Cell Phone/Smartphone Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

Does anyone have a Windows smartphone? How do they compare to Android smartphones? (as far as availability of apps/standard features of windows phone software/windows phone/tablet integration/hardware variety/etc)

Eventually, when I get a new phone, I'm thinking of switching to a Windows phone instead of Android because I'm hoping a Windows phone will have great integration with Windows 8.
 
My daily driver is a Lumia 920.

App availability is improving, not as good as Android.

Customizable features are greatly reduced, defaults are mostly okay.

Unless you've got specific apps or use cases that are only satisfied by one platform, you're going to have a better overall experience if you're invested in the ecosystem of the respective platform. (Outlook.com, Skydrive, Skype, xbox music for MS, Gmail, Gchat, Google Drive, Google Music for Google) Not that competing services won't work on other platforms, but it's worth looking at all the services you plan on using and seeing how support for each one in particular is.
 
I know in the US there is a law that says you can keep your phone number if you switch cellular providers. Does anyone know how this works in practice? Does it apply if you say, switch to a pay as you go plan and buy a phone for it at wal mart? How would you put your number on that phone?

Anyone have experience with Virgin Mobile? I'm thinking of switching to them but I don't know how their service is.
 
hobbsyoyo said:
I know in the US there is a law that says you can keep your phone number if you switch cellular providers. Does anyone know how this works in practice? Does it apply if you say, switch to a pay as you go plan and buy a phone for it at wal mart? How would you put your number on that phone?

Anyone have experience with Virgin Mobile? I'm thinking of switching to them but I don't know how their service is.
Click to expand...

For the number: yes, you can keep your number if you switch cell providers. You have to interact with the providers to do it, but it's a fairly easy switch. My sister kept her number when she switched from a pay as you go T-Mobile plan to a Virgin Plan.

Virgin is, in my opinion an absolutely fantastic service, depending on what you're looking for. I text almost exclusively and seldom talk on a phone, and 35 a month for unlimited text is just about the best plan you are going to find out there right now. While the data is no longer unlimited, it is effectively so and I haven't really run into problems with it. The big kickers for deciding whether or not to go with Virgin are these: 1) How you feel about contracts. One of my favorite aspects of Virgin plans is that they are contract free - the downside to this of course is that you have to fit the full bill for the phone - so you're going to have to actually fork over 500 dollars if you want that shiny iPhone, as opposed to Verizon and ATT which offer reduced prices on iPhones if you go for their 2-year plan. The other, and most important kicker for Virgin is coverage. Virgin piggybacks on Sprint's towers for both phone and data. Sprint has very spotty coverage - it's very good in most cities, but wishy-washy elsewhere. For me living in the heart of the Silicon Valley this isn't such a big deal, although coverage is very yard-by-yard in parts of Santa Cruz. But if you're up in more rural areas I highly recommend you do due diligence before pulling the trigger. Check coverage maps, and try to talk to anyone you can find in the area that uses Sprint or Virgin.

Otherwise I personally find Virgin to be a highly rewarding company. Prices are cheap as long as you don't mind paying for your phone. Phone options are much better than they were when I first join in 2010 (all they had was a Blackberry, an LG Optimus with Android, and I think an HTC). They also occasionally do really cool things, for example I got a free month of service a couple months back and my sister has gotten that in the past as well.
 
Thanks for taking the time to answer Owen, much appreciated.

Everything you listed is exactly what I'm looking for. I live in a medium sized city (for Missouri) but it's surrounded by rural nothingness, so I will definitely have to do my due diligence and check out coverage maps and ask how people with Sprint fair (though IIRC it's ok - and certainly better than T-Mobile which isn't good in the city and drops to nothing when you're on any highway around here other than I-44).

I don't mind paying up front for the phone and I expected that. It's a fair trade off considering how much cheaper they are. Does your $35/mo include data? If so, it's a killer deal.

I pay $10/mo for data, but I only get 200mb between 2 smartphones which runs out lickity split (and I used to have an unlimited data plan that they conned me out of - I went from being a happy customer to hating them after they screwed me over and they keep doing it to boot). They charge $35/mo for 4Gb, so if Virgin is comparable to that then I'd switch.

I'm paying $135/mo for unlimited texting, 1000 mins of talk and 200Mb of data and it's a total ripoff. How does that compare to your pay as you go plan?
 
hobbsyoyo said:
Thanks for taking the time to answer Owen, much appreciated.

Everything you listed is exactly what I'm looking for. I live in a medium sized city (for Missouri) but it's surrounded by rural nothingness, so I will definitely have to do my due diligence and check out coverage maps and ask how people with Sprint fair (though IIRC it's ok - and certainly better than T-Mobile which isn't good in the city and drops to nothing when you're on any highway around here other than I-44).

I don't mind paying up front for the phone and I expected that. It's a fair trade off considering how much cheaper they are. Does your $35/mo include data? If so, it's a killer deal.

I pay $10/mo for data, but I only get 200mb between 2 smartphones which runs out lickity split (and I used to have an unlimited data plan that they conned me out of - I went from being a happy customer to hating them after they screwed me over and they keep doing it to boot). They charge $35/mo for 4Gb, so if Virgin is comparable to that then I'd switch.

I'm paying $135/mo for unlimited texting, 1000 mins of talk and 200Mb of data and it's a total ripoff. How does that compare to your pay as you go plan?
Click to expand...

You pay $35/mo for: Unlimited Text, Data which is theoretically unlimited but slows significantly once you hit a certain cap, and 400 mins. In the two years I've had the service I've only once hit the 400 min cap, and that was when my gf and I were in separate cities for the month and she insisted on calling me every day. For 45/mo you get like 8-900 minutes which is still better than most unlimited text plans. The brilliant thing imo about Virgin is it's structured backwards. Plans for most major services require you to pick your minutes and then add in the data and texting later. This was fine in the old days when texting was new and data unheard of, but few people actually use the phone to make calls now and Virgin reflects this. They start with the unlimited text and data and you layer on minutes as you need them. Very sensible.

Another very cool thing Virgin's done. When I got in the plan was all of the above for 25/mo. A year and a half ago they upped the cost to 35/mo but they kept my plan at the original. Pretty swish if you ask me.
 
Owen, are you allowed to tether your phone to your computer to provide mobile internet access with Virgin Mobile? Do you have 3G or 4G?
 
hobbsyoyo said:
Owen, are you allowed to tether your phone to your computer to provide mobile internet access with Virgin Mobile? Do you have 3G or 4G?
Click to expand...

I don't know about the first thing for sure, but I don't think you can use the phone as a hotspot, no.

I use 3G, but that's just because I bought my phone 2.5 years ago. My sister's phone is 4G.
 
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