This has been a week of inefficiencies. It is annoying, but it happens. I desperately needed a new cell phone so when Sprint came out with the Motorola Photon 4G, I jumped on it. It has all features a person could want, plus it is cool. I won’t get into the fact that Sprint now charges a $10 “premium data add-on” or, what I refer to as the “cool phone surcharge”. Some new phrasing would at least make my bill a little more entertaining. So, I get the phone, after a lot of calls, I activate the phone and that is where the trouble starts.
I finally get the phone set up with my email accounts, social media accounts and even a few apps added on. It is all going well, except for the fact that on the Motorola phones you only get one link to your email accounts. So, for example, if you have three accounts, there is one icon on the phone for all of them. You can view them separately, but it requires an extra couple of clicks. that is annoying, but certainly not the end of the world.
The 8 megapixel camera, with flash, is fantastic. The choice of apps is great – I can use either Hootsuite or Tweetdeck for Twitter, and choose from hundreds of thousands of other apps. I have chosen about eight very important ones, like Open Table. You never know when you need to make, or change, a dinner reservation on the fly.
The problem with the phone is this: it randomly shuts down or reboots. I have had the phone for two days and this has happened after every phone call I have made or received. The Sprint store people are convinced I just have a bad phone and need a new one. I am hesitant. Is this a common problem with these phones? Are they all buggy? Do they all cycle off periodically? Do none of them warn you when you have a low battery? Or do I really just have a lemon?
Only time will tell, as I am trying to replace the phone and get it all set up (which is another half day activity, at least) before I leave on vacation tomorrow. Yes, I know, I should disconnect while on vacation and for the most part I will. But what if I need to make or change a dinner reservation? Or call my friends to tell them I will be early (who am I kidding?) or late (far more likely)? I need to have a phone I can depend on. Let’s see if the new one delivers.
More on this when I return. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your cell phone horror stories. Post them here or send me an email and I will compile them into one post.
