Unlocked Phone for Abroad

[lesapt59]

Hey all,

the in-call speaker on my HTC M7 just finished. I'm on AT&T currently but I will be abroad in Germany for all of next year beginning August.

So I'm hoping that I could buy an unlocked phone (Nexus 5 or Moto X?), throw my AT&T sim in there for now and be good for the next few months.

But, if I want to get a one-year plan with data/voice/text abroad and get a corresponding simcard, which phone will do me best?/even operate?

Thanks!,
Austin

 

[wizzrah]

Hey all,

the in-call speaker on my HTC M7 just finished. I'm on AT&T currently but I will be abroad in Germany for all of next year beginning August.

So I'm hoping that I could buy an unlocked phone (Nexus 5 or Moto X?), throw my AT&T sim in there for now and be good for the next few months.

But, if I want to get a one-year plan with data/voice/text abroad and get a corresponding simcard, which phone will do me best?/even operate?

Thanks!,
Austin

The Nexus 5 will support the most bands. It works great with AT&T.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Even thought I tend to prefer the X, I agree with wizzrah on the N5.

From a Carbon M8 and AC Forums app

 

[William Heymann]

I am actually in the same kind of situation. If all goes well I should be heading to germany for the next 4 to 6 years for a masters degree and phd in engineering. From the research I have done so far the Sony Xperia Z1 or Z2 phones seem like the best bet. If you find something else that would be great to know.

For 4G Germany uses 800, 1800 and 2600 and the Nexus 5 US version supports 800 and 2600 from that. Most of the coverage is supposed to be in 800 and 1800. In the USA tmobile uses 1700 and AT&T uses 700, 1700 and 1900.

The Xperia Z1 compact work on 800, 850, 900, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100 and 2600. So it gets all of Germany, USA tmobile and misses 700 for AT&T.

The Z2 supports all of those but it is even more expensive.

Overall it looks like most phones have a US version and an everywhere else version and outside of the Xperia Z1 and Z2 I don't see much overlap. It probably would add less then $5 to the price of the phone to support all of them.

Unless I can find something better or the Amazon phone turns out to be amazing and supports all of these things I will probably end up going with the Xperia Z1 compact.

 

[lesapt59]

I'm BACK, and only now seeing William's comment.

My One may have finally died and so I must make my decision now. I'm trying to keep this phone under budget so the Z1 is at the very top of that at $400. The phone doesn't need to have LTE in the US, I will be buying it primarily for its use in Germany for the next year.

As I see it my choices are the Moto G at $200 (SWEET)
Sony Z1
The Nexus 5 at $350 (although you say it doesn't support the best bands///anyway I could just buy the international version now?)
Moto X at $300-odd-something

Another big Q is which, if any of these will take the 4G LTE sim card out of my One M7 until I get a new SIM in Germany?

THANKS