Device upgrade! Help!!

[anon(818769)]

I'm on verizon and it's time for my upgrade. I was set on getting the new razr maxx hd until I saw that my total cost was going to be $350! I'm a sophomore in college and that's kinda crazy. So I did some looking around and saw that I could get the original razr maxx through best buy for free. I'm currently on the droid bionic. What do you guys think? Would the razr maxx be a worthy upgrade, or should I splurge for the maxx hd? I think I'd be alright with the maxx, it would just be too bad if there won't be much development or updates in its future. Thanks!

 

[TheLibertarian]

Is battery life literally the absolute most desired specification? Or are there other qualities you appreciate from Motorola devices? Because the standard RAZR HD still as a 2500+ mAh battery, which is larger than most every smartphone and only really dwarfed in size by the Note II and the Maxx.

Personally I'd recommend the RAZR HD over the standard Maxx, and it's $100 cheaper than the Maxx HD.

Sidenote: You mentioned the RAZR HD Maxx was $349, though I thought it $299 and the standard RAZR HD $199. I could be mistaken.

 

[B. Diddy]

I love my Maxx, and free is the best price you'll find. The Maxx HD certainly has a great looking screen, but the original Maxx's screen is nothing to sneeze at. The battery life simply rocks. Motoblur, Motorola's Android skin, is pretty light, so it's less likely to get bogged down by lots of bells and whistles you might see with other manufacturers' skins.

As for updates, an official Jellybean update will probably arrive some time in the 1st quarter of 2013, but as you might be able to tell from this forum, a bunch of people got an unofficial update that was accidentally released into the wild, which has been getting mostly positive reviews. Doubtful that it will get any other updates beyond Android 4.1.2, but we can always hope.

 

[paul-c]

The RAZR MAXX is a nice phone on the battery front, but if you're coming from the Bionic I just don't think it's a worthy enough upgrade in late 2012. The RAZR HD is worth burning your upgrade. I'd say the RAZR M is worth it too, if you don't want to spend that much money.

Sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini

 

[jeffrok]

I think the Razr Maxx is relevant enough of a phone.. and at that price, you could always resell it for a couple hundred if you end up not liking it.

 

[cole2kb]

You'll have to consider device longevity. Would you be okay running Ice Cream Sandwich, or possibly Jellybean for two years? The MAXX is a relevant device now, but at some point during your two years, it will become irrelevant. It is still a great phone but you just need to decide what is more important to you, cost or relevancy.
Personally, I just signed a 2 year contract on Black Friday with the MAXX and I know I'll be happy during that time.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk 2

 

[anon(818769)]

I really appreciate the feedback!! Went to best buy today and turns out they won't let me upgrade because I still have unlimited data, despite what someone said over the phone when I called them. Soooo I'm gonna suck it up and buy the maxx HD online and keep my unlimited. I was going to go for the maxx though. Whatevs, I'll work a little more this semester.

 

[Diordna11]

For that kind if money I'd get the Note 2. I just got one and it is so much faster and smoother than the Razr devices. Its nearly the perfect device.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Android Central Forums

 

[Ironcapo]

Interesting that best buy won't let you upgrade because you have unlimited data. Regardless I think you're going to lose unlimited when you get the HD.

 

[B. Diddy]

I mentioned this in the other forum where the OP posted--make sure you call Verizon and confirm that you can keep unlimited data if you get a new phone from somewhere besides Verizon. My guess is that even if you go somewhere like Amazon Wireless, you may still end up losing unlimited data if you buy the new phone at the discounted price, since this is the subsidized price requiring a new 2 year contract. You'd probably have to buy the phone at full retail price to keep unlimited data, which is usually upwards of $500-600 for a premium phone.

If Verizon tells you that you can upgrade your phone online outside of Verizon and still keep your unlimited data, get that rep's name and contact info in case anyone tells you something completely opposite later.

 

[WannaBeYou]

Interesting that best buy won't let you upgrade because you have unlimited data. Regardless I think you're going to lose unlimited when you get the HD.

That is VZW's policy now - if you use a subsidized upgrade on your unlimited data line, you lose unlimited data. They move you to Share Everything.

There is a loophole that is available but you have to have another line without unlimited data on a family plan to avail yourself of it.

 

[WannaBeYou]

I mentioned this in the other forum where the OP posted--make sure you call Verizon and confirm that you can keep unlimited data if you get a new phone from somewhere besides Verizon. My guess is that even if you go somewhere like Amazon Wireless, you may still end up losing unlimited data if you buy the new phone at the discounted price, since this is the subsidized price requiring a new 2 year contract. You'd probably have to buy the phone at full retail price to keep unlimited data, which is usually upwards of $500-600 for a premium phone.

If Verizon tells you that you can upgrade your phone online outside of Verizon and still keep your unlimited data, get that rep's name and contact info in case anyone tells you something completely opposite later.

The only way to do it is to add a line and use that line's upgrade or do an alternate upgrade using a non-unlimited data line on the same family plan. And it has to be done through VZW.

 

[TheLibertarian]

I mentioned this in the other forum where the OP posted--make sure you call Verizon and confirm that you can keep unlimited data if you get a new phone from somewhere besides Verizon. My guess is that even if you go somewhere like Amazon Wireless, you may still end up losing unlimited data if you buy the new phone at the discounted price, since this is the subsidized price requiring a new 2 year contract. You'd probably have to buy the phone at full retail price to keep unlimited data, which is usually upwards of $500-600 for a premium phone.

If Verizon tells you that you can upgrade your phone online outside of Verizon and still keep your unlimited data, get that rep's name and contact info in case anyone tells you something completely opposite later.

It sounded like he was trying to upgrade through Best Buy, which Verizon won't allow.

The only way to keep unlimited data is buy the phone outright, unsubsidized; he should be able to purchase it from anywhere, though.

 

[paul-c]

That is VZW's policy now - if you use a subsidized upgrade on your unlimited data line, you lose unlimited data. They move you to Share Everything.

They just knock you into the tiered data at 2GB for the line. Share Everything is just an option at this point.

Sent from my Motorola RAZR i

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

I have five lines with unlimited data, can I upgrade one of those lines at promotional pricing knocking that line to 2gb data and activate the new phone on one of the other lines and keep the unlimited data on that line, or does that force all lines to the new plan?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jude526]

I have five lines with unlimited data, can I upgrade one of those lines at promotional pricing knocking that line to 2gb data and activate the new phone on one of the other lines and keep the unlimited data on that line, or does that force all lines to the new plan?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

You'll have to switch to the new share everything on all lines. Can't keep unlimited on the other lines

sent from either my HTC Rezound or my Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet

 

[WannaBeYou]

I have five lines with unlimited data, can I upgrade one of those lines at promotional pricing knocking that line to 2gb data and activate the new phone on one of the other lines and keep the unlimited data on that line, or does that force all lines to the new plan?

Upgrade one of your unlimited data lines and that will knock it to 2GB data. Then activate the new smartphone on the now 2GB data line. THEN put the old phone back on the now 2GB data line and then switch the new smartphone to an unlimited data line. You will have 4 unlimited data lines and 1 2GB data line.

 

[WannaBeYou]

You'll have to switch to the new share everything on all lines. Can't keep unlimited on the other lines

This is not correct.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

Upgrade one of your unlimited data lines and that will knock it to 2GB data. Then activate the new smartphone on the now 2GB data line. THEN put the old phone back on the now 2GB data line and then switch the new smartphone to an unlimited data line. You will have 4 unlimited data lines and 1 2GB data line.

Thanks, that is how I understood it. Am getting ready to do this exact same thing January 11th to get the note 2. I only really need unlimited data on one line since it has unlimited hotspot also. when we are together traveling or what not, I can turn my hotspot on and the other phones can connect to it to conserve on their data usage if need be.

I assume I will have to switch to the new plans eventually, I don't think Verizon is going to allow us to keep unlimited forever, in fact I see it going on the wayside end of next year. Either way, unlimited data is not going to be allowed forever IMO.

 

[WannaBeYou]

I don't think Verizon is going to allow us to keep unlimited forever, in fact I see it going on the wayside end of next year. Either way, unlimited data is not going to be allowed forever IMO.

VZW has allowed the Alltel customers to keep their ridiculously cheap plans and other plans, like the $20 data discount, are still in force. I think the natural attrition that is going to happen due to the upgrade policy will compel a lot of people to switch and there will be so few unlimited data customers left that I don't think it will be a problem for VZW to let us keep our unlimited data plans.

They can also do like AT&T does and throttle unlimited data after a certain number of GBs are used.

I would actually save money if I moved to a share everything plan given our data usages, but I don't know what the future will bring so I want to keep my unlimited as an insurance policy.

If you are OK with giving up your phone number, people are selling their unlimited data lines on ebay and allowing the buyer to do an assumption of liability (it is subject to a credit check on the buyer). You can do this line by line as their contract expires. Then you add a line to your plan with a new number and get a phone at the subsidized price. So you get the phone at the subsidized price and get $150 for selling the unlimited data line!