Your Next Phone Upgrade?
With the holiday season approaching fast, lots of people are looking for their next phone upgrade, either for themselves or for their family or friends. We've had some announcements of phones coming out, or ones that have been released recently. There's a variety of operating systems to choose from, along with carriers. Let's start a discussion about each aspect of a phone upgrade.
First off, the carrier. Who are you with now? Have you been happy with them? Have you considered switching, and if so, to who? There's been lots of changes going on with carriers too, ranging from data rates, to caps, to 4G technologies. We have At&t trying to merge/buy T-Mobile USA. We've had Sprint announce their plans to roll out LTE instead of their WiMax network for 4G (rumor is that it won't start until 2013 though). We have some carriers that set a hard cap on data usage, while others throttle your speed once you reach a limit. For voice and 3G, we have CDMA/EVDO vs GSM/HSPA.
For the operating systems, the big ones are obvious...Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7. There's also Blackberry and still some WebOS devices out there (although its being discontinued). So with all of those choices, which is your preference? Would you consider using one of the other ones? What features do you like most about them? Which do you like least?
Now for the phones. We have Nokia announcing their new Windows Phone 7 devices, but there's talk that they won't come to the US until 2012. We have the new Samsung Galaxy S II line coming to most carriers. Verizon has the Motorola Droid RAZR coming out. Then there's the next developer phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which is coming to Verizon. The GSM version has penta-band 3G/HSPA though, so it'll work across all carriers, you might just have to buy it from overseas right now. There's also the new iPhone 4S. Blackberry has their Bold line and Torch lines.
So with all those choices out there, talk about what your plans are. We're interested to see what everyone is doing.
© 2011, mindfrost82. All rights reserved.
I am going to wait I currently have a Samsung Focus. I just don’t see the need to upgrade to anything. I am hoping my next phone to be:
From Sprint Windows Phone at least 4″ Screen
CDMA 3G I don’t want to pay for 4G
World Phone with an unlock sim so I can use it on AT&T
At least 16gb of storage
Front facing cam
Optional – Sprint app to use it’s new push to talk
Thats what I want, would it eve happen probably not. However I can dream.
I have At&t now and have had some issues with them lately. I know I’ve read people complain about dropped calls and stuff with them, but I honestly never had that issue until recently, and now, over the past few months, its pretty bad. The biggest thing keeping me with them is the fact that its free for me. I don’t have to pay anything, so its hard for me to give that up. Coverage has been pretty good for me, although 3G coverage isn’t as good as other carriers, but I rarely travel where I don’t get it. Indoor 3G reception at my house is spotty, but I usually force Edge and just use WiFi.
I used to have Sprint and was pretty happy with their service. The only other carrier I would consider switching to would be Verizon, but I know LTE isn’t in my area. But for now, its hard to beat free.
As far as the OS goes, I like both Android and WP7. I have a phone with both. I don’t see myself ever going back to a Blackberry unless my company required me to have one. I have an iPod Touch, and I rarely use it, and I don’t see what the “wow” factor is behind it, so I don’t see myself using it as a phone. I liked WP7 a lot, but I started missing the app choices I had with Android. I love apps. Even though I rarely use some, its nice knowing its there. I usually have 100+ installed on my Android phone. As long as my Android phone works, I think I prefer it over anything else for now. Once more apps come to WP7, then I might look at it again.
As far as the phones go, for WP7, I like the high-end Nokia one, but who knows when its coming out. Not the Sea Ray, the one that’s better than that one.
For Android, I like the Galaxy Nexus because I like having stock Android. I have the Nexus One still and I like how its the first to get updates and you don’t have to worry about it getting left behind right away. I know it won’t run Ice Cream Sandwich, at least not without some tweaking. I like the Samsung Galaxy S II phones too, but my experience with the original Galaxy S was a disaster, so I’m hesitant about Samsung now.
Even though I would hardly ever use it, a front facing camera would be nice and I would want one that takes great pictures because I usually use my phone as a digital camera since its always with me.
gTen Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 3:33 am
@mindfrost82, Depends on how much you are willing to spend. There may be a quad band 3g international version of the Galaxy Nexus for example.
mindfrost82 Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 8:11 am
@gTen, I read that the GSM/3G version is Pentaband, so technically, I would buy the one that’s being released in Europe in the next couple weeks and I could get 3G on At&t and/or T-Mobile. Of course the cost of getting one from over there plus importing it isn’t really worth it for me.
I received the HTC Arrive as a replacement for my failing phone that was a fossil. So far, it does everything I need perfectly, so no new phone for me.
I did, however, renew my contract and purchase the iPhone 4s to resell.. those things are fetching a huge price on e-bay; it’s possibly the hottest item of the season.
Sprint plans to have LTE by middle of 2012. By 2013 they expect to cover the entire country and in 2013 plan to start on LTE-Advanced. Which is the 2nd version of LTE kinda like wimax 2.
capthr Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
@gTen, They also made a lot of promises about WIMAX coverage. How’s that worked out?
i have an HTC Arrive with Sprint but the slow data speeds are killing me and my enjoyment of it so i will most likely switch to t-mobile within the next month if they let me out of my contract and get either an HD7 or the HTC Radar if it has at least 16GB of space like its rumored to have (tmobile version anyway)
mindfrost82 Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
@eric12341, I would hold off on the HD7 and see what Mango (2nd gen) phones they release. They might not have earth-shattering specs compared to the HD7, but even a small upgrade might be worth it unless you find an HD7 for cheap.
eric12341 Reply:
October 29th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
@mindfrost82, that’s exactly y I’m going to look for a cheap HD7 on eBay, and I’m gonna use a prepay plan and the second a better 2nd Gen phone comes then I’ll sign a contract and get it. But I’m willing to jump at anything now because I can’t take this slow sprint service anymore
I had the Samsung SII for 3 weeks and I liked it. Than the Galaxy Nexus was announced and I couldn’t decide on what to do since I have had a 1 week period left to take my SII back to AT&T for a refund. Finally, I said screw it and went to the white iPhone 4S 64gb. I wish the screen was bigger, but overall, it’s a great fast phone and the Siri is cool.
What turns me off about Android is that they keep bringing out new phones every couple weeks, it’s like you never know what to get. Who the hell want to pay $500 for a phone and have it outdated 2 weeks after you buy it? Screw that, at least with my iphone I’m good for another year and you always get the latest updates. The Galaxy Nexus would’ve been nice, but having it on a Verizon exclusive is a bad idea as well as not having a micro-sd card. With my 64gb iphone, I don’t even need a micro-sd card since I have plenty of space.
gTen Reply:
October 28th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
@NIKKG, The moment an Android phone with specs of an iphone 4s or better gets outdated, the iphone 4s becomes outdated as well.
Cause by your logic the ideal way is to go windows mobile as it will never get outdated as no newer phones with it will come out.
Whenever buying any product things get outdated, you just have to convince yourself that you bought the best item at the time you bought it for a decent price. When your up for another upgrade, then get back into the game. People just let things get to them too much.
chardog Reply:
November 3rd, 2011 at 9:39 am
@NIKKG, android phones DO get updates. I dont know what made you think they dont. going from a 4.5″ screen to 3.5″ must be a huge shock. I have to wait for a non 4G non iphone for an upgrade(SERO). I dont think I can buy the iphone due to it’s ridiculously closed system, and pretty much need to buy an android due to it’s tight google apps integration and special apps like mighty text.
I’ve had the Touch Touch Pro Evo 4G and now Evo 3D…The next phone I’ll get will have a 4.5″ screen at least…A excellent Speaker…Good call quality and radio…(usin the Airave now for free…Not worried about a bigger SD card cause I’m usin Drop Box…Lastly a halfway decent battery for these new Beasts to run off… (I’ve been usin Seidio Batteries on the Evos…Get at least two days on a charge)…If it has all that I’ll buy it…I prefer HTC but I could switch…Can’t wait to see what Sprint will offer…Should be soon …Hope during the holidays…I ‘ve used 4G…but not where I live…Its Sweet…but for now Wi Fi when I’m home…and 3G everywhere else…The Airave is great for home…Great call quality and no dropped calls…I was plannin on jumpin ship but will probably hod out and stick with Sprint…Their Customer Service has been excellent with me and once LTE is up and runnin things will be fine…And every three months or so they will be sumthin better out there by each carrier…I like havin the best thats out there…I just sell the old Phones on Ebay and they help pay for the new ones…I lose a few bucks here and there…So we’ll just have to see…
this is my last go around with the big boys. after my contracts are up (4 phones), i’m off to prepaid land.
So far I’m leaning Droid Razr. Switching to big red.
As long as I can root and/or use a tethering feature for internet I will pick the company least likely to charge me for using 15GB+ data a month