Phones and long distance

flowerhoney

I've had a flip phone for the past 3 years and just recently decided it was time to upgrade to a smartphone. I like iphones and pretty much everyone I know has one and I really like the way they're designed, very pretty, so I just kind of assumed I would get an iphone 5. Until it was actually released and people didn't really seem that into it (and for people being so lukewarm about it, they're still buying it up like crazy!! The wait to get one is three weeks! wtf?!)
Anyways I went to the verizon store was talked into buying a droid instead
Maybe the sales guy duped me, I dunno. He had a droid too though, so who knows

So here's my dilemma, I've got a droid razr m (I live in the US) and my partner (who lives in london) has an iphone. Now he's a major technophile and is appalled that I would get this phone without even seeing if its the best one available

Basically 1. Did I make some kind of huge mistake? I have 12 days to return the phone without being charged (other than a restocking fee)
2. If I stick to this phone is it going to be really difficult to stay easily in touch with him?
He wants to use imessage so that it can seem like we're texting but the droid can't do that. Basically I'd like to be able to talk to him using something other than facebook or gmail or skype (which doesn't send him a notification when he has a message)

Maybe all of this is a total non-issue, but I'd really appreciate some advice!

thanks!

Iceman.USAF

You should have him look into textplus. I use this to talk with my SO back in the states. It essentially gives you a US number that he can send/receive text messages over his data plan/wifi. It's awesome! It *doesn't* integrate into your regular messages, so he's got to go into a seperate app to text you but it doesn't bother me much, personally. You won't get the fancy iMessage stuff, but honestly he may find text plus a better option, as he can text ANYONE with a US number through that app for free, not just iOS users.

Also, android is pretty awesome. I'd stick with it! There are plenty of apps to help you out, regardless of what detractors may believe (that goes for both iOS and Android app stores).

zepherin

It depends, you can get an iphone if you want, I personally like android as an OS, but for me it is a matter of personal prefference as opposed to performance. There may be a cost associated with the switch, but honestly, it's not that big of a deal. Skype is awesome on smartphones. Text plus works pretty good. Also there are some fancy things you can do with gvoice and text messaging on android, text to email, get a local number and text from that (I have not tested this with London but I assume it works), and then Google will act as an intermediary with texts.

I have set it up for a friend who has a kid in prison and it is way cheaper to pay for prison calls if they are local.

EggyToast

If you don't care what phone you have, but your boyfriend made a big deal about you getting an iPhone specifically, why did you get a Droid phone? They're fine phones, but if you don't care at all, and you have a compelling reason to get an iPhone, why did you get a different phone?

There are hacks in place that can get you both texting each other and getting notifications, but one big thing that stands out to me is that if you're not a techy person, it's going to be frustrating for him and you to get it set up on your phone. In other words, whenever you say "How do I do that?" he's going to say "I don't know, you have a Droid phone. If you had an iPhone like I suggested, this wouldn't be an issue in the first place." If you have a compelling reason why you bought a Droid phone (cost, battery life, cheaper plan), then that's good, but otherwise, this is likely just to lead to fights between you and your boyfriend and you'll just feel like the salesguy duped you. In general, you don't want to listen to phone salesmen.

I'd say just return the phone and get an iPhone if you really don't care. The iPhone 5 has really good reviews and is nice to use. It's not a huge increase over the iPhone 4S but that was already a good phone.

flowerhoney

Thanks everyone!
@EggyToast, I just really didn't want to wait honestly and I just kind of forgot that he might be horrified =P

I think you may have gotten to the heart of the issue though. I like this phone and I think the setup is great, but I don't really want it to be a point of contention between the two of us, especially since yeah I'm not that great with tech and setting stuff up isn't as easy as an iphone

I'm still gonna think about it a bit more, but I'll for sure check out textplus! Sounds really cool!

Dr. Frenchenstein

i get notifications on gchat (well... google plus chat i think), and facebook messaging. i've never used skype though. are looking to do like Facetime or something? i'm sure there is something out there that goes between droid and iPhone. Doesn't GoogleTalk have a similar feature as well?

mightyjongyo

If you really don't want to wait and want an iphone you can probably just get an iPhone 4S instead of the 5, as well...there isn't that much of a difference besides the screen and the lack of 4G.

Is there any reason why the two of you can't use gtalk instead?

e: saw the thing about no notifications. I have an android so I actually don't know if gtalk would push notifications on iOS.

Blake T

If your happy with the phone stick with it.

Skype does have push notifications. You could also use GroupMe or literally any number of messaging programs.

Dhalphir

Personally if you have no significant reason to keep the Razr, just return it for an iphone - iphone -> iphone communication is always going to be easier than iphone -> android if you are doing anything besides normal phone functions.

Matteo2000

Thanks for the advice all.

I'm flowerhoney's partner and I feel I should mention that price isn't an issue (as she's getting it bought for her!) and she has a macbook rather than a pc laptop.

I actually quite like the look of the Razr M, and Android are good now too, I just think that for flowerhoney, an iPhone 5 is a better bet!

Dhalphir

even more so with the macbook, for compatibility reasons