Considering Nexus on AT&T after yesterday's announcement

[ktulu05]

I'm a current Sprint HTC EVO 4G user, and my contract just ran out. My EVO is really starting to show it's age and even with other ROM's, is becoming painful to use. I'm looking to jump to AT&T because of being able to re-join our family plan and save a few bucks. I also like the unlockability of GSM over CDMA, as I travel internationally for work once in a while. I don't care about LTE, I care more about battery life.

I've been waiting for the SIII to arrive in stores to try it out, and was convinced that it would be my next device. Until yesterday, with the Jelly Bean update and how the Galaxy Nexus is getting those updates first. I know the Nexus isn't perfect, but with the unlocked nature, I could just buy the next Nexus phone from Google this fall.

I'm thinking I want to sign up with AT&T for either a One X or SIII, buy the unlocked Nexus, and promptly sell the One X/SIII on ebay. Any reasons why that's not a good idea?

I know that I could also consider Straight Talk. The reason I'm not doing that, is I read some of the fine print, where it appears that they will terminate your account if you exceed some unpublished data limit. The problem there, is that you lose your number portability when they terminate your account, and I can't afford to lose my number (business reasons).

Any thoughts?

 

[dwd3885]

i'm considering the same. I could buy the unlocked Nexus for just $350 or buy an off-contract One X/S3 for $550. If I were you and you are like me (pure Android experience lover) then the Nexus is what to get. I've toyed around with the better hardware device, but you are stuck with Touchwiz or Sense, or whatever, and unless you put CM9/10 on there, you won't get the stock experience. And I've never had a CM device where everything worked perfectly unless it WAS a Nexus!

 

[ktulu05]

Yes, I do prefer pure ICS over touchwiz, sense, etc. I wish Google would come out with a top of the line Nexus from a hardware standpoint.

 

[shaytoon21]

this is a bit tricky for me....i guess what it comes down to for me is $$...

i was thinking of buying my wife a new phone, her ifruit is breaking down thank god (but sadly shes a sheep and goes ooooo ahhhhh at anything "new")

shes on att so i have the option to get an sg3 @ $200 or unlocked nexus @ $350

shes not a heavy user or goes crazy but wanting to do anything at all. shes very simple and basic and just wants the phone to work its basic functions.

whats stopping me aside from $ is i want her to experience android (itll be her first) and how much greater it is (i know she will LOVE the "openness" of it and not being bound to 1 computer bc shes always sharing pics and music) i want her to experience a good transition to ics/jb....whats holding me back is the whole ics/jb thing bc nexus gets it first and were assuming sg3 gets it in dec? and people keep complaining that touchwiz sucks which i havent used yet...is it really that bad compared to ics?

but anyways....i guess i just wanted to hear people weigh out options i may have missed

 

[ktulu05]

I've played around with TouchWiz, and never really liked it. The fonts and colors looked cartoonish to me. I much prefer the built-in launcher or Sense. If I get the S3, my plan was to put a 3rd party launcher on it right away and hide most of TouchWiz.

 

[I Monarch]

I can tell you the reasons why I'm using a Galaxy S III over my Galaxy Nexus. Maybe that will sway you. I'll preface this by saying that I'm not rooting or flashing any of my devices.

Galaxy Nexus loud speaker- it's just not loud enough. I've tried those apps like "Volume +" or what have you, and they didn't do what I needed. I couldn't watch a YouTube video and hear what was going. It takes perfect conditions to hear what was playing.

Camera- the GNex camera isn't terrible, but compared to the 8MP on the GSIII, it gets put to shame. I can take a picture from 20 feet away and zoom in on someone's belly button. The GNex got the job done, but there's much better out there.

Battery life- The Galaxy Nexus typically lasted me ~3 hours of screen-on time. That got me from 8am-10pm. That sounds good on paper, but getting 4.5 hours of screen-on time makes a world of difference on my Galaxy S III. I can work all day, play on my phone at night, and still be able to unwind and lay in bed, reading Twitter or Reddit.

 

[lfeuln]

Is she coming from a 3GS or a 4? That could make a difference since the hardware weaknesses of the Nexus will be less significant compared to a 3GS.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[shafferb]

Both my Dad and I (62 years old and 88 years old respectively) bought the Galaxy Nexus from Google, unlocked. He was "grandfathered' in to an unlimited data plan on his iPhone, so just a simple SIM card swap and all was well. I hate contracts, so I've got a basic voice plan with 1GB of data per month on mine as a monthly prepaid.

Tonight (we live out in the sticks a bit) our power went off and both of us attached to his hotspot on his Galaxy Nexus and continue to surf away at around 6 Mbps download speeds (even out in the sticks), about 2Mbps upload. We have two DSL lines in our house but both are rated at only 1.2 Mbps, which kind of gives you an idea of how "out in the sticks" we really are.

He and I both have Nexus 7's (16gb) and he has an Infinity TF700T (64Gb) as well, mine arrives on Tuesday. Given how well the HotSpot works, I dont know why so many people are uber concerned about 4G/4G LTE on their tablets. With the HotSpot, it just doesn't matter.

I also have a T-Mobile prepaid card (with "high speed data") and all I can get out in my area is a truly pathetic Edge connection, so T-Mobile can just sod off.

 

[snookiesnoo]

Is she coming from a 3GS or a 4? That could make a difference since the hardware weaknesses of the Nexus will be less significant compared to a 3GS.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

Or a 4s which beats the Nexus every which way.

 

[snookiesnoo]

i'm considering the same. I could buy the unlocked Nexus for just $350 or buy an off-contract One X/S3 for $550.

Interesting that an off contract S II on AT&T is $549 but is $599 on Verizon. Verizon also sells the 32 GB for $649. The off contract One X is now $449 at AT&T.

 

[snookiesnoo]

iPhone has had wireless and cloud sync for some time. You have many other sources of music besides iTunes and the same with pictures.

whats stopping me aside from $ is i want her to experience android (itll be her first) and how much greater it is (i know she will LOVE the "openness" of it and not being bound to 1 computer bc shes always sharing pics and music) i want her to experience a good transition to ics/jb....whats holding me back is the whole ics/jb thing bc nexus gets it first and were assuming sg3 gets it in dec? and people keep complaining that touchwiz sucks which i havent used yet...is it really that bad compared to ics?

but anyways....i guess i just wanted to hear people weigh out options i may have missed

 

[DIPNINANOUT]

Best advice go to the store and play with the devices. I like how on ICS you can put apps in folders on touchwiz you cant

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[vivek615]

Or a 4s which beats the Nexus every which way.

False 4s is actually only better in video card... nexus will probably feel quicker though... 4 or 3gs can feel unbearably slow compared to either phone

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[icewater106]

Best advice go to the store and play with the devices. I like how on ICS you can put apps in folders on touchwiz you cant

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

On touch size 4.0 you can, you have to make a folder first then drag apps in to that folder

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums