FA+
Shop
Goodbye Verizon...
11 years ago
Some postive news: I may have a strong lead to a job. It would be third shift which would take some getting used to... but it shouldn't interfere with my regular activities too much.
But as to the title of the post: My 2 year contract with Verizon expired today. My old phone was just that, old slow and special. It was pretty much falling apart. I was also on an ancient grandfathered in plan from Verizon from eight years ago, which is the only way I'd stick with them because their current packages are insanely expensive.
I liked Verizon's coverage overall. But when it came down to it NONE of the "freeish" phones Verizon has impresses me that much.
I'm a wolf among sheep. The iPhone or the Uber Huge Tablet sized Android phone does NOTHING for me. I don't need thin. I don't want a huge screen. There are two things I've really wanted on a phone: one of them sadly is no longer made and that is a foldout tactile keyboard. Alas the phone that was falling apart had one x.x.
The other is an actual camera that doesn't suck monkey balls. Even the iPhone 6 and Galaxy s5 cameras which get Rave reviews in all honesty are MEH to me. Its still a tiny pinhole lens. Fixed apeture. Fixed Zoom. Very narrow ISO range. And absolutely NO depth of field.
Cell phones with actual pocket camera sensors and lenses have been in Korea for years. They have never made it to the US until just recently. Samsung did something gutsy. They made two US "cameras that can make calls" The Galaxy S4 zoom and the Galaxy K Zoom.
The S4 is bigger and feels/grips more like a pocket camera. The K is a lot smaller and is more of a "mini smartphone" and is quite awkward to hold from the photos I've seen.
The S4 zoom was picked up by one US Carrier: AT&T. The K was never picked up. The S4 didn't sell that well. It's an Android phone with an amazing camera, for a phone. Yes yes... it can't compare to the quality of an SLR or mirrorless camera, but when compared to any other cell phone camera it blows them out of the water.
Sadly, the S4 is starting to be phased out. It didn't sell well enough for any carrier to carry the newer K model. OMG its a cell phone that is THICKER then two pieces of construction paper. Whatever shall we do DON'T BUY IT ITS TOO THICK @.@
I like the S4 better anyways because its the same size as my old phone.
I decided to jump on it as soon as my contract expired today and went to the S4 zoom. I'm getting a heavy discount on the phone because its not selling well. Its selling for less then the older normal S4 which I find is... Sad.
It meant switching carriers, but atleast I have a modern not grandfathered in plan now. I also scored $150 in Best Buy gift cards since I switched carriers through them ... I'm OK with this too ^^
But I now have a phone with a camera on it that I am not embarrassed to use when I need to take a photo of something quick. This suits me just fine. Like the keyboard, sadly I'm pretty sure my next phone will not have a real camera lens, sensor and flash like this one does... but time will tell.
My phone number hasn't changed, and transferring my contacts over was pretty painless. All I had to do was connect it to my main google account and boom; done.
I might put a photo up in scraps of it later. And I'll be taking some test photos with it soon. For kicks I may take some photos of the same thing with my old phone which was... beyond special for image quality.
Its a major upgrade in the camera. The phone itself is also much more stable and the battery lasts longer. So I suppose I have something positive that happened this week...
But as to the title of the post: My 2 year contract with Verizon expired today. My old phone was just that, old slow and special. It was pretty much falling apart. I was also on an ancient grandfathered in plan from Verizon from eight years ago, which is the only way I'd stick with them because their current packages are insanely expensive.
I liked Verizon's coverage overall. But when it came down to it NONE of the "freeish" phones Verizon has impresses me that much.
I'm a wolf among sheep. The iPhone or the Uber Huge Tablet sized Android phone does NOTHING for me. I don't need thin. I don't want a huge screen. There are two things I've really wanted on a phone: one of them sadly is no longer made and that is a foldout tactile keyboard. Alas the phone that was falling apart had one x.x.
The other is an actual camera that doesn't suck monkey balls. Even the iPhone 6 and Galaxy s5 cameras which get Rave reviews in all honesty are MEH to me. Its still a tiny pinhole lens. Fixed apeture. Fixed Zoom. Very narrow ISO range. And absolutely NO depth of field.
Cell phones with actual pocket camera sensors and lenses have been in Korea for years. They have never made it to the US until just recently. Samsung did something gutsy. They made two US "cameras that can make calls" The Galaxy S4 zoom and the Galaxy K Zoom.
The S4 is bigger and feels/grips more like a pocket camera. The K is a lot smaller and is more of a "mini smartphone" and is quite awkward to hold from the photos I've seen.
The S4 zoom was picked up by one US Carrier: AT&T. The K was never picked up. The S4 didn't sell that well. It's an Android phone with an amazing camera, for a phone. Yes yes... it can't compare to the quality of an SLR or mirrorless camera, but when compared to any other cell phone camera it blows them out of the water.
Sadly, the S4 is starting to be phased out. It didn't sell well enough for any carrier to carry the newer K model. OMG its a cell phone that is THICKER then two pieces of construction paper. Whatever shall we do DON'T BUY IT ITS TOO THICK @.@
I like the S4 better anyways because its the same size as my old phone.
I decided to jump on it as soon as my contract expired today and went to the S4 zoom. I'm getting a heavy discount on the phone because its not selling well. Its selling for less then the older normal S4 which I find is... Sad.
It meant switching carriers, but atleast I have a modern not grandfathered in plan now. I also scored $150 in Best Buy gift cards since I switched carriers through them ... I'm OK with this too ^^
But I now have a phone with a camera on it that I am not embarrassed to use when I need to take a photo of something quick. This suits me just fine. Like the keyboard, sadly I'm pretty sure my next phone will not have a real camera lens, sensor and flash like this one does... but time will tell.
My phone number hasn't changed, and transferring my contacts over was pretty painless. All I had to do was connect it to my main google account and boom; done.
I might put a photo up in scraps of it later. And I'll be taking some test photos with it soon. For kicks I may take some photos of the same thing with my old phone which was... beyond special for image quality.
Its a major upgrade in the camera. The phone itself is also much more stable and the battery lasts longer. So I suppose I have something positive that happened this week...
I too had to make some changes with Verizon.
Keep moving forward Yarrick.
I have to buy phones outright, but it's still WAY cheaper that way.