Best Buy’s “Buy Back” Program… Good Deal or Ripoff?

It seems that the technology for smartphones changes every 6 months or so, with people desiring the latest and greatest devices. I’m no different, in that I am a gadget admirer and often become an early adopter of new technology. But, I’m not such a fanatic where I wait in line the night before to get the next Apple iPhone, or fret when I can’t get a product on the release day.

With smartphone technology advancing so quickly, waiting for your 2-year cell phone contract to expire (so you can get a new subsidized phone) seems like an eternity. Some people buy a new phone at full retail price and try to sell their old one (often only 6 months old) on eBay or Craig’s List to offset some of the cost. With smartphones listing at $700, this can be a very costly venture to have the latest phone technology. As such, I often read on various forums that using the Best Buy Buy Back Program is the way to go if you want upgrade your smartphone frequently. I’ve read forum postings where people throw out numbers showing how they are upgrading their phones for only $10 using this program, and that really doesn’t make sense to me. Why would Best Buy implement a program that gives them very little profit margin?

Upon further investigating, it seems that the Buy Back Program isn’t as great as some people make it out. When you consider the price of program, the amount they credit you over time, and cost of a new phone at list price, you’re actually getting a bad deal. It’s only a good deal when you’re close to your cell phone provider’s contract expiration and when you initiate the buy back program for the first time. I know some people swear by the Best Buy Program and think they are getting a really good deal, but if you do a Google search you’ll see that sites like Consumer Reports indicate that this is not so. Here’s one such link to examine.

Time for a new Smartphone

About 11 months ago I accepted a new job with a company in the Seattle area, and as such I had to give up my Apple iPhone 4 which was provided by my previous employer. So, I needed to get a new phone to use for my personal use, and what made the most sense was to add a 2nd line to my wife’s existing Sprint account (which she’s had for over 10 years). At that time I got what was the latest-and-greatest smartphone available on Sprint, the Samsung Nexus S 4G. This was indeed a good phone, with a great screen, reasonable battery life, and running the Gingerbread Android OS. Over time, I discovered that the cell phone signal strength was very poor with my phone, as well as for others based on what I read on several forum postings. Also, the GPS receiver on my Nexus S had trouble finding GPS satellites and when it did it was slow to respond. So, I’m driving around with the navigation app giving me directions to turn here and there being off by nearly 500 ft at times. Not very good.

So, I’ve decided to check what my options are to resolve my smartphone issues. Here’s what I’ve determined:

1. Exchange my Nexus S for another refurbished one at Sprint. From what I’ve read, it seems that this is known issue with the Nexus S 4G model and getting a different one may not resolve my issue.
2. Pay the Early Termination Fee (ETF) for my Sprint line and switch to a different cell provider. This is a potential option if my real issue is with the cell tower proximity and power, rather than my Nexus phone. Going this route means I would be able to get a new phone at the subsidized price.
3. Pay an, “upgrade buyout” fee to Sprint which will allow me to move my upgrade date forward to now instead of 1 year from now. Apparently, this is available in select regions of the country. This would allow me to buy a phone at the subsidized price.
4. Bite the bullet and pay the full list price for a new phone on Sprint. Going this route can be expensive, since smartphones are going for up to $700.
5. Stay with my Nexus S phone for another year, when my 2-year contract expires. At that point, I can get a new phone from Sprint at the subsidized price or go with a different cell phone carrier.

The best thing Sprint has to offer is it’s unlimited data and great family plan price, so there’s lots of reasons why I should stay with Sprint. However, it seems that the latest phones always are released on the AT&T network, so moving to that cell carrier does seem to have some advantages. After some debate, I decided that I would stay with Sprint and try to do option 3 from above. Apparently I can pay an upgrade fee (about $100 I believe) when I’m within 12 months of my contract renewal which will move my upgrade up to now, and I can get a new smartphone at the subsidized price. So my cost would be $100 + $199 (for a typical smartphone) = $299. That’s much better than spending $700 buying a smartphone at list price.

In looking at available phones, the one that catches my eye is the HTC EVO LTE, which is due to be released on May 18th. It’s HTC’s latest technology, and has received very good reviews by the media. The real test will be when users get their hands on this new smartphone and report their findings due to daily usage. I’m hoping the Cell Radio, GPS, and WiFI receiver in this new HTC device works better than my current Samsung product. If not, then I may waiting until something better comes along, or I might try option 2 and go with AT&T for a few years.

Pondering switching cell phone carriers

Up until 10 months ago, I’ve never owned a personal cell phone. I did have a phone, but it was a company phone which I used for both business and personal use. I started with a LG candy bar phone back in 2000 on Sprint, migrated to a popular Nokia phone, then a few Motorola phones, then over to my first smartphone, the Motorola Q running Windows Mobile 5 OS. At that point, my employer switched from Sprint to Verizon, and I finally got an iPhone 4 to use for about 6 months before I left that job for new one. My current position with my new employer doesn’t provide a cell phone, so I needed to venture out in cell phone land and make some decisions on which phone and carrier I should choose for my first personal cell phone purchase.

Since my wife had been using Sprint for the last 10 years or so, it made sense for me to just add a 2nd line to her account and get a shared minutes family plan, especially since Sprint offers offers unlimited data on smartphones. So I made my first cell phone purchase to be a Palm Pixi WebOS phone (mainly because I had planned to do some WebOS app development on the side). That worked out great, and I loved the cool animated windows popping up, and swiping them off the screen when done. I stuck with the Pixi for almost 2 years, and when Palm started to falter as a company I decided to switch to an Android smartphone (again, so I can do some Android app development) and I chose the best at the time which was the Nexus S 4G.

The Nexus S is a good phone, being speedy with a great screen. The big problem I have is the terrible RF radio in that device. The cell reception is really bad, as the number of bars for signal strength varies wildly at most locations in the Seattle area. I can go from no bars to 3 bars just driving a few hundred feet. I rarely get all 5 bars, but mostly get 1 or no bars. At my new employer location in Everett, WA I get 1 or 2 bars at the most, while my co-workers who are on AT&T get 4 to 5 bars easily inside the office building. So what’s the deal? Is it my phone, or Sprint’s cell coverage?

I also noticed this while on travel in Phoenix, and my GPS receiver seems to be really slow to reacting to my position when driving. I’ve missed turns on my navigation software because of the slow directions. So in all, it seems my Samsung Nexus S has a poor radio and GPS receiver for my use. Thus, I’ve been looking at switching carriers.

Sprint has the best priced plans in my opinion, especially for me having a 2nd line on my wife’s account costing me $19.99 + $10 (smartphone fee) + $8 (insurance) = $37.99. I don’t want to go with Verizon, since they seem to be the highest priced carrier. I like AT&T, because they always have the best phones available the earliest, you can switch between phones by simply inserting your SIM card, and with their GSM technology you can use the voice and data simultaneously. Also, AT&T has the HSPA+ network in my area for fast data speeds, and they are in the middle of upgrading their system for LTE service. If I switched to them, I could get the new HTC EVO One X (LTE ready) for $199 and probably go with their 450 minutes (rollover) plan for $39.99 + $30 (3 GB data) + $9.99 (insurance). With my 25% employer discount it would cost me around $69.99/month to go with that service. So that’s about $32/month more than what I’m paying now with Sprint.

My dilemma is that AT&T is known for having a poor network system. But as you can imagine, things change over time and it really depends on your location. A bad cell carrier in Florida doesn’t mean it is equally bad in Chicago or Seattle. I’ve got some anecdotal evidence from fellow co-workers that shows AT&T service at my work site is good, while Sprint is bad (at least with my Nexus S 4G). But, I’ve read on numerous forum postings that the Nexus S 4G is known to have a poor radio. So what to do?

My plan now, is to charge up and take with me my old Palm Pixi phone (on Sprint). Although I don’t have service for it, it does still connect to the Sprint network (for emergency calls) and I can test the signal strength using its radio. If it shows equally poor signal strength, then I can probably conclude Sprint’s service in the area of my work office truly sucks. I could then get a AT&T account and test out the HTC One X for 30 days and decide if that phone and cell strength at my work site is better than Sprint’s. If so, then I’ll have to decide on whether to keep the AT&T service and cancel my Sprint 2nd line (and pay the termination fees), or just hope Sprint will upgrade their network soon at my work location over time. Another option, is for me to just tough it out for the next several months and see if Sprint’s new LTE system will help improve signal strength at my work site location.

Streaming Videos from Desktop System to Android Tablet

I own both an Acer Iconia A500 Tablet and an Amazon Kindle Fire, with both of them using the Android OS. I use both of them primarily for web browsing, but their secondary purpose is for watching videos. I have a Netflix account and I love streaming videos from the Internet to my two tablets while I’m home, often watching videos on the couch or in bed.  I also have an EyeTV HD device connected to my iMac and Cable set-top box for recording TV shows in mp4 format.

For watching my recorded videos, I usually use the WiFi-enabled app called WiFi Explorer that allows me to transfer files wirelessly from my iMac to my Android tablets via a web browser on my home wireless network. It works fine, but does take a while for the file transfer and requires me to manually do the transfer. Also, for my Kindle Fire I don’t have a lot of available storage space so I can only transfer a limited number of videos to local storage.

Luckily, I found a way to stream the videos directly from my iMac to my Android Tablets without having to transfer files. The method is described in this forum posting. Basically, I use an Android File Explorer app called ES Explorer (free) which allows me to access my shared files on my iMac (which is acting as a file server on my home network). I just to the folder where I have my mp4 video files, do a tap-n-hold on a desired video file to display the popup menu, and select “Open As”. I then tell it to use the built-in ES Video Player and away I go!  I’ve got my selected video streaming from my iMac’s shared folder, through my home WiFi Network to my Kindle Fire. I can do the same thing with my Acer Iconia Tablet and Samsung Smartphone.

The transfer speeds are very good, and I don’t see any lagging. I can also grab the scrub bar and move forward through the video to skip commercials. You just gotta love WiFi and file sharing!

Sprint Nexus S 4G – Bad Radio

I love my Nexus S 4G smartphone because of the bright screen, quick operation, and the fact I can install custom ROMs if desired. The one thing I really am disappointed with is the cellular radio performance. I routinely only get 1 or 2 bars with my Nexus S on the Sprint Network, while with my old Palm Pixi I almost always got a full set of bars. In fact, it seems that I often get zero bars and switch from 3G to 1x while driving around the Seattle area. What’s up with that?

From what I’ve read in various forums, this issue is common with the Samsung Nexus S 4G phones, so I don’t think it is because I have a defective device. Before I began installing custom ROMs on my Nexus I notice the same issues with the the stock Gingerbread OS as well.

Since the life of the Nexus S for Sprint seems limited with the upcoming release of the newer Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I may need to do an early upgrade to that new device. I’ll only do it if I know for sure the radio signal strength has been improved over my Nexus S phone. I’ve also contemplated switching off Sprint and move to Sprint or AT&T for better phone selection, however, I would have to give up my unlimited data plan which I don’t want to do.

Calendar mayhem!

I have trouble remembering appointments, family events, birthdays, etc. so I rely heavily on a calendar to keep my life in order. This is true for both my personal and business life, so like to keep two separate calendars to keep things compartmentalized. The issue I’ve been struggling with is finding the most efficient way of dealing with these two calendars and keeping them synced with my computers and mobile devices.

So here’s what I have available:

1. Personal calendar for my personal appointments and events
2. Business calendar for my work appointments, travel dates, etc.
3. An iMac at home running Snow Leopard Mac X OS
4. A Dell laptop running Windows 7 for work
5. An Apple iPhone 4 as my smartphone
6. Microsoft Exchange Server for my work email, calendar, and contacts
7. Apple MobileMe for Calendar, Email, and Contacts
8. Google Calendar and Contacts

My goal, is to be able to view and edit my calendar appointments (personal and business) on my iMac desktop computer, Dell laptop, and iPhone device. I know there’s all kinds of 3rd-party freeware and commercial software for syncing calendar data between applications and the cloud, but I wanted to minimize that as much as possible to eliminate any chances of “foul ups”.

I ended up using this solution: Create two calendars with my MobileMe account that allows me to create,view, and edit appointments. If you’re unfamiliar with MobileMe, it is Apple’s cloud-based system which allows for centralized email, calendar, contacts, and offline disk storage. Using this method, I can always access my calendars via a web browser with an Internet connection. Because the majority of my devices are Apple-based, it made sense using this method for syncing purposes. So, I now use the Apple iCal application to access both MobileMe calendars on my iMac desktop computer, and the built-in Calendar app on my iPhone for doing the same. For my Dell laptop (running Windows 7), I use the Microsoft Outlook application along with a MobileMe syncing utility (provided by Apple) to sync my two MobileMe calendars with Outlook for local access. This method seems to work well so far, but I need to always make sure I’m viewing the two MobileMe calendars in all my apps and not the default local calendars (which should be empty).

Trip Tracker – A great smartphone app for travelers

Trip Tracker is a great app that I use to keep track of my airline, rental car, and hotel reservations. It’s made by Page Once, and available for free for the iPhone and Android smartphone devices. I’ve been using the iPhone version and am very, very pleased with its functionality. Once I’ve set it up to access my airline, rental car, and hotel frequent traveler accounts, it will automatically download my latest reservations to my iPhone. It will also display my current frequent flyer miles/points for those accounts as well. Finally, it will send me notifications alerting me of upcoming travel via my email and popup notification on my iPhone. What a great app!

For airline reservations, it will show you the arrival/departure times and gate numbers at the airport. What I really like about it is that I can check my reservations without having to fumble with paper printouts or search through my emails for my travel confirmation information. Best of all, it’s free, so I recommend anyone who travels to check out this app.

Smartphone Transition

I’ve been using smartphones for a number of years and find it valuable to have the Internet at my fingertips while on the go. Accessing my email, web pages, and GPS-enabled maps for navigation has been great while on business trips. I started off by using a Motorola Windows Mobile 5 device, then upgraded to a Palm Pixi WebOS, and now I’m using a Verizon iPhone 4. I really like my iPhone 4, but I may have to turn it in as I’m looking for a new job and this phone is provided by my current employer. So what new smartphone should I get?

The iPhone 4 is nice and I know I would be happy with it, however, it is on the Verizon network and my family currently uses Sprint. I’d prefer to stay with Sprint and get a new line on my family’s plan, so getting a Verizon iPhone with a new account, etc. has its drawbacks. HP/Palm has re-entered the smartphone market (after delays during Palm’s acquisition), but their new Veer and Pre 3 phones won’t be available until this summer. Besides, the Pre 3 is a bit too chunky for me and I’d prefer to not have a slide out keyboard. I’ve seen “spy photos” of a new Pre phone that looks appealing (it actually looks like my iPod Touch), but who knows when that will be released. Finally, there’s a bunch of Android phones available on the Sprint network including the Nexus S Google phone which looks really nice (with the new Gingerbread OS version).

Whichever phone I choose, I want to make sure I get the same functionality as my current iPhone 4. I started by examining the apps that I current use on my iPhone, and it turns out that they are all available for the Android smartphone as well. I’ve used the Sprint Navigation app in the past as well as the Verizon Navigation app (both I like), but I noticed that the Nexus S won’t have any Sprint apps loaded. Fortunately, it will have the new Google Nav app which apparently works just as well (or even better) according to the video I watched on Google’s site. So I think I’m covered there.

Finally, I really want a phone that will have enough juice to last me through an entire day (7 am through 7 pm). My iPhone 4 has great battery life, and if I switch to an HP Pre 3 or Nexus S Android phone I’ll need to have equivalent battery life. I have a feeling it will be close, so I do need to take that into consideration.

So for the moment, I’m leaning towards getting the Nexus S Android smartphone with the Verizon iPhone 4 closely behind. I’d consider the HP Pre 3 as well once it is released and I can check it out (although I still don’t like its slide out keyboard). Decisions, decisions…

HP/Palm Bombshell

After the big HP/Palm shindig on Feb 9th, it seems that HP has been cooking up a few new devices for the masses. They announced a few new WebOS smartphones as well as the Touchpad device. Although the new smartphones still look like slight variations to the original Palm Pre phone, they do offer some interesting features. The HP Pre Veer is an incredibly tiny smartphone but seems to run very fast with a quicker processor and updated OS. The HP Pre 3 is the bigger cousin to the Palm Pre, with a larger screen and improved OS speed.

Finally, the Touchpad is HP/Palm’s entry into the growing world of tablet devices, and I think they have the best shot at competing with the Apple iPad. Sure, there’s numerous Android Honeycomb OS tablets about to be released, but I think the Touchpad running an improved WebOS (Enyo) is going to be a real winner. Of course, Apple isn’t sitting still and I’ve read rumors of the impending release of the iPad 2 and future developments on the iPad 3.

In my opinion, pricing is a big deciding factor in what devices a consumer purchases. A lot of the announced tablet devices are prices well over the current price of an Apple iPad, which I think is ridiculous. Are these competing devices better than the iPad? I can’t imagine that they are, so how are they going to get people to spend the extra money for them? In my view, the Apple iPad is a great product and the incumbent tablet to beat in this industry. So, it will be interesting to see what HP charges for their Pre and Touchpad devices.

HP hasn’t announced any firm release dates for any of these products, so we can assume they’ll be out sometime after the summer 2011. Also, I’m curious to the battery life of these smartphones and tablet device as that is a big factor in deciding what device to purchase. Apple has been really awesome with battery life for their MacBooks,  iPhones, iPods, and iPads so they are stiff competition in this area. We’ll have to wait and see what HP can offer.

The wonderful world of eBay bidding

Since branching off into Microsoft Windows Phone 7 app development, I needed to purchase a handset device for testing purposes. The supplied software emulator works fine, but you always need to test on a handset before app deployment (especially if you’re using hardware-specific features such as GPS).

Buying a WP7 handset off-contract is pretty pricey, costing around $600 or more. Normally I’d buy a handset to be used as my personal cell phone, but since Sprint doesn’t carry any WP7 phones that isn’t an option for me. So my only really option at the moment is to buy a used WP7 handset off eBay at a reduced rate. So I began searching the eBay listings for WP7 phones and was surprised to find most of them going for over $320 US (which I guess isn’t too bad if new ones cost $600 US). Because I plan to use the handset only for testing purposes (no cell activation) I wanted to keep the cost as low as possible.

So as I watched what was available and began bidding on items, I’ve learned a few basic lessons:

1. When bidding on an item, make sure you read the entire description of the product. You can’t assume that it will come with accessories unless it is written in the description. For example, I noticed that one phone did not come with a battery charger so that would have been an added expense.
2. Don’t bid too early on an item. If you do so, you could drive the price up with a “bidding frenzy”.
3. Wait until the very last few seconds to make your bid. I lost a bid on an item by someone who waited until the last 10 seconds before the auction ended to make his final bid. I learned from this lesson on my next bid attempt, waiting until the last few seconds before pressing the “bid” button.
4. After you “win” an auction, you’ll need to pay using a PayPal account. So make sure you have one already established with a valid credit card already verified by PayPal. Otherwise, your purchase can be delayed which will results in you getting your “prize” later than you expected.
5. Also, some buyers expect payment immediately after the auction is over, so be prepared ahead of time.

I was able to “win” a HTC 7 Pro WP7 handset for a price of around $200 US so that should suffice for my testing needs. Now I just have to wait for the seller to ship off my won product and hope that it works as advertised.