Looking for a mostly data plan.

[Crow550]

With T-Mobile rolling out 4G LTE and the Exhibit II not supporting LTE. Would I be better off with a 4G LTE phone?

Would that really improve things?

I checked some comments in my area on some coverage sites and it seems most of the cell carriers have there issues in my area. Doing some more running around it's not all that bad though. Only a few stores I get weak service. The coverage maps I found seem to show closer T-Mobile towers in my area but I found a story on Verizon adding more towers in my area but when I click on Verizon I can't see none in my area which is odd?

I kinda doubt other carriers will fair much better for data in my area. Been asking some people who never paid much attention to data speeds so maybe I can get them to use the speedtest.net app.

Should I consider getting something like the Nexus or just wait for the next wave of phones?

Would rooting help at all? I haven't took time to root the phone yet. I heard you can set the DNS on cell data to like OpenDNS on a rooted phone. Don't know how much that would help?

 

[AstroManLuca]

T-Mobile won't have LTE for a couple of years so there's no point getting an LTE phone yet. And besides, there aren't any phones compatible with their network that also have LTE.

I have no idea if using a different DNS will make any difference. All I know is that rooting and custom roms are usually worth it, but mostly because it makes the phone itself a little faster. Haven't heard of a custom rom improving signal unless there's a bug in the stock software.

 

[Crow550]

I was looking at some of the ICS features is there any app or rom that offers the speak to text as it types out your voice in real time as your speaking?

 

[Crow550]

So if I do get the Galaxy Nexus. I would have to return the Exhibit II with the Sim then get a SIM from T-Mobile right?

So order the Nexus and Sim first then have it transferred over then reset and return the Exhibit II right?

 

[AstroManLuca]

That sounds like a question for T-Mobile. I would think you keep your sim though and stick it in the Galaxy Nexus when you get it.

 

[Crow550]

Yeah I called and they said I would need to return the phone with the sim and I would have to purchase another sim with the new phone and call and have it transferred over. Or return the new sim with the old phone and swap the old sim in the new phone.

I was thinking of pulling the trigger as the Nexus looked pretty awesome till tax and shipping was added....LOL! I thought it would be less. Yeah I will just root the Exhibit II which got re-branded as the Galaxy Exhibit after there official update. See how smooth it is after root. I only have minor hangs when loading certain multiple apps at once. Nothing too terrible.

I will just keep an eye on phone deals or something. Or get like a 7" Tablet. LOL!

 

[Crow550]

So I decided to to keep the phone and stick with T-Mobile for now. As the problem areas are just two stores really. One I can get calls but spotty data and the other dead.

However it's not that big of a deal for the price.

So time to backup and install some roms. So just use CWMs naid backup and go nuts.

Do I have to re-download my apps all the time or is there an easy way to back them up and restore them once a rom is installed?

 

[AstroManLuca]

So I decided to to keep the phone and stick with T-Mobile for now. As the problem areas are just two stores really. One I can get calls but spotty data and the other dead.

However it's not that big of a deal for the price.

So time to backup and install some roms. So just use CWMs naid backup and go nuts.

Do I have to re-download my apps all the time or is there an easy way to back them up and restore them once a rom is installed?

Titanium Backup can save your apps and data, but you want to be careful about how much you restore with it. I'd recommend doing a backup of all user apps (not system data) and reinstalling as much as possible from the Play Store. Then restore just the data for apps that have important data, like games, to do lists, whatever. Doing a batch restore of all your old apps and data can cause problems.