Why I'm Hating Verizon Wireless Right Now

So as you saw in my last post, I switched from a Motorola Droid to an iPhone recently. A few days ago, I pulled my old Droid out of the drawer where I had kept it. I backed up all my data and decided to see how much functionality is on the phone without the use of a data plan.

It turns out there is a lot. The GPS still works, WiFi still works, and I can access the app store, download apps, and as long as the apps don't require data access, most of the apps still work.

Since it still has a lot of functionality, I thought I'd have David's number switched to the Droid to allow him to have access to the games, and email (when he's near a wireless network).

Then I ran into the stupidest customer service rules on the planet. It turns out that Verizon WILL NOT activate his number on the Droid without activating a data plan. They tell me it's because you cannot use the phone without data connectivity, despite the fact that I have been doing this very same thing for days.

Apparently, I can give him Amy's old Samsung flipshot and that's not a problem. I can give him my old LG Dare, and that is not a problem. All they need to activate service on another phone is the serial number of the phone and the EAN (or MEID) from the new phone and service switches over without any problems. You don't need to upgrade the service plan, or make any other changes. In fact, you can make this change from your phone by dialing *628.

The moment you involve a smart phone however Verizon requires that you have a $30/month.

NBA MVP

Derrick Rose appears to have all but locked up the 2011 NBA MVP award. The Chicago Bulls have clinched first place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 59-20, second only to the San Antonio Spurs (61-19).

While Rose's accomplishments are great, I'd like to remind everyone to look at another player. While many have decided to hate LeBron James for leaving Cleveland the way he did, it's hard to deny his greatness on the court. LeBron currently beats Derrick in PPG (+1.7), RPG (+3.4), SPG (+.4). The only category Derrick has better numbers than LeBron is APG (+.9).

In fact, James has better numbers than Kobe Bryant PPG (+1.5), RPG (+2.4), APG (+2.3), SPG (+.3); Amar'e Stoudemire (in all but rebounds), Dwight Howard (Also with exception of rebounds), Kevin Durant (With exception of points -1.9). LeBron has better numbers than all the "bigs" in the NBA despite the fact that he is on a team with another superstar and an all-star.

If the numbers alone don't make the case, consider this. Last year, with Lebron James, Cleveland finished with the best record in the league at 61-21. This year, without James, they are tied for the worst record in the league at 17-63. He was certainly the most valuable player for Cleveland. Last Year, Miami took 5th place in the East with a 47-35 record. Tomorrow, they go up against Boston (55-24) to try to grab the number 2 spot. Yes, the team also has Wade and Bosh, but the fact is, Miami went up 3 places in the standings with the addition of LeBron James at the beginning of the season. Chicago went from 8th to 1st place, but Rose played for Chicago last year.

As much as I would hate to see Boston lose to Miami, I think the only way James will see a (much deserved) MVP trophy this year will be if Miami takes the finals. Even then, he will have a tough time convincing the skeptics that he deserves another MVP award.

iPhone Vs. Droid

Recently, I switched from the Motorola Droid to the iPhone 4. One of the main reasons I switched was because, as a long time Mac User, my address book, music, and videos are already on my Mac, and directly accessible via iTunes. Also, since the rest of my family has iPods, we already have a pretty large library of Apps.

Business insider offered up their reasons why they think the droid is better so I thought I would share my experiences with the two platforms.

iPhone Pros:

• Facetime: There’s something inherently cool about using video chat from your phone.
• iTunes integration: Some people see this as a downside, but as I mentioned, with multiple iPods in the house, we already had a pretty extensive library. With the droid, I copied over about 5-10 songs manually, but never bothered after that.
• Camera: Both cameras offer the same resolution, and the droid camera app offers more control, but I love the built in HDR and one touch simplicity of the iPhone. Plus, I love that I can edit my movies via iMovie right from the phone, which leads me to my next point…
• Apps: The apps for the iPhone look better. Perhaps it’s the retina display, but the apps on the iPhone look and feel more professional than the same apps on the droid. Even Google places offers a few features the android version doesn’t have. (Now if only Google would release My Tracks for the iPhone.)
• User Interface: I love the little switch on the side that puts the iPhone on silent mode. You could do the same thing with a gesture on the android phones, but I like the physical feel of the switch. Also, on the android I experienced several times where a low battery situation would turn off sounds. (Really, they just diverted them to the internal speaker used when talking on the phone rather than making them audible via the hands free speaker.)
• Speed: The droid is supposed to win this one, but the iPhone feels more responsive.

Droid Pros:

• Contact synching: Oddly enough, I thought this would be pretty straight forward on both platforms. My Apple contacts are synched with both my Google, and Mobile Me accounts so I expected all my contacts to come across smoothly. A couple of days after the switch over I noticed that several of my contacts were missing, and in one case, displayed a 6 year old address, in my phone’s contact list. I opened iTunes, and clicked the “Synch contacts with this computer” option. Now everyone in my phone’s contact list is duplicated.
• Customizability: Being able to put shortcuts to direct dial numbers on the home screen was great. Unlock the phone and have calling right at your fingertips. On the iPhone, I have to open the “phone” app first to make a call. Which brings me to my next point…
• Voice control: The iPhone is supposed to be able to operate via voice commands, but nearly every time I try to use them, I get something other than what I intended. Plus, voice recognition is not built into many apps such as messaging. On the droid I loved being able to “text” via voice.
• Navigation: I miss the spoken turn by turn directions from the Droid. You get directions on the iPhone, but have to download a separate app for the spoken directions. Also, the directions don’t automatically update as you navigate so you could be on step 5 on the map, but still reading step 3. Also, I’ll assume it’s the same on the android since Google provides the directions, but trying to find the Red Lobster in Pocatello, ID via the iPhone directions will lead you in the complete opposite direction of where you want to go. Ironically, if you choose view on map instead, it shows you the correct location.
• Sharing: On the iPhone, I take a picture and want to share it on Facebook, I have to return to the home screen, open the facebook client, and upload it manually. On the droid, you tap share and have immediate access to a list of places to share your photo: Flickr, Facebook, Orkut, etc. On the iPhone, your only option is Mobile Me.
• Expandability: There’s a memory card slot to allow for expansion on the droid. Although I never upgraded from the one I got with my phone, it was nice to know that I could if I needed to.

RIP Google Wave

Google Wave has been cancelled by Google. It was a product with tremendous potential that never got off the ground because Google was too busy tripping over their own feet to implement it properly.

The biggest problem with Google Wave was that there was nobody else around to use it with. It was invite only, but even after sending out invites you had maybe 10-15 people you could use it with.

The second biggest problem was that it was completely stand-alone. If you had been able to jump back and forth from within gMail I'm sure it would have seen more adoption, but at the end of the day when you got home to try to use it, it wound up being just one more thing to check.

If Google was really trying to come up with the next FaceBook, they should merge Orkut, GoogleWave, and Gmail into one service.

Google Wave

One of the features of GoogleWave that I was most interested in was the ability to embed waves directly into your blog. So far, the blog bot from GoogleWave has not worked.

Star Trek

Amy, Elizabeth and I went to go see Star Trek on opening night. The new Star Trek movie is easily the best Trek movie. I rate it even higher than Wrath of Kahn. 

Wolverine

I took David and Jake to see Wolverine tonight. I have to hand it to the movie studio, they did this one right. Wolverine just jumped to the top of my favorite comic book movies. The only disappointing part was sticking around to see the special scene at the end of the credits to have the theater close the curtains and stop the movie mid-scene. Other than that, we all loved it.