My iPhone 3G is finally dead, just as my 2-year AT&T is up. What now?

[archibaldcrane]

As the title says, I dropped my iPhone and the display is all fucked up (not cracked but it just displays weird lines of nonsense.)

My AT&T contract is up in March and I wanted to get a new phone anyway. Definitely want something 4G. Not sure what to get.

Looks like my options are:

Verizon:
HTC Thunderbolt (releasing...any day now? Anyone have a date?)

Sprint:
HTC Evo
HTC Evo Shift
Samsung Epic

AT&T:
HTC Inspire
Motorola Atrix
Samsung Infuse (coming soon?)

T-Mobile:
MyTouch 4G
G2
Dell Streak 7

I live in LA, and I think all the companies have rolled out at least limited 4G plans here. Anyone have any of these phones? Know that any of them are shit? Advice please!

[Pikarya]

Thunderbolt, or EVO. Pick your poison sir.

[archibaldcrane]

Seems that way. I mean, all these phones are running Android right? What are we talking about for differences (besides carrier obviously) - processor speed, physical keyboard, screen clarity/responsiveness? Anything else?

[Pikarya]

EVO has a slightly larger battery (1,500 mAh vs. 1,400), but weighs a half ounce more than the Thunderbolt. Screens are near Identical from what I read. Storage is about the same (I think the TB has 8gb onboard with expansion, EVO came with only 1gb onboard with 8gb SD in the slot at launch?)

Either way, there are a lot of small differences. But in the end it comes down to price and how much you wanna waste.

[sruon]

HTC in general make very good phones. From experience, I'd say Thunderbolt / EVO, but the Atrix 4G has some serious arguments as well with a Tegra 2 CPU.

Don't bother with the Dell Streak, too big for a phone, too small for a tablet.

[archibaldcrane]

Does the Thunderbolt do voice+data simultaneously on 4G or no?

[Pikarya]

It shouldn't. Pretty sure you can't do that still.

[Pabst]

As long a you have wifi and near a wifi hotspot you can do voice and data. Evo is nice but the atrix and thunderbolt blow it away.

[archibaldcrane]

Evo is nice but the atrix and thunderbolt blow it away.

Not trolling, but what makes the Thunderbolt better than the Evo? They both have single 1 GHZ snapdragon processors, 8MP cameras with dual LED flash and front-facing 1.3MP camera, shoot 720p video, 4.3" multi-touch screens, Evo has a slightly bigger battery, Thunderbolt has more onboard RAM, um...

I don't know dick about Android so whether 2.1 vs. 2.2 matters I have no idea. Does it not just upgrade across all devices?

[Odon]

Does the Thunderbolt do voice+data simultaneously on 4G or no?

The way Verizon's network is setup it's impossible right now.

edit: On 3G it's impossible, but I'm pretty sure the infrastructure is the same. So yeah no.

[Pabst]

Not trolling, but what makes the Thunderbolt better than the Evo? They both have single 1 GHZ snapdragon processors, 8MP cameras with dual LED flash and front-facing 1.3MP camera, shoot 720p video, 4.3" multi-touch screens, Evo has a slightly bigger battery, Thunderbolt has more onboard RAM, um...

I don't know dick about Android so whether 2.1 vs. 2.2 matters I have no idea. Does it not just upgrade across all devices?

Yea you right as far as specs go but
Thunderbolt comes with latest version of htc's sense. Also comes with 8x more internal memory and ships with a 32g sd card. And the TB comes with an updated graphics processor and if I recall the evo was capped at like 30fps ( if rooted I think you can up that).

[archibaldcrane]

Sense = HTC's skin of Android?

[Pabst]

Yea.
I just saw the video comparison of the evo vs thunderbolt and honestly the thunderbolt is just an updated evo. So yea disregard my stupidity.
The 4 big carriers have nice phones now with practically the same specs so I think it should just be with what carrier you like more.

[Don Katsu]

Does the Thunderbolt do voice+data simultaneously on 4G or no?

3g no
4g yes

Go with the Thunderbolt. It is not an Evo, it's actually faster than the Evo has double the memory and faster processor (same clockspeed though). It uses a second generation snapdragon processor

[Linsivi]

Also would check to make sure 4G is available in your area for that carrier.
http://coverage.sprintpcs.com/IMPACT...NAV=ATG:HE:Cov
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/C...ype=NEWREQUEST

Pricing wise, I can comment on sprint for sure working for them and all; for a single line you are looking at 69.99 for 450 anytime minutes, unlimited data, text, cell to cell (all carriers), and 10.00 for 'premium' data (aka economy sucks).
Verizon doesn't have it's 4G pricing for phones yet I believe (if it's even going to be more expensive) but current 3G pricing is 39.99 for the 450 minute plan (unlimited verizon to verizon only) 20.00 for their closest unlimited text (5000 to non Verizon) and 29.99 for 3G data plan.

I can tell you as a T-Mobile customer (fuck yeh 2 year long contracts!) HSPA+ sucks balls compared to Sprint 4G, at least in Topeka/Kansas City area.

Random info for you if you are not rooting your phone: most recent update on Evo had a lot of bloatware from HTC/Sprint/Partners. Lot of people don't like that it's mandetory. Epic failed hardcore with it's recent update to Froyo, Samsung stopped the update because it was bricking units or some shit.

All in all, Thunderbolt is going to be a more powerful device, but if price stay consistent Sprint will be cheaper.

[Xcrunner]

Does the Thunderbolt do voice+data simultaneously on 4G or no?

If you have a 4G connection yes. From what I have read it will use the 4G for data and use 3G for calls allowing for simultaneous use of data and phone calls. VoLTE (4G voice) is not going to be rolled out until next year.

[archibaldcrane]

Cool. Looks like Verizon has pretty complete 4G in LA and Sprint looks decent. When is that goddamn Thunderbolt coming out? My phone is a fucking husk right now - I can answer calls because I know where to swipe but the screen shows nothing at all (can't do anything but take calls).

Any recommendations on how to transfer my contacts from an iPhone to a HTC device?

[archibaldcrane]

Oh, and why not the Atrix 4G? Just the normal lolAT&T?

http://www.gizmocrunch.com/android/5...ix-vs-iphone-4

Also, I've heard motorola phones are really hard to root - I'd mainly be interested in free wireless tethering. Considering that, it makes Sprint more appealing since the Evo isn't motorola and their data plan is unlimited, unless Verizon's will be unlimited too.

[Pabst]

Droid life saying march 4th for the thunderbolt.

I got a DX and it only took the guys about a week to root it. I haven't checked out the atrix yet but I think the dudes on xda have been working hard trying to root it.

The only thing I hate about my phone is motoblur. That shit is so laggy. But once you use a different launcher app like launcherpro or adw it makes it a bit better. I had my phone for about 8 months now and I finally put a custom rom on it. I had it rooted mostly for the wifi tether and the backup/restore apps.

edit* reading up on xda and thunderbolt already rooted. Devs still trying on atrix.

[archibaldcrane]

The Atrix is more powerful (dual-core), dunno about AT&T's 4G coverage, and from that link it looked like the 4G isn't...um..."turned on" on the phone or something? Thunderbolt is probably the safe bet, although I don't really wanna wait a week and a half at the least to get a phone I can make calls on.