Okay, this is my first rant post. It’s 5:30 in the morning and I’m writing a blog post thanks to my new-and-shiny Samsung Galaxy S3.
I was recently force-upgraded from my Nokia E7 because its USB-adapter broke off – again. Long story short, I’m now adapting to life as a new Android user.
One of the most frustrating things immediately visible is how every application on the device believes it’s the center of the universe craving for attention. Even though I haven’t installed many apps, my notification board is often crammed with stuff. Right out of the box the phone had started beeping to the beat of incoming email, and it took me quite a while to figure out how to turn it off.
But tonight has been a nightmare.
At around 4 AM the phone bleeped. I probably hardly stirred. Then it bleeped again. And again. And again. Slowly but surely it was wrenching me from sleep.
I tried ignoring it. It was rare, maybe once every 5-10 minutes. But each time I was just falling asleep, it bleeped again. And again. It was the electronic form of water torture.
Finally, after about an hour of futile resistance, I succumbed to the device’s will. I opened it and found a Facebook notification. I had just last evening installed the Facebook app, and figured it was causing the havoc – though I have only 1-2 friends abroad that should be awake at this hour. I browsed through the app settings and turned notifications off, thinking I had slain the monster, and went back to sleep. And then it bleeped again.
I recalled seeing some options for preventing notifications in the general settings, so I started scanning the menus. I finally found the Blocking mode, turned it on, and configured it to block all notifications and the LED indicator. For good measure I set the phone to vibration – I was afraid that muting it would mute the alarm I had set for the morning. And then it vibrated.
At this point I was ready to drop the phone in a glass of water had it only fit in.
I was unsure was it a fluke. As time passed I was starting to doubt myself that had I just dreamed it. I turned sounds back on just in case there was some weird vibration alerts. Time passed, and I was finally confident that the beast had been silenced and I tried frantically to get back to sleep. And then it bleeped again.
Had this been my trusty Nokia, I would have turned it off an hour ago, confident in the fact that it will wake me up even if it’s turned off. Hell, a Nokia phone will sound the alarm even if it has run out of battery during the night! That’s bloody engineering!
Now I’m up, sure that I won’t get any more sleep tonight and knowing it will be a long day ahead. I’m already panicking about what will happen tomorrow night, will the torture ensue again. Maybe I have to go buy an alarm clock…
Post-mortem:
- I still have no idea what caused the bleeping during the night. My best guess is that something in the charger or charging logic got screwed up and it starting notifying of a full battery every 5-10 minutes.
- I have had the phone multiple times emit varying beep noises, without any indication of what caused it. It has a life of its own.
- A timed blocking mode seems to prevent unnecessary beeping during the night time.
- I verified that the Samsung will not wake you up if it’s turned off. So much for conserving battery when you’re in a tight spot. Similarly if you forget to plug the phone in when going to sleep and the battery runs out, you’re screwed.
- I found out that it will sound the alarm even if the device is set to mute. I’m torn on this one – it would have saved me a night’s sleep, but I’d really want a button that ensures the phone will stay quiet no matter what.
