Database Users

[Q] Convince me NOT/TO get a VIBRANT (& Dump Epic)

So, I'm not very happy about the 150kbps upload, the crawling 3G overall and the crawling of the phone along with it. I love the phone itself, but I essentially hate the CDMA Golem that's attached itself to it. And I notice this has been the case with almost every one of my old CDMA devices. GSM has historically been slower but development was always MUCH faster for GSM devices, and GSM variants. And every time I get a new phone I go through this and end up back on CDMA with Sprint (plus cheap Verizon service, via roaming agreements) mainly because of the data speeds.
But T-mobile has an AMAZING new data network at least in my area (Chicago) that seems very impressive. Apparently the Vibrant can take advantage of HSPA+ up to 7.2MBPs which is faster than what I'm averaging now on wimax (although I understand the EVO got quite a boost in wimax speed with froyo as well). So the way I see it, Vibrant has the following things going for it:
+FROYO NOW (unofficial, but still its progress)
+Same data speeds
+Better overall developer community
+Gets 4G speeds IN BUILDINGS (to me, this is a HUGE advantage. Yes I understand there is still signal loss and therefore speed loss, but I'd imagine this is still much better than wimax dying after 2 inches of concrete or evdo's lower speed)
+TV Out
-No Keyboard
-No Front Camera (although supposedly this can be fixed if you're really risky)
-No Flash
-Entire network not 3G like Sprint's is, only some
-5GB "soft cap" (edge-only after 5gb)
I'm hoping the upload speed issue gets resolved. Also, I can't help but think the Epic MAY get left behind like the moment was in terms of updates. My friend has had a motorola cliq for about a year now and he's still stuck on 1.5-1.6 (they promised 2.1). I really don't want to commit to a phone for a year that may not be supported past a few months.

Not this topic again.

Please go get the Virbrant. It's a much better phone. It will make you much happier. Then you can talk of your love for the phone on the vibrant thread.

Yup. I say go get the Vibrant.

Sorry, I didn't necessarily see a thread (made AFTER both were out on the market for a week or so) actually comparing the two. This is not meant to slam the Epic (my current and possibly will remain my current) phone. If you notice there are both advantages AND disadvantages listed. I'm simply trying to get people's opinions, especially if there is something I missed. I think they are both great phones, just trying to decide between them. I don't generally get "attached" to hardware to the point that I'll try and "defend" or "attack" it, just trying to discuss it. If this thread still bothers you, by all means, there are many others.

Id say go for the Vibrant, because you are correct about the 3g data speeds, also even though we have wimax, it seems in alot of areas you need a damned directional antenna to get a signal, and you can pretty much forget about inside the house service. With tmobiles 3g, you dont have to worry about bad spots in a metropolitan area for the most part, and it penetrates houses MUCH better. Also, while the epic has great hardware, the battery life is horrendous, and the vibrants is a bit better.
Cons for the vibrant include no ffc, no flash, no keyboard (con for some), and no notification light. The absence of the latter is pretty stupid in my opinion.
Also, its not a 5gb cap, you have up to 10gb till getting throttled.

Thanks, I didn't know about the notification light missing. Also I've ONLY ever had CDMA phones. Quite a few of them on many different OS'es, but its hard to try and make an informed decision when you have no experience with the service. Not sure exactly what attributes about signal and penetration will change based on where I live and work. That's why I've got you guys/gals!

Go get a vibrant and make yourself happy. I am currently happy with the Epic and those issues that you have means that you must be extremely picky. Good luck.

I really don't care what you do but there's not an option for that in your poll.

please do.

go buy a vibrant and return your epic

There is a wonderful DEV team here that works their butts off to make these devices "all devices" better. Instead of throwing in the towel why don't you try their ROMs out, and donate if you can. Looking at the vibrant forums I see folks complain about other stuff so it doesn't much matter what you go with. Like I said not all phones are perfect.

agonzalez1010 said:
There is a wonderful DEV team here that works their butts off to make these devices "all devices" better. Instead of throwing in the towel why don't you try their ROMs out, and donate if you can. Looking at the vibrant forums I see folks complain about other stuff so it doesn't much matter what you go with. Like I said not all phones are perfect.
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That's the point everyone else is making albeit a bit less verbose. Sometimes people just need to go to the other side of the fence and see that even if the grass looks greener, it's still just as bitter.
And the Devs are terrific at what they do and it's awesome to see so much support for a phone less than a month old.

yeah the Epic community is not as large.. but i'm sure it will grow.
Do what makes you happy.. even if I vote it won't make a difference.
They are both good phones.. just don't get the facinate.. yuck.. lol

The problem with giving an answer to this question is that everyone's needs are different. My wife and I both plan to get an Epic in about a month or so (when our AT&T contract is up). The 3G upload cap will affect her much more than me because she likes to take pics/video and send them to Facebook, where I don't do that very much. I also work in a large metro area that will have 4G coverage, where my wife will (mostly) be in our home town that will not likely get 4G signal for quite a while yet. So I won't be as affected by the 3G cap as she would be. But this could be a deal-breaker for her.
My one gripe with the Vibrant is lack of flash for the camera. I don't mind the lack of the front facing camera or the keyboard. Those are "nice to haves" in my opinion. But I will never understand why a phone manufacturer would bother to put a 5MP (or higher) camera in a phone and not include a flash. It just baffles me. Surely, a flash doesn't add THAT much cost to the phone? It's the one downer about that phone for me, and it's something I will have to live with if things don't work out for us with the Epic. If it wasn't for the fact that I get a Sprint discount through work we'd likely be going with T-mobile, as their coverage is very good in our area.
I suspect that Sprint/Samsung will sort out the upload cap in the next month or two. It's a shame that this was even a problem upon release of the phone, but I think they will right this ship. Unfortunately, this means that folks who have their 30-day trial coming to an end soon will either have to jump ship or take a leap of faith. I feel bad for those people and am glad that I and my family have to wait a while to switch to Sprint so we don't have to be faced with the decision for a couple of months yet. Hopefully the fix will be out by then.
Good luck, whatever you decide!

greengoldmello said:
Cons for the vibrant include no ffc, no flash, no keyboard (con for some), and no notification light. The absence of the latter is pretty stupid in my opinion.
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The absence of a notification light would be a 100% dealbreaker for me. I had an iPhone for a single day and took it back immediately in part because of this, which I didn't realize ahead of time. I use my phone for both personal and business emails, and if I have to keep turning on the phone every ten minutes to manually check my email, then it's not worth having that phone...
This really should be a basic, required feature on any phone.

badasscat said:
The absence of a notification light would be a 100% dealbreaker for me. I had an iPhone for a single day and took it back immediately in part because of this, which I didn't realize ahead of time. I use my phone for both personal and business emails, and if I have to keep turning on the phone every ten minutes to manually check my email, then it's not worth having that phone...
This really should be a basic, required feature on any phone.
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This is exactly what I meant by my previous post. Everyone has their own needs and none of us can really answer his question for him because of this. You need the notification light for your own reason, while I am used to not having a notification light and can live without it on future phones.
I don't think anyone but the OP can realistically answer the question because our answers will always be biased towards what we think is necessary on our own phones.

othan1 said:
That's the point everyone else is making albeit a bit less verbose. Sometimes people just need to go to the other side of the fence and see that even if the grass looks greener, it's still just as bitter.
And the Devs are terrific at what they do and it's awesome to see so much support for a phone less than a month old.
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Yes, and I think this is mostly my issue. I've never been on the other side of the fence. I'd almost like to get a 2nd line for a month just to try it out... I have been coming to this site for years and if it wasn't for these wonderful developers (and the testers that provide useful feedback) these devices wouldn't be half as attractive as they are.
I too hope they get the upload issue sorted out, otherwise I do love this phone. I appreciate everyone's input (well, at least those who were helpful) and it will help me about when my 30 days is up and I have a decision to make (unless they fix it, PLEASE sprint!)
I'll consider the issue closed as I know have all the information I believe I need to make my decision, whatever it ends up being. Plus, something tells me if this goes on anymore I'll end up with more people who just get annoyed that I asked...

Another thing to consider, especially since you're in the midwest: WiMax might or might not have good indoor coverage today, but EVDO has pretty reliable coverage just about everywhere I've been (including Ohio and Pennsylvania). I'd seriously recommend asking some T-Mobile users who live in areas where you go a few times a year (parents, vacation spots, lakeside resorts, campgrounds, etc) how their 3G coverage is THERE. From what I've seen, T-Mobile has decent 3G coverage in Florida and California, but the more miles between you and the Atlantic or Pacific, the less likely you are to get reliable UMTS 3G from them. In many parts of the midwest, you'll be lucky to get EDGE. In quite a few shockingly non-rural areas, all you'll get is GPRS.
Don't just look at official "coverage" maps... get the Sensorly map viewer (which uses crowdsourcing to have users voluntarily sample signal strength in various areas and report it to them) and check the 3G coverage in specific places where you're likely to spend time (including malls, shopping centers, homes of friends and family members, etc). Sprint is far from perfect, but T-Mobile's 3G coverage looks horrifyingly ragged once you start zooming in to specific neighborhoods, regardless of how good it might look when you're zoomed out so a city the size of Chicago fills a 320x480 screen.
It's been years since Sprint has even *had* meaningful service as slow as GPRS (as in, Samsung SPH-i300 circa 2001-2002), but I can tell you... GPRS is about as close to useless as you can get. It's almost worse than no service at all, because at least when there's no service at all, you won't waste your time bothering to even try using it.
GPS wise, a stock Vibrant will never be more than a week or two ahead of a rooted Epic -- the moment any real fix gets released for the Vibrant, it'll get ripped and grafted onto Epics anyway. The same holds true in the other direction as well. How many hours did it take for Epic's GPS improvements to make their way onto rooted Vibrants? Like, maybe... 6?
The 150k EVDO cap is a bug, and I suspect the only reason it hasn't been fixed YET is because it probably requires taking a cell site down for maintenance, so Sprint is loath to do it outside of a regularly-scheduled maintenance window. Whatever phone you go with is going to be with you for at least another 10 months... do you really want to commit yourself to 9 of them based on a problem that's likely to resolve itself by the end of next month?
Also, don't forget that the Vibrant has only a small amount of "fast" flash, and relies on an internal microSD card for the other 16gb. On an Android phone, the only place slower than MicroSD for storage is a remote server accessed over the 'net.
In short, don't cut off your nose to spite your face... at least, not without spending some serious time researching what T-Mobile is like in the specific square blocks of land you care about. T-Mobile's best areas might be better than Sprint, but it's a lot worse than Sprint in quite a few more (especially the middle parts of the country, and more than a mile away from a transcontinental interstate highway). You'll be able to make voice calls & do text messages just about everywhere, thanks to roaming agreements with AT&T... but AFAIK, you can't roam on 3G, and I'm pretty sure AT&T won't allow you to roam on EDGE either. In contrast, Sprint can roam on Verizon and enjoy at least 1xRTT speeds anywhere Verizon has service. 1xRTT isn't fast, but there's a blurry line somewhere between "annoyingly slow" and "unusable" -- 1xRTT is somewhere on the good side, and GPRS is absolutely on the bad side of it.

Yes, the speed vs coverage issue is definitely something I'm weighing in my decision making. I don't travel OFTEN but when I do its most likely for work which means both voice AND data matter. Its very rare that I can't get EVDO even in the middle of nowhere (do they even HAVE 1x towers anymore?), only 1x when I have like 1 bar and the SNR is just too poor for EVDO. I am going to "do my best" to stick it out with sprint. Hopefully they can make up my mind for me before the 4th

Whoa... No HSPA+?

Is that even possible?

Hummingbird Chipset
My guess would be that the Samsung Hummingbird chipset only supports 7.2 Mbps. Same as with the GSM Galaxy S series handsets.

many reasons why it may not be there. but you still get up to 7.2Mbps down which is very good.

Whoa your totally the 1st person to notice this and post about it......

To me, it doesn't matter. I live in a HSPA+ area and have never even come close to getting 7.2Mbps on a G2. Let alone HSPA+ speeds.

How many networks actually support those speeds anyways ?? I mean in reality not on paper. Besides, 7Mbps is enough for all mobile needs, a youtube 720p HD video averages around 2Mbps which is the highest bandwidth consuming task I can think of. Unless you are planning to tether it to a laptop and download huge files, which IMO is not a requirement for many users, since mobile data is pretty expensive.

th0r615 said:
Whoa your totally the 1st person to notice this and post about it......
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lol Anyways whats the big deal. 99% person of the world is not on 4G yet
I know we wanted everything from this phone but its not to be

I don't care since in my country we don't even have 4G so that would be completely useless.
But I understand entirely you're complaining about it, they're expected to make progress not regression(but that's technology, constructers choose what we will get...).

It's true "4G" isn't prominent right now. I'm guessing the disappointment comes when you try to see Nexus S as a phone into 2011, and beyond. Dropping $529 dollars for a phone that won't be taking advantage of "4G" speeds which all carriers are moving toward and pushing for, and which handsets are already featuring, doesn't seem future-proof, and maybe even a step back. It doesn't live up to the Nexus branding.

Agreed. I've decided to stay with my Samsung Epic (which has a bad ESN that I bought for $300 and I am using as an Android touch), and wait it out. When phones that come out that are compare to the Galaxy S as how the Nexus One overshadowed the Hero, I'll probably upgrade. Not then ... it's not worth selling my current phone.

Moto Atrix (Dual C) vs Epic

Just watched a demo of the MOTO Atrix dual core....wow the scrolling is horrible. Side by side with the Epic, the differences are HUGE! It's hard not to smile knowing that the EPIC still dominates even dual core offerings.
I noticed it's an ATT "4G" phone, so after going to ATT site and clicking their 4G link, it took me to a map of blue colored coverage, which oddly enough looks EXACTLY like their 3G coverage. Upon further examination, that's EXACTLY what they show you, the 3G coverage. There are but a small handful of cities that actually implement TMOs HSPA+ '4G'. Just like apple, att using their 'full of ****' marketing practices. It's really sad how much $ apple and att has made selling inferior hardware and service for twice that of which I pay for the Epic on Sprint.
I have 2 Epics, with unlimited everything (except the landline 1500min pool), and both phones plans combined is cheaper than 1 iphone with unlimited everything, except the 4GB worth of data. And that's 3G data!
Man that's so sad. I can't believe how many fools there are out there.
Samsung can't get Froyo right to save their life, but even the Eclair Epic is a better choice than the Atrix.

Atrix makes sammiches tho

Atrix? Meh.

NoSoMo said:
Just watched a demo of the MOTO Atrix dual core....wow the scrolling is horrible. Side by side with the Epic, the differences are HUGE! It's hard not to smile knowing that the EPIC still dominates even dual core offerings.
I noticed it's an ATT "4G" phone, so after going to ATT site and clicking their 4G link, it took me to a map of blue colored coverage, which oddly enough looks EXACTLY like their 3G coverage. Upon further examination, that's EXACTLY what they show you, the 3G coverage. There are but a small handful of cities that actually implement TMOs HSPA+ '4G'. Just like apple, att using their 'full of ****' marketing practices. It's really sad how much $ apple and att has made selling inferior hardware and service for twice that of which I pay for the Epic on Sprint.
I have 2 Epics, with unlimited everything (except the landline 1500min pool), and both phones plans combined is cheaper than 1 iphone with unlimited everything, except the 4GB worth of data. And that's 3G data!
Man that's so sad. I can't believe how many fools there are out there.
Samsung can't get Froyo right to save their life, but even the Eclair Epic is a better choice than the Atrix.
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i have both the epic and the atrix
the epic has its winning points and the atrix has its also
the att 4g coverage is 3x better then sprint service in phoenix
its all personal opinion of what people think
i love the atrix 4g and dont really care for the epic because i live in a blind spot but i love the work that is done with the roms

Good.luck with the custom kernels on the atrix.
Sent From My Evo Killer!

Atrix > Epic > Evo
Multi-cores are the future, lets not have a redundant debate on how multi-cores aren't useful until apps and games are optimized for them, we all know how that ended up when PC's went multi-core; And lets not be like the EVO folks who were in denial when the Epic came out.

brian2220 said:
i have both the epic and the atrix
the epic has its winning points and the atrix has its also
the att 4g coverage is 3x better then sprint service in phoenix
its all personal opinion of what people think
i love the atrix 4g and dont really care for the epic because i live in a blind spot but i love the work that is done with the roms
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That I agree about the service here... T mobile 3G is faster than our 3G...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

ghostrid3r said:
Atrix > Epic > Evo
Multi-cores are the future, lets not have a redundant debate on how multi-cores aren't useful until apps and games are optimized for them, we all know how that ended up when PC's went multi-core; And lets not be like the EVO folks who were in denial when the Epic came out.
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i am in denial but I cant wait till cm7 gets here for my girls phone

My friend who I have known for 8 years bought the Atrix with the Dock and everything spending $500+. Personally, I would have not invested so much in a device that is not going to easy to make custom kernel's for. Matter of fact, its a locked boot loader which means you are screwed. Even Cyanogen himself said today that he would support the device had it not been for that fact. Still, its kinda cool, but makes developing for it a lot ( LOT ) harder than it should be.
Yet they make the XOOM developer friendly. Go figure, why would they not choose this with the phone? Do we have the provider to blame? Is it what they want for their phone systems, or are we just being put to a test to see how far developers can push the envelope with the newest phones to make custom roms/kernels?

heathmcabee said:
My friend who I have known for 8 years bought the Atrix with the Dock and everything spending $500+. Personally, I would have not invested so much in a device that is not going to easy to make custom kernel's for. Matter of fact, its a locked boot loader which means you are screwed. Even Cyanogen himself said today that he would support the device had it not been for that fact. Still, its kinda cool, but makes developing for it a lot ( LOT ) harder than it should be.
Yet they make the XOOM developer friendly. Go figure, why would they not choose this with the phone? Do we have the provider to blame? Is it what they want for their phone systems, or are we just being put to a test to see how far developers can push the envelope with the newest phones to make custom roms/kernels?
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Not the first moto device with a locked boot loader, anything and everything is hackable. Period.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

heathmcabee said:
.
Yet they make the XOOM developer friendly. Go figure, why would they not choose this with the phone? Do we have the provider to blame? Is it what they want for their phone systems, or are we just being put to a test to see how far developers can push the envelope with the newest phones to make custom roms/kernels?
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XOOM is a "flagship device" all of google's flagship devices are the first to ship with the OS and are VERY developer friendly so far the list is G1,Droid,Nexus 1, Nexus S, XOOM

Honestly, I can not stand AT&T. They have the same pricing as Verizon, yet they're inferior (network wise) to Sprint. The only reason they had a chance in the mobile market industry is because of the iPhone (which I still prefer Android over).
Now that Verizon has iPhone, ATT will probably be bought out by another carrier, or something weird.

brian2220 said:
i have both the epic and the atrix
the epic has its winning points and the atrix has its also
the att 4g coverage is 3x better then sprint service in phoenix
its all personal opinion of what people think
i love the atrix 4g and dont really care for the epic because i live in a blind spot but i love the work that is done with the roms
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LOL -- ATT....did someone just defend ATTs service???
Sprint's CLEAR division has LTE in Phoenix running 100Mb down and peak 47Mb uploads.........ATT probably runs their whole network off of one of the LTE connections.
There will always be someone who lives in a dead zone. WiMax ins't there yet, but between Sprint and Verizon's networks, Phoenix couldn't be covered any better. Roms allow for forced roam, which I had on my WinMo 6.5 phone.....and could switch between networks and roam 3G if I had a Sprint issue. It made for the most robust phone I've ever seen anyone in possession of (TP2 was quad band).

dcowboys2184 said:
That I agree about the service here... T mobile 3G is faster than our 3G...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
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Their 'enhanced' 3G is quite fast....Got over 5Mb on my sisters Samsung Tab sitting 100ft in front of the tower....2Mb up. Damn't Sprint, unlock our WiMax UPLOAD already.......bandwidth is clearly available up and down, it won't do jack to the network if they let us full duplex. I mean, it's a phone..... I couldn't imagine FB pic uploads swamping the network with just a fraction of the HD YouTube streaming

Overstew said:
Honestly, I can not stand AT&T. They have the same pricing as Verizon, yet they're inferior (network wise) to Sprint. The only reason they had a chance in the mobile market industry is because of the iPhone (which I still prefer Android over).
Now that Verizon has iPhone, ATT will probably be bought out by another carrier, or something weird.
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Fck att,i hope they go under.Their costumer support is the worst,when I had iphone 3gs they acted like they were doing me a favor by me staying with them,lol.
I had tmobile and sprint since then and both of these carriers are light years ahead in terms of everything,dont know about verizon but I havent heard nothing bad about them.

lviv73 said:
Fck att,i hope they go under.Their costumer support is the worst,when I had iphone 3gs they acted like they were doing me a favor by me staying with them,lol.
I had tmobile and sprint since then and both of these carriers are light years ahead in terms of everything,dont know about verizon but I havent heard nothing bad about them.
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sprints customer service in stores sucks big time **** and thats another reason why i left.
some of the employees are just braindead and dont what is right or left
att and verizon are the best right now and because they know what they are doing and thats why they are so big
sprints barely getting its stupid company ass back in gear after all the years it was behind and watch it fall back down soon

brian2220 said:
sprints customer service in stores sucks big time **** and thats another reason why i left.
some of the employees are just braindead and dont what is right or left
att and verizon are the best right now and because they know what they are doing and thats why they are so big
sprints barely getting its stupid company ass back in gear after all the years it was behind and watch it fall back down soon
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Almost all store employees are dumb at any carrier.
What counts for sprint and tmobile is that they dont disconnect your service if you dont pay wkthing 2-3 days.I can be 2 weeks late with sprint and not get charged extra and not even have a warning from sprint.
Plus on sprint and tmobile I can download 80gb of movies a month,they dont have data cap.So if you use your phone as your primary internet then tmo and sprint is only choices.
I just wish I dint leave tmobile for sprint because speed was way faster on tmobile,and my promised sprint's 4g never came.

Yeah your ridge about Tue paying the.bill late. I've been late before and they don't even care.
Sent From My Evo Killer!

musclehead84 said:
Yeah your ridge about Tue paying the.bill late. I've been late before and they don't even care.
Sent From My Evo Killer!
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Lol at swype fail . Jk
sent from my Epi[demi]c

The atrix is a far more powerful device, but the first true dual cores will be powered by omap4 and perhaps 3rd Gen snapdragons or tegra3's. That's when it all really begins.

Thinking about getting one..... Advice?

So I used and loved my Dell steak for a good year or so and I upgraded to an HTC vivid yesterday. The phone is fantastic, but I definitely miss the large screen. How is the Note for former streak users? Will it work on AT&T lte here in Dallas, TX? Is it worth selling the vivid and spending 800 bones on? What do you guys think?
Sent from my HTC Vivid using XDA App

no lte but from the engadget review of the vivid, I would at least get a galaxy s2 skyrocket

PolishDude said:
no lte but from the engadget review of the vivid, I would at least get a galaxy s2 skyrocket
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I gotta say, there's a lot of things that I find different about the vivid than in the Engadget review. Check out some of the comments in that thread. I spent well over an hour deciding which one I wanted. But this isn't about that. I think if the Note worked on AT&T's lte I would jump on the Note.

I'm a former Streak user and I've just upgraded to a Note. Loving it, although being a former Streak user means I'm not overwhelmed.
IMHO the Streak was a massively underestimated device, and sadly I think the Note may be heading the same way. And all because it's a bit big .
My first mobile (NEC P3) was humungously bigger than the Note and only had 4-line LCD display - the P3 was a real struggle to put in a jean pocket , the Note is definitely not and that's all that matters surely ? What is it with the "how it looks up to your ear" angst
The reason I upgraded to the Note is the increased performance, resolution, drawing/note taking ability and a better chance of getting decent and timely OS upgrades.
Can't help you with the connectivity questions (I'm in UK), but it seems a shame that in the US it's so hard to get these answers for you early adopters thinking of importing. Can't the US journos who review these things get the answers ?

trilotus said:
I'm a former Streak user and I've just upgraded to a Note. Loving it, although being a former Streak user means I'm not overwhelmed.
IMHO the Streak was a massively underestimated device, and sadly I think the Note may be heading the same way. And all because it's a bit big .
My first mobile (NEC P3) was humungously bigger than the Note and only had 4-line LCD display - the P3 was a real struggle to put in a jean pocket , the Note is definitely not and that's all that matters surely ? What is it with the "how it looks up to your ear" angst
The reason I upgraded to the Note is the increased performance, resolution, drawing/note taking ability and a better chance of getting decent and timely OS upgrades.
Can't help you with the connectivity questions (I'm in UK), but it seems a shame that in the US it's so hard to get these answers for you early adopters thinking of importing. Can't the US journos who review these things get the answers ?
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Fantastic points of view! I miss my large screen quite a bit, but lte here in Dallas is incredible and worth taking the hit. I've been finding that reviewers are reporting speeds that people get with hspa+ here as lte speeds. I've been getting a consistent 35 to 45mbps download speeds. I find that incredibly strange. If the Note can access those kind of speeds here in Dallas, it would certainly be a dream device to say the least. And definitely worth the cash.

Something I did to really sell me on the device (I dont have it... yet) is I went to best buy and dinked around with the Galaxy Player 5. It is running 2.3, is huge and still rather thin, which is the closest simulation to the Note I can think of. The people looked at me weird when I was trying to slide it in my pocket, but it confirmed that a device that huge can still comfortably fit.
Just a warning... as has been said, if one goes that big, Im not sure how one could ever go smaller...
and btw... first post

I had the streak. The note is better in every way!!! 21 MBPS at a desktop resolution while on the web at 1200 x 800 is much better for me than 50 MBPS on a smaller, less resolution screen. I am on wi fi most of the time anyway.

It looks like it does support lte according to Engadget's review, but it's very vague...

Reclaim said:
It looks like it does support lte according to Engadget's review, but it's very vague...
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Unless you wait for the korean version (which still might not work) you will not get LTE on the Note.

Reclaim said:
I gotta say, there's a lot of things that I find different about the vivid than in the Engadget review. Check out some of the comments in that thread. I spent well over an hour deciding which one I wanted. But this isn't about that. I think if the Note worked on AT&T's lte I would jump on the Note.
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LTE won't be coming to most areas till 2015 on At&t.
All LTE means is worse battery life, more bulk, and most likely a worse processor. Just look at the skyrocket.
There really is no need for LTE on phones either. HSPA+ allows me to stream 1080p without stopping.
If you want LTE go buy a SGS2 ****rocket.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

xAnimal5 said:
LTE won't be coming to most areas till 2015 on At&t.
All LTE means is worse battery life, more bulk, and most likely a worse processor. Just look at the skyrocket.
There really is no need for LTE on phones either. HSPA+ allows me to stream 1080p without stopping.
If you want LTE go buy a SGS2 ****rocket.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
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Are you joking? If you haven't noticed I live in Dallas and own an HTC Vivid. I'm taking great advantage of LTE right now. It's fantastic. Which is why I want the Note to have it. I'll also vouch that my battery life is no worse than normal on a typical Android phone. Your angry reply is either full of idiocy or misinformation. You have no idea what I do with my phone nor if I it need or not. I believe everyone is different. Hence the reason why we come to this site; to be different. 2015? Why did you even bother posting with such wrong information?
Sent from my HTC Vivid using XDA App

None of the current versions of Gnote supports LTE.
The korean version will but I dont know if they are in the same band ( chances are no )
Eventually they will release it in US too. Here the chance that its going to be LTE is high. This might easily take 4-6 months.
If LTE were to come to my place, i would love to enjoy the LTE speeds too....
Its never too much when it comes to internet speed

Reclaim said:
Are you joking? If you haven't noticed I live in Dallas and own an HTC Vivid. I'm taking great advantage of LTE right now. It's fantastic. Which is why I want the Note to have it. I'll also vouch that my battery life is no worse than normal on a typical Android phone. Your angry reply is either full of idiocy or misinformation. You have no idea what I do with my phone nor if I it need or not. I believe everyone is different. Hence the reason why we come to this site; to be different. 2015? Why did you even bother posting with such wrong information?
Sent from my HTC Vivid using XDA App
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Wasn't an angry reply. At&t hasn't even rolled out LTE in NY yet. It's about to be 2012 and AT&T only has LTE in about 8 cities, not including NYC. By the time AT&T covers all of the US at this rate, it will be about 2015 or '16. I don't understand how that's wrong info? Most of the US doesn't even have HSPA+ yet. I'm lucky to live in the small portion of HSPA+ area.
The ****rocket is heavier enough to notice a diff. when holding it in your hand against the og SGSII. It has a bulkier design and is choppy, again LTE is in about 8 cities.
How would I know where you live? I'm on the mobile version if you couldn't tell... Even if I was on the full site, I don't look to see where people live... that's just sketchy.
About your data usage and how it fits your "lifestyle". Unless you're illegally downloading movies, games, or other copyrighted files, there really is no point in having LTE. My home wifi sucks so I use my phone to download things occasionally, HSPA+ works fine and is fast enough and I watch netflix, download apps, and youtube vids on my unlim. data plan. LTE is also kind of pointless unless you have unlimited data as well.
Anyway before you start calling people idiots, use your head. LTE has been around for a long time now with VZW. It took them about 4 years to roll out their LTE network and it still doesn't give coverage to everyone. Now, since I'm "idiotic", correct my math... 2011+4=2015.
Did I duz gud Mr. Genius from Dallas, u iz 2 sm4rt 4 me?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

drgopoos said:
None of the current versions of Gnote supports LTE.
The korean version will but I dont know if they are in the same band ( chances are no )
Eventually they will release it in US too. Here the chance that its going to be LTE is high. This might easily take 4-6 months.
If LTE were to come to my place, i would love to enjoy the LTE speeds too....
Its never too much when it comes to internet speed
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Click to collapse
Great! very informative!
Sent from my HTC Vivid using XDA App

xAnimal5 said:
Wasn't an angry reply. At&t hasn't even rolled out LTE in NY yet. It's about to be 2012 and AT&T only has LTE in about 8 cities, not including NYC. By the time AT&T covers all of the US at this rate, it will be about 2015 or '16. I don't understand how that's wrong info? Most of the US doesn't even have HSPA+ yet. I'm lucky to live in the small portion of HSPA+ area.
The ****rocket is heavier enough to notice a diff. when holding it in your hand against the og SGSII. It has a bulkier design and is choppy, again LTE is in about 8 cities.
How would I know where you live? I'm on the mobile version if you couldn't tell... Even if I was on the full site, I don't look to see where people live... that's just sketchy.
About your data usage and how it fits your "lifestyle". Unless you're illegally downloading movies, games, or other copyrighted files, there really is no point in having LTE. My home wifi sucks so I use my phone to download things occasionally, HSPA+ works fine and is fast enough and I watch netflix, download apps, and youtube vids on my unlim. data plan. LTE is also kind of pointless unless you have unlimited data as well.
Anyway before you start calling people idiots, use your head. LTE has been around for a long time now with VZW. It took them about 4 years to roll out their LTE network and it still doesn't give coverage to everyone. Now, since I'm "idiotic", correct my math... 2011+4=2015.
Did I duz gud Mr. Genius from Dallas, u iz 2 sm4rt 4 me?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
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My location is right there under my screen name. Again, you don't know what my lifestyle is like and I'll tell you now, it has nothing to do with illegal downloads. more about streaming from my cloud via pogo plug. Next, you clearly have a problem with reading things thoroughly as I clearly wrote Dallas, not Houston. So to answer your question: No. You didn't "duz gud". And if you think the weight difference between the skyrocket and the sgs2 is a big enough difference, then you should probably do a few curls with a dish towel to get a little stronger. As far as internet speeds go, you have crappy wifi? It's comparable to when you girlfriend says "It was good for me too". She just doesn't have anything better to compare it to. It's pretty awesome getting 45mbps on my phone as others that have experienced it can attest, and as they say; once you go LTE, you can't go back to slower speeds... or you can't go back to playboy! (well no one really says that, but it's awesome!) Think about what technology we will have soon that might require more data or faster speeds. Thinking what you have now is good enough technology wise is short sighted. I'd like to add that I still get unlimited data. It would be kinda lame if I didn't have that. Hey, at least we agree on something! Last but not least this article on engadget indicates that LTE Advanced will launch in 2013. http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/atandt-commits-to-lte-advanced-deployment-in-2013-hesse-and-mead/
That means either most people will get LTE sooner that later or some of us will most likely be enjoying near 1gbps while HSPA+ is still good enough for you.
Woooo! Can I get an Amen????

Reclaim said:
My location is right there under my screen name. Again, you don't know what my lifestyle is like and I'll tell you now, it has nothing to do with illegal downloads. more about streaming from my cloud via pogo plug. Next, you clearly have a problem with reading things thoroughly as I clearly wrote Dallas, not Houston. So to answer your question: No. You didn't "duz gud". And if you think the weight difference between the skyrocket and the sgs2 is a big enough difference, then you should probably do a few curls with a dish towel to get a little stronger. As far as internet speeds go, you have crappy wifi? It's comparable to when you girlfriend says "It was good for me too". She just doesn't have anything better to compare it to. It's pretty awesome getting 45mbps on my phone as others that have experienced it can attest, and as they say; once you go LTE, you can't go back to slower speeds... or you can't go back to playboy! (well no one really says that, but it's awesome!) Think about what technology we will have soon that might require more data or faster speeds. Thinking what you have now is good enough technology wise is short sighted. I'd like to add that I still get unlimited data. It would be kinda lame if I didn't have that. Hey, at least we agree on something! Last but not least this article on engadget indicates that LTE Advanced will launch in 2013. http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/atandt-commits-to-lte-advanced-deployment-in-2013-hesse-and-mead/
That means either most people will get LTE sooner that later or some of us will most likely be enjoying near 1gbps while HSPA+ is still good enough for you.
Woooo! Can I get an Amen????
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Where did I type Houston?
Oh so now you are resorting to muscular insults. Well before I say anything, I bench 250 and hit the gym every other day, the reason I care about weight is I don't want an ugly fat phone that could be lighter.
I honestly do not see any use for 1gbps download speeds on a MOBILE Phone. Don't get ahead of yourself. PC's don't even require that kind of speed, so why would a phone need it?
Back to LTE... cool you get 45mbps, now name some practical uses of that speed. Doing anything that strains internet connection would not require even a tenth of that speed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

xAnimal5 said:
Where did I type Houston?
Oh so now you are resorting to muscular insults. Well before I say anything, I bench 250 and hit the gym every other day, the reason I care about weight is I don't want an ugly fat phone that could be lighter.
I honestly do not see any use for 1gbps download speeds on a MOBILE Phone. Don't get ahead of yourself. PC's don't even require that kind of speed, so why would a phone need it?
Back to LTE... cool you get 45mbps, now name some practical uses of that speed. Doing anything that strains internet connection would not require even a tenth of that speed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
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So you edited your post via xda premium and you try to call me out? Others might not be able to tell, but you and I both know. With that said, since you resorted to trickery and lies, you no longer deserve replies. you lose.
Back on topic; Thanks for the feedback guys! I look forward to being a future Note owner with you!

You two need to get a room!!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Prozac69 said:
You two need to get a room!!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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hahahaha

Reclaim said:
So you edited your post via xda premium and you try to call me out? Others might not be able to tell, but you and I both know. With that said, since you resorted to trickery and lies, you no longer deserve replies. you lose.
Back on topic; Thanks for the feedback guys! I look forward to being a future Note owner with you!
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lol I changed it before you quoted me? It's in your quote . Trickery haha
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

EVo

What will the new evo 4g lte have spec wise? Also will 4g service be an extra charge? I just recently used a friends razor on verizon 4g network and its extremely fast, I was getting almost 2mb per second...I wonder how much coverage sprints 4glite will have and if it will be on par with verizon...since we really never had 4g on the first evo...

Pivo187 said:
What will the new evo 4g lte have spec wise? Also will 4g service be an extra charge? I just recently used a friends razor on verizon 4g network and its extremely fast, I was getting almost 2mb per second...I wonder how much coverage sprints 4glite will have and if it will be on par with verizon...since we really never had 4g on the first evo...
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specs: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=3742
4g: the 4g will be the same $10 charge we pay for the current wimax 4g
Speed: no one knows how good the lte will be yet but it will almost definitely be above 2mbps since you can get about 5mbps on the current 4g and lte is much better.
Coverage: they just started rolling out lte so it will be a while before it covers anything near what verizon has. but if the rumors are true then we should have lte just about anywhere we have 3g at some point in the future
hope this answers your questions

Pivo187 said:
What will the new evo 4g lte have spec wise? Also will 4g service be an extra charge? I just recently used a friends razor on verizon 4g network and its extremely fast, I was getting almost 2mb per second...I wonder how much coverage sprints 4glite will have and if it will be on par with verizon...since we really never had 4g on the first evo...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For specs http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_evo_4g_lte-4665.php visit here. In short, the screen on this phone has been voted by some, as the best on a smart phone yet; as well as the camera.
Id recommend on also do a comparison on 4g vs lte to see the true differences, but lte should bring a much faster network to us. In reality 2mb down is very slow for lte speeds, and in many areas it's common to get 15mb down or more.
Also, chances are that if you are not receiving 4g services currently, you will more than likely be one of the last ones to receive the lte service. LTE or not, this phone is definitely worth the upgrade on 3g alone.
Hope this helps you a bit.

Why is it def worth the upgrade for 3g alone? BTW I just started modding my evo 4g LoL maybe I should visit sprint & see how well the 4glite network is in my area...maybe wait til it goes full swing to 5mb like you said...also I just ordered exdended batteries 3 weeks ago!! lol

If you are still enjoying the EVO Og, and it is doing everything you need it to, there's nothing wrong with stick with it until more details emerge on the LTE network. For a lot of us, we've been flashing and modding since the phone first came out and it's time to move on.
A few big reasons to consider still switching over though are:
- Mod support - a large chunk of the top devs from OG Evo are making the switch, meaning, most of them will likely stop development on this phone.
- The battery life upgrade is going to make a huge difference, or at least we hope. Considering the fact that no one has one in hand yet, we don't have an accurate depiction of the actually battery life - but consider it safe to say that it will easily outlast the OG.
- Screen wise side-by-side it is night and day. Although OG screen isn't bad, a decent comparison is when you first made the switch from watching standard cable to hd (assuming you have).
- Processor is much, much, faster. This will allow for better game play, smooth transitions, and a better overall user experience.
I could literally write at least another 10 - 20 reasons on why to make the switch, but really no need. As I said, if you're still happy with the OG and don't feel the need to switch just yet, you likely will not miss out on much anyways.

Right I understand..Did they finally move the SD card location to the outside and not behind the damn battery...I hated that about the evo...When is the phone due to be out?

id_twin said:
If you are still enjoying the EVO Og, and it is doing everything you need it to, there's nothing wrong with stick with it until more details emerge on the LTE network. For a lot of us, we've been flashing and modding since the phone first came out and it's time to move on.
A few big reasons to consider still switching over though are:
- Mod support - a large chunk of the top devs from OG Evo are making the switch, meaning, most of them will likely stop development on this phone.
- The battery life upgrade is going to make a huge difference, or at least we hope. Considering the fact that no one has one in hand yet, we don't have an accurate depiction of the actually battery life - but consider it safe to say that it will easily outlast the OG.
- Screen wise side-by-side it is night and day. Although OG screen isn't bad, a decent comparison is when you first made the switch from watching standard cable to hd (assuming you have).
- Processor is much, much, faster. This will allow for better game play, smooth transitions, and a better overall user experience.
I could literally write at least another 10 - 20 reasons on why to make the switch, but really no need. As I said, if you're still happy with the OG and don't feel the need to switch just yet, you likely will not miss out on much anyways.
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Click to collapse
Wondering how long I can keep it going. If it could rum ics like sense 1.0 it would hold it own. The devs are working hard. Hats off for the efforts. So funny I will run a rom with broken features when it is perfectly capable but yet we press forward for something better. Nothing wrong with that.
Come on little evo...
Come on devs...
And thank you for your hard work.
Next flash? OK...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

The speculation is that the phone will release on May 18th with pre-orders receiving them (possibly) early. And yes, the phone's micro-sd slot is no longer behind the battery, in fact, you will likely never see the battery ever unless you decide to take your's apart.

Yes. No need to worry. Get it. Now. It's in all our best interest. Do it.
sent from 2yr old Evo on ICS

So we will not be able to upgrade the battery!? That sounds like a ****ty iphoney move...THat is one reason I hated the iphone among many others...But Im a power user & I have 3 spare batteries...I work offshore & my phone can only pull 1X so its constantly drawing massive amounts of power...I usually go thru 1 sprint 2600mah battery & about 50% of an anker 1700mah battery...2000mah is not going to cut it....
Also, will sprints lte network actually work & be widespread...I have fears of the lte network never even being available somewhat like the evo 4g...I never once got to use 4g on it...BTW verizon 4g is amazingly fast & very widespread, tested it out on a friends razor max

Pivo187 said:
So we will not be able to upgrade the battery!? That sounds like a ****ty iphoney move...THat is one reason I hated the iphone among many others...But Im a power user & I have 3 spare batteries...I work offshore & my phone can only pull 1X so its constantly drawing massive amounts of power...I usually go thru 1 sprint 2600mah battery & about 50% of an anker 1700mah battery...2000mah is not going to cut it....
Also, will sprints lte network actually work & be widespread...I have fears of the lte network never even being available somewhat like the evo 4g...I never once got to use 4g on it...BTW verizon 4g is amazingly fast & very widespread, tested it out on a friends razor max
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Sense 4.0 and ICS in general, battery life should be amazing compared to our OG Evo. If I were you, wait a couple of months to see results of how battery life is from real world experience. People with the One X with the Quad core are reporting great battery life and their phones have a smaller battery (1800 mAh). The new Evo has a SoC, 28nm chip which will help wasting precious battery life and generate less heat, as well as its larger battery. Overall it seems to be a great phone with enough new quirks to help many upgrade from the OG for a better experience.
One thing that no one talks about is that at some point were expected to be able to ROAM on someones LTE network. (Most likely Verizon) We don't have that now because nobody is running WiMAX except Sprint. Good article about it on goodandevo.net
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA

Roam to verizons network?? How is that possible if EVO does not use SIM card...I thought to get on another carriers network you need their sim card...I almost jumped the gun due to the low price offered at wirefly..But after the promises of 4g on the first EVO never coming to light for me I Have decided to wait & see...My current evo does everything I need. Only gripe is the 4g that sprint promised which makes me think the same will happen with 4glite....Ive tried a razor max on verizons 4glte & it leaves sprint in the dust....Also, if the lte network is not up & working when the EVO lte is released & the evo lte has no working wimax then what network are you supposed to connect too? Sounds eerily similar to the EVO 4g launch

Verizon and Sprint phones, to the best of my knowledge stopped using SIM cards awhile ago. Sprint allows us to roam on Verizon when there's no Sprint coverage because Sprint signed a roaming agreement to use Verizon.
How were going to roam, I'm not 100% sure but I'm sure we will find out soon.
goodandevo.net/2012/03/here-is-sprints-future-lte-coverage-cap.html
Edit: this would be for the new EVO LTE, not the previous WiMAX versions. Just wanted to clarify.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA

You won't be able to roam as sprints lte is at 1900mhz and Verizon is something totally different.
Should be a beast of a phone though. Lte is already live in a few cities and the LG viper lte is already out along with a Samsung lte phone.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

That's true but one can hope lol. But don't forget that Sprint is shutting down Nextels iDen network which will give us the 800 MHz frequency for better building penetration. At least we have that to look forward to in the future. I think Verizon is somewhere in the 700 MHz.
Maybe Sprint classifies some builder of LTE towers (sort of like ClearWire) are the future "roaming" areas that are the grey on the map from goodandevo.net?
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA