Perhaps it was just Verizon needing to finish up their own Android software (which was preinstalled on the phone….), or perhaps it was Verizon (the first provider to subsidize the phone in the US–holding the power to attract the majority of the initial US user base) arguing with Google over Google Wallet, which ended up not being included with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus over some sort of “security” concern (although the hardware is in the phone and non-Verizon phones have the software).  Verizon probably didn’t want consumers to start adopting a system that beat its own upcoming cell phone payment system to market.

It’s now been over five months since the Galaxy Nexus was released on Verizon and there still hasn’t been a single update.  It’s probably not Google’s fault–Android 4.0.4 has been pushed out to several 0ther phones already (and other versions of the Galaxy Nexus).  Not Samsung’s, either (the phone runs stock Google code).  Verizon?  They seem to be the only ones left.  Technical reasons?  Well, leaks of the update got out months ago.  One in store model even had the update.  Surely it’s ready to go out to devices.  It must just be Verizon punishing Google (or, more accurately, their own customers for using Google’s device).

To all those who also thought that a Google developer phone would give you fastest access to the most up-to-date software: we were wrong.

Google and phone makers need to be better at taking back control of their hardware and software from the networks if they’re going to be able to beat Apple’s performance.  Here’s a very enlightening email I received from a Verizon representative after asking about the company’s history of keeping Android phones up to date.  Even Verizon suggests the iPhone is a better route if you want a phone that gets updated regularly without carrier intervention:

I am glad to hear your interest in upgrading your phone! We try to provide software updates to our Android devices as they become available and are compatible with the devices themselves. My name is Jude, and I am more then happy to assist you with your inquiry about software updates. I will provide you with some information about the availability of updates to Android software.

Tim, I attempted to call you today, 11/07/2011 at 2:45pm MST in regards to your email, unfortunately there was no answer.

When it comes to Android based devices, if there is ever a security issue or major bug with software that is issued and distributed with an Android device that we offer, we here at Verizon Wireless will issue a software patch as quickly as possible in order to resolve whatever issue it maybe. These are simply patches and not updates to the Operating System itself.

However, when it comes to standard updates to the Android platform and operating system itself (i.e. update from Android OS 2.2 up to 2.3), there are many factors that go along with the ability to provide this type of update. Since there are many layers of different software that maybe running and pre-installed on a device, it may take some time for that new Android software version to become available for all of our Android devices. For example, some manufacture’s place software “skins” over the Android OS that enhance the OS with a different look as customized by the manufacture of the device. To keep issues with the user experience to a minimum, the manufacture will test a new version ofAndroid OS continuously in order to make sure that it works smoothly with their own “skin” or software.

Once the manufacture has completed their testing, we here at Verizon Wireless will then continue testing the new OS version to make sure it is compatible and works with the software that we provide. Once this is completed, then the software can be released to the public.

Understandably you want the latest and greatest software version of Android OS when you decide to purchase a device. However, if receiving updates to the underlying Operating System regularly is a major factor in your decision of what type of device to upgrade to, then I would recommend the iPhone. Since Apple manufactures the hardware and software for the iPhone, you will receive the latest OS updates as Apple releases them. There is no wait to make sure the updates “works” with a manufacture’s software enhancements since Apple is the manufacture. And since our applications are not pre-installed on the iPhone, we do not have to test the update either. We simply update the apps we provide through the App Store.

How can Google expect to beat Apple if it can’t fix bugs and add new features to the phones its customers already have?  I imagine iPhone users typically enjoy getting new functionality for free a year after buying their phone.  Where’s the love for Android supporters?

(I could root my phone, of course, but the point is that I shouldn’t have to do that [and void my warranty or whatever].  The average user isn’t going to do that, and it’s the average user that will choose who gets the majority of the marketshare.)

Dr. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, recently published his full analysis of the iPad’s new display. The report states that the display of text in the new iPad is “incredibly razor sharp,” but that the new resolutions of the iPad may not be altogether necessary. He cites several reasons why Apple’s retina pixels might be overkill: not everyone has 20/20 vision, holding the iPad further away than recommended nullifies the benefits of the detail, subpixel rendering is truly the way to improve a display, and most people seem to be happy with 1600×1200 displays on large screens.

I’m not going to read Dr. Soneira’s full report (perhaps I should–I might agree with some or most of it), but I certainly disagree with the general idea round the statement above.  There’s some truth that the extra resolution might not be too important for some, but I wouldn’t shy away from the technology since some might not benefit from it.  Even for those who won’t benefit from the better resolution, they will benefit from the increased color saturation.

Also, subpixel rendering is useful for screen fonts (and images, too), but certainly it’s there to accommodate the limited resolution of a display that would otherwise produce “jaggy” characters.  Increased resolution helps better than subpixel rendering.  Increased resolution and subpixel rending together helps even more!

Give me a 10 inch screen with 4K or 8K resolution, and I’d be a pretty happy man!  I’m sure even a person with less than 20/20 eyesight can tell the difference in quality between the iPad and an actual printed photo.

(The extra resolution would be great for presentations, viewing digital photos, etc., too.)

(I couldn’t get a screen grab right at the end, but the ticker goes over 30,000,000 GB.)  That would be a lot of data!  Back in 2010, AT&T said their backbone transferred an average of 19 petabytes of information on an average business day.  I guess a handful of customers really must use the majority of data….

How much data would 3 petabytes really be?  Well, it could be about 40 years of HD video or perhaps every photo on Facebook.  That would be one awesome cell phone.

Unfortunately, at Sprint’s typical 3-6 mbps 4G speeds (let’s just say 6mbps), that amount of data would take over 13,000 decades to download.  At a continuous 6mbps, you could download about 1.85 terabytes of data in a 30 day period.

Truly unlimited?

Well, it’s limited by what you can actually transmit in a one-month period, but let’s look at the fine print:

“Prohibited network use rules apply.”   Okay, let’s check the fine print on of Sprint’s unlimited data landing pages:

Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network roaming usage in a month exceeds (1) voice: 800 minutes. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 MBs or a majority of KBs. Prohibited network use rules apply. As advertised and notwithstanding those restrictions, engaging in such uses will not result in throttling (limiting data throughput speeds) for customers on unlimited-data- included plans for phones, but could result in other adverse action. See sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses.

Hmm, only thing there is if you use a majority of your data on a non-Sprint network (or simply over 300MBs of data on a non-Sprint network).  But what are these “prohibited network use rules” that apply?

Examples of prohibited data uses: Sprint data services are provided solely for purposes of web surfing, sending and receiving email, photographs and other similar messaging activities, and the non-continuous streaming of videos, downloading of files or on line gaming.

So far, so good.  No continuous streaming of videos, downloading, etc, though.  So, the maximum must be less than our 1.85TB figure.

Our data services may not be used: (i) to generate excessive amounts of Internet traffic through the continuous, unattended streaming, downloading or uploading of videos or other files or to operate hosting services including, but not limited to, web or gaming hosting; (ii) to maintain continuous active network connections to the Internet such as through a web camera or machine-to-machine connections that do not involve active participation by a person;

Does that mean letting your apps sync in the background is a violation of Sprint’s terms and conditions?

(iii) to disrupt email use by others using automated or manual routines, including, but not limited to “auto-responders” or cancel bots or other similar routines; (iv) to transmit or facilitate any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, telemarketing, promotional materials, “junk mail”, unsolicited commercial or bulk email, or fax; (v) for activities adversely affecting the ability of other people or systems to use either Sprint’s wireless services or other parties’ Internet-based resources, including, but not limited to, “denial of service” (DoS) attacks against another network host or individual user; (vi) for an activity that connects any device to Personal Computers (including without limitation, laptops), or other equipment for the purpose of transmitting wireless data over the network (unless customer is using a plan designated for such usage); or (vi) for any other reason that, in our sole discretion violates our policy of providing service for individual use.

Or, in other words, for any reason Sprint feels like your using too much bandwidth/data.

Unlimited Use Plans. If you subscribe to rate plans, services or features that are described as unlimited, you should be aware that such “unlimited” plans are subject to these Sprint Prohibited Network Uses.

So if Sprint feels that you use too much data, it can take corrective action.  They won’t throttle, so what would they do?  My guess: cut you off/cancel your plan.

Just to plow into the details for a bit of fun…

I’ve installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview on both my laptop and desktop and here are some of my first impressions:

• Metro UI: clean, but feels incomplete.  I like the design, but it really feels like Microsoft has spent so much time underneath that many desired features just aren’t there yet (How do I view my favorites or history in IE? How do I go to my home page? Even if I close the browser window by dragging it away, when I reopen IE, I go right back where I was).  It’s still a prerelease version, so I’ll wait to see how things change by RTM time.  I didn’t use the developer preview release much, so I can’t say how much the mouse-and-keyboard-driven user experience has improved, but it still feels a bit “clunky” to me.  I have to move my mouse a lot more to get the same things done.  I’m sure it’s a lot more fun with a touch device, but I feel that I’ll always want to use a mouse on my primary desktop.

• Dual monitors: The new start screen and all the Metro UI apps only show up on my primary monitor.  I can’t grab them and move them to my other screen.  It sits there completely unused if I’m in the new interface.  I guess that interface is clearly meant for consumption work, not all-around computing.
• Old school desktop: It feels like a purposefully degraded experience to try and move people toward the Metro UI way of doing things.  Sure, it’s essentially the same, but getting rid of the start button (not just the menu, which I still haven’t made up my mind on) makes it feel like I’m no longer using a Microsoft-approved interface.  Wouldn’t be too big a deal to me except for the next point.

• Multitasking in Metro UI: Well, I can snap a program to one edge and use most of the remaining space for another program.  But I can only toggle which one gets a sliver and which one gets the big space.  Feels like a fairly artificial limitation (that might work well on a tablet), since Metro UI functions on a variety of screen resolutions and in different orientations, meaning that Metro UI apps adapt to the should adapt to the available real estate.  Why am I then unable to define what real estate I want it to have (more than “a bunch” or “minuscule”)?  Didn’t Windows start out (back in version 1 or 2) with only a few windows that could not overlap?  Was it the wrong decision to have allowed resizble, overlapping windows back in the day?

Interesting “bugs” and other observations:

• When installing, I first chose to use the restore tools found on the install disc (well, thumbdrive for me).  I poked around on the command line to check what was on the old hard drive I was installing onto and then found that I could only shut down from the restore tools screen–not go back to the beginning screen.  Not a huge deal, but when it shut down my computer (not restart like the other cancel items do), I couldn’t get my computer to boot again.  I had to reset the CMOS in order to get booting again.  I have no idea what happened.
• On my laptop I configured Windows 8 to dual boot with Windows 7.  It took care of all that for me (just installed to a different partition).  What’s interesting here is that Windows seems to load some sort of initial barebones Windows interface before actually loading the operating system.  The operating system list takes longer to display and I can use my mouse to go and select which OS I want to boot.  May be a bit slower than I’d like, but you can also find the recovery tools at that point as well, so that could be a nice bonus for troubleshooting.
• After clearing my CMOS, my computer’s internal clock was reset to 2007.  During Windows setup I wasn’t able to change that (no big deal), but I also wasn’t able to sign into my Windows Live account either, since the SSL certs were “expired” (or, perhaps, “not yet valid”) as far as Windows could tell based on the system time.
• When using the Metro UI version of IE to download Chrome, I got through the download process just fine, but when it was time to run the downloaded installer, the Smart Screen filter was unable to connect to check that the download wasn’t known malware (again, fixed after I changed my system time).  All I was told is that it couldn’t connect to Smart Screen and I had no option to run anyways.  The download bar disappeared, so I was also unable to try again unless I downloaded the file again (well, other than going into the real Windows UI to find the first downloaded file).
• Microsoft has seemingly abandoned ClearType on the Metro UI interface.  This is somewhat understandable since while using a tablet, a user will rotate the screen 90, 180, or 270 degrees, which would require the system to render the subpixel smoothing differently each time the underlying RGB stripes are rotated.  That is to say, a pixel with red, green, and blue stripes (in that order) may become a pixel with blue, green, and red stripes (in that order) when turning the screen 180 degrees.  Or vertically red, green, and blue rows (or vice versa) when using the device in portrait mode.

  Windows ClearType tuning tools have allowed for these circumstances (and perhaps Windows has automatically adjusted itself in some cases), but perhaps it required too much processing to do smoothly on the fly.Additionally, what I find interesting is how Apple added traditional anti-aliasing on OS X back in the day and Microsoft introduced ClearType (subpixel anit-aliasing) with XP.  As I use my MacBook Pro at work, I’ve noticed that small text uses a nice combination of the two techniques (I’m guessing that’s a new thing in more recent versions of OS X, but I wouldn’t really know) and now Microsoft is abandoning one for the other.  Just interesting to see the transitions both have made.

  The Segoe WP font is nice, but some of the anti-aliasing seems like it could use some work.  The anti-aliasing on this text feels like it has some 1px “holes” at the top of the inside of the “O’s”:
  
  For user-interface text, I think I still feel Apple’s subpixel/traditional anti-aliasing feels best, followed by ClearType on its own, and lastly traditional anti-aliasing.  I’m sure we’ll be getting more high density screens over the next 5 years, so all this will be less of an issue eventually.

• The corners of the screen are being used extensively.  Great with a mouse as far as “Fitt’s Law” is concerned up until they get rid of the start button.  Make your right hand monitor the main monitor and have fun trying to target that tiny area over there to get to the start screen.  Your mouse will slide right over that special zone and onto your left-hand screen.  Oops, Fitt’s law only works on true corners–not virtual ones.  Now, you could just keep the left monitor as the main screen, but the same problem happens in reverse with the special menu commands that come up when you go to the bottom-right corner.  Windows 8 is simply designed to give the best experience with a single monitor setup (make that a single touchscreen setup).
• The top left corner is great.  You click there over and over and cycle through your open programs.  Oh wait, make that open Metro UI programs.  Click the “Start” zone (what do we call it when there’s no longer a button?) and you’ve gotta move the mouse somewhere else if you want to get back to your traditional desktop.  No “click on, click off” going on here.  If you click in the top left accidentally, you’ve gotta then click in the bottom right to get to the Start screen and then find the Desktop tile to get back to where you were.
• Lots of things must still be “in progress” as far as the desktop user experience/interaction goes.  Check out this scrollbar, for instance:
  
  The button on the end is semi-transparent.  So is the scrollbar itself (although you don’t see it in this screenshot, it’s the same color and opacity).  The scrollbar “thumb” (darker gray part) is probably just the same color, but just less transparent.  It just feels funny to me.  Because the border for the “thumb” is more transparent than the thumb itself, it changes color when the background does and makes the thumb look like it’s changing sizes/a pixel off or something:
  
  The UI seems to have lots of little things like this that make it still feel unfinished to me.  Hopefully it’s just that Microsoft is still working on all that.
• With previous versions of Windows, if you wanted to get out of a full screen (traditional) desktop app, you could press the start key on your keyboard to bring up your taskbar and then go from there to go somewhere else.  With Windows 8, you’ll get the start screen.  If you choose the “Desktop” tile, you’ll just go back to that fullscreen app.  Hopefully all full screen apps will have a “minimize” button, or we’re toast until we exit that app.
• Windows Media Center seems exactly the same as in Windows 7.  No Metro UI update here.  Hopefully there are at least some under-the-cover fixes for the bugs I’ve seen most often with my HTPC.  I’m not counting on it, though, so I guess I won’t be upgrading that machine.  Others probably won’t either if there aren’t updates.  Which means that the usage rate of Media Center in Windows 8 will be even less than it is in 7 (the reason Microsoft could have given for dropping it altogether) since only some building new machines will probably bother to put Windows 8 on there.  So it will be a self-fulfilling destruction of Media Center when it comes time to put Windows 9 together.The funny thing is that there’s this whole “battle for the living room” thing going on right now.  Google’s got Google TV, Apple’s got Apple TV (and whatever iTV we might see if the rumors are true), and Microsoft is in there somewhere with the Xbox and Xbox Live.  Seems like Xbox Live is Microsoft’s new preferred platform for the living room (people seem to be more comfortable with a gaming console attached to the HDTV rather than a full fledged PC).  It’s received the Metro-esque UI updates recently from what I’ve heard.

  This all seems a bit funny to me since Windows Media Center seemed to almost be where some of the concepts for the Metro UI started.  Sure, Zune was the first full-fledged use of it and whatever, but the horizontal scrolling sections where elements expand beyond the edges of the screen and are scrolled into view seems to have started with Windows Media Center.  Interesting that it may have been the genesis of the design, but has been left behind.  All at a time where Microsoft is trying to unify the different UIs.  If they had just added some sort of basic 10′ remote control interaction to the Metro UI in Windows 8, small Arm-based PCs hooked up to HDTVs could have been really cool.  You could have access to the Windows Marketplace (or whatever it’s called) and all that on your desktop, tablet, and TV.

  Oh well… tablets are the hot thing right now and Microsoft is busy making sure people are using Windows on (what seems for many to be becoming) their main computing device, so we’ll have to wait for Apple’s top secret TV to come out and start making big inroads into the living room before Microsoft will really do something cool there.

Well, that’s enough complaining for now, haha.  I’ve not used it extensively enough to even see if a lot of these things can be modified/disabled/whatever.  I’ll keep playing around and see how I feel after a few more days.  My general prediction right now is, though, that Windows 8 can probably be really successful on tablets, but will need some time and updates to be nicer on the desktop unless Microsoft can get a lot done between now and release time.  I’m not sure what they have in store, but I’m guessing a lot of the basic interaction is pretty much set in stone at this point.

So I ordered my Galaxy Nexus on December 15th and received it a little over a week ago.  The device has a hardware defect (blown earpiece speaker) and I need to work with LetsTalk to send it back.  It’s been somewhat difficult to try and work things out with them and Verizon to get a working phone in a timely manner (trying to maintain the service I’m paying for).

LetsTalk.com proclaims to want to make sure I’m satisfied and that they’re “all over it” when it comes to issues (see the attached letter they included in the package they sent me).  I thought it would be worked out with what we arranged yesterday, but Verizon is making things difficult (won’t let me reactivate my old phone temporarily without losing the 4 gig/month data promotion that just ended).

Here’s an email I just sent to LetsTalk.com’s customer service.  We’ll see what they come up with.  I think I’m being reasonable.  We’ll see if LetsTalk.com pulls through and “exceeds my expectations.”

Hi there,

First, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this email and doing what you can to help me out.  I’m having a really hard time getting my defective phone exchanged and I’m writing so that you are able to take whatever time you need to figure out a solution to my problem.

First, the necessary info:

Order #______

(RMA #______)

Email on the account: _________

Home phone # used during purchasing: _________

Number of phone that was upgraded: ________

User of that phone line (me): Tim Ehat

I spoke to a representative on the phone yesterday and she said she added me on/made a note that I’m allowed to work with you on this account.  I am an authorized account “manager” on the Verizon account.  If you have any issues with me using my personal email to send this message (I’m doing this so my wife doesn’t have to deal with it), please feel free to call my wife on her number (__________) to get any required authorization you may need.

Summary of issue:

Ordered Dec 15, 2011.

Phone was backordered (didn’t know at time of purchase), phone arrived 1/9/2012.

Phone has hardware defect: the earpiece speaker on the phone is blown.  Calls are quiet and very distorted (unusable as a phone).  I was at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week and verified with a Samsung representative that the issue was just with my particular handset.

Your proposed resolutions:

A) Send in the phone this week, activate a temporary phone on the line while waiting again on backorder for the next shipment.

B) Hold onto the phone for another two weeks (approx.) and send it in prior to your next shipment of Galaxy Nexus phones in the hope of making the cut for the next backorder (can’t be guaranteed).

C) Send in the pnone now, do not activate a temporary phone, and wait until you have a phone to send me.

Proposed solution (A) will not work.  Verizon’s 4GB “double your data” promo has ended.  I went into the store and talked with them on the phone and was told that I could not (even temporarily) activate a 3G phone without losing the 4GB data promotion.  Even after reactivating a 4G phone, I wouldn’t receive the promo anymore (one rep told me I had 14 days, but a rep on the phone told me it wasn’t possible at all).  I ordered the phone from you and expect to maintain the same service that I ordered.

Proposed solution (B) will not work.  There’s no point keeping around a phone that I can’t use due to the hardware issue.  No point in paying for the service if I can’t use the phone.  If I wait until closer to your next shipment, I’m afraid I’ll miss the cutoff and still be waiting even longer for you to be able to ship me a phone.

Proposed solution (C) maintains the 4G promo, allows me to (hopefully) make the next backorder cut off point to receive my phone sometime after 2/3 (at the earliest 2/6, I’d assume), but leaves me paying for voice and data service for a phone I do not have and cannot use.

Other options allow you to provide some extraordinary customer service:

1) Send me a 4G phone to use temporarily.  After I receive it and you take care of activation for me and I send in my defective Galaxy Nexus.  You send me a working Galaxy Nexus when the stock arrives, activate it for me (keeping the 4 gig data promo throughout all of this process) and I send back the temporary 4G device.  If you sent me a HTC Rezound to test, I’d might even choose to keep that device instead of getting the new Galaxy Nexus (it’s my second choice of phone, but potentially first choice if I decided I liked it better).

2) Reimburse me for the amount I’m paying for my cellular service while my phone’s out of commission and provide me with a prepaid SIM card I can use in a spare unlocked BlackBerry Storm 2 I have laying around.  I will take care of telling those that need to contact me to use a different phone number for a few weeks.  Similar to option C above, but you help me maintain some sort of connectivity and reimburse me for the service I cannot use.  The amount of the reimbursement is negotiable based on the number of minutes/data available on the prepaid card (difference between what I pay Verizon for and what you would provide to me in the form of a prepaid voice/data SIM).

Another idea you might propose:

Refund my purchase, I return the phone, and you credit back the upgrade onto my phone line so I can purchase the phone elsewhere.  Problems include: lose the deal you offered (spend more on the phone elsewhere), lose the 4 gig data promo, wait several weeks for the return to be processed and for the upgrade credit to be replaced.

What do we do?

All in all, it should be a simple matter, but it’s become more difficult for two reasons: 1) you’re completely backordered on the Galaxy Nexus phone and haven’t maintained a reserve supply for exchanges; and 2) Verizon’s 4 gig data promo has ended and Verizon is unwilling to provide reasonable service to help me keep that promotion through the exchange process.

From my perspective, I was very patient waiting to receive the phone and it’s nobody’s fault that the phone doesn’t work and that we need to go through this process.  The only issue is that the two reasons above prevent a simple exchange from leaving me without a phone for several weeks (paying for the service all the while).  I would expect that you would take responsibility for my satisfaction and help me through the situation.  I don’t feel it is unreasonable (and feel you would agree) to expect to get a working phone at some point, maintain some sort of voice service (and hopefully data service) through the exchange process (even if I have a different phone number), and to not lose the 4 gig data promotion Verizon offered and you signed me up for.  I feel that’s a pretty standard level of service that you would strive to provide and I’m willing to accept some headaches (losing my number, not having the right phone, etc) through the process.  I just need your help to make something happen.

And, as a side note, I would hope you can do what needs to be done without having to place any sort of hold/temporary charge on my credit card.  I can accommodate that if absolutely necessary, but it doesn’t seem like such a process should be required for an exchange.  If you did need to place a temporary charge for a temporary 4G phone (say the HTC Rezound I mentioned earlier), I would expect it would be the discounted price of the phone (including the $75 discount I had on the original order).  Then if I chose to keep that phone, it would be as simple as reimbursing the original charge and keeping the new charge for the Rezound.  (I was investigating your “advanced exchange” process and was told that you’d need to charge me the full price of the phone and the discounted price of the phone onto a credit card in order to send a working phone first prior to me sending back my defective unit.  That would be almost $1000 of charges in addition to the ~$180 I have already paid for the phone in the first place.  Since you don’t have the phone in stock, the advanced exchange is really not in the picture anyways.)

Please let me know how you’d like to proceed with the issue and we can work together for a mutually satisfactory resolution.

Thanks for your efforts,

Tim Ehat

Update 1:

No response today, so I initiated a chat session with them (can’t really phone them).  Took them a few minutes to find the email and review it (I guess the department they forwarded it on to doesn’t read their emails).  The result? LetsTalk says they cannot do anything other than what they had already proposed.  What a frustrating response.

But, as my luck would have it, they received their next shipment early and have the phone in stock once again.  (I guess these guys are at the total mercy and whim of Verizon since they’ve not been very accurate about when they’re going to receive more stock from Verizon.)

They’re going to have to do their whole “charge you everything and reimburse later” thing as part of what they call an “advanced exchange” (cross shipping the new/old phones), but, hey, that’s better than paying for a phone I can’t use.  They say they’ll manually change that temporary amount to half of the retail price instead of the full retail price, but, really, what’s the difference?  It’s a charge on my credit card for a week or two that gets cleared off.  It was always about the idea of charging me again for something I already bought.

Oh well, I guess they deal with a bunch of people who try to rip them off.  Too bad we consumers deal with companies that act the same way.  I think we as consumers need to all get together and get our own set of Terms & Conditions for doing business with us.  Or something….

So the result is: their customer service is slightly better than others (free return shipping for cancelled orders, etc), but when it comes to the more advanced problems, it’s just as frustrating as any place else (well, I’m assuming no one charges their customers to return defective products).

Tim Ehat: Hi, I’m wondering if anyone has had a chance to read my email I sent last night?
Tim Ehat: Order #_________
Tim Ehat: I need to know whether or not I should be sending in my phone today on my way home.
Mary G: Tim my name is Mary and I will be happy to review your order. Please verify your address and phone number.
Tim Ehat: [I provide the address and phone number]
Mary G: Thank you for providing that information. All emails take up to 24 hours to be reviewed. When did you send it?
Tim Ehat: Please check the notes on the account and you’ll see that I’ve been authorized to deal with you
Tim Ehat: I sent the email yesterday evening
Mary G: Please allow me 3-4 minutes to review with our email team and verify if they have received it.
Tim Ehat: ok
Mary G: Our email time is reviewing the orders at this time to locate yours. What was the subject line?
Tim Ehat: It was simply, “Order #_________”
Mary G: Please allow me another 3-4 minutes while they locate it.
Tim Ehat: ok
Tim Ehat: I sent the email to “psr@letstalk.com” as indicated on your letter in the original package (http://www.timehat.com/wp-content/uploads/LetsTalk-Letters-002.jpg)
Tim Ehat: If that helps at all
Tim Ehat: I’m happy to forward the email to another address if you need me to.
Mary G: [Mary G is idle]
Mary G: [Mary G is no longer idle]
Mary G: Thank you for that information, the psr team sent it to the correct department earlier this afternoon and a supervisor is reviewing your proposed suggestions. Please allow another 3-4 minutes while they are reviewing it.
Tim Ehat: okay, thank you
Mary G: Tim a supervisor has reviewed your email and unfortunately, we cannot accommodate the suggestions you have offered. I do apologize for any inconvenience this causes. You are still within your 14 day return period if you wish to return your phone for a full refund and reverse the upgrade. We do also offer an advanced exchange option. We can cross ship the new device however we will bill your card the full value of your device you have now and ship the new one today. Once we get it back we would refund the amount back.
[Here I assume that she hasn't noticed the product was out of stock. Stock had actually arrived that day.]
Mary G: My supervisor has authorized the cross shipment to be done at half the full retail price plus the sale price of the phone which would total at $539.99 versus the normal price of $904.99

What actually happened (see Update 2 below):

Tim Ehat: So I have to pay for phone that I cannot use?
Tim Ehat: Well, that’s really no difference to me since either amount will be credited back when you receive my phone.
Tim Ehat: You’ve left me with either cancelling my order (losing out on your offer and Verizon’s 4 gig data promo) or paying for service that I can’t use
Tim Ehat: I expected that you would take care of this situation in a better fashion.
Mary G: We are more than happy to exchange the phone for you with either option we have so that you are not paying for service you cannot use.
Tim Ehat: No, I don’t think that will work
Tim Ehat: With the first option, I pay more for the phone elsewhere and lose the 4 gig data promo (and have to wait a week or two for the upgrade credit to show up on my verizon account again)
Tim Ehat: I don’t believe the second option is even a possibility since the device is backordered.
Tim Ehat: I was told Monday on the phone that you could not cross ship the item
Tim Ehat: since it was back ordered
Mary G: I apologize for the inconvenience but these are the only options we have available at this time. A supervisor has reviewed our inventory and we show this phone is in stock.
Tim Ehat: and even if you can, I can’t keep using the defective phone
Tim Ehat: You told me the phone was backordered until about 2/3
Tim Ehat: (a previous support agent, that is)
Mary G: We have received shipments of this phone this week and do have this phone in stock.
Tim Ehat: Okay, that completely changes things. Are you able to verify that I will not lose my “double data” promotion if we perform a cross shipping advanced exchange?
Mary G: That is correct.
Tim Ehat: Okay, let’s do that then
Tim Ehat: I’ll need to have you use a different credit card for the temporary charges
Mary G: To do the cross shipment we do need to be able to authorize the full amount initially and then a supervisor will do a manual override to reduce it to half. Will that be ok?
Mary G: The full price is $904.99
Tim Ehat: Yeah, that’s fine. As long as I get the full amount reimbursed and end up paying the amount we originally agreed upon for the order, I’m perfect.
Mary G: That is not a problem. Unfortunately, I cannot take your credit card information via chat for security reasons. You will need to call our customer service department at 866-825-5460 to update your credit card.
Tim Ehat: Okay. I’ll have to wait until I can use my wife’s phone since mine isn’t working. How late will you have representatives there tonight?
Tim Ehat: Also, do you know how long it will take to receive the replacement unit?
Mary G: We are open until 10pm central. Once we ship out the exchange, it will arrive within 2 business days.
Tim Ehat: How quickly will the device ship? Are you sure that you’ll still have inventory in to ship it soon? (Perhaps pulling a unit aside for this exchange.)
Mary G: Unfortunately, we cannot hold any units aside. However we have enough to complete your order. It will more than likely ship tomorrow, we will not be able to create the cross shipment order until we have the correct credit card on file.
Tim Ehat: okay. I’ll be calling in within the next 2 hours to take care of that.
Mary G: Is there anything further I can assist you with today?
Tim Ehat: Just to verify one last point: when I receive the new unit, do I use my same SIM card, or do I send back the SIM card you’ve already sent (and you’ll supply me with a new one)?
Mary G: We will be supplying you with a new SIM card.
Tim Ehat: Okay, thank you (I had heard differently before). I will ship back the original SIM card you sent me.
Tim Ehat: Sounds like we’ve managed to work it out. Thank you for your help today.
Mary G: You’re welcome. Is there anything further I may assist you with today?
Tim Ehat: Nope, that should do it.
Tim Ehat: Have a nice evening
Mary G: It was a pleasure to assist you today. Thank you for contacting LetsTalk.com “The smarter way to buy wireless” Please remember to hit the “end chat” option and to monitor your email or check status online for updates.

Update 2:

I received shipment and billing confirmations today from LetsTalk for the cross-shipment order.  Unfortunately, they failed to only charge me 1/2 of the full retail price plus the discounted price (which they said they would do).  No big deal, except the “discounted price” was almost double what I paid on the original order.  Uhh, what?  How hard could this be?

Me impersonating my wife (it’s easier that way…  LetsTalk can’t seem to actually add me to the account as an authorized person no matter how many times I ask):

Lisa Ehat: I think I was charged the wrong amount on my cross-shipment exchange
Lisa Ehat: order #________, RMA #______
Erica S: Lisa my name is Erica and I will be happy to review your order. Please verify your name, address and contact number.
Lisa Ehat: Name: Lisa Ehat
Lisa Ehat: Address: ____
Lisa Ehat: # ___[phone number]____
Lisa Ehat: I paid $174.99 for the original order
Lisa Ehat: and the total for the cross shipment is $1064.98
Lisa Ehat: take off the full retail that will be reimbursed
Erica S: Thank you for providing that information. Please allow 2-3 minutes while I review your order.
Lisa Ehat: and that is: $334.99
Erica S: Thank you so much for your patience! I show that cross-shipment amount is $729.99 plus the promotional price for the original device. This totals to $1,064.98.
Lisa Ehat: what is the promotional price of the original device?
Erica S: Once original device is returned you will be credited back the full retail price.
Lisa Ehat: Okay, so that leaves me paying: $1064.98-729.99 = $334.99
Lisa Ehat: Which is almost double the amount of my original order
Lisa Ehat: The original device you sent me has a hardware defect, thus the exchange
Lisa Ehat: so I’d expect the final price to be the same as my original order
Erica S: Please allow 2-3 minutes while I review the amounts.
Lisa Ehat: okay, thanks
Lisa Ehat: in addition, i was told yesterday during the chat session that the amount would be manually modified such that the charge for full retail would only be half of the full retail price, given the continued issues i’ve had during this whole process
Lisa Ehat: i don’t care too much about that, but it’s very surprising to see it so dramatically off even if the full amount was to be charged
Erica S: I do apologize for the delay. Please bare with me while I try to get this issue resolved.
Lisa Ehat: no worries, take whatever time you need
Lisa Ehat: my main concern is that at the end of the whole process, I’ve paid you the $174.99 we had originally agreed upon when i placed the order in the first place
Lisa Ehat: and i have the data plan and device i had ordered
Erica S: Thank you for your patience! You will receive an credit in the amount of $160.00. This credit should be applied to your credit card within 1-5 business days. Once you return the original device you will receive credit for the full retail price of the phone. Is there anything else I may assist you with today?
Lisa Ehat: That should be all. Thank you!
Erica S: You’re welcome. It was a pleasure to assist you today. Thank you for contacting LetsTalk.com “The smarter way to buy wireless” Please remember to hit the “end chat” option and to monitor your email or check status online for updates.

Yup, definitely the “smarter way to buy wireless.”

Update 3

The new phone is on its way (should arrive sometime Monday).  I hope it all works out with that one.  In the meantime, however, I just received my first new bill from Verizon.  Guess what I found?  An additional new feature called “VCast Video” was also added onto my phone line at a rate of $10/month.  Great job, LetsTalk.

I contacted LetsTalk since I’m worried about the clause in our contract saying that if I make any changes to my account that they’ll charge me for the discount they extended.  They said it was fine to work with Verizon and that they didn’t see any order for VCast Video.

Jaime M: Thanks for choosing Customer Support Chat!
When you are ready to disconnect, please click the END CHAT button at bottom left of this window.
Hello, Lisa Ehat. How can we provide assistance?

Lisa Ehat: Order _________
Lisa Ehat: Lisa Ehat
Lisa Ehat: 801-360-2361
Jaime M: My name is Jaime and I will be happy to assist you.
Lisa Ehat: 395 n 1060 w
Lisa Ehat: provo,ut 84601
Lisa Ehat: I just received my first bill from Verizon after the new phone/plan were activated
Jaime M: thank you, Lisa. This order was with verizon for an upgrade. is that correct?
Lisa Ehat: and it looks like VCast Video was also mistakenly added to the __________ phone line in addition to the new data plan.
Lisa Ehat: yes, that’s right
Jaime M: I do not show VCast on your order. You can contact verizon at 800-922-0204 and they should remove it for you
Lisa Ehat: I need to know whether to work with you or Verizon on that. I’m worried since I’ve heard that any changes on my account associated with that line within a certain time period (90 or 180 days?) will cause you to charge me since Verizon will withhold your commission
Lisa Ehat: If you can assure me that if I remove that feature through Verizon that you will not charge me, then I’m fine to contact Verizon.
Lisa Ehat: If you cannot assure me that, I’m going to assume you’ll need to take care of the issue.
Jaime M: We never put the VCast on your account, so it had no impact on the price of the phone
Lisa Ehat: But you do receive a commission from Verizon for the upgrade, correct?
Lisa Ehat: Is it true that changes to the account might cause Verizon to withhold that commission and then you’ll seek to charge me?
Jaime M: You will not be charged an equipment subsidy recovery fee for removing the vcast feature. That fee is if you deactivate the phone number or transfer financial liability
Jaime M: Yes, we receive a commission
Lisa Ehat: Okay, that sounds fine then. Since you’ve assured me that removing the feature will not cause any issues between you and me, I’ll work further with Verizon.
Lisa Ehat: Thank you for your help.
Jaime M: Yes, that is true, but only in certain instances. If, for example, you ordered an upgrade on the family 1400 plan and the price of the phone was free
Jaime M: but you called verizon and change the plan to family 700. If you placed the order on our site with the family 700 plan, the phone would have been 99.99
Jaime M: You’re welcome. Also, you would be charged if you had called verizon to activate your upgrade instead of having us do it
Lisa Ehat: Okay, sounds good. Thanks again.
Lisa Ehat: Have a nice day!
Jaime M: Thank you. Is there anything else that I can do for you?
Lisa Ehat: Nope, that’s it.
Jaime M: thank you for choosing online chat support. have a great day!

So I called Verizon and took the feature off.  They warned me about how it might affect things with my third party seller, but I told them I had written confirmation that it shouldn’t be an issue.  They confirmed to me that they don’t just add features onto accounts and that it had come through from LetsTalk….  I guess it’s now a waiting game to see if LetsTalk decides to try and charge me for their mistake.  If they do, I’ll give them a chance to make things right.  If they fail, I’ll have no problem disputing the charge on my credit card and letting them deal with my credit card company over the charge back.  I’ve got a written statement from them saying I should be in the clear and they would not charge me.

Update 4
Okay, the new phone arrived this evening. (A lot earlier than last time! Thanks, UPS!) I cleaned up the old phone, took some photos of its condition (you never know), and packaged it up to send it back. After booting up the new phone, I wasn’t able to activate it. I got online with LetsTalk chat support again and they told me to call Verizon’s activation department for help. That is actually a “no no” with third party phones, but I made sure I understood the rep right (and had it in writing) and called away. Turns out the number she gave me was for their own activation service. I guess “Verizon’s activation department” really should have been “one of our Verizon activation representatives.” No big deal, but I was really surprised at first that Verizon would be able to look up my LetsTalk order number. The first call didn’t get it resolved, but the representative was successful the second time around. The speaker on the new phone works great. I think I’ve finally got my working Galaxy Nexus about 38 days after ordering it.

LetsTalk didn’t send a prepaid FedEx label to ship the old phone back (which all their emails and packing label say to use), but it turns out it’s really easy to print the prepaid UPS label through their website. Just one last rough edge to the whole process, I guess. Now I just send the old one back (I hope they don’t just turn around and send it to someone else), watch for my credit, and never worry about dealing with LetsTalk again.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Very slick.  I’ve been using Gingerbread on my tablet (a little awkward since it’s primarily a phone OS) and ICS really does take Android to a new level of polish, unification (in UI, at least), and beauty.  As I use the UI there are times where I can’t help but smile at how well done some things are and the overall cleanness, beauty, and simplicity of the UI.  That’s the experience you want to give your users.  I do what I can at work to do that, and I’ve really started to expect it out of any product that proclaims or wants to be top-of-the line.  I think we’re at a point in our computing experience where there’s not much excuse any longer to get the simple things wrong.  We’re using so many different devices now that it’s time that more of what we do is simple and glitch-free.  It’s hard to do (I don’t always get it right at work), but it’s gotta be the goal.

I’ve had many of the core apps crash on me and other little glitches, but the experience is top notch in my opinion.  I’m not a big iOS user, but it’s certainly often been the top dog in clean and visually appealing interfaces.  Android has often been characterized as giving the user more control (or giving the option for greater customization) but with a bit less polished/beautiful UI.  Android 4, in my opinion, gives me both a beautiful UI and the customization/details I want.

The Hardware

My phone’s got an issue with the earpiece.  I dropped by the Galaxy Nexus area of Samsung’s booth at CES on Thursday and was glad to discover that it was just my phone.  I’ll have to work with LetsTalk to get it exchanged.  Since I already waited almost a month to get my backordered phone, I’m hoping that LetsTalk will upgrade my exchange process and send me a new phone before I send mine back.  I don’t want to be without a phone for a couple of weeks (not gonna just give away my money to Verizon for nothing).  They claim they’ve centered a lot of their business model on a great customer service experience, so let’s see if they pull through on that promise.

Anyways, back to the hardware.  The phone is surprisingly light.  It’s not too light, but lighter than you’d expect when you look at it.  It’s also big.  Almost too big (in my opinion), but I’ve gotten used to it.  I think it’ll spoil me and I won’t be able to use a phone with a smaller screen if that’s what’s offered in the future.

The screen is pretty awesome.  I’m still jealous of the HTC Rezound’s screen in some respects (no pentile matrix, more subpixels for the same resolution).  The hardware buttons are replaced with on screen buttons making the difference between the Rezound’s screen and the GNex’s screen less significant (since the Rezound has dedicated hardware buttons).  You’ll get the full screen on the Nexus when watching a video or doing a few other things, but that’s not a huge deal to me.  So in my book I might not go as far as to put it as the best screen out there,t it’s certainly one of the best and meets my pretty high standards.  I love high resolution screens–seeing the square edges pixels is a dying experience and this screen moves in the right direction.  (So did the experimental 8K TV I saw at Sharp’s booth at CES.  That thing was absolutely amazing.  I want it.  The no-glasses-needed 3D tech is a move in the wrong direction as far as resolution goes.  That’s the sacrifice, I guess.)

Battery Life

Not too good.  Even though it is a 4G phone and I knew to expect a lot less than my old dumb phone, I still expected more.  The first few days I’d see my battery drop throughout the day with very little usage with the 4G and WiFi on.  I’d give it about 8-10 hours with really light usage.  I’m testing more today to see how it fares with those same settings, but I’m not too impressed.  I’d expect that if I’m not using it, that it’d drop maybe 10% throughout an entire day (even with WiFi and 4G on).  Maybe 15-20%, but certainly not 80%.  Again, we’re at a point where I shouldn’t have to worry about turning on and off WiFi and toggling 3G/4G settings.  It should just work.  (Man, I’m sounding like I should be more of an Apple fan, since that’s how things often work over there to a certain extent.)

Yesterday I turned off the 4G and WiFi and things were much better.  I took a few videos, photos, made some short phone calls, used some of my apps, texted, and made the trip from Vegas to Provo.  The battery lasted from about 8 that morning until after I got home at around 9:30 that evening (with still around 15% battery life).  Not too shabby.  I didn’t listen to music or play games while I was traveling (which I would have wanted to do if I didn’t have my tablet handy).  If I had done that, I don’t think I would have made it.  The Droid Razr Maxx sounds like it will be pretty awesome with respects to battery life.  Google/Samsung take note.  We want that experience on our phones.

Some of the issues might be attributed to a bug in ICS that can be fixed up (the device often stays awake with the screen off for longer than it seems it should), so my experiences might get better with some software patches.  I hope so, because I don’t like feeling nervous that if I use my device now I won’t be able to later.  My tablet has spoiled me, I guess.  I can use that thing pretty heavily all day long and still end up with 40% at the end of the day.  15-20% if I’m really hard on it.

When I went to CES I took my GNex, HP Touchpad, and old dumb phone.  The GNex didn’t last all day unless I turned off WiFi and 4G.  The Touchpad went the whole trip without needing to be charged (I didn’t use it a ton, but it sat there with WiFi on and occasionally searching without huge battery drains).  I also used it for web browsing over a WiFi hotspot in my car on the way down and music and games on my way home and was still completely fine.  My dumb phone is sitting next to me as I begin the process of transferring my photos and other info off of it.  I last charged it Sunday night and used it about half the day Monday before my GNex arrived.  It’s now Saturday afternoon and the 3G’s been connected (well, as much as a deactivated phone gets connected) and it’s still got 50% battery left.  Why can’t my new smartphone be as smart at going to sleep and conserving power when I’m not using it?  Sure it’s got more going on, but it shouldn’t be doing that much more that it can hardly last a day even with light usage.  They’re both Samsung phones.  The Galaxy Nexus has a 1850mAh battery (upgradeable to a slightly larger 2100 mAh battery), while my old phone had a measly 960 mAh (and a 800 x 480 AMOLED pentile matrix screen–obviously less power hungry than the beautiful display on the Galaxy Nexus, but really an older version of the same technology).  You’d think the Galaxy Nexus would be much better than it is.

Overall

I like it a lot.  I hope that when I’m ready for an upgrade two years from now that there’s a similar phone with a large, non-pentile-matrix, high-res screen, much better battery life (4G’s already been out for over a year–gotta figure out how to make more efficient radios eventually, right?), and perhaps some other new gizmos.  I’ll stick with the Galaxy Nexus even if I do have to live with it as 3G only for the battery’s sake.

And back to the reviewers–I think the Touchpad got a very bad wrap.  I actually really, really like webOS.  There are a few things that do get in the way of a flawless experience, but it is in my opinion a well polished and thoughtful interface for a tablet.  I’ve been switching between Gingerbread and webOS recently, and it’s a hard choice.  webOS is the better tablet interface, but Gingerbread’s got some better software (and, I have to admit, is faster at web browsing, etc).  I’ve been using Ice Cream Sandwich on my new Galaxy Nexus, and it’s super slick.  I’ll probably be leaving webOS behind (with a bit of a sad feeling) when it’s available on the Touchpad.

Another thing I’ve always been impressed by (and even more so this week after getting my new smartphone) is the battery life.  Sure the device is thicker, but I’m more than happy to have a thicker device with great battery life than to have the battery size cut down, giving me a device that I worry about using too much (I want to use my gadgets!).  Sure some devices/companies manage to get the best of both (Apple’s great at this), but if you can’t get both, give me battery life–it’s more important.  A thin tablet or cell phone with a dead battery is just a beautiful piece of plastic, glass, and silicon chips.

Thanks to the active Android community and the active webOS community, I’m sure my Touchpad will live on for many years (even if its later life is simply as some sort of in car touchscreen or remote or something).

It just amazes me that Verizon thinks that customers don’t notice the extent Verizon goes to to extract every extra penny from customers. Here’s what I’ve seen (to name a few):

1. New “convenience fee”
2. Contract billing is actually prepaid. You charge me up front (month in advance) for the service I’m about to receive and then adjust it the next month if I go over my allowances. Good ol’ time value of money calculations at work, eh? I hope you get a better return that I would get.
3. Charges for automated processes just to become your customer. (Activation of extra phone lines purchased through a 3rd party.)
4. You don’t give any discount if I “bring my own phone”. You’d charge me the same monthly rate as you would if you subsidized my phone. The best economic decision? Let you subsidize my phone and lock me in for 2 years.
5. You’re blocking Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus because you’re planning on rolling out your own cell phone payment system. You’ve seen the model the credit and debit card companies have and want a slice of it. You’re just a little slower than Google, though, so you choose to block it so potential customers don’t get tied in to their service first. Nice one.
6. And, of course, any rant about a wireless carrier is incomplete without mentioning that they charge more for text messages than it costs NASA to receive data from space.

The fact that they call it a “convenience fee” is very revealing. It really is more convenient for me to pay with a debit card each month than having them take the money out of my bank account each month. I’ve been a customer for a little over two years and I’ve had a few too many incorrect bills to let them automatically take money out of my account. eCheck? No–that takes forever to post. If Verizon wants customers to use the methods that are cheaper for them, they need to make it worthwhile for customers to do so. A $2 fee on the more expensive methods will do that, but everyone knows what that means: more customers choose the cheaper option and Verizon saves money. Those that don’t pay $2 more. Net effect: customers pay more overall and Verizon takes in even more beyond that (less $$ going to the credit/debit card processors). That’s why if feels unfair to customers–they’re not getting any of the benefit of the cheaper payment methods while Verizon gets it all.

If Verizon did what a lot of gas stations did and gave discounts to those who paid with cheaper methods, people would be happy with the change. Why don’t they do this? Because they won’t get as much money that way. That’s why so many people these days feel corporations are greedy–everything’s calculated for their profit margin, not a symbiotic relationship where customers pay for a valued service and the company does its best to both earn a profit and please customers. In a free market, companies like Verizon would be replaced by those that actually do that. Unfortunately, our ability to utilize the radio spectrum efficiently is limited by our current technology, limiting the number of wireless service providers. We live with a world where we choose our cell phone provider from whichever member of the oligopoly has the best phone when we’re signing up. They all charge essentially the same price. When one prices goes up, they all do. When one member’s service is limited (think data caps), the rest soon follow.

Well, guess what Verizon (and AT&T, etc)? Someone’s going to “move your cheese”. Perhaps Google will come along and light up some of its fiber and roll out some WiMax using “white space” spectrum in some major cities and provide free calling using any Android device via Google Voice (connecting using Google Talk whenever possible to avoid the traditional telephone network). Perhaps more WiFi service providers like Republic Wireless will come along and take larger and larger chunks of your customer base. I don’t know exactly what it is, but your dominance will not last forever. Enjoy it while you can, but the next generation of purchases are a lot more informed, powerful, and less happy to pay large premiums for access to the net.