Update$#@! Got the Maxx. Same price as their online site. I'm pretty sure that the S3 is a little better in several areas, although the Maxx battery should still be better, and I'm not sure I want a phone QUITE that big. Mostly though I got it because the S3 isn't out until July, and I may have federal jury duty next week and we're going to Disney for a week on the 4th. Basically a little instant gratification. Also, Verizon is moving away from unlimited data plans in July, and I don't trust them to grandfather me if I pre-order. ICS would have been nice, but it is coming soon on the Maxx, so I figure I'll do just fine with a proven (albeit older) OS and port over after other early adopters wring out the bugs.
Early comments:
- Sweet jeebus this is fast. Websites and videos pop up almost instantly and have run seamlessly so far.
- The move to Android is a big change for me, after a lifetime of Blackberry. The BB has some features and/or ways of doing things which may or may not be better, but they are ingrained in my haid. So while I've hit some "why does it do that?!" moments, I'm chalking it up to Android and not the Maxx specifically. I'll wait until I learn how to use it before drawing a final judgment.
- I dig the Smart Apps. Not sure if this is available on other phones, but you can easily set up custom preferences. E.g., I've set night to only notify me if one of my kids calls or texts, so I can leave it on by the bed at night when the kids sleep over somewhere and know they can reach us.
- Email: Google sync was flawless, with email, calendar, and contacts. Other email addresses though... I have a Yahoo one that didn't sync yesterday, but sync'd today, and I don't know why. My work one is through a GoDaddy server, which should have sync'd fine but I put in the wrong password initially. This was very confusing to change after the fact; in hindsight I should have just deleted it and started over.
- Siri: There are multiple siri-like apps; I just downloaded one called "Assistant" which has gotten great reviews. So far, pretty impressive. It couldn't find my one daughter in my contacts (the putz) but it found my wife and other daughter, not sure why. Maybe it knows how mad I was at her? But it recognizes your voice very well, finds links, maps out locations, calls and texts on voice command.
I meant to respond to this thread the other day and forgot. I made the same switch 2 years ago from BB. There were some things that took me a while to get used to after the switch coming from BB. After a month or so you will never think about your BB again. Enjoy your phone, my brother has the MAXX and loves it.
For the Apple/Droid debate I hope iPhone users understand that they are always overpaying for inferior hardware. In 2007 the Apple iOS software blew everybody else away.. Update, it's no longer 2007..
I'de recommend
this article to current iPhone users or anybody thinking of making the switch to a smartphone.
I'm also no Apple hater, my family has 2 iPad's and several iPods.
