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.

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.

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…

Sprint dropping the Palm Pre smartphones

This posting on precentral.net seems to indicate that the wireless carrier Sprint will be dropping the Palm Pre from their lineup of smartphones. Sprint was one of the original carriers of the Palm Pre line of phones, and now it seems to be dropping them completely. Sprint began selling the original Palm Pre over one year ago and later sold the Palm Pixi, but never carried the improved Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus phones.

I have a Palm Pixi phone that I got it when the device was first released (over a year ago). That’s a long time for a cell phone, as new designs seem to come out on a 6-8 month cycle. Of course, the delay in providing new and different phones is understandable since the sale of Palm this summer to HP was a big distraction. Palm seemed busy improving the WebOS operating system (now close to releasing 2.0) but their handsets seemed to have suffered. Maybe HP has high hopes of using WebOS on a new tablet device and that took priority over the smartphones?

I’ve used a few different smartphone OSes and I have to say that the Palm WebOS is one of the best. The true multitasking and “card stacking” is a great feature, and if they are able to improve the performance and speed with the WebOS 2.0 version that’s even better. Hopefully, HP will put out some new and exciting phones within the next 6 months and we’ll see them appear on Sprint and other networks early next year.

Getting a Palm Pixi Smartphone Tomorrow

Sprint will be selling the Palm Pixi Smartphone running WebOS (same operating system as the Palm Pre) tomorrow, and I’ve decided to get it. Although I’ve been developing applications for the Palm Pre for the last few months, I’ve held off getting an actual Palm Pre phone because I was waiting for Palm to firm up their Palm Catalog program. In addition, I wasn’t so crazy about slider phones, so I was waiting to see what the 2nd WebOS phone would be like, and non-slider candy-bar phone is what appeared in the Palm Pixi.

The Pixi has a less powerful CPU, no WiFi, lower resolution camera, and smaller screen when compared to the Pre, but even so I like it better because it is one solid unit (no slider keyboard), the keys on the keyboard are raised and easier to type on, and it’s very, very thin. I’ve never had a WiFi phone before therefore I probably wouldn’t notice it not being present in the Pixi.

I just figured that I’ve gone on long enough without a physical phone to test my WebOS apps on, so now is the time to get one. As such, I’ll probably start posting more on the Palm Pixi and the WebOS, so stay tuned!