How long did your smartphone last?

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Oh, great...can't wait to encounter the ring tone bug. One thing I have already discovered with Gingerbread is that I can no longer have a custom ringtone for my alarm clock. I also can't have custom tone for texts. I used to have a bicycle bell sound for texts. The alarm thing I can fix with a different clock app than the stock one.

[luv2climb]

I wanted to use one of my own ringtones for texts too, but even in Froyo I could never figure out how to do that, let alone Gingerbread. It would be nice to do the same for the alarm clock.

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I wanted to use one of my own ringtones for texts too, but even in Froyo I could never figure out how to do that, let alone Gingerbread. It would be nice to do the same for the alarm clock.

Download the Ringdroid app. That will convert ringtones sent to your phone so that you can use them.

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Just noticed another new and annoying thing. I have my phone set so that the ringtone gets quieter when I pick it up. No...instead it actually gets louder. Much louder. Embarrassingly so.

And I found the date that I can get a new phone...not until Aug. 24. Damn, that's a LONG time away.

[ny biker]

Just noticed another new and annoying thing. I have my phone set so that the ringtone gets quieter when I pick it up. No...instead it actually gets louder. Much louder. Embarrassingly so.

And I found the date that I can get a new phone...not until Aug. 24. Damn, that's a LONG time away.

That's too bad.

I posted on facebook to get input from friends about their smartphones. One guy said his Incredible is working fine. I really don't want to go into all the details about why he's one of the lucky few.

[luv2climb]

Download the Ringdroid app. That will convert ringtones sent to your phone so that you can use them.

Will it allow me to use them for texts and alarm clock tones? I already have my own homemade ringtones set as phone ringtones. I just can't get them to be used as text and alarm tones.

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Will it allow me to use them for texts and alarm clock tones? I already have my own homemade ringtones set as phone ringtones. I just can't get them to be used as text and alarm tones.

Well...it did with Froyo. It doesn't with Gingerbread...but that's no fault of the app.

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I posted on facebook to get input from friends about their smartphones. One guy said his Incredible is working fine. I really don't want to go into all the details about why he's one of the lucky few.

Hmmm...sounds vaguely dirty. Does it involve sexual favors?

[ScaldedCat]

I don't keep a phone more than 2 years as I always get a new phone when my upgrade comes around.

I had an HTC Touch Cruise 4 years ago, I kept it for two and then when I upgraded I passed it on, it's still going stong with it's new owner.
The iPhone 3Gs I got two years ago is still going strong and looks immaculate, my son has that now.

Currently I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 but have only had that since September so too early to comment on that yet.

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Gah, I just had to pop the battery out, again. My phone locked-up after a phone call and wouldn't hang-up. This is ridiculous.

[ny biker]

Gah, I just had to pop the battery out, again. My phone locked-up after a phone call and wouldn't hang-up. This is ridiculous.

I just had a chat with a guy at the Verizon kiosk at the nearby mall. He cleared out the memory error on my phone by clearing data for Facebook for HTC Sense. I had logged out and cleared cache, but apparently you have to clear data, too.

More important, he told me they are phasing out "new every 2." They have two prices for phones -- the price if you are switching from another phone during the time that you qualify for an upgrade, and the regular price. If I wait until the end of January, I can get $30 off the upgrade price as a result of new every 2. Another customer might save more with their remaining new every 2 if it's been longer since their last upgrade. After new every 2 is totally phased out, everyone will either pay the regular price or the upgrade price -- nothing will be free and there will be no added discounts.

Anyway, it's kind of confusing. But the impression I got is that you might want to talk to them about just how much you would save by waiting until August, and also find out if you qualify for any earlier upgrades that might cost you a little more than new every 2 but still save you money over the regular price.

I also asked him if he had any general sense about some brands being more reliable than others. He didn't really answer, but he did say that some Samsung phones are also having problems with the Gingerbread upgrade. He has an Incredible that is having battery problems -- the battery was dying after only 20 minutes, and since he got a new one it's been running really hot -- but he is planning to get another HTC phone anyway.

I looked at the phone he wants to get. I don't remember the name, but it's 4G (not the Thunderbolt) and I must say the screen looks really good. Much crisper than my phone. And yes, they are all bigger than the Incredible so I will definitely have to bring my bike bag for a fit test when I buy a new phone.

Also, the iPhone 4S is only 3G. So if want 4G I have to stick with Android.

I think there is no good decision here, just a bunch of trade-offs.

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I think there is no good decision here, just a bunch of trade-offs.

Yup. I'd like to wait until the iPhone 5 comes out. The rumors I've read have this happening anytime between March and June. Though I don't really care about 4g vs 3g. 3g is plenty fast for my needs. I'd perhaps look at a 4s once the 5 comes out, since I'd likely save a lot of $$ doing that.

[luv2climb]

Another bug caused by the Gingerbread upgrade is related to ringtones. I made several unique ringtones that I put on the microSD card and assigned to different people in my contacts list. That way I know who's calling without even having to look at the phone.

After Gingerbread, if someone called me, the next person to call me would set off the ringtone assigned to the first person. If the first person who called was not assigned a unique ringtone and the second person was, the second person would set off the default ringtone.

Deleting the call history does not solve the problem. This bug has not been fixed yet and it sucks!

My friend who works at Verizon told me about an update last night. It supposedly fixes the ring tone bug. I didn't have enough charge in the battery to do the update when he told me about it, so I figured I would wait until the battery was fully charged.

After the battery had been charging for a while, I heard my phone reboot. I checked it and it appears that Verizon pushed the update automatically once the battery had enough charge.

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Funny that this thread should pop back up. Last night I took my phone to the Verizon store, since the service warranty is only for a year.

Told the guy my issues (the daily crashing/freezing) and he laid out a couple of options:
• restore the phone to factory settings, which would likely do nothing for more than a week or two, as I have already done the factory restoration, then update to Gingerbread.
• exchange my phone for another identical phone. Again, I'd most likely run into the same issues within a very short time.
• make use of one of the 2 eligible for phone upgrades on our 3 phone account.

I didn't even know I could do the 3rd! Our "home phone" is a freebie phone that we just have for a contact for DS's school, doctors, and anyone else who might otherwise not have our cell #s (older family members, etc.).

So I took the 3rd option and applied it to my cell #. Sometime in the next week a shiny new iPhone 4s will be in my hot little hands!

DH is going to take over my Droid once there's a way to root it. He rooted his ancient HTC Eris and loves it, but it's WAY slow. My Incredible is pretty fast and works much better for playing Angry Birds.

[ny biker]

I'm glad you were able to get that iPhone!!

My phone has been okay since the guy at the Verizon kiosk cleared the data from the bad facebook app. And it's been charging well with the charger that I use for my mp3 player, or at least it was until I lost it. I just got a new charger today that can charge 2 devices at once. So far it's working okay. The phone is plugged into it right now as I type this.

I keep declining the gingerbread upgrade.