Smartphone Saga

So, to fulfill the duty of being a geek, I had to have a smartphone on my palm since day one of its birth. But I was a student until iPhone 3G came out, and after I graduated and got a job, I was still in slavery contract with AT&T. So, the very first smartphone I had was iPhone 3GS.

iPhone 3GS was fantastic. It opened a whole new world to me in technology. I was also popular among my other Korean friends, because no one else had a smartphone yet, because no one had graduated and got a job at that time... some of them had those "pseudo-smartphone" that I call... Android was not even in infantry stage at that time. iPhone was THE ONLY smartphone. For one whole year, I had lots of fun with my phone until Apple release their next iPhone that was 10 times better than iPhone 3GS...

Yes, iPhone 4. I was so envious!! It surpassed everything compared to iPhone 3GS. Of course, it is expected since it was the next generation to 3GS, but it was TOO MUCH better!! I was so angry, feeling like my 3GS is just a trash. Some of the features I really liked about 4 over 3GS was...

1. 5 MP camera vs. 3 MP.

2. 720P HD video recording vs. VGA resolution

3. RETINA!!! vs. crappy low-density display

But, guess what! Fortunately, one of my Korean friends left the U.S. for good, and his phone was iPhone 4!! Because he had to leave in such hurry, he had to sell this phone quickly. I got this from him for only $100!! Can you believe that?? Only $100!!

But, I only had this phone for about 5 months. Android was getting better and better every day. I believe that around this time, Android Froyo and Gingerbread came out, the first stable version of Android in my opinion. But because Android was still inferior compared to iOS at that time, Android smartphones attracted users with bigger screen and better camera features. And one day, Samsung shocked the world with this mega-sized Android phone (at that time), Galaxy Note.

It was 5.3 inch with pen! Nowadays, there are million smartphones with similar size, and I give credit to Galaxy Note... it proved that bigger screen worked out in the smartphone market. I had to have it. Fortunately, my contract was over, so I gave my iPhone 4 to one of my friends and purchased this one.

And for about a couple weeks, I had fun with this phone. But to be honest, Android was still far from being matured stage. I started seeing bugs, lags, app compatibility issues, etc, that I never had to worry in iOS. After about three months or so, I was able to trick one of my friends who had iPhone 4S, and swapped the phone with him.

And I survived with 4S for about a year. iPhone 4S was a great phone. I loved every aspect of it. It didn't support LTE, and that bothered me a bit, but I was OK. AT&T didn't provide LTE service in Baton Rouge area until later 2011, and it wasn't that stable anyway until later 2012. So, I was completely fine with this phone until I got a new job. In my office, this phone just did not work. It had very poor to no reception, and I was so pissed about it. I saw that my co-workers phones worked fine. They had either Verizon or AT&T LTE services. So, after a year, when my mom's number was eligible for phone upgrade, I got HTC ONE, another Android phone in my life, and gave this 4S to one of my friends (I indeed have lots of friends, don't I?).

The bottom line is... this phone is great! It was truly a state-of-art phone. I loved it a lot. I just loved it. There was one problem though, and it was rather a big problem. I had this phone for 3 months, and I was never able to get used to its keyboard. I kept making mistakes in texts and emails. Also, I heard a rumor that Falcom, one of my favorite game companies, decided to release its games that I really enjoyed before, for iOS. (Developers like to release apps in iOS, because iOS provides easier environments hardware-wise.) So, I changed my mind again, purchased iPhone 5, and gave HTC One to my mom... which she's still struggling to learn how to use it.

And my impression about iPhone 5? It's an awesome phone. No matter who says what, iPhone is an awesome phone. iPhone 5 has everything I like. LTE service, nice keyboard, Retina display, good camera, and stable apps.

As you see, there is a little pattern in my smartphone saga. I also saw it too, and what I realized is that Android phone is just not for me. I think I'll stick with iPhone because historically, I was most satisfied and complained least when I had iPhone in my hand.

I'm really looking into the next iPhone Apple will release. Once they release, I think I'll get it and give this iPhone 5 to my mom (and make her life easier). HTC One... I may sell it, or give it to one of my friends again.