Straight talk samsung galaxy s2 worth the price?

[marmae0410]

Hi. I guess I should start this out by confessing that I am a techno dummy. Also if this thread is in wrong place on forum, feel free to move admins I only placed it here because I saw others here and assumed it was because the straight talk galaxy runs off the same towers as the At&T one??

I currently have the straight talk ZTE merit, and am considering updating to the straight talk samsung galaxy s2, but do have a few questions.

I noticed a few people complaining about not being able to change android systems and lack of developer options on this phone..I am pretty much a plugh and play phone user.

I do not root, unroot jail break, or anything like that, the only thing I have done with this ZTE is change the default app setting so that it saves to my SD card instead of the internal memory. Something that simple took me several hours, a few tantrums and several re-reads of the step by step instructions.

I just want a decent phone that I can browse the web, talk, and text. That is decently fast, has a responsive touch screen, a better responding "keyboard" function, that doesn't give me the low memory notification every time I am on Facebook and the cache runs up them memory LOL. (why do they make that app so big and unable to move it to the SD card?? gah)

I did not research the merit, and at the time it was the only "smart phone" that straight talk had, I had heard bad things about the proclaim and was afraid of the bring your own phone, as I heard of people having issues getting all the features to work with the straight talk sim. I don't want to put out the $350.00 and end up with another phone that I am not happy with, I just got the ZTE a few months ago and have been hinting to my hubby that I want the Galaxy for Christmas.

If the phone is indeed worth the purchase for my type of use, will I need to change the default save like I did for the ZTE? I am thinking I would not, since it has more internal memory, and I could let them download to phone then move what would allow to the sd card...If I DID have to change this, would I change it the same way I changed the ZTE using the platform tools thing...or would I have to have more tantrums and download more programs.

This...is the question I am most ashamed of...looking online for the otterbox for this phone I realized there are a bunch of Samsung Galaxy sII's our there, which one does straight talk use?

Please feel free to laugh at my dumb questions...just not too hard (at least in my face) LoL

thanks in advance for any help you can offer.... at any jokes at my expense

 

[LoafPincher]

HAHAHA.

The GS2 is a great phone, especially for what you are going to use it for. I love mine, but in my opinion, it's not worth the price since the technology is a little "dated." The first versions of the series came out last year. As for the Otterbox, the size should match the AT&T/i777 model. Avoid the Skyrocket version since it is bigger.

Since you're already debating whether to invest $350 for an unlocked smartphone, I would suggest looking at Google's Nexus 4. For the same price, you'll get a top of the line Android phone and will receive regular software updates. The only caveat is that it lacks an SD card slot, but the 16 GB of internal memory should be more than enough since you plan to only use it for the web, texting, and calling. Also, the size of the handset may/may not be too big.

 

[marmae0410]

Okay get ready to make fun of me.

With this being unlocked and contract free etc. I would just need to get the phone and put my sim card into this phone and go right?

No having to change APN numbers etc?

GREAT lol now I am having to make decisions LOL. Ugh.
If only I could make the Google Nexus have an sd slot, and be able to just place the sim and go haha.

I only balk at the sd card not because of storage space, but because of the history of having my phones crash IE blank touch screen etc and not being able to get my pictures. with the Sd card I can take it out plug it into handy adapter and download to computer no matter how messed up phone may be.

Blah Is jelly bean that much better than 2.3 one of my MAIN dislikes of the ZTE merit is the keyboard. I am not sure if is the keyboard itself, or the crappy touch screen.

 

[LoafPincher]

With this being unlocked and contract free etc. I would just need to get the phone and put my sim card into this phone and go right?

Yes.

No having to change APN numbers etc?

Not sure if the default APN settings are stored on the SIM, so you may have to add them. But, that's easy to do.

Blah Is jelly bean that much better than 2.3 one of my MAIN dislikes of the ZTE merit is the keyboard. I am not sure if is the keyboard itself, or the crappy touch screen.

Combination of both. In my experience, Jelly Bean is a HUGE step up in terms of smoothness, speed, and functionality. Check out a Nexus 7 tablet display at a local store that sells it and you can see the difference. I've been running a custom Jelly Bean rom on my GS2 for a few months and I haven't looked back since.

I only balk at the sd card not because of storage space, but because of the history of having my phones crash IE blank touch screen etc and not being able to get my pictures. with the Sd card I can take it out plug it into handy adapter and download to computer no matter how messed up phone may be.

I agree. I've always been concerned about that too. In lieu of the SD card, I guess you could set your phone to auto sync the files to the Google cloud? Who knows?

In addition to that, I'm not a fan of the Nexus 4's non-removable battery.

 

[swsl]

I wouldn't buy new from Straight talk - prices are getting better and better and you can keep your costs closer to $200 by going used.

The Nexus 4 seems like such a good deal, but the fixed battery and no SD card are issues and then the current reality that you can't buy a N4 right now anyway. Combined, those are significant drawbacks.

Considering the three issues above, and not wanting such a large phone, I instead found a used i777 Galaxy S2 on Ebay for $220 shipped. More typically, they go for $250 shipped in perfect condition. That might be a good compromise for you too. Not sure if it's worth paying the extra $100 for the same phone brand new when it's already old tech and the N4 will only be $300 when it's available again.

On the other hand, the SII i777 is very workable and will run Jelly Bean stock soon.

And again, the large size, fixed battery and no SD of the Nexus 4 makes it less than ideal for some of us.

The SII i777 is 4.3", I believe, and not considered large nor small. Right in the middle nowadays. The SIII mini looks like another good option at 4", I think, if you want a bit smaller. Prices for that one may be similar.

Both will need their APNs set, this is VERY easy. Straight talk includes instructions with the "Bring your own device" SIM that they sell.

 

[MSCOFF]

I had a ZTE Merit (Straight Talk) as my first smartphone for about 8 months. No problems, but I got itchy for something a bit better. I was looking at the S 2 on the straight talk web site for $350 but it stopped being offered about a week ago, at least in my area. I was in Walmart last friday and saw the S2 Straight talk for $299 so I bought it. So far no problems. I guess if I was more tech savvy I might have made a better decision but after checking prices for a while it seemed like a fairly good price. It's filled with a bunch of unneeded apps but at 1.9 gigs of internal storage and my minimal usage they probably won't get in the way.

 

[LouWags]

Apparently, the N4 is now available again. With no bloatware, it's pretty tempting.

--Wag--