My contract is set to expire in a few days and my current phone is breaking down slowly. I am looking to purchase a new AT&T (smart) phone with a new 2 year contract. I am willing to spend no more than 120 dollars. So, for that price which is the best AT&T phone on the market? Which operating system is better, iPhone's? Android? or Windows mobile? Should I go for the HTC Inspire or wait untill iPhone5?
i'm almost in the same boat, I'll be getting a new phone in the very near future, so opinions are needed.
Neither, Samsung focus. You can enable AT&T's fake 4g and WP7 is nothing short of amazing. After Mango you won't know why you even considered apple's products...
Ok, I researched a bit on Samsung Galaxy S II. Seems like it is the newest and greatest thing out there now. But the size might be too big, and it isn't out in the States just get. I also looked at Samsub Focus, so ok it's a Windows Phone. But what is Mango?
I couldn't be happier with my HTC Inspire, purchased about a month ago. And it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the iPhone (Costco has it for 49.99 online). You could wait for the new quad-core phones, but you're going to pay for that and in all honesty, I don't know that it's going to make that big of a difference right away. I would say that an iPhone might be worth it for the storage if you don't have an iPod (and want one), otherwise you are overpaying.
I'd go with the Samsung Galaxy S 2. You can get one unlocked from Amazon.com ORRR, if you don't need major specs. I'd buy an unlocked Nexus S from Canada, it works on ATT frequency
Lots of fanboys here in both droid and iphone camps. Also a few windows guys. Hard to get an unbiased opinion. I say: use the best tool for the job. Look at the form factor of them all, battery life, screen size, touch sensitivity (this is important), ease of use, and most importantly, look at the applications you can get. If there's some app on the droid that knocks your socks off and fits what you need, go for it. Same with iphone or windows. Be an educated consumer- the info is easy to find.
That's a pretty good point. Half this stuff you can find out with a cursory google search. The problem the OP will encounter is the pricepoint he set ($120 isn't a lot in the world of smart phones) and his timing. A lot of refreshes are in the works for WP7 and Droid, and the iPhone (well if you ask me the iPhone 5 is quite underwealming and the pricepoint will be higher than $120 limit he's set). Come 4th quarter this year, a phone you bought in July will be last year's tech. If you can, wait till November/December. A lot of good phones will be out by then.
Surprised no one has asked, so I'll be the first: Why AT&T? If your contract's running out, why not explore other options?
Honestly I don't get the AT&T hate around the interwebs. I love AT&T, and the price I pay is lower than the rest. Maybe I've just been lucky enough to have service in Tucson and Eugene...
Verizon is the best in my opinion, but now that unlimited data is gone... I'd only go with Sprint. However, Wi-max sucks in comparison to LTE
I can't speak from first person, since I've had Sprint or T-Mobile for about 10 years. But from friends that have AT&T all I've heard is dropouts, no signal and irritatingly slow internet speeds. If I had some money to spend, I'd go Verizon or Sprint...they've always come across in my contacts as the more preferred for "business" while AT&T & T-Mobile are more general consumer focused. PS: Whatever phone you pick will be outdated in 4 months. Promise. Sad reality.
From a technical standpoint, AT&T has a bad network in terms of having seperate operational frequencies in different markets. Those 1900 mhz markets have spottier coverage than others. Also, 3g data is very limited with AT&T in terms of coverage.
iphone 4S for Sprint might drop later. Apple recently had Sprint CDMA towers installed in Cupertino. I'm not 100 percent sure it's true but just thought I'd throw that out there
This x 1000. Spend $120 for a smartphone whose OS promises it will catch up (that's a big if), $200 for a platform where manufacturers are notorious for rapidly marking phones as obsolete (and thusly denying you updates), or get an iPhone and enjoy 2 years of software updates, and the largest selection of quality apps.
