Help! What phone to get for "Simple Mobile" (ie, GSM unlocked)?

A

awesomee gurl

New member
I've been reading around here for a couple hours, and I think I just need help.

After poking around here, I think I'm moving to Simple Mobile. I've never owned anything approaching a smartphone--am currently on T-mobile with an old and crappy voice-only Motorola--and I want to move to a voice/web/text/camera phone. I'll be using it mostly for checking and sending email (including gmail), surfing (NY Times, google maps, that sort of thing), Facebook (including posting photos), text, and phone. My wish list, based on my verrrrrrrrry limited knowledge of smartphones:

* really solid reception
* decent camera
* intuitive interface
* either a full QUERTY keyboard or a touch screen
* not too spendy (ideally, less than $150)

I have no particular brand loyalty.

Any thoughts?? Really appreciate the help.
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/LG-XENON-GR500-RED-TOUCH-SCRN-QWERTY-3G-PHONE-UNLOCKED-/190372342214?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Cell_Phones&hash=item2c531369c6

Samsung makes a lot of QWERTY's, specifically for T-Mobile but the reception on those models are pretty mediocre. Look for something from LG, they make phones with better reception and the Samsung T-Mobile models are locked down for third party apps. Not sure about the Xenon so I'll have to look into that. The only thing is, LG makes GSM phones for AT&T and they completely bloat the phones out with a bunch of garbage.
 
I strongly recommend the T-Mobile G1. You can get it for about $100 on eBay or Craigslist. For the money, you can't find a more functional phone. It will work on Simple Mobile without being unlocked, and it is compatible with the network's 3G frequencies.

You will, however, need to either borrow someone's T-Mobile SIM (with a smartphone data plan) to get the phone activated on your Google account, or follow the steps here: http://androidforums.com/support/6564-activate-stock-g1-over-wifi.html . After you get past the activation screen, install Any Cut, create a shortcut to APNs, and then enter Simple Mobile's APN. Once you do that, you can use data on Simple Mobile. 100 MB will be enough if you limit yourself mostly to email and Opera Mini. 1000 MB (their "unlimited" plan) is enough to do just about anything short of all-day browsing or hours of YouTube.

It might sound a little bit complicated, but it's really not too bad. Since you're already prepared to pay for Simple Mobile's service, I wouldn't even consider a lesser phone.
 
Back
Top