Best T-MO Compatible phone under $400? - General Questions and Answers

I feel like the title says it all, but I don't want to be one of those people who posts a title and then says... "so yeah" in the body so instead, here goes.
Right now I'm on Sprint (Virgin Mobile, whatever) and I've got an Evo V 4G (for all of you who aren't VM savvy, that's an Evo 3D) and it's... alright. Not magical, but it may as well be the next big deity in comparison to the other selections you get on Virgin Mobile.
So going along with that, you heard, didn't you? I'm on Sprint. If you don't positively love your phone on Sprint, you aren't too happy with 30kbp/s. So I heard of T-Mobile's prepaid, and I was like, well I'm sure you can imagine... ecstatic. The problem is, it's all off contract (although I suppose that isn't a problem, I hate contracts... a LOT) so if I get a phone with them, it won't be subsidized.
So I suppose the question stands, what phone should I get that's roughly under $400? I'd like the development community to be fairly active (although I suppose that won't matter once Xda-university opens) I'm open to snagging one off of Ebay or Amazon, or wherever the hell you can find a decent price. And (quite obviously I hope) it has to be better than the Evo 3D. Mainly better battery life, although internals are worth something too, showing me a phone with a single core processor or something like this and telling me it gets magical battery life would be a bit mean. Also, chances are I'd hold off on buying it until Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc.
So far I'm checking out the international One X, but if anyone has any better suggestions, thoughts, ideas. or even rants about how awesome Sprint is and how dumb I am for even considering leaving it... feel free to drop a post.
Thanks in advance,
Thebeastglasser

Related

Life after the cappy. Where to go from here.

So I know alot of people have started to think about their next phone after their cappys. I am going to guess most people are thinking about the same candidates I am. I"m lookin at the HTC Inspire, Moto Atrix, and Samsung Infuse.
The Atrix really seems to be the king of them in most specs, i just wish it had a bigger screen than 4". Plus I am still a lil confused about the whole dock thing with it and something costing 500 bucks and ATT "making" me pay for tethering also. I def dont want any of that. I dont mind paying a lil extra for 4G, thats if I actually get 4G speeds. I like the Infuse the best out of the 3 with the screen size and looks, but is it going to be the same regurgitated Samsung problems that most of us are having with our Cappys? I can handle a lil lag, but the poor GPS performance is a deal breaker.
So I am wondering what others are going to go to and why? Chime on in.
I think I'm going to be jumping ship and leaving AT&T entirely if I can talk my wife into it. I'm mostly waiting on MWC to end so I can see what other new phones will be released and on what carrier.
well, you know how the waiting game is with phones, if you wait, you'll be waiting forever. there is always something coming down the pipe.
I'm stuck with AT&T on two of my lines until mid 2012 anyway, so with the Death Star I have to stay. I'm leaning towards the Atrix, but am waiting for MWC as well. Even if the phone does have a locked boot loader, XDA will take care of that with a quickness... ;-)
despite some of its flaws i still can't believe how eager some people are to defect from the best overall phone out there especially when paired with the right rom.
Why did you have to start a new thread on this? There is one titled latest from att on the first page. Did you not see not one? please look around or search before starting a new thread. There are many threads already open on this topic.
I'm stuck with AT&T unless I want to carry multiple phones. They are the only ones that work in Europe. I looked at the all band Nokia but they are simply too expensive.
I want to stick with an Android phone for the simple reason that the community will improve on the standard issue crap. Will the boot loader on the Atrix be locked so as to prevent flashing custom stuff?
boborone said:
Why did you have to start a new thread on this? There is one titled latest from att on the first page. Did you not see not one? please look around or search before starting a new thread. There are many threads already open on this topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
none that had a survey attached to it to see a general consensus. now quit being a cry baby. i mean seriously, some of you ppl in here whine more than a lil school girl. if you dont like the thread, dont vote, shut up and move on.
I am trying to talk the wife into dumping the iPhone 3GS for the HTC Inspire 4G. She really like Google navigation and I think the $99 price may be a deal maker.
I am still in the 90 window on my refurbed Captivate, if I like the Inspire, I may start whining to see if I can get it as a replacement.
uhmump95 said:
I am trying to talk the wife into dumping the iPhone 3GS for the HTC Inspire 4G. She really like Google navigation and I think the $99 price may be a deal maker.
I am still in the 90 window on my refurbed Captivate, if I like the Inspire, I may start whining to see if I can get it as a replacement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, that price is pretty shocking. nice attention getter
boborone said:
Why did you have to start a new thread on this? There is one titled latest from att on the first page. Did you not see not one? please look around or search before starting a new thread. There are many threads already open on this topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boborone for mod?!?
Thread closed, there are other threads with the same topic.

Which of these copy android phones is the best?

Getting a little tired of looking poor .... I guess it's time to retire the old iPhone 4 for the bedroom.but I do not want to get the new iPhone 4S.So I want to try android phones,and wait for iPhone 5.
Anyway, these seem more I can squeeze,Which of these copy android phones is the best?
I went to Best Buy and Target. Can not really tell you a bit of difference between each copy iphone. When the sales guy at Best Buy started telling me that plasma leakage and only last 6 months, I knew it was time to go (Best Buy has always had long 'oh yes, 2/3s of our products are junk, buy this instead of tactical sales approach ... weird, but whatever)
What?
10char
They are all terrible. I'm looking at the specs right now and my LG Optimus beats them all. One is even priced at 200 and you can get a brand new real LG Optimus One for $130. You won't get the full android experience with these crap china phones.
you get what you paid for.
if you want a proper android phone, get ready yo dpend $700
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Carden12 I am just going to do my best NOT to be biased nor make myself sound like some salesman or anything. First things first though. As far as what these phones are that are listed here is any ones guess.
What I am saying here is that it might be hard to track down exactly what kind of phone any of these phones you have listed in that link are. Like are any of them made by HTC,Samsung or Sony etc is any ones guess. You also have to realize that it might be hard at that point to actually do anything with the phone.If you do not know what make model what kind of processor they have in them ect.
What I am saying here is you might have problems actually setting a phone like that up.
As far as the guy telling you if you want a good Android phone you would have to pay seven hundred for it I can assure you that is not true at all. It all depends if you want to own the phone outright or if you want to do something like with what I did. I took a promotional offer and I was able to get a seven hundred dollar phone for nothing to use on my carriers plan they were promoting at the time.
If I were you though I would honestly search on google look at reviews on phones ect I just really have been skeptical of buying things from china that have not already been shipped here from a viable company like HTC Samsung Sony ect.
I just do not really know what to tell you other than this as that is honestly with what I did and to not be biased I will not tell you anything about my findings but you waiting for an I Phone honestly search good and hard that is all.
Bubsmash said:
Carden12 I am just going to do my best NOT to be biased nor make myself sound like some salesman or anything. First things first though. As far as what these phones are that are listed here is any ones guess.
What I am saying here is that it might be hard to track down exactly what kind of phone any of these phones you have listed in that link are. Like are any of them made by HTC,Samsung or Sony etc is any ones guess. You also have to realize that it might be hard at that point to actually do anything with the phone.If you do not know what make model what kind of processor they have in them ect.
What I am saying here is you might have problems actually setting a phone like that up.
As far as the guy telling you if you want a good Android phone you would have to pay seven hundred for it I can assure you that is not true at all. It all depends if you want to own the phone outright or if you want to do something like with what I did. I took a promotional offer and I was able to get a seven hundred dollar phone for nothing to use on my carriers plan they were promoting at the time.
If I were you though I would honestly search on google look at reviews on phones ect I just really have been skeptical of buying things from china that have not already been shipped here from a viable company like HTC Samsung Sony ect.
I just do not really know what to tell you other than this as that is honestly with what I did and to not be biased I will not tell you anything about my findings but you waiting for an I Phone honestly search good and hard that is all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is really useful.thanks very much~
Feeshie said:
They are all terrible. I'm looking at the specs right now and my LG Optimus beats them all. One is even priced at 200 and you can get a brand new real LG Optimus One for $130. You won't get the full android experience with these crap china phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh c'mon maybe not really terrible. But for what they offer the price is too high... I agree about the LG Optimus One thing... If you want to buy a smartphone without paying too much buy an Optimus One or a Galaxy 3

Secondary Strategy for Verizon Bootloader Unlock

Ok I am just going to throw it out there. Please just hold the waves of "can't" and "not gonna work" negativity is just a waste. There are ways to get your voice heard that have worked for me in the past and here is my suggestion. The more the merrier!
Problem is Verizon put a encrypted bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy S3. The bigger problem and the angle we should have is they sold it to us with out letting us know their difference. News of the other S3's sold around the world painted a clear image of what we were getting into... "The same phone." Samsung had used their brand to deliver one device between all networks. Yes there were some cpu changes due to networks but that was noted everywhere. Verizon always note differences in how great there network is and the plus's in their service over others but nothing on the one change they had done to the Galaxy S3 vs the entire world. Obviously because its a negative. Their sales model was we are selling the Galaxy S3 and since we thought we were getting the same product we ordered it. Thats pretty big. Complaining here on xda I think is a waste.., the petition... I did sign btw but unfortunetly is just noise to Verizon. Everyone has to call with the general attitude of being frustrated like they have not been honestly sold a product and that trust was broken.
Don't get mad, don't start going threatening to jump ship... say that this really has broken our trust, don't mention technical info or just lightly because they are not going to have a clue. Say that they made no mention anywhere nor any employee informed you that their device was locked down vs any other and that they do a great job of letting you know market, network, and service differences but didn't lift a finger to let you know about the phone difference being a negative. Lastly listen to what they say as frustrating as it may be and say you want to find a way to rectify this what ever it takes.
Don't make calling your daily task, but just call when you have time... IE ride into work, ride home. Talk to the cust rep and when that fizzles ask for a super. Hang up call again then explain the same frustration and how you even more frustrated with the crappy response the previous rep and that its not acceptable. Just keep asking who you can talk to. If half there customer support traffic is from the locked bootloader and misleading sales thats going to send a pretty good message plus everything else thats going on with news online.
Lastly you could even email them, the more the better. The whole deal here is the message needs to be going to THE MAN... Big Red. Not the message being found out by the man reading it in off of some blog. The additional traffic to their general daily cycle work will send a strong concern message but with the same message of being misleading sales starts to make it a big deal. If this goes mainstream that can be very threatening. There is no guarantee it will work but the more headlines of frustrated and upset customers is really bad for them. No business wants to be linked to upset mis-informed customers...That is a trust issue in the Verizon Name.
Side note: This refocused energy may also help the DEV work with less noise and clutter. Everyone wants to help which is cool but so many none useful comments. If it was that easy these guys would have already done it. Lets let them reverse engineer things while we use our energy usefully to stir things up on the other end.
Boss428man said:
Ok I am just going to throw it out there. Please just hold the waves of "can't" and "not gonna work" negativity is just a waste. There are ways to get your voice heard that have worked for me in the past and here is my suggestion. The more the merrier!
Problem is Verizon put a encrypted bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy S3. The bigger problem and the angle we should have is they sold it to us with out letting us know their difference. News of the other S3's sold around the world painted a clear image of what we were getting into... "The same phone." Samsung had used their brand to deliver one device between all networks. Yes there were some cpu changes due to networks but that was noted everywhere. Verizon always note differences in how great there network is and the plus's in their service over others but nothing on the one change they had done to the Galaxy S3 vs the entire world. Obviously because its a negative. Their sales model was we are selling the Galaxy S3 and since we thought we were getting the same product we ordered it. Thats pretty big. Complaining here on xda I think is a waste.., the petition... I did sign btw but unfortunetly is just noise to Verizon. Everyone has to call with the general attitude of being frustrated like they have not been honestly sold a product and that trust was broken.
Don't get mad, don't start going threatening to jump ship... say that this really has broken our trust, don't mention technical info or just lightly because they are not going to have a clue. Say that they made no mention anywhere nor any employee informed you that their device was locked down vs any other and that they do a great job of letting you know market, network, and service differences but didn't lift a finger to let you know about the phone difference being a negative. Lastly listen to what they say as frustrating as it may be and say you want to find a way to rectify this what ever it takes.
Don't make calling your daily task, but just call when you have time... IE ride into work, ride home. Talk to the cust rep and when that fizzles ask for a super. Hang up call again then explain the same frustration and how you even more frustrated with the crappy response the previous rep and that its not acceptable. Just keep asking who you can talk to. If half there customer support traffic is from the locked bootloader and misleading sales thats going to send a pretty good message plus everything else thats going on with news online.
Lastly you could even email them, the more the better. The whole deal here is the message needs to be going to THE MAN... Big Red. Not the message being found out by the man reading it in off of some blog. The additional traffic to their general daily cycle work will send a strong concern message but with the same message of being misleading sales starts to make it a big deal. If this goes mainstream that can be very threatening. There is no guarantee it will work but the more headlines of frustrated and upset customers is really bad for them. No business wants to be linked to upset mis-informed customers...That is a trust issue in the Verizon Name.
Side note: This refocused energy may also help the DEV work with less noise and clutter. Everyone wants to help which is cool but so many none useful comments. If it was that easy these guys would have already done it. Lets let them reverse engineer things while we use our energy usefully to stir things up on the other end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Such a great post :good:
I totally agree and I think this will catch their attention way more than anything we can do online. I'm in.
Wont do anything different. They'll tell you the same thing they told me after I filed a BBB complaint against thrm for my X2. "Your totally right our phones blow, so let me early upgrade you or do ypu want to terminate your contract for X amount of money?"
mike86325 said:
Such a great post :good:
I totally agree and I think this will catch their attention way more than anything we can do online. I'm in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the kind words, Its the same angle I talk to Verizon about on the 28th the day that they said the Unlimited Data was gone.. I told them that I found out from everyone but them and how they didn't inform me in any way.
We need to get more people on the non informed purchase angle. They make no mention online or anywhere. Sure Pocketnow and like sites do but they are not selling us the phone. Their image is even worse now that Corp and Tech release 2 different statements.
I really hope this gets unlocked easily because I really like the phone really nice feel to it.
This is a good approach. As someone who pitches in with customer service/support for a tech company, it's often the "nice" people who get better responses, and the quantity of requests can have a bigger affect.... way more than one angry person ranting and raving that you can just write off and ignore.
Also, it's still a person at the other end of the line. They probably are not aware of the situation or don't like it either, but it's their job. It's the people at the top that usually push down these horrible policies, the bean counters and such that don't have to deal with the angry public.
I work at a major utility. Please remember that if you call be nice to the customer service representative you are taking to. They are only the messenger, please remember that. They are not allowed too much latitude with what they can do for you. The reason for your call is logged and reviewed by the management of the company so if you call constantly and take up customer service minutes over the locked bootloader you WILL have an impact on daily business and cause management of the company to fix the problem. Calling customer service works.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Boss428man said:
Ok I am just going to throw it out there. Please just hold the waves of "can't" and "not gonna work" negativity is just a waste. There are ways to get your voice heard that have worked for me in the past and here is my suggestion. The more the merrier!
Problem is Verizon put a encrypted bootloader on the Samsung Galaxy S3. The bigger problem and the angle we should have is they sold it to us with out letting us know their difference. News of the other S3's sold around the world painted a clear image of what we were getting into... "The same phone." Samsung had used their brand to deliver one device between all networks. Yes there were some cpu changes due to networks but that was noted everywhere. Verizon always note differences in how great there network is and the plus's in their service over others but nothing on the one change they had done to the Galaxy S3 vs the entire world. Obviously because its a negative. Their sales model was we are selling the Galaxy S3 and since we thought we were getting the same product we ordered it. Thats pretty big. Complaining here on xda I think is a waste.., the petition... I did sign btw but unfortunetly is just noise to Verizon. Everyone has to call with the general attitude of being frustrated like they have not been honestly sold a product and that trust was broken.
Don't get mad, don't start going threatening to jump ship... say that this really has broken our trust, don't mention technical info or just lightly because they are not going to have a clue. Say that they made no mention anywhere nor any employee informed you that their device was locked down vs any other and that they do a great job of letting you know market, network, and service differences but didn't lift a finger to let you know about the phone difference being a negative. Lastly listen to what they say as frustrating as it may be and say you want to find a way to rectify this what ever it takes.
Don't make calling your daily task, but just call when you have time... IE ride into work, ride home. Talk to the cust rep and when that fizzles ask for a super. Hang up call again then explain the same frustration and how you even more frustrated with the crappy response the previous rep and that its not acceptable. Just keep asking who you can talk to. If half there customer support traffic is from the locked bootloader and misleading sales thats going to send a pretty good message plus everything else thats going on with news online.
Lastly you could even email them, the more the better. The whole deal here is the message needs to be going to THE MAN... Big Red. Not the message being found out by the man reading it in off of some blog. The additional traffic to their general daily cycle work will send a strong concern message but with the same message of being misleading sales starts to make it a big deal. If this goes mainstream that can be very threatening. There is no guarantee it will work but the more headlines of frustrated and upset customers is really bad for them. No business wants to be linked to upset mis-informed customers...That is a trust issue in the Verizon Name.
Side note: This refocused energy may also help the DEV work with less noise and clutter. Everyone wants to help which is cool but so many none useful comments. If it was that easy these guys would have already done it. Lets let them reverse engineer things while we use our energy usefully to stir things up on the other end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel for you guys. I really do. We've tried everything with the One X but to no avail. Good luck with your attempts. These carriers need to remember who gives them their money.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
manchild83 said:
I work at a major utility. Please remember that if you call be nice to the customer service representative you are taking to. They are only the messenger, please remember that. They are not allowed too much latitude with what they can do for you. The reason for your call is logged and reviewed by the management of the company so if you call constantly and take up customer service minutes over the locked bootloader you WILL have an impact on daily business and cause management of the company to fix the problem. Calling customer service works.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the comment and good to hear your advise!
Ok now we really have been miss sold. The answers I have recieved from support are well making there position worse they said that not only the bricking of devices but that these open devices would take down their data networks do to use. If that is the case why release the "Developer Edition". Everything will break lose anyway. We all pre-ordered thinking we got a unlocked Galaxy S3 and now with out any word of additional editions they try and fix things...?
Where was an unlocked phone advertised or even realistically expected?
It sucks but VZW is so big and doesn't care at all, and won't suffer much from it.
Sent from my AT&T Galaxy SIII (SGH-i747)
yes it was expected since EVER model that has been released thats att tmo sprint international korean and us cellular ALL are unlocked.
Thats it it wasn't printed that it was locked it was advertised just like the other Galaxy s3's... They were sell you the same Galaxy S3 with the same experience you would expect unless other wise noted... which it wasn't... They should just offer to unlock our phones and void the warranty. Simple fix and essentially the same thing they have done with the Developer Edition and it would save them some returns..

[Q] T-Mobile US SGS2 or SGS3?

Well, it's about time for a new device, and I'm weighing my options. I'm on T-Mobile US, and would like to stay there, as I have a really cheap plan and great service where I live.
I spoke to a CS representative last night, and he made me a deal for a SGS2 for $179 after $50 rebate. I really like the T-Mobile SGS2, but then again, the SGS3 is awfully tempting. Comparing the two, the biggest differences are the larger screen, extra gig of ram, S4 processor, and the gimmicks Samsung threw into the SGS3. However, I really hate the color choices on it, and it's a bit bigger than I'd like. I currently have an HTC Sensation 4g, and wouldn't mind having a bit bigger screen, but the SGS3 dwarfs my Sensation.
I really hate asking a "which phone" question, but I've never used either device before, and would like some feedback from folks who have owned them. I will definitely be rooting and flashing a custom ROM either way, but I'm just wondering what the real-world differences are, assuming they're running the same (or similar) ROMs. I've compared the two as far as features and specs, but I'm hoping someone can shed some light on how the two stack up against each other under regular use.
So what do ya think? Scoop the SGS2 up on the cheap, or take the plunge on the ugly blue or white hulk of the SGS3?
Sir, Please post questions in the Q&A section. But there is a thread for your topic: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1846277
Thank You, Thread closed

Budget phones (under EUR/USD100) worth buying in Europe praised by the XDA community?

Meaning, the phone is popular with developers, as it is easy to hack, custom ROMs are plenty, stable, and well supported by the XDA community.
Anything other than (last year's, or next year's) Moto E? I have nothing against the Moto E, but that's the one I know. I wonder what alternatives are out there. Last years version is, well, last year's, and has a 4.5" screen, this year's version, with a more preferable 5" screen is still longs months away.
Meanwhile, many 5", 1080x1920 phones with IPS display (and with 1/2 GB RAM, 8/16 GB storage, that part doesn't doesn't matter as much to me) hit the market at budget prices (read, less than 100 euros or US dollars) across the world.
My preference is:
The phones is sold by a wholly European subsidiary, with the usual 2-year warranty you usually get in Europe, with local service and support. This is the preferred option. 2-year warranty is the law here.
A 'World phone,' that is, a phone sold from China with whatever their warranties worth, as option B.
Our friends in the US are flocked to the BLU R1 HD/Amazon collaboration these days. So far so good. I wonder what current, or coming soon devices keep XDA folks from Europe, or the rest of the world intrigued?
My hunch is, you are interested in this as well, you just also don't know any better, any more than me!
Any update for December 2016??
Deep silence. I wonder if my question is entirely unreasonable, that's why you are silent, or, you are like me, you are also very interested in the answer of this question as well, you just don't have an answer, that's why you are silent.
It's possible that I've posted this in the wrong section of XDA, or I posted it on entirely the wrong forum, I shouldn't have posted this kind of question on XDA in the first place, but somewhere else?
I'm asking this, because when the $50 Blu phone with the Amazon partnership came out in the US, everyone was all over about it, which was in essence, a $100 phone without subsidies, for the rest of the world.
At least, please, a living creature say either "I would like (to know) this, too," or "no way, who wants a cheap crap phone?" I'm just feeling a little weird talking with myself here all alone, on this, otherwise, premiere Android forum.

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