Ok, so I have an HTC Arrive with the Windows Phone 7 operating system and am so disappointed by the lack of customization that I am thinking of leaving Windows Phone and defecting over to Android (shhhh, don't tell any Windows Phone fanboys). I had been a Windows user since my IPAQ but Windows Phone 7 has really screwed things up (see my
Windows Phone Review).
So my question for you Samsung Epic 4G users are below. I am hoping that the Android system is better and more suited for my needs.
1. I can't stand Zune and being forced to use Zune to transfer Movies & Music. What program(s) does Android use? Can I update codecs on the video player so I can view .mkv or .avi files? I can't do this on my Windows Phone, I have to "convert" them using Zune.
1a. Can I just drag and drop into a window like I can with a USB flash drive? What about non music/movie/picture files? How do I transfer those?
2. Can I upload videos and photos directly from my phone to Facebook? I enjoy taking photos and videos of my family and don't like the way Windows Phone forces me to connect to Zune, transfer the video to my PC, then upload it to Facebook. Is the video camera HD?
3. Can I remove the memory card or use one with more capacity? I don't like the fact that I would have to basically rip my HTC Arrive apart to get to the memory card.
4. Device volume control? My HTC Arrive has serious problems with volume when listening to music and videos. Has anyone had problems hearing music or especially movies ripped from DVD's on their Epic, say in a loud gym setting? On one movie in particular, I had to force my Arrive's headphones into my ear and hold them there so I could listen to the voices in the movie.
5. Microsoft Exchange Server Sync? I cannot get my HTC Arrive to sync to our exchange server here at work. However, other devices, iPhones & Androids, have been able to sync. Anyone have a problem syncing to an exchange server with the Epic?
I'm not looking for a phone I can unlock or hack. I don't want to have to do this to use the phone and applications. I want to be able to customize my phone without having to "unlock" it. I want the freedom to use whatever multimedia players I want and
most importantly, want the ability to transfer files from my desktop to my phone without hassle or having to use a skydrive, e-mail, or Zune to do this!
My biggest fear with a Samsung phone is that my wife has had two different models and both were very poor quality and basically fell apart after a year, whereas I have had an HTC phone since my PPC-6700 and rarely had problems.