I'm with sprint for another year and I don't want to upgrade and sign a new contract.
The good thing is that my bill is only about $30.00 a month for 3,000 minutes, unlimited data, and unlimited text. (Radio shack employee plan)
I currently have an HTC Vogue and I've been using Jamezelle's android builds. I would love to get a new phone though, my girlfriend just got a HERO and I'm in love with it. I wouldn't mind having one, but that would mean buying one off of ebay, which I don't have good experiences with.
If I could get a HERO for about 250-299 I probably would, but I was wondering if their were any other CDMA phones that work well and play nice with Android.
Does anyone have any suggestions? (and prices)
I have recently converted from Windows Mobile to Android and I have to say that I am impressed. At the end of my Windows Mobile contract I wasn't sufficiently impressed by the Android handsets on offer by T-Mobile to settle for an 18-24 month contract so bought a second hand HTC Magic to get a feel for Android.
I am going to hold out for one of the Handsets with Snapdragon processors onboard when they get around to releasing them in the UK!
My girlfriend has been using a Sony Ericsson handset (500 mins for 20 per month) for a couple of years and quite likes it but is now keen to get in on the mobile web. In my opinion (might be wrong) the only OS's that can deliver web content properly are the Apple and Android. I have therefore started looking at Android as I don't feel Apple tax is appropriate!
T-Mobile are doing the Hero for 25 quid a month which looks like a nice enough handset. I was wondering what others thoughts are as to;
- Is the Hero too old to buy now? I know it is planned to be updated to 2.1 which is a bonus
- Are there any other handsets she should consider?
If there are any 'deals' on Android handsets that anyone can sugest then I would be grateful
Cheers
Aidan
Well it depends if you are willing to wait for the HTC Desire or Legend or if you need a phone now. The Hero is still a good choice for a Android phone. It also depends if you are buying it for yourself (and give your magic to your GF) or if it's a new phone for her.
If it's for yourself, seeing that your contract has ended, you could get yourself an N1 unsubsidied and change your calling plan to a SIM only one. Talking of SIM only plans you should have changed ASAP when your contract has ended as it's more value for money (£15-20 cheaper average for the same minutes/text). Reason for suggesting unsubsided phones is although the phone cost is higher, your calling plan is cheaper and in the long run it works out similar but you get the advantage of not being tied to a 18-24 month contract.
But personally I'd wait for the Desire/Legend to be released before picking out your poison, seeing that all major carriers have anounced release dates for April.
I have been on a GSM network in South Africa for ages.
I have had HTC devices for the last few years.
I am now resident in the USA using my TP2 with an AT&T prepaid card.
The phone is getting a bit old and I want to get one of the newer HTC devices offered by Verizon/Sprint etc.
Is the only way to get these phones at a reasonable price to tie oneself to a 2 year contract with one of these operators?
If I go CDMA will I miss GSM?
How do most of you USA residents get your phones??
samsat said:
I have been on a GSM network in South Africa for ages.
I have had HTC devices for the last few years.
I am now resident in the USA using my TP2 with an AT&T prepaid card.
The phone is getting a bit old and I want to get one of the newer HTC devices offered by Verizon/Sprint etc.
Is the only way to get these phones at a reasonable price to tie oneself to a 2 year contract with one of these operators?
If I go CDMA will I miss GSM?
How do most of you USA residents get your phones??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to get a good phone at a reasonable price, either check here on the XDA Market forum, ebay, or you could go for a two year contract.
Honestly I believe that GSM is much more convenient to use than CDMA for the simple fact of being able to put your SIM in any phone without having to worry about paying flashing charges like you would have to do for a CDMA company if you wanted to have your phone number working on one phone or another. It's all preference. Do what you like best and enjoy your phone to it's fullest
You maybe better off breaking off your AT&T contract and switch to tmobile. It MAY be much cheaper. Of course I understand that some people live in area where tmobile reception is terrible (or none to begin with), or are tied to a family plan, that you have no choice.
I was an AT&T user, and wanted to get a Bell Sensation to use on AT&T. But the Bell Sensation costs CAD 550 before tax without contract. Even if you can go get one yourself, that would cost you at least USD 600, not to mention that it will be more expensive if you buy from others who imported it for you.
So I looked at my options, and what it would cost me to get a Sensation from tmobile. I ended up having to pay $205 termination fee to AT&T. AT&T's early termination fee begins at $325, and is reduced by $10 every month. You can calculate what you have to pay to terminate the contract here:
http://www.myrateplan.com/contract_termination_fees/
The Sensation is now selling for $200 after mail-in rebate with 2 year contract on tmobile. Some other retailers are selling it for $150. I printed out the $150 price on Amazon, brought it to tmobile, and they were willing to match that price. And hey, they waived my activation fee too. So you may want to keep an eye to see if there is any even cheaper deal out there.
In the end, I paid a total of $355 + tax to switch to tmobile and to get the Sensation. Much less that what I would have to pay if I decided to stick with AT&T. So if you live in area where tmobile doesn't suck, you may want to consider this route.
(If you are concerning about the AT&T-Tmobile merger, don't worry about it. It will take at least around a year for FCC to review the case. And IF they approve it, which is a big IF, it will take another year or two to figure out the technicalities and merge the network. By the time they sort out everything, your new contract will have ended.)
I'm a big supporter of the 850mhz frequencies that Rogers/AT&T/Bell use, and in my experience 1700mhz is just garbage.
If you're talking about saving money, buying the Sensation outright from Tmobile costs 550 as well. Granted sales tax in most states is less than that of Ontario's, you'd maybe save around 20 dollars. And if you are on contract with AT&T, breaking that contract would cost you a lot more.
Matt1408 said:
I'm a big supporter of the 850mhz frequencies that Rogers/AT&T/Bell use, and in my experience 1700mhz is just garbage.
If you're talking about saving money, buying the Sensation outright from Tmobile costs 550 as well. Granted sales tax in most states is less than that of Ontario's, you'd maybe save around 20 dollars. And if you are on contract with AT&T, breaking that contract would cost you a lot more.
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The situation here in the US is very different from that in Canada.
Buying the Sensation from T-Mobile without contract to use it on AT&T won't have 3G here in the US. Unlike in Canada, where all major carriers use 850 for 3G (and HSPA+ 4G), here in the US the 4 biggest carriers all use different 3G bands.
The reason why 1700 sucks in the Canada is not because of 1700 per-se. The only carrier in Canada that uses 1700 is Wind, and tiny budget carrier. Here in the US, depending on your location, T-Mobile can work much better than AT&T. In particular t-mobile HSPA+ speed in the real world is still ahead of AT&T (when there is reception that is).
I am wildly aware that you wouldn't get 4G from the Tmobile sensation if you're on AT&T. I don't know how the cancelation fees are on AT&T but here in Canada we have to pay ~400 dollars to cancel both voice and data.
Also, by nature higher frequencies have less penetrating power.
Matt1408 said:
I am wildly aware that you wouldn't get 4G from the Tmobile sensation if you're on AT&T. I don't know how the cancelation fees are on AT&T but here in Canada we have to pay ~400 dollars to cancel both voice and data.
Also, by nature higher frequencies have less penetrating power.
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Click to collapse
Did you actually read anything I posted before writing a reply? I'm not talking about 4G, you won't even get 3G using the tmobile Sensation on AT&T. And the whole point of my first post is about the cost of terminating AT&T contract. The MAXIMUM early termination fee that one has to pay AT&T is $325. That is, if you sign up with AT&T today, and cancel 30 days later. And Amazon and many other retailers like Best Buy are selling the Sensation for $150 on contract, so even breaking your AT&T contract it still cost much less that importing the 850-capable version Sensation from Canada. If you are not tied to a family plan, or in an area where tmobile reception is poor that is.
Family Plan
This may be true. But to cancel an entire family plan to switch to Tmobile, (considering you don't want to have two different wireless services) it is much more feasible to just be a Canadian Bell version of the sensation outright, then have it shipped here. also it doesn't use up an upgrade.
And to think, if you waited, you could have used the ETF toward this...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/htc-holiday-to-be-a-4-5-inch-behemoth-with-qhd-resolution-1-2gh/
I don't think the Sensation it the end-all smartphone for HTC, I think it's just the beginning of a wave of second generation phones. The E3D kind of points to that.
derek9594 said:
This may be true. But to cancel an entire family plan to switch to Tmobile, (considering you don't want to have two different wireless services) it is much more feasible to just be a Canadian Bell version of the sensation outright, then have it shipped here. also it doesn't use up an upgrade.
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Click to collapse
Yea, that's why I mentioned in my post that this strategy is for people who are not tied to family plan and/or has no tmobile reception in his area. AT&T doesn't give upgrade until the final few months of your contract, for individual plan at least. My account said that I wasn't eligible for an upgrade until the end of March next year. I guess if I said this when I was cancelling my contract that would offer me an upgrade, but there isn't any phone on AT&T that I'm interested in.
BarryH_GEG said:
And to think, if you waited, you could have used the ETF toward this...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/htc-holiday-to-be-a-4-5-inch-behemoth-with-qhd-resolution-1-2gh/
I don't think the Sensation it the end-all smartphone for HTC, I think it's just the beginning of a wave of second generation phones. The E3D kind of points to that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who knows when this phone will be out, given how slow AT&T is chewing out Android phone. Honestly 4.5" is too big for me, and I used to think even 4.3" was too big until the Sensation came out.
I have played around the EVO 3D at Sprint, and I prefer the Sensation. While the EVO 3D doesn't feel cheap, I don't like the plastic construction. The EVO 3D, as well as the old EVO 4G, feels like a geek phone - powerful hardware packed into a rectangular case that doesn't have much design. The Sensation feels significant nicer to hold and thinner than all 4.3" phones I have seen. In fact I was surprised by the fact that it has basically the same thickness as my old HTC Desire, and isn't really much larger. Minus the 3D feature, the EVO 3D camera isn't as nicer either (I'm not just talking about megapixel count, I took some photos at Sprint and email to myself to check the camera quality). I do like the dedicate camera button though.
Spec wise, EVO 3D has 3D, more ram, and bigger battery compared to Sensation. I don't need 3D, and the battery of EVO 3D has been confirmed to be compatible with the Sensation. The extra ram maybe useful for future Android updates, but not now. Given that my Sensation has at least around 100MB free ram all the time, even when a lot of apps are running, having more ram isn't going to make my phone run any faster.
btw, going back from tmobile to AT&T is actually easier... cheaper I mean. AT&T early termination fee begins at $325, while tmobile begins at $200.
Question about using the T-Mobile HTC Sensation on AT&T
The HTC Sensation 4G from T-Mobile now shows the following spec on units for sale at eBay:
Cellular Band: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 HSDPA 850/ 900/1700/1900/2100
Does that mean that we can use that phone on At&T and get 3G (HSDPA) speeds on the 850/1900 Bands?
JackTheMan18 said:
Question about using the T-Mobile HTC Sensation on AT&T
The HTC Sensation 4G from T-Mobile now shows the following spec on units for sale at eBay:
Cellular Band: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 HSDPA 850/ 900/1700/1900/2100
Does that mean that we can use that phone on At&T and get 3G (HSDPA) speeds on the 850/1900 Bands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pretty much wrong. The T-Mobile Sensation only has the 900/1700/2100 MHz bands.
I wouldn't trust eBay for anything. I believe it was discussed many times on here about this before. The Tmous sensation 4g does not support at&t bands.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
guys could you please update me on the subject
i need to clarify the fact that there are two versions of sensation in north america
1) 900/1700/2100 MHz (tmobile)
2) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (att)
because that would explain the price gap between two of them (~200$) as the first one is useless in rest of the world/europe and thus lacks export demand........
Hey guys, didn't find a specific topic for this so thought I'd stick it in the universal 'General' section
Quick advice:
My phone upgrade is due on February 2013, I've currently got the HTC Evo 3D. I was planning on getting the HTC butterfly on EE's 4G network (once it comes to the UK) even though their network prices are ridiculously high.
However as the company I work for are promoting EE, we're getting an offer which will allow us to get 40% discount on any of their 24 month tariffs. Which means I can get a £46 or £51 contract for about £31-33. If I do go for it they can buy my remaining contract months out.
The only downfall is I don't want the current phones that are out in the market at the moment. So should I go for it and get the iPhone 5 for now (deal with their boring UI for a couple of months) and sell it when the phone i want comes out and buy that one.
These are the EE 4G phones that are available: http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-phones/pay-monthly/
Or should I just wait it out and get a contract once the phone comes and hope the standard 4G prices go down
What would you do?
Anyone?
Rage1ofakind said:
Hey guys, didn't find a specific topic for this so thought I'd stick it in the universal 'General' section
Quick advice:
My phone upgrade is due on February 2013, I've currently got the HTC Evo 3D. I was planning on getting the HTC butterfly on EE's 4G network (once it comes to the UK) even though their network prices are ridiculously high.
However as the company I work for are promoting EE, we're getting an offer which will allow us to get 40% discount on any of their 24 month tariffs. Which means I can get a £46 or £51 contract for about £31-33. If I do go for it they can buy my remaining contract months out.
The only downfall is I don't want the current phones that are out in the market at the moment. So should I go for it and get the iPhone 5 for now (deal with their boring UI for a couple of months) and sell it when the phone i want comes out and buy that one.
These are the EE 4G phones that are available: http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-phones/pay-monthly/
Or should I just wait it out and get a contract once the phone comes and hope the standard 4G prices go down
What would you do?
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Click to collapse
Cell phone contacts aren't going cheaper. Personally, if it were gsm I would buy another Android after selling the ip5
Sent from my U8800pro using xda premium
Somcom3X said:
Cell phone contacts aren't going cheaper. Personally, if it were gsm I would buy another Android after selling the ip5
Sent from my U8800pro using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Yeah that's what I might do. Not straight away though, I'll sell the iPhone and then wait for the HTC Butterfly/Droid DNA to come out in the UK and I'll just buy that sim free.