My Android experience is like driving a Cadillac on a dirt road

I am on day 4 of using Android again on the Samsung Nexus S from T-Mobile. My goals are to see how Android has developed since November 2009 and experience a network other than AT&T. I can check both off my list.

I am on day 4 of using Android again on the Samsung Nexus S from T-Mobile.  My goals are to see how Android has developed since November 2009 and experience a network other than AT&T.  I can check both off my list.  

1.  The T-Mobile Network. Without a quality network (as some AT&T iPhone users can attest) the device is almost worthless.  I live in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, were not New York but we are not Lost Springs, Wyoming either.  Verizon, Sprint and AT&T have a huge presence here.  T-Mobile sells a lot of devices but it does not feel like it spends a lot of money on its network here.  I should have known there might be an issue when the Best Buy Mobile sales rep asked me where in the Metro I live.

At my home and office I get either 1 or bars and calls are difficult to maintain and often of low quality. In between, at place I visit, the call quality was “okay” but not as good as AT&T. In testing the speeds of the T-Mobile network, I saw anywhere from .4 to 1.5 MBPS down to .5 to 1 MBPS second up (which actually seems fine to me).

I don’t understand it because I know a lot of people use, enjoy and thrive on the T-Mobile network.  It is just not happening for me at this point.  In general, I see no benefit in having T-Mobile service over my current AT&T service.

2.  Hardware and Battery. The phone feels solid and light, despite being a “plasticky.”  The display is crisp and sharp, with bright and vivid colors.  The battery life is abysmal:  maybe four hours with moderate use and the screen not on full brightness (the way I always use the iPhone).  It is a disappointing that Google Flagship device for 2011 is on a network with 4G but does not include the ability to use 4G.

Check back tomorrow for my more specific thoughts about Android and Samsung Nexus S.  

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."