notice to pick up note 7

Best Buy told me that I'd receive a phone call to "make an appointment" to pick up my new phone. NOT! I got an email notice an hour ago saying it can be picked up tomorrow, no specific time.

 

@dmapr: you got me pegged! Nerd, geek, dork. I'm not quite this frightening in real life:

 

My frustrating upgrade experience:

What should have taken no more than 45 minutes (in fact, Best Buy gave me a 30-minute upgrade slot)), took 2-hours too long.

When the BB clerk accessed my account, AT&T wouldn't allow me to keep the plan I had (which is already a NEXT plan, but they wanted me on their new NEXT plans.) We had discussed that I preferred to remain on the current plan but I had no idea what she was about to do next.....

Without telling me that AT&T wouldn't allow the current plan, she cancelled my pre-order, with the intent of just selling me the phone as a regular upgrade. (Not sure what the difference between a pre-order and regular is. If she had just asked me, I would have told her to go ahead and take the new plan and I would have driven over to AT&T store and gotten the mess fixed.)

Now, all that did was cancel the financial side of BB's transaction. It didn't change anything on AT&T's legal policy side. When she tried to restart the whole thing, her interface to AT&T's systems indicated that I already had an upgrade, that it hasn't been paid for, and therefore I don't qualify for another upgrade. So she got on the phone to AT&T. After 45 minutes of back and forth, AT&T said it would take 24 hours to fix their data entry. By this time, steam was coming out my ears and nose.

After more time, the BB clerk was directed to go ahead and sell and activate the phone for me and AT&T would work out the glitches on their side. As she was ringing up the sale, I noticed (on their customer terminal) that I was charged $249.99 for the 256GB MicroSD card. I challenged it saying it was suppose to be free. She removed the line-item then a new one showed up for one penny. I asked about that. She says her system won't allow a zero-cost item. She said she could just give me a penny. I told her to just keep it. So next came the data transfer.

I was walked over the Samsung Experience booth. The guy was having trouble not with just mine but all upgrades. First he tried the direct phone-to-phone cable method. Either the old or new phone wouldn't recognize the cable or each other. Then he tried the wireless option. Slow data. At this point, I was near meltdown. I told him I had performed a complete backup the night before and I can handle the data transfer from my laptop.

I arrived at the store at 10am. Left at noon. I got home and attempted to restore from backup. Samsung's Smart Switch app completed in 9 seconds. I was shocked. I checked the phone. Some of the settings were there, but absolutely no apps. I tried it again and noticed the "apps" option was shaded as unavailable. (GERRRRRRRRRR!!!!!) I went back to BB and they once again tried. It was successful.

Then I got home and noticed that although the apps had come over, they all needed to be setup again as if they were newly installed. Whoever said that the Smart Switch was all-encompassing and better than iphone's solution probably didn't try it on a real, daily-driver device. So, I've spent no less than 3 hours so far and still have at least another 5 hours before I'm able to have the phone as I expected to receive it. I still need to connect certain accounts, including aux. emails. None of the home screens came across and none of the folders came across.

In short, very frustrating and exhausting day.

 

@palandri: Regarding Iris scanner .... No, I haven't tried it yet. But just today I got to use Samsung Pay for the first time. I know it sounds crazy, but of all the features that is something I've wanted to try for a long time. It wasn't available on my Note3.

 

@palandri: I am going to do a review, but i need to spend a bit more time with it. I've been configuring apps and installing missing stuff. Just yesterday I took the time to move data from my old 64GB MicroSD (from my Note3) to the Note7. (Used the included USB-C to USB, then connected a thumb adaptor, then inserted the SD card. Accessed the My Files app, and copied the data.)

I like the Samsung pay app. I'm surprised how many businesses still haven't had a transaction that way. I was in Copper Skillet (an omelet restaurant) in the Bay Area, and they freaked out when I used my phone to pay. I would have thought that many people would have come before me with that.

I do not like that Samsung removed the Action Memo app and its corresponding ability to jot an address, web address, or phone number and then launch the right app for maps, browser, or dialer.

I still haven't tried the iris scanner. But due to my age and health, my eyelids barely raise over my eyes, so I haven't felt compelled to try it.

In general, it is great not having a phone that is constantly crashing and locking up.

If I live long enough for another upgrade (my doctor is saying I won't), I will not get another Samsung device. Last Saturday I met with Dima Aryeh of Androidandme.com. He had heard of my failing health. (We've kept in contact through Twitter.) He offered me a free wireless charger. In turn, I took him out for a breakfast. During breakfast he showed me a phone he had recently reviewed. I was very impressed with the build quality of this Chinese phone. So 2 or 3 years from now, if I'm still around, Samsung is not getting my business again.

 

@JFB: It has been a mixed bag of pros & cons. I learned yesterday (quite by accident) while browsing the Google Play Store, I looked up Samsung Notes (the new app on the Note7). Turns out that many people are upset with the removal of Action Memo. Samsung promises to bring it back by end of September. (They didn't say which year, LOL).

As a "reward" for signing up for Samsung Pay (love it!), Samsung was/is giving new users a $20 (virtual) debit card that is loaded into the Samsung Pay app. For the past two days I've been trying to pay using that debit card and getting "declined" messages. I called the bank sponsoring the debit card and they said everyone is having a problem.

(Yes, I am the person getting the shout-out at the end of both those articles.)

 

@dmapr: Thanks. I actually had not seen that. I haven't had any problem with my phone. But that issue and the Exynos processor issue in Europe both point to poor workmanship in my mind. Samsung got into Apple's lane when things were good, but neglected to get out of the lane in following them into bad decision making. Like I've said already, this will be the last Samsung I'll own (which is really too bad because I was looking forward to seeing what they would do with the 1st bendable phone).

http://androidandme.com/2016/08/new...-galaxy-note-7-shipments-for-quality-testing/