Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's your next move?

[rickhamilton620]

So...based on what I found from Best Buy Mobile, Merge isn't going to be sold by them. Now the only option it seems is to find non corporate stores via verizon's "store locator" and beg them to order one for you if they don't plan on carrying it.

The thing is....at this point is it even worth considering going through all of that to get Merge? If it was the Galaxy S II or something I could see why but at the end of the day Merge is now very much a Mid-Range device with questionable future support by Verizon in terms of updates and such.

Myself? I'm contemplating several things:

1. Switching to Sprint: Sprint has the Evo Shift which is part of the same family of "Vision" phones as the Merge, as well as Epic 4G. The Epic might not get a true Galaxy S II replacement if the rumors are true and all Galaxy S II variants will mirror the standard Galaxy S II that the rest of the world gets.

Normally I'd jump ship, even with an additional line still under contract, but with my family strongly hinting that they want to jump onto my VZW account I might have to stay on verizon and add additional lines...much to my chagrin.

2. Stay on Verizon: If I stay, I'll end up having to get a 4G phone right now...as in before July 7th due to the tiered data plans. I don't like the tradeoffs that each 4G handset has though...each seems to have one major chink in their armor so to speak: Questionable build quality/battery life for Thunderbolt, Odd data glitches on Charge, Revolution's screen/Bing (although I'm not much of a Bing hater, + the merge would have it on VZW)

I really want to future proof myself if I stay with VZW...the way things are going.

What are your plans, fellow verizon users?

 

[cthunder]

So...based on what I found from Best Buy Mobile, Merge isn't going to be sold by them. Now the only option it seems is to find non corporate stores via verizon's "store locator" and beg them to order one for you if they don't plan on carrying it.

The thing is....at this point is it even worth considering going through all of that to get Merge? If it was the Galaxy S II or something I could see why but at the end of the day Merge is now very much a Mid-Range device with questionable future support by Verizon in terms of updates and such.

Myself? I'm contemplating several things:

1. Switching to Sprint: Sprint has the Evo Shift which is part of the same family of "Vision" phones as the Merge, as well as Epic 4G. The Epic might not get a true Galaxy S II replacement if the rumors are true and all Galaxy S II variants will mirror the standard Galaxy S II that the rest of the world gets.
R) This is my first choice if I do jump ship.

Normally I'd jump ship, even with an additional line still under contract, but with my family strongly hinting that they want to jump onto my VZW account I might have to stay on verizon and add additional lines...much to my chagrin.

2. Stay on Verizon: If I stay, I'll end up having to get a 4G phone right now...as in before July 7th due to the tiered data plans. I don't like the tradeoffs that each 4G handset has though...each seems to have one major chink in their armor so to speak: Questionable build quality/battery life for Thunderbolt, Odd data glitches on Charge, Revolution's screen/Bing (although I'm not much of a Bing hater, + the merge would have it on VZW)

I really want to future proof myself if I stay with VZW...the way things are going.

What are your plans, fellow verizon users?

1. Sprint is my 1st choice - As I do love the Evo line and HTC. But like you said family is really the only reason I haven't jumped ship yet.

2.) You do realize, that the new tier data plans are for both 3G and 4G? So I don't think you have to wory about being grandfathered. Also, I refuse to waste money on any of the just released outdated (compared to other carriers) 4g phones.

I am eligible for an upgrade now and my contract ends in Nov. If they haven't put out a decent 3G/4G phone with a physical kybd by November. And I am not talking about another Droid phone, the Droid 3. Then I am out of here. Verizon seriously needs to listen to the demands of their customers.

 

[northbanker]

I've used a Samsung slider for years and was stuck on getting another slider.

But I refuse to go to a Moto Droid. Their reputation is awful, for how Blur messes up Android, ActiveSync, etc. And their keyboards are just not that good.

So now I've had to convince myself that I can live with a slate device & virtual keyboard.

Even though Sprint & T-Mob have better Android sliders, I'm sticking w/ VZW because of family plan & VZW's network.

So I'm looking at these 4 relatively current Android phones, perhaps in this order:
1. Samsung Droid Charge
2. HTC Thunderbolt
3. LG Revolution
4. HTC Droid Incredible2 (3G)

Some key issues for me are:
* I want a UI that "messes up" stock Android the least
* Android 2.2 at minimum (option for 2.3 would be nice)
* ActiveSync-to-Exchange needs to be rock solid (Moto's is not!)
* I don't want a physically huge phone (thus I'm not enamored w/ 4.3" screens)
* I don't want a battery hog (Thunderbolt has that reputation) but I guess I can toggle off 4G if need be

 

[dyslexicbunny]

I wanted the Merge and bailed when I decided it wasn't happening. I have a Charge and I love it. I've been told that I should switch to Swype but I'm happy enough with the default keyboard. I wasn't a fan of the huge screen at first but when looking at options, everything else just felt tiny.

As for your UI concerns, Charge has been rooted and I'm sure the Bolt has been too - provided you don't like TouchWiz or Sense. I think all your phones listed have 2.2. Bolt should be getting Gingerbread soon and rumors are Charge for end of summer. I like the battery life on the Charge but I have a lot of things off when I don't need them.

Thunder is right. The data is valid for either. I went 4g because Atlanta already has it and I locked into a phone for two years. If you don't have it, you could just go Inc2 for now. The real question is how unlimited data will work for existing customers when you upgrade.

 

[rickhamilton620]

I wanted the Merge and bailed when I decided it wasn't happening. I have a Charge and I love it. I've been told that I should switch to Swype but I'm happy enough with the default keyboard. I wasn't a fan of the huge screen at first but when looking at options, everything else just felt tiny.

As for your UI concerns, Charge has been rooted and I'm sure the Bolt has been too - provided you don't like TouchWiz or Sense. I think all your phones listed have 2.2. Bolt should be getting Gingerbread soon and rumors are Charge for end of summer. I like the battery life on the Charge but I have a lot of things off when I don't need them.

Thunder is right. The data is valid for either. I went 4g because Atlanta already has it and I locked into a phone for two years. If you don't have it, you could just go Inc2 for now. The real question is how unlimited data will work for existing customers when you upgrade.

How's the charge in terms of battery life and stuff? I've heard it's slightly better than the other two LTE offerings.

At this rate, after doing some calculating....Sprint's the cheapest followed by ATT and Verizon for my specific scenario.

However, for upfront costs, VZW obviously wins out because my parents would keep their old phones and just hop onto my plan rather than buy all new devices if I switched to the competition.

 

[dyslexicbunny]

I honestly don't use that much data at the moment so I can get around two days with a charge. I'm at 31% for 30 hours. But at the same time, I work in front of a computer so I don't need the phone for anything. It's really a function of how heavily you're using your phone. I think the kink I was having with youtube might be gone so I could potentially be using more data as I show people videos of trivial stuff. There were people reporting that they were using 10+ gigs of data a month - something I think is absurd. For anything serious, I'm using my laptop or desktop instead of my phone.

I loathe the size of the Thunderbolt and the Revolution has Bing and the camera isn't as nice. The Charge's filesystem is dated (RFS) so it scores poorly in some benchmark tests but I hear rooters have solved that problem. My opinion is that you'll have to play with them and figure out what you like best.

I seriously considered jumping ship to Sprint for the Evo Shift. But looking at pricing, I just couldn't justify it since I'm on my mother's family plan. I'm paying $50 a month compared to the $80 for Sprint. You'll probably see some savings as well by bringing your parents in. I'm not much of an ATT wireless fan so I never looked at them -> BUT GET UVERSE. IT ROCKS.

 

[rickhamilton620]

I honestly don't use that much data at the moment so I can get around two days with a charge. I'm at 31% for 30 hours. But at the same time, I work in front of a computer so I don't need the phone for anything. It's really a function of how heavily you're using your phone. I think the kink I was having with youtube might be gone so I could potentially be using more data as I show people videos of trivial stuff. There were people reporting that they were using 10+ gigs of data a month - something I think is absurd. For anything serious, I'm using my laptop or desktop instead of my phone.

Haha nice. Yeah, I usually use my phone for internet whenever I'm not around a computer...anytime I do have a computer handy though I use that.

I loathe the size of the Thunderbolt and the Revolution has Bing and the camera isn't as nice. The Charge's filesystem is dated (RFS) so it scores poorly in some benchmark tests but I hear rooters have solved that problem. My opinion is that you'll have to play with them and figure out what you like best.

Exactly...Thunderbolt seems really thick and fat while the Revolution has this aura of "mehhness" all over it...very middle of the road. RFS? Still? I thought they learned from the Galaxy S I debacle about using RFS and changed it for Galaxy S II and other future phones. Gahh at least the rooters solve that..I'd have to change the file system literally as soon as I got the phone...I wouldn't be able to handle RFS based on the mediocre performance of my stepmom's Fascinate.

I seriously considered jumping ship to Sprint for the Evo Shift. But looking at pricing, I just couldn't justify it since I'm on my mother's family plan. I'm paying $50 a month compared to the $80 for Sprint. You'll probably see some savings as well by bringing your parents in. I'm not much of an ATT wireless fan so I never looked at them -> BUT GET UVERSE. IT ROCKS.

Ahh gotcha. Yeah the upfront costs I still have to work through but Sprint's mighty tempting. I'd stay on Verizon too since your on your parents plan. I just did the ATT comparison just for throughness sake..their pricing's square in the middle so I probably wont go with them, esp with capped data.

I've heard good things about UVerse..it's not offered here, but we have FiOS which is awesome.

Hmm....Now I'm really thinking about holding off: http://www.androidcentral.com/verizons-new-data-plans-broken-down-complete-detail

The fact that we apparently can keep our unlimited plans even thorugh upgrades is huge.

 

[Fireguy615]

So from the stupid question land, I am taking it that we can't grab a US Cellular Merge and use it on the VZW network??

 

[cthunder]

So from the stupid question land, I am taking it that we can't grab a US Cellular Merge and use it on the VZW network??

No, I asked Verizon about that and was told it wouldn't work on their network.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

So, I went to Best Buy to take a look at my 2 LTE phone options: I pretty much ignored the Revolution.

The Dummy phones feel a bit smaller than the "IRL" models for some reason...i can't explain why but everything seemed to be shrunken a bit...in any case:

I like the design of the ThunderBolt more. I dig the kickstand and metal accented speaker, as well as the color scheme. All of it is just very nice.

Charge looked good too, and I liked the physical buttons.

I looked at the epic 4G and I liked the keyboard but wished it was a bit larger (again..perhaps because of it being a dummy it's smaller??) The Epic ended up off the list due to sprint not having WiMax coverage at my mom's house: something that's essential for my scenario. Plus WiMax seems to be a pretty much dead technology.

In the end...both Charge and Thunderbolt don't really seem compelling enough...as the internals of the Charge seem to be very Galaxy S 1 esque...so not much of an improvement.

I'd rather wait for Galaxy S two but of course that means waiting past the July 7th deadline...and means that the Droid 3 is now in contention...if Motorola pulls an Atrix and unencrypts the bootloader....that'll be VERY compelling, crappy keyboard and all.

EDIT: http://pocketnow.com/android/samsungs-first-android-slider-for-verizon-pictured-photos

Holy crap...midrange or not...if that doesn't become "merged" I want it...bad.

 

[dyslexicbunny]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

I was going to post that too. I might look into it but I'm still happy with the Charge. Just make sure you're locked into unlimited data.

 

[cthunder]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

So, I went to Best Buy to take a look at my 2 LTE phone options: I pretty much ignored the Revolution.

The Dummy phones feel a bit smaller than the "IRL" models for some reason...i can't explain why but everything seemed to be shrunken a bit...in any case:

I like the design of the ThunderBolt more. I dig the kickstand and metal accented speaker, as well as the color scheme. All of it is just very nice.

Charge looked good too, and I liked the physical buttons.

I looked at the epic 4G and I liked the keyboard but wished it was a bit larger (again..perhaps because of it being a dummy it's smaller??) The Epic ended up off the list due to sprint not having WiMax coverage at my mom's house: something that's essential for my scenario. Plus WiMax seems to be a pretty much dead technology.

In the end...both Charge and Thunderbolt don't really seem compelling enough...as the internals of the Charge seem to be very Galaxy S 1 esque...so not much of an improvement.

I'd rather wait for Galaxy S two but of course that means waiting past the July 7th deadline...and means that the Droid 3 is now in contention...if Motorola pulls an Atrix and unencrypts the bootloader....that'll be VERY compelling, crappy keyboard and all.

EDIT: Samsung's First Android Slider for Verizon Pictured? (Photos)

Holy crap...midrange or not...if that doesn't become "merged" I want it...bad.

Rick, I assume you don't have a smartphone now? I lucked up and a friend upgraded to the charge and will sell me their old Droid 1 for 50 bucks. I am going to activate that one and save my Every 2 upgrade on something better. I would ask around and see if any of your friends or their friends upgraded from a crackberry or upgraded to 4G. Hopefully you will get lucky and use your upgrade on the Samsung in 2 to 3 months.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

I was going to post that too. I might look into it but I'm still happy with the Charge. Just make sure you're locked into unlimited data.

Yeah I have unlimited data now, so in theory, I should be good. People are hearing conflicting reports from customer care though that are giving me pause....then again maybe theyre doing that so people will upgrade and they'll make a sale.

Rick, I assume you don't have a smartphone now? I lucked up and a friend upgraded to the charge and will sell me their old Droid 1 for 50 bucks. I am going to activate that one and save my Every 2 upgrade on something better. I would ask around and see if any of your friends or their friends upgraded from a crackberry or upgraded to 4G. Hopefully you will get lucky and use your upgrade on the Samsung in 2 to 3 months.

I have a smartphone now, a OG Droid. I've had the Omnia, treo 700w and cingular 2125 before that haha..

I'm currently eligible for upgrade pricing and the last New Every Two credit that I have before that disappears.

I'm thinking I should follow your advice and hold out for the Samsung qwerty or GS II...the Droid 1 I have is still servicable save for a few wear issues (bubbling keyboard membrane, headphone jack short) and I can baby it along a few more months.

If I get confirmation that the unlimited data doesn't transfer like everyone says it will..I'll end up having to cut losses..I refuse to be stuck with capped data. nuh uh.

the OG Droid is a solid phone btw, enjoy it and lemme know if you have any questions.

 

[cthunder]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

Thanks, Will Do!

 

[BoSoxSuperman]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

At this point, I'm latching onto rumors of any qwerty phone for Verizon that isn't a Moto...of course now it looks like Samsung is doing a mid-ranger...unfortunately my opinion of Samsungs Touchwhiz is about as high as MotoBlur.

Now, if the MyTouch Slide came to VZW, I'd be in heaven...

 

[cthunder]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

At this point, I'm latching onto rumors of any qwerty phone for Verizon that isn't a Moto...of course now it looks like Samsung is doing a mid-ranger...unfortunately my opinion of Samsungs Touchwhiz is about as high as MotoBlur.

Now, if the MyTouch Slide came to VZW, I'd be in heaven...

"Now, if the MyTouch Slide came to VZW, I'd be in heaven... "

If that happened we all would be in heaven!

 

[rpankoe]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

Has anyone actually gotten a Merge on Verizon? I tried going to 3rd party retailers and they're willing to order it for me, but they can't even get them!

 

[rickhamilton620]

Has anyone actually gotten a Merge on Verizon? I tried going to 3rd party retailers and they're willing to order it for me, but they can't even get them!

I tried going through best buy since they were going to be the biggest third party retailer for it. But they now claim it was "internal error " so they wont carry it after all.


At tthis point, while the device is very desirable for me...I'm unwilling to spend that much effort on a device that'll never be as hackable as the rest of its family members (evo shift, g2) due to it's limited distribution and outdated ness.

Samsung is cooking up a Verizon version of the next Gen sprint epic. If you can hold out longer and that device actually pans out completely unlike merge, it could be the way to go.

If you ever do get merge, please be sure to tell us here as it would be a pretty cool find.

 

[micahw29]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

I work for a VZW retailer. Can get the Merge for anyone interested...I've been using it for the past few days - really like it! PM me if you want one.

(Hope this is OK to post - looks like people are trying to find this phone!)

 

[harvestmusic]

Re: Verizon users who don't feel like hunting for Merge: What's y

Where are you located?y