Thinking of going to Sprint...which phone?

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bpizzle1

Supreme [H]ardness
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So my fiance and I are both in need of new phones, and we want to go ahead and get a plan together...that and my original Moto Droid is on it's last leg even though it's rooted and running custom ROMS. Sprint seems to make the most sense for us since I get a discount through work (I actually get one with ATT and VZW too), and I really want to have unlimited data. I have unlimited on VZW now, but I'm still on my parent's plan from when I was still in college. They won't let me keep unlimited data if I migrate to my own account. Personally, I think having a 2gb limit with a LTE connection is a bit of a joke.

Anyway, I've basically narrowed it down to 3 phones, but I can't decide what to go with. I've read a million reviews of each at this point too.

Epic 4g Touch (GSII)
EVO 3d
Iphone 4s (yeah...willing to give it a shot though I rather stay on Android)


In terms of hardware, the GSII wins hands down. However, I've been reading that a good number of people are having some serious reception issues as well as loss of service issues (then again, there are plenty of people saying they have no issues too). Samsung's past history of support also worries me. The HTC has slightly lower specs, but it is still quite powerful. HTC has a MUCH better history with fixes and updates too. That is pretty huge with ICS around the corner. I'm also willing to go with an Iphone if that is truly the best option. As much as I love Android, I'll be the first to admit that Apple has a pretty awesome product in iOS5 (not to mention Siri is pretty amazing).

I could keep going on, but I rather just hear some opinions from my fellow [H] members. That said, what do you guys think? Any advice is appreciated.
 
bpizzle1 said:
serious reception issues as well as loss of service issues
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That's all Sprint phones around here.:( So you may want to check out what the local coverage is like around you first.

I'd probably go GS2 or if you can wait a few weeks, see if the Galaxy Nexus rumor pans out: http://androidandme.com/2011/10/devices/sprint-galaxy-nexus-tipped-in-leaked-purchase-order/

Also note that Sprint just axed unlimited mobile broadband. No grandfathering (but apparently no ETF if you complain). Are smartphones next? They brag about having unlimited data, so I wouldn't think so, but you never know: http://androidandme.com/2011/10/news/sprint-4g-broadband-unlimited-no-more-smartphones-next/
 
I chose the iPhone since I like the way the interface is, nice and simple.
Screen is a little small but I am used to it since I had an HTC Touch Pro 2 before the iPhone 4S.
most of my friends have Android phones and I was running android occasionally on my HTC TP2 so I have quite a bit of experience with Android.
the iphone also has a really nice feel to it, really solid, and well built, but is probably very fragile since the front and back are glass.

I was also given a ton of Free Incoming calls for some reason,
free-incoming.jpg
 
eh to balance this trifecta ill say something good about the 3d. I got this instead of the epic touch myself just because i like the feel and size of it, fits better in my hands then the GS2. The 3d is a gimmick that i don't really use myself. The evo 3d isn't the top dog but its not an old dead dog either.

I didn't go iphone because i had an iphone before and it just didn't work for me. Not sure if 4g is relevant to your area but if so then the 4s isn't an option. There area plenty of siri-like apps thats been around for awhile but people rarely use/know about it.

In any case any of those 3 phones are pretty solid and you can't go wrong.
 
havermeyer said:
That's all Sprint phones around here.:( So you may want to check out what the local coverage is like around you first.

I'd probably go GS2 or if you can wait a few weeks, see if the Galaxy Nexus rumor pans out: http://androidandme.com/2011/10/devices/sprint-galaxy-nexus-tipped-in-leaked-purchase-order/

Also note that Sprint just axed unlimited mobile broadband. No grandfathering (but apparently no ETF if you complain). Are smartphones next? They brag about having unlimited data, so I wouldn't think so, but you never know: http://androidandme.com/2011/10/news/sprint-4g-broadband-unlimited-no-more-smartphones-next/
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Wow, if they implement that for their smartphones I think that will be the end of Sprint. WiMax sucks and their transition to LTE doesn't start till next year and probably won't be done until 2013. Their service is spotty is many areas and I think people would transition to Verizon if they do a tiered data plan. Right now the only thing Sprint is offering is their unlimited data plan and arguably better 4g phone selection. I'd rather see AT&T diaf than Sprint, but if they do this I can't see it working out well for them.
 
My wife has an EVO 3D and she loves it. She transitioned from an iPhone from ATT. She isn't technically inclined so there is a lot to say about the phone and Android. But as onedestinazn2 said, 4G may be non existent where you live.
 
onedestinazn2 said:
eh to balance this trifecta ill say something good about the 3d. I got this instead of the epic touch myself just because i like the feel and size of it, fits better in my hands then the GS2. The 3d is a gimmick that i don't really use myself. The evo 3d isn't the top dog but its not an old dead dog either.

I didn't go iphone because i had an iphone before and it just didn't work for me. Not sure if 4g is relevant to your area but if so then the 4s isn't an option. There area plenty of siri-like apps thats been around for awhile but people rarely use/know about it.

In any case any of those 3 phones are pretty solid and you can't go wrong.
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Since you own the 3d, how is the battery life on it? The "professional" reviews I've read seem to say the battery is great, but a lot of user reviews say the phone chews through the battery in a few hours. Other than that your reasoning is basically exactly why the phone is in the running for me as well.


Also, I would really doubt Sprint axes the unlimited data for their phones for a while. It is currently the ONLY reason to go with them as of right now, and I would have to think management is smart enough to realize that. Now, I can certainly see them doing it a few years down the road when they hopefully have a competitive LTE network setup, but until then terminating their biggest perk (that they advertise like crazy) would basically be suicide.
 
Any wimax phone would be useless in 2 years, so give the iPhone 4S a shot. But I would wait for the Galaxy Nexus
 
bpizzle1 said:
Since you own the 3d, how is the battery life on it? The "professional" reviews I've read seem to say the battery is great, but a lot of user reviews say the phone chews through the battery in a few hours. Other than that your reasoning is basically exactly why the phone is in the running for me as well.


Also, I would really doubt Sprint axes the unlimited data for their phones for a while. It is currently the ONLY reason to go with them as of right now, and I would have to think management is smart enough to realize that. Now, I can certainly see them doing it a few years down the road when they hopefully have a competitive LTE network setup, but until then terminating their biggest perk (that they advertise like crazy) would basically be suicide.
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I'm pretty happy with the battery life. I've had an iphone 4 before so im familiar with their battery life as well. The 3d's battery life is pretty good for me even on stock rom, but since i've rooted and loaded cleanrom to remove all the unnecessary junk its got noticeably better.

I too doubt that they'll remove their unlimited data for phones.

CHANG3D said:
Any wimax phone would be useless in 2 years, so give the iPhone 4S a shot. But I would wait for the Galaxy Nexus
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In 2 years the OP would have an upgrade and be able to get a phone with LTE if that's available then. Until then a phone having wimax is a added plus, not sure why you'd count it against them since they have 3g as well.
 
Hands down the Galaxy S II. Everyone I know with the Epic Touch 4G is extremely happy with it. That Super AMOLED+ screen is gorgeous :eek: The large screen size feels comfortable very quickly, and then you never want a smaller phone. But the nice thing is how razor thin and lightweight it is, feels like a much smaller phone.

Plus the phone is blazing fast, and butter smooth. And actually has very good battery life.

But...
Saying all of that, I would wait a little bit, to hear word on when Sprint will be selling the Galaxy-Nexus. They for sure are getting it, just a matter of when ? Could be end of Nov / early Dec at best case, or could be their first LTE device, and thus would not release until late Spring.
 
I'm going to +1 what Zorachus said above.

EDIT - ...and honestly, I recommend you go and try out the SGS2 and the iPhone 4S. Tell us which you prefer.
 
As much as I'd like to wait to see about the galaxy nexus, I don't think I'm going to be able to wait more than another week or two. My phone has gotten so bad that I'm likely to throw it out the window before then lol. Outside of ICS out of the box and the nice screen I was actually underwhelmed with it overall. I'm going to go up to the store and play with the gs2 again since I'm leaning toward that.
 
My fiance is getting the iPhone for sure, so. I think i will try out the gs2. If the gs2 has all the reception issues I've read about and her iPhone is solid, I will exchange the gs2
 
I'm on sprint and I went with the GS2. My friend has an EVO 3D and another friend has the Photon. Neither of them interested me enough to upgrade from my old EVO 4G. Regarding the "Samsung has bad radios" talk there's a thread on XDA about a guy who thought his GS2 had a bad radio so he switched to the Photon. He found out that his Photon didn't perform any better, thus it was just poor coverage and not radio issues with his GS2. He also said the photon had a lot more annoying quirks so he switched back to the GS2. For me I didn't like the EVO 3D. It didn't feel comfortable in the hand and doesn't feel like a huge step forward from my old EVO 4G.

Personally I've been having a great time with my GS2. Signal reception is far better than my old EVO 4G and everything is very quick. The screen is incredibly handy too. No more tiny keys! In fact this post was typed on my GS2.
 
Who did you talk to at VZW that told you you can't keep your unlimited plan. That's not true.

I Pm'd you with more details.
 
I just purchased the Samsung Nexus S 4G for my girl; phone is pretty slick being a pure Google experience phone, plus it will be one of the very first legacy phones to get ICS since that's what Google was using to demo it.
 
get quad said:
I just purchased the Samsung Nexus S 4G for my girl; phone is pretty slick being a pure Google experience phone, plus it will be one of the very first legacy phones to get ICS since that's what Google was using to demo it.
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I have owned both Nexus phones, and currently have the Nexus-S 4G, and I still LOVE this phone, I also owned the EVO 4G...and EVO-3D, and think the Nexus-S is far better phone than both, was shocked that I liked the Nexus-S over the 3D, the Nexus was smoother and a little snappier than the EVO-3D. I love the size and shape of the N-S 4G, very comfortable in the hand, it is lightweight, with a gorgeous screen, once rooted and tweaked via "Voodoo". This phone is butter smooth, and super fast.

And yes it will be the first phone to get the official update; Android 4.0 ICS, direct from Google. They are saying to expect it a couple weeks after the Galaxy-Nexus is in stores.

When I walk into a Sprint store, and see their lineup of phones, I still like the Nexus-S, it just looks slick, modern, and no bloat. For me the "Nexus" line of phones are the only way to go for Android. Really liked my Nexus-One back in the day, and still loving this Nexus-S 4G, hoping Sprint gets the Galaxy-Nexus soon.
 
Peteman100 said:
Get the iphone
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Excellent dissertation, brah. You should have your own site to publish stuff like this.

GS2 if you need/want a phone now. If not, see if the Galaxy Nexus is going to be on Sprint in the next month or two. I'd say it will at least be December or January though.
 
Be sure that Sprint has good coverage in your area. I tried the Sprint iPhone 4S (returned of course now) for a week and was thoroughly disappointed by how terribly slow the data connection and spotty the coverage in the SF Bay area is. Also on the iPhone the signal strength did not correspond with data speeds, so that 5 bars and 3g did not guarantee anything. Also on my last day of my return they said they had data outages in pretty much all of Northern California. I thought my At&T was bad but I'm currently hugging it now that I am back. What is the point of having a smart phone if you cannot make phone calls or use data. Plus add in the fact you can't use 3g data while calling is slight pain too.
 
anthrex said:
Be sure that Sprint has good coverage in your area. I tried the Sprint iPhone 4S (returned of course now) for a week and was thoroughly disappointed by how terribly slow the data connection and spotty the coverage in the SF Bay area is. Also on the iPhone the signal strength did not correspond with data speeds, so that 5 bars and 3g did not guarantee anything. Also on my last day of my return they said they had data outages in pretty much all of Northern California. I thought my At&T was bad but I'm currently hugging it now that I am back. What is the point of having a smart phone if you cannot make phone calls or use data. Plus add in the fact you can't use 3g data while calling is slight pain too.
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The usual consensus is that sprint dominates the SF bay area from what i hear and my few visits to norcal. It's likely that they are doing something with the towers in the area. It was like that here in orange county too for a couple of months. They told me its because they were testing/upgrading the towers, but i haven't noticed a difference yet.
 
Sprint is going through some changes right now, I have been with them a few years, and feel confident they will be one of the best quality carriers come late 2012/ early 2013.

They are in the process of getting their LTE network rolled out, the first phones will be for sale this Spring, and they will also be updating their old 1x to handle voice and data, and faster speeds. Yes WiMax might not have been the best for Sprint, but just hold out, and in a year or so time they will be rocking probably the best network in the U.S. Things will get much better on Sprint next year.
 
What happens to current WiMax phones like the Nexus S 4G? Or is WiMax going to be kept around for so long that we'll all have LTE phones long before Sprint stops using WiMax?
 
i dont think they'll just turn off wimax, i mean their LTE isn't even setup yet it wouldn't help them at all. I'd assume that wimax areas will be fine as they are now, just don't expect any growth.
 
They will supposedly turn off wimax early 2015. They need to free up spectrum for more LTE. In the future, both data and voice will be on LTE. So it's possible to get a pure 4G phone, but we'll probably be talking about 5G at that time... har har har.

They will stop selling wimax phones at end of 2012.

If you don't already have 4G in your neighborhood, don't even bother with whether the phone has 4G. If you have 4G in your neighborhood, do get a 4G phone.

And that's why I recommended the iPhone and the Galaxy Nexus (with the Galaxy SII Epic Touch for fallback plan - still better than the iPhone) for the non-4G
 
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Sprint will be rocking a kick ass network in a few years. WiMax will slowly die off...I am sure once they start selling LTE phones starting Spring 2012, that will be Sprint's only 4G phone, and WiMax radios won't be put into high end devices anymore, but of course WiMax will still be on and operational for a few years still, but would not be surprised if Sprint just stops having manufactures install WiMax modems in new phones, if they are moving to LTE.

The goal for all U.S. carriers is to have LTE handle 100% everything, Data...Voice...etc...no more 3G, no WiMax, no 1x Edge, it will all be 4G LTE, but I believe that is several years off, I have heard maybe 2014/2015 before that happens. But like Change3D said, by then there will be Warp Speed 6G or something on the new Nexus-Six running a holographic display and 8 cores, with 12gb memory :cool:
 
anthrex said:
Be sure that Sprint has good coverage in your area. I tried the Sprint iPhone 4S (returned of course now) for a week and was thoroughly disappointed by how terribly slow the data connection and spotty the coverage in the SF Bay area is. Also on the iPhone the signal strength did not correspond with data speeds, so that 5 bars and 3g did not guarantee anything. Also on my last day of my return they said they had data outages in pretty much all of Northern California. I thought my At&T was bad but I'm currently hugging it now that I am back. What is the point of having a smart phone if you cannot make phone calls or use data. Plus add in the fact you can't use 3g data while calling is slight pain too.
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I live in the bay, work there, and travel from San Jose to Sacramento every week. My sprint coverage is great the whole way. My AT&T work phone however, not as much.
 
I've used Verizon and now Sprint. Was forced to abandon AT&T since they had zero coverage for a few blocks where I live, right in the heart of the bay area. I would never go back to AT&T, their service, billing and CSR's all suck. Sprint has been very nice to me, first as a Sero customer and now on the smartphone plan. The coverage is not as good as Verizon but you can roam for free on VZW in areas where there's no Spring network. There's a even a hacked PRL update that will let Spring phones always
use Verizon.

And they have the 30 days policy to try a phone for freee, and the best Google voice integration. Sorry, I come off sounding like a commercial :)
 
FaRKle0079 said:
I live in the bay, work there, and travel from San Jose to Sacramento every week. My sprint coverage is great the whole way. My AT&T work phone however, not as much.
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I was out in Oakland, Berkeley, Orinda, Richmond and through to SF and Daly city during my week of Sprint usage. I consistently had slower site loading when using both safari and opera on my 4S versus my 3G. Also more dropped calls in my home.

As for the 30 day they changed it to 14 days a little while ago and for some reason they started my 14 day trial when I preordered my iphone as opposed to when I actually received it so I had even less time.

Now that they are axing unlimited data in certain areas I'm not even sure how long it will last for smart phones. I currently still have "unlimited" internet for AT&T.

This was all just my experience of course. I'm definitely not saying AT&T is good as I am thinking of trying Verizon, but it was better than my experience with Sprint.

Looks like it could just be an issue with iPhone
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/10/24/sprint-and-apple-are-working-on-a-nationwide-issue-with-data-speeds/
 
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People can read the books on the Ipod, Iphone Apple i Phone and the other handheld devices and personal computers
 
Zorachus said:
Sprint is going through some changes right now, I have been with them a few years, and feel confident they will be one of the best quality carriers come late 2012/ early 2013.

They are in the process of getting their LTE network rolled out, the first phones will be for sale this Spring, and they will also be updating their old 1x to handle voice and data, and faster speeds. Yes WiMax might not have been the best for Sprint, but just hold out, and in a year or so time they will be rocking probably the best network in the U.S. Things will get much better on Sprint next year.
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i think your dreaming sprint is on life support if att and t-mobile merge sprint was going to be the only game in town with unlimited service... well now nobody has it unless you were grandfathered and their network has been shit for years...

I had sprint a while back and it was not a very good experience with me they kept over charging me my bill was supposed to be 89 or so then a 800 dollar bill lands on my door and im like wtf free and clear America gets me this bullshit. The outsourced tech support was useless to get my bill fixed i had to go into one of the stores and sit there for 2 hours while they re did their math to find out they tried dividing by 0 on my bill... Then to top that off i was very displeased to find the "coverage" they had was the city limits of the city i was going to college in then the coverage somehow only follows the interstate up then stops...
when i moved back after college my phone was beyond worthless as despite having a free and clear America promising coverage. where i was there was no coverage and i had to stand on a hill pointing my phone at the tower they rented roaming from verizon to make a static filled call i could not even receive a call on it the reception was so bad...

i dropped sprint and went with verizon as soon as my contract was up i have been happy ever since. I have coverage pretty much everywhere and they have yet to overcharge me for my bill...

And op ill be honest if it meant keeping my unlimited data i would gladly stay on my parents plan...
 
onedestinazn2 said:
sprint still has unlimited data please quit spreading fud
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Orly first step to axing it completely... Start getting worried. It might not apply to smartphones yet but dont count on that staying like that. What scares me even more about this is NO GRANDFATHERING if i did have this i would be fucked up a creek with no paddles and only getting out as an option...
 
MrCrispy said:
And they have the 30 days policy to try a phone for freee, and the best Google voice integration. Sorry, I come off sounding like a commercial :)
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FYI, they recently shortened their return policy to 14 days and I believe if you do cancel within two weeks, now you do have to pay for the usage you incurred. This happened right after they got the iPhone. Verizon did the exact same thing when they got it earlier this year, shortened their return period from 30 to 14 days. The iPhone brings doom and destruction to whatever carrier it touches. I'm sure Sprint will get rid of unlimited smartphone data next year, offering it for a few months of debuting the iPhone, just like Verizon. :(
 
Lunas said:
Orly first step to axing it completely... Start getting worried. It might not apply to smartphones yet but dont count on that staying like that. What scares me even more about this is NO GRANDFATHERING if i did have this i would be fucked up a creek with no paddles and only getting out as an option...
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You said "now nobody has unlimited" which as it is today, is untrue just pointing that out. Until its truly axed which, may or may not happen in the near future, plenty of people can enjoy its unlimited service. If they were to get rid of it, im sure people can get out of their contracts without ETF.
 
onedestinazn2 said:
You said "now nobody has unlimited" which as it is today, is untrue just pointing that out. Until its truly axed which, may or may not happen in the near future, plenty of people can enjoy its unlimited service. If they were to get rid of it, im sure people can get out of their contracts without ETF.
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Except I'm thinking the op would rather not bother with that hassle rather than have to spend time bitching at sprint when he could stay with his unlimited plan on Verizon who imho have an all around better network and service. I know that if I were in the op's position I would stay on Verizon and pay my share of the bill. I am also going to point out that if he us going to have to hack his phone with a Verizon prl to get good signal her might as well wait till next month when the gs2 comes to Verizon I think they are calling it the stratosphere or he could get the galaxy nexus on November 10th or the razr on oct 27.
 
Sorry, Sprint is currently number 1 in data reliability and number 2 in voice reliability (yes, Verizon is #1). Sprint's customer service is also currently number 1. Sure, they were bad before, but changes were made. So, to go by past experience, we can always say Japanese products and cars are junk... And, if we are going into hypotheticals, what's stopping Verizon from reducing the data cap to 512 Mbps? So you're arguments are completely invalid.

Sprint is also more politically acceptable. You want Verizon to take away your free speech rights? Support Net Neutrality. Support competition. Support freedom. (Not saying Sprint support net neutrality; Sprint has stay neutral on the subject, but that's better than Verizon and AT&T going against it.)
 
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