Best GSM carrier/Android phone combo for moving overseas early in contract?

[CountryJess]

Hope this is an appropriate forum for this question. My wife and I are currently both using original Droids on Verizon, and our contract is up. Sometime after January 2012 we?ll probably be moving overseas (for several years at least) to Cambodia. So I want to switch us to a GSM carrier that will ding us the least on the ETF?s when we leave, and get us current-generation Android phones in the process that we can unlock/use in Cambodia.

Questions: which carrier is going to charge us the least if/when we leave early next year? The whole ?moving out of service area? approach doesn?t work for any of them anymore, does it? What would you do in this situation? Am I better off sucking it up and using my old Droid on Verizon for another six months, and buying a GSM Android phone outright just before we go?

I?m thinking the ?which phone to get? question will be best asked after I figure out which carrier to jump to. But in case some general priorities/requirements are helpful in the carrier question, I want (in priority order): 4.3? or bigger screen, 1+ day battery life, great stills/video, HDMI out, durability, and no physical keyboard. (If you?ve got a favorite Android slab that is a good fit for that list, I?d love to go ahead and hear it now).

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[JWebb]

Probably easier to buy unlocked Android phones outside of the US, where you get models that you don't see in the US. The catch is, if you buy an international phone that is unlocked, they will work only on 2G GSM EDGE on AT&T and T-Mobile. You won't get the full 3G speed.

If you're using a Verizon phone, you would need one of those that has global capabilities, meaning they have ave the optional 2100 UMTS band. The Droid 2 Global and the Droid Pro has this.

T-Mobile's smartphones do have an optional 2100 band. Its almost a corporate rule they have the 1700 to support the US T-Mobile, but 2100 to support the Europe T-Mobile.

Some but not all of AT&T's Android smartphones have the 2100 band. Basically the ones made by HTC don't because they are dual 3G bands, and they are set to 850/1900 aka Band5/Band2. (Note the HTC smartphones on T-Mobile are dual band with 1700/2100 aka Band4/Band1.) However the Samsung and Motorola ones do, like the Atrix and Infuse 4G.

The Samsung Nexus S at Best Buy with the T-Mobile frequency is a 900/1700/2100.

The Samsung Nexus S sold by Negri Electronics online are Canadian models with AT&T frequency and have 850/1900/2100.

While pricey, any unlocked Samsung Galaxy SII you can pick up anywhere in the world or online will have the 3G 850/900/1900/2100 UMTS frequency so they will work internationally and with AT&T on 3G. This phone seriously rocks too.

If you say 4.3" would you be flexible enough for 4", which is the screen size for the Nexus S. The Atrix is physically like 4.1.

The Infuse is 4.5" and the Galaxy SII is 4.3".