Long-term, real world reviews for Galaxy Victory phone?

[zuren]

I'm currently running an LG Optimus V on the Virgin Mobile network that is rooted with the Harmonia ROM. I'm grandfathered into Virgin's $25/mo plan (300 min., Unlimited data/text). It serves my purposes but it is only 3G and I'm beginning to run into apps that are incompatible with this old hardware/software. I'm flirting with the idea of a newer phone and the Galaxy Victory is attractive. I like the size (roughly the same as the Optimus but with more screen; I'm not a fan of giant phones with giant screens), has a microSD card slot, battery is removable/replaceable, is 4G and is beginning to come down to an attractive/affordable price ($100 - I don't have the budget or stomach to spend hundreds of dollars on a phone).

It also appears that tethering is possible (link) which is a requirement for the limited and infrequent times that I would need it. I would root it but would probably leave the stock ROM for a while.

I was hoping to hear from those who have loved or hated this phone. I don't care about camera or speakers. I do care about its ability to tether, battery life, signal reception and processor performance. If anyone can comment with your experiences and your overall opinion, I would appreciate it!

I would also like to know what is involved with activating a phone that I do not acquire through Virgin Mobile? I have never done it before. There are used phones out there but I'm beginning to see new phones on Amazon, probably from retailers trying to unload old stock.

Thank you!

 

[tjb50]

I've had one for 7 months now. I just rooted it because performance was taking a hit. I'm not a gamer and don't load lots of apps but it was slowing down. I rooted it and have the stock ROM.(won't know how to replace that!) I installed Link2SD and just got tethering working as well and finally added a program called BOOSTERS PLUS BATTERYSAVER PRO from Google play.($) All those apps require root priv, of course. It now seems to run like the day I got it so I am happy. I, too, am a VM customer and do have 4G in my area so I'm lucky in that respect. It's a good mid phone for the price and you can NOT activate a phone not bought through VM..have to buy it from them and it's on sale for 149 right now. You're right about the camera and speakers but music does sound good through the headphones and the Bluetooth headphones I use work well. Battery life is decent, mine last about 12-14 hours and most of that time I'm on WiFi.(80%) I use about 300-500 meg of data on average per month and talk maybe 50-75 minutes. I have good service in my area, check your coverage map there to be sure what you have and don't have. I'm an It guy who uses VPN and RDP occasionally with the phone. Do the normal apps like twitter and FB often too.

 

[zuren]

...and you can NOT activate a phone not bought through VM..have to buy it from them and it's on sale for 149 right now....

Are we 100% certain regarding activating a VM phone not acquired at VM retailer? I find conflicting information. Most sources online state that as long as the phone is compatible with their service and has been released by the owner (in the case of a used phone), it can be reactivated on a different VM account. In the case of a new phone from a non-VM retail seller, the same seems to be effectively true - the phone is "released" and available to be activated. I'm just trying to drill down on this and separate myth from fact.

Thank you for your thoughts!

 

[tjb50]

I can't answer that. I did ask if I could use another phone that would work with there network and I was told it must be bought through them. I also did mine on-line.

 

[daffy_duck_nj]

Are we 100% certain regarding activating a VM phone not acquired at VM retailer? I find conflicting information. Most sources online state that as long as the phone is compatible with their service and has been released by the owner (in the case of a used phone), it can be reactivated on a different VM account. In the case of a new phone from a non-VM retail seller, the same seems to be effectively true - the phone is "released" and available to be activated. I'm just trying to drill down on this and separate myth from fact.

Thank you for your thoughts!

All of this is true, even with rooted phones that have a custom ROM/kernel installed. I bought my current VM phone (Kyocera Event) from amazon.

 

[tjb50]

According to their site, you can NOT used a phone other than the one bought through them. But right now, for 79 dollars you can get a Victory!
Not sure how long the deal it but I suspect not too long.

 

[daffy_duck_nj]

According to their site, you can NOT used a phone other than the one bought through them. But right now, for 79 dollars you can get a Victory!
Not sure how long the deal it but I suspect not too long.

Yes, you're right if it is a VM phone, but you forgot to look at this page. The price you quoted is VM's. Thanks for the heads up on the deal. If VM runs out, you can still buy their phones in other stores.

 

[Emerson Lopez]

This is phone is good for starters. Although it can be slow. I Download lots of apps and they all work great on this phone. I personally thought it was worth buying this phone.

 

[Union_of_Onion]

I have owned my Galaxy Victory for over 4 months now, and it has just been awesome. Virgin Mobile has a contract with Sprint for the use of their 4G LTE network. Because of this, there are no data charges. However, 3G WILL charge you for any data usage. It's great if you don't have internet connection at home and want or need a good connection. You can use apps like EasyTether or PdaNet to tether your phone's data to your computer. The paid version for PdaNet is FoxFi Key for a one-time fee of $7.95 and is very simple to use. Otherwise, this phone has great storage space (1.72GB usable out of 2GB) for all of your apps. But don't use it constantly because you can wear down your battery, even with it plugged in to your computer. I wish the wifi hotspot was able to be used but VM or Samsung blocked it somehow. If you're not aware already, Samsung likes to edit their ROMs. As a result, apps cannot be moved to the SD card like most other Androids to save space. That is the only drawback but you should not need to do this because of the available space. If you buy a brand new phone as opposed to a refurbished or used one, the battery life is excellent. But you MUST let it die before charging it for the first 2-3 times or the battery will degrade quite a bit. Another tip would be to only charge from a very low level (<15%) to get the most out of your battery after that. It may take several hours for the battery to charge the first few times, but that's expected so charge it overnight. As far as signal reception, you definitely want to check the coverage map for 4G LTE. We live in a city that has it all over, but we're pretty much on the edge of the 4G LTE coverage. Away from cities, as with all other VM phones, coverage is limited to some interstates pretty much. Again, you'll have to check the coverage map for that if you travel. Performance is excellent as long as its internal storage isn't loaded with less than 200-300MB left. The more apps you have, the longer the start-up and shut down time. But a 1.2GHz dual-core processor helps to make for a great phone all around.

 

[tjb50]

You can use tether app for hotspot and link2sd for expanding the space for apps, assuming you have a sd card.
There is also a root app make the phone run at 1.5mhz. My runs runs as good as the day I bought it now, that was 8 months ago.

 

[madbat]

@ union of onion: Not being able to move apps to sd is not a Samsung issue, google removed this feature from all android as of 4.1 and higher.