$35 restocking fee, at least at the Verizon store.....
I was a HTC Evo user and decided to switch from Sprint to Verizon for better cell coverage in my area. I decided on the iPhone because I wanted one since their initial release, but never considered switching to AT&T because of inferior coverage (they don't even have 3G in my area). I liked Android, a LOT, but was convinced that I would love the iphone just as much... boy was I wrong.
I may get flamed for saying this, since this IS an iPhone forum, but IMO, Android is king here... there are just so many things that I took for granted in Android that iOS simply does not offer, or is incredibly difficult and/or needs jailbreaking to accomplish. Here are a few of my MAJOR complaints:
1) Notifications - They absolutely suck in iOS, plain and simple. The drop-down notification bar in Android is awesome. In iOS, notifications are just blue popup windows on your screen. Sometimes they get hidden behind new notifications and just disappear, and sometimes they seem to dismiss themselves, while other times they will just stack on top of eachother. Very annoying....
2) Calendar - Not up to par. I like to be reminded or nagged when I have an appointment alert, and have the option to snooze the alert for a given amount of time. This is not possible in iOS that I have found. You get a single alert, and popup window, that is easily lost in the shuffle (see above). There is also no week view in the stock calendar, only day or month. There are a lot of great calendar apps in the app store, but none that completely satisfy all of my needs.
3) Navigation - Android users need to be thankful for Google Navigation. It is awesome and iOS does not have anything even close to this, especially for free. There are TomTom apps in the app store that offer similar functionality (sans the google search integration) but cost anywhere from $25 and up. Google nav is priceless. The iOS maps app is similar to the google maps app that I had on my blackberry a few years ago. A decent map application, but leaves me wanting more.
4) Customization - I probably don't need to go here, everyone probably knows enough about this. In iOS, what you see is what you get. Sure, you can change the wallpaper. But anything else is too much of a pain to be worth it, or requires jailbreaking. Could not believe how difficult it was to add some ringtones to my iphone. Unless you purchase them in itunes, it requires downloading, converting, changing file extensions, and syncing them to your phone in itunes.... in other words, hardly worth it. Also, there is no customizing the SMS tones or email tones, period. What apple gives you (10 choices or so) is all you get, you can't even add more.
Also, I really like having the option to change my keyboard in Android (I love swype), as well as SMS apps etc. Forget it on the iphone, not happening.... This is just the tip of the iceberg, smartphones are all about customization, I like to have the freedom of choosing what I want.
5) Google integration - I am a Google Apps (for my domain) business user. I use GMail, Google Docs, Google Voice, Calendar, and pretty much everything else that Google offers. All of these services are pretty tightly integrated in Android. In iOS it is a bit too cumbersome. I am able to use most of these services still, but they are scattered throughout many apps that do not work well together.
Okay, so there are my gripes. I cannot say that I am completely dissatisfied with the iphone, because there are plenty of things that it does very well:
Netflix app - I have been wanting this for a while now. I got it, watched a movie, and that was it. Probably won't use the app again. I am rarely in a position where I really need to watch a movie on my little smartphone screen. It is a very neat app to have, but I don't need it.
Skype Video Chat - I was really disappointed that Skype had not released this for Android yet. I had a FFC on my Evo, but no skype app to video chat with anyone.... still kinda bummed that it isn't released yet, since I will likely be going back to android.
Facetime - This is very cool.... very very cool....
Other things worth noting:
- Screen is very nice
- Battery life is quite exceptional (this is the big downer for most android phones)
- iPod integration is a plus
- There are more accessories for iphone
- The iphone hardware design is second to none, I love the way this phone looks/feels
- More/higher quality apps in the app store (android is slowly catching up, though)
- Really nice camera (my Evo had a very nice camera too)
Everyone can call me names and shun me from the forums here if you would like, but I am just being brutally honest. The iPhone is beautiful, a really nice phone. But coming from Android, iOS has a LOT of catching up to do.....
I am going to return the iphone next week and wait for the Thunderbolt. I might try iPhone again someday, but right now it is just not for me....