AT&T No-Contract vs. Unlocked

[blackdogAC]

HTC site has the Unlocked M8 for $700. I assume this will run fine with all capabilities on AT&T.
Amazon has the AT&T, no-contract, for $650.
Is there any advantage to having the unlocked from HTC? Just that there's no carrier bloat-ware?

 

[mhunter6378]

HTC site has the Unlocked M8 for $700. I assume this will run fine with all capabilities on AT&T.
Amazon has the AT&T, no-contract, for $650.
Is there any advantage to having the unlocked from HTC? Just that there's no carrier bloat-ware?

The unlocked version is Sim unlocked, no carrier bloatware and works great on AT&T, no issues.
10 reasons why you should buy your HTC One M8 unlocked and direct from HTC | Android Central

 

[mchockeyvette27]

And its factory unlocked...the att no contract is locked to att still.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[blackdogAC]

Worth the extra $50 for unlocked?

 

[draconianchaos]

I'd say so faster updates that way. Though I am usually far too taken with pretty numbers.

 

[mhunter6378]

Worth the extra $50 for unlocked?

When I got mine they were 649 from Htc so the price was only $10 more than without contract from AT&T at the time so it really wasn't a concern. Now with a fifty dollar difference it's worthy of more thought. For me I would have still bought the unlocked version I think. All my previous AT&T phones came with quite a few preloaded apps, most of which can only be disabled and not uninstalled. No big deal either way really but if I don't want them then I don't want them at all. Secondly, my previous AT&T phones aways came with AT&T address book. That thing drove me nuts because it's embedded in the people/contact app and couldn't be removed, turned off or disabled. Not sure if it's on the AT&T M8 but I wasn't taking the chance and got the unlocked version. Lastly, I hope that since I'm not reliant on a carrier for updates that they will come just a bit faster.

 

[icwhatudidthere]

Not sure if this is relevant this time around (not sure if the M8 includes free cloud storage), but AT&T phones generally have not included the 50GB free Dropbox or Google Drive offers that sometimes come with flagships.

That said, you should have no problems getting the AT&T version sim-unlocked if you pay full price for it up front.

 

[blackdogAC]

I'm not sure that android updates are going to be that helpful from now on; I'm kind of losing confidence in Google. Frankly I wish I could get the M8 with JB.

 

[Almeuit]

And its factory unlocked...the att no contract is locked to att still.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

This is true but usually if you own the phone fully.. AT&T has no problem giving you the unlock code. Just takes a phone call.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.