Going to Buy a Touch Pro but Need Some Help - Touch Pro, Fuze General

I live in the US and have T-Mobile. I'm looking to buy a new phone and decided on the Touch Pro but I want to make an informed buy. I know there are a lot of different versions of the phone for different regions so which kind of unlocked Touch Pro should i buy? A UK version or the Fuze? Would it matter since AT&T uses different frequencies for their 3G (according to my friend) than T-Mobile and either way I wouldn't have 3G or would the Fuze be better suited for the US is some way I don't know about? I've had other unlocked phones from other regions before like Japanese Tri-Band imports and they all worked fine with good reception so I'm not too worried about reception issues unless theirs something I don't know about. Will their be any compatibility issues with if I don't settle for the Fuze?
I don't really want to get a branded phone which is why I'm asking, plus I don't know if the Fuze has the prism back or not and I also don't like what AT&T's done with the keyboard. Sorry if this has been talked about before but when I searched I didn't see anything similar.

hello,
you're absolutely right about the 3g. the fuze 3g wont work because of the wrong bands. i'm not sure about the uk one because it has one of the 2 3g bands that tmobile uses. i know u need both of them to do simultaneous voice and data but maybe you can get away with 3g data on the one overlapping band (2100)? the fuze is good, MUCH cheaper if you're on att (got mine for 150) but if you're going unlocked i'd recommend uk one because of hte chance that it MIGHT work with the tmobile 3g if it's in your area.
the fuze also does have a prism back, it's a pain in the a.. because it wobbles when its on a flat surface. really pissed me off until i got the zagg invisible shield (brilliant product) and now it doesnt wobble asm uch and isnt half as much of a fingerprint magnet as it was before. the keyboard isn't much of an issue either. i havent used the unbranded keyboard but i'm sure i'd be used to that if i had it. i guess it doesnt really matter...
unless you care about 3g, get whatever's cheapest!

Related

Polaris / Touch Cruise on T-Mobile UK

I popped into T-Mobile in Derby today and asked if they'll be getting the TC (I'm assuming it'll probably rebranded as the MDA Compact IV) anytime soon. The lady said they definitely will be getting it but didn't know when. When I asked her to hazard a guess she guesstimated end of Feb.
Just thought you might like to know
thanks not too long....
No way. I'm leaving T-mobile for the Polaris and 02 and the sales guy is trying to keep me on by offering all sorts of stuff including a free Touch Phone with accessories and a really good contract. If they were getting one soon he would have been in a better position to judge and tell me to hang on, instead he is offering me newer phones for free that haven't been released by T-mobile yet. If they are getting their version it will probably be in April or May. They are always 3 - 4 months behind o2.
Spoke to T-Mobile and they said they would not be selling the TC or a rebadged version of it.
Sounds like t-mobile dont know whats going on
I don't know what to believe to be honest. From experience, the guys and gals on the shop floor haven't got a clue what's coming until about a week before it arrives. That's why I said guesstimate not estimate
Really, o2 isn't an option for me. Nobody can compete with T-Mobile's web-n-walk at the moment. Yes, o2 offer an 'unlimited' plan but it's 200MB plus loads of fair usage restrictions. I'm away from home a lot so I use Internet Sharing for my laptop in the hotel rooms - I'd use 200MB up in about 2 hours! Plus I much prefer their Flext plan over fixed x mins and x texts plans of the other providers.
I also can't justify £300+ on buying an htc branded one.
I hope T-Mobile pull their finger out and get the TC sharpish! I have the Vario II (Hermes) at the moment and my battery's screwed - it barely lasts a day even without actually using it. I've just bought a new battery but I want some TouchFLO action!
Even if they eventually do TC, I guess you will be disappointed when they tell you the upgrade price...
I love my T-Mobile too, but I will have to switch to O2 to get a good deal on the phone.
i would love to have it on TMob but i need something by the end of Jan or I will lose my number. pretty sure im gonna go with O2.
Well, technically I have to wait 'til May before I can upgrade - that might be long enough for TMob to catch up!
My new battery has arrived as I type this it's a 1500mAh - It's lighter than the stock 1350mAh and the pack has a 'cheap' look to it - "Cameron Sino" branded (never heard of 'em!). It this doesn't improve the life I get out of it then I may claim on the insurance. My bank covers it on new for old so I may be able to convince them to replace it with htc branded polaris (probably wishful thinking).
I'm running a TC on T-Mobile (bought phone simm free which is expensive I know) but unless O2 have improved their data charges I'd never switch to them. I was with them until last year and it was a complete rip-off. T-Mobile's web'n'walk is unlimited (ok 1Gb fair-usage) and perfect for the TC.
If any UK T-Mobile user runs out of patience and wants to go the unbranded route then I can report that my unbranded UK HTC Touch Cruise works perfectly with my UK T-Mobile PAYG SIM card for both GSM and 3G.
When I first turned my TC on it offered to auto-configure the network for me; I let it and it set up both GSM and 3G and then defaulted to 3G for the connection. I'm paranoid about battery life so I went into phone settings and set the band manually to GSM but I have since switched it to 3G temporarily to try some browsing.
- Julian

Cheap Touch PRO/Raphael/TyTn III?

Anyone know the cheapest site for this phone? I want the unbranded one. All i find is 600+ which is ridiculous. i dont mind if it is used or new and ebay just hasnt been yielding that many unlocked unbranded ones. if you have one and are willing to sell to me, maybe we can work something out securely over ebay on private auction. i know this phone is only out for 2 months but hey, some people just dont like it. i am willing to trade a touch diamond unlocked unbraded + some cash and accessories for one.
Most places I have seen are about $600+. I got my Fuze for about $300 with upgrade on AT&T. That way it can support 3G. Remember not to buy the CDMA as it does not have a sim card. What provider are you with? It may be cheaper to buy a branded one from your provider.
Sorry buddy. There is no such thing as a cheap high-end device. Get a fuze if you really want it cheap. Sell your diamond for $400. Pay $100 for a fuze. Unbranded touch pros are $600+. You won't find a working model any cheaper.
thats what i kinda thought too. im bound to at&t already and still am under a contract until june and not eligible for upgrade discount until may. i really want to switch to tmobile because of their coverage at work and home is more superior in my area. an upgrade to the fuze would cost the $499 no commitment price.
i love my diamond for everything except the keyboard sucks. feels like my old iphone but way worse to type on because of the small size.
whats the difference between the cdma ones and the gsm ones? is it easier to flash one version than the other?
I'm in England and I bought mine from eBay for £390 - it wasn't brand new but only used for a week so it's as new.
I think (and this is my newbie answer!) that GSM phones (which I have) uses a sim card and CDMA uses............er.............something else?
GSM is generally easier to flash and more roms are created for GSM phones. I would love the diamond actually. I have a fuze and I barely use the hardware keyboard. I just use the compact qwerty on-screen. It's perfecty fine for me. I would've soo went for the diamond if it had removable storage. 4gb is just not enough for me. I meant go for the Touch HD, but I want 3g =/ and The touch HD looks promising, but not without a d-pad.

Don't Knock Sprint & CDMA

There's been a whole lot of knocking the Touch Pro 2 on the CDMA network and Sprint (one person referred to shoving a cactus up his a**), so I just want to write and defend it. True, CDMA is kind of backwards and not internationally common, but the phone does include GSM support for foreign travel. I just bought a TP2 on Sprint, and my experience was awesome. I purchased online, and I declined to bring my number with me. Upon receiving my phone I changed my mind, so customer support told me to take my new phone to a Sprint store to get help. Service was quick, friendly, and knowledgable. They even told me it would be at least 3 hourse before I got service with my old number, if not a day, but I had it by the time I left the store. Sure, the phone is $450 upfront, but there is a $100 rebate, plus more if you list a friend on Sprint as a referrer. Plus, I sold my old Tilt for $95, and if you use 'save50' as a coupon code, you get $25 off service for the first two months. Really, not too bad at all. I actually get coverage on Sprint inside buildings where AT&T always dropped. Finally, Sprint's Simply Everything plans are better than any other network's data plans, and on them you can now call any mobile phone in America for free. I know some people trash Sprint like there's no tomorrow, but my experience thus far has been great. I grew to hate AT&T by the time I left, and I don't think I could ever go back to them. Their data prices are ridiculous, store staff are snobs, and although I would never buy an iPhone, their whole handling of that situation has been ridiculous. To sum this ramble up, don't be afraid to make the plunge and jump on Sprint. Just my two bits.
PS This was all written on my TP2; this phone rocks! If you've been debating, stop, just buy it.
I will have to agree with trogdor1138
I was a AT&T customer for 4 years, and hated the last year and a half of service! You might ask why only the last year and the half. It all stated when I leased a new office building and got 1 to 0 bars of Edge service, my brother who was on Verizon had 5 bars of 3G. Which made for a really crap experience during the whole office phone transition. I don't even want to get into AT&T's customer service because its no existent. I got my Touch Pro2 from Sprint on the 8th and all I have to say is WOW! At my office I get 5 bars of service and I have yet to find a place in my everyday travels where Sprint doesn't have great coverage. And the best part is my cell phone bill when from 129.99 a month on at&t to 99 bucks. So yeah I paid a bit more for my phone but those poor guys on at&t will pay out their nose for the service!
I need to jump on this band wagon. My experience with AT&T and Sprint is exactly like the first two posts. I could not use my AT&T phone in my house or office or more than a mile away from the interstates (out side of metro areas). Sprint covers the whole state, (WI) has better customer service and is about 20% cheaper than what I was paying AT&T. And to top it all off, my TP2 is rock solid. I've never had a phone that was this easy to use and at the same time this versatile.
I am glad to see some support for Sprint! I have had Sprint for 8 years and my service has only got better over time. I always have signal and when I don't I roam on Verizon. Sprint has a credibility problem that was self imposed-no getting around it. But Sprint has been making the right moves for a couple years now and I hope it continues.
This reply was also typed on my Touch Pro 2.
I just switch from t-mobile to sprint. I was with t-mobile for 5 years. Thought about getting tp2 with them but there always behind everybody else and i did like all the changes they made to the tp2. What were they thinking. Anyway besides that they didn't have any of the extras internet services like internet TV,music and radio like all the other carriers do. With sprint i get all that in it's only costing me about $5 dollars more a month. So i ported my number and it only took 1 day to get the phone and have it activated with my ported number. No regrets at all.
This is soo nice after posting charts of of data throughputs of carriers proving sprints better- posting data charges from carriers where sprint wins every time - and Now 4G (yes WiMAX in my area as of sept1) it does me happy to see the light in others - sad that no matter what you say no matter what proof you provide others continue to defend spending more for getting less
AT&T was and still is horrible in my area. I canceled within the trial period. Sprint has much better service, and in my opinion better customer service.
I was with T Mobile for 8 years
I switched to Sprint from T Mobile at the begining of this year. I just couldn't wait for 3g any longer here in Salt Lake City. I am very happy with Sprint. I like both Sprint and T Mobile but I have to say that I don't feel I miss T Mobile at all.
Before I got Sprint I asked a few people about it and they told me that some times their bills were bigger than others, I am thinking this might be because I have found my phone goes into roaming but it doesn't affect me since I'm on the Everything Plan.
I think Sprint is a great company and I'm happy with them.
Battery life vs data transfer
For the US:
If you don't travel heavily, don't need broadband and live in an area with good GSM coverage then GSM is a no brainer. The battery life is better and you don't have to fiddle with phonebook transfer programs and the like.
If you need coverage and broadband then CDMA is the way to go.
My gripe with CDMA is that it takes forever to get good phones. You wait and wait for someone to make a CDMA phone that has year old GSM features.
If CDMA could fix the talk time and get manufacturers to make phones for it I would say that CDMA wins, period. As it stands though, if you live outside of the US, or live in the US and don't travel or just use your phone for talking, SMS and the occasional MMS then GSM is for you.
Basically I just want a world standard. If that means CDMA has to switch over and I lose some bandwidth, so be it. It look like Europe is flirting with (W)CDMA, so maybe GSM will be phased out. I guess it's market share vs technology at this point.
I agree, I love my TP2 on the Sprint Network. This phone is too hot. Finally a real size screen, best keyboard I have ever used, just a sturdy build for such a device that moves many ways. Money well spent.
I agree! I was a long-time AT&T customer and was quite unsatisfied with the service I was getting. I made the jump to Sprint last week with the TP2. Ordered online Thursday night, and the phone was on my desk early Monday morning. The phone and network has exceeded my expectations--great service everywhere (EVDO service is awesome in WI)--not a single dropped call. As for the phone, battery life is pushing 2 days, which is including the constant data connection for email and occasional music streaming.
Saving $20/month from AT&T to Sprint and gaining features? Yes, please!
Another solid vote for Sprint...
Switched from Suncom (T-Mobile now). I've also had Nextel, Alltel, and AT&T.
As far as I am concerned Sprint is a no brainer.
I haven't found any company that can come close to their prices and they have definitely stepped up their hardware. (TP2 FTW!)
My current plan on Verizon and matching services was around 80 bucks more expensive. When asked why they were so much more than Sprint their answer was "We have the best customer service". Well putting opinion aside for the moment my response was "For 80 bucks a month you had best be at the foot of my bed every morning at 6am, waking me up, and handing me a cup of coffee"
They did not respond.
I also have Sprint and love it. Never a dropped call, or any problems here in s. calif. Was with Verizon for years, but coverage was bad at home and work. The two places I used my phone the most. Tried AT&T for one day. Just terrible. Been with Sprint for a year now...its all good.
trogdor1138 said:
There's been a whole lot of knocking the Touch Pro 2 on the CDMA network and Sprint (one person referred to shoving a cactus up his a**), so I just want to write and defend it. True, CDMA is kind of backwards and not internationally common, but the phone does include GSM support for foreign travel. I just bought a TP2 on Sprint, and my experience was awesome. I purchased online, and I declined to bring my number with me. Upon receiving my phone I changed my mind, so customer support told me to take my new phone to a Sprint store to get help. Service was quick, friendly, and knowledgable. They even told me it would be at least 3 hourse before I got service with my old number, if not a day, but I had it by the time I left the store. Sure, the phone is $450 upfront, but there is a $100 rebate, plus more if you list a friend on Sprint as a referrer. Plus, I sold my old Tilt for $95, and if you use 'save50' as a coupon code, you get $25 off service for the first two months. Really, not too bad at all. I actually get coverage on Sprint inside buildings where AT&T always dropped. Finally, Sprint's Simply Everything plans are better than any other network's data plans, and on them you can now call any mobile phone in America for free. I know some people trash Sprint like there's no tomorrow, but my experience thus far has been great. I grew to hate AT&T by the time I left, and I don't think I could ever go back to them. Their data prices are ridiculous, store staff are snobs, and although I would never buy an iPhone, their whole handling of that situation has been ridiculous. To sum this ramble up, don't be afraid to make the plunge and jump on Sprint. Just my two bits.
PS This was all written on my TP2; this phone rocks! If you've been debating, stop, just buy it.
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Ide have to say my switch from VZW to Sprint was as good. I had a c ouple issues with getting rebates in the begging but Sprint took care of that. Customer service in the stores is normally pretty decent. At VZW.... well... Service was good once you got somone one.
Overall I am very happy I switched. I switched for the Diamond though, not TP2. I did however just purcahse a TP2 and I am loving it!
I too just got my TP2 from Sprint and love it.
Verizon, here in LA, is pretty terrible. I could be at my internship and not get a signal at all - open space with lots of tall buildings around. Additionally, my old apartment in the Valley got almost no reception. Tons of dropped calls.
One complaint though:
My number from Sprint was a recycled phone number. I'm getting four robocalls a day from various political organizations (many of which are in Spanish) and different schools reminding me that my mythical children are about to start school in the next few days.
I've put myself on the Do Not Call registry, both the federal one and the political one, but the calls keep rolling in. Most of the time, if I press 0, it claims my number is erased from their registry, but I doubt that. And if you try to call the number back, they are mysterious ghost numbers that don't connect to anything.
Sprint says there's nothing they can do about it. Luck of the draw, and they've offered to give me a new number (which I'm a little loathe to do, since I've already updated so many people with my new number.) I just wish there were something (maybe even a piece of software for the phone?) that would let me block individual numbers. A lot of the calls I get are repeat offenders.
I have worked for 2 different wireless carriers. The honest answer to the cell phone debate in the US is use what works for you. The ratings you see are typically an average of experiences across the whole US. Most carriers have stronger regions and weaker regions. I have seen poor numbers out west for Verizon Wireless and strong numbers out east and the complete opposite for AT&T.
Network limitations (mainly in-building penetration) may skew your experience from one carrier to the other at the places you use the phone most like your residence and workplace. We are dealing with radio signals that have a very short effective distance, and if you only get one bar of signal, you are going to have a rougher experience with everything than if you had 2 bars or more.
Customer service experiences vary greatly. It depends on who you get when you call. Outsourcing calls makes it a crapshoot. I have heard the horrid Sprint stories, but those were mostly calls that got outsourced and when you reached an actual Sprint rep they were good experiences. At least with wireless carriers they all are trying to provide as good a service as possible due to competition. I wish cable and landline services back in the day had that type of competition. 3 major nationwide carriers minimum in a market and various regional carriers help keeps the competition going, and it is a very competitive market considering the ammount of investment needed to put up a nationwide network in the United States. (Europeans can't quite understand the size of our country and how much empty space there is between major cities). It isn't really quite cost effective to put up a $200,000 tower for 500 customers in a small town, but we expect to have coverage everywhere we go.
Sprint has the good price plans, no denying that. I would put Verizon's network up against Sprint any day though when comparing them nationally. Both EvDO networks are superior to AT&T and T-Mobiles at this point for overall consistancy of service nationwide. But you might live in one of those lucky areas where AT&T or T-Mobile will have their 7Mbps services running well and not overloaded, and they could be the best option. It really comes down to what works best where you use your device and that is going to be different from person to person.
Sprint phone roaming on Verizon?
I am considering a Sprint TP2. I have read differing statements regarding roaming on Verizon. I have several questions:
Basically: does Verizon allow Sprint customers to roam onto their network?
If yes, then: (If... then... an old BASIC programmer, haha)
Can TP2 be "forced" to roam if for example Verizon has a stronger signal a certain area?
When roaming onto Verizon, will you get only the slower speeds and no 3G?
Thanks very much!
I don't really get the knocking of CDMA since it is faster than gsm. If you have a faster network that equals better right? GSM really only has the sim card which i have seen to be a problem actually drop your phone and the sim seems to get creamed fairly often. I have used both CDMA works better and faster. And with programs like My Phone the address book is really a non issue.
my friend been complaing HSPA chew thru battery faster on his phone than my CDMA phone
gliscameria said:
For the US:
If you don't travel heavily, don't need broadband and live in an area with good GSM coverage then GSM is a no brainer. The battery life is better and you don't have to fiddle with phonebook transfer programs and the like.
If you need coverage and broadband then CDMA is the way to go.
My gripe with CDMA is that it takes forever to get good phones. You wait and wait for someone to make a CDMA phone that has year old GSM features.
If CDMA could fix the talk time and get manufacturers to make phones for it I would say that CDMA wins, period. As it stands though, if you live outside of the US, or live in the US and don't travel or just use your phone for talking, SMS and the occasional MMS then GSM is for you.
Basically I just want a world standard. If that means CDMA has to switch over and I lose some bandwidth, so be it. It look like Europe is flirting with (W)CDMA, so maybe GSM will be phased out. I guess it's market share vs technology at this point.
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Default option is only Sprint only and "automatic"
maybe someone can tweak it to roam only
however, if you roam too much, sprint will drop you as a customer

Sprint loses 135,000 subs

No wonder my TP2 on Sprint is so fast. No one else is using the bandwidth!
I just hope they can keep the system running well with reduced revenue.
zdnet - Sprint loses money, more subscribers in third quarter
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=26742&tag=nl.e539
I just don't get it. I guess in other areas sprint isn't that good. Everybody I know here in Columbus has them or verizon. they have a loyal customer in me. they have been doing me right for quite some time.
I used to have Sprint when I lived in Boulder, and the service was OK, not great, but that was 8 years ago. I moved to a location in the mountains that only had AT&T, and I switched to them cause that was all I could get. They were crap. Their system had more dropped calls than Sprint, and the data speeds on AT&T were getting slower and slower, I think due to all the iPhone users.
I live in a new area now, and can have my choice of providers. As soon as I could I gave AT&T the boot.
I just switched back to Sprint about 1 month ago as their price for the TP2 and the all included data plan was way better than AT&T. My data speeds are at least double those from AT&T on my TP1, and often 4-5 times faster.
I have also been traveling a bunch and have found the Sprint coverage to be quite good. There is one location in the mountains that I have not gone yet that I need coverage, and their coverage map states it is available, but you never know for sure until you try it your self.
So far, consider me a happy Sprint customer!
Went from Alltel/VZW to Sprint.
So far so good, but I haven't had much chance to test it out. Live in Lincoln, NE right now. Far I have had flawless coverage within, and same with the drive to Omaha. So far no drops in Omaha. I also played pandora all the way from Lincoln to Kansas City with only dips in coverage when I got into the really hilly areas between St Joe and KC. Friends had the same issues, so it was terrain related.
Anyway, I am glad I switched to sprint, I just hope they last! Customer Service in store and over the phone is 100x better than anything I dealt with for Alltel and VZW. Lets hope my next trip to the mountains is as good as all my other trips have been.
Edit: Colorado_al does sprint cover Copper Mountain? I hope so, going there over Thanksgiving.
I'm not happy with Sprint (and HTC) about how they handled my TP1 situation. I just took their phone survey too. I went through 4 TP1's in a 7 month period and they refused to send me another refurb. The store ordered parts and took my TP1 apart in the store and attempted to repair it. They handed me the phone and said it was fixed. Before walking away I tested things and the radio would not power on. I wanted to scream.
I got the TP2 from asurion after they were going to send my 4th refurb and I refused to accept that (told them I wanted a NIB TP1). I'm guessing that such a critter does not exist. My wife and step daughter have another year on the contract so...we may be looking elsewhere soon. Sprint needs to wake up and realize that bad customer support is killing them IMHO. I like the TP2 alright. It has a more RAM/ROM, a bigger screen and dual radios but still has the same processor the TP1 did.
Oh well, its just a phone after all
Sprint doesn't even have service up here, beyond roaming on US Cellular that is, and Nextel phones are just dead paperweights, so I've never even really considered them. That said, how long can they keep bleeding like this and stay alive? OUCH!
MrNybble said:
I'm not happy with Sprint (and HTC) about how they handled my TP1 situation. I just took their phone survey too. I went through 4 TP1's in a 7 month period and they refused to send me another refurb. The store ordered parts and took my TP1 apart in the store and attempted to repair it. They handed me the phone and said it was fixed. Before walking away I tested things and the radio would not power on. I wanted to scream.
I got the TP2 from asurion after they were going to send my 4th refurb and I refused to accept that (told them I wanted a NIB TP1). I'm guessing that such a critter does not exist. My wife and step daughter have another year on the contract so...we may be looking elsewhere soon. Sprint needs to wake up and realize that bad customer support is killing them IMHO. I like the TP2 alright. It has a more RAM/ROM, a bigger screen and dual radios but still has the same processor the TP1 did.
Oh well, its just a phone after all
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ive had 3 TP1s and all brand new in box from aurion... i havent had any problem with sprint besides fighting billing (all more my gain) in 14 years... i have tmobile as well and find there service shotty but am required to use it for work.. tryed att for a while that just made me start sharpening my knives so i left that back to tmobile.. soo ya havent had a bad problem considering every phone i have had since the old school 6600 has been brand new in box (expect one of the 6600's but that worked a lot longer then the other)
I've had AT&T since '95 in two different states, but just dropped them for Sprint because their coverage in my area is not getting better. So far I've no big complaints with Sprint, their coverage is better for me, no dropped calls in the area and I like the TP2.
I was not excited about going CDMA as I really like being able to switch my sim card between a couple phones as needed, but so far I've not needed to do that with the new phone.
My wife and daughter both use the Pre and love it. The Pre is a nice little phone is you don't need the keyboard much.
Sprint has got me as a customer for a while now. Hopefully they stay around

[Q] T-Mobile version worth ~$200?

I've seen them go around that much on eBay regularly now, and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Currently have a gaming laptop, but I'll be selling jt for about $600 and want something with a bigger screen than my Note 2 for movies and web browsing in bed, and something with a nice keyboard dock available (the one for the Tab Plus is only $30 on Amazon now).
Anyway, I can get 2GB of web with T-Mobile for $10/month, which is fine since I'll use it on Wifi mostly anyway, but I'm wondering if there are any flaws with the T-Mobile version (or Tab Plus in general) I should be aware of. I'll probably be sticking to stock ICS due to IR and keyboard support, if that matters, and I'm fine with ICS.
How do you get 2GB for $10? http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/mobile-broadband-plans.aspx
You can add data to your voice plan for $10, but tethering costs extra ($15/mo., I think). And a phone sim won't work in a data device.
I have a GT-P6210 wi-fi I use at home, and a 4G broadband modem for when I go on the road - just buy a pass when I need to. My wife tethers her iPad too when she's along. The combination is more versatile than a tablet dedicated to a single carrier - I can upgrade (to a Nexus 7) any time,
Edit: Seems they now have a new "Simple Choice" set of plans - higher price, but include tethering.
SaurusM3 said:
How do you get 2GB for $10? http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/mobile-broadband-plans.aspx
You can add data to your voice plan for $10, but tethering costs extra ($15/mo., I think). And a phone sim won't work in a data device.
I have a GT-P6210 wi-fi I use at home, and a 4G broadband modem for when I go on the road - just buy a pass when I need to. My wife tethers her iPad too when she's along. The combination is more versatile than a tablet dedicated to a single carrier - I can upgrade (to a Nexus 7) any time,
Edit: Seems they now have a new "Simple Choice" set of plans - higher price, but include tethering.
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I get it through a friend at T-Mobile, that's not a concern.
And having the 4G built in is just much easier for me, as that's one less device to carry around and worry about battery life with, and I don't even have any other Wifi-only devices that I can't just use hotspost on my phone for in the rare chance I'd need it. And running hotspot every time I want data on the tablet rather than just using it immediately is too much hassle for me personally.
I mean, if the P6210 is considerably cheaper than the T-Mobile version at the time I buy it, I'll get that, but if not then I'll get the T-Mobole version.
But anyway, can you think of any drawbacks or flaws with the P6210 I should be aware, or have you heard of anything with the T-Mobile version? I know the Tab 2 gets more support at this point, but I'd be using stock firmware in this case (for full functionality), and the fact that it will grt Jelly Bean at some point is fine with me (even just ICS is fine).
Only complaint I've heard is that US carriers don't allow voice calls on tablets. Not sure why; they allow it in the civilized world.
My only complaint of the Samsung tabs is the donkey 30-pin connector they use for charge & data. Everybody else but Apple gets by with micro USB. HDMI takes maybe 4 more pins, don't know what the rest are for.
There aren't many SGH-T869 models on eBay atm. Don't mess with the unlocked ones (GT-P6200). They'll only work at 2G speeds on TMo, at least where they haven't converted the 1900MHz band over to 4G data yet.
SaurusM3 said:
Only complaint I've heard is that US carriers don't allow voice calls on tablets. Not sure why; they allow it in the civilized world.
My only complaint of the Samsung tabs is the donkey 30-pin connector they use for charge & data. Everybody else but Apple gets by with micro USB. HDMI takes maybe 4 more pins, don't know what the rest are for.
There aren't many SGH-T869 models on eBay atm. Don't mess with the unlocked ones (GT-P6200). They'll only work at 2G speeds on TMo, at least where they haven't converted the 1900MHz band over to 4G data yet.
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Well even if, the P6200 is crazy expensive in comparison. I'm not in a hurry to get it, so I'd be scouting for a good deal anyway. Connector is annoying but I can deal. And I'm not concerned about not voice calls, while its a nice feature, I already hate using my Note 2 as a phone without a headset, I can't imagine how much of a pain it'd be with a full tablet.
Check out Amazon, I remember there being a bunch of them for $200. I bought mine for the same amount off swappa and really like it. I believe it's HSPA 21; even in a good area for TMobile I never really get fast speeds on it, averaging around 7-9 down I think. Netflix works fine though. I like mine but I wouldn't mind a slightly better rear camera and a non-stupid charging port.
I bought an unlocked i717 to replace it and my S2 but I'm probably going back to the S2 and 7.0+ combo. I don't use data often but would for $10/2gigs!
Edit- word is the 869 is fully capable on AT&T when unlocked.

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