Sprint Vision service - Early review
Here's a composite of my experience getting 2 A500's activated, plus what I've been reading on the newsgroups. If it sounds more negative than you might expect, I am only trying to tell it straight so Ramsey quits calling me names and hurting my feelings<gg>
1) Getting the service set up - It sure was not ready for primetime. Based on all the posts(hundreds) from across the country, my guess is the following:
When Sprint did the training and testing, they used new accounts. I'm sure it worked fine. Switching over existing accounts is a little different, plus the 5 main plans are also brand new and cannot be activated online. As a result, I think the reps did not emphasize to turn off the old phone before they started. Since the method to get your Vision userid to the handset is to have it pushed there from the network, if they did not do everything in the proper sequence, the system did not work. In addition, if you are on the new handset or have it off, the information would also not push out. Lastly, I think the reps often skipped the 3G provisioning step altogether. There were also problems with the Vision password online(via PC), but those came about as a result of the above(I think).
The net result of this was many of the new phones not only did not get setup correctly, but it took follow-up calls to correct the problem. I do believe this has all been taken care of. Our 2 phones are setup fine, accessing data fine, and everything online is now correct.
2) The handset - Stunning! There is no other word for it. The default wallpaper, which is fish swimming across the screen, never fails to draw a crowd. Maybe all us cornbrains are just intrigued by flashing lights. The menu screens are also graphical, and the keypad lights up in an array of colors in the dark. At this point, I strongly feel the handset itself is the lure.
3) Content - Since I was a daily Wireless Web user for over 2 years, the fact the user interface is different is throwing me off early on. I did download one ringer and one picture, each was $1. I really want to get a game or two and try it out. I think the graphic oriented stuff, like screen savers and games, will be the early driver for this service.
4) Misc.
- Both phones came with GPS activated. Not much to do with it yet, but it is there.
- No cameras available yet.
I'll keep an eye on everyone else's experience(s) with the content and web browsing and try to give an overview in a week or two.
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