Help Moment bugs - Solved by 2.1 and rooting, or it's in the hardware?

[philpoe]

Hi All,
I want to leave T-Mobile (where my family plan originated) and join my family plan that's on Sprint. The reason I haven't switched yet was because of a desireable handset.

The Moment looked good for the hardware, but Android 1.5 held me back. Now it has 2.1, but I'm reading about a number of issues which may be software, but may be hardware. I was hoping that the Intercept would address these issues, but not it appears that it's a lower-end phone than the Moment.

My question is - Does the Android 2.1 upgrade solve the issues that I see described, and if not, does a custom ROM solve these issues, or is it really a matter of hardware or quality control?

Any help appreciated as I don't want to commit to the 2 year requirement of a new line on the family plan without having an idea of what phones to buy/upgrade to. My current plas is to try the Moment, waiting to use the Premier upgrade for an Evo or Epic later this year, passing the Moment to our daughter, but if it's really buggy, I may just wait for the Epic.

 

[SoulTerror]

I have 2.1 on both mine and my wife's phones. Mine is rooted her's is not, we have had multiple issues. Just this morning my phone lost total connection with Sprint and I had to restart my phone. IMO don't get a Moment.

 

[dntesinfrno]

Its really a crap shoot with the moment. Mine doesn't have near the problems that alot of people seem to experience but i do get a random data lock or lost connection of service that requires a reboot. Im happy with my phone but there is no guarantee you will get a 'good' one. Also given the fact that there wont be anymore official updates and with 2.2 released and 3.0 close behind I would wait for a new phone or look at a different manufacturer.

 

[philpoe]

I'd love to consider another phone (android w/landscape slider QWERTY). Unfortunately there's no timeline on the Epic 4G, it's made by the same manufacturer that has a poor quality reputation, and it has the "awesome phone" fee, when I don't need an awesome phone
The thing that's driving me is that the T-Mobile plan is not cheap, but I want to keep flexibility with phone upgrades on Sprint.
I hadn't considered the Evo becuase of its size, lack of keyboard, and fee, but I may need to reconsider.

 

[ovrrdrive]

With Swype you won't really miss a hard keyboard. Since I got it running on my phone I rarely if ever use it. Plus the bigger screen on the evo will make the onscreen easier to use.

I got a good phone and have very few issues, but honestly at this stage of the game if I was in the market I also think I might bypass the moment unless I was just fed up and needed aphone now. The moment is still light years ahead of any non-android phone in the sprint offering.

 

[SlyFerret]

I've had my Moment since last November. It's been OK, and I've been lucky. I haven't really had the frequent problems that many others have had.

Issues that I have had:

The GPS radio is deaf. Even outside on a clear day, when it can get a lock, the signal strength on each satellite (using a GPS test app) is only marginal. Indoors, it won't lock. Luckily, I rarely need location accuracy more accurate than the wireless network can provide, so it hasn't been too much of a problem.

CDMA lockup... sometimes the radio will loose its connection and I have to restart the phone in order to make/take calls, SMS, or use data. I've experienced this much more rarely than many people on this forum.

In my opinion, at this point in time... you would be silly to buy a moment.

The Samsung Intercept (Moment 2?) is available now. I was looking at one at Best Buy today. I was also looking at the Evo. It was absolutely amazing.

The Epic is going to be available soon too. AT&T and Tmobile have announced release dates for their Galaxy S phones, so Sprint and Verizon can't be too far behind.

Something else to keep in mind is the calling plan. Android phones on Sprint require one if their "Everything" plans. I had to upgrade my family plan when I activated my Moment. Make sure you check to see what the cost difference in the family plan will be before you commit to switching from TMobile to Sprint. The price difference for the Sprint family play may be significant compared to the plan that is in place now on the account.

-SF

 

[philpoe]

My issue is exactly that: I'm fed up (with paying 2 plans) and want to switch to the Sprint plan now. I'm paying about an extra $35/mo carrying the T-Mobile plan, but I want to get the right Android phone.

I would have bought a used Sprint phone (and may still) and used that, but I was incorrectly that I wouldn't be able to get upgrade pricing later when the phone I would want would be available. That misinformation has cost me a pretty penny so far, and was only cleared up within the last 30 days.

Moment has all the right features and the form factor that I want, available at pretty decent prices new or used, but if it's as buggy as it seems, it will drive me nuts.

With Swype you won't really miss a hard keyboard. Since I got it running on my phone I rarely if ever use it. Plus the bigger screen on the evo will make the onscreen easier to use.

I got a good phone and have very few issues, but honestly at this stage of the game if I was in the market I also think I might bypass the moment unless I was just fed up and needed aphone now. The moment is still light years ahead of any non-android phone in the sprint offering.

 

[philpoe]

The main reason that the Moment keeps popping up to the top of the list is because of the price it's available for. $99 w/contract, or about $150 used. That's pretty good pricing for an Android phone with these HW specs. Of course, if the price is deflated because of bugs, it's not much of a value...

The Intercept doesn't look like a match. It's the same price with contract, with a lower resolution screen, with a lower data rate.

If I had to describe a phone form factor that I wanted, the TP2, Moment and Epic are the form factor that I want. The Pre may be a decent holdover phone, especially since they're available cheap, but I want Android in the end. The Moment, avoiding the "premium data" fee was about a perfect match.

Regarding the plan, my other family members are already on an Everything Data plan, which was chosen in ancticipation of me migrating. My wife's a 250MB+/mo data user, and my daughters a 500+/mo texter. Mobile-to-mobile calling helps now and would help us a lot with minutes once I bring mine over. I also expect to be a 250MB+/mo data user. It's either this plan, with a discount or an EPRP plan. I have to check the pricing after the NVP changes.

I may have to reconsider the $10/mo fee and look at an Evo, or see if the NVP pricing allows a plan break and consider moving back to T-Mobile (!). HSPA+ might be attractive for the next 2 years, then come back to whatever WiMax has turned into.

I've had my Moment since last November. It's been OK, and I've been lucky. I haven't really had the frequent problems that many others have had.

Issues that I have had:
...

In my opinion, at this point in time... you would be silly to buy a moment.

The Samsung Intercept (Moment 2?) is available now. I was looking at one at Best Buy today. I was also looking at the Evo. It was absolutely amazing.

The Epic is going to be available soon too. AT&T and Tmobile have announced release dates for their Galaxy S phones, so Sprint and Verizon can't be too far behind.

Something else to keep in mind is the calling plan. Android phones on Sprint require one if their "Everything" plans. I had to upgrade my family plan when I activated my Moment. Make sure you check to see what the cost difference in the family plan will be before you commit to switching from TMobile to Sprint. The price difference for the Sprint family play may be significant compared to the plan that is in place now on the account.

-SF

 

[ovrrdrive]

Moment has all the right features and the form factor that I want, available at pretty decent prices new or used, but if it's as buggy as it seems, it will drive me nuts.

Don't forget that the people that have problems post here more. There are thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people out there that aren't on these forums and loving their phones...

If it was truely that buggy they would have stopped selling them a long time ago.

 

[dntesinfrno]

Don't forget that the people that have problems post here more. There are thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people out there that aren't on these forums and loving their phones...

If it was truely that buggy they would have stopped selling them a long time ago.

Or push it down everyones throat and 6 months down the road when everyone realizes its garbage abandon it for the next one.....hmmm sounds like a familiar scenario, so who's still running vista??

 

[ovrrdrive]

Or push it down everyones throat and 6 months down the road when everyone realizes its garbage abandon it for the next one.....hmmm sounds like a familiar scenario, so who's still running vista??

I never ran vista.

My moment isn't perfect, but I still enjoy it and like it more and more every day. My biggest complaint with it was about samsung and sprints lack of supports and updates for it, but because the android is open sourced and hacked I'm getting more updates than I actually want from the devs.

Someone needs to tell DearmasFamily to slow the heck down.

 

[dntesinfrno]

Yea i didnt either, as a computer repair tech i get the pleasure of working on them all the time tho....bleh

 

[philpoe]

Well, the Intercept has arrived. Non-starter for me.
I think that I'm going to roll the dice with a used Moment since the price and OS is right, and deal with rooting, custom ROMs and wifi-CDMA data lockups for the moment, and save my join and Premier upgrades for phones later this year for myself (Epic?) and who knows what for my daughter (from Exclaim) or wife (from Pre).

 

[wihogfan]

I purchased 2 Moments from Amazon back in December. I considered several other phones and chose the Moment baesed on price and carrier. I've been pretty happy with the purchase. No serious issues personally. I did root both of them this weekend just to get rid of the stock apps that we never use. So for me no real complaints and I'd still recommend the phone for the price.

 

[IOWA]

With Swype you won't really miss a hard keyboard. Since I got it running on my phone I rarely if ever use it. Plus the bigger screen on the evo will make the onscreen easier to use.

I got a good phone and have very few issues, but honestly at this stage of the game if I was in the market I also think I might bypass the moment unless I was just fed up and needed aphone now. The moment is still light years ahead of any non-android phone in the sprint offering.

People really need to stop posting this crap. If people like hardware qwerty, (like me), swype is not the cure for not having one. Sure it's handy here and there, but for heavy keyboard users, it just doesn't do, and it still has the massive drawbacks of onscreen keyboards, like it takes up half the screen while typing, you can't touch type (typing without looking at the screen), and it doesn't even compare speed/accuracy wise.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Just because you don't like swype is no reason for people to stop posting that it is great.

Trust me, I was a hard sell on a physical keyboard. I still use it from time to time but 99% of my texting and emails are on the on screen swype board now. I wanted a keyboard because I have big fingers and find most on screens to be almost unusable. I also use a keyboard a lot and know the layout of a qwerty board by heart, and swype is a natural extension of that for me.

If you like it great, if you don't still great. There really isn't any reason for slamming people that do though. This is an opinion forum after all. If you don't want to hear opinions you know where the exit button is.