The new Axis of Evil: Samsung, Android & Verizon
Or, A tale Of Two Galaxys
A Not So Humble Diatribe
I saw my first Galaxy S4 in a friend's hand some months ago and I loved it so much I purchased a CPO (Certified Pre Owned) S4 from VZW Telesales (my local VZW stores had no new ones). I was assured the CPO device would look and work exactly like a new one so I grabbed it. It was born with KitKat and was my Dream Phone. I'm visually impaired so the incorporated 'dark theme' was much appreciated. I was too stupid to realize I was looking at the OS installed on the phone. But my Incredible2 was on its deathbed so it was time to let it go.
The 'New Phone smell'lasted 3 days before my (mature and rock solid) KitKat OS was forcibly replaced by Lollipop. This 'new, improved' OS improved my phone to the point of unusability. Among the defects, my UI changed from Highly Visuble to a thin black text on bright white -- it was like reading a newspaper in a snowstorm. My device ettings would disappear, constantly changing themselves by their own hand. Every day I woke uo to a 'new' phone. I'd constantly lose my Wifi connection, dropping back to my own data allotment. Numerous calls to Verizon T/S were transferred to their doppleganders at Samsung. Each company's reps were unable to resolve the issues as it was diagnosed as an operating system issue -- and since they don't write the OS software (they merely install bloatware) there was nothing each could do but to suggest a Factory Reset. Apparently troubleshooting a problem is an old fqshioned fix. If I had told MY customers to 'Reinstall DOS' at the drop of a whim, I'd have been on the unemployment line.
Regarding the visual nonfunctionality of Lollipop, I had already gone through every setup option attempting to make my device usable. I tried every font size from Normal to Extra Large to Huge (turning a fifteen word text message into a fifteen-liner). Reversed colors brought me back to a KitKat-esque look but this setting made every icon, website, photo in my Gallery and image in my camera viewfinder look like my Galaxy was on an Acid trip (yeah, I've been there and done it. That's lost its thrill.) Some Android programmer aws asleep at his keyboard as far as interoperability is concerned. Two companies' worth of tech nonsupport are unable to fix this litany of problems.
I downloaded the Hifont app from the Play Store and got some visual relief -- this app provided the 'bold' fonts missing from Lollipop and again made my phone semi usable. When settings continued to change (by Edgar Allen Poe's Unseen Hand) I imagined my used phone was haunted -- or at least slipped by the 100-point quality assurance checklist.
Since my battery was heating up as well, I did the first of two Factory Resets on the S4. Each took several hours and two magnifying glasses to accomplish . Both Verizon AND Samsung hire 'Technical' Reps (entry level C/S reps whose only function is to read from a computer screen and suggest the first 'fix' from a list of recommended steps. When those are exhausted you are switched to Level 2, where the litany of 'device phone number', 'best contact number' (not so they can call you back "in case of a disconnect" but really to establish a customer contact file) carrier name, color of your phone (as if the device's color would affect how bad the OS is screwing up your phone) and your email address -- ostensibly as a 'security' identifier but so the reps won't give out free info to a nonsubscriber. This is repeated for each. And. Every. Support. Request. You. Will. Ever. Make. Until. You. Die.
It gets annoying. Especially when the reps wind up blaming Android ('We don't write the OS software, you have to call Google.'.( I did. the Google conglomerate won't take messages and there's no way to contact the Android reps who don't exist.) Sometimes they'll suggest you call the Google Play Store, whose reps know even less about Android. Android's developers are protected deep within Google's ivory tower behind an imprnatrable wall of Google's own making. They don't want to be available to every Tom, **** and Hairy [sic] with an OS problem so they won't talk to 'us.' They're too busy creating more problems on other platforms.
There's no one to talk to at either Samsung or Verizon. Level 1 is populated by untrained Customer Service clerks whose job is to waste your time until you can get to Level 2. Level 2 is only slightly less helpful (read: 'Not At All.') If Verizon is your carrier a Tech Coach is available (for extra cost on your Extended Warranty plan but without it your only hope from there is to go to a Supervisor -- whose hands are tied by the same corporate ppolicies as their 'techs'. That goes double for Samsung.
All corporate Service & Support houses are well trained in pointing the finger of blame at another entity. Verizon blames Samsung, Samsung blames the carrier and both blame Android -- but none of them can (or will) contact Android to tell them how the debacle of Lollipop is ruining their phones -- and burdening their customers AND their Tech reps. They don't care. We ignorant consumers go to our carrier stores and get sold a bill of goods along with their new Android burdened phones -- not to mention the requisite contract from which there is no escape. I'll be paying for my broken Verizon phone for the next two years. Did I mention it was broken by the Android 'updates' ??
I did a Factory Reset on my S4. **Twice** When the problems continued I exchanged my S4 for a brand new S5 under Verizon's 'Worry Free Guarantee' thus sealing my doom -- there's only one trade-in allowed per customer.
Again my brandy new S5 was delivered with KitKat. Again came the forced downgrade to Lollipop 5.0. Again, the never ending OS problems and again my experience with negligent (and negligible) Tech Support. Again, a factory Reset. Twice. That's a total of four. I'm tired of this stuff (substitute your own 'S' word.)
I received ANOTHER software 'update' July 21 which completely waffled my formerly stellar battery life. I don't play games or music on my smartphone, nor to I live on the web with it -- I have a PC and a dedicated music player for that. What I want is good battery life in case I have to make an emergency call.
Samsung responded to the battery problem by crawling into my phone with Smart Tutor (which is neither 'smart' nor 'tutorial' -- it's merely Samsung hype to let them into our phones by remote assistance.) They had me turn on Power Saving mode (which I had previosly enabled but had mysteriously switched itself off) Re-enabling Power Saving this time caused a non dismissible 'Power Saving Mode
' flag to appear in my notification tray. Not only did Power Saving fail to fix the issue (my battery life got even worse and my Lock screen 'swipe time' had dwindled to 1 second). I gave up on Samsung's amateurs and contacted VZW's Tech Coaches. THEY told me they had identified issues with the Lock Screen 'swipe time' being affected by BS Mode so they directed me to turn it off. Now I max out at two days between charges. At least that's semi normal. After formerly getting 3-4 days out of a full charge on my standard usage pattern, that's the best I can do.
Uncle Sammy now wants me to remove my battery, send it to them for four days so they can 'evaluate' it -- thus depriving me the use of my. Brand. New. Phone. Then they may (or may not) send me a replacement. More than likely I'll just get my old battery back.
Samsung, Verizon and Android now comprise the New Axis Of Evil (thank you, George W Bush) and IMNSHO will usher in the very death of the smartphone industry as we know it and knock us straight back into the stone age -- we'd all best pull our old Flip Phones out of the shoebox
There's now nothing left to do but stop complaining and start enjoying our two-year carrier contracts, paying for our defective phones becoming inoperable by faulty and repetetative Android mistakes that just create other problems. **WE are Android's final Quality Control reps. I know I can root my device but I'll probably screw it up and brick my phone -- I'm just a USER, after all.
If anyone wants to start a class action lawsuit, I will join it immediately. All parties owe their affected consumers major, BIG TIME damages. And the sooner that happens the better. As for me, I'm not worried -- I'm buying stock in Tracfone and Consumer Cellular. I'm going to be rich.
NotSo Happy HumblePie
Or, A tale Of Two Galaxys
A Not So Humble Diatribe
I saw my first Galaxy S4 in a friend's hand some months ago and I loved it so much I purchased a CPO (Certified Pre Owned) S4 from VZW Telesales (my local VZW stores had no new ones). I was assured the CPO device would look and work exactly like a new one so I grabbed it. It was born with KitKat and was my Dream Phone. I'm visually impaired so the incorporated 'dark theme' was much appreciated. I was too stupid to realize I was looking at the OS installed on the phone. But my Incredible2 was on its deathbed so it was time to let it go.
The 'New Phone smell'lasted 3 days before my (mature and rock solid) KitKat OS was forcibly replaced by Lollipop. This 'new, improved' OS improved my phone to the point of unusability. Among the defects, my UI changed from Highly Visuble to a thin black text on bright white -- it was like reading a newspaper in a snowstorm. My device ettings would disappear, constantly changing themselves by their own hand. Every day I woke uo to a 'new' phone. I'd constantly lose my Wifi connection, dropping back to my own data allotment. Numerous calls to Verizon T/S were transferred to their doppleganders at Samsung. Each company's reps were unable to resolve the issues as it was diagnosed as an operating system issue -- and since they don't write the OS software (they merely install bloatware) there was nothing each could do but to suggest a Factory Reset. Apparently troubleshooting a problem is an old fqshioned fix. If I had told MY customers to 'Reinstall DOS' at the drop of a whim, I'd have been on the unemployment line.
Regarding the visual nonfunctionality of Lollipop, I had already gone through every setup option attempting to make my device usable. I tried every font size from Normal to Extra Large to Huge (turning a fifteen word text message into a fifteen-liner). Reversed colors brought me back to a KitKat-esque look but this setting made every icon, website, photo in my Gallery and image in my camera viewfinder look like my Galaxy was on an Acid trip (yeah, I've been there and done it. That's lost its thrill.) Some Android programmer aws asleep at his keyboard as far as interoperability is concerned. Two companies' worth of tech nonsupport are unable to fix this litany of problems.
I downloaded the Hifont app from the Play Store and got some visual relief -- this app provided the 'bold' fonts missing from Lollipop and again made my phone semi usable. When settings continued to change (by Edgar Allen Poe's Unseen Hand) I imagined my used phone was haunted -- or at least slipped by the 100-point quality assurance checklist.
Since my battery was heating up as well, I did the first of two Factory Resets on the S4. Each took several hours and two magnifying glasses to accomplish . Both Verizon AND Samsung hire 'Technical' Reps (entry level C/S reps whose only function is to read from a computer screen and suggest the first 'fix' from a list of recommended steps. When those are exhausted you are switched to Level 2, where the litany of 'device phone number', 'best contact number' (not so they can call you back "in case of a disconnect" but really to establish a customer contact file) carrier name, color of your phone (as if the device's color would affect how bad the OS is screwing up your phone) and your email address -- ostensibly as a 'security' identifier but so the reps won't give out free info to a nonsubscriber. This is repeated for each. And. Every. Support. Request. You. Will. Ever. Make. Until. You. Die.
It gets annoying. Especially when the reps wind up blaming Android ('We don't write the OS software, you have to call Google.'.( I did. the Google conglomerate won't take messages and there's no way to contact the Android reps who don't exist.) Sometimes they'll suggest you call the Google Play Store, whose reps know even less about Android. Android's developers are protected deep within Google's ivory tower behind an imprnatrable wall of Google's own making. They don't want to be available to every Tom, **** and Hairy [sic] with an OS problem so they won't talk to 'us.' They're too busy creating more problems on other platforms.
There's no one to talk to at either Samsung or Verizon. Level 1 is populated by untrained Customer Service clerks whose job is to waste your time until you can get to Level 2. Level 2 is only slightly less helpful (read: 'Not At All.') If Verizon is your carrier a Tech Coach is available (for extra cost on your Extended Warranty plan but without it your only hope from there is to go to a Supervisor -- whose hands are tied by the same corporate ppolicies as their 'techs'. That goes double for Samsung.
All corporate Service & Support houses are well trained in pointing the finger of blame at another entity. Verizon blames Samsung, Samsung blames the carrier and both blame Android -- but none of them can (or will) contact Android to tell them how the debacle of Lollipop is ruining their phones -- and burdening their customers AND their Tech reps. They don't care. We ignorant consumers go to our carrier stores and get sold a bill of goods along with their new Android burdened phones -- not to mention the requisite contract from which there is no escape. I'll be paying for my broken Verizon phone for the next two years. Did I mention it was broken by the Android 'updates' ??
I did a Factory Reset on my S4. **Twice** When the problems continued I exchanged my S4 for a brand new S5 under Verizon's 'Worry Free Guarantee' thus sealing my doom -- there's only one trade-in allowed per customer.
Again my brandy new S5 was delivered with KitKat. Again came the forced downgrade to Lollipop 5.0. Again, the never ending OS problems and again my experience with negligent (and negligible) Tech Support. Again, a factory Reset. Twice. That's a total of four. I'm tired of this stuff (substitute your own 'S' word.)
I received ANOTHER software 'update' July 21 which completely waffled my formerly stellar battery life. I don't play games or music on my smartphone, nor to I live on the web with it -- I have a PC and a dedicated music player for that. What I want is good battery life in case I have to make an emergency call.
Samsung responded to the battery problem by crawling into my phone with Smart Tutor (which is neither 'smart' nor 'tutorial' -- it's merely Samsung hype to let them into our phones by remote assistance.) They had me turn on Power Saving mode (which I had previosly enabled but had mysteriously switched itself off) Re-enabling Power Saving this time caused a non dismissible 'Power Saving Mode
' flag to appear in my notification tray. Not only did Power Saving fail to fix the issue (my battery life got even worse and my Lock screen 'swipe time' had dwindled to 1 second). I gave up on Samsung's amateurs and contacted VZW's Tech Coaches. THEY told me they had identified issues with the Lock Screen 'swipe time' being affected by BS Mode so they directed me to turn it off. Now I max out at two days between charges. At least that's semi normal. After formerly getting 3-4 days out of a full charge on my standard usage pattern, that's the best I can do.
Uncle Sammy now wants me to remove my battery, send it to them for four days so they can 'evaluate' it -- thus depriving me the use of my. Brand. New. Phone. Then they may (or may not) send me a replacement. More than likely I'll just get my old battery back.
Samsung, Verizon and Android now comprise the New Axis Of Evil (thank you, George W Bush) and IMNSHO will usher in the very death of the smartphone industry as we know it and knock us straight back into the stone age -- we'd all best pull our old Flip Phones out of the shoebox
There's now nothing left to do but stop complaining and start enjoying our two-year carrier contracts, paying for our defective phones becoming inoperable by faulty and repetetative Android mistakes that just create other problems. **WE are Android's final Quality Control reps. I know I can root my device but I'll probably screw it up and brick my phone -- I'm just a USER, after all.
If anyone wants to start a class action lawsuit, I will join it immediately. All parties owe their affected consumers major, BIG TIME damages. And the sooner that happens the better. As for me, I'm not worried -- I'm buying stock in Tracfone and Consumer Cellular. I'm going to be rich.
NotSo Happy HumblePie
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