looking to upgrade soon--need advice

**eterry2** · 05-29-2012, 10:42 PM

I want to upgrade two of my phones soon in order to beat the end of unlimited data.

Both phones are htc incredible 1. I would upgrade my daughter to the Incredible 2 (free at BB) since people seem to like it and it is one of their few global phones (not that she travels a lot, but it's nice to have). But, I don't think it's a good idea to get 3g...old technology.

Other phone is for my use and I'd like to have newer technology more so than she does.

I live in Houston and daughter will be starting grad school at U MD in DC area.

Verizon has Bionic for free right now. Is that any good?

I am more tech-oriented than she is. She's not picky.

Considering Bionic, Incredible 2, Rezound, Nexus, or some Samsung phone. I've never used Samsung.

Of course, Razr and Razr Maxx are very hot right now. Don't really care to go huge.

And daughter might be ok with iphone. I want to stay with android myself.

thanks for any thoughts.

**farnlc** · 05-30-2012, 01:48 AM

Don't mess around with the 3G phones. If you're trying to beat the end of the unlimited data, buying a 3G phone will only buy you a couple of years. I very well could be wrong but it seems to me that a 4G customer who wants to pay full price for a phone can keep unlimited, but a 3G customer would be forced to switch to current 4G plan.

**eterry2** · 05-30-2012, 06:19 AM

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. What do you think about the free Bionic?

**jtludwig** · 05-30-2012, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by farnlc

Don't mess around with the 3G phones. If you're trying to beat the end of the unlimited data, buying a 3G phone will only buy you a couple of years. I very well could be wrong but it seems to me that a 4G customer who wants to pay full price for a phone can keep unlimited, but a 3G customer would be forced to switch to current 4G plan.

There is no such thing as a "3G plan" or a "4G plan"! They are both the same feature code in the system. It makes no difference!

**Steveanderson13** · 05-30-2012, 07:49 AM

Right. People's thinking has gotten royally screwed up. Shammo made off the cuff remarks and it has snowballed since.

**Sam73065** · 05-30-2012, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by eterry2

I want to upgrade two of my phones soon in order to beat the end of unlimited data.

Both phones are htc incredible 1. I would upgrade my daughter to the Incredible 2 (free at BB) since people seem to like it and it is one of their few global phones (not that she travels a lot, but it's nice to have). But, I don't think it's a good idea to get 3g...old technology.

Other phone is for my use and I'd like to have newer technology more so than she does.

I live in Houston and daughter will be starting grad school at U MD in DC area.

Verizon has Bionic for free right now. Is that any good?

I am more tech-oriented than she is. She's not picky.

Considering Bionic, Incredible 2, Rezound, Nexus, or some Samsung phone. I've never used Samsung.

Of course, Razr and Razr Maxx are very hot right now. Don't really care to go huge.

And daughter might be ok with iphone. I want to stay with android myself.

thanks for any thoughts.

Droid Maxx has incredible battery life and Verizon has announced it will have global capability in the "near future." The 4G/LTE phones also have the advantage of simultaneous voice and data. I also would not waste an upgrade on any 3G phone. I would however be tempted to pick the Rezound over the Maxx for the simple fact that the Rezound and even the TB are both capable of simultaneous voice and data on both 3G and 4G, wifi too actually. But the Maxx and most other 4G phones cannot do simultaneous voice and data on 3G, only on 4G and wifi. It's a little thing, but if you're used to being able to look stuff up and talk to somebody at the same time, it can be a very important asset, esp if your PC isn't available.

Originally Posted by farnlc

Don't mess around with the 3G phones. If you're trying to beat the end of the unlimited data, buying a 3G phone will only buy you a couple of years. I very well could be wrong but it seems to me that a 4G customer who wants to pay full price for a phone can keep unlimited, but a 3G customer would be forced to switch to current 4G plan.

As announced and "clarified" by Verizon, anybody buying a new smartphone on a month to month plan(no subsidy/upgrade pricing) will be allowed to keep their unlimited data plan. FWIW a surprisingly knowledgeable Verizon store rep, swears they'd never take away a grandfathered feature as long as you buy your own phone off contract.

**jseah** · 05-30-2012, 11:01 AM

One caveat to the Droid Razr Maxx is if you are either in or traveling through an area where the 4G service is spotty enough that the phone cycles between 3G and 4G (which all 4G phones will do), it may take a while for the phone to switch and in the interim you will get no data connection. With the Thunderbolt and the Rezound, the period of time with no data connection may last a few seconds up to a minute or so. When the Bionic first came out, sometimes it would lose the data connection for a few minutes but it appears to have improved with subsequent updates. My wife just got the Razr Maxx and when it loses data connection, it sometimes loses it for up to 15-30 minutes. She constantly complains about this and we have already replaced the SIM card and the handset

**Antenna** · 05-30-2012, 11:59 AM

He is right about the Maxx, mine does it constantly.

**joebloebloe** · 05-30-2012, 03:32 PM

I was not aware that any phone could do simultaneous voice & data on 3G only on VZW, I thought this was a limitation of EVDO Rev A that VZW has deployed. Can anyone explain how the Rezound and the TB can do this?

**SongJacked** · 05-30-2012, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by joebloebloe

I was not aware that any phone could do simultaneous voice & data on 3G only on VZW, I thought this was a limitation of EVDO Rev A that VZW has deployed. Can anyone explain how the Rezound and the TB can do this?

A few VZW phones have radios that support the SVDO capability. It's not just those two HTC phones, the LG Spectrum can do this also. Verizon is very, very quiet about this feature, probably because it isn't available product-wide.

**jeff_berk** · 05-30-2012, 06:37 PM

I'm kind of in the same boat in that I'd like to upgrade to a 4G phone before the end of the unlimited data. I really like my droid 3 because I was able to use Radiocomm to get a hotspot. Can I do likewise with any of the 4G Moto phones?

**jseah** · 05-30-2012, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by jeff_berk

I'm kind of in the same boat in that I'd like to upgrade to a 4G phone before the end of the unlimited data. I really like my droid 3 because I was able to use Radiocomm to get a hotspot. Can I do likewise with any of the 4G Moto phones?

FoxFi will turn any Moto Android phone (except for the Droid 1) into a mobile hotspot.

**drewsdroid** · 05-30-2012, 08:04 PM

I have a bionic and when I first got it in October last year it would act up and eventually I had to get another one, but this bionic that I have now works well. I think the other one had a hardware issue would lock up and req a batt pull everyday

**jseah** · 05-30-2012, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by drewsdroid

I have a bionic and when I first got it in October last year it would act up and eventually I had to get another one, but this bionic that I have now works well. I think the other one had a hardware issue would lock up and req a batt pull everyday

My son has a Bionic and his used to drop the data connection on a regular basis, just like the Razr Maxx. However, recently it seems to be able to hold the data connection much better (the issue might have been addressed in one of those updates that had been pushed to the phone). Hopefully, they will fix this with the Razr as well.

**farnlc** · 05-31-2012, 08:07 AM

Regardless if the main "code" is the same, there are absolutely account changes that must take place when you switch from a 3G phone to a 4G phone. If you have a 4G phone now you can look at your account and see it riddled with 4G "codes" (4G DATA TRANSPORT, 4G INTERNET ACCESS, 4G APPLICATION ACCESS, 4G No Roam - USA Only, Mobile Broadband Connect and Mobile Hotspot for 4G LTE Smartphones, <- my fav)

I have worked in wireless for a long time and I have a sneaking suspicion that anyone hanging on to a 3g phone will be awfully sorry when the plans roll out this summer. I have seen first hand that the best way to keep what you have is to not make any plan changes period.