New to Unlocked Galaxy GSM Nexus

[OMGLadyGaga]

Hey guys, sorry for the noobish question but I've spent my entire phone owning life on cdma. Since the Unlocked Galaxy Nexus is banned from Play Store I resorted to buying the phone from a developer who attended Google I/O. This phone has Jelly Bean on it. It is from what I understand a preview of Jelly Bean, will the phone still work as a regular unlocked Nexus? And still get all teh OTA updates, etc.? I plan to ditch Sprint and use a Straight Talk Sim inside this baby! Pretty excited to leave Sprint, data speeds were too slow and their prices albeit better than the other guys aren't exactly that cheap really. Happy to soon be a part of the Nexus family, phone arrives tomorrow!

 

[hodan]

I don't have that version of the GNex, but feel comfortable saying that you'll get all updates, after all, Google's not gonna hang their devs out to dry.

You'll love the phone.

 

[envoynv]

Hey guys, sorry for the noobish question but I've spent my entire phone owning life on cdma. Since the Unlocked Galaxy Nexus is banned from Play Store I resorted to buying the phone from a developer who attended Google I/O. This phone has Jelly Bean on it. It is from what I understand a preview of Jelly Bean, will the phone still work as a regular unlocked Nexus? And still get all teh OTA updates, etc.? I plan to ditch Sprint and use a Straight Talk Sim inside this baby! Pretty excited to leave Sprint, data speeds were too slow and their prices albeit better than the other guys aren't exactly that cheap really. Happy to soon be a part of the Nexus family, phone arrives tomorrow!

Please let me know how that works out for you, I am in the exact situation that you are in. I currently have Sprint and the data speeds are terrible. I have been doing a lot of reading about Straight Talk and the AT&T Sim. I am curious if the coverage matches that of the contract based AT&T service. I am all for paying a bit more money upfront for the $45 per month that they offer along with the AT&T data speeds.

Keep me posted if you would. BTW, I live in NC. I am sure area makes a difference.

Jeff

 

[Woosh]

Please let me know how that works out for you, I am in the exact situation that you are in. I currently have Sprint and the data speeds are terrible. I have been doing a lot of reading about Straight Talk and the AT&T Sim. I am curious if the coverage matches that of the contract based AT&T service. I am all for paying a bit more money upfront for the $45 per month that they offer along with the AT&T data speeds.

Keep me posted if you would. BTW, I live in NC. I am sure area makes a difference.

Jeff

I'll give you my opinion....I've had ST for about 6 months now and was previously with Sprint for about 5 years.

I would say that Sprint had exceptional voice quality and signal while the data was pathetically slow and when I traveled(Even on major highways)it was nearly non-existent. Now with ST, building penetration is a bit of an issue. I had the same problem when I briefly went to T-Mobile but ST is much better then T-Mo was.

The data is much faster with ST but it also seems sort of a wash since it is limited indoors. Also, you have to watch your data and make sure you don't go over what is considered the invisible limit. Which is roughly 200mb a day or 2gb a month.

Since I am a cheap person I do love my plan though. $45 a month is a great deal in comparison. I pay for 2 phones so my total is about $97 after taxes, instead of $110 on my EPRP from Sprint plus the taxes and fees with Sprint that add up to more like $130 ish.

I am from a non popular town so none of the carriers here work perfectly. I will say for the price I am paying its certainly worth the trade off of being locked down to a contract.

Hope it helps and GL with your decision.

Edit - I would also like to point out that when I was with Sprint(and now) I was always wanting to change up phones and try something different. I went with an iPhone recently to see what the fuss was about. Since it was just a sim I just cut my old one and put it in new phone and I am good to go. Unfortunately now that I cut it I can't get it back so I had to order a new one. But my point is if you like to switch phones a lot and try new things out then this service is perfect imo.

 

[Biggnaa20]

I'll give you my opinion....I've had ST for about 6 months now and was previously with Sprint for about 5 years.

Now with ST, building penetration is a bit of an issue. I had the same problem when I briefly went to T-Mobile but ST is much better then T-Mo was.

The data is much faster with ST but it also seems sort of a wash since it is limited indoors. Also, you have to watch your data and make sure you don't go over what is considered the invisible limit. Which is roughly 200mb a day or 2gb a month.

Thanks a bunch for this.

I've gotten fed up with Sprint's stodgy speeds and ordered my GNex right before they stopped allowing you to order them (lucky me!). I'm still wondering who I'm going to use, and am leaning towards the TMobile Prepaid plans. Thanks to your message, I'll pay extra attention to building penetration. I hope it's better than Sprint.

NB

 

[dmmarck]

Hey guys, sorry for the noobish question but I've spent my entire phone owning life on cdma. Since the Unlocked Galaxy Nexus is banned from Play Store I resorted to buying the phone from a developer who attended Google I/O. This phone has Jelly Bean on it. It is from what I understand a preview of Jelly Bean, will the phone still work as a regular unlocked Nexus? And still get all teh OTA updates, etc.? I plan to ditch Sprint and use a Straight Talk Sim inside this baby! Pretty excited to leave Sprint, data speeds were too slow and their prices albeit better than the other guys aren't exactly that cheap really. Happy to soon be a part of the Nexus family, phone arrives tomorrow!

I presume it would, and in this case it would simply be a "full" version of JB whenever the N7 starts shipping...so 3-4 weeks, I reckon.

 

[myrcgarage]

Thanks a bunch for this.

I've gotten fed up with Sprint's stodgy speeds and ordered my GNex right before they stopped allowing you to order them (lucky me!). I'm still wondering who I'm going to use, and am leaning towards the TMobile Prepaid plans. Thanks to your message, I'll pay extra attention to building penetration. I hope it's better than Sprint.

NB

I am in the same boat as you in terms of which carrier to go with. Which prepaid plan are you referring to? Monthly 4G or Value plan? Please advise.

Thanks

 

[Eric Kane]

I just recently got the Nexus from the Play Store and I'm running it through AT&T. Night and day difference from the Verizon Nexus. I'm 8 hours in with about an hour and a half on screen time, 60% brightness, live wallpaper, etc, and I'm at 73% battery life. HSPA+ around the Baltimore area gets me about 4 mbps down, 1-2 mbps up. If anyone is on the fence about getting one from the Play Store, it's well worth it. I paid $150 more for the Nexus than I did for the S3, but I don't have a 2 year contract tied to it. I also don't have AT&T getting in the way of any updates I get.

I've used close to 25 phones in a 2 year span and this is the first time I've ever gone back to a phone I used prior. That's just how good the Galaxy Nexus is with Jelly Bean.

 

[Biggnaa20]

I am in the same boat as you in terms of which carrier to go with. Which prepaid plan are you referring to? Monthly 4G or Value plan? Please advise.

Thanks

I'm looking at the T-Mobile "unlimited" plans with 3 gb at supposed 4G speeds before being restricted. This plan will save me around $15-20 over Sprint. I still need to figure out if there are charges for roaming though.

I've also looked at AT&T, but would end up spending a little more if I go with the post paid option. I haven't fully priced the Go Phone plans, but I don't see a big savings with them.

nb

 

[giograves]

Same. That prepaid tmo plan is confusing on the roaming.

My fear is to be in a building and get no coverage. My sprint nexus s typically says Roaming even though I'm in the heart of the city, no where near the sticks.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

Please let me know how that works out for you, I am in the exact situation that you are in. I currently have Sprint and the data speeds are terrible. I have been doing a lot of reading about Straight Talk and the AT&T Sim. I am curious if the coverage matches that of the contract based AT&T service. I am all for paying a bit more money upfront for the $45 per month that they offer along with the AT&T data speeds.

Keep me posted if you would. BTW, I live in NC. I am sure area makes a difference.

Jeff

I read anything and everything I could about Straight Talk's ATT service, the general consensus is that you indeed do get post paid ATT service. Sprint's 3g is truly awful here...trying to stream music while going on a jog is infuriating. Plus Sprint charges me with tax/insurance/etc. about 140 bucks a month..with straight talk I would only pay about 75 since my other line doesnt need the unlimited package. I'll let you know how it works in my area, phone is set to arrive anytime (fingers crossed) and ordering a Straight Talk ATT sim card asap as well.

 

[Mobimop]

I just recently got the Nexus from the Play Store and I'm running it through AT&T. Night and day difference from the Verizon Nexus. I'm 8 hours in with about an hour and a half on screen time, 60% brightness, live wallpaper, etc, and I'm at 73% battery life. HSPA+ around the Baltimore area gets me about 4 mbps down, 1-2 mbps up. If anyone is on the fence about getting one from the Play Store, it's well worth it. I paid $150 more for the Nexus than I did for the S3, but I don't have a 2 year contract tied to it. I also don't have AT&T getting in the way of any updates I get.

I've used close to 25 phones in a 2 year span and this is the first time I've ever gone back to a phone I used prior. That's just how good the Galaxy Nexus is with Jelly Bean.

Are you on a contract with AT&T?

 

[Biggnaa20]

I am in the same boat as you in terms of which carrier to go with. Which prepaid plan are you referring to? Monthly 4G or Value plan? Please advise.

Thanks

Sorry for the delay, but I'm doing the monthly 4g plans. I am currently on the $60 Unlimited with 2gb of 4g speeds since i never used more than 2GBs with Sprint...but I realize now, my usage was severely hampered since the data was so slow.

I'm going to have to upgrade to the 5gb high speed probably.

Also, if you aren't a talker, or have a home phone, you might want to look at the $30/month plan with 100 minutes of talk, but 5gbs of high speed data and unlimited everything else. I'd use that one, but I guess I'm too chatty.

nnb

On another note...the 2g speeds on TMobile are actually faster than Sprint's 3g. Just sayin'