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BlackFrost
Feb 6, 2008

Have you figured it out yet?

Uthor posted:

New phones for Boost and Virgin:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/22/3261452/boost-virgin-prepaid-carries-Galaxy

The Reverb seems like a decent competitor for the One V and Evo V, slotting between the two in size with a better proc for $250.

Got really disappointed when I saw the SII was going to Boost, but actually the Reverb seems like a pretty solid phone. Better than the Triumph, certainly, and a cool $100 cheaper than a Nexus. Hmm...

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Tyro
Nov 10, 2009
I'm in a pretty similar boat to Mr Moose. I haven't yet ported my number because I wanted to make sure I got good enough service and I think I'm content. I only get 1-2 bars in the house but I have wifi there. In the house I only get like 1-1.2Mb down/0.5Mb up, if I step outside it jumps to 4.5Mb/1.5Mb. Which is still better than my old carrier.

I've found the delay on GrooveIP to be annoying, I'm considering trying Skype - anyone found Skype to work well (or better than Gvoice) over Wifi?

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy
Talkatone is free on the market and is less laggy for some than Groove, doesn't hurt to try.

Jose Pointero
Feb 16, 2004

We're not just doing this for money. We're doing it for a SHITLOAD of money!

So I've had my Evo Design with Boost for a couple days now, and I'm really happy with it. Coming from an iPhone 3GS, I'm liking the larger screen and the faster processsor. I've had android phones before and didn't like the OS, but this one has 4.0 and I've been pretty surprised at how solid it is. Not getting crashes, and even with lots of apps open the performance is OK. Battery life has been decent too. Yes, it has Sense, but it doesn't bother me.

As for boost, happy with it as well. The 3G speeds actually seem a little faster than it did with my iphone/at&t, coverage is fine, and having 4g is nice, even though its "only" wimax.

Prepaid sure has come a long way...I just cut my monthly expenditures by $50 and its awesome :)

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.
drat you, StraightTalk! I know you re-use phone numbers, but did you have to make mine both:

1) Re-used from someone who had it fairly recently.?

And 2) From someone who was a deadbeat and has creditors calling him all the time? :mad:

No, Larry's not here...Larry will never be here, this isn't his phone number anymore, please stop calling, no I'm not just Larry pretending to be someone else.

At least two calls a day. Can I just request a new phone number?

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy
You can either try to ask Straighttalk for a new number, or just re-register an account at the end of the month and you'll get a new number without really losing any money. Or if you wanna battle it out with the creditors, here's a Google article: http://www.paydayloner.com/wrong_number.html

Stick100
Mar 18, 2003

Mr.Trifecta posted:

Deciding between the Galaxy Nexus and S3. Anyone have any thoughts on either on what would be better?

GNex has a very similar screen and runs everything except super-top end games amazingly. S3 has better hardware (2Gb of RAM) and should stay a superphone for awhile. GNex at $350 is a steal but if S3 was the same price I'd suggest the S3.

It might be silly but I really prefer that the GNex doesn't have a Giant Silver Word "SAMSUNG" constantly looking at you. Also one thing to keep in mind is when video goes full screen in ICS/JB the soft keys will go away. This leaves the screen as just the image with nothing else, no buttons, colored shell, or branding. The GNex gives a great viewing experience and would suggest the Nexus 7 for the same reason.

Stick100 fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Aug 23, 2012

the kawaiiest
Dec 22, 2010

Uguuuu ~

DrBouvenstein posted:

drat you, StraightTalk! I know you re-use phone numbers, but did you have to make mine both:

1) Re-used from someone who had it fairly recently.?

And 2) From someone who was a deadbeat and has creditors calling him all the time? :mad:

No, Larry's not here...Larry will never be here, this isn't his phone number anymore, please stop calling, no I'm not just Larry pretending to be someone else.

At least two calls a day. Can I just request a new phone number?
If you're getting more than one call a day from the same collection agency, tell them they're in violation of the FDCPA. By law, they can't call you more than once per day, and if you have told them that this is the wrong number they shouldn't be calling you again at all.

Roulette
Sep 17, 2006

Zero VGS posted:

No need to be lengthy, he's a summary of the XDA steps with some plagiarism:

1) Copy these three zip files:
http://d-h.st/6fS
http://d-h.st/yMY
http://d-h.st/E0r

onto the root of your external SD card.

2) Boot into recovery.

* Pull the battery from your phone.
* Connect phone to your pc via usb.
* Press & hold Volume-up
* Insert battery

3) Press the capacitive menu button (left bottom button) when you see the open white box and droid. Choose 'apply update from sdcard' and select the cwm.galaxy.exhibit.zip file.

4) Repeat step 2 to boot into the new recovery you just flashed.

5) Use the up and down volume to browse menus, and the Menu capacitive button to select. Go to "install zip from SD card", and browse to cm-9-20120814-UNOFFICIAL-ancora_tmo.zip and select/confirm it, it will flash.

6) Do the same with gapps.now.20120429.m6.zip

You now have rooted Ice Cream Sandwich CM9 on Galaxy Exhibit II / 4G, with Google Now.

Thanks for posting these steps. I have a question though. What is the benefit of doing this? What will I gain and/or lose from this process?

StickFigs
Sep 5, 2004

"It's time to choose."
If I want to use Verizon towers are my only options PagePlus and that one Verizon phone on Straight Talk? Are there more options if I opt for a contract or will that even further limit me to JUST Verizon?

Can I use any Verizon phone with PagePlus?

StickFigs fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Aug 24, 2012

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy

Roulette posted:

Thanks for posting these steps. I have a question though. What is the benefit of doing this? What will I gain and/or lose from this process?

You gain the features inherent in upgrading from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich, such as:

- Improved stock browser, and can use Google Chrome
- Better launcher (Apex)
- Better Data management not that you need it with T-Mo $30 plan
- Seems to have better battery life in general
- Swipe away individual notifications
- Decline calls with a text message
- Send apps to SD card
- Nicer UI
- Face Unlock
- Better Camera software, panorama mode
- iPhone-style folders to organize icons
- this particular ROM has fully working Google Now (supposed to be jellybean exclusive)

Plus being a Cyanogen mod, you can do some extra nerd things like adding app launch shortcuts to the lock screen, add power toggles for things like flashlight or wifi access point to the notification drawer.

In between steps 4 and 5, while you're in the Clockwork Recovery, select Backup and it will make a carbon copy of your phone the moment before you upgrade. If you don't like ICS, boot back into Recovery and then pick Restore, and everything will be returned to how it was.

Edit: what you stand to lose, when installing any aftermarket rom, is that because it's not official and doesn't have any real quality assurance, there can be bugs and missing features. The phone might do something awful like reboot during a phonecall. Or it might be rock solid. Read the thread of the rom you're going to flash, there's usually a "known bugs" list, and skim the comments to get a feel for how it is.

As for this specific rom, several people I know with this phone report no problems at all on the rom in the past 10 days it's been flashed.

Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Aug 24, 2012

Roulette
Sep 17, 2006

Zero VGS posted:

No need to be lengthy, he's a summary of the XDA steps with some plagiarism:

1) Copy these three zip files:
http://d-h.st/6fS
http://d-h.st/yMY
http://d-h.st/E0r

onto the root of your external SD card.

2) Boot into recovery.

* Pull the battery from your phone.
* Connect phone to your pc via usb.
* Press & hold Volume-up
* Insert battery

3) Press the capacitive menu button (left bottom button) when you see the open white box and droid. Choose 'apply update from sdcard' and select the cwm.galaxy.exhibit.zip file.

4) Repeat step 2 to boot into the new recovery you just flashed.

5) Use the up and down volume to browse menus, and the Menu capacitive button to select. Go to "install zip from SD card", and browse to cm-9-20120814-UNOFFICIAL-ancora_tmo.zip and select/confirm it, it will flash.

6) Do the same with gapps.now.20120429.m6.zip

You now have rooted Ice Cream Sandwich CM9 on Galaxy Exhibit II / 4G, with Google Now.

So I started going through this process, got up to step 5 and it aborted and said the zip file was bad. Bummertown. Any other locations for that file?

EDIT: Nevermind. I ended up putting Peach Sunrise on it and am happy with that for now :) I think the stock ROM was fine, just bloated, so Peach Sunrise so far is perfect for my needs for the next couple of months until I decide on a longer term solution. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Roulette fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Aug 25, 2012

Bigass Moth
Mar 6, 2004

I joined the #RXT REVOLUTION.
:boom:
he knows...
My wife's Optimus V bricked - what's the goon recommended Virgin Mobile android of the moment? Cheaper is better.

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

Bigass Moth posted:

My wife's Optimus V bricked - what's the goon recommended Virgin Mobile android of the moment? Cheaper is better.

My Optimus V $30 shipped with free case? :P

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


I just recently moved from T-Mobile $30 to Straight Talk AT&T. I was tired of the lack of service in nearly any rural area on T-Mobile, and kept running out of minutes as well. Even though I wasn't spending $45 a month, I figured the increased service area for Straight Talk would be worth the upgrade.

I'm pretty annoyed with Straight Talk's use of the mvno proxy, which seems to be the cause of a lot of pages/apps not loading correctly without refreshing a few times from time to time, and also causes some apps to simply NOT WORK, like Subsonic (won't connect to servers through a proxy, apparently) and SpeedTest (not mission critical, but whatever). I understand you used to formerly be able to just not put the proxy in the APN settings, but both times I have done that the data simply stops working after a bit.

Is this something that is just part of the deal of using Straight Talk, or are my issues not very common? The same issues were happening on both an old iPhone 3G that I was using until I snagged an HTC One X from a buddy, which I am using until my GNex comes back from Samsung repair.

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

ShaneB posted:

I just recently moved from T-Mobile $30 to Straight Talk AT&T. I was tired of the lack of service in nearly any rural area on T-Mobile, and kept running out of minutes as well. Even though I wasn't spending $45 a month, I figured the increased service area for Straight Talk would be worth the upgrade.

I'm pretty annoyed with Straight Talk's use of the mvno proxy, which seems to be the cause of a lot of pages/apps not loading correctly without refreshing a few times from time to time, and also causes some apps to simply NOT WORK, like Subsonic (won't connect to servers through a proxy, apparently) and SpeedTest (not mission critical, but whatever). I understand you used to formerly be able to just not put the proxy in the APN settings, but both times I have done that the data simply stops working after a bit.

Is this something that is just part of the deal of using Straight Talk, or are my issues not very common? The same issues were happening on both an old iPhone 3G that I was using until I snagged an HTC One X from a buddy, which I am using until my GNex comes back from Samsung repair.

I'd like to know as well, i'm considering going over to straight talk. I'd be annoyed if my data has to go through a proxy. I have enough of that with virgin mobile.

a dingus
Mar 22, 2008

Rhetorical questions only
Fun Shoe
I have straight talk with an ATT sim and I've never used their proxy. I fill in the port (80) but never the info for the server. Speed tests, YouTube and streaming apps work fine.

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


Smeed posted:

I have straight talk with an ATT sim and I've never used their proxy. I fill in the port (80) but never the info for the server. Speed tests, YouTube and streaming apps work fine.

I'll try to leave the port info in and see how long data works this time.

Leon Sumbitches
Mar 27, 2010

Dr. Leon Adoso Sumbitches (prounounced soom-'beh-cheh) (born January 21, 1935) is heir to the legendary Adoso family oil fortune.





I'm on the t-mobile awesome pre-paid $30 mo. using GSM Galaxy Nexus. I'll be in Europe for the next few weeks...what are my options as far as phone/data connectivity?

ShaneB
Oct 22, 2002


Tommy Wiseau posted:

I'm on the t-mobile awesome pre-paid $30 mo. using GSM Galaxy Nexus. I'll be in Europe for the next few weeks...what are my options as far as phone/data connectivity?

Buy a SIM over there?

Billy Bob FORTRAN
Nov 4, 2007

*THIS IS*
*HOW A*
*SOLDIER*
*~LIVES~*

:qqsay:
I'm finally quitting my AT&T contract after six years of abuse and have decided to switch to StraightTalk.

What are a few current favorites in the $200-$250 range? I keep attempting to shop within that space, but my lustful eyes are drawn inexorably to the Galaxy Nexus. I'm currently rolling with a lovely Pantech Blackberry ripoff and have never owned a smartphone, so I have a poor frame of reference.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
Used Nexus S would be right in that price range and an excellent budget buy but really, no the Gnex is the go to Android phone right now save the technically superior hardware of the S3. But that's moot since it would be out of your price range.

Sounds to me like you're just looking for an excuse to buy the Gnex but need positive community confirmation. Tell you what. Spend a couple weeks searching Ebay and Craigslist and see if you can't score a Nexus S just under your budget at say, $175. If by the end of that week nothing has scored, save up the extra $150 and get what you know is a solid buy.

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy

Billy Bob FORTRAN posted:

I'm finally quitting my AT&T contract after six years of abuse and have decided to switch to StraightTalk.

What are a few current favorites in the $200-$250 range? I keep attempting to shop within that space, but my lustful eyes are drawn inexorably to the Galaxy Nexus. I'm currently rolling with a lovely Pantech Blackberry ripoff and have never owned a smartphone, so I have a poor frame of reference.

If you go Slopehead's route with a Nexus S, here's one scuffed up for $160: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Nex...ht_12693wt_1318

You really should either wait to afford the Galaxy Nexus, or wait for a new Nexus to be announced in a couple months so you can either get that or get the original GSM Nexus on eBay/Craigslist which would then be way cheaper.

If you're tech savvy enough to want to hack your phone, $250 can buy you a used AT&T Skyrocket: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Gal...c#ht_500wt_1337

Long story short, if you are comfortable flashing CM10 to the phone, it can be better than a GSM Nexus in just about all ways, except somewhat lower resolution screen and occasional bugs.

If you aren't comfortable with that, I wouldn't go anywhere near it and stuck with some flavor of Nexus.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
I'm not sure if that's a mislabel or what but the i9020T is for Tmobile? Do they share radio bands or what? Is the GT-I9020T the ATT variant?

Zero VGS
Aug 16, 2002
ASK ME ABOUT HOW HUMAN LIVES THAT MADE VIDEO GAME CONTROLLERS ARE WORTH MORE
Lipstick Apathy

Slopehead posted:

I'm not sure if that's a mislabel or what but the i9020T is for Tmobile? Do they share radio bands or what? Is the GT-I9020T the ATT variant?

I thought so but now even I'm confused.

This Bestbuy.com thing seems to imply it works on AT&T http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung---Nexus-S-Mobile-Phone---Black-(AT%26T)/2356115.p?id=1218323076669&skuId=2356115

This XDA anecdote says no, only voice and edge will work: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1236983

This thing compares them, I dunno: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Google_Nexus_S#Nexus_S_Variants

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
Okay yeah the deal is that the 9020T variant has the radio bands for Tmobile and a different version will work entirely on ATT. So almost like how the G2 can technically function on ATT networks, but only has access to voice and Edge data. but you know, reversed.

According to that list he wants the GT-i9020A not the 9020-T. It looks like that seller got confused too. Still a bit much for a Nexus S in that condition IMO but I'm a snob who wants his poo poo not all dinged up.

T-man
Aug 22, 2010


Talk shit, get bzzzt.

Slopehead posted:

Okay yeah the deal is that the 9020T variant has the radio bands for Tmobile and a different version will work entirely on ATT. So almost like how the G2 can technically function on ATT networks, but only has access to voice and Edge data. but you know, reversed.

According to that list he wants the GT-i9020A not the 9020-T. It looks like that seller got confused too. Still a bit much for a Nexus S in that condition IMO but I'm a snob who wants his poo poo not all dinged up.

I have a GT-i9020T, works fine with T-mobile.

MC Hawking
Apr 27, 2004

by VideoGames
Fun Shoe
Ah, yes that was the entire point. The 9020T is specifically for the Tmobile spectrum and won't do 3g on ATT bands. The galaxy nexus is a pentaband phone and has radio tech for both carriers, but the Nesus S does not and requires you to get the appropriate device for whatever specific carrier.

1karus
Jan 29, 2006

The Fun Machine
Took a Shit and Died
VirginMobile.com is doing 20% off their android phones. This brings the HTC One V to $160 before taxes etc., and the HTC EVO V to $240 before taxes etc.

Syrinxx
Mar 28, 2002

Death is whimsical today

I got an iPad 3 from work with a cellular antenna but they won't pay for a plan. What's the best way to get a micro SIM with a prepaid data plan for this thing? I'd prefer a refillable bucket of data rather than a monthly charge since I don't expect to use much at all.

Long Francesco
Jun 3, 2005
I could be wrong but I don't think anyone has a pay what you use bucket of data plan. They wouldn't be able to charge you for 2gb a month when all you've done is watch a few youtube videos. Why not just tether it to your phone if you're not going to use much data?

chunkles
Aug 14, 2005

i am completely immersed in darkness
as i turn my body away from the sun
I have no idea where to post this but in case anyone is interested: I used the Virgin Mobile Overdrive Pro 4G broadband thing to good results. As far as I can tell, the 4G is unthrottled at the moment, but I think they do throttle all non-web traffic (I base this on the fact that downloading some stuff from the internet was faster than my DSL at home, but my ping in counter strike was poo poo). If I didn't play online games on a regular basis I would continue using this instead of real internet.

chunkles fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Aug 29, 2012

Arcsech
Aug 5, 2008

chunkey posted:

I have no idea where to post this but in case anyone is interested: I used the Virgin Mobile Overdrive Pro 4G broadband thing to good results. As far as I can tell, the 4G is unthrottled at the moment, but I think they do throttle all non-web traffic (I base this on the fact that downloading some stuff from the internet was faster than my DSL at home, but my ping in counter strike was poo poo). If I didn't play online games on a regular basis I would continue using this instead of real internet.

Your ping was poo poo because while cell networks might be getting to good throughput speeds, latency is still pretty crap. So it might be a limit of the tech rather than throttling, since data speed doesn't have much effect on latency.

chunkles
Aug 14, 2005

i am completely immersed in darkness
as i turn my body away from the sun

Arcsech posted:

Your ping was poo poo because while cell networks might be getting to good throughput speeds, latency is still pretty crap. So it might be a limit of the tech rather than throttling, since data speed doesn't have much effect on latency.

Could very well be the case, I couldn't find anything online about it either way.

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.
God drat, these calls for Larry are getting absurd...now its averaging 3 times a day, even weekends...a couple collection agencies but mostly run of the mill telemarketers.

If I get a new SIM from ST (for the new #), I'll have to pay for another whole activation kit, right? So over $60 instead of just $45+tax?

nigga crab pollock
Mar 26, 2010

by Lowtax
I've played games of league of legends over Tmobile 3g and not had any problems. TF2 was a bit iffy because my ping was around 120 though.

Stick100
Mar 18, 2003

Long Francesco posted:

I could be wrong but I don't think anyone has a pay what you use bucket of data plan. They wouldn't be able to charge you for 2gb a month when all you've done is watch a few youtube videos. Why not just tether it to your phone if you're not going to use much data?

I believe Ting has pay exactly what you use, but you have to use the Sprint network.

Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)
Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but Ting has a new BYODish policy:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57499236-94/byo-sprint-device-to-tings-new-cell-phone-network/

LiquidRain
May 21, 2007

Watch the madness!

I've been trying not to be a total shill for my company, but yes - we will be offering bring your own (Sprint) device. :) Between that and carrying the S3 it feels like we suck a lot less when it comes to device choices.

Stick100 posted:

I believe Ting has pay exactly what you use, but you have to use the Sprint network.

We offer pay-what-you-use in bucket format, but maybe not exactly what he's looking for, plus our data rates are admittedly not that good. (we also won't be able to give him a micro SIM, since we're a Sprint MVNO)

I'm heading down to the States this weekend and picked up one of our in-company loaner phones, an Optimus S. Coming from my Cyanogenmod 9 T-Mo G2, this is :gonk:. Yeah, yeah, it's $100, but still, I have to turn off animations to make this thing feel usable.

LiquidRain fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Aug 29, 2012

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Mister Fister
May 17, 2008

D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
KILL-GORE


I love the smell of dead Palestinians in the morning.
You know, one time we had Gaza bombed for 26 days
(and counting!)

LiquidRain posted:

I've been trying not to be a total shill for my company, but yes - we will be offering bring your own (Sprint) device. :) Between that and carrying the S3 it feels like we suck a lot less when it comes to device choices.


We offer pay-what-you-use in bucket format, but maybe not exactly what he's looking for, plus our data rates are admittedly not that good. (we also won't be able to give him a micro SIM, since we're a Sprint MVNO)

I'm heading down to the States this weekend and picked up one of our in-company loaner phones, an Optimus S. Coming from my Cyanogenmod 9 T-Mo G2, this is :gonk:. Yeah, yeah, it's $100, but still, I have to turn off animations to make this thing feel usable.

You would be the perfect MVNO if you didn't have that $6 per device fee. Or at least have it reduced for multiple devices on one account. I'm on the fence about you guys. Having device freedom compared to VM is tempting.

Also, do you guys have a per minute voice charge if you go over your minutes?

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