Best phone to get for AT&T?

[ibex333]

So I am going back to AT&T from Verizon again. The $90 bills every month are killing me.
Under parents family plan, I'll be paying $35-45/mo for my line; )

I am thinking about the iPhone 4 this time, because the Droid 2 was horrible in my experience. Constantly got stuck, rebooted randomly, camera was horrible, and video even worse. External kb was nice, but I can live without it.

Tried a friends iPhone - it just works. Never any issues with it.

Still I want to hear what you guys have to say. Are there any better alternatives to the iPhone on AT&T? What would you suggest? I am not an Apple fan-boy by any means, I just recognize a good product when I see one.


Thanks!

 

[sciwizam]

Wait for Samsung Galaxy S2. Or iPhone 5.

 

[ibex333]

Cant wait. By the time they will come out, I will have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars in bills...

 

[sciwizam]

If you can't wait a month or two, get the Atrix.

 

[Demo24]

You can get a SGS2 and use it on ATT, but it won't be subsidized. I'd probably just got ip4 otherwise.

 

[smartpatrol]

The Samsung Focus is an awesome phone if you're interested in Windows Phone 7.

 

[shabby]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...6292&Tpk=i9100

 

[Cobalt]

Buy a prepaid phone and activate it on the line (with no contract) until the iPhone 5/SGSII comes out then upgrade for full discount.

 

[jpeyton]

The Atrix is great; fast, runs Gingerbread (stock), but it can be easily unlocked/rooted and it has some great ROMs. AT&T 4G, front/rear camera, fingerprint reader, qHD display, dual-core, 1GB RAM, and it's cheap. I bought mine off-contract for $250 on Craigslist.

The performance is on par with the best phones on the market. This is mine (unlocked bootloader, rooted, Alien ROM, faux 0.1.3 kernel @ 1.1GHz):

 

[kaerflog]

Waiting a couple of more months on Verizon will cost you like $80 more ???
Waiting that time and getting a IP5 is worth more than $80.
Even if you don't want the IP5, you can sell it right away for $650, than go buy a IP4 for like $350, gaining ~$300.

 

[poofyhairguy]

ibex333 it sounds like your answer is an iPhone 4. The issue is that you know the nature of these forums- we won't tell you to buy a year+ old phone even if it is the best option for you because it hurts our souls. It is like a regular person really wanting to buy a Core 2 Duo because they have heard so much about it, even though anything else is a better value. It might work great for them, as an iPhone 4 would for you. We just aren't going to recommend a single core phone in 2011. Heck, even recommending the 6 month old Atrix would kinda hurt my soul when we are pretty sure by Sept. AT&T's lineup will have some new heavy hitters.

On this forum, the only answer is always a future phone the day it comes out. If you aren't willing to play that game with us, enjoy your new iPhone.

 

[jbbrown]

I would get the ATRIX. I got it two weeks ago and I am loving it. Plus it $100 cheaper than the iPhone.

 

[ibex333]

Thanks guys. Good points. But right now the only options for me are the Atrix and iPhone 4, because if I go with prepaid plan to wait for iP5 I will lose my phone number which I need ported over from Verizon.

I read online that the Atrix is completely locked when it comes to installing any 3rd party apps, doesn't allow installing off of the SD card, etc, etc. But someone in this thread mentioned that he installed custom roms, rooted, etc...

I'm a little confused.

 

[dguy6789]

A locked bootloader does not mean you can't use custom roms, it just limits the scope of what the custom roms can do to an extent. Atrix would be my #1 choice on AT&T. I wouldn't even compare it to an iPhone 4, the phones are a generation apart in hardware. The Atrix would be better compared with an iPhone 5.

 

[alent1234]

Thanks guys. Good points. But right now the only options for me are the Atrix and iPhone 4, because if I go with prepaid plan to wait for iP5 I will lose my phone number which I need ported over from Verizon.

I read online that the Atrix is completely locked when it comes to installing any 3rd party apps, doesn't allow installing off of the SD card, etc, etc. But someone in this thread mentioned that he installed custom roms, rooted, etc...

I'm a little confused.

i have an inspire and at&t now lets you install non-market apps. i have psxdroid and the amazon app store and never rooted

 

[jpeyton]

A locked bootloader does not mean you can't use custom roms, it just limits the scope of what the custom roms can do to an extent.

The bootloader on my Atrix is unlocked. It takes about 5-10 minutes.

I read online that the Atrix is completely locked when it comes to installing any 3rd party apps, doesn't allow installing off of the SD card, etc, etc. But someone in this thread mentioned that he installed custom roms, rooted, etc...

Quite the opposite. You can unlock the bootloader, root it, install 3rd party apps, install off the SD card, install custom ROMs/kernels, and more.

I wouldn't even compare it to an iPhone 4, the phones are a generation apart in hardware. The Atrix would be better compared with an iPhone 5.

Atrix is a dual-core Tegra2 (ARM Cortex A9) @ 1GHz; iPhone 4 is a single-core Cortex A8 @ 800MHz. The Atrix has double the RAM at 1GB; 16GB built-in memory (no option for 32GB), but can be expanded using a microSD card (unlike the iPhone 4). The cameras are the same in resolution, but I'd give the quality edge to the iPhone 4. The screens have similar resolution but have different aspect ratios; the iPhone 4 is better, but noticeably smaller as well. The Atrix has a few extras, like HDMI output, 1080p decoding (and recording if you install the Droid 3 camera), HSDPA/HSUPA 4G. I can definitely notice the a bump in download/upload speed over my iPhone 4, but don't expect LTE speeds (I max at 4Mb/2Mb down/up).

 

[NL5]

i have an inspire and at&t now lets you install non-market apps. i have psxdroid and the amazon app store and never rooted

Went from a 3GS to an Inspire. What a difference! Easily rooted as well......

 

[Strk]

Well, in a month or so you're looking at the LG Thrill and WP7 Mango phones.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Atrix, how I want a CDMA Verizon version...

 

[dguy6789]

Droid Bionic is gonna be basically a souped up Atrix.

 

[ibex333]

The bootloader on my Atrix is unlocked. It takes about 5-10 minutes.


Quite the opposite. You can unlock the bootloader, root it, install 3rd party apps, install off the SD card, install custom ROMs/kernels, and more.



Atrix is a dual-core Tegra2 (ARM Cortex A9) @ 1GHz; iPhone 4 is a single-core Cortex A8 @ 800MHz. The Atrix has double the RAM at 1GB; 16GB built-in memory (no option for 32GB), but can be expanded using a microSD card (unlike the iPhone 4). The cameras are the same in resolution, but I'd give the quality edge to the iPhone 4. The screens have similar resolution but have different aspect ratios; the iPhone 4 is better, but noticeably smaller as well. The Atrix has a few extras, like HDMI output, 1080p decoding (and recording if you install the Droid 3 camera), HSDPA/HSUPA 4G. I can definitely notice the a bump in download/upload speed over my iPhone 4, but don't expect LTE speeds (I max at 4Mb/2Mb down/up).

After careful consideration, and lots of review watching and reading, I decided to go with the iPhone 4.

I have to admit that I dont care all that much about internet and games. All I need is a stable platform, with lots of useful apps and good quality camera. Besides, the iPhone is more expensive than Atrix on ebay, which means I can always sell it and go with the Atrix or even Galaxy SII if the mood strikes me.

Again, thanks very much everyone for your replies.