to get 4g or not . . .

**Ryp11** · 11-01-2011, 09:25 AM

I live in Maine and most likely will not see Verizon LTE until the end of 2013. That being said I'm looking for opinions on if I should buy an LTE phone now, based on their other benefits, speed, ICS, camera upgrades or if I should wait and get a 3g only phone and wait for the next crop of LTE phones when I finally have LTE service. I have a Dinc right now and it's time for an upgrade and just not really sure what I want/should do. Thanks in advance for the advice.

**DougD84** · 11-01-2011, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by Ryp11

I live in Maine and most likely will not see Verizon LTE until the end of 2013. That being said I'm looking for opinions on if I should buy an LTE phone now, based on their other benefits, speed, ICS, camera upgrades or if I should wait and get a 3g only phone and wait for the next crop of LTE phones when I finally have LTE service. I have a Dinc right now and it's time for an upgrade and just not really sure what I want/should do. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Kind of a tough question to answer. If you have access to WiFi in many of the places you frequent and you want the latest and greatest of mobile technology, then maybe it's worth your while to get a 4G phone. However, I would probably err on the side of getting a 3G phone that does everything really well, root it and load an ICS ROM when it becomes available from Cyanogen or someone else and revel in abandon for 2 years until LTE shows up.

**YourMobileGuru** · 11-10-2011, 02:49 AM

Originally Posted by Ryp11

I live in Maine and most likely will not see Verizon LTE until the end of 2013. That being said I'm looking for opinions on if I should buy an LTE phone now, based on their other benefits, speed, ICS, camera upgrades or if I should wait and get a 3g only phone and wait for the next crop of LTE phones when I finally have LTE service. I have a Dinc right now and it's time for an upgrade and just not really sure what I want/should do. Thanks in advance for the advice.

My impression is that going forward all of their top tier phones will be LTE.

I would NOT buy a DInc2 as it was only a small upgrade from your DInc and is now 6 months old, and the TBolt is also showing it's age. Unless you get an Incredible deal (pun intended) I would probably skip that one too. Rezound is going to be an amazing upgrade for you if you want to stay with HTC.

If not then I would seriously take a look at the Droid Bionic which will probably get a price drop now that RAZR us upon us. I would probably get a Bionic over the RAZR because of the removable battery issue unless the screen and camera really seem that bad to you. The reported issues with the camera will be resolved in a software update and if nit there are third party camera apps to choose from. Moto has stated that BOTH of these phones will get ICS within 6 weeks of Google releasing the code (I would not count on exactly 6 weeks but we do know this is a high priority for them).

The Samsung Stratosphere is also a really nice 4G phone. The new Nexus is also going to be nice.

Avoid the Pantec Breakout at all costs (It's junk). Droid Charge is almost EOL as is the LG Revolution (Rev 2 is on the way).

Good 3G phones to consider: Droid X2, Droid 3.

I would avoid Samsung Illusion as well because it is very entry level.

If I were in your position I would get either the Rezound or the Bionic; or wait a couple more weeks for the Nexus.

**Blackthanos** · 11-10-2011, 12:04 PM

I don't know your lifestyle but if you tend to travel a lot I can see that making a 4G LTE phone somewhat more useful, but if not then it seems like it wouldn't really be cost effective. If you're on Verizon and don't travel you may want to wait and then use your upgrade for whatever the best new phone is for you at that time. Honestly it all breaks down to how badly you want the phone. If you are feenin for it then you probably wont be satisfied with anything else even if a 3G phone was the right economical choice. Good luck.

**labs point** · 11-10-2011, 01:53 PM

The OP raises a good question. I have been wondering about it myself. Way north of Seattle here and I don't think 4G is coming soon but could be wrong, maybe they will do the I-5 corridor all the way to the border. That would be great if there are plans for that.

Can 4G be turned off easily on the Rezound? How about the Nexus Prime?

**labs point** · 11-10-2011, 01:54 PM

The OP raises a good question. I have been wondering about it myself. Way north of Seattle here and I don't think 4G is coming soon but could be wrong, maybe they will do the I-5 corridor all the way to the border. That would be great if there are plans for that.

Can 4G be turned off easily on the Rezound? How about the Nexus Prime?

**edoublediz** · 11-10-2011, 07:58 PM

any cutting edge phone worth getting is going to be LTE....... definitely get a 4G phone. turn LTE radio off to save battery and call it a day. when you travel to LTE footprint turn it on and rock the airwaves!!!!

**Premium1** · 11-10-2011, 08:29 PM

I would say get lte. You can always turn it off until it comes into your area. It may come sooner than you expect with how fast verizon is rolling out their lte network. Not to mention it makes the phone a little more future proof being able to take advantage of lte. Not to mention it seems like pretty much all the high end phones are coming with lte.

**Premium1** · 11-10-2011, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by labs point

The OP raises a good question. I have been wondering about it myself. Way north of Seattle here and I don't think 4G is coming soon but could be wrong, maybe they will do the I-5 corridor all the way to the border. That would be great if there are plans for that.

Can 4G be turned off easily on the Rezound? How about the Nexus Prime?

Yes there is a toggle that you can switch to cdma/lte or just cdma(3g)

**YourMobileGuru** · 11-10-2011, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by edizzle

any cutting edge phone worth getting is going to be LTE....... definitely get a 4G phone. turn LTE radio off to save battery and call it a day. when you travel to LTE footprint turn it on and rock the airwaves!!!!

Going forward all of the best phones will be LTE and if you compromise and get a 3G only phone you will almost certainly regret it, especially if you keeop your phones for two yeas or close to two years. .

**Simon_y7** · 11-16-2011, 10:32 PM

Something interesting:

**Nerelda** · 11-17-2011, 11:55 AM

I too live in an area that will not be seeing 4g until 2013, but I'm planning on getting the Rezound anyway and just turning off the 4g (saw how to do this somewhere, but can't remember right now) and save battery in my 3g area. Pretty much all the newer phones are going to be 4g and since I'm due for an upgrade now (Dec 1st actually), I might as well go with it.

**YourMobileGuru** · 11-17-2011, 10:40 PM

Originally Posted by Nerelda

I too live in an area that will not be seeing 4g until 2013, but I'm planning on getting the Rezound anyway and just turning off the 4g (saw how to do this somewhere, but can't remember right now) and save battery in my 3g area. Pretty much all the newer phones are going to be 4g and since I'm due for an upgrade now (Dec 1st actually), I might as well go with it.

Rezound is an awesome device, just picked mine up today

As for the 4G roll-out it has been going a lot faster than expected (VZW has already surpassed the number of markets they expected to convert this year and we have almost two more months) and the target date for my area was supposed to be Q1 of next year but it was in the paper last week we are getting it Dec 15, so you may bet it sooner than you expect as well.

**Nerelda** · 11-17-2011, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by VZWRocks

Rezound is an awesome device, just picked mine up today

As for the 4G roll-out it has been going a lot faster than expected (VZW has already surpassed the number of markets they expected to convert this year and we have almost two more months) and the target date for my area was supposed to be Q1 of next year but it was in the paper last week we are getting it Dec 15, so you may bet it sooner than you expect as well.

I can only hope you are right, but it was only in the last few weeks that we were informed of the 2013 expecting date(ish). I work for a newspaper in some VERY rural areas and am thankful to have even just 3G in most of those areas (I use the hotspot feature for deadlines), but if 4G were to actually arrive well before the expectancy of 2013, I would be thrilled...this would mean more shooting time for me rather than waiting and hoping that the files can be sent fast enough.