Nexus 4 and Pre-paid Carriers vs Traditional Telecomm?

So the Nexus 4 is being released in less than 2 weeks, and I was wondering what you guys thought.

I know there's been some negative sentiments about its relatively low benchmarks, but I think that'll be cleared up with some OTA updates. Otherwise, it's been universally regarded as a phenomenal phone, specially at its price range of $300 for 8 GB and $350 for 16 GB unlocked with 2 gigs of RAM and a quad-core s4 pro processor.

I also think it has the potential to lead America away from traditional telecomm companies to pre-paid carriers.

Straight talk is a prepaid carrier on AT&T's network that gives users unlimited talk, data, and text for $45. T-mobile's pre-paid value plan gives you 5 gigs of data, 100 minutes, and unlimited texts for $30 a month. This is ridiculously cheap compared to traditional contract carriers, especially as people are becoming more data-intensive and less reliant on phone calls over their phones due to technology like VOIP and applications like Kakaotalk/whatsapp/iMessage.

Until now, traditional carriers have had a competitive advantage over pre-paid ones because they had the best phones and subsidized pricing. However, the google Nexus line has been destroying this advantage since the unlocked Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4 now.

With the Nexus 4's extremely low price point+top of the line specs, I think it has the potential to allow pre-paid carriers to blow up.

Thoughts?

 
kidflash:
Do you think so? Honestly lte is a massive power hog and I feel like hspa speeds are perfectly fine for a phone nowadays?

Nexus 4 + TMO/Walmart $30 is clearly the way to go.

(1) no one wants to talk when you get out of work at 9/10/11 - everybody texts/whatsapps/gchats/etc (2) if you really need to talk (e.g. significant other) - TMO's HSPA+ is fast enough to have VOIP call. (3) not to mention.. you always have the work phone option

 
Best Response

At first I didn't like the idea of the phone but the more I hear the more I like. Storage is small, non removable battery and no LTE kind of bum me out but the price is amazing. The idea of getting an unlocked phone off contract for the price you may pay for a subsidized phone on contract is amazing. Almost a year ago I paid $350 with a 2 year contract for my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon.

The phone should be real solid and should be the top Android phone for a year. Benchmarks don't mean much because they can easily be skewed as well, people can tweak an older phone (Nexus S) to have top benchmark scores, I wouldn't look much into it.

Only concerns I have are will this thing actually sell?
-Missing out on the biggest US Carrier (VZW) -Lack of advertising and acknowledgement from carriers -Only available through Google I don't see the average consumer purchasing the phone, though I am not sure if Google targets them. This will though, with the dev community.

kidflash:
Do you think so? Honestly lte is a massive power hog and I feel like hspa speeds are perfectly fine for a phone nowadays?

The problem is that LTE is the future and is definitely a noticeable improvement of HSPA+. First generation LTE phones had battery issues but they are getting much more efficient. I believe with QCOM's new SoC they have an integrated LTE chip which should greatly increase battery life. I Would not trade my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon for a non-LTE phone. Even though I keep 3G on most the time (save battery) 4G is nice to have and VZW has great coverage. I don't have much experience with HSPA+ but the coverage seems spotty at best along with a crowded and bogged down network.

I must say though, if I am ever forced to give up my unlimited data on Verizon I will definitely give Simple Mobile or Straight Talk a try. I am sick these carriers

 
Bobb:
At first I didn't like the idea of the phone but the more I hear the more I like. Storage is small, non removable battery and no LTE kind of bum me out but the price is amazing. The idea of getting an unlocked phone off contract for the price you may pay for a subsidized phone on contract is amazing. Almost a year ago I paid $350 with a 2 year contract for my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon.

The phone should be real solid and should be the top Android phone for a year. Benchmarks don't mean much because they can easily be skewed as well, people can tweak an older phone (Nexus S) to have top benchmark scores, I wouldn't look much into it.

Only concerns I have are will this thing actually sell?
-Missing out on the biggest US Carrier (VZW) -Lack of advertising and acknowledgement from carriers -Only available through Google I don't see the average consumer purchasing the phone, though I am not sure if Google targets them. This will though, with the dev community.

kidflash:
Do you think so? Honestly lte is a massive power hog and I feel like hspa speeds are perfectly fine for a phone nowadays?

The problem is that LTE is the future and is definitely a noticeable improvement of HSPA+. First generation LTE phones had battery issues but they are getting much more efficient. I believe with QCOM's new SoC they have an integrated LTE chip which should greatly increase battery life. I Would not trade my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon for a non-LTE phone. Even though I keep 3G on most the time (save battery) 4G is nice to have and VZW has great coverage. I don't have much experience with HSPA+ but the coverage seems spotty at best along with a crowded and bogged down network.

I must say though, if I am ever forced to give up my unlimited data on Verizon I will definitely give Simple Mobile or Straight Talk a try. I am sick these carriers

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/23/nexus-4-lte-working-canada/ I'm guessing it might be possible for at&t. this changes the story for nexus 4.
 
kidflash:
Bobb:
At first I didn't like the idea of the phone but the more I hear the more I like. Storage is small, non removable battery and no LTE kind of bum me out but the price is amazing. The idea of getting an unlocked phone off contract for the price you may pay for a subsidized phone on contract is amazing. Almost a year ago I paid $350 with a 2 year contract for my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon.

The phone should be real solid and should be the top Android phone for a year. Benchmarks don't mean much because they can easily be skewed as well, people can tweak an older phone (Nexus S) to have top benchmark scores, I wouldn't look much into it.

Only concerns I have are will this thing actually sell?
-Missing out on the biggest US Carrier (VZW) -Lack of advertising and acknowledgement from carriers -Only available through Google I don't see the average consumer purchasing the phone, though I am not sure if Google targets them. This will though, with the dev community.

kidflash:
Do you think so? Honestly lte is a massive power hog and I feel like hspa speeds are perfectly fine for a phone nowadays?

The problem is that LTE is the future and is definitely a noticeable improvement of HSPA+. First generation LTE phones had battery issues but they are getting much more efficient. I believe with QCOM's new SoC they have an integrated LTE chip which should greatly increase battery life. I Would not trade my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon for a non-LTE phone. Even though I keep 3G on most the time (save battery) 4G is nice to have and VZW has great coverage. I don't have much experience with HSPA+ but the coverage seems spotty at best along with a crowded and bogged down network.

I must say though, if I am ever forced to give up my unlimited data on Verizon I will definitely give Simple Mobile or Straight Talk a try. I am sick these carriers

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/23/nexus-4-lte-working-canada/ I'm guessing it might be possible for at&t. this changes the story for nexus 4.

I saw that. I think its different LTE bands then VZW and ATT but should be the bands that TMobile is building out their LTE network on. So who knows

 
Bobb:
kidflash:
Bobb:
At first I didn't like the idea of the phone but the more I hear the more I like. Storage is small, non removable battery and no LTE kind of bum me out but the price is amazing. The idea of getting an unlocked phone off contract for the price you may pay for a subsidized phone on contract is amazing. Almost a year ago I paid $350 with a 2 year contract for my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon.

The phone should be real solid and should be the top Android phone for a year. Benchmarks don't mean much because they can easily be skewed as well, people can tweak an older phone (Nexus S) to have top benchmark scores, I wouldn't look much into it.

Only concerns I have are will this thing actually sell?
-Missing out on the biggest US Carrier (VZW) -Lack of advertising and acknowledgement from carriers -Only available through Google I don't see the average consumer purchasing the phone, though I am not sure if Google targets them. This will though, with the dev community.

kidflash:
Do you think so? Honestly lte is a massive power hog and I feel like hspa speeds are perfectly fine for a phone nowadays?

The problem is that LTE is the future and is definitely a noticeable improvement of HSPA+. First generation LTE phones had battery issues but they are getting much more efficient. I believe with QCOM's new SoC they have an integrated LTE chip which should greatly increase battery life. I Would not trade my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon for a non-LTE phone. Even though I keep 3G on most the time (save battery) 4G is nice to have and VZW has great coverage. I don't have much experience with HSPA+ but the coverage seems spotty at best along with a crowded and bogged down network.

I must say though, if I am ever forced to give up my unlimited data on Verizon I will definitely give Simple Mobile or Straight Talk a try. I am sick these carriers

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/23/nexus-4-lte-working-canada/ I'm guessing it might be possible for at&t. this changes the story for nexus 4.

I saw that. I think its different LTE bands then VZW and ATT but should be the bands that TMobile is building out their LTE network on. So who knows

Ya. It's on band 4, which currently isn't supported on AT&T and TMobile, but they're supposed to be building towers supporting band 4 in the coming years. So I guess it isn't feasible for the States.

I was actually one of the first people to order the phone, and I love it. It's amazing how nice android is when you're not running some bullshit OEM overlay.

 

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