There seems to clearly be some details that you are unaware of when you have a data capable phone. With the Blackberry you have packages for data usage in local and roaming networks but that isn’t the case with any data capable phone such as an iPhone or Google phone. In my case the problem happened with my Google Nexus One by the fourth day in Bahrain during GulfRun my cellphone gets disconnected, luckily I have my BB with me so I call in to check whats the reason and they told me I have a bill of over 700 KD with the 700 being just the data bill not the phone bill and I would have to pay the whole thing off to have my phone unlocked. The problem is that a lot of people are unaware of this point, I had to pay right away and check my bill as soon as I got back to Kuwait. It was a ridiculously damaging bill and its a lot more then my usual bill. In this case Zain has no packages for data capable phone, you have to pay 6 fils per Kilobyte or 6.145 KD per 1MB which is extremely high and adds up very quickly. Since my phone was roaming, updating weather data, downloading email headers, syncing my gmail contacts and more over the past 5 days I got smacked with a ridiculous bill. I can’t believe that Zain being in Saudi and Bahrain can’t have an agreement with its own network for a data plan, the users just get destroyed by this pricing. After that mistake I switched off data while roaming and only connects to data when I connect to a wireless access point.
Vodafone has packages for anyone roaming in Europe in its network, and different packages for roaming outside of Europe. At least you are aware of all these details, and if you aren’t subscribed to it then the service isn’t switched on. If Zain switches off the service someone can easily call in to activate it but instead people get caught in this dangerously quiet pricing plan.
The Great
- Android 2.1 is more refined, works smoothly
- Amazing 3.7inch OLED Screen
- Powerful CPU, the Nexus One is a fast phone
- Excellent quality sound
- Fantastic 5.1 Megapixel Camera
- Interaction with all Google Services (Gmail, Latitude, Google Voice, Google Reader, Picasa, and others) is fantastic, its smooth and updates right away.
The Good
- Android Market Applications have built up over the past year and a bit, even though some need some more refining before hitting the market
- Very Good Quality Build
- Smooth design, and relatively thin, fits nicely in your hands but I keep hearing that it doesn’t take kindly to drops
- Decent phone signal
The Crap:
- Battery doesn’t even last the whole day, it makes it 75% through the day I use the phone a lot
- No Multitouch
- No Arabic Support, expecting it soon
- Speaker is ridiculously low and the ringer speaker is on the low side too, but you can hear the ringer clearly, I still have to get used to the new ringer
- Slow charging Battery
Overall
I think they have made great progress with all the Google Phones and I am enjoying using it. So much you can do with the data and configure this phone, this phone is for people who really like customizing how their phone works and how it presents the data to you. The interaction between all the programs with data being downloaded to the phone is very fast and smooth, I have 3G switched off and its still very smooth. The best part is surfing online with Flash working perfectly, it presents websites very well and smooth. All this information can be customized, the home screen can be customized, I like how much you can tweak it and move things around, the different widgets, and how easy it is to get to the settings page and tweak it.
Zain APN Settings:
I ordered the phone after seeing the post on Uptill1, I wasn’t keen on it right away but after reading the specs I decided to jump onboard to the Android platform. Also because my Sony Ericsson phone now hangs whenever it feels like and lets me access my contacts when it feels like, so its time for a change.
I really like the clean packaging of the box, you open it up and see the phone as it has been in all the blurry images. The Nexus One is a lot bigger then I expected, its just as big as the iPhone but a lot thinner which is nice, compared to the Blackberry 8900 Curve its thing but tall.
Now the process begins to transfer the contacts to Android platform, and I know you get really tied up with your Gmail account because of this. Now I have to figure out a solution to transfer 800+ contacts from my old Sony Ericsson phone to my Nexus One, I have a feeling it will not be a pleasurable experience. You would think that after all this time someone would come up with a software to transfer contacts without any mistakes that you may face, and I know that outlook process is a bit on the retarded side, it doesn’t take all the information of your contacts, if one contact has more then two to three numbers assume a few of the details will be disappearing, overall its going to be annoying. Other then that I am really looking forward to trying this phone it got a lot of good reviews, and what criticism it did get it doesn’t bother me.
Continue Reading…
There are some likes and dislikes to BBM 5.0, and I like that RIM tries to address these issues, so with BBM 5.0.0.55 they addressed the issue with the pictures, and cleaned up the status area and organized the groups a little. Its a simple upgrade to your current 33 version but I recommend that you do a full back up before doing any software modifications:
Improvements:
- Picture Preview, you don’t have to download to see the pictures now
- Cleaned up text in your status and chat previews
- Cleans up groups as well
Link: Download BBM 5.0.0.55
I paid my bill on the 2nd of December, and now it is the Friday 18th of December, I get a text message warning form Zain. It was zeroed on the 2nd of December, and we aren’t even close to the end of the month, and I get the warning of disconnection from Zain. They show no appreciation for customer loyalty, they don’t watch for customer consistency, and at least this time I got a warning that I will get disconnected in the next 7 days, even though it is a Friday I can pay some time during the week. The bill is around 182 KD which isn’t out of the ordinary in my case when I have times that I travel a lot, there have been times where it has been a lot more, I have called and complained that they disconnect without consistency, and they say it’s the system and I know that this system only applies to certain people but what about others, I know that it isn’t applying to them. They don’t show any appreciation for customers that consistently pay on a timely basis, and they randomly disconnect, I have never been able to understand their pattern.
At this point I am only stuck with my number that I have had for a very long time, changing it is a huge hassle for me so I’m stuck with Zain. The moment you can switch operators and keep your number I think Zain will be the biggest loser, they have recommended for people to keep my card on the bill but I have known that Zain does sometimes overcharge its customers and drastic amounts, times when mistakes were made, and it takes a long time to get your money back from Zain then to clear it up right then and there, so giving them my card details it out of the question. So with Zain a person’s track record means nothing to them, you would think with so much information that they have on their customers that they would do a better job of maintaining their customers, they have no idea that people only stay with Zain because the annoyance of changing numbers.
Recently I have been seeing more Wataniya Ads then the other providers, more ads on the street and newspapers. There are certain things that I think should be red, and I do like Wataniya’s branding its just they have been a bit on the quiet side while the other two squabble a lot. A friend of mine has both a Wataniya & Zain number, he uses both consistently, and he has experiment with the two and for some reason Zain is consistently more expensive, he always gets a higher bill. I have come to the conclusion that having a Mobily Saudi line in Kuwait is cheaper then having a Zain line but I have take a closer look at later. Going back to the main subject, I was searching Wataniya earlier and stumbled upon their Youtube Channel, its nice seeing big companies using tools that we use, I really liked the 10th Anniversary Ad. I honestly prefer the original red flag of Kuwait then the current one, it feels original and full of pride, click play below to see the ad.
Link: Wataniya
Link: WataniyaYoutubeChannel
Lots of people have had experience with Etisalat in one way or another, and Etisalat owns a large chunk of Du so its pretty much the same company but its pretty odd how their coverage is slightly different. Everyone knows that Etisalat is one of the most rigid networks to have, they aren’t cheap, they really work hard to block your content, and they aren’t the best service.
The funny is that as we were approaching Dubai my Blackberry started dinging, I thought it was off and we were still 7000 feet in the air. I look at the phone and I was receiving the bbms, emails, and smses. I look at the network provider and I was connected to Du, all the way until the plane landed.
Now this is what I face every time I’m in Dubai:
With Etisalat:
- I can make local and international phone calls with out an issue on a normal phone
- When I connect using my Blackberry, I can’t get any BB service or msgs but the phone works normally
With Du:
- With my normal phone I can make local calls but when I try to make international calls I always get Network Busy, calls don’t go through
- With the Blackberry all the services work and I can make local and international calls
No matter what I did this always seems to be the case with these networks. Same situation that I mentioned in Bahrain with Batelco & Zain.