Right now, I'm on Cricket, and I'm really sick of the slow speeds and the second-rate phones. I've got the Huawei Ascend II, a phone that suited me for awhile but I now need an upgrade for. When Hanging With Friends and Angry Birds freezes multiple times, it's time for an upgrade. Through Cricket, I have to pay close to $350 to get the Huawei Mercury, their best device, and it just doesn't seem worth it anymore.
So I was going to follow this guide and buy a GSM unlocked phone and bounce around on the various prepaid plans until I found one I liked (StraightTalk, T-Mobile, etc). Problem is, I don't really have $600 to spend on a phone right now.
But I have only been working with 600 MHz processor speed anyway. Look at the specs for the Ascend II. I'll wait. When playing Hanging With Friends, I have to exit and go back in several times for it to work.
Is there any phone you recommend that will work on the various GSM plans at HSPA+ speeds and doesn't reach the $500 range? Maybe closer to $300? A little higher is fine, but I need an upgrade. I need to run those games fine and I need HSPA+ speeds. I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing. A potential future upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich would be lovely ..
Thanks for the help in advance.
HTC Sensation seems to fit... Maybe the middle class Incredible S or Desire S?
Gonna check out any recs when I wake up in the morning. I meant to link this guide in the original post. If possible, phones that can operate on both T-Mobile and AT&T would be preferred, but if not, that's fine. I know there's not a ton. I guess AT&T would be best since I'll probably use straight talk.
Thanks guys!
Anyone else?
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Moving to Q&A
Sorry about that. I sort of saw "Q&A" as more of a technical thing, not a recommendation thing. Apologies!
Related
Hey guys, I'm eligible for an upgrade on the 10th and have been pretty set on getting the Atrix since the CES announcement. I have the iPhone 3G now and I'm more than ready to jump to Android and being all about technology and gadgets, the Atrix's specs alone make me want it today! But I have a couple questions regarding it and I'd like to hear your answer or opinion.
Being a freshman in college and already having a nice laptop and stuff, I wouldn't need or purchase the laptop dock. And I wouldn't really need the Media dock either...so Ive kind of been questioning whether I should get this or wait for something else.(it's just those specs, they're so good!)
And I also don't know what the 4G would do to my current plan where I grandfathered into unlimited and that's what I have now. I haven't heard much about what would happen if someone with my plan goes to a 4G phone, would I have to get a tiered plan or could I keep my unlimited still?
http://bit.ly/hvgato
Read that. Prepare to be let down.
Oh and just to save you the time, it will require you to get the tethering package if you get the laptock dock abd that will effectively kill your unlimited data.
Captivate 2.2.1 Paragon
Being on my school's WiFi, that twitter post is blocked so I can't read it, so I may need a quick recap of what it says...
But what would happen since I wouldn't be getting the laptop dock? Would it still make me have to get a tiered data plan? I thought unread somewhere on here about the computer in the store recognizing that I had unlimited and would keep that, as if 4G didn't effect it at all...
As long as you buy the phone by itself you should be able to keep your unlimted data plan. If you get the laptop you will not get to keep your plan!
oh, that is great news! Looks like I'll be the only one still committed to the Atrix haha
(though I hope I didn't speak to soon)
Hello Guys
I have some Q's, so posting it here with out making a new thread.
Im getting my atrix from US that's AT&T.
I want to know If i can unlock this atrix to be used on any network in INDIA just by flashing an unlocked firmware or i have to buy an unlock code.
Is it possible.
This may be a noob Q but helping is nothing wrong.
vivek90 said:
Hello Guys
I have some Q's, so posting it here with out making a new thread.
Im getting my atrix from US that's AT&T.
I want to know If i can unlock this atrix to be used on any network in INDIA just by flashing an unlocked firmware or i have to buy an unlock code.
Is it possible.
This may be a noob Q but helping is nothing wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use other networks, just have to have the sim unlocked first. You will probably need to flash a radio as well
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
OK
So its not possible to just flash or root to unlock. Is it that complicated.
I was thinking of skipping "Paying to UNLOCK". Is there any free way.
unless you plan on using an ATT sim card you have to unlock that
Hoping to get a Note and can't decide to wait for T-Mobile to get it (? months) or buy ATT now and do the steps to use T-mobile including 4G. How tricky and risky are these steps? I managed to root a Samsung ~year ago but the Note is worth 5x that phone. Also, if I use Gingerbread now, will ICS upgrade while maintaining 4G ablity be easy enough? Appreciate the advice.
I am on atta so I dont have exp on tmobile but if you go to rootgalaxynote.com you will see step by step guide and it looks easy just like flashing custom roms. just follow the instructions and you should be fine. I have flashed so many custom roms since jan of this year and never had any problem and my note is better than ever.
for official ics update, you will have to revert back to stock rom before you can upgrade. you will find this process also in develop section. you will probably have to flash tmobile again but it will be easy for you by then. very easy I must say.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
xdafangirl said:
Hoping to get a Note and can't decide to wait for T-Mobile to get it (? months) or buy ATT now and do the steps to use T-mobile including 4G. How tricky and risky are these steps? I managed to root a Samsung ~year ago but the Note is worth 5x that phone. Also, if I use Gingerbread now, will ICS upgrade while maintaining 4G ablity be easy enough? Appreciate the advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I am on t mobile.
Here is the thing. The T-Mobile modem is easy to flash, true. However its reliability is less than you would see on T-Mobile phone (meaning some complain of weaker signal and data connection gets dropped very often with the only work around disconnecting data and reconnecting).
I personally never had dropped calls by the way but some people complain.
If you choose to stay on att modem then you get reliable 100 kbps which is pretty slow for most tasks but works fine for emails and light web browsing.
There are some tweaks that purportedly make it more stable but those can only be done on stock rooms and not on cm9 or aokp which are the most popular.
To make a long story short - it is kind of a pain on both gb and ics. They say T-Mobile is switching to 1900 band in a few months and then connection on stock att modem should improve- but there is a risk there too. So if you can wait I think T-Mobile one should be better.
It is a great phone and those of us who had it from day one are happy campers for most part. But if you can wait why not get the right one?
And then again what is the right one? With new processors already announced and galaxy siii coming soon many will say that you should just get a newer phone. But I am perfectly happy with the note and if you get the one with perfect connection that would be quite great (in my opinion). T-Mobile always takes longer to get new phones so on T-Mobile side the note will be quite big news for some time.
By the way I just posted some related questions in a neighboring thread - hoping to get some questions answered myself
Wow just read in general section that galaxy siii is coming in June and note on July 11th. This is for T-Mobile - so if this is true then you have quite a few excellent choices.
very helpful...
Thanks, I appreciate the info in all of the replies. I'm afraid I already caved and bought a used one on ebay today! I have been "suffering" with a quite tiny screen on an old Symbian phone!! I also saw the July 11 date for the Note arriving to T-mobile but I'm very anti-contract -- can't stomach the way the providers soak so much $$ from contract customers. It just seemed that the price on T-Mobile Notes would be elevated for a while and might take a few more weeks beyond July 11 before there would be plenty of used ones to pick from on ebay. . So I will hope for the best with flashing the T-mobile modem on ATT version.
xdafangirl said:
Thanks, I appreciate the info in all of the replies. I'm afraid I already caved and bought a used one on ebay today! I have been "suffering" with a quite tiny screen on an old Symbian phone!! I also saw the July 11 date for the Note arriving to T-mobile but I'm very anti-contract -- can't stomach the way the providers soak so much $$ from contract customers. It just seemed that the price on T-Mobile Notes would be elevated for a while and might take a few more weeks beyond July 11 before there would be plenty of used ones to pick from on ebay. . So I will hope for the best with flashing the T-mobile modem on ATT version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good choice. I was trying to be overly critical, but I guess my (perhaps somewhat hidden) point was that it's a great phone - with a lot of enthusiasm driving higher than usual software development for such a "niche" device.
I've read somewhere today that t-mobile versions of any phones are generally more buggy, so may not be worth it. And I'm sure that as soon as t-mobile phone reaches the hands of our developers the modem will be available for our use as well. Not only that, but also it is likely that by then official Ice Cream Sandwich will be available and kernel modifications will result in even greater roms.
Here is the link to Carrier Unlock discussion - I paid $25 myself, though some people used cheaper services I guess. You need to do that before your SIM will work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1530863
While loading modems is easy once everything is set up, you need to root the phone and load cwm recovery which you then use to load the modem.
This helpful thread is for rooting a device and loading CWM without increasing flash counter -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1518962
Well I started playing around today, rooted my phone and tried something with it, bricked it.. lol. But I fixed it. I don't even wanna attempt to try flashing it myself cuz it was an all day process and a headache already that I endured. I'm just not patient enough for this stuff anymore. So I'm wondering if there is anyone that could do a remote flash on my GS3 from boost to verizon prepaid or Pageplus, as I am moving to an area where sprint has absolutely no coverage. Hopefully you could do this relatively cheap, need all the funds I can get for my move, gonna be homeless etc and just want to have a usable phone. Thank you in advance.
Wrong forum, report your own post and ask a moderator to move it for you.
Hello as this is my first problem with a phone/phone company, I'm confused. I am a long time T-Mobile customer. But my son gave me an upgrade phone cause I am apparently severely outdated. However it is an AT&T phone. A Samsung Galaxy S2 SGH-i777. He moved and now goes with Verizon. So I put the phone in my name by buying a $10 prepaid deal. However its now been over a year & 8 requests and AT&T continues to deny me the unlock code. The phone was never under a contract , it was purchased outright and was a gift a few years back from his father. Now my ancient phone ha taken a crap and I cant afford to buy another one. I have looked into several sites and became a member here thinking I was more edumacted :cyclops: then I am. I just really want to unlock the damn thing. Please help......This is what Ive done thus far.
1.) Updated to 4.1.2
2.) Downloaded and Installed Framaroot getting the SuperSU
3.) Downloaded CSC Select & SGS unlock tool.
Still no unlock code. Maybe I messed up already ..... idk? 2 months ago I was laid off, my savings is damn near completely dry and I need help.( In more ways then 1....bahaha)!! I would like to remove anything & everything regarding AT&T from this device and run Google or WHATEVER. Is that possible?? I Thank You ahead for any time, advice and help anyone can give. Happy holidays and Namast'e :good:
Unlocking is the easy part:
a) Get the relevant information from your son, and use this AT&T website.
OR
b) I used Galaxsim unlock, and have used my i777 on other carriers (not t-mobile), and overseas.
Using the i777 on TMobile? I'm not sure that will work very well.
-The i777 GSM frequencies [850, 900, 1800, 1900] will not communicate beyond 2g on t-mobile network.
EDIT: Apparently T-mobile has refarmed a lot of its 3g+ services to the 1900 frequency, which will allow the i777 to communicate at full speed on t-mobile service. *assuming the relevant refarming happened in your area.
You want to use a de-branded, slimmed down version of the firmware? No problem.
If you like the touchwiz interface, look at cooked or shostock.
If you would like to run an AOSP flavored firmware, then there are several excellent choices in the development forum.
Happy flashing,
-Cyril
Mendified said:
Hello as this is my first problem with a phone/phone company, I'm confused. I am a long time T-Mobile customer. But my son gave me an upgrade phone cause I am apparently severely outdated. However it is an AT&T phone. A Samsung Galaxy S2 SGH-i777. He moved and now goes with Verizon. So I put the phone in my name by buying a $10 prepaid deal. However its now been over a year & 8 requests and AT&T continues to deny me the unlock code. The phone was never under a contract , it was purchased outright and was a gift a few years back from his father. Now my ancient phone ha taken a crap and I cant afford to buy another one. I have looked into several sites and became a member here thinking I was more edumacted :cyclops: then I am. I just really want to unlock the damn thing. Please help......This is what Ive done thus far.
1.) Updated to 4.1.2
2.) Downloaded and Installed Framaroot getting the SuperSU
3.) Downloaded CSC Select & SGS unlock tool.
Still no unlock code. Maybe I messed up already ..... idk? 2 months ago I was laid off, my savings is damn near completely dry and I need help.( In more ways then 1....bahaha)!! I would like to remove anything & everything regarding AT&T from this device and run Google or WHATEVER. Is that possible?? I Thank You ahead for any time, advice and help anyone can give. Happy holidays and Namast'e :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I've been out of the loop for about a year now and looking to grab the Honor 5X US version on at&t or T-Mobile. My last phone I kept for 2 years almost ZTE Boost Max(Iconic)
and basically all I did was play with it. Meaning root, PhilZ, Link2sd, Viper4android, and most importantly Xposed.
My questions. Is it a easy plug n play going to a new carrier at&t or T-Mobile in the US with this phone. No issues at all right.
Is all development pretty good. Plenty of options. With the ZTE phone is 1 option for everything and nothing else. I did end up with a custom rom/kernel and a overclocked cpu. Do we have those options.
Thanks in advance I've limited the phone choices to just a couple. $250 budget and want development options and ease of carrier use
AT&T won't be a problem. T-Mob is missing support for LTE Band 12. I've read in these boards that support is coming soon (maybe in the MM update?). I'm not sure about WiFi calling. Normally you need carrier firmware for that type of functionality though.
Dev support seems healthy enough. I'd recommend looking in the development section and judging for yourself
It should be noted that while band 12 support is missing, you can still use the phone on T-Mobile, and you can still get 4G LTE (if it's available in your area).
I don't have WiFi calling here, and you probably do need carrier firmware for that.
Wifi calling wasn't really something I need. I've never experienced good wifi calling reception in the past. I just remember a year or so ago when the new wave of unlocked phones hit like One Plus, and so on there were always issues with not having LTE or something. Good to know at&t is fully supported. I'm a buy and hook up myself online person. Can't stand dealing with customer service on the phone.
So ultimately hows the phone in terms of everything. Signal? Options? Dependability?
So we still don't have MM available on the phones? This is concerning as I wanted the newest OS. The one thing I never liked about android vs Apple. When an update hit, everyone within a 2 year old phone got that update that day. MM came out around XMas so I was hoping for it.
Thanks for the replies and I'm late replying as I'm just a very patient shopper. Any new phone I buy I keep 1-2 years depending
If y'all want latest updates to android. Then there's no doubt about it as we all know this on XDA.........buy a nexus devices
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA-Developers mobile app