It’s smartphone contract time for me, so that means shopping around. The preference is to stay with my current carrier, Verizon, because 1) I’m grandfathered into unlimited data and 2) they get the best reception in my area. At the same time, my handset of choice is the Samsung Galaxy S II. While Verizon does have a few quality handsets — I have a few friends who swear by the Droid X2 — none of them made me want to plunk down $200 to $250. That is, until it became clear why Verizon was the only major carrier to not carry the Galaxy S II. Chances are by now you’ve seen that Verizon will get the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Now that’s a smartphone worth $300.
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On October 16th you’ll see the above-pictured device on store shelves. It looks like a normal Android smartphone, but it lacks one key element: a cellular radio. Instead, it’s a WiFi-based Android that essentially mimics Apple’s iPod Touch. It’ll come in two sizes: the four-inch screen will cost $229, while the five-inch screen will cost $269. Those are reasonable prices for devices that will carry no monthly service commitments. But I have to wonder if the Android platform is ready for this type of device.
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The Samsung Transform Ultra is the latest Android phone headed to Boost Mobile, and it’s their best one yet. Armed with a 1GHz processor and a 3.5-inch touchscreen, the Transform Ultra falls somewhere between a mid-range and high-end Android handset, giving it an easy leg up on the Galaxy Prevail, Boost’s other Android. It comes in at a decent price, too, $229.99, which is slightly more than you’d expect to pay for the same phone on contract. It drops on October 7th, which is soon enough. There is, however, one catch. Starting on that same date, Boost is adding a $5 monthly surcharge for Android phones. It makes sense, given how much data they can consume. So that will be $55 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. Not bad, considering it uses Sprint’s nationwide network.
Via Phone Scoop.
Today Sprint released the Kyocera Milano, a low-cost touchscreen slider device that runs Android 2.3. We’ve seen many carriers opt for mid-range handsets lately, which again highlights one of Android’s major advantages. They not only have high-end devices, such as the recently released Droid Bionic, but they can also play to other demographics. This helps it stand out in a market that Apple has long shaped. The Milano provides another example of what’s possible when a low-cost manufacturer decides to install Android on its device.
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If that looks like a recycled image, it’s for good reason. About a month ago we learned that MetroPCS would launch the Samsung Admire, a mid-range Android handset. It checks in at $150, which is decent for an Android for prepaid. For someone looking at it in terms of bang for the buck, it could work out. As happens in many cases, Cricket will also offer the Vitality. Only it adds another level to the offering: Muve Music. Read on if you’re not yet familiar with Cricket’s music plan.
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Pictured above is the Huawei Impulse, the latest Android handset announced for the AT&T network. As suggested in the headline, it’s not what you would call a state of the art device — though it does run on AT&T’s HSPA+ network. In fact, it’s more along the lines of the prepaid devices you see from Cricket and MetroPCS. (Huawei has manufactured almost exclusively for those two carriers in the past.) The good news for AT&T customers is that this sheds the normal trend of $150 to $200 postpaid Android handsets. This one checks in at just $30, making it just as affordable as many feature phones. You’ll have to pay the smartphone rate, of course, but this one could still be worth the money. Here’s a rundown of the two-year cost of ownership.
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Soon the question will be: which prepaid carriers don’t offer an Android smartphone. We saw the bigger prepaid carriers, such as MetroPCS and Cricket, offer Android handsets in the second half of last year, and apparently it’s started a trend. Plenty of prepaid carriers have followed suit. Left in the dark, to this point, has been Tracfone and its two subsidiaries: Straight Talk and Net10. Straight Talk seemed the most primed for an Android, since it offers unlimited everything for $45 per month. Starting in September, that will become a reality. According to a report filed at BTIG Reserach, and reported by FierceWireless, Straight Talk will get the Samsung Galaxy Precedent next month.
And you can pre-order it right now exclusively on the web.
Yep, Straight Talk is already taking pre-orders for the No-Contract Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Precedent through their website. Add a Straight Talk prepaid service plan and you’re ready to go.
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Pictured above is the Samsung Admire, the latest Android handset from prepaid carrier MetroPCS. It’s not meant for the super Android geek, really. The 3.5-inch screen is on the small side, and the 800MHz processor is on the slow side, especially compared to the top tier devices that have hit the major carriers. But this is not a major carrier, nor is it a top-end device. In fact, MetroPCS is pushing it as a back-to-school item, meaning it’s targeted towards parents. If their kids want an Android phone, this might represent a compromise.
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How much do you pay per month for your Android? My bill is at around $90 including taxes, and I even have the bare minimum voice plan. That seems to be pretty standard for a voice/text/data plan in today’s market, and yet it still seems rather expensive. I remember the days of paying about a third of that with my crappy flip phone. We all long for the days where our cell phones cost less in the same way we yearn for the days when gas was a buck a gallon. Yet, somehow, Virgin Mobile has a deal that’s just about as cheap as my old flip phone, and it’s good enough to power an Android device. Combined with the Android pictured above, the Motorola Triumph, it’s probably the best value on the market.
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Of all the manufacturers that create handsets for Android, HTC has always been my favorite. This isn’t a slight to Motorola, Samsung, LG, etc., but rather a testament to the high quality devices HTC has produced. They just have feel like more of a solid device than their competitors, even if the performance isn’t necessarily better. It doesn’t hurt that their phones are relatively root friendly. That appears to have changed. We learned previously that the bootloader for the Thunderbolt was signed and locked. At the time, given the reputation of each company, that might have seemed like a Verizon issue. Now it doesn’t appear so obvious.
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