We've been with T-Mobile for several years now, as well as a few years a while back. We had been happy with them way back then, but at the time they discontinued detailed billing and I needed that for work, so we left for Verizon. However, we eventually went back and have been happy since. When we did go back, I went from a BlackBerry on Verizon to a MyTouch 4G and was reasonably happy with my first Android phone. About 18 months ago our contract was up and T-Mobile was moving away from contracts and doing phones via "payments". I was initially a bit leery of this, but we went ahead with upgrading anyway.
At the time J, M, and M2, went for a Galaxy Relay as those were keyboard phones and I opted for a Galaxy S3 (this was about a month before the S4 came out); since P is a touch careless with things we opted to give her my old MyTouch 4G. I had the phone for about six months until I lost it at the airport. I ended up replacing it with the S4, although I strongly considered the Note 3 as it had just came out and looked really nice. I thought the S-Pen would be a plus since I had used a stylus on a couple of different Treo's back in the day (one with Palm O/S and one with the Windows version). However, the Note 3 was brand new and I'm not normally one to grab a brand new device so I went with the S4 since I had been happy with the S3. I did actually get the S3 back a few weeks later, somebody at Southwest Airlines found it and tracked me down, so J took it and passed her Relay down to P.
Flash forward to about June of this year. The original 4 phones have been paid off (several months early) leaving just my S4 to pay on, and I thought it would be prudent to start replacing phones. Since M had been having trouble with hers (self inflicted I believe), I focused on her and M2 since I figured they'd need "matching" phones - them being how they are. M2 was sort of a d*ck about it so I figured leave him be, but I pushed M and convinced her that she should go with something more mainstream as the Relay was such a niche phone it didn't really see much of any updates like the more popular phones did. I strongly suggested an S5, a Note 3, or an iPhone 5s. But she kept dragging her feet.
She finally took a look at things and decided she might like the Note 3 which made sense since she also had a Treo back in the day and loved the stylus. However, by now it was September and the Note 4 had been announced so we decided we'd wait for that. J decided she wanted one too, so we figured we'd get M's and then a few months later get J one too. So M pre-ordered hers and it arrived a couple of days before release day. However, she wanted an Otterbox - and I couldn't really argue that as I have one for my S4 and it's been great. Those were released on the release date of the Note 4 but not in the color she wanted so she let the phone sit for nearly two weeks. Finally I convinced her to order what she could as the holster only comes in black anyway and the slip cover she wanted (pink) was available. The only real issue was the shell and I told her we could replace that later on if she wanted.
So the case came last week and we moved her to the Note 4. I helped her get some things setup on it and it seemed to be a really nice phone. What really got me was how nice the display was, pulling up some movies on Netflix - they looked great and I guess I drooled a bit. As things were, we normally don't insure the phones, but after the fiasco with my S3 being lost we had put insurance on my S4. Well somehow instead of just insurance I also ended up enrolled in the "Jump" program and since we were now in October my phone was just over half paid off which means I could "Jump" to something new. I initially wasn't keen on that as I had intended on eventually passing the S4 down to P when I went to something else; but after toying with M's Note 4 - I really did want one. I was in a bit of a quandary as I felt bad replacing my phone prior to J, and I know the S6 is expected out around late March or early April and I love my S4. However, after talking about it, J agreed to wait until the S6 came out and if I wanted that she'd take my Note 4 and if I wanted to keep the Note 4 we'd just get her one at that point.
I wasn't able to get a black one - they were back ordered, but we found a couple of T-Mobile stores with white ones in stock last Thursday so we got me one and I ordered my Otterbox. I toyed with the phone over the weekend, but by yesterday I was having some second thoughts. The Otterbox had come by then and the phone is a bit bulky for me and since I normally wear skirts/dresses as much as possible the holster wasn't readily going to do a lot for me. The Bluetooth is apparently 4.1 and my FitBit One was having issues syncing with it - and I really do use that app more than any other. The S-Pen worked just fine, but it's been so long since I used a stylus on the Treo's that I really didn't like to use it. Other little things annoyed me - some as simple as the appearance of the weather widget or the way the settings screen looked (no tabbed interface). I'm sure I could have learned to deal with all of those issues - other than the FitBit and even that I'm sure will get addressed by an update to the Note 4 or the FitBit; but I just wasn't happy with the phone and that's a problem with what it cost.
I debated returning it since we were within the time frame to do so, but I hated to eat the cost of the Otterbox and I knew J did want one so we settled on keeping my S4 - we hadn't mailed it off to T-Mobile yet and putting me back on that, moving J to the Note 4, and giving the S3 to Paige. Unfortunately for me we made this decision about a hour after I had factory reset my S4 so I spent lots of time tonight getting it back to how it was before - though I still need to get a few apps such as Touchdown back on there.
I'm assuming J is happy with the Note 4 from the little time she's had with it so far and really I feel better about her having it now as I'm fairly certain I will want the S6 when it comes out and I just don't feel right about using the Note 4 for several months then giving it to her - just seems selfish. Of course the downside is that I know have to pay off the remainder of the S4, but so be it - and P will end up with it when/if I do upgrade so it's not all that bad a deal, especially since I have a fairly new Otterbox on it (the holster of the other one broke and when they replaced it they replacements for all the pieces - they really went above and beyond).
I'm sure some/many/most people will be happy with the Note 4 - and perhaps if I used my phone for more I would too - especially things were the display would shine such as Netflix or if I thought I'd learn to like the stylus. But I just don't do all that much on it as I'm almost always in front of a PC (well multiple PC's) and the stylus was alright as a plaything, but I'd rather type than write, so the Note 4 just wasn't for me. The issue with the Bluetooth and the FitBit was really just the excuse I needed to go ahead and give J the phone now versus later, so I suppose I should actually be grateful for that.
Well it's late and I need to nap before work, so with that I bid you goodnight.
- M
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