Sprint Branded or VM?

[LakersDroid]

What's your preference?

I returned my VM branded one because it stopped working on me for a whole day. It went completely dead with no sign of life whatsover. I called Virgin and they got a replacement shipped to me. Next day, my phone magically turned on and working again. But fear that it could happen again and be permanently dead, I decided to get the replacement anyway when it arrives.

I got it yesterday and it's a Sprint Branded. They said I was supposed to only get a replacement phone and told me to keep the battery, memory card, and backcover. But the one Sprint Branded one they sent me include a VM backcover.

I compared the two phones and they look identical except for maybe slightly different plastics used to make them.

Sprint phone feels a little lighter to me. (Or I'm just wishing it's lighter.)

 

[lEquin0xl]

I have no idea what the VM branded one looks like . I guess it doesn't really matter to me though, just have to explain to people that I have VM and not Sprint.

 

[DragonSlayer95]

They are the exact same phone, same specs same everything except for virgin just slapped their logo on it

 

[LakersDroid]

They are the exact same phone, same specs same everything except for virgin just slapped their logo on it

Maybe a little differences in components materials being made in the hardware.

Also noticed that with my old phone when it was stock 1.13, the update to get the latest firmware was around 14MB. With the sprint one running 1.13 stock, the update was around 17MB.

 

[rs98]

Maybe a little differences in components materials being made in the hardware.

Also noticed that with my old phone when it was stock 1.13, the update to get the latest firmware was around 14MB. With the sprint one running 1.13 stock, the update was around 17MB.

I have the Sprint branded one and it was the same thing! I thought that my 17 MB update that I received much earlier than others was larger than others because, well I received it early.

 

[LakersDroid]

I have the Sprint branded one and it was the same thing! I thought that my 17 MB update that I received much earlier than others was larger than others because, well I received it early.

If they're both exactly the same phone, running the exact same softwares, they should get the exact same firmware update. I don't know what accounts for the differences.

Maybe there's a very tiny difference between Sprint branded and VM branded, but they both should function the same because they're both supposed to.

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

I started with a VM branded phone, and then moved to a Sprint branded one because it didn't activate properly...which is a 4-5 day headache if it ever happens to you. Best Buy swapped it out for me and I ended up with a Sprint version.

IIRC, there is no Sprint logo on the bezel of the VM phone. There's no VM logo either, except for the back cover.

With the Sprint version, it has Sprint on the bezel, and the back over says HTC.

I actually like the Front Bezel to look like VM and I like the back cover to look like Sprint's. I've seen some pictures online where the HTC logo is centered on the bezel for the VM version. I can't really recall where the HTC logo was on mine as I had it for about 1 day.

 

[circleoflife]

With the Sprint branded ones when the phone loads up does it say sprint or virgin mobile?

 

[Prinny]

With the Sprint branded ones when the phone loads up does it say sprint or virgin mobile?

Most likely Virgin Mobile, as its running a vm Rom. Mine says HTC when it boots and that's it, running a sprint Rom..

 

[rs98]

I can confirm I have the sprint one and it has the red VM bootup.

 

[LakersDroid]

I have no idea what the VM branded one looks like . I guess it doesn't really matter to me though, just have to explain to people that I have VM and not Sprint.

It looks exactly like the Sprint Branded except that the "htc" logo is at the center top and there is no "Sprint" logo on the right side. On the backcover, next to the "htc" logo is a "virginmobile" logo.

 

[LakersDroid]

With the Sprint branded ones when the phone loads up does it say sprint or virgin mobile?

It says Virgin Mobile because it's running Virgin Mobile Ice cream sandwich stock rom. It's the same everything except for the branding

 

[EazySteve]

Maybe a little differences in components materials being made in the hardware.

Also noticed that with my old phone when it was stock 1.13, the update to get the latest firmware was around 14MB. With the sprint one running 1.13 stock, the update was around 17MB.

I noticed this too

 

[kevindroid]

this issue has been visited a few times. they are the same piece of hard ware only some programming has changed. as an early adopter i have sprint branding

 

[SuperAfnan]

How many times is this question going to be asked? Nothing is different between the sprint and virgin branded phones. They run the exact same software and firmware out of the box. I like the virgin one better because you can change the back cover and you have it unbranded.

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

How many times is this question going to be asked? Nothing is different between the sprint and virgin branded phones. They run the exact same software and firmware out of the box. I like the virgin one better because you can change the back cover and you have it unbranded.

I agree. It should also be newer unless they brought a bunch of them back and changed the bezel along with the battery cover before repackaging them. That seems like a stretch to me, so I am going to say that they are newer.

 

[LakersDroid]

I agree. It should also be newer unless they brought a bunch of them back and changed the bezel along with the battery cover before repackaging them. That seems like a stretch to me, so I am going to say that they are newer.

Well if the VM branded ones are made in factory with newer parts, it's possible that they were substituted with cheaper parts to save money.

 

[OverByter]

Well if the VM branded ones are made in factory with newer parts, it's possible that they were substituted with cheaper parts to save money.

FCC type certification doesn't allow for changing parts unless you resubmit the device for a new approval certificate which is quite expensive and would be easily seen as having a different FCC id under the battery. So no all of these phones are identical except for silk screening, as for Virgin one's being newer, I've never heard of solid state going stale sitting on a shelf for a year.
OB