Need a new phone

[Not Kuno]

I don't know anything about phones. I currently have a prepaid cell phone from 2003. It is a giant piece of shit.

I need to get a new phone, but I know absolutely nothing about smart phones. At all. And so my questions are:

1) Which do I get? I'm leaning towards android because my friend has one and it is awesome. Not an apple fan at all.
2) What service provider?
3) What kind of plan?


I'm not a heavy phone user but some of the plans looks steep as shit if you go over. I don't know anything about service providers except that I have T Mobile and it sucks ass. My room is like a fucking deadzone, even with other peoples (newer phones) in my room, their signal drops down to crap.


So.. yeah. Any ideas?

[DAKPluto]

If you want the fastest service possible, than currently that's the Verizon 4g LTE network. Also the most expensive. Honestly, everyone I've ever known with T-Mobile has always said the service is complete garbage. Sprint is the only big one still rocking an unlimited plan, but speeds are so-so. AT&T has the fastest 3G, less data compression, and around 2013 or so their 4G in theory should be faster than Verizon's. AT&T is also known though for having a spotty service is some areas, and a higher dropped call rate. In some cities (like where I live) that isn't as much of a problem. Check with local people that have AT&T to judge your area. Being GSM though, if you travel international a lot, an AT&T Phone will be far more usable.

As for the best droid phone, well that's a huge can of worms. The newest "big" ones coming out soon is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the Motorola Razr, and the HTC Rezound. The Razr is utter shit, ignore it. The Galaxy Nexus will be the first phone with the lastest Android software, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). But like previous Nexus phones, it's more bare-bones and aimed more at the developers and people who really like to tinker with their phones (aka Rooting). Rezound looks to be decent, but probably will suck up battery fast. HTC is notorious for sticking shit stock batteries in their phones, so be prepared to buy a new battery.

I wouldn't 100% rule out the iPhone either. I would NOT call me an Apple fanboy by any means. I've never had any desire to own a mac in any form. But I do love my iPhone 4. By far it will give you the easiest and "attractive" offering out of the gates. It may do as much stock as an android phone, but there is still some aspects that droid hasn't been able to match either. Jailbroken, an iPhone is capable of even more. In terms of their respective App stores, Apple pretty much always wins that argument in simplicity and offerings. Although it has gotten better, droid's app store carries a reputation of being a labyrinth of confusion. And it is true that app makers almost always look to write for iPhone first, and then look to droid after.

Best thing you can do, is just ask your friends with smartphones to just "show them off" a bit, play around with them yourself, and ask about their coverage in your area. Judge the phones and service that work best for you then.

[Militant]

ATT is absolute garbage in NYC, nearly everyone I know has hated it and switched/can't wait to switch. It's ironic that their slogan used to be "fewest dropped calls" because the ONLY time I ever had dropped calls was talking to ATT customers. Stay the fuck away. Also, my Verizon 3G speeds are about twice the speed of ATT 3g speeds when compared to my friends using the speedtest.com app on our respective smart phones. Go with Verizon, the extra price is well worth the quality of service and speed. As far as phone, look into the nexus phones, droid bionic, etc. Go into a Verizon store and physically hold the phones and play with them. See what feels comfortable.

[Seanr]

I like sprint because it's damn near everything unlimited on the cheapest plan. The Everything Data plan has unlimited Data, Text, it says 450 anytime minutes but thats only used when calling landlines between the hours of i think 5 in the morning to maybe 7-8pm. Otherwise calling any mobile phone on any network is included. But yea, I can acknowledge speeds are so-so, yet I still regularly racki up a few gigs on 3g somehow, one month I Think I had 5GB on 3G, they dont count 4G bandwidth on phones.
I didnt text too much that month... i think i used a few thousand mobile to mobile minutes

Spoiler: show

[DAKPluto]

ATT is absolute garbage in NYC, nearly everyone I know has hated it and switched/can't wait to switch. It's ironic that their slogan used to be "fewest dropped calls" because the ONLY time I ever had dropped calls was talking to ATT customers. Stay the fuck away. Also, my Verizon 3G speeds are about twice the speed of ATT 3g speeds when compared to my friends using the speedtest.com app on our respective smart phones. Go with Verizon, the extra price is well worth the quality of service and speed. As far as phone, look into the nexus phones, droid bionic, etc. Go into a Verizon store and physically hold the phones and play with them. See what feels comfortable.

Avoid the Bionic like the plague, it's shit. Motorola just needs to give up on making droid phones.

[Militant]

Avoid the Bionic like the plague, it's shit. Motorola just needs to give up on making droid phones.

Sorry but I really couldn't disagree more. I have a D3 which is a bionic without 4g but with a keyboard instead, and I love the thing. I don't see what the issue with motorola is.

[Tymon]

Half of BG has a Droid 3/Droid Bionic so you may have skewed opinions on those 2 phones.

If you're gonna get an iPhone go with AT&T, the other 2 carriers don't take advantage of the data speeds the phone can achieve. Which aren't very good compared to LTE, by the way.

If you're interested in Verizon, you can either wait until Black Friday (or around there, Nov 17 and Nov 21 are speculated dates) and get the Galaxy Nexus, which is probably the best smartphone on the rumor mill right now, or pick up the HTC Rezound on Nov 14. The Droid Razr releases on Nov 11, but it's not up to par with those other two phones and will be locked down so badly you won't be able to customize much on it, if you ever decide to.

If you want Sprint, then check out the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, very solid phone. Other options are the HTC EVO 3D and Nexus S 4G. They may also be getting the Galaxy Nexus at a later date.

[Militant]

ATT 3g does appear to be better on the iPhone from what I've been reading, but on android devices, I've been finding (in my area, relevant to kuno anyway) that Verizon's 3g is actually faster.

[jmc]

Just note....AT&T activated their LTE networks in some towns today.

Looked at a Samsung galaxy skyrocket in store today, and it was getting between 18-21 Mbps down on speed test apps.

Not on par with Verizon, but not too shabby.

[DAKPluto]

ATT 3g does appear to be better on the iPhone from what I've been reading, but on android devices, I've been finding (in my area, relevant to kuno anyway) that Verizon's 3g is actually faster.

if coverage is poor, yes, but GSM 3G is theoretically capable of faster 3G performance over CDMA. But like ALL cell networks, it depends on the load and signal strength in your area. And even within the city of NY, it can depend. With cell networks, even a difference of just a couple of city blocks can see vastly different performance.

[Salodin]

Just to chime in, I've had verizon for about 7 years now and I can tell you I have had absolutely zero problems with their customer service. I absolutely love them and recommend them to every one, even if they're the most expensive option. I've never had problem with reception, I feel like I could be on mars and make a phone call. Also, of the times Ive had a problem on my bill (and in almost a decade I can count them on one hand), they took care of it after one quick phone call.

If you don't want to deal with shitty customer service, go with verizon hands down.

[richardd]

a little off topic, but:
are there any good data plans with ANY service that doesn't require some kind of "grandfathered in" type of service? the cheapest i can find right now is sprint for ~80 bucks lol

[Militant]

a little off topic, but:
are there any good data plans with ANY service that doesn't require some kind of "grandfathered in" type of service? the cheapest i can find right now is sprint for ~80 bucks lol

I think boost might be $50 for everything unlimited or something?

[jmc]

I think boost might be $50 for everything unlimited or something?

Sprint, boost or virgin mobile I guess.

T-mobile maybe? However, I think they throttle after 2 gb of data monthly.

[Not Kuno]

I'm not a crazy phone user so I'm ok with sacrificing super top speeds for more affordability. What are the price range on some of the plans that are being tossed around? There's no way I'd take advantage of a fully unlimited/expensive plan, but I have no idea what lesser plans are worthwhile at all.

Basically I'm completely phone retarded. All I know is I want to avoid iPhone and TMobile (and also AT&T)

[Seanr]

Sprint is $80 roughly with the cheapest "unlimited" plan that I described up there.. plus taxes of course.

[Tymon]

I'm not a crazy phone user so I'm ok with sacrificing super top speeds for more affordability. What are the price range on some of the plans that are being tossed around? There's no way I'd take advantage of a fully unlimited/expensive plan, but I have no idea what lesser plans are worthwhile at all.

Basically I'm completely phone retarded. All I know is I want to avoid iPhone and TMobile (and also AT&T)

Assumed: 450 minutes, unlimited text, average data (varies)

Verizon: $100 (450min, unlimited text, 2GB data/mo)
AT&T: $80-85 (450-550min, unlimited text, 2-4GB)
Sprint: $80, same as above except uncapped data

[Tymon]

And the people that bitch about Verizon's data plans being nazi now are half correct, half overblowing things.

Yeah, you won't catch me giving up my grandfathered unlimited data, but I only use like 1.2GB of data a month with HEAVY usage. Tethering, etc

You're gonna have a hard time using the 2gb they give you for the cheapest plan..

[DAKPluto]

I push well over 2gb a month easy, but I stream a ton of netflix over 3g. And that shit will eat up your data like crazy.

[Not Kuno]

Assumed: 450 minutes, unlimited text, average data (varies)

Verizon: $100 (450min, unlimited text, 2GB data/mo)
AT&T: $80-85 (450-550min, unlimited text, 2-4GB)
Sprint: $80, same as above except uncapped data

All of those seem unlikely for me. I probably don't even use 100 minutes a month. But I don't know how much GB I'll use since I never really had a phone with internet. Are there any non-unlimited plans that aren't a sack of shit?


Also is there any particular android that is good? It doesn't have to be the most brand spankingest new one. I just need something that works and isn't a piece of shit.