Droid Charge (and other options)

[jteef]

I live in an area with what seems to be terrible mobile service. (fl panhandle)

I am currently on Tmobile with a G1. contract is up and my phone is only about 50% operational now, so I'm shopping hardcore. Tmobile only has Edge coverage where I live, so i need a new provider that at least offers 3g in this area (ATT, vzw and sprint)

I thought the droid charge was about my best option but after playing with it I'm not so sure any more. The screen had significant burn-in; is this normal or just because it's a display model showing the same thing 24/7?
Speedtest.net tests from both the charge and the TB side by side were getting me 125-155kbps down, 850ms pings (multiple tests over 30 minutes had similar results). For 3g, this is terrible and now i'm afraid of verizon; both phones had full bars.
I presume rooting will let you remove the 40 or so bloatware apps that come with the charge?
the verizon store wouldn't price match with amazon or costco, which I found pretty humorous.

I'd use the phone for about an hour of talk / day, 20 or so texts, 1.5 hours of pandora and extensive browser/maps/etc while i'm traveling to areas with 4G (3-5 days / month). Battery life is the most important thing to me after an unlimited data plan and android platform.

What i'm really considering now is waiting for the GS2 on sprint and just going that route. are there any pitfalls with that plan? Does sprint have any big negatives? I'm going to find a store tomorrow and run speedtest a few times on their network.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

GS2 should be on Verizon as well. Also the droid bionic will hopefully be out next month as well.

 

[jteef]

GS2 should be on Verizon as well. Also the droid bionic will hopefully be out next month as well.

not in time for an unlimited data plan

 

[Demo24]

Burn in is not normal, probably as you said because it's been showing that one screen for weeks on end now. The screen was very good looking to me and really what made it more appealing than any other phone on Verizon at the moment. Not quite sure why you were getting such horrible speedtests, unless they setup one of those 'range extenders' inside the actual store to improve signal strength. I usually get much closer to 1mbps even on weaker signals, and pings more like 100+ms, which is about normal for Verizon's 3g. The 4g is obviously quite a lot better. As for bloatware, yeah you should be able to remove it. Most of the phones in the store displays have more stuff on them then normal anyway.


You should probably look at coverage maps. I would not be surprised to see Sprint's coverage of your area to not be significant better than T-mobiles.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

not in time for an unlimited data plan

i would become a verizon customer before july 7 to lock in an unlimited data plan. once you have a 3g unlimited plan they will let you switch it to an unlilmited 4g plan even after july 7. if you dont have 4g in your area i would just get a droid x off craigs before july 7 so you dont have to sign a contract, its a great phone. youd be an idiot/moron/fool/retard not to get verizon, lte is way better than anyone elses "4g".