Which phone for me and the wife?

[mthguy]

Ok, so me and my wife are on AT&T and Verizon respectively. I carry an iPhone 3G and she carries a Casio G'zone (the first one). she beats her phones up and i take fair care of mine. I have wanted to switch to Android since before I purchased my 3G but the G1 was the only option at the time, and it just wasn't as enjoyable to use as the iPhone, so i bit the bullet and got my iPhone. in general i have enjoyed my phone throughly, but it has been missing several features (widgets, Customizable UI, multi-tasking, and unsigned apps) i Jailbroke the phone just to get some of those features and it slows the phone substatially. point is i am willing to pay top dollar for a flagship device. my contract is up in January and my wife's on a family plan with her parents (cheap service). so i was curious if there are some people out there with opinions (I know there can't be many on a "fan-droid" site) who could guide me and my wife to a pair of android phones that would satisfy the both of us, preferable on the same carrier, we live in west michigan so coverage is pretty good from the big 4, just looking for some options that won't kill us on the monthly bill.

I was looking to get us possibly on sprint with an EVO for me and possibly either an i1 or EVO for her. once she saw how you can video chat she was convinced the phone was for her. with Sprint and us both toteing EVOs ( and a discount from studentrate.com) we should only be paying about 7 dollars a month more after taxes including the 4G surcharge. she currently pays for unlimited texting as an add-on to her plan with her parents and i am paying the 30 iphone data and 10 texting.

I haven't looked into verizon much, i LOVE the droid X and the droid 2, and i would be happy with an inc too, and i could probably save a few bucks and give my wife a older slightly not as nice phone, but i feel like we would be paying substially more going that route, unlimited texting x 2 , 2 data plans, and the base plan.

AT&T has the tiered data plans now, which would be nice cuz the wife wouldn't need more than the $15 one, and i haven't gone over 1GB yet, and the $25 is for 2GB, so that would be a $5 savings there, but texting again adds up.

T-moblie has some interesting phones (if i could get a nexus one that would be cool) a pair of vibrants for either 0.01 on amazon or BOGO through tmo, either way the phone would be cheaper, not sure how the plans compare though.

anyway, any and all thoughts are appreciated. I know i wouldn't be buying until January and there will be new phones out by then and new ones on the horizon. but really this comes down to which carrier is going to be the one for us to look at when the time comes. also, any romuored devices to keep an eye out for? I would prefer to have a TI chipset, or one from Sammy ( those Qualcomm chips tend to under perform and eat batteries) do any manufacturers us those chips besides motorola and samsung? I haven't heard. alright hope to hear from some people soon.

thank you.
MthGuy

 

[HustlinDaily]

The only phone on AT&T I know of which has a front facing camera is the iPhone 4 (which only works on WiFi unless you jailbreak, as I am sure you know). And given network bandwidth problems, I doubt they will offer any Android phone with a front camera any time soon (same goes for Verizon/T-Mobile. Could be wrong tho, just highly doubt it). Sprint has the Epic and Evo 4G which both have front facing cameras (as I am sure you already know as well). The only Android phone with a front facing camera that I know of which works on AT&T is the Samsung Vibrant from Canada's Bell wireless network (costs CA$500. You live in Michigan, just cross the border and pick one up lol. Unlocking them are not hard- Unlock Codes for Galaxy S Phones Are Easy As Pie to Get | Android Phone Fans ).

Tho Samsung Galaxy S phones (Epic, Vibrant, Captivate, Galaxy S) have GPS problems. Samsung claims it will be fixed in the FroYo update which is supposed to be sometime this month. You should keep a lookout on whether or not that gets fixed before thinking of buying one in my opinion.

The next generation of Qualcomm processors are supposed to be on par with the current Samsung Humminbird and TI OMAP processors according to this- T-Mobile G2’s GPU Benchmarked, Right Up There With the Galaxy S | Android Phone Fans . This processor will be found on the upcoming T-Mobile G2 as well as probably many other upcoming phones (as most Android manufacturers use Qualcomm chips). Qualcomm won't be putting out any dual core chips until late 2011 (don't think Sammy or TI will have any dual core phones out before 2011 either as none are rumored).

T-Mobile is the cheapest. But nationwide, their overall coverage isn't very good (you get what you pay for). If you do travel often, I do not recommend going with them. Tho if you do not travel too much and you are in one of their HSPA+ (their version of 4G) areas, then they might be worth a good look. That G2 (despite lack of front facing camera) looks like a really nice phone.

Since you are not looking for an upgrade til January, I am sure manufacturers will be releasing a bunch of them before Christmas time.

 

[nb_mitch]

First thing you should consider is provider, which one will provide the best service for your needs. I would assume a family plan on any provider would be cheaper than 2 individual plans on different providers. With most plans Wifi service is not billed, so staying under the caps might be easier depends on your usage. I believe some have family plans for text too, but I wouldn't know, don't do text

Once you pick the provider, then you can decide on which devices meet your needs.

If that is Verizon, they have been doing some killer 2-for-1 deals this year and they have a bunch of nice devices, If it is Sprint, the Evo is a nice device, At&T (my current provider) has the Captivate, Streak (sort of) & the Fruit phone, not sure what T-Mobil has.

The Samsung Tab is coming to most providers (announcement the 16th) and this is the device I am waiting for, to each his own

 

[Snow_Fox]

I would say "good luck" with at&t

I do *love* the way they do certain things..

family text? 30$ a month applied to all lines.

Want to add a line? 9.99 a month to family plan.

My biggest gripe is no "family data" and a very poor selection of smartphones to make it worth getting data.

 

[nb_mitch]

I would say "good luck" with at&t

I do *love* the way they do certain things..

family text? 30$ a month applied to all lines.

Want to add a line? 9.99 a month to family plan.

My biggest gripe is no "family data" and a very poor selection of smartphones to make it worth getting data.

I have been with them for about 10 years, really no major complaints and they have been better that Sprint & T-Mobile for me. BUT, that has allot to do with coverage in your local area.

I am not aware of any provider that currently has a "family data plan", but I do agree At&t has a poor selection of smartphones, hopefully that will change once they loose their exclusive with the Fruit provider