My kid needed a cheap phone and pointed me towards www.backmarket.com which he has used and likes.

 jadewahoo wrote: 
liking it, but concerned about the battery life, although i saw it was among the longest talk time 9 hours (per the info card at the sprint store)

it is set up for the new 4G LTE network, which is an added bonus

 miamizsun wrote:Agreed. Mine just arrived yesterday. It is pretty sleek, fast and intuitive. And hey... it is in line for the new Jelly Bean operating system, being released right now. 

 Proclivities wrote: 

Ah, yes, the Pantech Ease.  It's pitched as a phone that's "easy" for technophobes (i.e. old farts like us) to understand.  Plus it also has a nerd mode if you want to get your geek on.

My wife and my son both have one of these.  I'm waiting to see which of them loses theirs first.

htc evo died after 18 months of great service

i was out of town and under a time sensitive schedule

snagged this



galaxy s III

pretty nice phone

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
I just got a "free"* phone for my wife.  We have an AT&T Family plan, and it didn't require an upgrade, it just required a 2-year extension of the same plan.

It's not a "smart" phone, but it works for her/our needs.

*"Free" included an activation and shipping fee which was about $35.00.

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
Gotcha.  When I think about it, we don't talk on ours all that much, either.  I think we get like 1200 minutes per month and I doubt we ever use anywhere near that.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
I meant voice minutes. We have rollover minutes. Right now to the tune of 5000 minutes. We don't use the phones to talk, much.

But to get the free phones, we'd have had to go from our 450 minutes to something like 750/month - at a large increase in monthly cost.

That's what I was talking about.

 
This is the way I'm going since I need a cell phone. I'm going for the "Samsung I9001 Galaxy S Plus Black Unlocked Android OS 8GB Phone NEW" from cells4u.com. The price has come down big time over the past 3 months. It was  $379.99 and now it's $339.99.

Then I'm going to get the TMobile $100 card, 1000 minutes that lasts for 1 year. Since I'm only using it for emergencies, I can also use Wi-Fi calling feature.

 BlueHeronDruid wrote: 
P has decided that we'll stick with iPhones because she wants to keep iTunes.  We're grandfathered with unlimited data and that carries over to new devices.  We'll probably wait until September when the iPhone 5 is released, then the price of the 4s will go way down.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Those "free" phones - does that require you to upgrade your service contract?

If so, do the math. It was far more cost-effective for us to just "buy" our Android phones outright ($199) than to suffer the increased service agreement - over the life of two years, we made out like bandits.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
The nice thing about android is that it's available on a lot of platforms (and iterations), the bad thing is - lots of platforms and iterations.

Apple has no 'cheap' hardware option, so you always get the nice stuff. You also always pay for it. An android device compatible w/ an iPhone will probably cost you $150 - $300 as well. The new HTC one is out now on T-Mo, and should be on Sprint and Big Red shortly.  I love the HTC premium phones.  Not sure if I'm sold on the new 4.7 inch screen standard yet, but the overall thinness is way down so it may be okay in a pocket.   I'll wear my skinny jeans when I go shopping to try it out. 

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Know anyone with an adroid you can test drive? Free is only better if you're equally, or better yet more, happy. And yes, I know that's not grammatically correct. Sue. Me.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
probably. but worth waiting for the newer model.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
But then you could get the 4s for $99 most likely.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
They'll still be $199 each, I imagine.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Wait until september when the iphone 5 comes out.

Our contract with AT&T is up next month.  We both have iPhone 3G's and have been very happy with them.  To upgrade to the new iPhone will cost $199 each.  Androids however, are free.  What to do, what to do...

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Well played... considering the iPhone plans cost more than my phone/satellite/DSL package.