VZW: the iPhone can’t do that.

It’s getting close to time for a new phone. My HTC Incredible keeps kicking the SD card offline. In a related failure, about half of the time, my phone will crash when I use the camera. The SD is unmounted, so the camera app freaks out and takes down the phone with it. I’ve missed many good pictures over the holidays while the phone was rebooting. (Yes, I’ve run error checks on the SD card itself, tried different cards, and reinstalled the phone’s operating system. No joy.)

Because I also had a couple of questions regarding my account, I thought it best to go to the local Verizon store in Shrewsbury. The store was moderately busy for a weekday afternoon, attributable to the holidays. I signed in at the unhelpful kiosk and waited for my name to be called.

While waiting, I had a look at the iPhone 4s. I had a question about setting up a hotspot with the phone, a question answered by checking the Settings app. Another question popped up. Is there a way to synchronize my Gmail contacts with the iPhone’s address book? The settings didn’t offer an obvious path.

I heard a faint voice call my name. I turned and was greeted by a salesperson. I told her that I was interested in the iPhone, but had a question about Gmail contacts. She replied immediately that contacts are stored in iTunes.

I told her that I use Gmail for all of my email and contacts now and that synchronization is essential.

“The contacts are stored in iTunes,” she repeated. “But, I can check.” She disappeared around the corner for a few minutes and returned to tell me that there was no way to do this.

I shook my head and said I couldn’t do without my Gmail contacts. She said that the Android phones would work. I nodded and said that I’d take a look at some of those. On my way across the store, I sent a tweet about my experience.

I was interested in two Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the RAZR by Motorola. I’ve heard bad things about battery life with 4G phones, but great things about the power and features of the phones themselves.

A woman was making a call with the one Nexus on display. I wandered around for a bit, waiting but trying not to be creepy about it. On she talked.

The RAZR was a few feet away. It was unavailable for other reasons.The woman was still talking on the Nexus, a good sign, I guess, about battery life.

I left the store to get on with my other errands of the day. Soon, I received a helpful tweet from @vzwsupport:

@RoasterBoy We would love to have you! I hope you haven't completely changed your mind.
I can provide you with instructions. ^CM

A quick check of Google showed several solutions for iPhone/Gmail contact synchronization. I should have thought of that first. (Let me google that for you.)  I might have even asked Siri. But, I’m only interested in buying a phone. I’m not in the business of selling them.