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iPhone 4, 4s or Droid for AT&T

Discussion in 'Technology' started by AJ4X4, Jan 22, 2012.

  1. Jan 22, 2012 at 8:02 PM
    #1
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    I have a blackberry that isn't under a contract and I am tired of it. I want an iPhone 4 or 4s or a Droid but I don't want to enter a contract. Is there anywhere I can get a decent price on one of these phones that don't have a contract?
     
  2. Jan 22, 2012 at 8:42 PM
    #2
    Bishop2Queens6

    Bishop2Queens6 Well-Known Member

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    So you want to buy an iPhone 4,4s or Droid unlocked, outright, without a contract? You will be purchasing the phone from Amazon, ebay, new egg, or my favorite, Fry's electronics. For a new phone with a factory warranty, and you will be paying over $600 for it.

    You can attempt to purchase used from ebay, but at your own risk, Or even Craigslist, but you may run the risk of buying a stolen phone.

    You can purchase a new iphone 3gs for $300 if you don't mind being a little behind the times wrt looks and processing power.

    Shop around and take your time. You don't want buyer's remorse with such an expensive purchase.
     
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  3. Jan 22, 2012 at 8:58 PM
    #3
    Noslow100

    Noslow100 Well-Known Member

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    I recommend getting the i phone if it will sync up with most of your toys like your radio and computer and things like that. The iphone's do a good job at working very well. I went from a blackberry to a droid phone. Regret the droid now. A friend of mine bought the same droid phone(Samsung Charge) and threw the damn thing away after only three months. He bought an iphone 4 and loves it. Iphones just seem to work better. My droid is always freezing or shutting down when trying to run apps. The damn thing updates in the middle of the night and turns off my alarms I have set for the next morning. Headache:frusty:
     
  4. Jan 22, 2012 at 9:06 PM
    #4
    TeamSarcasm

    TeamSarcasm Flawless Escalation to the Ludicrous

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    The better coast
    The iphone will link up somewhat better with most things, but I don't like them. Don't get me wrong. They are awesome phones, just about as good as any droid out their, but you are SO locked into apple with that thing. That is what i mostly don't like.

    Droids on the other hand are basically a blank white board and you can do just about anything and then some. They are much easier to use (in my opinion) and you dont need to solely rely on the company who makes the phone in order to use the phone.


    BUT either way you go you wont be disappointed. Both iphones and androids have very good platforms to go off of. Go into a store and mess around with some.

    My choice still goes with androids 100 times over.
     
  5. Jan 22, 2012 at 9:09 PM
    #5
    TeamSarcasm

    TeamSarcasm Flawless Escalation to the Ludicrous

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    Also try Craigslist for a nice one. I spent a semester buying and selling phones just in my free time and i came across some REALLY nice ones in amazing condition. If you do go this route you will save hundreds, just make sure you get the original box with it. Those are the ones I've found in the best condition :thumbsup:
     
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  6. Jan 23, 2012 at 7:22 AM
    #6
    Evil Monkey

    Evil Monkey There's an evil monkey in my truck

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    The iPhone 4s is going to be faster on the AT&T network over the 4 or the 3gs since it is HSPA+ which is a slower 4g network than LTE but faster than 3G (Verizon/Sprint don't support HSPA+).

    I have a Motorola Atrix on AT&T. It works good and can be found used on eBay for about $200. If you buy from eBay, make sure you read the descriptions. There are a lot of broken phones being sold (cracked screens, dead).

    Also for any phone you're interested in, I'd check the "User Reviews" on cNet.com. CNet Editor reviews tend to be first look reviews whereas users are longer term. You can usually trust the user reviews as long as there are enough of them. For example, the Samsung Charge referred to above, got 4 out of 5 stars by the editors but only 3 out of 5 from the users (94 reviews).
     
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  7. Jan 23, 2012 at 7:37 AM
    #7
    rollin904

    rollin904 Feather Slinger

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    I'm about to purchase my fourth iPhone, so Apple gets my vote!
     
  8. Jan 24, 2012 at 8:06 PM
    #8
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for all the feedback but it seems like the only place to get a decent price on any of these phones is eBay. eBay is to risky for me.
     
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  9. Jan 24, 2012 at 8:07 PM
    #9
    RJALLDAY702

    RJALLDAY702 U MAD? OH U MAD

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    iPhone 4S for sure
     
  10. Jan 24, 2012 at 8:24 PM
    #10
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    In my area we had alltel and AT&T bought them but we still have our alltel plan. The alltel plan is cheaper and I need a new phone and if I get one through AT&T it will put us under a contract
     
  11. Jan 24, 2012 at 8:29 PM
    #11
    Evil Monkey

    Evil Monkey There's an evil monkey in my truck

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    I just bought a phone off eBay with no problems. I look for sellers that have more than a 200 positive reviews. The seller I bought from had 4200 reviews 99.3% positive. You can be reasonably sure they're reliable (anyone can have one or two weird buyers). You can usually trust ones with smaller number of reviews if they're all positive (private seller who probably cares about their ratings). Just make sure they take Paypal so you can dispute it if something goes wrong.
     
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  12. Jan 25, 2012 at 1:57 PM
    #12
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    @evil monkey what kind did you get?
     
  13. Jan 25, 2012 at 2:25 PM
    #13
    Evil Monkey

    Evil Monkey There's an evil monkey in my truck

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    I bought another Motorola Atrix for $209. I dropped my last one which damaged the wifi/bluetooth. I have a lot of accessories for that phone so I just picked up another. I plan to sell the one with the broken wifi/BT on eBay. Even broken ones go anywhere from $75 for a dead one to $150 for one with a broken screen.

    I bought it from this seller (listing of their items for sell):
    http://www.ebay.com/sch/2ndcell/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

    They stated the cosmetics on my phone were 9 out of 10 but I didnt see anything wrong with it. Came with a battery as well.
     
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  14. Jan 25, 2012 at 6:20 PM
    #14
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    @evil monkey. Thats my favorite att droid. Did you get the atrix or atrix 2
     
  15. Jan 25, 2012 at 6:56 PM
    #15
    Evil Monkey

    Evil Monkey There's an evil monkey in my truck

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    I have the older Atrix. The Atrix 2 actually has less features: 8gb ram vs 16gb for the older one, no fingerprint scanner on the 2 (which works well, I'm surprised they got rid of it). It's only better feature is the placement of the usb/charger ports. It allows it to be compatible with the newer lapdock that's coming out (slightly bigger screen) and accessories for the Motorola Razr, and I believe the other is called the Photon. I also don't know why they didn't make it an LTE phone.

    I have the lapdock, the cardock, the standard dock and the multimedia dock for mine.
     
  16. Jan 25, 2012 at 7:12 PM
    #16
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the info
     
  17. Jan 29, 2012 at 8:09 PM
    #17
    AJ4X4

    AJ4X4 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    I found out I can get a new phone and have the same plan I had before. So what smartphone should I get from AT&T?
     
  18. Jan 30, 2012 at 6:59 AM
    #18
    Evil Monkey

    Evil Monkey There's an evil monkey in my truck

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    I would look and see if they have 4g LTE in your area. When you look at AT&T's site, there are a lot of phones that are 4G but they're not necessarily LTE. HSPA+ (which used to be considered fast 3g) is on a majority of their phones. Look through the 4G phone offerings and see if it actually says LTE. If it doesn't it's probably HSPA+. The Samsung Galaxy II is a pretty decent LTE phone.

    Of course if there is no LTE in your area, unless you live in a large metropolitan area, you probably won't get it anytime soon. So HSPA+ would be your next option. You'll want to make sure that is available in your area as well.

    The iPhone 4S is a good phone. My wife has the 4 and my stepson's girlfriend has the 4S. Apple phones are solid and well supported.


    The Atrix is a good phone but there are some drawbacks. While it's 4g, it's not compatible with LTE. It uses HSPA+ which is the same as the iPhone 4S. Plus, if you get a lapdock, you have to sign up for the DataPro plan (tethering) to use it with your wireless, which would mean giving up your old plan.
     
  19. Jan 30, 2012 at 7:51 AM
    #19
    jtav2002

    jtav2002 Kenny Fuckin Powers

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    I have the Samsung Galaxy Nexus(on VZW) and its an awesome phone. Not sure if ATT has a version of it yet but that would get my vote if they do.
     

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