I've had an LG Optimus Slider for about 18 months, and am still generally happy for the usability and value of this phone. I have a grandfathered $25/month 300 minute plan, and would have to pay $10/month more to move to a newer device. My only major complaint about the Slider is the very limited internal memory. I can live with the relatively slow Internet, and actually prefer Gingerbread overall to ICS, although I like Jelly Bean a bit more. I definitely prefer the four buttons on the Slider over the current reduced-button approaches.
I picked up a Kyocera Rise about six months ago on one of the $30 sales, planning to migrate to it. I used it as a GPS and calendar on an overseas trip, where I didn't have access to phone service or data from VM. It was OK, but I found it less stable than my Slider, and really disliked the ICS button usage. Also the Rise is rootable, but the bootloader is locked. So I continue to use my Slider rather than pay $10 more per month for a device (the Rise) that I don't particularly like.
So now the question is, will there be a future better-quality QWERTY (preferably slider) phone on VM? Or any other prepaid carrier where I could get somewhere close to my $25/300 minute plan?
The obvious candidate is the Motorola Photon Q LTE, which would be a big step up.
Any thoughts? Will I be able to find such a device and plan in the foreseeable future?
I picked up a Kyocera Rise about six months ago on one of the $30 sales, planning to migrate to it. I used it as a GPS and calendar on an overseas trip, where I didn't have access to phone service or data from VM. It was OK, but I found it less stable than my Slider, and really disliked the ICS button usage. Also the Rise is rootable, but the bootloader is locked. So I continue to use my Slider rather than pay $10 more per month for a device (the Rise) that I don't particularly like.
So now the question is, will there be a future better-quality QWERTY (preferably slider) phone on VM? Or any other prepaid carrier where I could get somewhere close to my $25/300 minute plan?
The obvious candidate is the Motorola Photon Q LTE, which would be a big step up.
Any thoughts? Will I be able to find such a device and plan in the foreseeable future?