...I mean the very first thing you did was try and ignore the ecosystem the phone is designed to work within, which you already knew existed prior to purchasing the phone. Who is at fault exactly?
I'm not trying to be mean shortylickens but this kinda sums it up. Unfortunately, and while there are tools to do so, you really shouldn't ignore iTunes for syncing apps and music to your iPhone. Don't get me wrong, I think it is kind of retarded that you must go through the iTunes gateway to access anything on your iPhone. I think iTunes needs a complete rewrite for speed and stability reasons but it's not as bad as people make it out to be.
It's a walled garden and you really need to try and not cut through the hedges thinking it's a shortcut. The walled garden approach actually works quite well for the majority of folks. It's the very few minority that higher level access that will get frustrated. It definitely isn't for everyone and Android definitely has its place.
Honestly, start over. Look for the backup file on iTunes and delete it and see if that helps. If not, delete iTunes and start over. iTunes easily allows you to either have it manage your music for you (it'll move your files around which is a pain in the rear) or allow you to manage the music yourself. Once things are imported in iTunes you can easily create playlists and load different ones to suit whatever you're listening to at the moment.
If you're still going to give it another shot on the iPhone read below for some app suggestions that are free.
Have you read the articl on Daily Tech about Apple tracking iPhone and iPad user?
Android does it too...
-OS
Here things start to get unpleasant. Setting everything up was a huge hassle. On any Droid phone all you gotta do is give them your gmail account and everything takes care of itself automatically. If you wanna add other emails thats fine, but all account based stuff is done through email and I never had to log into anything after the first time.
By contrast the iphone 4 has me logging into my new Apple ID by way of my email, but its always a slow hassle without a physical keyboard and no easily accessible @ or .com symbols (I always have to dig for them). Plus it seems like every little thing on the phone needs me to log in by this ID, password and all. Got tiresome after the 5th entry. Setting up new email accounts on the phone was equally slow and annoying.
Verifying the email took an awfully long time and then some stuff made me go through an log in again.
If this is the apple users idea of "just works" and "so easy" I may have an unpleasant realization for them if they ever slip by the dark side.
Probably the worst part of the iOS experience is setting up the emails and stuff which you just did. I think this is one of the areas that needs a big upgrade. Lock screen widgets and a new notification update would be nice too.
App store made me give my credit card info before I could even look at the free stuff.
Here is where you should have
checked the internet. I use iTunes gift cards. Apple iTunes has NEVER had a hold of my CC information.
Not much free stuff. And most of it stinks. However there is apparently a way to get one free app a day here as well. So I guess I dont need Amazon any more if I decide to switch over completely. Got some games like unblock me and such. They seem OK. Will use the onboard navigation before I play with any third party stuff.
The problem with not already being in the iTunes ecosphere is that you miss out on the good freebies. Those come out from time to time. One recent one was Enigmo 2 which is a fantastic puzzle game.Forget what the app du jour is but one thing is to get a free Flashlight app, some will do morse code as well. Great for using it as an emergency flashlight. You can check out freeappalert.com which updates every day at roughly noon EST with new apps that are free. Honestly, most are junk but you get the occasional gems such as the aforementioned Enigmo and Civilization Revolution.
Flashlight
Mapquest - Maps alternative
Address? - Shows your exact location in a mailing address form
Sportacular - sports scores
Scorecenter - sports scores
Fluent News - news
CNN - news
Shoutcast - online radio
AOL Radio - online radio
CN Video - cartoon network
crunchyroll - anime streaming
crackle - sony based movie/tv streaming
pbs - pbs shows streaming
Stanza - ebook app (made by Amazon, don't think it's Kindle compatible)
Kindle - ebook app by Amazon
Mirriam Webster Dictionary - dictionary app, supports voice search
TapDefense - decent tower defense game
Moron Free - part of the Moron Test app, very good brain tease/puzzler
Just some apps to get you started. Remember to check iTunes U if you're into educational stuff. There are some fabulous and free resources there.
