Recommend me a phone and/or plan

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Recommend me a phone and/or plan

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

900ftjesus posted:

The Rumor sucks hard, get the Samsung Rant

Seriously, who comes up with these phone names? I guess it's better than going by model number (especially Samsung model numbers), but Rant? Really?

# ¿ Dec 16, 2008 15:08

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 20:14

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

jackpot posted:

I'm afraid to fall in love with this phone, gorgeous as it is. I've been hitting sites throughout the day, sometimes logged in and sometimes not, and I've currently got one Sprint window open showing this phone at $474 (gently caress), and another showing it at $200 (yay). My history with Sprint tells me that $200 deal isn't for me, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. Thanks.

When you say $70, is that including fees, i.e. is that what my bill would be, or just where it starts?

It's $69.99 before taxes and surchages. I'd guess probably closer to $80 after.

It gives you everything he said, plus Sprint's nights start at 7pm instead of 9pm on Verizon, so that's potentially more free minutes depending on your usage.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2009 22:37

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

jackpot posted:

Ok, I should've expected that. Alright then, if I'm looking at around $80 a month for this phone, and an iPhone appears to be around $85 (plus fees) per month, am I crazy in figuring that the iPhone isn't really that much more expensive?

I'm not really trying to talk myself into it...yet.

The comparable plan on AT&T looks like:
$30/mo for data
$39.99/mo for 450 anytime / 5000 night and weekend minutes
$20/mo for unlimited txt

Which comes to $89.99/mo before taxes. It's the texting that really gets you. If you don't want a texting plan with the iPhone, the plan cost is the same as Sprint, but you pay $0.20 per message.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2009 23:00

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

jackpot posted:

Can I expect any leeway from Sprint in regards to longtime-customer discounts? For instance if I login to the website (I'm nearing the end of a two-year contract, I think I get my $150 discount starting March 1) and go searching for upgrades, the Touch Diamond (God I want this phone) is showing something ridiculous like $475. If I hit the site without logging in, however, it's $199 for new signups thanks to all the rebates and savings. Am I hosed, or if I bitch and moan to the right people can I get the same deal?

I don't know exactly how Sprint works, but it was my understanding that the $199 price was for new 2 year agreements *or* 2 year agreement renewals (after rebates, etc). I could be wrong, though.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2009 15:17

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

G-Hawk posted:

As for the phone for myself, i've mainly narrowed it down to a g1, iphone, or one of the HTC touchs. Are there any other phones along these lines that should be seriously considered too? How does battery life compare between the 3?

I can't speak for the G1 or iPhone, but my own personal experience says that most modern smartphones need to be charged every day. You shouldn't have much trouble getting through the day on a full charge, but make sure to recharge it at night.

Also avoid car chargers whenever possible (this is with any phone, really), as they shorten your battery life over time.

Do you intend to do a lot of text messaging?

# ¿ Mar 3, 2009 15:08

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

G-Hawk posted:

Yeah, charging every night isn't a problem for me I expect that. I just want to make sure it can make it through a day fine with a decent amount of usage, I've heard some bad stories. I'm not in the car much anyway so thats not a problem.

I do a moderate amount of text messaging. I guess its hard for me to decide between the options because there is not like one big thing i'm worried about, I just want the most versatility and functionality. I think i'm leaning towards the g1 for android and the keyboard.

I mostly asked about texting because that adds a good bit of cost to the iPhone plan if you were looking that route. $20 for unlimited texting, $15 for 1500 or $5 for 200. $0.20 per message otherwise. For a 450 minute plan, that puts iPhone monthly cost at $89.99/mo with unlimited text.

On Sprint, you could get an HTC Touch Pro (with hardware keyboard) and pay $69.99/mo for the same thing (and also get Sprint TV and Sprint Navigation). And since Sprint roams on Verizon's network, coverage is pretty good, too. That said, Windows Mobile phones do have a bit of a learning curve to them. They're incredibly versatile if you put the time into customizing them, but they're not quite as easy to use out of the box as an iPhone or Android probably is.

I don't know much about T-Mobile's offerings.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2009 19:58

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

900ftjesus posted:

Where does this come from? I have never heard this before.

I've heard it from numerous sources, including employees at the Sprint store. Some quick searching shows a variety of similar claims online, but I can't find anything substantial, so I guess it could be a myth.

The most plausible sounding explanation I've found so far comes from a HowardForums post:

quote:

On the issue about car chargers, a problem with the vehicles own charging system may be culprit in shortening battery life. The Motorola charger is set to provide a 5 volt DC current output of 550ma. Thats a little over 1/2 of 1 amp current flow. It's also a Direct Current output. This is critical because a vehicle alternator generates AC or Alternating Current and has a rectifier bridge to modify the output to DC current. I say modify because the bridge cannot completly get rid of AC ripple. A small amount of ripple is always present. So if the bridge is not working correctly, an excess amount of ripple is allowed into the electrical system and if the car charger adapter does not have any kind of "filtering" built into it's circuitry, that AC ripple will find it's way into the phone battery, shortening it's life.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2009 02:52

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

samoth posted:

Can anyone tell me if there's any way I can get out of my Sprint contract early and not pay a fee? Don't they sometimes allow early terminations when they change the policy and give you a timeframe to make the switch? Their service and customer service is terrible and I want to switch to Verizon asap.

Do you use data or just voice? I mainly ask because Sprint's voice service roams on Verizon's network, so you may not necessarily get any better service with Verizon. Data service could be another story, depending on the area.

As far as customer service, I've had the complete opposite experience as you. I've found Verizon customer service to be horrible but have had nothing but positive experiences with Sprint so far. If you're not happy, though, by all means, change providers.

My understanding is that you can sometimes get out of a contract without an ETF if a significant change has been made to the contract to justify a breach of terms. I've heard it's pretty hard to make a case for that, though. The other option is to transfer responsibility of your plan to another party, basically letting somebody else take over the remainder of your contract. I think there's a website for that, but I don't know what it's called. Somebody else here might.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2009 18:37

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 20:14

brc64: Mar 21, 2008; I wear my sunglasses at night.

BonoMan posted:

I have a friend on Verizon that is looking for a new phone. He wants to try out WinMo and it needs to have a physical keyboard.

He's looking at the Samsung Saga right now as VZW doesn't have that great of a selection of phones. He also just got a cheap Moto Q 9C on eBay to try out. I recommended the HTC Touch Pro, but he said those are gimped on VZW.

Any recommendations or anything coming out soon he might want to wait for?

I know you can get a Sprint Touch Pro and make it work on Verizon, but he wouldn't be able to use any NE2 type discounts to get the phone (would have to go through eBay). Other than that, there really aren't any good WinMo phones on Verizon that meet his needs. The Omnia is probably the next best bet, but lacks his physical keyboard.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2009 14:09

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Recommend me a phone and/or plan