[Review] OtterBox Defender Case for the iPhone 5

It seems like I am finally getting off my ass and writing more these days, first things I have to do is get these OtterBox reviews out of the way. If you read the previous sentence again, you will notice that I said OtterBox reviews. As in more than one. That's because I posted one on AndroidDoes for the Samsung Galaxy S III. So my review of the OtterBox Defender for the Samsung Galaxy S III is on AndroidDoes and I actually have an extra one to give away. So head on over and enter!  Now on to the good stuff.

DropBox and Mailbox Team up to make the ultimate box

So here's the deal, the biggest thing that I miss from Android is the robust way that Android handles GMail. Gone are the labels, and most of the things that makes GMail so awesome. Now, the lastest version of GMail on iOS and in fact all of the Google apps on iOS are pretty awesome. However, since most of the contact that I make with my "official job" as a senior editor at AndroidDoes is through GMail, I've been looking for a more robust email solution on iOS.

I got my iPhone 5 a couple of weeks, maybe even a whole month after Mailbox was released on iTunes. Mailbox is supposed to be a revolutionary way to handle email, the whole point of the app is to get your email to zero. It allows you to parse the email that needs to be attended to now and snooze the email that can be handled later on. I was intrigued and went to sign up and boom I was in. Only problem is I was over 750,000 in line.

So the Mailbox team is doing a smart thing, only allowing so many people in the gates at a time, preventing server problems and ensuring that the people that are using the app are having a really good experience. It's not like we are paying for the app, it is totally free and right now they are only messing with GMail.

So today the Mailbox team announced that they are teaming up with Dropbox to help with the scaling issues that they are experiencing. What a great way to get the servers scaled up than to team up with Dropbox!

Well I am excited. I am getting to that point where I consider myself to be halfway there in the queue. I am 329,040 in line with 211,827 people behind me.

Here is a link to the Mailbox app.

Listen to David Bowie's New Album now for free

David Bowie isn't one of my favorite singers, but I do recognize that the man is a legend. It has been ten years since his last album.  Mr. Bowie has stuck a deal with Apple that allows anyone that has iTunes to listen to his new album, The Next Day, the whole album before it releases on March 12th.

This is a pretty interesting move, and one that I hopes catches on. There's something really special about this move, and I wish that more of the artists that I listen to follow suit. Anyway here's the link to listen to the album.


Also, if you purchase anything at Amazon.com using the ad below, I earn a couple of pennies and at this point, pennies really help!

This is going to get me in trouble

I started a couple of years ago with an iPod Touch, but sold it to pay the power bill. 

Then I got an iMac.

Then the 3rd gen iMac.

Now I've had the iPhone 5 for three days. 

There's been a billion articles written about the iOS vs Android back and forth, this vs that -- blah blah blah. For me the ONLY reason to switch was to see if the iPhone picked up better than the S3. The S3 has been a PITA since I got it the Jelly Bean update, dropping LTE and 3G, shaky connections and worst of all, the mobile hotspot didn't work worth a flip. I reset the phone almost weekly, tried flashing different radios on it, flashed a couple of ROMs on it to try and see if there was some magic combination of ROM and radios that would work for me. Nothing worked. Verizon did everything they could, even upgraded the equipment at the tower I use at home (it was scheduled to be upgraded anyway, they just did it faster.) Nothing worked, I was sent 3 different S3s, and even got an Ausrion replacement S3 that was refurbished in the USA. Nothing worked. 

My wife's Razr Maxx had this really bad thing where it wouldn't hold LTE even though the S3 was chugging along with a 4-5 bars of LTE. It would drop to 3G and sometimes 1X, flipping around like crazy, but the hotspot worked since she was on ICS and not Jelly Bean. This problem is well documented on the Razr line and maybe the Jelly Bean update would fix that. 

I'm sick of the bullshit. I've tried and tried to make this work, but I need my phone to have LTE, and have a good enough hotspot connection that I can get my schoolwork and such done. 

Anyway, you know how this story is going to turn out. I got the iPhone 5. I don't have any problems with reception. My hotspot works great and it even seems to work better than on Android since my iMac does USB tethering natively and the iPad works great off the iPhone hotspot too. 

My phone needed to have a strong connection, and I suspect that there is something going on with Android and CDMA that isn't playing nice when in a somewhat fringe area of coverage. For whatever reason, the iPhone just works for where I live and I have to live with that.

I'm not an Android fanboy, and I'm not an Apple apologist. Apple has conducted a hack and slash campaign of litigation that I personally find disgusting. I still have the Razr Maxx and I hope to get it updated to JB through WiFi. Hopefully I will get into the soak test. I still have my Nexus 7 and quite possibly will have this tablet until it just won't run anything anymore, I love my N7.

If I need to spell this out for you, I will. Android has a serious problem when it comes to carriers and OEMs mucking up the code. Android comes out clean, fast and for the most part problem-free. Some will argue that 4.2.1 was a clusterfuck, and it was but 4.2.2 has fixed most of what I had issues with. My Nexus 7 is pure Android. It works wonderful, I love the thing. I imagine that the Nexus 4 is a lot like the  Nexus 7, but I am tied to Verizon and I can't up and leave the only carrier that has LTE where I live. My last experience with a Nexus phone was the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. What a clusterfuck that was, thanks Verizon. 

So the only way to get a pure OEM experience, which is very important to me is to get a newer Android phone, and root and unlock the bootloader, and install an ASOP ROM, which voids your warranty. Or go to the one company that sticks a middle finger up at Big Red and get an iPhone. 

So what does this mean? Do I lose my Android Cred since I have an iPhone? Maybe. Maybe I love technology and need to know that my phone is going to work, and be updated in a timely manner. That's why I got a Nexus 7, updates right from the el Google. To be clear what drive a wedge between me and Android is Verizon. Carriers suck and they need to stop putting custom skins on stuff, this goes to OEMs and fuckWiz and Sense and all the other LG cartoon skins. It needs to stop. 

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