My Samsung Story

If you're a regular reader of the blog, you'd know that I had got myself a Galaxy SL i9003 a few months back. I was pretty happy with the phone initially, primarily because on paper its a great device.

A couple of weeks back, however I noticed something. The top right corner of the touchscreen was coming off. It was pretty clear that the pasting/glueing was to blame for it. Simultaneously a few marks were starting to appear on the undersurface of the touschreen, as a result no amount of wiping the panel would remove the marks. It was very clear to me that I was using a defective handset and feared that more problems may be lurking around the corner. I wanted the phone replaced. 

I was left with no other option but to call the customer care of Samsung. There I met with a rude shock. "We give you a warranty and not a guarantee" blared the customer care executive. Well I pretty much knew what the terms and conditions said and the last thing I needed was the company guy telling me that I had no legal ground for my claim. All of a sudden, I went from being a Samsung customer to almost a legal opponent fighting against the company in a court of law.

Frustrated, angry and furious at the response, I started posting status updates and tweets regarding this treatment of the company to a customer. Finally they sort of gave in, after incessant calls to the customer care service. Samsung cared enough to give me a standby phone for use while they took my i9003 for replacement. A nice touch indeed.

I now have received a fresh i9003 from Samsung. 

An effort from the company I thoroughly appreciate but also wish I didn't have to go through such a huge process of trying to explain my situation to various people at Samsung.

Self Discovery

Allow me dear reader, to be a little emotional today. I have been writing blogs for a very long time. Yes, a long time indeed. Quite a few of them are still online and “live”. A lot more, I have removed. Partly out of sheer embarrassment at my inability to write a proper sentence. Or partly out of a lack of commitment.

There are however a lot of blogs out there, which are worth reading. Worth your time. And definitely worth that “subscription”. These blogs tend to put mine to shame. Its as if I have been writing complete nonsensical gibberish for all these years. I had started this blog when I moved all my existing ones from wordpress to blogger. Since then, I have been writing posts on Explore Ubuntu (www.explore-ubuntu.blogspot.com) and here, mostly about my experiences with gadgets and gizmos and stuff like that. I feel, this isn’t really the place to write emotional pieces.

So, I have created another blog. Its called Scribbled Thoughts. Yes, the name gives it away. It wont be about any particular theme, idea or topic. It will be an attempt to maybe figure out if I really have that talent to write a proper article without making a fool out of myself. A tough task, yes, but one I’m willing to undertake.

Do head over to www.scrib-bled.blogspot.com and subscribe. I will try and make sure that my attempts are worth your time. If however, you feel that I’m failing, do not, dear reader, hesitate to hit the unsubscribe option.

Android Strengths and Ailments

I posted these on my twitter timeline. So, if you haven't already, follow me @arnab_das

Android Strengths:

Android Strengths #1 : Extremely user friendly interface. Widgets, home screens, etc. make this one of the most user friendly OSes.

Android Strengths #2 : Notifications. Even the iOS users admit that the notification system is THE feature of Android.

Android Strengths #3 : 15 minutes payment return policy on apps. Okay maybe 15 minutes isnt enough, but for most apps, it is actually.

Android Strengths #4 : OS compatibility. Most android phones work perfectly with Windows, Mac and Linux, at least in the Mass Storage mode.

Android Strengths #5 : Root Access. This can be done with the "other" OS as well, but being open source it can give unprecedented control

Android Ailments:

Android Ailments #1 : Extremely Poor Support. Getting support from Google is tougher than seeing God Himself. No form of official support.

Android Ailments #2 : No policy to control apps. Malicious, unstable apps are flooding the market. Google is taking action way too late.

Android Ailments #3 : Compatibility. There is absolutely no guarantee that an app which runs on one android device will work on another. This is actually worst when the apps one is talking about turn out to be "paid" apps. Thats when it hurts.

Android Ailments #4 : No control over updates. One has absolutely no idea when one's phone will go out of date. Could be a year or a month!

Android Ailments #5 : Overall app interface, stability and usability still needs a lot of work. Force-close/hangs still very common issues.

It's official, Gingerbread by second week of July

Samsung has made it clear that the Gingerbread update for Galaxy SL (i9003) will be available to users by the second week of July.

Here's the link: http://twitter.com/#!/Samsung_India/status/75890096288702464

Then again, this is Samsung, so I guess one will have to wait till August for sure. :)

So, now we wait.