Questions about unlocked phones

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pualani

New member
I'm going to have to get an Android phone, mainly for my app development work, but I might use it occasionally as a phone. Right off, it seems like I should only look at unlocked phones to avoid the bloatware that the phone companies add, plus to get around their restrictions (I use AT&T and I think they restrict you from installing anything except from the Marketplace). And I really don't want to get into modifying the installed software to get around these things.

I think I have most issues sorted out, and I'm sort of considering the Samsung Galaxy (or will wait to see the Dell Streak), but here are a couple of questions:

1) Are unlocked phones from Samsung, etc., sold with a U.S. Warranty?

2) How are software updates, such as a newer version of Android handled? Do the manufacturers support them directly with downloaded updates?

3) Are there any negative issues with using an unlocked Android phone?

Thanks for any tips you can give me. This will be a big purchase for me since these high-end unlocked phones go for $500 and up. I don't want to get something that doesn't work or that I can too easily screw up!
 
1) I believe so. May depend from whom you purchase.

2) System updates (unless this has changed) will come to your phone OTA as long as you are not rooted. Locked or unlocked should not matter.

3) No. The only "draw back" may be that if you buy a phone from at&t, then unlock it and run it on tmobile some of the features you would have with at&t (for example) may no longer be available.

As far as bloatware, you would probably have to buy the phone from a 3rd party, such as: http://www.importgsm.com/samsung/ to get a "clean" phone. But, even then, not sure.
 
Further to what scrannel said...

This "bloatware" you speak of. It really doesn't make that much difference. You might get 2 or 3 apps. They won't use any of your internal storage as they're installed on a different partition. The only difference it will make to your phone is that these apps will appear in the apps list. It certainly will make absolutely no difference to your ability to develop apps on the phone.

1) Don't live in the US, so don't know. But why wouldn't they? Check out expansys.com, you can probably buy the Samsung Galaxy S and other phones on there without any "bloatware" and unlocked.

2) While what scrannel said in general is correct, both Samsung and HTC also host firmware updates on their website. When a firmware is released OTA, the automatic update process is staggered over several days or a couple of weeks so that only a few phones are downloading the firmware at a time and their networks don't get overloaded when a million phones all try to update at the same time. You can speed up this process by directly downloading the correct firmware from their website. If you have a carrier-customised phone (one with bloatware), it may take a little while longer before the update is available, as they will have to update their bloatware.

3) No idea.
 
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