Looking to upgrade to new/used cell phone..advice?

[FADEC]

I'm a Verizon customer with the grandfathered unlimited data plan. We recently got 4g lte here in my area. My current phone is 3g only.

Want to add a nice used smart phone with 4G and deactivate my 3G phone.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

HTC Thunderbolt

Motorola Bionic

The Droid Maxx and the Nexus are the nicest and most expensive. The Bionic the cheapest.

Anyone using any of the above phones that has some real hands on experience both good and bad?

Basically looking for the best bang for the buck.

 

[mrsilv04]

Bang for the buck?

Razr M.

 

[salv]

we just upgraded. my wife got an iphone 4s, i got a nokia lumia 822. i really like the windows phone. the windows and apple operating systems are faster and more stable than the traditionally buggy android operating system.

 

[saberz]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Bang for the buck?

Razr M.


I second the Razr M.

The others are very poor build quality and durability and the Thunderbolt is horrible with battery life.

XDA forums have a bevy of complaints with the Nexus(official Google updates not being one of them, this is a +), but Verizon being as slow as they are hurts when allowing them to hit the devices.

The Razr M gets better battery life, is "newer" and is a very solid device.

 

[VicVinegar]

I'd probably get the Razr out of that group. If you like to tinker with your phone, the Galaxy Nexus.

I have a Galaxy S3 which I like. The latest Jelly Bean update seemed to address a couple issues I had, so now my only complaint about it is the notoriously weak Samsung cell radio which can result in no signal when you are indoors sometimes. In Northern VA, we have pretty good coverage, so I don't have it nearly as bad as some people do. The Galaxy Nexus apparently has the same issue, but I can't say if it is better, worse, or the same.

The unlimited data is key though with these LTE phones. No wifi at my office, so I stream music over LTE, download podcasts, etc. I've been averaging 3-4 GB a month, when I only used about 1 GB with my obsolete Palm phone that this replaced. So don't let the Verizon guy tell you that you don't use much data (they tried this when I upgraded) and would be fine with a capped plan. Especially since it is $30 for unlimited or $30 for 2GB.

 

[barlowc]

Originally Posted By: daddi
I'm a Verizon customer with the grandfathered unlimited data plan.

Do you know how much data you really use? For some folks, it's surprisingly low. It's possible that your unlimited plan is costing you more than an appropriately-limited plan that still meets your needs. I have found that Verizon's new shared/family plans work great for our needs. Myself, my wife, my dad, and my sister-in-law all have iPhones on a shared account and once we split up the cost, we all benefit in the form of a lower monthly cost.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: daddi
I'm a Verizon customer with the grandfathered unlimited data plan. We recently got 4g lte here in my area. My current phone is 3g only.

Want to add a nice used smart phone with 4G and deactivate my 3G phone.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

HTC Thunderbolt

Motorola Bionic

The Droid Maxx and the Nexus are the nicest and most expensive. The Bionic the cheapest.

Anyone using any of the above phones that has some real hands on experience both good and bad?

Basically looking for the best bang for the buck.



So are you looking to "loose" the grandfathered plan? or pay the full ($400-$500) price. Your grandfathered plan is out if you get a discounted phone.

 

[Lillikai]

I have 6 friends that have the Galaxy Nexus. They all love the phone and havent had any trouble with it. I have the Samsung Galaxy S3 and havent had any problems with it. I think its a well built phone with a big screen!

So my vote is Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S3.

 

[Lillikai]

I had the unlimited data plan on my old phone that had 3G. When I upgraded my phone to the samsung galaxy s3 I lost the unlimited data plan b/c it runs on 4G LTE. It now uses a sim card, which my old phone didnt. Im a verizon customer as well.

If you decide to go with a phone that uses the 3G network, you will still have your unlimited data plan.

If you upgrade to a phone that uses the 4G LTE network, then you loose your unlimited data plan. You'll have to pay a monthly fee for the faster network.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: barlowc
Originally Posted By: daddi
I'm a Verizon customer with the grandfathered unlimited data plan.

Do you know how much data you really use? For some folks, it's surprisingly low.

Yeah, I was going to raise the same point. My usage over the past 2 years has averaged around 200-300 MB/month. Alas, other people also have a good point - your usage is likely to go up when you switch to 4G since all of a sudden data will load much faster, so you'll be more inclined to actually use it rather than give up waiting for things to load.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Lillikai
I had the unlimited data plan on my old phone that had 3G. When I upgraded my phone to the samsung galaxy s3 I lost the unlimited data plan b/c it runs on 4G LTE. It now uses a sim card, which my old phone didnt. Im a verizon customer as well.

If you decide to go with a phone that uses the 3G network, you will still have your unlimited data plan.

If you upgrade to a phone that uses the 4G LTE network, then you loose your unlimited data plan. You'll have to pay a monthly fee for the faster network.


That is not what Verizon told me. If you get a new smart phone from Verizon and do not pay full retail, you loose the unlimited data plan.

 

[newtoncd8]

Originally Posted By: Lillikai
If you upgrade to a phone that uses the 4G LTE network, then you loose your unlimited data plan. You'll have to pay a monthly fee for the faster network.


Not always true. Like Donald said above, you only lose the unlimited plan if you upgrade and take the new phone with a discounted price via Verizon.

If you purchase a phone outright (via eBay, craigslist, verizon, etc), you can keep your unlimited plan.

Granted, this can be pricey, but if you need the unlimited data plan, this is the way to go.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Donald
That is not what Verizon told me. If you get a new smart phone from Verizon and do not pay full retail, you loose the unlimited data plan.

Yup. The unlimited data plans on Verizon are history, regardless of device. The only way to keep your current unlimited plan is to not sign a new contract.

 

[FADEC]

Originally Posted By: Lillikai
I had the unlimited data plan on my old phone that had 3G. When I upgraded my phone to the samsung galaxy s3 I lost the unlimited data plan b/c it runs on 4G LTE. It now uses a sim card, which my old phone didnt. Im a verizon customer as well.

If you decide to go with a phone that uses the 3G network, you will still have your unlimited data plan.

If you upgrade to a phone that uses the 4G LTE network, then you loose your unlimited data plan. You'll have to pay a monthly fee for the faster network.


I was under the impression that if I bought a used phone and deactivated my old phone and activated the new phone, that my contract/plan would keep rolling along with no changes.

 

[FADEC]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Donald
That is not what Verizon told me. If you get a new smart phone from Verizon and do not pay full retail, you loose the unlimited data plan.

Yup. The unlimited data plans on Verizon are history, regardless of device. The only way to keep your current unlimited plan is to not sign a new contract.


I will not be getting a new phone or signing a new contract...More like just switching phones.

From what I understand the 4G lte really burns up the data.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: daddi
I will not be getting a new phone or signing a new contract...More like just switching phones.

Just check with Verizon on this: when you buy a second hand phone, most likely it will not come with a micro-SIM card, which you will need to obtain service on Verizon network. Make sure Verizon will give you this micro-SIM without any hassle. They should, but just check.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: daddi
From what I understand the 4G lte really burns up the data.

Yeah, but again, how do you use or plan to use your phone? What data intensive activities do you do? What is your current usage on 3G? When at home, are you able to use wi-fi instead of 4G for some of it?

For example, I noticed that in my case I was generating significant usage because all the apps were updating themselves. I now changed the settings so that I either manually update them or I update when I'm on wi-fi.

 

[FADEC]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: daddi
From what I understand the 4G lte really burns up the data.

Yeah, but again, how do you use or plan to use your phone? What data intensive activities do you do? What is your current usage on 3G? When at home, are you able to use wi-fi instead of 4G for some of it?

For example, I noticed that in my case I was generating significant usage because all the apps were updating themselves. I now changed the settings so that I either manually update them or I update when I'm on wi-fi.



Current usage is quite low now, but will soon be traveling much more and like to use pandora, and other music services heavily.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Lillikai
I have 6 friends that have the Galaxy Nexus. They all love the phone and havent had any trouble with it. I have the Samsung Galaxy S3 and havent had any problems with it. I think its a well built phone with a big screen!

So my vote is Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S3.


My wife has a Galaxy Nexus also and loves it. Much better than the Iphone that it replaced and never had a single issue.

The only thing I'd say that makes it not perfect for me is I wish the volume was a little louder for streaming. The screen is GREAT! So is the performance.

Bill

 

[FADEC]

Sent an email off to Verizon asking whether I loose my unlimited data if I activate a used phone.