In my last post on the wonders and benefits of the smart phone I currently enjoy – Samsung Infuse 4G, I intentionally omitted the drawbacks of this powerful device – just did not feel like spoiling the bliss 
. But in the spirit of a full disclosure I need to warn the readers about some drawbacks and weaknesses, as there is no perfect mobile device ever, just the best (or tolerable) combination of trade offs based on personal needs and preferences.
- The number one complaint I have about my Infuse 4G is inherent to its very own strengths. To support all those benefits I was raving about, such as big and bright display, multitasking, GPS, mail polling, custom applications, etc., this phone consumes a LOT of power. When I was talking about all the things I was able to do on my way to New York, it was only possible because the bus was equipped with power outlets and I had my power cord with me. Otherwise, the battery would drain probably in a couple of hours.
On a regular day with very modest use, such as occasional calls, regular mail checking and rare web browsing I hardly make it through the end of the day without a recharge. So it is essential to have access to charging options, whether it is a wall outlet or car-charger. If you are in the office or in the car most of the day, this should not be a big problem. However, if you are on the go, you have to be very mindful about usage of the phone if you need it to last for extended period of time without recharging.
For example, on my full day in New York when I was out and about the city all day I had to find an outlet in a coffee shop, a classroom, and the restaurant in order to stay connected for a day before returning to the hotel. Admittedly, I was using my Samsung very heavily by taking pictures, looking up information on the internet and getting walking directions via my Navigation.
Speaking of Navigation and usage of GPS, this is the most power-hungry application I have identified on my phone so far. First time I learned it when I used my navigation just out of curiosity shortly after the purchase of the phone. I did not have a car charger at that time and I turned on navigation, which requires GPS, on a short 15-17 minutes drive. My battery was drained down to about 60% of capacity in that short time. This was the day when I ran out and bought a car charger right away. A funny/sad thing is that if you use navigation in the car and have it plugged in car charger, the phone is still discharging. It happens at a much slower rate, but still the car-charger is not able even to maintain the battery at constant level. So when I needed directions on longer trips, I was turning off GPS on long stretches of the route in order to recharge the phone.
All smart-phones are to some extent affected by this “power games”, but it seems that Infuse 4G is especially week in that department. I came up with this comparison: ”Samsung Infuse 4G is to other smart phones as a Hummer to other SUVs”. My wife’s IPhone 4 is not as bad in consuming power. In New York she used it about as intensively as I did and had to recharge only once. Of course, IPhone has a sad puny and not so bright screen that does not require as much power to sustain -every time I look at my wife’s IPhone I feel pity for her , and she often complains about how small the screen is and how hard it is to use for web browsing because of this.
I almost forgot to mention that the champion in power conservation was my Nokia phone. I could have it without recharging for days, sometimes up to a week, I think. Of course, I did not use it much other than for calls, and for that function, I already mentioned that I am not a heavy phone talker.
2. The second complaint is not nearly as bad as the one about the power consumption, but still proved to be annoying. The resident camera application is a bit buggy. When I use a phone camera and want to turn off the screen to save battery without exiting the camera, it often freezes the whole phone. The solution is quite simple – exit the camera before turning off the screeen, but I still sometimes forget to do it to this day. And if you exit camera before turning off the screen, the next time you need to take pictures, you need to start camera again, and this takes time. If the phone gets frozen you need to do hard reset by turning off and back on again which takes time. So if you want to be ready for a quick shot, you need to keep the camera open and not turn off the screen all the time. This in turn drains your battery. Another side note about the camera is that it takes long time between the push of the button and the actual shot. So you can forget about taking quick shots on the spur of the moment. Again, by comparison, the IPhone 4 seems to be more responsive.
3. This one is not really a big complaint, but some unmet expectation. One of the features that I like on IPhone 4 is “face time”. I also knew from my friends that they were able to use video chat in Skype, if wi-fi was not accessible. Before getting Infuse 4G, I checked out and confirmed that there was Skype application available for Androids. Once confirmed, I did not dig deeper and assumed that I would be able to used video in Skype when I need. Turned out Skype for Androids does not support video talk as it does on IPhones. There are rumors on the internet that this video function willl be added in the future, but as of this writing it is not available. Regular voice Skype calls are no problem however.
Frankly, this is all I have to complain about my smart phone. As I said in the beginning, there is no perfect mobile device – just the best acceptable or tolerable combination of trade offs. Now that I tasted the real benefits of a multi-functional “over-sized” high-speed smart phone, I still choose my new badass Samsung Infuse 4G inspite of a few drawbacks, over my old Nokia. And even the glorified IPhone is no match to what I personally need in the smart phone.
