Blackberry phones. If QWERTY keyboards sold, manufacturers wouldn't stop making them. Among the reasons for the shift include the iPhone's huge popularity, the general desire for more screen real estate, and progressive improvements in keyboard apps.

It's ironic that one of your main disappointments is the inability to utilize Google services--there's a sizable faction of users here who wish they could get rid of all Google apps on their phone, and run "pure Android"!

 

[jckatz]

Stargate you understand... WebOS was an awesome OS and while Android software is getting better and better it will anyways be worse then IOS & webOS. Googles foundation is flawed. iOS and webOS were built from the ground up a single team. Android was purchased as components from many different groups and forced together. Sure it's quicker and Google could afford it. But we will always be dealing with menus that work differently or stack after stack of options because of that background.

 

[STARGATE]

I hope Android gets better pretty soon, to a point where I can say I love it the way I love WebOS, or at least very close to that point!

 

[dpham00]

Stargate you understand... WebOS was an awesome OS and while Android software is getting better and better it will anyways be worse then IOS & webOS. Googles foundation is flawed. iOS and webOS were built from the ground up a single team. Android was purchased as components from many different groups and forced together. Sure it's quicker and Google could afford it. But we will always be dealing with menus that work differently or stack after stack of options because of that background.

If you feel that way then buy ios. There are tons of fakes everywhere. I only buy from reputable sources.

Sent from my Pearly White Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

 

[jckatz]

I said iOS is a more unified OS I didn't say I liked it. I don't even have iTunes installed on my PC. I am not a fan of locked down systems. I understand the benefit for Apple but I am too contrarian to accept the man's UI.

 

[Nicky55992]

Welcome to AC, hope your Android experience improves

 

[Raptor007]

Welcome to AC, and I am sure your Android experiences will only improve with time.