Ten Commandments For Smartphone Buyers

[YourMobileGuru]

Ten Commandments For Smartphone Buyers (advanced users)

Ten Commandments For Smartphone Buyers:

1. An smartphone has a year at most before it is completely obsolete from a power user's standpoint, but not the average consumer who does not read tech blogs. No, everyone is NOT going to jump ship because XXX device did not get YYY upgrade, in fact 95% of users don't even know what YYY upgrade is and are still using the same OS their phone came with (unless it was pushed to them). If you want upgrade pricing you should consider only one year contracts, otherwise be prepared to pay full retail for a phone between contracts. That's just how it is. DEAL WITH IT!

2. When choosing a phone, pick the best that is available TODAY (or at most that is available in the next month, with a firm release date announced -- "rumored to be released in August" does not count.). If you spend too much time and energy looking at what is coming, there will always be something newer and better coming and you will never buy a phone.

3. Never buy a smartphone more than 6 months old. It will probably not run the latest software (or that new OS upgrade that is just around the corner e.g. Froyo, BlackBerry6) and there is probably a replacement device in the pipe already that does the same thing only better.

4. If you want the latest and greatest, think long and hard (and then think again) before buying a device more than three months old as there is something better either already available or that will be available within a month.

5. Never jump carriers for a specific phone, in 6 months to a year you will regret it when something better comes along on your old carrier and you are stuck with the remainder of your two year contract.

6. If you are on Sprint you are only getting maybe 3 good devices a year so shop carefully and be prepared to live with it for a full year and understand that the last 6 months you will probably hate it because you see the newer/better stuff on other carriers.

7. If you are on T-Mobile, yes you will get some of the phones available only overseas and not from other US carriers (read: CDMA), but do your research because they will probably have memory or features stripped out, and odds are high that your new Android device will be running an old OS and not get an upgrade.

8. If you are on AT&T, do not buy an Android device as it will be crippled. Instead move to another carrier or buy an unlocked device with AT&T 3G bands, you will thank me for this. If you are thinking of upgrading to the iPhone 4 think again. No matter how much Steve Jobs tries to cloud the issue, yes the antenna really is flawed, and no software upgrade will change that. It will require a hardware refresh for them to fix it. See above for T-Mobile. It also applies to you.

9. If you are on Verizon, you will have tons of choices for smartphones, but there will be a new latest and greatest every month or two so be prepared to lust over them while you patiently wait for upgrade.

10. Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's smartphone. Choose a new phone for yourself, not for to one up your neighbor. Love the phone you have and don't loose any sleep over the fact that it can't do everything the latest and greatest can, your bank account will thank you. And remember that no matter how old your device is or seems it is still 10x better than the crummy feature phones.

 

[Dirrk]

I would like to say, I just want you to know that you are a serious vzw fan boy. That being said, and I have vzw so I am not saying its a bad thing that you like vzw but you blatently put other carriers down because of this and that makes you a fan boy. * I am being respectful dont get ur little feeling hurt plz * I would like to address a couple conserns about your post.

1. 1year contracts, Luckily from my knowledge ( I work in the industry ), if you go to a retailer instead of corp, you can probably get the two year price on a 1yr upgrade. Or If you are the primary line you can get an upgrade every year with most carriers provided your rate plan is high enough.

2. Completely agree, no one will have the latest phone for long...

3. So what your saying is buying the D1 right now is a bad idea? It is 8 months old but still has the advantages of being the best phone on VZW, mind you the x has a better camera but lets face it anyone smart enough to read can root the droid and overclock it to 1ghz.

4. I completely disagree, Never buy a new phone as soon as it comes out you should atleest wait until it has been out a month - 45days because at leest you can get real feedback on phone. What if your stuck with a pos or have to pay a restocking fee just because you werent patient. IE BB Storm1, Samsung Omnia, iPhone4.....

5. Agreed. Service in your location is most important followed by price. If it works where u need it to and its in your budget just wait it out, or wait until your contract is over before you change.

6. Yeah maybe last year, sprint is actually doing pretty fair and I bet will have atleest 2 great phones excluding the EVO and the Galaxy S.

7. What? T-Mobile has more android phones then vzw does....They have the nexus 1. They were the first with android....and they can use sim cards, which means they can use those more advanced overseas phones that we are now finally catching up to. Nokia had a front facing camera 3-4 years ago......

8. Att works for some in areas where vzw does not, The Galaxy S is a great phone. I do not like Apple at all but I will say this. Apple's iphone 4 is great for people who do not want to take a day to learn how to use the phone. It is extremely ez because they limit everything you can do. I know alot of people knock the phone but for SOME people this is what they want. This is why apple will stay in business, they have an idiot,I mean customer base the size of CA and those people like to use things that require no extra thought, just more money. * I am not saying anyone who buys apple products is an idiot read carefully and dont get your feelings hurt *

9. Although this seems great, VZW is flooding the market with new phones and these customer who do not know a whole bunch about phones are just getting confused and its actually hurting thier sales more than its helping. IMHO But this is why I would say stick with something that has been proven and not a brand new phone because on vzw you WILL NEVER have the newest phone for long.

10. Couldn't have said it better.

Thanks for your post VZWRocks, wow I didnt even notice the name until now...well atleest you already know ur a fanboy.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

1. 1year contracts, Luckily from my knowledge ( I work in the industry ), if you go to a retailer instead of corp, you can probably get the two year price on a 1yr upgrade. Or If you are the primary line you can get an upgrade every year with most carriers provided your rate plan is high enough.

Yes, with VZW if you are on the primary line of a family plan or have a calling plan over I believe $50 then yes you can do an early/annual upgrade most of the time. Sprint does also allow annual upgrades on their Everything plans. I am not up on TMo, but AT&T is pretty firm on their dates unless you are upgrading TO an iPhone from something else.

2. Completely agree, no one will have the latest phone for long...

3. So what your saying is buying the D1 right now is a bad idea? It is 8 months old but still has the advantages of being the best phone on VZW, mind you the x has a better camera but lets face it anyone smart enough to read can root the droid and overclock it to 1ghz.

First of all (and for full disclosure I have a similar thread going on Crackberry), this list is mainly for power users like those who tend to frequent these forums, not general Joe consumer. That being said, right now the Moto Droid is being replaced in a month or so and is about to go EOL. For a power user's standpoint there are really only three reasons to get the first Droid: 1. Froyo, 2 unlocked boot loader making it easy to load custom ROMS and 3. Vanilla Android Experience. As more and more devices are getting rooted, this list is really down to just one. Hardware wise it is not bad, but it is behind the trend compared to other power Android devices.

Droid Incredible and X are both better than the Moto Droid, IMHO.

4. I completely disagree, Never buy a new phone as soon as it comes out you should atleest wait until it has been out a month - 45days because at leest you can get real feedback on phone. What if your stuck with a pos or have to pay a restocking fee just because you werent patient. IE BB Storm1, Samsung Omnia, iPhone4.....

This is really a matter of preference and there are pros and cons to both sides of the argument. I've done this sometimes and sometimes not. I've personally never had buyers remorse, but then I change phones regularly so I am hardly typical. But in this fast paced cel phone race we have now, new devices are coming out every other month and sometimes every other week depending on your carrier and your willingness to jump carriers (against my advice).

I do think it is generally prudent to wait a week or two to see what bugs may come out, however you also take a risk when that happens. I pre-ordered the Droid Incredible and got mine the day of release (really the day before), but how many people who waited are STILL waiting for theirs and when they finally get one, it's gonna have a different (inferior?) screen? I did my research on the phone, along with HTC and Sense in general and gambled that it would be worth that risk and I was right. It's an amazing phone Yes that could have backfired, but that's why you have the 30 day return period. Also, with all of the device reviewers out there if there is a flaw we find out pretty quick if you do your reading. I really don't get why people get so bent out of shape over restock fees. $35 is nothing in this industry. They need to understand that once a phone has been sold and returned it can never be sold as new again and has to be used as a refurb at that point even if there is nothing wrong with it. This costs carriers money and a restock fee is just meant as a deterrent from customers not making sure they are buying the right phone.

5. Agreed. Service in your location is most important followed by price. If it works where u need it to and its in your budget just wait it out, or wait until your contract is over before you change.

Yep.

6. Yeah maybe last year, sprint is actually doing pretty fair and I bet will have atleest 2 great phones excluding the EVO and the Galaxy S.

Last year they had two good phones from what I saw, the Pre and the Tour. This year they have the Bold, Evo, new Samsung Galaxy variant, and maybe a slider BB (reports are somewhat inconsistent). What else are you seeing?

And yes you are right I am not a fan of Sprint, but for what it is worth I did briefly consider opening a line with them and getting the Evo, but decided against it because odds are good Verizon will get a similar device later this year or early next. That's not fanboyism, that's just historic fact (look at the Pre + for an example. HTC releasing a variation of of the DI (VZW) as the Aria (AT&T) is another.

7. What? T-Mobile has more android phones then vzw does....They have the nexus 1. They were the first with android....and they can use sim cards, which means they can use those more advanced overseas phones that we are now finally catching up to. Nokia had a front facing camera 3-4 years ago......

They have more Android phones yes (they had about a 6 month head start) but most of them (the Nexus and the new Samsung being the most notable exceptions) are junk from a power users perspective and not even getting 2.1, let alone Froyo.

They can use the more advanced overseas phones yes, but they need to get them unlocked, and the TMo variants sometimes have less memory and stuff in them and consumers sometimes don't see that till it's too late.

8. Att works for some in areas where vzw does not, The Galaxy S is a great phone. I do not like Apple at all but I will say this. Apple's iphone 4 is great for people who do not want to take a day to learn how to use the phone. It is extremely ez because they limit everything you can do. I know alot of people knock the phone but for SOME people this is what they want. This is why apple will stay in business, they have an idiot,I mean customer base the size of CA and those people like to use things that require no extra thought, just more money. * I am not saying anyone who buys apple products is an idiot read carefully and dont get your feelings hurt *

I am not saying AT&T is all bad, I have two lines on them myself, but it is a fact that they cripple Android phones (no side loading apps, Yahoo on a Google phone, underpowered, etc.) and that is not something they intend to change. The Galaxy S does seem like a sweet phone but yes the side loading apps is disabled.

As for the iPhone, I do have a 3G S with iOS4, and there are some things I like about it, but many I don't. c'est le vis.

The iPhone4 on the other hand has a hardware design flaw. Pure and simple. I'm not talking about the fact that the antenna is a rim around the outer edge, nor that there is an area that where you touch it it often kills the signal. The flaw is that the spot is located in a position where virtually everyone touches the phone. Left handed uses touch it there when making calls. Right handed users touch it there when holding it in their left hand so they can manipulate the screen with the right hand. And the fact that Apple won't just accept it and move in (instead trying to drag everyone else down with them) is the main reason I wont get an iPhone 4, and it has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I may not even do the iPhone 5 or any other future iPhones due to that fact. What little respect I had for Apple and Steve Jobs is obliterated.

I bought the 3GS last year on a whim and while I don't regret it, it's not my proudest moment either. I used it for 3 months and got bored if it and it sat around with a dead battery most of the time. It took the iOS4 upgrade to bring it up to the level of even being considered a true smartphone in my eyes. It is now a pretty solid phone overall, but my DI is superior in virtually every respect (for the OS not the hardware, battery life still is inferior and the iPhone feels more solid).

9. Although this seems great, VZW is flooding the market with new phones and these customer who do not know a whole bunch about phones are just getting confused and its actually hurting thier sales more than its helping. IMHO But this is why I would say stick with something that has been proven and not a brand new phone because on vzw you WILL NEVER have the newest phone for long.

Who said it was great? You may want to reread what I said. That's exactly what I was saying above. I do think they are coming way too fast. Incredible should have come a month sooner (to give it a full two months before the Evo which we all knew was coming) and Droid x should have been an August release and the D2 a November release for the holidays, but I didn't make those decisions. They are confusing people but only to a degree: Droid Eris, and soon the Moto Droid and Devour all EOL to make room for the new devices. Ideally each platform should have no more than one device come out each quarter for a given carrier (for power devices anyway, Eris, Devour, and Ally would be exceptions to that)

10. Couldn't have said it better.

Thanks for your post VZWRocks, wow I didnt even notice the name until now...well atleest you already know ur a fanboy.

Thanks

I'm a huge fan, and to a somewhat biased yes, but I would not call myself a fanboy. I am intelligent and know VZW's strengths and limitations, along with those of their competition. For the record I think TMO is actually a very good carrier overall (better than AT&T), and I would have had the Nexus on TMo last winter if we had natiive TMO service up here in the frozen north ;-)

 

[Dirrk]

I would like to point out you named the title "Ten Commandments For Smartphone Buyers" so when you refer to it as only for high end users its a little confusing. I do not think fanboy is such a bad term, which is why I use it so loosely. Forgive me if it means more than what I am assuming. You are a die hard fan of something ie company/service/phone. I am a fanboy of open source and I would even call myself a fanboy of antiapple. No one could persuade me differently on these two things. Oh and I have the droid and it smokes the incredible and droid x in benchmarks.

 

[cr3amy]

It's hard to persuade anybody of anything. However, normal people can accept that there are flaws, even in the most perfect product that they enjoy. Fanboys try to turn flaws into features and are generally considered to be worthless additions to conversations.

 

[Dirrk]

It's hard to persuade anybody of anything. However, normal people can accept that there are flaws, even in the most perfect product that they enjoy. Fanboys try to turn flaws into features and are generally considered to be worthless additions to conversations.

That just sounds like arrogance. But Thank you for clarifying that up, I think on other forums,that I am used to, this is just used as someone who is big fan.

 

[cr3amy]

Yeah, the severity of the meaning of "fanboy" is a context thing. A phrase like "I'm a total xbox fanboy" would be taken as "I love xbox". But "you're just a total xbox fanboy and have nothing good to say about Sony" would fall under my original definition.

Anyways, back to the topic of the thread, I like all of what you said up there except that I don't think they're really *commandments*, as there are exceptions to all of these rules I think. For that reason, I would call them Guidelines.

But these are very good guidelines, and I think someone should only consider disregarding one of them in extreme circumstances or contradictions. For example, I'm disregarding #5 (Don't jump carriers for a phone) on account of #7 (T-Mobile's phones suck) to pick up the Epic 4G.

 

[REDDEVILVS]

You should edit the title of your post to say FOR POWER USERS if thats what you meant.....there are many,many freinds I have on forums and off that Have an ATT Android device and dont mind being "crippeled", which by the way is a term I feel we should not use for obviuous reasons.....Not everyone wants to buy a phone and Root it and do all sorts of other things to it.Just my 2 cents..

 

[cr3amy]

You should edit the title of your post to say FOR POWER USERS if thats what you meant.....there are many,many freinds I have on forums and off that Have an ATT Android device and dont mind being "crippeled", which by the way is a term I feel we should not use for obviuous reasons.....Not everyone wants to buy a phone and Root it and do all sorts of other things to it.Just my 2 cents..

To be fair though, AT&T has removed capabilities that you *shouldn't* have to root to get. I would agree that removing core capabilities of the OS would be considered crippling.

... But I also agree that the vast majority of people couldn't care less about the difference.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

I did make a couple minor edits to my original post, and changed the subject line, but I still believe that the vast majority of people on this site and Crackberry (where this is also posted) are power users. Joe consumer barely looks at these sites if at all, and probably does not bother joining the forums. Yes there are exceptions to the rule but probably no more than 5-10%

I would like to point out you named the title "Ten Commandments For Smartphone Buyers" so when you refer to it as only for high end users its a little confusing. I do not think fanboy is such a bad term, which is why I use it so loosely. Forgive me if it means more than what I am assuming. You are a die hard fan of something ie company/service/phone. I am a fanboy of open source and I would even call myself a fanboy of antiapple. No one could persuade me differently on these two things. Oh and I have the droid and it smokes the incredible and droid x in benchmarks.

Maybe if you overclock it. I don't have an X yet, but the Incredible blows my moto droid out off the water. It's a nice phone but it's not even a close comparison.

It's hard to persuade anybody of anything. However, normal people can accept that there are flaws, even in the most perfect product that they enjoy. Fanboys try to turn flaws into features and are generally considered to be worthless additions to conversations.

Yep, exactly.

Yeah, the severity of the meaning of "fanboy" is a context thing. A phrase like "I'm a total xbox fanboy" would be taken as "I love xbox". But "you're just a total xbox fanboy and have nothing good to say about Sony" would fall under my original definition.

Yep, exactly. And also in general when someone uses the term to describe them self it is often in jest.

And as for me being a Verizon Fanboy do a search under my user name and you will find a couple post where I am very critical of them for the way they have treated users in regard to the NE2 value decrease even for those of us who initiated our lines of service before the switch, and have not used upgrade pricing. All I did was change phones and sue an upgrade from a DIFFERENT line and they have done this to me 3x now. Change phone for any reason and loose the $100 NE2. I like Verizon overall but they can be just as under handed as the other companies when they want to be.

Anyways, back to the topic of the thread, I like all of what you said up there except that I don't think they're really *commandments*, as there are exceptions to all of these rules I think. For that reason, I would call them Guidelines.

Calling them guidelines lessens their impact. Under most circumstances when someone disregards one of them (without a GREAT deal of consideration and weighing the options) they eventually regret it.

But these are very good guidelines, and I think someone should only consider disregarding one of them in extreme circumstances or contradictions. For example, I'm disregarding #5 (Don't jump carriers for a phone) on account of #7 (T-Mobile's phones suck) to pick up the Epic 4G.

Thank you.

I wouldn't say they suck, per se, there are just better alternatives for powerusers on other carriers for a lot of us.

You should edit the title of your post to say FOR POWER USERS if thats what you meant.....there are many,many freinds I have on forums and off that Have an ATT Android device and dont mind being "crippeled", which by the way is a term I feel we should not use for obviuous reasons.....Not everyone wants to buy a phone and Root it and do all sorts of other things to it.Just my 2 cents..

I did edit the title of the post a little to clarify.

Yes Joe Consumer does not care that AT&T's Androds are crippled, but then Joe Consumer is not in most cases a high end user and the target of this post.

Android is by definition open source and intended to be open to all. Removing the ability to side load apps is crippling it. Locking the boot loader so you can't load an alt OS is as well but to a lesser degree. Root really has nothing to do with this discussion as the vast majority of customizations that users want can be done without rooting if you are allowed to load side loaded apps.

To be fair though, AT&T has removed capabilities that you *shouldn't* have to root to get. I would agree that removing core capabilities of the OS would be considered crippling.

... But I also agree that the vast majority of people couldn't care less about the difference.

Removing Google or any of the core Google apps (Talk, Gmail, Maps, Voice, Search, etc.) is crippling the phone unless you remove ALL of them and don't call it an Google Android phone, which is called forking, and also generally allowed in open source. Removing the stamp "With Google" from the chassy dies not make it any less of a Google phone. They need to remove ALL branding from the device (including in the software) and probably should not use the Google Marketplace unless it is one of several alternatives and called Google Marketplace not just Market.

 

[f1nzup]

6. If you are on Sprint you are only getting maybe 3 good devices a year so shop carefully and be prepared to live with it for a full year and understand that the last 6 months you will probably hate it because you see the newer/better stuff on other carriers.

First, your name alone says yes you ARE a verizon fanboy. And your statement about Sprint is in the past. They are now getting the good phones, AND, you can get one every YEAR and not have to wait two years like you do on V.

Also, my bill is less than on V, and I can call any cellphone for FREE. It's a shame your bias came through because you do make some valid points.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

First, your name alone says yes you ARE a verizon fanboy. And your statement about Sprint is in the past. They are now getting the good phones, AND, you can get one every YEAR and not have to wait two years like you do on V.

Also, my bill is less than on V, and I can call any cellphone for FREE. It's a shame your bias came through because you do make some valid points.

1. Being a fan and a fanboy are two different things.
2. Bold 9650, Evo, The Samsung Galaxy variant. What else good have they gotten or announced here that was good? Last year it was just the Tour and Pre (pixie was total junk), and before that just the Intercept. So yeah they are slowly getting more better phones but when Verizon still has a lot more.
3. You have half the bill I do but you also have a lot less coverage (and don't bring up roaming off VZW because that's voice only, no data)
4. My calling plan is actually high enough to qualify for an annual upgrade, thank you very much. Also, and I realize that this is unpopular to say on these forums but you can always pay full retail for a new phone if you want to, no one is forcing you to wait for the subsidy.
5. I can call any phone I want PERIOD, for free. It's called Google Voice
6. From you defensive nature I can see that you are a SPRINT Fanboy, so please don't call the silver kettle black.

Now I suggest we not let this degrade into a p**ing contest and get back to discussing the topic at hand before a Mod steps in and locks it which would be a shame. I have a slightly revised list (based upon feedback) that I will be posting in the next day or so.

 

[Juice#AC]

Thanks VZWrocks for your insights! I was previously unaware that you could do yearly upgrades on Verizon if your plan is high enough. We have a family plan so it sounds like one of us would qualify for a yearly upgrade.

Would you mind giving me your take on something? My BB Curve broke about 2 weeks ago and ever since then I've been stuck with a 4 year old pos LG flip phone and am desperate to upgrade. However, like you mentioned, I too am hoping for an EVO-like phone to be put out on Verizon soon. The problem is, the pos I have now could be compared to torture and I am desperate to be revived with a phone like the EVO. I hate the Droid X though, simply because of its elongated look and unnecessary extra length even though it has the same size screen as the EVO. Sorry to anyone who has the X if my opinion offends you, but I find such a physical design flaw to be unacceptable at this stage in the smartphone game. Same goes for that damn hump. But anyway, here's my question: do we have any info at all about when such a phone might come to fruition on Verizon? I want out of this pos flip phone and don't know how much longer I can make it if I don't get something else. I mean I'm tempted to upgrade to the Dx even though I don't like it because this phone is so painful.

Btw, I'm in love with the HTC Sense UI, so if you have any info about new HTC phones coming to Verizon, that'd be awesome.

 

[YourMobileGuru]

taking this to PM.

Thanks VZWrocks for your insights! I was previously unaware that you could do yearly upgrades on Verizon if your plan is high enough. We have a family plan so it sounds like one of us would qualify for a yearly upgrade.

Would you mind giving me your take on something? My BB Curve broke about 2 weeks ago and ever since then I've been stuck with a 4 year old pos LG flip phone and am desperate to upgrade. However, like you mentioned, I too am hoping for an EVO-like phone to be put out on Verizon soon. The problem is, the pos I have now could be compared to torture and I am desperate to be revived with a phone like the EVO. I hate the Droid X though, simply because of its elongated look and unnecessary extra length even though it has the same size screen as the EVO. Sorry to anyone who has the X if my opinion offends you, but I find such a physical design flaw to be unacceptable at this stage in the smartphone game. Same goes for that damn hump. But anyway, here's my question: do we have any info at all about when such a phone might come to fruition on Verizon? I want out of this pos flip phone and don't know how much longer I can make it if I don't get something else. I mean I'm tempted to upgrade to the Dx even though I don't like it because this phone is so painful.

Btw, I'm in love with the HTC Sense UI, so if you have any info about new HTC phones coming to Verizon, that'd be awesome.