[TripSixes]

This is very misleading on both VzW and Samsung's part. They announce pre-orders for a phone a month in advance, make everyone wait until after June 28th (unlimited data deadline) before any phones are shipped. They then announce this developer phone at full-price, which you have to buy directly from samsung at some unknown time in the future.

Yes, I could return my SGS3, re-activate my Fascinate, and wait for this unlocked version. But, I assume that once this date comes around, and I want to switch to that device (if I decide to pay $600+ for it), that I will then be forced to switch to Shared Data plan, even though I made the decision to upgrade to SGS3 before the deadline.

You know, I do have faith in the Android Developer community to unlock this phone properly so that we can do what we want with it. But, it's just a slap in the face from VzW/Sammy for them to bait us into pre-orders with the promise of the phone, then to find out that it's locked bootloader, only to find out that they will offer a full-price phone to make it easy on developers to do what they wish.

I was already thinking of returning the phone... I think this just puts the nail in the coffin.

[KrazyRogue]

Just in time for those who pre-ordered to feel guilty about their purchase. Thanks Verizon!

[hokiesteve]

This is damn good news, and everyone just want to whine. Verizon opened up their network to a top of the line unlocked phone, Covered their warranty liability. Samsung gets to sell what they want. Consumers can buy what they want. This is sooooo WIN WIN WIN.
Why are we whining?

Because you can't use your Verizon subsidy towards it. It would be nice if Verizon had discounted no contract plans for those who don't take the phone subsidy and 2 year contract.

[nexsin]

I'm buying it. Bought the Verizon one at full price so this makes no difference to me. Hopefully it's out in the next few days and I can order it before I'm back from vacation

[Mtn_Scott]

Because you can't use your Verizon subsidy towards it. It would be nice if Verizon had discounted no contract plans for those who don't take the phone subsidy and 2 year contract.

Easy sell subsidized phone, use money to buy unlocked phone. Verizon is giving us an option for a change.

We all know Verizon is not cheap. If you want cheap, get a nexus and a T-Mobile $30 a month data plan.

I would rather kill a man than a snake, it not that I like snakes or hate man, it is more of a sense of proportion.

[tekhna]

I feel really stupid for betraying HTC. I've never owned a non-HTC phone. I guess this is what I get for leaving them, huh?

[Mtn_Scott]

You have it all figured out don't you there mr wisdom


Sent via tapatalk

I guess I get it, so figured out, yes.

I would rather kill a man than a snake, it not that I like snakes or hate man, it is more of a sense of proportion.

[Mtn_Scott]

Jay: What the f$#% is the Internet?
Holden: The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to b^%$# about cell phone carriers and share pornography with one another.

I would rather kill a man than a snake, it not that I like snakes or hate man, it is more of a sense of proportion.

[mikefrombx]

You guys realize that you can flash clockwork recovery to the verizon non unlocked one right. As soon as a rom is out i can flash to my phone, it isnt as easy as going throgh rom manager but it is a start. Then once the developer version is out the nerds will be all ober it and we can unlock our phones for good.

[snork]

Well it's not effecting your contract so it's just an off-contract price.

Buying it off contract doesn't help my plan price either, so its $400 out of my pocket for the same phone I have, but without a locked bootloader.

[snork]

This is very misleading on both VzW and Samsung's part. They announce pre-orders for a phone a month in advance, make everyone wait until after June 28th (unlimited data deadline) before any phones are shipped. They then announce this developer phone at full-price, which you have to buy directly from samsung at some unknown time in the future.

Yes, I could return my SGS3, re-activate my Fascinate, and wait for this unlocked version. But, I assume that once this date comes around, and I want to switch to that device (if I decide to pay $600+ for it), that I will then be forced to switch to Shared Data plan, even though I made the decision to upgrade to SGS3 before the deadline.

You know, I do have faith in the Android Developer community to unlock this phone properly so that we can do what we want with it. But, it's just a slap in the face from VzW/Sammy for them to bait us into pre-orders with the promise of the phone, then to find out that it's locked bootloader, only to find out that they will offer a full-price phone to make it easy on developers to do what they wish.

I was already thinking of returning the phone... I think this just puts the nail in the coffin.

fwiw, if you buy this device (the dev model), its off contract, so you can keep your unlimited plan.

[cae2685]

Buying it off contract doesn't help my plan price either, so its $400 out of my pocket for the same phone I have, but without a locked bootloader.

Then this doesn't seem to be the option for you.

Option A) Pay subsidized price. Get locked phone.
Option B) Pay unsubbed price to Verizon. Get locked phone. (This is obviously not for power users.)
Option C) Pay unsubbed price to Samsung, get unlocked phone. Deal with the fact that you're paying a developer price, which is a business writeoff for a real developer anyway, and you don't have a warranty.

Options D - ∞) Do literally anything else with your money. Plenty o' choices! Donate to a worthy cause. Take your parents, significant other, whoever out to dinner. Racing season is coming up, take a trip to Saratoga and bet the ponies. The options are limitless!

[atlharry]

I feel really stupid for betraying HTC. I've never owned a non-HTC phone. I guess this is what I get for leaving them, huh?

Not really, it's what you get for getting a non-nexus. If an unlocked boot loader is that important to you, you should choose the one that has it guaranteed. HTC Thunderbolt had a signed bootloader. (Yes, I know it was defeated, I had one). If the HOX had come to Verizon, I can almost guarantee that it would have had a signed bootloader.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[tekhna]

Not really, it's what you get for getting a non-nexus. If an unlocked boot loader is that important to you, you should choose the one that has it guaranteed. HTC Thunderbolt had a signed bootloader. (Yes, I know it was defeated, I had one). If the HOX had come to Verizon, I can almost guarantee that it would have had a signed bootloader.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, HTC signs their bootloaders. But you can unlock them. The HTC Incredible 4G LTE (say that 5 times fast) is unlockable at htcdev.com. It takes 5 minutes. It took 5 minutes to unlock my Rezound. Yeah, the HOX would have had a signed bootloader, but it would have been unlockable. Just like every other recent HTC phone on Verizon (Inc4G, Rezound, Rhyme). Samsung screwed this one up pretty badly. If tiny HTC can hold out against Verizon and offer unlockable bootloaders, why can't behemoth Samsung?

I'm fine buying the dev model out of pocket if Verizon knocks 20% off my bill every month for using unsubsidized equipment. Think that'll happen?

[kenyee]

The question is whether this dev phone has an unlocked sim like the HTC Rezound:
Does VZW know Rezound can be used on T-Mobile/AT&T GSM network?

[BigCTM]

Makes me glad I do not have the need to root... I have done it before and it caused more issues than it was worth.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[s14tat]

Makes me glad I do not have the need to root... I have done it before and it caused more issues than it was worth.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Well some phones work so well from the factory that it doesn't need a custom rom. However if your the type that wants to keep your phone as long as you can, then I would root. Its amazing that my almost 2 year old Fascinate is running more up to date software than most of Verizon's top of the line offering.

I will pick up a GS3, but I just need to see which version gets more developer support and if the roms are interchangable between the two versions. I'm almost positive my Fascinate would eventually get a Jelly Bean port as well which will make my even older phone by that time to have more up to date software than all of verizon's phones except the nexus.

[atlharry]

Yeah, HTC signs their bootloaders. But you can unlock them. The HTC Incredible 4G LTE (say that 5 times fast) is unlockable at htcdev.com. It takes 5 minutes. It took 5 minutes to unlock my Rezound. Yeah, the HOX would have had a signed bootloader, but it would have been unlockable. Just like every other recent HTC phone on Verizon (Inc4G, Rezound, Rhyme). Samsung screwed this one up pretty badly. If tiny HTC can hold out against Verizon and offer unlockable bootloaders, why can't behemoth Samsung?

I'm fine buying the dev model out of pocket if Verizon knocks 20% off my bill every month for using unsubsidized equipment. Think that'll happen?

Isn't the AT&T HOX a signed bootloader with no htcdev support? There's an exploit, but no official way to do it. Basically, you just make it look like a non-AT&T version.

I'm just saying that the carriers have so much power over the manufacturers that unless it's a nexus, you can't bank on being able to ROM your phone's.

I've always had faith in the dev community, but waiting for those more talented than me was always such a long wait!

Getting it out of the box with the nexus was refreshing. Ironically, even with just ICS, I went back to complete stock and have been happy. Although, with Verizon's JB in AOSP now, it looks like that'll change yet again. Android love.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[TripSixes]

Snork -Thanks for pointing out that the phone from Samsung would be off-contract.

But, I'm still confused about how that would work, given the current contract I just signed.. ?

I have now upgraded from Fascinate to GS3, and signed a new 2-year contract because of it.
I did this before June 28th, thus, I have unlimited data for this line.
If I just put this phone up on ebay to sell, then I'm still in my contract with VzW? correct? (I get $500-600 out of the deal).
I already have $170 paid to Verizon for the honor of pre-order GS3., thus, my net return is $330-430 in my pocket.
I then re-activate my Fascinate (back to 3G only plan)... not sure what VzW would do about my contract then.. no more unlimited data because i'm making plan change after 6/28?.. Does my account return to the state it was in before? (ready for upgrade, etc)

I then wait for developer model to be released.

Once it is released, Samsung asks me to pay them $600. I use $400 from the ebay sell, and $200+tax/shipping of my own money to obtain the device.

(I've now invested $170 + $250 of my own money on this device..) == approx $420.

I then call up verizon to change plan back to 4G .. tell them i have my own device, and that it does not need to be on contract... I get unlimited data, etc.


In the end, I don't see how this is a good deal for me. ...

[nedqadams]

Snork -Thanks for pointing out that the phone from Samsung would be off-contract.

But, I'm still confused about how that would work, given the current contract I just signed.. ?

I have now upgraded from Fascinate to GS3, and signed a new 2-year contract because of it.
I did this before June 28th, thus, I have unlimited data for this line.
If I just put this phone up on ebay to sell, then I'm still in my contract with VzW? correct? (I get $500-600 out of the deal).
I already have $170 paid to Verizon for the honor of pre-order GS3., thus, my net return is $330-430 in my pocket.
I then re-activate my Fascinate (back to 3G only plan)... not sure what VzW would do about my contract then.. no more unlimited data because i'm making plan change after 6/28?.. Does my account return to the state it was in before? (ready for upgrade, etc)

I then wait for developer model to be released.

Once it is released, Samsung asks me to pay them $600. I use $400 from the ebay sell, and $200+tax/shipping of my own money to obtain the device.

(I've now invested $170 + $250 of my own money on this device..) == approx $420.

I then call up verizon to change plan back to 4G .. tell them i have my own device, and that it does not need to be on contract... I get unlimited data, etc.


In the end, I don't see how this is a good deal for me. ...

I would wait till it's released, buy the new phone and then sell the old one on ebay. The $200 you paid to Verizon is a wash because that's for the subsidized price. You might end up losing 50-75 on the deal but that should be about it.
Once you sell the old phone, fire up the new one and you wont have to touch your contract.

[MazoMark]

Verizon and Samsung doing stuff the right way here. Bravo!

OK. Who the hell are you and what have you done with Jerry?

[BigCTM]

I agree if you plan on keeping for a long period. I usually just sell mine and buy at full price or Craigslist every year or so. I actually had a Fascinate for awhile and was using custom roms. Then I got the rezound and now the S3.

Well some phones work so well from the factory that it doesn't need a custom rom. However if your the type that wants to keep your phone as long as you can, then I would root. Its amazing that my almost 2 year old Fascinate is running more up to date software than most of Verizon's top of the line offering.

I will pick up a GS3, but I just need to see which version gets more developer support and if the roms are interchangable between the two versions. I'm almost positive my Fascinate would eventually get a Jelly Bean port as well which will make my even older phone by that time to have more up to date software than all of verizon's phones except the nexus.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Crispy]

Verizon and Samsung doing stuff the right way here. Bravo!

This is great news but I really wouldn't praise Verizon for this. I bet Samsung had to fight really hard for this, its the first time VZW has allowed anything like this. VZW did their best to reduce the functionality of the phone as much as possible (the Wifi notification, locked bootloaders, removing options, Dropbox).

Samsung is trying to make it right with the dev community. I just wish they'd refused to lock the bootloader, there's no way VZW would've refused to carry such a popular phone, and they would have caved in.

This is just going to fracture development even more.

[hokiesteve]

Easy sell subsidized phone, use money to buy unlocked phone. Verizon is giving us an option for a change.

We all know Verizon is not cheap. If you want cheap, get a nexus and a T-Mobile $30 a month data plan.

I would rather kill a man than a snake, it not that I like snakes or hate man, it is more of a sense of proportion.

Except you take a hit selling it and buying the unlocked version. You certainly wouldn't get $600 for the locked version. I'm fine with paying Verizon prices for the coverage and reliability. However, I'd like a break from my monthly cost if I don't take a device subsidy and 2 year contract. Let's actualy make the pricing transparent. There's little pressure on phone prices when the carriers hide the actual cost from the consumers.

[ultravisitor]

Then once the developer version is out the nerds will be all ober it and we can unlock our phones for good.

Yeah, tell that to all the people who have RAZRs and who thought the RAZR developer edition would help them unlock the bootloader for that phone.