Cell Phone

I recently upgraded my phone plan and acquired a Samsung Galaxy Stratosphere cell phone.  I thought long and hard about an iPhone, but that would have been $100 more and I think my data plan would have changed.  I wanted a physical keyboard and the Samsung was free with my upgrade and was one of the few models that has a slide out keyboard. I have had the phone for a few weeks now and really like it.  Typing on it is much easier for me than it was on the Motorola Droid X that I had previously so I haven't used the slide out keyboard that much at all.  The phone is 4G and is quick and responsive for the most part.  In addition, since my tablet is a Samsung, the interface is pretty much identical so the learning curve is very slight.

There are several things I like better on this phone than the Droid.  As I mentioned before, typing on the screen is easier but typing on the slide out keyboard is not.  The layout is slightly different than the Droid and my fingers have not gotten used to that yet, but since the typing - especially with the Swpe interface - is so easy, I don't have to use it.  I have noticed that the camera on this phone is better than the Droid and I can zoom before taking the picture by pinching the screen until I get the ratio I want.  I also like the screen resolution; it is bright and very easy to see.  The phone is slightly larger than the Droid, especially with the protective case, so I am still getting used to the size difference and how it fits in my pocket.

Most of my apps downloaded "automagically" when I set up the phone, which I also noticed on the Droid after I had gotten a replacement phone; but not all of them.  I am not sure why, but that is kind of a pain as I go looking for the app and then have to download it again, and in some cases find it on Google Play and then download. In one case, when I went into Google Play it gave me the option to uninstall or update which meant it was on the phone already and then I had to go looking for it.  I think the phone has a search option for apps but I haven't found it yet.  The home screen set up is really nicely and allows for three different "pages" for your most frequently used apps but I think I noticed that when I download a new app it creates an icon for that new app on one of those pages so now the pages are somewhat disorganized.  I don't really use them as they are intended, so it is not really a big deal. It kind of annoyed me that there were some apps that Samsung included icons for that I really don't want like Amex Store and some games.  They are not the apps, they are shortcuts to download the apps, or demo versions of the app, and they take up screen real estate.  When you go to remove them, the phone gives you a scary message that deleting them will somehow cause your phone to have issues.

Today, however, the phone got jammed and rebooted itself.  I did notice that I had gotten a notification that an upgrade was due so maybe there was some small memory thing that was going on as to why it did that. When the Droid was getting older, the phone would freeze up often so I am hoping there is nothing wrong so early on.