Phone to get or wait for on At&T

[Yuriman]

My mother-in-law offered to put me on her family plan (free), they all have iPhones. I have a preference for Android. What's the best phone to get, or wait for, on At&T? I can buy now but I'm open to waiting (less than 2 months).

I'd prefer to have the largest screen possible, and ICS or the ability to install my own ICS ROM. 4G/LTE aren't necessary, I'm not sure if it costs more monthly on At&T but if so I'd prefer a phone without. I use the camera a lot too so devices with best-in-class cameras might be considered even if they fall short in other areas.

 

[Yuriman]

Browsing At&t's current phones, the LG Nitro catches my eye for its price and screen size/resolution and I'm curious about the Galaxy Note.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Right now the Samsung Galaxy S2 i777 is the best Android phone on At&t without contest. It has very good developer support and a couple of nice ICS roms to chose from although there has been no official update yet. Being a Samsung device it's very easy to install custom roms on and you don't have to worry about locked boot loaders or anything like that.

The Galaxy S3 or HTC One XL are the only phones in the pipeline that could be worth waiting for on At&t. There is a pretty good chance that the One XL will be out within two months but no idea about the Galaxy S3.

Both the Galaxy S2 and One XL have great cameras so there is nothing to worry about there.

 

[Dulanic]

Galaxy S2 , SkyRocket, or Note... I haven't heard anything great about a LG phone in a long long time. As mentioned above the HTC should be comming sometime soon, but probably 2-3 months minimum.

 

[Yuriman]

At&t has the Galaxy S II listed for $20 refurb with contract, sounds really attractive, what's the deal with the Skyrocket? What is it?

The S2 has a nice screen size but the low resolution concerns me.

 

[Dulanic]

At&t has the Galaxy S II listed for $20 refurb with contract, sounds really attractive, what's the deal with the Skyrocket? What is it?

The S2 has a nice screen size but the low resolution concerns me.

Honestly I have 0 complaints about the resoltion. I can change DPI if I want to fit more, but the screen is beautiful IMO.

Here is a comparison between the 2. The skyrocket has LTE, faster (not more powerful) processor and I think something else but I forget. The SGSII has the 1.2Ghz Exynos vs the skyrocket has the 1.5Ghz qualcom (slower) to work with LTE.

http://www.technobuffalo.com/comparisons/galaxy-s-ii-vs-skyrocket-smartphone-smackdown-video/

I've also read that the SGSII gets better battery life then the skyrocket, but that may had been a software issue possibly.

 

[Yuriman]

So you'd recommend the SGS II over the Nitro in general? What do you think about the Note? I don't mind the size but is the larger screen going to kill battery life, is support as good, is it worth the cost difference?

 

[Dulanic]

So you'd recommend the SGS II over the Nitro in general? What do you think about the Note? I don't mind the size but is the larger screen going to kill battery life, is support as good, is it worth the cost difference?

Haven't used it. Honestly, I say go to a store and try both and find what fits best for you. I personally would love the size of the note, but I don't know if that is for everyone.

 

[Yuriman]

Alright, I'll head to the mall and play with some phones but on paper the Skyrocket looks like the best fit - in part because it's $280 cheaper than the Note. Thanks for the help!

 

[Puddle Jumper]

At&t has the Galaxy S II listed for $20 refurb with contract, sounds really attractive, what's the deal with the Skyrocket? What is it?

The S2 has a nice screen size but the low resolution concerns me.

The Skyrocket has the same resolution as the S2 but on a larger screen. it also has a slower SoC and doesn't have as good of community support so you won't have as good of a selection for custom roms.

I have the S2 i777 and absolutely love it, despite the low resolution the screen is incredible looking and the performance is top notch.

So you'd recommend the SGS II over the Nitro in general? What do you think about the Note? I don't mind the size but is the larger screen going to kill battery life, is support as good, is it worth the cost difference?

The Nitro looks good stock but I wouldn't plan on any custom roms for ICS. In the past Lg phones have been less polished then ones from Samsung but I'm not sure if that applies to the Nitro or not.

The Note is nice but At&t decided to use different hardware from the international version which might hurt rom availability.

 

[dguy6789]

If you were to buy today in order of best to worst(of the good phones) on ATT imo is 1. Galaxy Note(I consider this very significantly better than 2 and 3 on this short list), 2. Galaxy S2, 3. Galaxy S2 Skyrocket.

If you are willing to wait get the HTC One X when it comes out which is a generation more advanced than the above phones.

 

[ponyo]

If you were to buy today in order of best to worst(of the good phones) on ATT imo is 1. Galaxy Note(I consider this very significantly better than 2 and 3 on this short list), 2. Galaxy S2, 3. Galaxy S2 Skyrocket.

If you are willing to wait get the HTC One X when it comes out which is a generation more advanced than the above phones.

I agree with this. I would not get LG phone. LG software and updates are horrible.

Another option you have is to get the iPhone or the Galaxy S2 and sell it. Take the money and buy the GSM Galaxy Nexus for $430. The only catch is that you won't have warranty on the Galaxy Nexus since it's the international version. But GSM Galaxy Nexus would be my recommendation followed by 2) Galaxy Note 3) Galaxy S2 i777.

If you can wait, One X but I would still take Galaxy Nexus over it.

 

[Yuriman]

Thanks for your input dguy, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'm inclined to wait now.

After a quick search it seems the One X will have an international version with Tegra 3 and a domestic version with a Snapdragon S4. I imagine I'll only have access to the Snapdragon version - is that fine?

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Yes, the Snapdragon version has two faster cores vs four slower cores in Tegra 3 so it should perform very well. I wouldn't be surprised if it outperforms tegra 3 in a lot of cases since so few things are designed to take advantage of quads.

 

[dguy6789]

Yep, Snapdragon S4 uses two next generation cores that are way faster clock per clock(it also has a super energy efficient LTE radio). Tegra 3 is just four current generation cores. The Snapdragon version of the One X is the better version in my opinion.

 

[dagamer34]

My rule of thumb is to never waste your subsidy on a phone that's been out for longer than 3-6 months if it's an Android phone. I'd rather wait and get the best than get something that's about to be replaced (do consider the time to get official updates if you don't want to install custom ROMs).

 

[Yuriman]

Possible change in plans - the family is considering moving over to Spring to save some money. I'm seeing a serious lack of high-end phones - the only one on Sprint's site appears to be the Galaxy Nexus. If on Sprint, is this the phone to go with or should I opt for another?

If looking for a slightly smaller-screen variant for a family member, what's best?

 

[Dulanic]

Possible change in plans - the family is considering moving over to Spring to save some money. I'm seeing a serious lack of high-end phones - the only one on Sprint's site appears to be the Galaxy Nexus. If on Sprint, is this the phone to go with or should I opt for another?

If looking for a slightly smaller-screen variant for a family member, what's best?

No doubt the Nexus since Sprint is going LTE and it is one of the few LTE phones for Sprint.

 

[Yuriman]

No doubt the Nexus since Sprint is going LTE and it is one of the few LTE phones for Sprint.

Is there anything coming out soon like the HTC One X on Sprint?

 

[Dulanic]

Is there anything coming out soon like the HTC One X on Sprint?

http://www.sprint.com/landings/evo4glte/index.html

 

[bearxor]

Does still sell the Evo Shift?

But i think if i was switching to Sprint and signing new two-year contracts id definitely be waiting fora LTE phone.

 

[Raduque]

I wouldn't get an Evo Shift. It's a two-generations old Snapdragon single-core SoC with an anemic Adreno200 GPU.

 

[apac]

I would not switch to Sprint. In fact, I'm about to move my entire family plan to Verizon because of the terrible data speeds. 200-300 kbit is my average around Denver, and it only very rarely goes above 600. That's just not acceptable for a top end smart phone.

Voice/text they are great, but data is so bad that I can't stand it any more.

 

[Dulanic]

I would not switch to Sprint. In fact, I'm about to move my entire family plan to Verizon because of the terrible data speeds. 200-300 kbit is my average around Denver, and it only very rarely goes above 600. That's just not acceptable for a top end smart phone.

Voice/text they are great, but data is so bad that I can't stand it any more.

Yeah this is part of the reason I would only get a LTE phone. Sprint is pushing wide rollout of LTE currently and without a LTE phone, you'll be left on their HORRIBLE 3G network. I can't recommend Verizon for a family plan because honestly they are a freaking rip off for both the phones and the plans and he just said his family is trying to save money.

 

[MrX8503]

I would wait for the OneX. The SGSII is a great device, but its kind of old. Although, you can get a SGSII cheap now, so I guess that works out.