I recently picked up 2 MT3GS' and an HD2.
The Slide was great, my first Android phone and it knocked my socks off, but I wanted something closer to the 1GHz spectrum with a few more bells and whistles.
The HD2, although it had some great guts, it was pretty sluggish. SPB Shell and some custom ROMS helped a bit, but it wasn't what I had hoped for; didn't meet my expectations especially when stacked against the Slide.
Then, because my wife and I agreed on a few things, we decided to return the phones in hopes of getting something better. Now in hindsight, that may have been unwise as I did this the morning of, or the day before the 'major HD2 breakthrough', and word of SLIDEMEROOT5.
Enter: Facepalm!
No sense looking back and wallowing in a bit of regret. So, I'm moving on and am looking for advice on replacement devices
I've done some research, scouring the web for pros/cons, and while there is no ultimate phone, some do come close. If you haven't already picked up on this, I'm a TMO customer so I'm only interested in phones that support T-Mobile's HSPA+ (1700/2100 MHz, AWS Band) network.
The Nexus One seems to be getting loads of attention with new apps & hacks, roms and other nifty bells and whistles nearly every day. Needless to say I was a bit jealous and felt slighted when I had the Slide. The Nexus One in my eyes is like the tried & true Android phone that's hard to go wrong with.
The Galaxy S is looking mighty nice and the touchscreen appears to handle multitouch very well, but I'm concerned about how well it will perform. Is 1GHz really 1Ghz? How does their Hummingbird stack up against the Snapdragon? Is one processor better than the other?
Verizon's Droid X is looking great ... but its Verizon. I'm enjoying TMO's 3G quite a bit so if they make a GSM version that supports HSPA+, then maybe we have a winner. (Does anyone know if this is happening?)
Storage space isn't that big of a deal for me - sd cards are there.
Photo and video quality is fairly important so I'm looking for 720p
Not sure if it matters whether or not it has a physical keyboard; I'm ok with touch screens.
I've had bad experiences with phones so I'm looking to make up for it. I want something responsive, that supports Froyo (if it doesn't already come with it) and will hopefully take full advantage of Gingerbread.
I know this is all based on opinion but I'd like to hear from those who have 'high-end' Android phones and what their experience is so far.
What phone do you have?
What's its greatest strength?
What's it lacking?
What phone are you craving?
And if you don't have a high-end phone, what are you holding out for?
Ok so first off if your in the US you want a non Tmo branded phone and only want Edge network. Is this correct? In the US Tmo 3G runs on 850mhz and 1700mhz. If you want to use Tmo 3G you must have a Tmo branded phone. That being considered now we can look for phones. Are you sold on Android? Or are you willing to use WM 6.5 with the ability to run android by port? In either case I recommend 2 phones. 1 the Touch Pro 2. This is about the nicest phone I've every used with a slide out KB. It doesn't zing like the HD2 but it competant and the KB is freaking awesome and really the only difference you will see will be about a 30% speed increase. Now for the HD2. I love this phone. It was hard leaving a real KB but once I learned swype and practiced a bit I prefer a touch KB. I really don't know what to recommend other then those 2. Everything else on the market just seems to be a spin off of either of these, so I would get one of these second hand for cheap. I paid $150 for a mint TP2 and $250 for a mint HD2. Then I would just wait it out till holiday season phones come around. I don't think were gonna see anything really new or more powerful till Xmas. My buddy just got a droid incredible and that think kills batteries. Poor kid hasn't made it through an 8 hour shift without the battery dieing. Now sure if its a Android thing or HTC thing but my HD2 gets way way way better battery life then his incredible. ALso with in one week of owning it and running nothing but stock apps on it he's had to pull the battery pack twice. I expect that from my cooked roms and custom apps but not from something stock.
maxpower097 - Thanks for the feedback!
Didn't know that about the Droid Incredible. My best friend has one and he hasn't mentioned any issues with we briefly discussed it. But still, good to know.
As for your comment about me only wanting only EDGE/2G (or 2.5G or 2.75G depending on how you want to slice it), if I understood you correctly, you were saying I wanted to 'cap out' at EDGE. If that's what you were saying, that is not true at all - I want HSDPA/3G (or 'Enhanced 3G or 3.5G, depending on how one slices it). I don't believe I have to buy a T-Mobile branded phone to do this - I believe getting a phone that supports HSDPA will be sufficient.
I'm not 100% sold on Android, meaning I would consider another OS like Symbian^3, Maemo or Windows Phone 7 (whatever they're calling it today).
I considered the Touch Pro 2, especially since there was an Android port but I felt it was like antiquated hardware (Landed early 2009 with a ~528MHz proc).
HD2 was great - loved the physical dimensions, feel/build quality and size of the screen but WinMo 6.5 wasn't doing it for me, even on the snappy Snapdragon. Now that Android is creeping closer by leaps now, I have a feeling that before the end of the summer we'll have a successful, usable Android port for the HD2; this may end up being the winner but I have to land a sweet deal like you because I'm not paying $450
Swype is great; when I had the Slide, I only used the physical keyboard maybe 10% of the time. Keyboard vs no keyboard is not a deal breaker, but I do like options
Again, I appreciate you taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge with me.
Depends on location really. Here in the US you will need a branded phone for 3G since TMo uses a specific band not supported by any other carrier. Some European phones will sometimes pick up intermitent 3G here on Tmo but thats because of one of the bands they use. I've tried ATT Tilt2's, and Tilt1's and could never even see 3G here on HSPA. Yet with a tmo TP2 or HD2 I don't even get 3G just H. I'm not 100% sure your phone just needs to be HSPA, I think the bands will need to match too, which will put you in a tmo phone. I think the best option to do is find an HSPA phone in the forums and post in there asking if anyone can pick up tmo 3G on it. I though the same as you and argued with thetmo support lady for an hour before finally accepting her answer that they just use a different band then everyone else and I would need a tmo phone to use tmo 3g. PS thats why you can't use 3G on a tmo iphone.
My phones are on my sig.
I am looking forward for a WM phone with hardware keyboard, 3.8" screen and 1ghz processor and will wait for that perhaps till 2qt 2011.
I am not interested in Android @all and will stick to WM what ever version 6.5.3 or WP7
The Nexus fly's with Android 2.2 FroYo 85B. So impressive, I forgot all about the future WM7...
Once again many thanks to you all for providing input.
So far, I'm leaning towards the Nexus One, unless Motorola has plans to make a GSM HSPA+ compatible Droid X version (like the Milestone X?)
@maxpower097: I'm going to delve a bit deeper into the 3G/HSPA issue but thanks again for the warning! I'd hate to spend loads of a '3G' phone only to find out it won't work with Tmo, even though the device itself is advertised as supporting 1700/2100 (AWS).
Droid X will not come to a GSM carrier. Verizon paid big bucks to have that as their exclusive flagship phone. Thats gonna be a verizon deal only for at least a year. That would be like hoping for a Evo 4 on ATT.
Hey guys,
So I was a windows mobile person for the last 5 years, but I decided to switch to android mainly because I havent liked the recent win7 mobile devices and I really need to new phone.
Well I made my first android purchase and then found out that the device doesn't support tmobile 3G band. The phone was a milestone 2. I thinking about changing the phone but I was wondering if anyone can please suggest an android phone that supports the tmobile 3G band.
I really like a phone like the milestone 2
Something with a slide out qwerty keyboard
I looking for a recent phone, any price is ok.
Thanks you for ur replies.
Can't think of anything, other than t-mo's own phones. I don't think t-mo bands are popular anyways.
Get the Vibrant you can buy cheap 160-250 range. There are alot of Excellent Roms for it is adaptable to Att (should that deal go through) You can put a Front Facing Camera on it for 45 bucks if you want to do video calls, battery life is very good........but no keyboard though.......Me? I would lose the keyboard once I left it I never missed it. By in large this is a great older 3 G phone, I get on my area 3-4 mg down and 2.5 up...... that is plenty fast enough to do video calling. This is a great workhorse
Epic 4g? I dont know about phones in northamerican companies. In my country my milestone2 works with 3g
Enviado desde el Motorola Milestone 2
Ok so I have a question for all you Sprint users. My wife and I recently switched to Sprint for our phone carrier. (By recent I mean last night). I picked up the Evo 4G as my phone of choice. But I am wondering if I made the RIGHT choice. What are the better performance phones offered by Sprint?
P.S. In case anyone is wondering what I mainly use my phone for, it would be Games, Music, and a bit of streaming video/music. Thank you all for your time.
I just came to sprint too and got the samsung nexus S. The Samsung Epic touch just came out its the galaxy S II. There's no question thats the phone to have. 4.5 inch screen and thinner than the iphone with the unlock button on the side so its easy to unlock. 8mp camera on the back 2mp camera on the front. Dual 1.5 core system for your gaming. I'm going to go get it tomorrow.
I love my nexus, never getting another non developer phone again.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Performance wise, nothing can touch the epic 4g right now. It is the best phone in the world at this particular point in time.
A lot of troubles with Triumph? Motorola not fixing software? There is an alternative now.
People have choice to switch to Samsung Exhibit II 4G on T-Mobile. It is 194.98 in Walmart and has monthly no contract Monthly4G plan - 100 min talk + unlimited text + unlimited web - USD 30/Month
Walmart.com: T-Mobile Samsung T679 Exhibit II 4G Prepaid Android Smartphone: Cell Phones
Monthly4G Plan details:
Walmart.com: (Email Delivery) New T-Mobile Monthly4G $30 Unlimited Web & Text with 100 min of talk: Cell Phones
Specs and review:
Android 2.3
3.7 Inch AMOLED screen
1 GHz Processor
512 MB RAM
4 GB ROM
Front Camera VGA
3 MP Rear Camera
wi-fi calling
DLNA
VPN
GSM Quadband - Can be used all over the world if unlocked
HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
More detail specs at:
Features and Specifications - Samsung Exhibit
Review at:
Samsung Exhibit II 4G Review - Watch CNET's Video Review
I compared features of Triumph and Exhibit II 4G and found that HDMI port is missing in Exhibit II 4G. However, it has FM Radio hardware, 3.0 Bluetooth, and wi-fi Hotspot (T-Mobile official).
Compare Mobile Phones, Cell phone Comparisons - Compare Specifications, Prices, Pictures, Videos
EducateAndInnovate said:
I compared features of Triumph and Exhibit II 4G and found that HDMI port is missing in Exhibit II 4G. However, it has FM Radio hardware, 3.0 Bluetooth, and wi-fi Hotspot (T-Mobile official).
Compare Mobile Phones, Cell phone Comparisons - Compare Specifications, Prices, Pictures, Videos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to play pessimistic jerk (not hard for me) because I loved my Triumph. So here's my "Triumph over Exhibit" list:
The Triumph pretends to be a Motorola, but the Exhibit pretends to be a Galaxy SII. Why either company is trying for the honor of "worst phone with our high-end label on it" I will not know, but this SII isn't.
The screen is smaller. Than a Galaxy S.
The camera has fewer pixels. Two million. That's pixel genocide.
I strongly doubt T-Mobile included a hotspot feature unless they really got sloppy. A lot of websites list specs that aren't there, or list arbitrary specs. I won't believe they did that one until I see evidence.
I honestly would go buy one if I could somehow get my triumph sold, but it seems like once a phone is activated on VM you're pretty much screwed. You can call them up and transfer it to another VM number... but nobody in the market for a phone will want to deal with all that.
The 100 minutes is a killer, but if you're a voip user its not really an issue. The only thing that REALLY makes me want to switch is the 4g. I guess ill just hold out and hope that VM eventually upgrades their mobile network.
Sent from my Triumph using XDA App
eShrooms said:
I honestly would go buy one if I could somehow get my triumph sold, but it seems like once a phone is activated on VM you're pretty much screwed. You can call them up and transfer it to another VM number... but nobody in the market for a phone will want to deal with all that.
The 100 minutes is a killer, but if you're a voip user its not really an issue. The only thing that REALLY makes me want to switch is the 4g. I guess ill just hold out and hope that VM eventually upgrades their mobile network.
Sent from my Triumph using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh bah. After destroying my last Triumph I would be happy to buy a used one as long as it worked. Maybe you should hook me up once I get $200 to spend on it.
Sent from my LG-VM701 using Tapatalk
primetechv2 said:
Oh bah. After destroying my last Triumph I would be happy to buy a used one as long as it worked. Maybe you should hook me up once I get $200 to spend on it.
Sent from my LG-VM701 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, how did you "destroy" your last Triumph? What happened to it?
primetechv2 said:
Oh bah. After destroying my last Triumph I would be happy to buy a used one as long as it worked. Maybe you should hook me up once I get $200 to spend on it.
Sent from my LG-VM701 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously, call Virgin Mobile, tell them the truth, they'll probably replace it.
After using the 4.1" screen of the Triumph, I wouldn't be able to go down to 3.7".
After using the 4.1" screen of the Triumph, I wouldn't be able to go down to 3.7".[/QUOTE]
That's my killer. After having a large screen I don't think I could go smaller. Besides now running MIUI it's a really nice phone.
All I can say is the op must be a salesman, he/she has this same exact thread posted on just about every android forum I read.
IMHO it (samsung exhibit II) is a downgrade to the triumph, however, the one thing it has that I wish the triumph (virgin mobile/sprint) had was GSM.
I think the triumph kicks @ss with CM7, hopefully CM9 works just as well
tannerzion said:
Seriously, call Virgin Mobile, tell them the truth, they'll probably replace it.
After using the 4.1" screen of the Triumph, I wouldn't be able to go down to 3.7".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Mister Rep, my friend was using the phone and got extremely angry at it. And seems to have smashed the screen. And poked it. And attempted to snap it in half, crosswise. Am I still eligible for phone insurance?
No, Mister Rep, he's not my friend anymore.
FM Radio
Hello OP,
You wrote -
I compared features of Triumph and Exhibit II 4G and found that HDMI port is missing in Exhibit II 4G. However, it has FM Radio hardware, 3.0 Bluetooth, and wi-fi Hotspot (T-Mobile official).
What will it take to activate the FM Radio in Exhibit II?
Thanks.
Exhibit II 4G discussion areas
Exhibit II 4G discussion areas
Since we don't have a forum we've centralized at the links below:
Exhibit II 4g discussion HERE
Exhibit II 4g dev thread HERE
Exhibit II 4g Wiki HERE
All thought the exhibit out-specs the triumph in some departments the triumph has ALOT more custom ROMS.We have MIUI based on android 2.3 and cm7 and th devs are working on MIUI v4 and cm9 in the works,not to mention alot other smaller ROMS
MotoTriu said:
All thought the exhibit out-specs the triumph in some departments the triumph has ALOT more custom ROMS.We have MIUI based on android 2.3 and cm7 and th devs are working on MIUI v4 and cm9 in the works,not to mention alot other smaller ROMS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it under specs the MT in most departments. The only thing that it has over the MT is 4g and maybe less hardware bugs. If you want an alternate get any post paid T-mobile phone and get a prepaid activation kit activate it online and choose the $30 plan. There are plenty of dual core 4g phone's that you can get for fairly cheap used or new on ebay, amazon, or craigslist.
good deal as a backup plan, but I'm still at grandfathered prices so still happy and comfy with my triumph and service
I would rather get a Galaxy S 4G in good condition for that much $$...
Triumph is probably the best bang for buck as far as the spec/features you get. Only thing is they skimped on the hardware quality, so it's a crap shoot whether it'll be a lemon or not.
I may be the only one, but I'm going to stick with Virgin because of their awesome customer service. Yes, you may have to speak to several thickly accented indians before you are speaking to the right person, but once you are, they are really helpful usually. My old triumph broke (think it was overheating, but not sure; bought it used), and after telling them it wouldn't turn on, they agreed to send me a refurb. After waiting 5 days to get the refurb (they told me they would overnight it), I got a month of service for free. Not sure how good T-Mobile is.
Also, the plan is much MUCH better on Virgin. I can go over 300 minutes a month without being forced to permanently change plans. The $30/month gives you 100 minutes and unless you change plans to a much more expensive plan, you cannot get more. And if you change to the more expensive plan, you are not allowed to revert to the $30/month plan unless you buy a new SIM card. Pretty ridiculous.
I'm kinda confuse too. I have my triumph since September, paying $25 a month and can't really complain. But Most of the time when I'm home, people keep saying that they can't call me even my phone is on.
I also having a TM samsung vibrant right now that is not in use. I am thinking about going for that $30 plan and have better services. ( If it announced before I bought my triumph I may not be here lol )
gary93 said:
I'm kinda confuse too. I have my triumph since September, paying $25 a month and can't really complain. But Most of the time when I'm home, people keep saying that they can't call me even my phone is on.
I also having a TM samsung vibrant right now that is not in use. I am thinking about going for that $30 plan and have better services. ( If it announced before I bought my triumph I may not be here lol )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just so you're aware, being on Tmobile will not give you better service (necessarily). Your signal depends on where you live. For example, where I currently am, Tmobile has no signal, but Sprint/VM has an awesome signal. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe Sprint has a larger network than Tmobile. Can anyone else verify?
xxBrun0xx said:
Just so you're aware, being on Tmobile will not give you better service (necessarily). Your signal depends on where you live. For example, where I currently am, Tmobile has no signal, but Sprint/VM has an awesome signal. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe Sprint has a larger network than Tmobile. Can anyone else verify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well T-MO is the smallest of the 4 networks so I would assume that would mean they have a smaller network. Although where I am I get a almost perfect signal with T-MO and got hardly any signal with VM. The best thing that you could do would be to check coverage maps... (although the VM map for my area says I'm in a good signal area...)
Just a thought but does anyone else really feel that in this day and age with TuneIn and numerous other internet radio apps that having an fm tuner in your phone is a major plus selling point. With modern technology almost seems to be a solution to a non-existent problem, Oh well just my thought for the day, Clint
I'm looking to get my mom a new phone and am highly considering the Samsung Infuse.
But I'd really like for a device with a little more stable ICS support; official or not.
She's coming from a flip phone, will be her first smartphone. Doesn't need to be overly fast. Just a decent sized screen for bad eyes, GSM, and I'd like to get her running on ICS.
Any suggestions?
xHighAlert said:
I'm looking to get my mom a new phone and am highly considering the Samsung Infuse.
But I'd really like for a device with a little more stable ICS support; official or not.
She's coming from a flip phone, will be her first smartphone. Doesn't need to be overly fast. Just a decent sized screen for bad eyes, GSM, and I'd like to get her running on ICS.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pantech Burst is getting the ICS update late summer and its fairly cheep on ATT. its 4g LTE so when LTE service is available in her service area she will get the added speed boost. it will still run on the 4g non LTE network for fast data until LTE is available as well.