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Skellen posted:•Country/Provider: USA Depends on coverage, but Virgin Mobile has plans for $35 a month (300 minutes) and $45 a month (1200 minutes). The kicker is you can get a decent Android phone for $150-300 a month, all plans have unlimited text/internet, and its prepaid. Keep in mind there are no mobile to mobile or N&W minutes, and It uses Sprint towers ONLY, so while Sprint has pretty good coverage, you are liable to have poor coverage in rural areas and no roaming to back you up. But for most towns/cities it is the best priced option. LG Optimus and Motorola Triumph based on budget, I hear a new LG phone is launching but not completely sure.
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Aug 29, 2011 23:32
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Skellen posted:•Country/Provider: USA Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk for $35/month. This gets you 300 minutes, unlimited data and texts. There's the LG Optimus V for $150 which is a solid mid-range phone but that screen is small. The other phone is the Motorola Triumph at $300 which is closer to a Droid X with a smaller screen. I'd probably say that the Triumph is $150 better than the Optimus V if you wanna spring for that. Keep in mind though that you have no roaming, so since Virgin uses Sprint's coverage, make sure you have Sprint coverage at your frequently visited places.
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Aug 29, 2011 23:39
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A buddy of mine wants to buy a mid-price sim-free Android phone, but doesn't know poo poo. Neither do I. He doesn't want to spend more than 350€ and he's leaning toward the Galaxy S i9000. He's no technophobe, and wants 32GB of removable storage. What are his options?
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Aug 30, 2011 10:58
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My incredibly old ATnT Tilt's SIM card slot stopped working, so I'm looking for a decent replacement with a full keyboard; any recommendations? Country/Provider: US/ATNT Current contract status: Not sure, I'd guess still in contract but I've had the drat phone for 4-5 years so perhaps not... Budget (phone/plan): ~$50 or so max, maybe more. Its not like I'm starved for cash, but I'd rather not drop a few hundred... Features I know I want: Fast, full keyboard, somewhat slim Edit: Found one: Sharp FX dereekb fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Aug 30, 2011 |
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Aug 30, 2011 16:44
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Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.
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Aug 30, 2011 18:25
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Paul Pot posted:A buddy of mine wants to buy a mid-price sim-free Android phone, but doesn't know poo poo. Neither do I. He doesn't want to spend more than 350€ and he's leaning toward the Galaxy S i9000. He's no technophobe, and wants 32GB of removable storage. What are his options? If he wants his phone to play music, the Galaxy S is unfortunately his only option. While it's good for music with a Wolfson DAC and the removable storage, it is a phone that requires hacking out of the box to get it to work properly. You can fix most of the issues but the GPS still sucks. dereekb posted:My incredibly old ATnT Tilt's SIM card slot stopped working, so I'm looking for a decent replacement with a full keyboard; any recommendations? Please, please please do yourself a favor and return that phone if you have already bought it. This phone is A Bad Phone and you've probably been paying for a data plan for years with that Tilt, so might as well get a smartphone from The Year of Our Lord 2011. You've got a few options for a smartphone these days, but it really boils down to iOS and Android. webOS is dead. BlackBerry OS is currently at the point of "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." Windows Phone 7 might have some potential, but who knows at this point even if they have a nice market spot handed to them. Here's a rundown of iOS and Android. quote:Android is the "more customizable" of the two, meaning if you want to have a million clocks on your homescreen, no one's stopping you. The cooler stuff about "customization" is that you've got apps that can do just about anything you want your phone to do within a set of parameters (see Tasker and Setting Profiles.) Android also has great integration with Google services. Gmail, and Google Voice are really the two standouts. Gmail is just like as it is on the desktop and Google Voice integration is great. Plus there's good turn-by-turn navigation for free. To add to this, you don't need a physical keyboard. Yes, this might seem like a mindfuck coming from Windows Mobile where the software keyboard is a cruel joke. But they are very usable these days and it's not worth the size and weight penalty for a hardware keyboard anymore. As for a phone you can buy, I'd wait the extra month or so for an iPhone 5 if you want to go the iOS route. If you want to go the Android route, then the Galaxy S II will be out on AT&T soon and it's shown itself to be a good phone overseas. Any of these really will be a tremendous improvement over a Windows Mobile device from 2007.
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Aug 31, 2011 02:56
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I'm gonna disagree with you on the sound. I'm no audiophile, but i'm also not some schmuck with ipod headphones and poorly ripped music and my Triumph plays music great. The only problem is that I had to find software that works well instead of using the default player, but now that I have it set up it owns hard. And as someone who's used both android and IOS, I much prefer android because i'm a hacky, do-everything-myself kind of guy. For people who have no intention or capability of messing around with their phone and only want what the phone offers, doesn't want to gently caress with your phone or have extreme control over it, IOS is probably for you. If you're the kind of person that loves doing the dirty work and getting your phone working exactly the way you want it, and if the words "overclocking" and "custom firmware" give you a nerd boner, android is definitely for you. Of course android is perfectly fine stock too. nigga crab pollock fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Aug 31, 2011 |
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Aug 31, 2011 05:42
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The main caveat is that I want to buy the phone before I leave for graduate school on 13/14th of September, so that rules out some upcoming phones. I have a slight preference for iOS vs Android, but that's certainly not a huge factor. Thanks in advance. RoyalScion fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Aug 31, 2011 |
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Aug 31, 2011 05:53
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Learning to love Google Voice will save you $20/month on either carrier. I'd start with that. If your prefernce is toward iOS, follow it. It's too bad your timetable for purchase is so short, since there's a new iPhone and a new Nexus phone about to drop.
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Aug 31, 2011 09:35
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I'm moving from the UK to Canada with my girlfriend, so I need :- • Country/Provider: Canada, Vancouver • Current contract status: None • Budget (phone/plan): Bringing unlocked GSM iphones with us from the UK, need sim-only contract less than $50 a month, preferably a family plan with my girlfriend (for a total of $100 a month for the two of us) • Features I know I want: 500/Unlimited texts (especially no charges for incoming texts), 100-500mb data, 100 minutes. Doesn't need to be Canada wide but should let us roam to USA and the rest of Canada for road trips (obviously extra charges expected for this when we use it) Virgin mobile seems to have some good plans but they don't have their SIM-only plans online, and nor do any of the others.
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Aug 31, 2011 14:48
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Godzilla07 posted:I'd say the reason why the Optimus even with Swype isn't so good for you is the tiny screen. Anything less than 3.7'' on Android is not fun to deal with. Are there any specific online resellers that are reputable for the $200 range? The shitton of bad ESN phones on eBay/Craigslist is slightly off putting.
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Aug 31, 2011 16:21
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T-Shaped posted:Are there any specific online resellers that are reputable for the $200 range? T-Shaped posted:The shitton of bad ESN phones on eBay/Craigslist is slightly off putting. Bad ESN phones aren't inherently bad, they just won't work on Sprint. There's still a market for them though as folks flash them to run on USC, Cricket, Metro, etc. As for why they're bad ESN, they could be phones (legitimately) claimed lost under TEP (insurance) and later found. I mean, clearly you want a good ESN phone. My hope would be that since a sizable market exists for bad ESN phones, and they don't really claim that much of a discount, the "good ESN" ones you see are legitimate. In any event, if you can, still try to get the MEID ("ESN") from the seller and call Sprint customer care to confirm that it's in good standing before finalizing the purchase.
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Aug 31, 2011 17:38
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Country/Provider: USA Current contract status: nuttin' Budget (phone/plan): Unlimited data & text… prepaid minutes if possible. Hopefully no more than $100 per month, I can swing more. Features I know I want: Smartphone at least. I'm a hacker and web developer, so great web environment a must. Tethering is a huge plus (I'm down with jailbreaking/rooting to get it). I don't talk a lot, so I don't need a lot of minutes; can I get prepaid minutes with data plan? I also want a great music player, I listen to music 30x more than I talk to people. Here's the story: I'm getting a divorce. I have an iPhone 3G on my wife's AT&T plan that's over 2 years old, and sluggish as gently caress. I need my own contract. 1. I'm debating between getting the iPhone4, or the latest and greatest Android. Not totally sold on iPhone, though I'm a Mac user everywhere else, so they work well together. I know nothing about Androids though, other than I like Google's services and I like customization, and iPhone isn't great with either. 2. Think I should keep using my 3G on a new plan with a slower carrier? Is Verizon faster enough to warrant getting a new phone now? TIA
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Aug 31, 2011 21:18
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J-udy posted:Budget (phone/plan): Unlimited data & text… prepaid minutes if possible. Unlimited data is tough. Verizon got rid of their unlimited data option back in July, it's 2 GB/mo now for the same price. So your options are Sprint EPRP ($70/mo for 500 voice minutes, unlimited text and data), and T-Mobile ($50, $65, and $95/mo respectively for 500 minutes, unlimited text, and 2, 5, 10 GB data, throttled thereafter, and you have to purchase a phone separately). If you have unlimited data on AT&T now, you might want to try to keep it since their max data option these days is 2 GB/mo. You might be able to if you're on amicable terms with your spouse, by moving your line to an individual plan and doing a transfer of liability. But I'm not certain AT&T even allows that. Otherwise I'd probably go with Sprint EPRP. As for phones, Sprint is rumored to get the iPhone (maybe iPhone 5?) sometime in October. As of today the two worthwhile options are the Evo 3D and Photon. I'd go with the Evo 3D since it, at present, it has a better (and an official) rooting option, which should allow you to USB or WiFi tether. The Epic 4G Touch that comes out next month is another option, but I wouldn't bother waiting for it as Samsung's past Sprint devices haven't been so great (actually, horrible). Even if it turns out to be Samsung's first good phone on Sprint, it's not a significant improvement over the Evo 3D to be worth it. For music, Android devices are alright, but not as good as iPhones. Android doesn't really have anything like iTunes, and in particular, if you still have iTunes DRM AAC files, you're out of luck unless you can remove the DRM (not my specialty). The Nexus S 4G actually has the best DAC, and if hacked, sound quality of Sprint's Android line-up. But it lacks a micro-SD slot so you're limited to 16 GB of on-board storage. I also probably wouldn't "waste" a phone subsidy on it unless you know you don't want any of the other options. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Aug 31, 2011 |
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Aug 31, 2011 22:39
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J-udy posted:Country/Provider: USA You listen to lots of music. Your only option is an iPhone. There is a grand total of one Android phone that can actually do music properly that also works, and it's limited to 16 GB of storage. DACs on nearly every Android phone are bad and will drive you up the wall eventually when you use them with mid-range or better headphones. Also, the music players on Android all have some glaring weak point. They don't "just work." Wait for the iPhone 5 which will be out either this month or next. And if the iPhone 5 comes out on Sprint, then you can get a Sprint EPRP plan which is $70/month for 500 minutes, unlimited data and texts. If not, then you're forced to go with Verizon and their bad pricing.
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Aug 31, 2011 23:45
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Country/Provider: USA - Verizon Current contract status: Currently have a Motorola Droid that is eligible for an upgrade Budget (phone/plan): I'm willing to spend up to $300 (discounted prices since I'm going directly through Verizon). Features I know I want: I'd like an Android phone, I loved my Droid and it's been great to me, but it conveniently decided to kill it's touch capabilities and then the screen altogether right as I approached my contract renewal time. I've been reading up on available phones and the selection seems really small, so it's sort of annoying. The Droid Charge seems interesting to me, but I'm not quite sure how it will hold up in the future next to other devices that are coming out. The Droid Bionic seems like a god drat pipe dream at this point with the release dates being pushed back and back. My girlfriend has a Thunderbolt which is neat, but I'd like to avoid having the same phone as her to save any confusion. Why the gently caress is Verizon not picking up the Galaxy S2? Seriously, I'm loving pissed off about that. The only reason I am with Verizon though is because of a nice healthy discount that I get since my the plan is in my father's name.
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Sep 1, 2011 14:41
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ukrainius maximus posted:Current contract status: Currently have a Motorola Droid that is eligible for an upgrade Even though the Droid Bionic has been pushed back a bunch, 9/8 is the latest date I'm aware and that's only a week away. If it's going to be pushed back any further, I'd expect some rumor of the date changing to have happened by now. So really, you should only have to wait a week. ukrainius maximus posted:Why the gently caress is Verizon not picking up the Galaxy S2? Seriously, I'm loving pissed off about that. The Droid Prime is most likely (almost assuredly) being OEMed by Samsung, and will feature all the good parts (SAMOLED+ screen) of the SGSII. That explains why Verzion isn't picking up the SGSII, because it has no way to compete with it. Personally I'd get a Bionic, expecting an ICS upgrade relatively shortly after the Prime's release. Hopefully the Droid Prime ends up being really good, but the release date isn't firm and you need a phone soon. If by chance you have a Costco membership, upgrading there gives you a 90 day exchange window.
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Sep 1, 2011 16:20
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Godzilla07 posted:You listen to lots of music. Your only option is an iPhone. There is a grand total of one Android phone that can actually do music properly that also works, and it's limited to 16 GB of storage. DACs on nearly every Android phone are bad and will drive you up the wall eventually when you use them with mid-range or better headphones. Also, the music players on Android all have some glaring weak point. They don't "just work." That's pretty disappointing. Has Google Godzilla07 posted:Wait for the iPhone 5 which will be out either this month or next. And if the iPhone 5 comes out on Sprint, then you can get a Sprint EPRP plan which is $70/month for 500 minutes, unlimited data and texts. If not, then you're forced to go with Verizon and their bad pricing. drat. My current iPhone takes sim cards. I might just get a prepaid sim, buy a ton of minutes, and hold off until I can get an iPhone 5 on Sprint, IF it's coming out on Sprint. Is there such a thing as prepaid data? I can turn on and off data usage with my jailbroken iPhone in case I don't have wifi access. I grabbed the last wireless bill that we had, and I had around 400 minutes on my number (surprisingly high) and 250MB of data (surprisingly low, though I haven't tethered this month at all. I would guess I don't use more than 2GB of data on tethering months). I'm impressed by reviews of the HTC Sensation, even though it only appears to be on TMobile. The Engadget review said the biggest problem was with not being able to replace the bootloader, but they just announced a few days ago that the bootloader is now changeable. (Not sure about the right terminology here, sorry.) And the Galaxy II S has stellar reviews as well. What do you guys prefer? I think I'm trying to predict how much I would enjoy hacking on an Android vs the iPhone, which I can do very little with right now. That, versus having iTunes that works so well between the iPhone and my mac. If I had to, I can just use my iPhone as my primary music playing device that I keep in my bag or car. Thanks for the tips.
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Sep 1, 2011 16:40
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That is all very good stuff to know. I didn't realize that the Bionic actually had a date set, I've been trying in vain to find an official date but have yet to find anything concrete - most of the stuff I turned up is from past announcements. I would almost consider waiting for the Prime and using my girlfriend's old flip phone for a while, but knowing the whole Bionic mess I feel like I could potentially be waiting way too long. I do not have a Costco membership though, I wonder if I could just sign up for one and then go from there?
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Sep 1, 2011 17:18
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J-udy posted:That's pretty disappointing. And again, while Android's music player options are clearly inferior to iTunes for folks who are into iTunes, they're good enough for some folks. If, in the worst case you're cool with keeping the iPhone around as a dedicated music device, then I wouldn't completely write off the platform because of that issue. J-udy posted:Is there such a thing as prepaid data? T-Mobile has Monthly 4G prepaid with unlimited voice, SMS, and data for $50/mo. With an iPhone you'll be stuck on poo poo-slow EDGE, but it worksish. J-udy posted:I'm impressed by reviews of the HTC Sensation, even though it only appears to be on TMobile. J-udy posted:The Engadget review said the biggest problem was with not being able to replace the bootloader, but they just announced a few days ago that the bootloader is now changeable. Last I checked, the community has a smarmy preference for the unofficial unlock. It's unclear the exact difference between the two, but speculated that the official unlock might not allow for modified bootloaders (which is inconsequential) and radio/baseband firmwares (which nobody bothers with). Also, HTC logs folks who request an official unlock, possibly for warranty purposes, i.e., so they can deny claims of folks who blew up their phone by OCing it-to-the-max it or something. Also, at present the official unlock won't work with custom kernels. But that's a product of a kernel upgrade for which HTC is late/deliquent in releasing the source code for--a temporary situation. In short, I wouldn't worry about it. J-udy posted:And the Galaxy II S has stellar reviews as well. What do you guys prefer? Personally I'd sit out the SGSII this time around, let it prove itself as a contender in the US market long term. Since you mentioned development, I'll talk about that a bit. As you already have a Mac, developing for Android and a jailbroken iPhone is probably more similar than it's different. Developing for a non-jailbroken iPhone (or App Store release) requires a $99 (one time?) fee. In contrast, you can do Android application development on Linux, Mac, Windows. You can debug and test, effectively, on any Android device (and adb is great!). You can distribute applications anyway you want and most (old AT&T devices aside) phones can sideload them without jumping through hoops. Should you decide to publish on the official Android Market, there's a one-time $25 fee. If you're thinking about getting into Android platform hacking, realize some devices are better than others for this. Generally, Google's Nexus phones are the best as Google releases (nearly) all the source code (well OK it's down now due to a kernel.org security breach) for the device, and you can compile it by hand if you want. They also see Android updates first, and are the easiest devices to support by community distributions like CyanogenMod. Even if you don't want to platform hack, but just run custom firmware, it's worth making sure the phone you get is compatible. Right now the latest device Nexus device on the market is the Nexus S (there's one each for AT&T and T-Mobile 3G compatibility) and the Nexus S 4G (Sprint). Unfortunately the hardware is a bit dated. It does have the best DAC! But it only has 16 GB of onboard storage and no micro-SD slot. Meanwhile, the Nexus Prime is rumored to be released sometime between October and December. It's unclear exactly where it's going to go, but T-Mobile availability is expected. Verizon is likely to release the Droid Prime, possibly sooner, and may be closely related to it. Sprint availability is probable, but unknown when. The Evo 3D doesn't support CyanogenMod just yet, but I'd expect it soon. The original Evo, which was Sprint's most popular 2010 Android device had stellar community support and I'd expect the same for the Evo 3D. The European SGSII has nighly CyanogenMod support at present, unknown how the US variants will do. Historically CyanognenMod has been "difficult" for Samsung devices, but Samsung also just hired the lead CyanogenMod developer, Cyanogen himself. Dunno if any of that helps or not, but that summarizes recent Android developments for someone who might be interested in it from a hacking perspective. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Sep 1, 2011 |
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Sep 1, 2011 17:25
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ukrainius maximus posted:I didn't realize that the Bionic actually had a date set, I've been trying in vain to find an official date but have yet to find anything concrete - most of the stuff I turned up is from past announcements. Also, the Bionic delays are rumored to be due to Motorola dumping the Qualcomm LTE option and developing their own LTE radio, perhaps to have much better battery life than the existing LTE devices. That would certainly explain the delay, and I expect it should ship soon. ukrainius maximus posted:I do not have a Costco membership though, I wonder if I could just sign up for one and then go from there?
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Sep 1, 2011 17:30
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Someone in my family may also have a membership so I would have to check that out, but I will most likely not even worry about it. I've had my eye on the Bionic for a while now and you've convinced me that my heart is set on that, so I'm going to wait it out I think. I was reading around about the 9/8 release date and it looks like it only has been confirmed that that is NOT the actual date, with Verizon only re-confirming the September release date. Maybe they are just being sneaky fucks about it, but I can wait despite how much my girlfriend is pressuring me into getting a drat phone. It's been about two weeks now and I must say, it is kind of nice not being tied down by a mobile device.
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Sep 1, 2011 17:41
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I need to get an iPhone for my new job, and I'm wondering about prices. I'll be porting my number to Verizon and canceling my service with Sprint. I'm reading that a new iPhone is coming out next month, and I'm wondering if now is the right time to buy/start a new contract. I don't care about features or being modern or whatever, just the cost. My current plan is $69.99 a month, but it comes to about $96 after taxes and other fees. Will I get a better deal by buying an iPhone 4 at the end of its life cycle, or jumping on the iPhone 5 when its released? Also, does the device's age have an impact on the contracts offered or just the purchase price?
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Sep 1, 2011 18:54
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Disco Godfather posted:I'm reading that a new iPhone is coming out next month, and I'm wondering if now is the right time to buy/start a new contract. Disco Godfather posted:Will I get a better deal by buying an iPhone 4 at the end of its life cycle, or jumping on the iPhone 5 when its released? You can get an iPhone 4 (16 GB) for $200 subsidized on Verizon today, and probably an iPhone 5 for $200 in the coming months, maybe an iPhone 4 for $100 then. Also, I'd expect eBay to see an increase in folks selling used iPhone 4s once the new model comes out. Flipping an iPhone 5 on eBay to purchase a used 4 will probably eliminate the subsidy cost entirely and possibly net you a profit. Disco Godfather posted:Also, does the device's age have an impact on the contracts offered or just the purchase price? If it makes a difference, Sprint is almost-certainly getting the iPhone in October, although it's unclear if it's the 4 or 5.
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Sep 1, 2011 19:20
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Disco Godfather posted:I need to get an iPhone for my new job, and I'm wondering about prices. I'll be porting my number to Verizon and canceling my service with Sprint. Wait a month and get the iPhone 5. Seriously, if you are going to pay $100+ a month with capped overages, at least get your money's worth and pay a one time extra $100 for the 5 (assuming its at $199, which it should be).
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Sep 1, 2011 19:20
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Country/Provider: USA / Verizon Current contract status: Family Plan Budget (phone/plan): Pretty much whatever, this is a birthday present and I'm finally making some real money. Features I know I want: Smart, sturdy. I want a phone smart enough to browse the internet, post here, use some kind of GPS (or at least google maps), maybe play Pandora, and I want a phone that's not going to shatter if I drop it. iPhones are neat but I don't want to deal with the screen replacement. In fact, i'm not sure I even need a touchscreen - maybe just a keyboard. I need something really easy to text with. It should have a decent camera and a screen big enough to enjoy it. Good battery life is a plus. Ignite Memories fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Sep 1, 2011 |
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Sep 1, 2011 23:39
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ExcessBLarg! posted:It's true that the most recent crop of Android devices have inferior DACs compared to the (original) Galaxy S, Nexus S, and iPhones. But it's might be worth taking some headphones into a store and asking if you can stream and listen to some music samples to see if you can really tell the difference or care. It's definitely good to test this out, there are a lot of people using the free headphones that come with iPods/phones/MP3 players and are completely satisfied. If you use bluetooth audio instead of wired headphones, this is also a non-issue.
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Sep 2, 2011 00:52
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J-udy posted:I'm impressed by reviews of the HTC Sensation, even though it only appears to be on TMobile. The Engadget review said the biggest problem was with not being able to replace the bootloader, but they just announced a few days ago that the bootloader is now changeable. (Not sure about the right terminology here, sorry.) And the Galaxy II S has stellar reviews as well. What do you guys prefer? The Sensation's a nice phone generally speaking. It looks and feels like a high-end phone. Its only downside in terms of hardware is the mediocre DAC. For software, Android still isn't as smooth as iOS and WP7 despite a dual-core processor. There's the hope that the next version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich will change that but I'm not keeping my hopes up. As for Galaxy S II vs. Sensation, they're both solid phones but Samsung has a record for loving things up when it comes to phones. So the U.S. variants might be screwed in some way. Also, the Sprint and T-Mobile Galaxy S II have 4.5'' screens rather than the 4.3'' of the AT&T and international. If you really want Android for tweaking, buy an iPod touch if you want or use your iPhone as a music player. pw pw pw posted:Country/Provider: USA / Verizon Screen smashing isn't a problem limited to the iPhone. I haven't heard of that many screens being smashed lately though, both iPhones and everything else. Your only two options really are iOS and Android. Don't buy a BlackBerry. Windows Phone 7 is "iOS 3.0 without the Apple and the apps." Here's a summary of iOS vs. Android. quote:Android is the "more customizable" of the two, meaning if you want to have a million clocks on your homescreen, no one's stopping you. The cooler stuff about "customization" is that you've got apps that can do just about anything you want your phone to do within a set of parameters (see Tasker and Setting Profiles.) Android also has great integration with Google services. Gmail, and Google Voice are really the two standouts. Gmail is just like as it is on the desktop and Google Voice integration is great. Plus there's good turn-by-turn navigation for free. For Verizon, the Droid Bionic will be out in a week or so for an Android option. It'll have one of those dual-core processors and LTE for really fast data, even if you can't use it that much because of data caps. The iPhone 5 will be out sometime this month or next.
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Sep 2, 2011 02:37
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900ftjesus posted:It's definitely good to test this out, there are a lot of people using the free headphones that come with iPods/phones/MP3 players and are completely satisfied. If you use bluetooth audio instead of wired headphones, this is also a non-issue. The really telling tale is iSuppli's breakdown of the HP TouchPad: they list its Wolfson DAC as a stinking $1 component. Ever since seeing that, all I can think of when I look at an HTC product is that they literally chose a McDouble hamburger over giving enthusiasts listenable audio on their $500 smartphones. I don't particularly enjoy The Samsung Experience(TM) where poo poo is so broken it takes developers seven-tenths of the useful lifespan of the device to fix it, but god drat HTC, you guys are forcing some hands here.
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Sep 2, 2011 08:45
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Country/Provider: I live in the Gambia, west Africa. Current contract status: prepaid phone and data plans are available. Crazy scratch card stuff, even for data. Budget (phone/plan): money is not an issue. Features I know I want: I want a smartphone that can skype. I will use a company called qcell. Maybe dual sim card so i can get on another company's data system too. I know people that have unlocked iPhones. Maybe I need an android phone. I know quad band, edge and 3G work here. I don't need to know what plan, but rather what phone would work best. Thanks for any advice.
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Sep 2, 2011 14:13
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Country/Provider: USA / Metro PCS Current contract status: None. Budget (phone/plan): Metro PCS has phones for $49 and 40 a month unlimited text, web, and phone including taxes. If there is something like this or possibly a family plan where I can get 2 phones with same features for $60-65 a month for the two that would work also. Features I know I want: At least 250 minutes a month and unltimited texting. Web access a plus.
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Sep 3, 2011 02:03
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Sizzlechest posted:Features I know I want: At least 250 minutes a month and unltimited texting. Web access a plus. The one benefit with Metro is that they'll activate pretty much any CDMA phone, so you can purchase old/"bad ESN" Verizon & Sprint phones from eBay to us on them. But the actual process of "flashing" phones over to Metro is pretty convolved and often/might result in certain features just not working. In other words, unless you have a very specific circumstance to do that kind of thing, you're probably better off going with someone else. Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk prepaid is a great fit. For $35/mo (per-line) you get 300 voice minutes, unlimited text & data (3G, but throttled after 2.5 GB). VM uses Sprint's network, so your coverage is the same as Sprint's native coverage. You can only use VM-branded phones on their service, the two worth considering: Optimus V ($150) and Triumph ($300). T-Mobile's Value family plan is also worth considering. It's a bit unusual, in that it does require a two-year contract but there's no phone subsidy. In exchange, the prices are dirt cheap with free domestic roaming coverage and a great phone selection--by far the best value at the same price as Metro and $5/mo more per line than VM. A two line 1000 voice minute and unlimited text plan is $60/mo. Adding 200 MB/mo of data (for both lines) is $70/mo, and unlimited data (throttled after 2 GB) is $80/mo. As for T-Mo phones, there's a lot of devices available for T-Mobile new and used, depending on how much you want to spend: Sensation ($500), myTouch 4G Slide ($500), Nexus S ($420 from Amazon, look for T-Mo compatible model), myTouch 4G ($400), Optimus T ($240), etc. Also, except for the Sensation and mT4G Slide, you can probably find the other above models for a good bit cheaper either refurbished or used, which is personally what I would get if trying to save money. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Sep 3, 2011 |
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Sep 3, 2011 16:34
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ExcessBLarg! posted:As I understand the problem with Metro, aside from lacking coverage in general, is that where they do have coverage very little of it is 3G (EVDO). That means their data service is beyond slow, and there's faster, cheaper, and better coverage options out there. Metro doesn't have 3G at all, they have LTE out but it's more in line with speeds you'd see on HSDPA. edit: The AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile is uncertain right now, but the one decent thing about the contract on those Value plans is that you have that ridiculous pricing on AT&T if it goes through. It'd work great with every phone that isn't an iPhone. Godzilla07 fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Sep 3, 2011 |
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Sep 3, 2011 16:52
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I currently have service with AT&T. I have an iPhone 3G 8GB. My phone renewal is coming up in the next month or so, so I am looking for a new device. I have one of the plans with unlimited data. I will probably wait for the iPhone 5 to come out, but I have been interested in Android based phones, as they seem to be a bit more feature rich. One of the biggest complaints I have with the iPhone is the size of the screen. The Android camp seems to have many 4.5"+ to choose from. I also dislike iTunes. Ideally I would like to have a screen with 1280x720 resolution, 4.5"+ in size, good (for a smartphone anyways) 1080p video capture. Dual core SoC, over 1ghz. 1GB+ of Ram. At least 16GB internal flash storage. MicroSD slot. From what I have read, the Nexus Prime is what I want. But it obviously isnt available yet, plus it may not even be available with AT&T. Any other phone suggestions for my (picky) requirements? I don't really want to spend over 300 dollars upfront for the phone.
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Sep 4, 2011 00:58
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tronester posted:I currently have service with AT&T. I have an iPhone 3G 8GB. My phone renewal is coming up in the next month or so, so I am looking for a new device. I have one of the plans with unlimited data. With AT&T I would wait till November (at the latest). By then you'll know what is going on with the new iPhone and Nexus devices. Honestly, everything at this point is speculation and I haven't seen too much in the news with solid facts, so I would say wait to see what the playing field is before speculating. iphone and Android have different strengths, so just pick what works best for you.
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Sep 4, 2011 01:12
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tronester posted:I have one of the plans with unlimited data. Yeah, definitely stick with AT&T and wait. Smuggling a grandfathered unlimited data plan into the LTE era is going to add more value than switching to another carrier for a marginally-quicker device release possibly could. Historically, Goog's been a little late getting out the AT&T-capable versions of their Nexus devices but I wouldn't let that sway you. I would absolutely wait for the Nexus, though -- non-Nexus devices built by Samsung tend to be beautiful hardware that's loaded with the worst clusterfuck-screwup version of Android possible that take months of hard work from the development community before they're cleaned up enough that you'd be happy using one. The bad news it that it literally took seven months after the original release of the Nexus S before we got a version with AT&T bands. That sucks. If they repeat that little act, you'll be waiting a pretty uncomfortable length of time. If it were me, I'd be looking to ditch that iPhone 3G post-haste. I spent about a week with one in February because it was the only backup phone I had laying around, and it was incredibly loving painful on that old hardware after the latest iOS update. Honestly, a Samsung Captivate would be a pretty awesome stopgap phone for you if you just wanted to use a decent Android device while you wait for the Nexus S. Here are the perceptible advantages of getting a Captivate in the short term:
Think about it, man. Honestly this advice applies to anyone who is on AT&T and needing a new phone right away.
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Sep 4, 2011 07:44
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I recently bought a Nexus S with a very favourable plan and now my girlfriend wants one, too. Thing is, they're sold out pretty much everywhere in Copenhagen, unless you want to pay roughly double what I did for a worse plan, and my provider isn't getting more anytime soon from the look of it. So we've been looking at the Galaxy S instead, which is slightly cheaper and comes with the same plan. Is this a good replacement? Can it be painlessly updated to Android 2.3?
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Sep 5, 2011 10:23
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SplitSoul posted:So we've been looking at the Galaxy S instead, which is slightly cheaper and comes with the same plan. Is this a good replacement? The Nexus S's software stack is managed by Google. It's also the current platform development phone, so at present it sees Android updates before any other device on the market. It also runs vanilla Android, and is generally less buggy than other devices (although it did have some growing pains). It's also an "easy" device for the community to hack on, so there's a plethora of custom ROM options available for it. The Galaxy S's software is managed by Samsung. As the device predates the Nexus (which is when Google gave Samsung a helping hand), it's had quite a few bugs and software issues over time that have been somewhat aggrevating, some of which (filesystem lag) can't be gotten rid of for backwards compatibility purposes. That said, Gingerbread is available for it, although the stock version uses Samsung's TouchWiz UI which folks have mixed opinions about. If you're willing to hack the device, most of the remaining issues with it are resolved by custom software, and it's reached the point where it can run CyanogenMod basically as well as any other. I can't promise the GPS will work acceptably though. Now, the remaining issue is that the next version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, is likely to be released sometime between October and year's end. It's the biggest Android update to date, and will likely be released alongside a new Nexus device, rumored the "Nexus Prime". The Nexus S is likely to be the first presently-on-market device to get an official (or any) ICS upgrade. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S is old enough, and Samsung has historically had enough problems with software upgrades, that there's no guarantee (and frankly, I'd bet against) that there will be an official ICS upgrade for it. It's also unclear to me that the community has all the components necessary to make their own ICS ROMs for it, although they'll certainly try. In short, if you just wanted to pick up a phone for cheap, the Galaxy S isn't a bad option these days, especially if you're willing to hack it. But it's not a direct replacement for the Nexus S, and depending on how much she'll miss the latest-and-greatest, it might disappoint. Personally, I'd save up for a Nexus Prime when it comes out, and give/sell her your Nexus S. Otherwise I'd probably go for a used Nexus S over a new Galaxy S.
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Sep 6, 2011 16:24
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Country/Provider: USA/AT&T Current contract status: Family Plan, no data plan currently but planning to add one since my next phone will probably be a smartphone Budget (phone/plan): Not including the contract (which I will be renewing or starting a new one or whatever) I'm looking to spend around $100 or less on a phone. Features I know I want: I've never had a smartphone so I'm not sure really. I don't want a purely touchscreen phone as my last phone (Samsung Mythic, the worst phone I've ever owned) was purely touchscreen and caused countless headaches. I'll be going with the cheapest data plan, not sure if that matters. I guess threaded messaging is the only feature request I can think of. Really I just want something that doesn't run like an absolute piece of poo poo like my Mythic. I think these are what I have to choose from: http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phones/pda-phones-smartphones.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-0060AM-0-4 Blunt Force Trauma fucked around with this message at 21:50 on Sep 6, 2011 |
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Sep 6, 2011 21:48
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Blunt Force Trauma posted:I don't want a purely touchscreen phone as my last phone (Samsung Mythic, the worst phone I've ever owned) was purely touchscreen and caused countless headaches. ... Really I just want something that doesn't run like an absolute piece of poo poo like my Mythic. Here's the problem: iPhones don't have hardware keyboards as a rule, and the few AT&T Android devices that do are really old/weak, which means they'll run about as well as your Mythic. The webOS options have hardware keyboards, but the Pixi is old and the Veer is small, and webOS is dead anyways. Which leaves BlackBerry, which is fine if you're a BlackBerry fan, but they're not at all media-centric and don't have the app ecosystem iOS and Android does. In contrast, modern touchscreen-only phones like iPhone and high-end (4.0"+) Android devices are actually rather nice to use. Modern on-screen keyboards offer neato features like autocorrection, text prediction, "Swype", etc., that make one handed typing rather easy. Hardware keyboards are still better for essays and long emails, but for SMS and general web browsing most folks find on-screen keyboards preferable even if they do have a hardware keyboard phone. So I guess it really comes down to why you're having difficulty with touchscreen-only devices. If it's because it's a lovely device, it's worth giving iOS or high-end Android a shot. As for a device, I'd go with a refurb iPhone 4 or Atrix 4G for $100. The refurb Atrix for $50 is probably a good option as well. If you go for the Atrix, make sure it's completely up to date with over-the-air upgrades and stuff, as the original software on it kinda sucked but the latest version is awesome and basically makes it a new phone.
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Sep 6, 2011 22:07
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