Wichita bestbuy unbelievable negative experience...

Dear Best Buy, first of all, I am a fun of your store and most of times, I have great time shopping there with many helpful stuffs. However, today was Different....
I had $115.00 award certificates I earned ready to use purchase a new headphone. I arrive to Wichita, KS East Rock Road store and carrying the product to purchase. One of sales associates kindly told me that he can check this out for me quicker at the one of cashiers. I told him that i had certificates to use along the store credits card. Well, he made a mistake in transactions.. He pulled my certificates from my account and voided the purchase.. Now, the certificates disappeared from my account before I can make the purchase. He took me to the customer service to regain my certificates. I waited at least 30 minutes while the associates tried to fix the problems. Then, this assistant manager showed up. He was simply very rude to me. He asked what's going on and simply made me ultimatum - we can't get the certificates back today, so either you go home and come back when certificates comes back again, or pay a full price to take the product.. I was very frustrated. I waited over 30 minutes over the mistake made my bestbuy associate and this manager refuse to fix the situation, but tell me go home. He refused to fix the problem created by one of staff members and no apologies. Now, I'm concern with this disappeared $115 certificates, so...I explained to him that what's happened my disappeared certificates. He said it should come back in a few days. I asked a written document, so I can assure that it will come back.... He refused to give me any documents that the best buy made the mistake of transactions. He just said just see him in a few days if this does not come back on my account, so I asked of his last name, he said we don't give the last name out.
Now I'm in the hotel room really upset wit this experience, worrying about my lost $115.00. I just can't believe this experience and how could the best treat a costumer like this? I don't even know where to complains, so I'm posting a note here.

Hi Wichitabestbuy,
Thank you for taking the time to sign up for the forum and post about your recent visit to our Wichita, KS store. I can understand feeling frustrated if you went to the store with the intention of redeeming $115 in certificates but left without knowing what had exactly happened to them. If the certificates were never actually redeemed and they have not expired, you should still be able to use them. The certificates point values ($115 = 5750 points) should repost to your My Best Buy™ account within about 3 to 6 business days.
I am very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced, and I definitely do agree with you. We should have extended an apology to you as soon as it was recognized that a mistake had been made. I am not going to act as if mistakes never happen because as the old saying goes, nobody is perfect. That includes Best Buy; however, when an obvious mistake is made, we should stand by that mistake and make sure it is resolved in the end.
With that all being said, if for some reason you do not see the certificates point value repost to your My Best Buy™ account by the end of the day on 7/14/2014, please send me a private message and I will make sure they are added to account. You can send a private message by clicking on the blue button located within my signature.
Returns When a My Best Buy™ Certificate was Used
Warmest Regards,
Derek|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
Private Message

Similar Messages

2 times negative experience with Creative Labs mp3 play

Hey,?I wanted to share my negati've experiences with you on two different Creative Labs mp3 players that I happened to own and suffer from. Before you jump to any fast conclusions or start drawing any parallels note that I loved the sound quality of both 5Gb Zen Micro and 30Gb Zen Vision:M and that I purchased both of them in Ukraine. 5Gb Zen Micro, my first player, was fine until I accidentally dropped it'sfrom about m above the floor. The player was fine and still able to play the music but... the screen was gone. The screen would only light up a few seconds after booting and then go dark and leave you in dark to guess your way through the menu. The sensitivity of the touch pad was way too high even at the lowest level and I often made mistakes with it. But sadly enough there is no support whatsoever in Ukraine. Email support was useless as you can't really have any software solution to the corrupted screen. I had to forget it :-(. Next, I got excited about the 30Gb Zen Vision:M. I was happy to buy a good alternati've to an Ipod but my joy was premature. After very little use of my Zen Vision I once left it unused for about a month. The next thing I noticed was that my battery is dead. The battery would not charge no matter how long I tried to do it! Not even several months passed since I purchased it when the Li-Ion battery went dead. Once again there was no customer support center to go to to fix it and there was no way to return it to the shop either. I had to replace the battery somehow. I am sure many of you saw detailed step-by-step instructions on how to disassemble the Zen Vision and get access to the battery. I bought a replacement battery on Ebay and had the original one replaced only to find out the replacement battery was dead at opening!!! I next ordered another battery on Ebay with a one-year warranty but yet again the battery would not charge. At first it would not charge and then after about 5 hours of charging it would show 00% charge but the player would shut off immediately once I disconnected the AC adapter. I gave up trying to do it myself and there is no local customer service center here. I would send it to the US for repairs but Creative has hidden all service center addresses and puts you through a very long and tedious way of reporting problems with your Zen player. I am very frustrated indeed! I don't wanna buy another Creative player and face the same problems and terrible customer service. I hope someone from Creative Labs will read this and advise the company on how to improve. Creative is losing the battle to Apple believe it or not. Apple is making tons of money on its players with poorer audio quality and fewer features because their customer service is superior. Creative is losing money quarter after quarter because their battery suppliers are not producing consistent-quality batteries, customer service support is non-existent in many countries outside the US and because many popular Creative players come with a user-unfriendly built-in battery!!!

Hey, everyone!
Thanks for your comments. I am in no way shying away from my responsibility in the case of dropping my first Zen. Such things do happen as you know. The point I was trying to make was that there is NO Creative service center over here, neither in Russia or any neighboring country I could go to.
Yes, Apple does have many service centers in Ukraine. So what do you do with the product that you can't repair? It wasn't completely shattered and a replacement of the screen or maybe some chip would fix it.
As for the battery I have to disagree. For a Li-Ion battery one month shouldn't be a problem. Someone asked who makes the batteries for Creative Labs. It's the company called SKC. http://www.skc.co.kr/skhp/en/prod/bat/03.jsp
Once again, maybe changing the battery yourself isn't the best idea but I simply have no other option and you simply don't want to throw away $360.
I still think that Creative should have done a better job selecting the battery supplier and especially setting up service centers locally. A lot of people over here buy Creative Zens and face similar problems. We have nowhere to go for service. I would rather send it in for repairs but Creative does superb job of hiding its technical support email forcing you to go through a web form.
And unfortunately Creative financial performance is only worsening:
http://www.creative.com/corporate/in...gs_Release.pdf
I don't know how much longer they are going to stay in business. I don't like Ipods and all that hype about them but I'd prefer to have better choices and responsi'veness from Creative.

A Positive-Negative Experience

With all the ongoing discussion about issues with MBPs and support, I thought I would share my story with the group...
I pre-ordered an MBP the day after they were announced. I was delighted with the upgrade to a 2.0 GHz chip at no charge and received my machine in very late February (only a few days late, all things considered).
Unlike many of my colleagues on these boards, I didn't have the CPU whine and the machine had only the slightest hint of noise from the inverter (which I didn't notice for weeks). All in all, I was very, very happy.
One week ago, however, I noticed a series of purple pixels in the lower right corner of the screen. While they appeared to be 'stuck', they disappeared at lower color depths and created a yellow 'smudge' that moved with Finder windows placed over them. After some research, some attempts to remember my programming training, and some online digging, it appeared that the video ram on the logic board had developed a problem.
This diagnosis was confirmed by the MacGenius at my local Apple Store; he was genuinely amazed as he had never seen anything like it. He typed copious notes into the repair order (even allowing me to review them) and off it went. Four business days later, my machine was back.
Things went downhill from here. I turned on the machine and immediately saw the pixel anomaly. Logging into a guest account I created for Apple, I noticed two things... 1) the desktop background had been changed, and 2) the brightness had been lowered to 50%, both designed to hide the anomaly. What happened, it appears, is that the technician at the repair depot ignored the comments, and decided to replace the LCD screen and backing, which he did (leaving tacky residue on the screen's edge) and, realizing that he had just wasted a perfectly good LCD, attempted to cover his tracks. I was not happy, at all.
Enter the Apple Store manager. He was very nice, managed to calm me down, and apologized for the error. He said that the machine could be sent back to the repair depot (no thanks) or that he could talk to Apple Care about getting me a replacement machine (it was a CTO so he could not replace it from store stock). He then pulled out a red phone (seriously) and twenty minutes later sent me on my way with assurances that I would receive a new machine and a $50 credit to my account for my trouble.
This morning, I received an email from Apple with an RMA and a new order #, and an additional email with a FedEx label. I dropped my machine off at FedEx and then called Sales Support, as instructed.
The representative there was incredibly nice, looked up my order, apologized for the inconvenience, and indicated that as FedEx hadn't yet scanned the package into their system he couldn't "release my order", but that as soon as FedEx showed receipt of the returned machine (not delivery, just that they had it in their possession) my replacement order would be released for manufacture.
Assuming all goes well at the FedEx station (knock on wood), my order should be released for manufacture tomorrow and I should have a replacement machine within a week.
Hopefully this machine will be in good working order (no LCD issues, no whine, no CPU noise - though I will just install the widget for that and be done with it if it comes to it), but I have to say despite the irritation of having a defective machine and a repair technician who mangled instructions that "a moron in a hurry" could understand, I feel good about my order with Apple and the way I have been treated.
They recognized the problem, admitted their fault, and are working (hard I think) to make it right. And if, 30 years after their founding, they still care about their customers, then I can only say: Happy Birthday.
To those of you out there with problematic machines, talk to the reps, be firm but polite, and ask them to make it right for you...I suspect they will.

Sorry for the delays in updating this...
My second MBP arrived on Tuesday... I was able to reinstall my system in about an hour and other than the maddening 10.4.6 related .Mac sync issues, all is well. This machine runs cooler than the previous one and doesn't have the VRAM issue. It does have one stuck pixel (sob), but it is thankfuly in the upper right hand corner and not visible when the screen is black (which my desktop picture is, so it doesn't bother me).
I called AppleCare and was able to easily move my Apple Care contract over to the new machine (and they even changed the start date from the date my first machine was sent to me to the date of the second, which was nice).
All told...I'm pretty satisfied with the way I have been treated by Apple. I have yet to see the $50 credit to my credit card, but that could take a little while... I was sans-MBP for about 10 days, but walked away with a newer (Week 13) machine that works...
Moral of the story: be firm but polite. Ask for a replacement if you need it. And work with Apple's reps. You'll get a good outcome.

Any *positive* experiences with iOS 8 on iPad 2?

Two related questions:
1. I'm trying to decide whether or not to install iOS 8 on my iPad 2. I've read quite a few posts explaining negative experiences. But has anyone had a positive experience? No challenges with the upgrade? Few to no problems with apps?
2. I am on my third iPad 2 due to hardware issues. My most-recent iPad 2 is only one month old. Will this make any difference whatsoever as to how it will respond to the upgrade? Or is it just a case of the iPad 2 being out of date hardware-wise? Not up to the task?

I still haven't upgraded from 7.0. However, last night I must not have been thinking properly, and I upgraded my Mac to Yosemite. I'm worried that my iPad and Mac will stop talking. So far, so good, but how long will they continue to support iCloud? (I didn't switch to iCloud Drive because iPad still on 7.0.)
With the 8.1 upgrade, did you note any improvements? Any problems?

Any Experience w/ Brand X FM Transmitters?

I have 2 different Brands and types of FM tranmitters that plug into the bottom connector of my iPhone. They were advertised to work with both ipods and the iPhone.
Alas, the music keeps playing on the speaker and doesn't transmit. The charging part works though.
Has anyone else had any positive or negative experiences with this type of transmitter?
My 3rd older one that fits into the hadphone jack works fine.

I went to the Apple Store and they told me that there wasn't a cord that would allow me to play my music from my iPhone to my car stereo.
So...
I bought an iPod because I wanted my music in my car.
I also bought this Kensington Digital FM Transmitter/Auto Charger for my iPod as well. I found a radio station and it worked perfectly.
I thought to myself, why not try to hook my iPhone up to that cable and see if it worked.
Well it did and so I took my iPod back and now am able to use my iPhone in my car using the Kensington cord!!
Here is the link to that cord:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=F92 F7BFD&nplm=TD145LL/A
It just goes into your cigarette lighter and then you set a radio station on the cord and then tune onto the radio station on your car.
Hope that helps,
Sam
P.S.- Your iPhone is going to tell you that the product is not compatible with the iPhone and would like to know if you want to put it into airplane mode.
Well just select "NO" and then your phone will work like normal and play your music through your speakers and it will still be able to receive calls while listening to your music, the music will just fade out while you are driving and allow you to answer your call and then once you are done, continue playing your song right where it left off.

I am very disappointed in CFBuilder 2

I have been using CFBuilder since it first came out. I went through some of the early beta annoyances and even some of the situations where a new beta version came out and stopped the current one from working, effectively halting my production until it was fixed. That being said, I love CFBuilder and it has been a mostly positive experience. It has all of the good things about CFEclipse, with a lot of helpful enhancements.
When CFBuilder 2 came out, I was very excited to get my hands on it. I am sure I don't need to go into detail about how important a functional and feature rich IDE is to a developers day, so I am always looking forward to the latest and greatest. CFBuilder 2 falls short in so many ways and after talking many other developers, I realize that I am not the only one with that opinion. I am surprised that Adobe has produced such a bug ridden product.
Being a developer myself, I understand all to well the need to get a product released and making money, but this product is unusable and is making Adobe look bad. I talked to a number of developers at cf.Objective about this and I wasn't surprised that many of them shared my negative experience.
Because I have had issues upgrading from one version to the next in the past, it is my practice to install a fresh version, so there are less issues. I am running Windows 7, but I have talked to friends that are working on Macs and have experienced these problems as well. Here are just a few of my gripes:
- In early versions of Builder and CFEclipse as well, syntax highlighting would occasionally break and would leave your code looking like it was in notepad. Sometimes it would repair itself after time, or you just needed to type something, or highlight code and it would correct itself. In later versions this got much better and all but disappeared. In CFBuilder 2 the problem is back and worse than it ever was. The only way I could fix it much of the time was to just close the file and reopen it.
- In addition to the syntax highlighting breaking, it seems to hang much of the time. It actually crashed my editor a couple of times. Even when I set the setting to make it only refresh when you save, it still seemed to try to update anyway.
- When going to a new line, for some reason it is inserting an extra tab. I see that there is some new code formatting functionality, and I tried to change this behavior, but I couldn't find a way. This is changed behavior from how it worked before and it is frustrating having to search for options just to have it work the way it was originally. I am not really sure who would want the extra tab anyway. It is a tab that doesn't follow the flow of your regular indentation.
- The auto closing of tags doesn't seem to work properly anymore. I tried toggling the settings to see if that would help, but I wasn't able to get it working.
- The previous version gave us some really cool hotkeys. CTRL+SHIFT+A to insert an abort, CTRL+SHIFT+D to insert a cfdump, C and CTRL+SHIFT+M to wrap code in a comment. In CFB2, all of those keys have been remapped by default... I understand that the functions are still there, but it doesn't make sense to me that they were moved.
Honestly, after fighting these issues for only a very short period of time, I got frustrated, uninstalled the app and went back to CFBuilder 1. It seems like this was a complete rewrite and wasn't very well tested. I realize that I could have been a little more detailed on the explanation of some of these issues, but I really don't have anymore time to waste on this unfinished product...
I am very disappointed that this was pushed out in such a non-functional state and I won't feel comfortable giving it another chance until I start hearing that things are vastly improved.
I realize that the tone of this is somewhat negative, but it comes from hours of frustration and wasted time. I only decided to post this after I spoke with a number of my peers that are equally disappointed. I hope this can serve as a nudge to improve the quality of future releases.
Jeff

--^ everything this guy says.
It's such a shame to see some people want always to suggest that because something doesn't work for them (and even some of their peers) that therefore it must be true for everyone, and that the product and team are shoddy. We hear the same of CF sometimes, and since I do CF server (and sometimes CFBuilder) troubleshooting for a living, I can affirm that rarely if ever is the problem (or rarely are "all the problems" someone experiences) really due to inferiority of the product.
There's usually an explanation in there somewhere, for why what fails miserably for someone does seem to work just fine for others. Often, it seems to have to do with some configuration issue.
In CFB, particularly, it's indeed important to get many config things right: some features won't work unless a file is opened within a project, and further some will only work if the file is opened in a project that is connected to a server. Then, too, you may connect a project to a server, but not do it right, or have something that's just not working (like connecting to a remote server and specifying the JNDI port but it's not the one on which the connected CF server is listening on, or you provide the RDS password but RDS is not enabled on the server, or the ports for either are blocked, and so on.)
I will grant that someone will see that and say, "well see, that's what I mean: you have to be a bloody technician to get it all working". Well, yes, to a degree. CFB tries to do a LOT for you. It isn't "just an editor" (but most here know that), but it's more than even most Eclipse plugins--they (nearly all) work with source code alone. CFB is working with both source code and the configuration of stuff on a back-end server, such as what datasources exist (in CF), what components exist (on the CF server, as defined by CF admin mappings, custom tag paths, and the web server root), and so on.
It can't "just look at your code". It needs to do this back-end communication to bring all the hotness that it does. But if that connection doesn't work, then it can either fail (obviously or silently), or perform poorly.
So yes, it's a shame when someone's configuration gets in the way and makes it seem that CFB sucks. But the reason you hear from others "no it doesn't" is just that either they don't have the same setup, or don't have the same configuration challenges, or they have solved them, or whatever.
But please, I wish people would stop with the "it sucks" mantra, just because it doesn't work for them (and some of their peers).
Jason and I (and others, I'm sure) are at least here to say, "it doesn't suck for us".
That doesn't make you wrong. It just means that your assertion that it sucks in general (calling it " unfinished product...pushed out in such a non-functional state"). I realize that countering your point, I run the risk of your (and noraaron's) wrath. Please don't shoot us as the messengers. We're just offering a contrasting viewpoint.
/charlie

IPhone 6, iphone 5S, iphone 5C freezing and crashing in iOS 8.1.2-8.1.3

ive got 3 phones and they all exhibit the same behavior. mostly when opening an apple app the phone will freeze- especially the phone app. It took an hour befote I could access the key pad to dial apple to try and get my iPhone 6 that I bought yesterday replaced.
All three phones do the same thing: Apple apps crash or freeze, sometimes will go back to normal, sometimes have to restart the phone. It's worse on the iPhone 6.
On the iPhone 6 all Apple apps function about 30% of the time. Third party apps seem fine but anything related to the system cannot work. Several resets and restores later it's still the same.
IMessage asks me me every few minutes to log in as well.
i have never had such a negative experience with a phone before- calling and text messaging is impossible. even after the latest restore it froze on the iCloud login page for 10 minutes.
IMia this a software bug or hardware. All I could get from calling service is "I don't know, it's a new one for me."

Jeez, the keyboard lags behind so much and the keys seem offset

DO NOT BUY AN IPHOTO BOOK!!!!!!!

I have been going at it with Apple now for over a month! I ordered a book and it came back with blank pages and with photos not scaled properly. (This was my second iPhoto book. The first one also had several minor printing flaws which we overlooked) I sent three emails via the iPhoto support page and received no replies. Apple promises a response within 48 hrs. Then some two weeks later they had the nerve to send me a survey thanking me for using the web support function and please rate "how we did!" You can only imagine how I responded. I next tried contacted a live person at Apple Care to help me out. I provided them my order number. They indicated that was not a valid order number. Turns out that Apple Care cannot track orders made through iPhoto! No one at Apple Care was even familiar with what an iPhoto book was. I then called Apple corporate hq's and spoke to a "customer care" rep. She assured me I would be contacted within 48 hrs (sound familiar) and my problem would be resolved. I heard nothing for over a week. Calls back to Ms. Graser of customer care were met by voice mail. Finally this week I received a canned response back from Apple. They noted that they would credit the charge back to my card. They also asked if I were interested in reordering my book and if so they would "assist" me. I replied that I was interested in trying to reorder the book. So what does Apple do? Without any further contact to find out why the book came back incomplete (such as a corrupt file or incomlete file transfer), they reprinted the same screwed up book and recharged my credit card for the full amount (including $15 for express shipping)!
BUYER BEWARE! Apple provides no support or quality control for this product. DO NOT BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heidi,
Welcome to the forums, and I'm sorry about your book. I too have ordered a book very recently and also found several photos to be on the dark side, and several too red as well.
But I believe that there's a "but" here.
I don't know your professional background -- I work in the print industry (I design pages) and I know how hard it is to get the color correction on images just right, EVEN if your monitor is calibrated and your particular version of image processing software is optimized for use with your specific output device. And that's when a professional is behind the wheel, which I am not.
My iMac's monitor is not calibrated, I am not trained to make images look their best for reproduction, and I am using a consumer-level application. With a little bit of research on these forums (which you have done), anyone can find out that the reviews on the iPhoto books' quality are mixed... At the very least you'll know you're taking a calculated risk -- as you said yourself.
I would consider myself a picky customer, but I am not disappointed with the quality of these books, especially considering the price, and knowing how difficult and unpredictable color correction can be. If you have some photos that are good (even if it is only 25 out of 142), then I would suspect the problem is with the "pre-pressing" of these images, not the printing. If the printing was to blame, they would ALL be bad.
That said, I am still sorry about your negative experience. We anticipate these books to be great, and it's a bummer when they aren't.
Full disclosure: I am in fact asking for a refund as well on my recent book, and I too don't like the fact that there is no phone support for iPhoto orders. I sent my e-mail 24 hours ago, so it hasn't been 48 hours yet. The reason I am asking for a refund is not due to print quality (I think I am responsible for the color/darkness thing), but because my $57 softcover 8.5x11 book arrived in a flimsy envelope and got bent during shipping. The (cheaper) calendars I ordered the same day arrived in sturdy boxes, so the logic behind that escapes me.
Anyway. For the future, if you've got a project you really care about, I'd recommend spending a little extra and ordering a "test book" with the minimum amount of pages, using only your most challenging photos, so you'll know how to tweak them for the final book. If it matters that much, the extra money will be well-spent, and in the end, the price/quality factor of these one-of-a-kind books will still be more than acceptable.
Just my thoughts.
An

Issues with 10.3 OS update to my Z10

It has been two days since the automatic update from 10.2 to 10.3 on my Z10 device. The device worked fine for two days and then it began a constant reboot indicating a device error in the upper right corner and the sim card is not recognized. I have read that other Z10 users are experiencing the same issue. I cannot remove or reinstall the sortware because the device is not on long enough to complete a task before it reboots again. Is anyone else having this issue and were you able to resolve it?

I had serious problems with my Q10 after downloading the latest mandatory update 10.3.2.4. The first time it downloaded to my device and all seemed just fine. Then about 36 hrs later the device completely died. No light, no sound, would not respond at all. The AT&T corporate store was "baffled". So I received a new Q10 from my employer (the other one was about a year and a half old). Applied the same mandatory OS upgrade and about 36 hrs later the EXACT same thing happened. The phone completely died. I noticed that after the upgrade BOTH phones ran warmer than before. I speculate the new OS on the Q10 is running them hotter by doing more constant internal processing and burned out some circuitry. Purely my speculation because nobody I dealt with at AT&T had any ideas at all. But there is clearly a problem. So I switched to the bberry Classic now and hopefully the new OS update will not be a negative experience again!

I cannot believe customer service

I've never had a negative experience with Verizon since I switched to them about 10 years ago. All of my positive views were changed today. Let me explain: I pay extra for insurance on my device. It was defective, called, got new device and returned old one. Only verizon is saying they didnt receive it. Funny thing is when the charge appeared on my bill I immediately call and she tells me yes it is in our warehouse it just needs to be checked in and when it is we will remove the charge. Great so I check back a month later and the charge is still there. So I call again, the guy says they cannot find my device ever being at the warehouse so he recommends me tracking the package myself. So I get my paper and try only its saying the tracking number is invalid. In the mean time verizon is threatening to shut my service off if I do not pay. I am not going to pay for a device I returned but they lost. I do not have $600 laying around to pay for a mistake that I did not make. I called again today the lady tells me I never called about the device being returned, tells me Im lying, leaves me on hold for over an hour and then transfers me to a department who "can better assist" only to be told she transferred me to the wrong department and I was hung up on. I am in disgust. After 10 years this is how Im being treated?! I cannot believe this once great company has gone downhill so fast. This issue is still not resolved and Im constantly getting calls saying I owe them from an automated system. Someone help please. I am almost to the point of terminating my contract and going elsewhere where Im actually treated like a person and not a thief.

I believe Verizon uses the United States Postal Service prepaid return to vendor label. Not FedEx.
Fedex has a contract with the USPS for certain partner transactions but if you took the top part of the label it has the number on it.
http://www.USPS.com
Try the number under their tracking system. Not with Fedex.
Your only option with proof it was delivered is a small claims court filing. Do not arbitrate.
Good Luck

Bug report: Fn+Delete and Fn+Up/Dn keys don't work in SR MacBook Boot Camp

Fn + Delete does NOT do a forward delete in Boot Camp as its supposed to do on my Windows XP Home SP2 running installed on a new Santa Rosa 2.2GHz MacBook. Neither does Fn + Up/Down do PgUp/Dn, but Fn + Return DOES do Insert, so this isn't a bad Fn key.
This bug appears to be related to the new SR MacBook release. Two other SR MB owners besides me have reported this problem at:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4508558
Has anyone else had positive or negative experiences using Fn + Delete on Santa Rosa MacBooks in Boot Camp?

Actually I didn't trash Boot Camp, it never populated in the tray after the install. Moreover, the thing i destroyed was the MacHDD from the desktop and from the Go Finder listing and want to get that puppy back
Boot Camp is running just that the F keys other than F3 are not functional nor is the Eject key . . PLUS . . as I say there is no tap to click, not two finger scrolling, and no 3 or 4 finger functions operational features.
Please help!

No complaints from me this time!

I just got off a long chat session with a Verizon CSR who was extremely helpful and patient with me and at the end, I was very happy to fill out a very positive review of the experience. And now I understand the context of this pre-paid gift card and there *is* a reward for loyalty with Verizon, now that I understand it. I didn't even realize before that you can renew your contract once it expires and keep the same rates as before so that way, your rates can't just go up at any time with the monthly plan. Mine have gone up a little but I just renewed my contract and for the same rates with some nice discounts included, I'll be getting even faster Internet and download speed, more TV stations (?), and upgraded phone service. Heck...now that's a great deal and I know for sure you can't get that from the cable companies! And here I was thinking the whole time that a rate increase with Verizon was inevitable. I guess there may be some increase in the contarct rate over time time but to get these nice upgrades at lower rates will make my estimated monthly bill a lot cheaper than what it is now (back to what it was before my last contract expired) once I am past the one time activation fee for the upgrade. The savings overtime is worth it then.
I understand now that for the special offers, you can turn them all down, you can choose the gift card, or you can choose a free year's subscription to HBO or Cinemax. In the context of all that, turning down the gift card would have been stupid for me to do. In all reality if I can do what I want with it like applying the payment to my next bill or putting it in my bank account or using it for food shopping, then what's the harm in that? I do apologize if I was sounding ignorant about that before but now that I understand it, it makes a lot more sense. I read more informaton about it and it seems very much like a debit card, to be used wherever Visa debit cards are accepted with restricitons and security features and there is a way to report it if it's lost or stolen.
I know that we all have had bad experiences with some customer service reps before but overall, I don't think my experience with the customer service has been that bad overall and this last experience is actually an addition to some of my other positive experiences in the past. It seems to me like these negative experiences with customer service over the phone can happen with any corporation and I have been there plenty of times to know that. In the scheme of things, if a conversation with one of these reps over the phone goes over poorly, it's better for me to end the call and call back later. Emails and live chats and shared sessions have been serving the same purpose equally well for me.
Verizon is a great product and I really appreciate the great job this last CSR on chat did for me. Sometimes all it takes is that one person to explain everything and she wasn't insulting or rude in any way, shape, or form.
There is no way I will ever switch to cable, especially knowing what I know now. I can't see myself switching over to a lower quality product from cable just because of some bad CSR experiences over the telephone. I don't really undersand this idea of disconnecting all the service and then starting with Verizon all over again just to get a cheaper bill, now that I see that I just need to renew my 2 year contract each time it expires. I didn't know that before but I know now.

hello, this sounds like a problem possibly caused by adware on your pc.
please go to the firefox ''menu > addons > extensions'' & remove any suspicious entries (toolbars, things that you have not installed intentionally, don't know what purpose they serve, etc).
<br>also go to the windows control panel / programs and remove all toolbars or potentially unwanted software from there.
<br>finally, run a full scan of your system with different security tools like the [http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free free version of malwarebytes] & [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/ adwcleaner].
[[Remove a toolbar that has taken over your Firefox search or home page]]
[[Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware]]

Office 2013 Professional plus installation on a Windows 7 PC with Office Enterprise 2007 previously installed

I have a DELL XT2 with plenty of RAM and disk space.
Until, recently I had Office Enterprise 2007 running with Visio Professional 2007.
I wish I never tried to upgrade to Office 2013 Professional plus
- what a waste of time and nightmare. The software is not fit for purpose will only install on a PC that has never had office on it !!!! complete joke.
I uninstalled Office 2007, Visio Professional 2007, spent 15 hours cleaning the registry manually and using registry cleaning tools as Microsoft's uninstall does not work. I have tried clean boots, using Fixit tool to remove old
traces of Office but no success, I followed the article religiously on how to manually remove Office from the registry and disk.
The software when installed does not make it to the end and bombs out saying there is a bootstrap loader error, this is not funny any more.
Can someone advise how to fix this please, I have looked at all the proposed fixes on TechNet and they are a complete waste of time.
If nobody knows how to fix it and can someone point to a place where I can download 2007 Office Enterprise and Visio Professional 2007 so I can get back to where I was, I can't find the original disks but still have the license keys.
What can you say, what a waste of life. The folks that write and test the software should no better please don't release stuff that's not ready - it just creates a negative experience.
Thanks

After reading the whole post, I still don't capture the exact error message or code from it when you failed to install Office 2013.
The only clue is that "bootstrap loader error" ...
It seems that you want to upgrade Office 2007 to new Office 2013, by default, we could complete the uninstall previous Office version and install the new Office in the installation wizard.
At this point, if you get the install source through CD or other media. I recommand that we copy/paste the installation to local drive. Then turn off all of anti-virus and firewall, begin to setup in
Windows clean boot mode.
Please use a setup log to troubleshoot setup problems in Office if the installation problem still occurs.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826511/en-us
Tony Chen
TechNet Community Support

Best avenue to file complaints about bill and have them resolved

I have been a customer since before 2005 and went with Ntelos in November, I called the night I was at Ntelos to ask Verizon what my contract buy outs were and I was given the prices. The representative tried to offer me whatever promotions she could offer (there wasn't many) and I declined service (there she should have took the initiative to ask about disconnecting). Since my bf opted to keep his number his phone disconnected automatically. I was told my Verizon phone would cycle off within 24 - 48 hours by the Ntelos rep. That was not the case so I called verizon to ensure my phone would disconnect and they told it would at the end of the billing cycle (december 20) which makes sense. I understand I would be responsible for the November - December. Anyways, December 20th rolls around and mind you I've called already to ensure it will take place and it doesn't. I phone in and come to find out the person who took my orders didn't complete the disconnection and now I have to wait until January 20th for it to cycle off and I can finally pay my bill! Well get this in my November - December bill they've charged me $51 for Monthly access (I have a work discount) and $49.99 for insurance and smartphone access for 12/21 - 1/20 and won't refund my $51 as they say that I called out on the phone. I turned the phone on and had voicemails that I think I checked around the time period that they are mentioning (1 day) and that data was used (1 day) I had no outbound calls after December 11th my birthday. Because there are no comments in my account (that I specifically asked them to make) my phone should have been disconnected when I had called in the first of December... really!?! The phone should have been turned off regardless and it was one day out of 30 seriously? I mean the phone has been turned off this whole time and literally only checked to make sure Verizon did their job. I CAN'T HELP IT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO YOUR JOB, I PUT THE EFFORT IN MULTIPLE TIMES TO LET YOU KNOW MY PHONE NEEDED TO BE DISCONNECTED YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT RECORD OF IT!!! What really heats me up is that I was told a supervisor would give me a call back after they got out of a meeting and I have not rec'd a call back yet. VERIZON Reps/Supervisors your customers are the reason why you have get a paycheck, I suggest you start treating them a little better. You can't seriously tell me giving me back my $51 for service I DID NOT USE (except according to you for one day you can't even give me details about?) is really going to hurt your pockets. I've been jerked around by your reps for the last 2 months as one told me my contracts were up in January and I shouldn't' be charged for disconnection fees at all, she credited me those termination fees but they later got rejected (after she said her supervisor approved while I was on hold) and NO ONE HAD THE COURTESY TO NOTIFY ME!
I've worked in customer service before and I'll be first to tell you that your reps are not trained very well and you have horrible ethic! You should not charge your customers for an error that was your fault; especially since it was your reps that I asked specifically to note my account and didn't (this isn't my first rodeo with you all, it should be standard procedure to give your reps time to comment before throwing them into another phone call). I'm not doing this for my health here, that $51 could buy diapers and baby food for my daughter and you are crazy if you think I'm going to let it slip through my fingers to line your pockets. I will keep escalating it until you do something about it and I don't care that you already gave me an inconvenience credit I deserve that and my $51 so don't try to justify it that way! This has been way more than an inconvenience, so don't worry I'll inconvenience you as well!
>> Edited to comply with the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service <<
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

With my new provider I am only using the chat function to settle anything with them so I can save the conversations I've had with them (not that I've had any issues thus far). It should be standard procedure for them to comment your account while they are on the phone with you before hanging up. I should have been annoying and asked them to read back their comments (hindsight ugh!). I'm sorry that you are having to deal with this as well, just know you are not the only one receiving horrible customer service. I'll share with you what I wrote on their Facebook page. They really should take some accountability for their actions and have better follow up on resolving issues (or train their representatives better). I can't stand having to talk to another person time and time again explaining the same thing i just explained to 3 people before them.
Almost immediately, I received some attention after posting this:
Dear Verizon,
I am appalled, especially after reading your credo, that you are refusing to credit back money that is owed to me because your representatives didn't take the necessary time that they should have to comment (after I specifically asked) in my account after I diligently called in multiple times to ensure that my disconnection took place when it was scheduled to and was told that it would (an ongoing issue since the beginning of December). Come to find out that the representatives I spoke with prior to December 20th didn't do their jobs correctly by not entering the disconnection orders in. "Verizon Credo- a set of principles that describes our culture of integrity, respect, performance excellence and accountability. The Credo is a blueprint that directs us to live up to the highest standards possible when serving our customers, shareowners, communities and each other." Let me school you on something here because it appears that you just put that mission statement up on your website 'cause it sounds good, you certainly do not follow through! Accountability: Noun - the quality or state of being accountable; especially an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions (i.e. public officials lacking accountability). It doesn't matter that you cannot find any proof in my statements it doesn't change the fact that it happened and I am not a liar. I seriously wouldn't exhaust this must effort had I been lying. I'll take this a step further and reference your statement "we focus outward on the customer, not inward. We make it easy for customers to do business with us, by listening, anticipating and responding to their needs." First of all, when I made my initial call to you all asking what my contract buyout prices were and your rep tried to offer me promotions (or lack there of) to keep me as a customer and I declined she should have "anticipated" my need for disconnection. I shouldn't have had to jump through so many hoops to get my service disconnected from you all and pay my final bill. It's not my fault that your representatives weren't trained well enough to correctly put through disconnection orders. Based on my interactions with your customer service I could see where people would disconnect their services regularly!!!!! You are not making it easy for me to severe ties with you and conduct BUSINESS and you are not responding to my NEEDS. I think you forget that I could be a potential customer in the future. If it's one thing I learned from my Communications Degree is that negative feedback will reach more consumers vs. positive feedback of a company and how they handle their business. I have 1,000 plus facebook friends and twitter followers so I'm pretty sure my negative experience could reach quite a few people! You say you have integrity? How is it moral uprightness to charge me for a whole month of service (regardless if the phone was turned on once) for a billing period that shouldn't have existed if your customer service reps did their job correctly? I suggest that you all take a good look at the way you are treating your current customers because we are the reason you get a paycheck! You should make your customers a priority especially if they've been with you for 10 + years regardless if they are disconnecting service or not! How about following through, taking ACCOUNTABILITY and having that supervisor representative call me back from my phone conversation last night like I am a priority (how every customer should be treated) and helping me get the money that I am owed, regardless if the phone had been turned on for a short period (your rep couldn't even tell me what numbers I supposedly called - exactly the phone has been off since December 20th if not before unless turned on to confirm disconnection)! Oh but let me guess did you all forget to put that in my account comments as well? Probably like there is no mention of the formal complaint I filed against some of your representatives that there was supposedly no ticket number for. I thought I was going to regret leaving Verizon for another provider but it turns out that I only wish I would have left sooner and actually gone to a authorized dealer/ Verizon Store to process my disconnection because your customer service line is a joke!

Ihab's Lenovo K900 Review

Hello everyone How are you all doing? I just finished the write up of the Lenovo K900 Reivew. I hope you like it, and if you would like to see larger/full resolution images of the ones posted here you can check out the review over at ihabstech.com. Enjoy!
Yes, Lenovo make smartphones worldwide now. I thought that would be an appropriate opening since I keep getting the question mark look on people’s faces when looking at the phone placed in front of me and then ask “Lenovo make phones?”.
At first I didn’t even realize they had phones and when I did, I was surprised they actually had quite a decent range. Not only that, they had their own Lenovo UI of Android. It seems they have been working really hard to get great devices out and guess which device I managed to get my hands on? The flagship. How exciting! So, lets take a look at this phone.
That is not a perfectly angled shot to make the device appear really thin.. Okay it is, but the device really is thin! it’s stated at 6.9mm only!
Quick Spec Sheet
You have to re-think your understanding of big phones with the K900, the dimensions are 157 x 78 x 6.9 mm! So it is pretty huge, but in exchange for carrying the sizeable device (or phablet if you want to call it that) you get a 5.5 inch Full HD IPS screen with about 400 PPI with the screen resolution of 1920×1080 (It is very responsive and even recognizes use with fingernails and pens) above the screen sits an aray of sensors and a 2MP fixed-focus camera. Taking a step deeper into the device, we find an Intel® Atom™ Z2760 Dual Core™ 4-thread processor running up to 2.0 GHz with 2GB of RAM. The graphics centre is an Intel® GMA graphics with 533MHz clock, and both assist in running Android 4.2.1. All this powerful hardware comes in a Brushed Stainless Steel, Polycarbonate and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 package that weighs 162 grams. On the back is the 13MP camera with auto-focus and dual flash, capable of full 1080[ video at 30 FPS. In regards to communication, it has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and HSPA+ (up to 42MBPS) and wireless hotspot functionality. As for sensors, the K900 has A-GPS, Gravitation (I am guess a gyroscope?), Ambient light sensor and a Proximity sensor.
Box Contents
This is always the excitement of opening a box of a brand you have never dealt with before, I had no clue what to expect.
The box had a cover which had the K900 branding in a huge cut out. Being that the box was black it didn’t make sense. Till..
The inside of that cover was in red! So taking the box out lights up the K900 branding. Sexy! Lifting the cover reveals the phone. In first impressions I thought the phone was going to be smaller than the big box, turns out it was the size of the box.
I know there isn’t anything out of the ordinary to expect in an unboxing, and so nothing unusual here. A Micro-USB Cable, a pair of ordinary Headphones and a SIM-Card ejector tool attached to the small manuals card. Weirdly, I have not received a wall charger, but I have so many of them laying around there is no problems and of course, the retail units will have one without a doubt.
Design, Body and Display
The device is a very good looking device despite its large size. I have used many devices over the past few months from iPhones, Galaxies, HTC Ones (Normal and Mini) and others and not a single one got the stares and questions asked as the Lenovo K900. It does have a personality and it is eye catching.
To start things off, lets talk about the front (Apologies for the low quality pictures) From the top sits a small cut out for the speaker and to the left the front facing camera. The sensors are nearly impossible to notice, perfect integration that is. Lenovo branding in the center and then the huge screen all the way till the bottom where three Android buttons sit, Back, Home and Options/Settings.
Flipping the phone to the back is where things start to get an even more premium look. Up top sits the 13MP camera, Dual-Flash and the secondary noise cancelling microphone, then comes what appears to be a back cover, but it isn’t removable. It’s in stainless steel brushed with 4 corner screws to make it look somewhat industrial? I think it has a nice touch. There is an engraved Lenovo logo towards the top and below sits the Intel logo. Finally towards the bottom sits the loud speaker.
For all of you wondering about the stainless steel durability with us, yes the sides do scratch up a bit. I could recommend trying to find a case but I just think it looks so good without one. Also, not too sure you can find a case that easily as well.
They kept the design clean, which means there is nothing to the top of the device. I think with a device this big, anything on the top would be suicidal because it would drop functionality dramatically. Fortunately, the 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro-USB port and primary microphone are on the bottom with nothing on the top. Thanks Lenovo.
The volume buttons are found to the left of the device, but as one button. To the right side sits the lock/power button and towards the middle, the SIM-Card tray. Please be gentle with the tray if you get one, because as with my past experiences with metal trays, if this bends just a tiny bit, it will ruin the look and the flatness will never return again. Either way, pretty straight forward and all buttons feel metallic while the lock/power button have a little pattern on them.
The feedback on the buttons are good but the lock/power button is slightly too soft, which may click on while holding the device in one’s hand.
So yes, the size… Here is the K900 beside the Nokia Lumia 925 and HTC One Mini.
The Nokia has a 4.5 Inch screen while the HTC has a 4.3 inch one, clearly being 5.5 makes it huge, plus the device is actually quite tall.
The device feels really nice in the hands, but it does need a lot of getting used to being a phone of this size. It does slightly stick out of my jeans pocket. I have almost dropped it a few times because I am not used to using such a big device. Certainly if people are used to 5+ inch devices this might not seem too big, but I have never gone over 5 in my pockets before. It is a big device, that I started to get used to after about a week or two of use. I started to carry it differently, more towards a small notepad than a normal smartphone. I got used to it eventually! The metal back does get cold quickly especially in air conditioned areas so picking the phone up does feel special.
As for the screen, it is absolutely brilliant. The clarity is amazing, the brightness can go up to levels that could be uncomfortable (but means brilliant in the sun). The only downside to the brightness is in the OS side as it can only be set at 30%, 60% and 100%, I would have preferred a slider but I am just being picky. Being 400PPI no pixels can be seen and the color representation is just brilliant, one of the best screens I have used in a smartphone, should be thankful to the IPS technology then. This is possibly the most inviting smartphone I have ever had in terms of wanting to watch videos on it, and I often just load videos from the laptop to the device to watch it there instead.
Memory and Data
This is where things complicated, and a bit unusual. Essentially the device comes with 16 GB of internal storage, which supposedly nearly 10 GB is free to the user, but what makes no sense is how it is managed..
The device states that internal storage is 4.68 GB out of which I have nearly 600 MB free, and the USB storage is 9.77GB. On the bottom is the option to erase the SD card. There is no SD card. At first glance, it seems that the device has 5 GB of internal memory and like 10 GB of a separate internal memory, but this is actually a security thing that Lenovo has implemented, they have partitioned the drive so the system’s section of the storage remains untouched. Connecting the device to the computer, or accessing the built in file manager only displays the 9.77 GB partition.
Sadly, as I have often stated, getting 16 GB of storage on a smartphone today is a low amount of storage, especially considering only nearly 10GB is only ever free with no external memory card slot option. Being on Android, every single cloud storage platform has an app, but Lenovo do not provide any free cloud storage on any service.
As with typical modern day Android device (The K900 was launched in January in some markets) it comes with 2GB of RAM. With normal use, I average around 700-900 MB of free RAM. So the system seems to be managing its RAM fairly decently, and I have never experienced any memory issues in my use.
Camera
The K900 comes with a 13 MP camera with every option one could need on a smartphone.
I wanted to really show the settings and viewfinder, but the K900′s screen shot utility is limited to only areas where the notification center is accessible, and all attempts to get a decent screen shot app without rooting failed miserably (before I forget, rooting this device is not an easy task, near impossible to find sources online)
On the bottom left of the screen is where the main settings live and it has three main sections. The Basic section includes toggles for switching between cameras, flash settings, resolution, scenes (normal, low light, motion, etc), adjustments (brightness, contrast, etc), image quality settings and guide lines. The Advanced section covers the ISO, white balance, stroscopic settings and a toggle to enable or disable image capture by touching the screen. The last section is the other settings where the user can control GPS tagging, sounds, animation, focus modes and a reset tool.
On the left of the screen there are two quick toggles for the flash and switching to the front camera. towards the right there is even more settings! on the top there is a small tool to display the selected settings in tiny icons and a arrow button to set the camera modes (HDR, low light, smile detection, macro, timed photos, burst shot, panorama, and night portrait mode.
To the bottom of that.. is even MORE settings! well okay, not settings but there is a button that opens a whole table of effects for the photography, there is about 24 different effects to play with. To the far right sits the buttons to switch to video mode, capture an image and a thumbnail of the last photo taken.
Here are some sample pictures taken with the K900 in various real world situations.
A nice, decent lit Macro soft of the Blackberry Q5 (Review of the Q5 can be found here)
Low light shot of the HTC One Mini (Review of the One Mini can be found here)
A shot with decent lighting of a new packaged headset, lit well but notice how the device itself is over exposed.
Decent interior lighting, the text is fairly clear at zoom, the disclaimer line is blurred though.
Outdoor shot in daylight
Indoor shot with decent lighting of a portrait (best focus and lighting on the picture).
The quality is really good, one of the best cameras I have come across in smartphones. The best? No, but very close I have to admit.
So is it all perfect? Almost. Although there is a nice hidden feature where pressing the volume down and capture button on the screen will activate burst mode without having to go through the settings, the zooming is bad. Not the zooming itself, but the on screen controls for zooming. Tapping the screen will bring the 4x zoom bar, and it is really thin and 9 times out of 10 trying to zoom in or out, it will focus on that spot on the view finger rather than lower/increase the zoom, its very hard to zoom effectively and the volume keys don’t adjust the zoom which I think is a waste of the keys but in essence of taking pictures, it does a very good job.

Operating System
The K900 runs on Android version 4.2.1 with Lenovo’s own UI. It is a very interesting looking system, with tons of customizable features. No, I mean seriously, tons. Almost every single aspect of the experience can be changed, from the icon sets, size of the icons, backgrounds of the icons, special effects, tens of page transitions for the home page and various transitions for the apps page, automatic clean up (where inactive apps can be automatically removed), desktop layout backup, tens of built in apps, with up to 9 desktops!
And I wish that was it.. there is a lot more to this OS that I thought, Lenovo did a great job.
Let me start things off at the home screen and this essentially gives you an idea of how the operating system looks like. Pressing the menu button brings up the list of options (most of which are mentioned above) but this gives an almost unlimited amount of customization. Tapping and holding on an empty spot brings up the tools for transitions (known as effects), and the options to add apps, shortcuts, widgets and more! Lenovo’s power app has its own widget as well, which shows estimated time before battery runs out and quick toggles.
Although most of our smartphone use doesn’t include phone calls or sms somehow, it is the base of a phone. Lenovo has done a great job here with their all in one approach. Call log, messages and contacts are all under one section. They have done it in a smart way where the dialler is on top of the log instead of two pages, certainly is more productive. The messages have a very interesting look to them, which I thought looked nice. Moving all the way into info center brings up a set of settings including a way to backup and restore contacts. It may not be a big deal to many but i think this all in one spot is a nice touch.
The took the extra step in small touches, for instance when you call someone, the phone will vibrate the second the receiver picks up, not sure if any other manufacturer has that or not (never paid attention to it) but it is really cool especially in noisy situations.
Before I go on, Lenovo has done something to this phone that evokes a sense of professional use or focus that has driven the development of the user interface, in my opinion.
The applications list/page is a typical experience, but Lenovo has put their own touch. The device comes with built-in applications such as Flashlight, a whole array of google apps, file manager, evernote, uc browser, skype and a few others. The transitions are various as well, and can be set to flip as a cylinder, apps snake through each other and others.
The device does stutter and lag a bit sometimes, but the general transitions are always smooth. I guess this always goes back to the optimization aspect, because the device is certainly more than capable, hardware-wise.
The notification center is the typical Android 4.2.1 with a strip of quick toggles and the whole list is just a tap away. Activating Lenovo’s power app also adds a little information strip for the battery life and active functions. Two finger swipe down brings out the whole short-cut list.
Another important aspect of the device (being the most used feature) is the keyboard. The keyboard is nice, smooth and easy to type on, no troubles there but there are a few loose ends. One of which, is the feedback vibrations. Initially it would vibrate when tapping and then suddenly it would stop vibrating for no apparent reason.
In SMS mode, the enter button only appears when the keyboard is in Capital mode. Surely, these aren’t concerns but with an attempt to be so refined, they could have entirely eliminated keyboard issues. The numbers and symbols are a tap and hold away although I wish they applied more symbols in the same way throughout the keyboard.
The settings menu is a whole operating system on its own! Under common settings the user will find the typical essential settings of the phone. Under Feature Settings is where things start to get interesting. The Lenovo K900 has many smart sensory features like engaging maximum volume when it detects its in a pocket, decreasing of volume when device is picked up while ringing, enabling the volume keys to turn the screen on, shake to lock the device and knock to turn the screen on.
Do these really work? They all do but not without fault. The shake to lock the phone comes in handy because the device is huge and if it is being held one handed, it would eliminate the need to go up to press the button. The problem with this is, it would lock when moving around the device. In regards to the knock to unlock, it works by sudden movement rather than tapping/knocking the screen, which in my use, meant the screen came on when I would move about or place the phone on a table or anything solid. The rest worked fine. Cool features just need to be optimized perhaps.
Under All Settings, the device can be almost completely be adjusted to liking from communications, application and account settings, device storage and running applications and finally system settings and all these can be seen above.
In typical Lenovo way, everything built in has its own Lenovo touch. The file manager is quite smart! It allows traditional folder access, search, history, etc and also an automatic access of files based on their categories.
Lenovo has done a very good job with their own Android UI. There are various applications built in, a lot of customizable options to keep things individual and all transitions and UI related functions run flawlessly. The processor I believe is the only source of things being out of hand. It runs up to 2.0Ghz, with no mention of what it’s general speed is and due to that, there are times when there would be stutters and lags. When the processor is running on full speed, everything is super smooth but I cannot deny when it is not.
Applications on the K900 run absolutely smooth being in full 1080p. I have not experienced any applications having any issues what so ever, but what did have negative experiences was some games. The general non-resource hungry games always work, but games like Real Racing 3 were really out of order. It would stutter and eventually crash. I even downloaded Asphalt 8 (just out by the way, nice game, I somehow prefer 7 till now) and although it didn’t crash, it would lag! I tried it earlier today and it ran for much longer than the last time, then lagged.
Again I believe this must be due to the processor’s optimization and Lenovo’s focus on professional use I guess. Without a doubt it isn’t a slow or weak device, just lacks a little.
The imaging on the K900 is called SuperCamera and the image viewer is called SuperGallery. The self-claimed Super Gallery is quite feature-full and it allows creation of combined images and GIFs. It also is capable of providing the complete details of an image (such as size, resolution, device used for capture, etc)
Multitasking is taken care off in the typical Android way, but for some reason, there is no button to clear all open applications and being that there is no limit to open apps in the list, it can get a bit annoying swiping away all the open applications to clear it.
Aside from those few criticisms, with the huge and beautiful screen on the K900, and good performance (especially when its running at maximum juice) it is a very solid device in regards to the operating system.
Performance
There is no doubt in my mind that this is a powerful device, because it really is but with the processor feeling not entirely optimized, there is slight sluggishness while operating the device. Is it evident enough and noticeable? Slightly. There are times when I unlocked the device and the home page is still loading its widget, or swipe to another page and the icons pop up but weren’t already ready.
Switching between applications and running applications is really smooth, the processor really does handle it well, but I wish the processor ran on 2.0 Ghz the whole time because I feel when it is idle or nor running at maximum performance is when it gets sluggish. I have tried several attempts to really work up the processor and then try the general OS transitions and everything was perfectly smooth. I feel the Intel processor isn’t the best for Android or at least isn’t optimized well enough.
In typical, simple, basic ihabstech fashion, here is the quick fish tank test, which gives a rough idea of how good the device’s graphics and processor can be.
(running at 980×440 resolution)
With 100 fish, it held 18-21 FPS
With 250 fish, it held 11-13 FPS
With 500 fish, it held 9-11 FPS
Keeping in mind the HTC One had a 1.7 GHZ Quad Core Snapdragon processor, it had about an average of 1-3 FPS less, the Lenovo K900 is a performer!
To try it out the Fishtank Test for yourself, you can visit this link, and I think I shall be using this with future device reviews too.
Battery
The battery of the K900 is an interesting topic. Before getting into my experiences, the Lenovo Power application that integrates into the OS, is pretty cool.
This is the essential app, where there are quick toggles for the system tools and an estimated time, in the best case scenario, till the battery would die. There are also several battery modes and a custom mode with estimated battery life for each.
The following are two sample battery life tests I have experienced.
In first test, I managed to pull out 12 hours of battery life with nearly 6 hours of standby time.
While this second attempted pulled out 16 and a half hours of battery life with roughly 8 hours of standby time.
The shocker is that I have once managed to drain the battery in less than 6 hours of use. What this essentially tells me is that the battery life of the 2500mAh sized battery in the K900 is very variable to the users use of the device. I am sure if I had set things up rather than running at max, I could get a whole day’s use. I recommend anyone who buys this device to play and test a lot with the battery application and find the best of both worlds, battery life and active functions. It essentially has a decent battery, even though I have no idea how they fit that battery in there.
Wrap up
The Lenovo K900 has been a delight. Yes, the device does need polishing up in various aspects, but that does not take away the fact that this device is solid, right now.
The build of the device is phenomenal, the blend of stainless and full glass front is just a beauty and the device doesn’t even think of creaking. The camera is really powerful, full of features, and speaking of features the system really feature-full and is speedy, efficient and very smart. Sure, it does have a few loose ends in terms of battery management, operating system and processor optimization but for professional and ordinary use of the device, it runs near perfect.
I am sure Lenovo are already working on the next generation of models, including a new flagship, and if this is how they handled things early 2013, I can just imagine they would do really well in the smartphone market!
Device Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Brilliant build quality
- Slim profile
- High resolution camera with good imaging features
- Excellent Full HD 1080p IPS screen
- Lenovo’s UI has well optimized applications and a lot of customization
Cons:
- Hardware isn’t fully optimized for software (some apps don’t run smoothly)
- OS is sluggish at times and transitions aren’t always smooth
- Device is very big for most people
- Questionable battery life
- Not all gestures work well in real world use
- Limited storage
Thanks for reading and please do leave your comments, thoughts and questions below

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