S3 or Nexus 5 - Which one to get

[duvallite]

I will be getting a new phone, moving from an Optimus V, and I'm trying to decide between VM's S3 or get a Nexus 5 and switch to the T-Mobile $30 plan. My wife has the VM S3 and loves it, but she hardly ever gets any LTE service here east of Seattle, and the 3G is horribly slow for us most of the time (doesn't matter much to her, but it bugs me). For not too much more money, the Nexus 5 seems like a great deal, and I think I could handle the 100 minutes of talk time on the $30 plan. If Sprint would just hurry up rolling out their LTE, then the decision would be easier. Any thoughts on which way to go?

 

[SuperAfnan]

I will be getting a new phone, moving from an Optimus V, and I'm trying to decide between VM's S3 or get a Nexus 5 and switch to the T-Mobile $30 plan. My wife has the VM S3 and loves it, but she hardly ever gets any LTE service here east of Seattle, and the 3G is horribly slow for us most of the time (doesn't matter much to her, but it bugs me). For not too much more money, the Nexus 5 seems like a great deal, and I think I could handle the 100 minutes of talk time on the $30 plan. If Sprint would just hurry up rolling out their LTE, then the decision would be easier. Any thoughts on which way to go?

Honestly, just go for the n5. It's much more worth it for the money at this point in time. The specs blow the competition away especially for the price.

T-Mobile is miles ahead of Sprint. Sprint has the worst data speeds ever. Fortunately they just now started rolling out lte, but the spectrum is small still.
Both are releasing LTE quickly, but from my experience with VM, TMO is better hands down lol.

You could make the 30$ plan work, if you need more minutes, you can use VOIP on Google voice and groove ip or something. That's what many do here.

 

[Ranhead]

If you have good T-Mobile coverage and can survive with 100 minutes, it's a no brainer. The the S3 a good phone, the Nexus 5 is an awesome phone . I just got the Nexus 5, but T Mobile doesn't have any coverage around me. I'm going with Straight Talk. Its nice having decent data speeds.

 

[mogelijk]

Let me add another vote for the Nexus 5. Leaving Virgin Mobile for T-Mobile was a great decision for me. The other huge advantage, as was somewhat pointed out, if you need to switch carriers (due to coverage or other issues), you have lots of choices with the N5 and none with a Virgin Mobile phone. Such as was mentioned above, switching to Straight Talk on AT&T's network. Yes, you pay $10 more a month but you get solid national coverage on AT&T's LTE/HSPA+ network.

 

[duvallite]

I'm definitely now leaning towards the Nexus 5. We were out and about today in Monroe, and my wife's S3 was getting LTE. I had her run SpeedTest, and her download speed was appx. 6.5MB, which seems pretty slow for LTE. However, it did kick butt over the 3G download speed of .57MB I got on my Optimus V.

 

[batvette]

Nexus 5 isn't offered on T mobiles no contract so you're comparing a full contract phone with a no contract phone, apples and oranges.
Hell if you're on 2 year contract there's always been no end of phones out there, and the Nexus 5 looks like a beaut.

Have fun with that $17x24 + $$$$ a month ****.

FWIW the S3 is $468 on T mobile. Their plans are also pretty wienie. Like that $30 plan seems engineered so that the 100 minutes is just a little too few a month to stay under.

I agree however with the coverage issues. Hasn't been a big deal with my 3g Triumph but I may soon be moving up to 4 lte and San Diego like I suppose Seattle still isn't officially a 4 lte region on Sprint- though many users are now reporting 4lte on a spotty basis. Allegedly by spring or so they will be complete. I think that's what "roll out" really means is that by them they can guarantee 100% coverage.

(off topic?) Doesn't help I see stuff on the news a lot about homeowners rallying at city council meetings to block cell tower installs when they hear one's coming to their neighborhood. You KNOW every one of them owns a cell phone, what selfish NIMBYism. If I had the time I'd attend all the meetings and speak in rebuttal and ask them all to empty their pockets and say "shame, shame, shame".

(real off topic)Besides it's dumb! If you understand how a transceiver works, you know that the risk from the amount of power the cell station puts out when it's 500 ft from your house is inconsequential to the risk from the amount of power from the phone stuck to your ear when it transmits back to it. And if a house is real close to it it will be below the plane of altitude of transmission from the waveguide.

(super real off topic) Now walk around with a cell tower stuck to your ear and we'll talk about health risk.

 

[duvallite]

Actually, the Nexus 5 would be bought at the Play Store and then used on T-Mobile's $30 plan, so it is apples to apples in this instance, unless I'm missing something.

 

[Rxpert83]

Came from an S3 to my nexus 5

Can't beat pure android, top end specs, and a bottom barrel price

 

[batvette]

Actually, the Nexus 5 would be bought at the Play Store and then used on T-Mobile's $30 plan, so it is apples to apples in this instance, unless I'm missing something.

Okay I just didn't see it on T Mobile's no contract page. How much is it on google play?

 

[jhawkkw]

Okay I just didn't see it on T Mobile's no contract page. How much is it on google play?

$349 for the 16GB and 399 for the 32GB. It's also good to note that Sprint & T-Mobile only sell the 16GB version, so if you want the 32GB version you have to buy it from Google Play.

 

[mogelijk]

Okay I just didn't see it on T Mobile's no contract page. How much is it on google play?

Of course, that is one of the big differences between T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile -- with T-Mobile you can purchase any compatible GSM phone and use it on T-Mobile, you aren't limited by the phones sold by T-Mobile for their prepaid service.