New Phone, Part 1

My iPhone 5C battery wasn't holding a charge so time to get a new phone. Was thinking about the new iPhone 6. Went to the Verizon store. I was stunned to find the cell phones are now huge! Seems to be a cross between a phone and a tablet. Though, I have to admit a larger screen is helpful for old eyes.

Verizon was running a deal. Trade the iPhone for a Motorola Droid Turbo 2. The Turbo 2 has a shatterproof screen, a nice feature. As part of the package get a phone charger, Otterbox hard shell case, and a choice of a portable Bose Speaker or a Fitbit. The Turbo had 32G storage compared to the 16G on my iPhone. Sweet.

The salesman ported my info over, and then realized he had pulled the wrong phone. Don't know what happened as it wasn't particularly busy. There were people in the store, but it wasn't packed and everyone was being helped. He talked to his manager. There would be a restock charge and then that cancelled out on the bill. He got the correct phone, ported the info, and I left the store. Riding home, playing with the phone, something was wrong. Seems the salesman mixed up my phone with Himself's phone. (Himself was not getting a new phone). The new phone had all my information, but Himself's phone number. Himself's phone had been disabled and the new phone was not connected. OY!

Returned to the Verizon store to find the store closed at 8 PM. Seriously?! The week before Christmas and the store closed at 8 PM? What now?

Fortunately, most of the companies are on Social Media. I found the Verizon Support Page and opened a chat with tech, Monique. Explained my tale of woe. She said she could straighten things out and I wouldn't have to return to the store. Great! Except it took her 2 1/2 hours to reprogram both phones. I didn't have to do anything except play on Facebook, occasionally read her IMEI numbers or turn the phone off and on. Monique was very nice and got the phones up and running. I went to bed.

Spent the next few days getting used to the new phone. It's big. Feels clumsy and is heavy. Though I suspect that's due to the Otterbox case. The case is hard to take off, and there's no easy access door to the SD card. The phone can't be connected to the computer because the cord can't be connected from the power plug like the iPhone lightning connector.  I could customize the ring tones, but had to download an app to do it. Was an extra step compared to the iPhone.

While downloading apps I was horrified to find the Android operating system requires an all or none app permissions. And the permissions are insidious and not necessary for the app to run. Things like:

Some apps can directly call phone numbers (perhaps costing money), read the phone status and identity, take pictures, use the microphone, take video, read contacts, add or modify calendar events, send email to guests witout owner's knowledge, modify or delete  the contents of the SD card. And the list goes on and on. There's no way you can deny app permissions on an individual basis like you can on an iPhone.

So guess what? I hate this phone. The Turbo 2 is going back. I'll grudgingly pay the restock charge, and will stick with Apple. At least, I'll be able to control the permissions from the various apps.

Diffusing Christmas Woods: Idaho Blue Spruce, Cedarwood.