Should I buy or should I wait for LG Nexus?

[Antrim]

Hi, I am planning on buying my first smartphone given new requirements of my job (believe or not, I've been using a $10 Tracfone until now). I do not plan on using the phone like crazy, definitely not to watch movies or anything like that, and I don't talk or text that much either, so I want to have the lowest possible monthly charge. From what I've read, the unlocked Galaxy Nexus is an excellent phone and I really don't mind spending that much ($350 at the moment) on the device if it's going to give me use for the next few years (I do not plan on buying another phone in a LONG time). However, it seems that on October 29th they will launch the next version of Nexus, and that the price will be around $399. I would hate to buy a cell phone and then seeing how they drop the price two weeks after that because they're releasing a new version. And also, if the new version is going to be considerably better and just slightly more expensive, I may as well get it instead.

For all of you Nexus users and experts, does it make sense to get the Galaxy Nexus right now, or should I wait for the LG Nexus? I want to buy a phone that will last for at least a couple of years without getting extremely outdated. Also, I need the new phone asap, so if it's going to take a long time until the LG Nexus is actually available, that may make a difference too.

Thanks!

 

[BigCiX]

Most likely your going to get majority of the response posting negative things about LG. They have been known to have a bad reputation for not updating in a timely manner but being a Google flagship you shouldn't have that problem(unless Verizon screws it up again).

 

[The_Chief]

Welcome to the forums, Antrim!

That's a great question. Galaxy Nexus is a great phone... and I have good experience with LG (well, the LG Dare was a great phone in its day). But if you're going to a smartphone, keep in mind that you may have a mandatory DATA PLAN to pay for - whether you intend to use it or not.

I have found, however, that my smartphone is an indispensable part of my life. It answers any question I have, it navigates me, it scans in documents and can print them to my wireless printer... and oh yeah, it even makes phone calls. You may find yourself using it a lot more than you think you intend to; I did want you to be aware of the potential monthly hit, though, on that data plan.

In the end, either phone will serve you well: but if I woke up in your shoes, I'd hold out for the updated LG Nexus. If you can't wait, you might find a bargain Galaxy Nexus on Swappa rather than buying it new.

 

[Antrim]

Thank you both for your answers.

My plan was to get into the $30 dollar monthly plan of T-Mobile. In the long run, it's worth to pay the $350 of the phone compared to getting a contract with a cheaper/free phone. Also, I really don't want to buy a used phone, I have a pet peeve for used devices (especially considering I'm spending over $100-$200 anyway, I may as well spend a little more and get the new one).

These are the two main questions/doubts I have at this moment:

-Will the Galaxy Nexus be considerably cheaper a month from now?
-Will the LG Nexus be considerably better and around the same price than current Galaxy Nexus?

I know probably none of you can know for sure, but definitely have more experience than I do regarding the cell phone market. What's the expected thing to happen?

Thanks!

 

[The_Chief]

Antrim, I'm not sure what you're looking at but the only $30 T-mo plan I know of is the pre-paid plan that provides unlimited talk and text. And that's it. No data. Buying a Nexus to do nothing more than talk and text is a little overkill, isn't it? Kind of like buying a Ferrari and only driving it 10 MPH in school zones

But in the end I'm sure you have your reasons, and it's your decision. If you can even put a Nexus on that plan without a data plan included, then it's a coin toss between the phones:

(1) Get a proven Galaxy Nexus with a track record of success; or
(2) Get a brand new, un-proven LG Nexus with slightly better specs. Specs that, by & large, can't be used on a T-mo $30 talk/text plan anyway.

The difference between a 1.2 GHz processor and 1.5 GHz is so slight you won't really notice the difference; and the increased megapixels on the LG camera is great - if you're printing VERY big prints. The two are expected to be very similar in other respects.

If it were me, and my choice was down to one Nexus or the other, I'd have to pick the Galaxy Nexus for sheer cost savings. A really good used one. Others will have a different opinion, and I look forward to reading them: but you asked what we thought, and this is what I think.

Not bad for this early in the morning

 

[jhawkkw]

Antrim, I'm not sure what you're looking at but the only $30 T-mo plan I know of is the pre-paid plan that provides unlimited talk and text. And that's it. No data.

The prepaid plan he is talking about is for 100 minutes, unlimited text and 5gb of unthrottled data for 30 dollars. This plan can only be redeemed online and at Walmart. It's the plan I'm going to if Verizon ever yanks my unlimited data.

I personally would wait until it's been released for a while to see if any obvious faults exist.

 

[The_Chief]

Dang, that's a plan!

Too bad I have lousy T-mo service here or I may jump on that one...

 

[Antrim]

Yes, that's the plan I'm talking about. One question regarding that plan, though. I live in a very rural area, and when I check coverage at T-Mobile's website, it seems that my house only gets 2G coverage. The closest town, 1 or 2 minutes away has 'Satisfactory' 3G coverage and as I get close to the big city (Houston) it gets better. My question is, will it affect me greatly to only have access to 2G from my house? Is it a very noticeable difference in calling/texting/browsing performance?

Because if it does make a huge difference, I may have to go with one of the Virgin Mobile's options, which seems like it has better coverage around my area (it shows 'Good' voice coverage and 3G everywhere, although no 4G at all but I wasn't expecting it anyway).

 

[jhawkkw]

Data wise it would be pretty slow unless you're using WiFi. 2g is fine for texting and calling as long as the signal is not weak. One great thing about this plan is if the signal is bad, you aren't trapped in a contract. If that is the case, I would recommend straight talk via att mvno. Unlimited minutes and texting, and by removing the proxy code, anywhere from 2-6gb of data for 45 a month. This is obviously if att is better in your area.

 

[Antrim]

Call me an idiot, but I hadn't even considered the possibility of using WiFi. So when I'm at my house I can just connect to my WiFi connection and have great speed in my phone? That's great, because my house is pretty much the only place in the T-Mobile coverage map that doesn't look very good. I work in Houston, where there's great coverage, so my house is the area I would be the most worried.

About what you mentioned of straight talk, it actually looks like a great choice. I tried to look at the Straight Talk coverage map but you can barely see anything, so I looked at the AT&T coverage map in their website and it's absolutely great in my area, getting in fact 4G all over the place. Now, does this mean that Straight Talk will also get exactly that? I am not sure how that really works. I also like the fact that I would get unlimited minutes and not have to worry about going over the 100 minutes from the T-Mobile plan, but of course you're also paying $15 more a month.

One more question from a phone newbie. As you say, I wouldn't be trapped in a contract, so I could get the T-Mobile plan and if it doesn't work great I could change to the Straight Talk. But how does that work regarding keeping your phone number and that kind of thing? Let's be specific: I am using a Tracfone right now, and want to transfer my number to my future Galaxy Nexus. I thought the way to do this was getting a SIM card from T-Mobile, and then doing this. What happens if I decide later to go with Straight Talk? Will I have to get a Straight Talk SIM card and do exactly the same? Any I will have no problem keeping my phone number all the way?

 

[jhawkkw]

Call me an idiot, but I hadn't even considered the possibility of using WiFi. So when I'm at my house I can just connect to my WiFi connection and have great speed in my phone? That's great, because my house is pretty much the only place in the T-Mobile coverage map that doesn't look very good. I work in Houston, where there's great coverage, so my house is the area I would be the most worried.

Yes, you can use any wifi that you want for data usage, but it won't offer much help for voice and text service if the signal is bad there.

About what you mentioned of straight talk, it actually looks like a great choice. I tried to look at the Straight Talk coverage map but you can barely see anything, so I looked at the AT&T coverage map in their website and it's absolutely great in my area, getting in fact 4G all over the place. Now, does this mean that Straight Talk will also get exactly that? I am not sure how that really works. I also like the fact that I would get unlimited minutes and not have to worry about going over the 100 minutes from the T-Mobile plan, but of course you're also paying $15 more a month.

Straight talk doesn't give access to lte, but since the gnex doesn't have lte radios, that's not a big deal. You would get access to their HSPA+ network though from what I've read. As far as numbers go, my advice would be to set up google voice as soon as you get the phone. This is a number forwarding service that assigns you a different phone number, which you could give out to friends, and then forwards all calls and sms(no mms unfortunatly) to you actualy phone's number as long as it's set up. So if you change providers, your number changes, but your google voice one does not. Change change the forwarding number in the google voice settings and you're good to go.

One more question from a phone newbie. As you say, I wouldn't be trapped in a contract, so I could get the T-Mobile plan and if it doesn't work great I could change to the Straight Talk. But how does that work regarding keeping your phone number and that kind of thing? Let's be specific: I am using a Tracfone right now, and want to transfer my number to my future Galaxy Nexus. I thought the way to do this was getting a SIM card from T-Mobile, and then doing this. What happens if I decide later to go with Straight Talk? Will I have to get a Straight Talk SIM card and do exactly the same? Any I will have no problem keeping my phone number all the way?

I'm not so sure on keeping your number. I don't have personal experience, but you could pose the question on the straight talk and t-mobile forums here and see if someone would be able to help you. But if you do the google voice solution, it really wouldn't matter once you get the g-nex and set it up.

 

[mogelijk]

Call me an idiot, but I hadn't even considered the possibility of using WiFi. So when I'm at my house I can just connect to my WiFi connection and have great speed in my phone? That's great, because my house is pretty much the only place in the T-Mobile coverage map that doesn't look very good. I work in Houston, where there's great coverage, so my house is the area I would be the most worried.

Yes, using WiFi at your house has the advantage of giving you WiFi speeds as well as not using your data. As was pointed out, text and data would still be dependent on cell service but you don't need a good data connection for them to work well.

I had Virgin Mobile (Sprint) prior to switching to the $30 T-Mobile plan and am in the North Houston area. I tended, more often than not, to get 2G speeds on Sprint even if I had a strong 3G signal. In fact, there were lots of times I had speeds under 100 kbps. While Sprint has a solid signal, there have been too many people using Sprint's towers causing data speeds to die. This has improved a little, since July when LTE came on for Sprint in Houston, but 3G speeds still are slow. And Sprint pre-paid, through Boost or Virgin Mobile, cannot access LTE but use WiMax (for the few phones that have 4G) -- though WiMax can have a lot of dead spots. My T-Mobile HSPA+ speeds have been as good, or better, than WiMax with better availability.

About what you mentioned of straight talk, it actually looks like a great choice. I tried to look at the Straight Talk coverage map but you can barely see anything, so I looked at the AT&T coverage map in their website and it's absolutely great in my area, getting in fact 4G all over the place. Now, does this mean that Straight Talk will also get exactly that? I am not sure how that really works. I also like the fact that I would get unlimited minutes and not have to worry about going over the 100 minutes from the T-Mobile plan, but of course you're also paying $15 more a month.

My understanding is that the Straight Talk coverage should be roughly equivalent to AT&T's, with the exception that it doesn't have LTE. There are some complaints about Straight Talk being quick to throttle users (after 2GB/month or even 200MB/day). My understanding is their terms of service says that users are not allowed to stream video or music -- though asking that question on the Straight Talk forum would likely give better answers.

In my case, I use Google Voice combined with GrooveIP when connected to WiFi, so that I'm using VoIP rather than my voice minutes, to extend the 100 minutes. I spend most of my day connected to WiFi, so it has done well for me so far.

One more question from a phone newbie. As you say, I wouldn't be trapped in a contract, so I could get the T-Mobile plan and if it doesn't work great I could change to the Straight Talk. But how does that work regarding keeping your phone number and that kind of thing? Let's be specific: I am using a Tracfone right now, and want to transfer my number to my future Galaxy Nexus. I thought the way to do this was getting a SIM card from T-Mobile, and then doing this. What happens if I decide later to go with Straight Talk? Will I have to get a Straight Talk SIM card and do exactly the same? Any I will have no problem keeping my phone number all the way?

Yes, if you try T-Mobile and decide it isn't working for you, you just order a SIM card from Straight Talk and use it to move your phone to their network. You should have no problem porting your number from Tracphone to T-Mobile and, if needed, then over to Straight Talk. When you activate the SIM card, you merely let them know that you want to port your old number.