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Htc/sprint vs apple/AT&T gets me thinking

M

msavwah

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 5, 2010
394
1
Oahu
Anyone else feeling uneasy?

Just look at the evo on 4g

Cheaper plan (are they charging more for 4g?)
Video chat
Phone as a hotspot

These are advantages over apple in the us only because AT&T is strangling their customers and weighing apple down.

I have been an iPhone user since the day the 1st gen launched. I love a Mac and I'm pecking this out with a few fingers on my beloved new iPad.

I have faith in apple, but
I do not have faith in AT&T

It is seriously time IMO for apple to ditch AT&T as their only provider.
For the first time I am eyeing another phone not only because it's the best competition I think the iPhone has ever had but because the plan is just better.

For me the straw that will break the camels back is tethering. I bought a wifi only iPad because I refuse to pay twice for mobile Internet when there are several reasonable alternatives (ISPs going wifi, telcos offering multiple devices on one plan) I can think of five solutions in my area off the top of my head.
Two of which involve switching carriers and one with a handset I can live with to get the service and features I expect.

When AT&T is preventing apple from giving me what I want what is my reason to stay in this situation?

I am seriously considering this, and I never thought I would
and it makes me a little sad and a little upset to realize it.

This exclusive agreement has been pushed past it's limits and in the face of innovative competition it has become a burden.

I really hope to see apple move on and allow some competition for the iPhone.
I fear that what will happen is that AT&T will attempt to put out this fire with a half baked tethering scheme years late. Which is exactly why this arrangement sucks. It's been coming soon for far too long and I'm afraid it may be too little too late.

I have invested a lot in this ecosystem. Apps, accessories, etc. However I am not certain that I will be buying the next iPhone and continuing on with AT&T.

There is a solution I want and other companies are offering it, it just may be enough for me to give up my beloved iPhone. Give it up for what? For my iPad.
Think about that for a second. I would give up my iPhone to only pay for one mobile Internet data package.
Do you think sprint and verizon are betting on this?

I believe apple knows they will sell more ipads and more iPhones when customers are not forced to buy additional Internet plans for each device and that is what gives me hope and makes me think that the iPad is a sign that things are gonna change regarding apple and AT&T.

However, I'm not sure I can wait past iPhone 4.0.


What do you think?
If there is ever a time for the apple AT&T exclusive agreement to end, shouldn't it be for this years hardware release?
 
I've been extremely happy on Sprint and would love the iPhone to come to them. But it'll be interesting to see if both Sprint and Verizon follow at&t's lead and mandate data plans, etc.
 
Evo is sick

I agree that the Evo is the first phone to even make me turn my head. Apple has over played their hand in my opinion. Now we are seeing the signs that others have caught up. The Motorola Droid was the first phone that I had to admit was on the same level as the Iphone, but the Evo is the first phone that gives you more bang for your buck. Lots of bang.

Wireless tethering - Can't even tether with usb with my Iphone
4.3 Hd screen - 3.7 (if your have seen the Hd2 the screen is sick)
Open media player - Itunes (itunes is good but its like the MP3 police)
android - apple (android is as good if not better in ways)
Flash - Apple wants to control it all and lack of flash is stupid
Sprint - ATT (I had sprint before i went to the Iphone and I never had an issue with dropped calls. Some complain about customer service, but I never had an issue.)
4g ready - Att is a year away at best guest and don't forget that we were promised tethering a year ago.
Front facing camera - Iphone 4g is rumored to have this (key word rumored)

I love my Iphone, but the Evo on paper looks like the Iphone on crack. Unless Apple makes some big news before the Evo comes out, I will be headed back to sprint and will be replacing my laptop with an Ipad.
 
Evo looks awesome on paper. But after playing with the sense ui a bit, I'm sure I could easily learn it, but it seems a bit clunky. Scrolling over 7 screens of widgets? Why??? I dont want 7 pages of apps on the iPhone, too much scrolling
 
HTC is pushing now

Wow .. i was impressed with HD2 on first trial. The response is pretty good .. I started to check for htc phones too .. HD2, Desire, and "Evo" HTC got me thinking about my next phone. I love my 3G and possibly will buy 4g depending on their hardware. What keep me on Iphone is the responsive of OS and little of app store .. we ll see on summer.
 
I agree with some of you. I think Apple definitely needs to get off of AT&T, it is the worst thing about the iPhone right now. I think Apple will (eventually) release a model that can go on any cell service, one for AT&T's kind of chip and one for Verizon. I can't wait to see if this happens this summer!
 
hookem12387 said:
Evo looks awesome on paper. But after playing with the sense ui a bit, I'm sure I could easily learn it, but it seems a bit clunky. Scrolling over 7 screens of widgets? Why??? I dont want 7 pages of apps on the iPhone, too much scrolling
Click to expand...

This is kind of a confusing criticism. You might have 7 screens available, but you're hardly required to use them all. At least with the Sense UI you have the option of folders (which the iPhone will have in a couple months). So what's the difference here between Android and the iPhone?
 
Sense UI is actually my favorite thing about HTC phones, as opposed to the stock android being on the Droid by Motorola. Though, like someone else said, the EVO looks great on paper. The Droid looks great on paper too, but considering I worked at Verizon during launch plus figuring how slow many stores are today, no one is going to be in long lines for this device or anything like that.

I think Apple shows that you need two things: good marketing and a limited amount of options. I mean, there are so many different Android phones spread out through each provider that it all boils down to what the customer wants and what's in their budget. With Apple, it's merely a question of what's in your budget, and maybe if I'd rather settle for last year's model.

Being on AT&T solely, I don't believe Apple has nothing to worry about; though another provider will bring initial new customers, I can imagine just as many current iPhone owners just jumping from one provider to the other causing churn for AT&T. Considering I'm not a fan of Verizon's selling tactics and am not entirely privy to Sprint or T-Mobile's offers, I'm overall happy with my service from AT&T so far. The best I could hope for out of multiple iPhone carriers is a price war in regards to the monthly rate.
 
SonGoku v2.5 said:
Sense UI is actually my favorite thing about HTC phones, as opposed to the stock android being on the Droid by Motorola. Though, like someone else said, the EVO looks great on paper. The Droid looks great on paper too, but considering I worked at Verizon during launch plus figuring how slow many stores are today, no one is going to be in long lines for this device or anything like that.

I think Apple shows that you need two things: good marketing and a limited amount of options. I mean, there are so many different Android phones spread out through each provider that it all boils down to what the customer wants and what's in their budget. With Apple, it's merely a question of what's in your budget, and maybe if I'd rather settle for last year's model.

Being on AT&T solely, I don't believe Apple has nothing to worry about; though another provider will bring initial new customers, I can imagine just as many current iPhone owners just jumping from one provider to the other causing churn for AT&T. Considering I'm not a fan of Verizon's selling tactics and am not entirely privy to Sprint or T-Mobile's offers, I'm overall happy with my service from AT&T so far. The best I could hope for out of multiple iPhone carriers is a price war in regards to the monthly rate.
Click to expand...

No lines for this phone? Trust me some will be waiting for weeks for this phone. When sprint released the palm pre they had folks waiting for weeks and this phone is on an entirely higher level than the pre. This will be the best selling phone in a long time for sprint. You can't even get an HD2 right now witch is the windows version of the Evo. As much as I think its a good looking phone I can't stand Windows phones. Trust me this will be one of the best selling phones of the year. Just go online an read up on it.

Also think about this. Those that purchased the wifi version of the ipad will be able to use this phone to stay connected. I know of several people that have Iphones that are planning to puchase this phone.
 
sims1dh said:
No lines for this phone? Trust me some will be waiting for weeks for this phone.
Click to expand...

I don't deny this and I'm well aware of the phone itself, but when I'm referring to lines I'm referring to the Apple-esque lines you tend to see at many of their Apple stores on launch day. If Verizon is a good example, I've been through the launch days of the Storm 1, the Storm 2, the Droid and Eris, and the Omnia 2. Though I'd say they all had much fanfare online, Vz had their stores open at 6am on each of those launch days expecting iPhone like lines - and though they had respectable lines at only a handful of stores across America, it turned out to be a dud and another slow day everywhere else. My store wasn't even sold out of the Droid OR Eris at the end of Black Friday, and then the returns within 30 days became another issue...some people switching back to their Blackberry phones and some even going back to their iPhones (especially during November through the Droid's initial push).

All I'm saying is that unless the Evo becomes google, HTC, and Sprint's flagship phone, Apple doesn't have much to worry about. Also, due to both the economy and from what I've personally seen inside a wireless store at a mall with the Sprint store right across from me, the customer might not have much to worry about either unless HTC purposely limits the amount of units shipped to each store.
 
SonGoku v2.5 said:
I don't deny this and I'm well aware of the phone itself, but when I'm referring to lines I'm referring to the Apple-esque lines you tend to see at many of their Apple stores on launch day. If Verizon is a good example, I've been through the launch days of the Storm 1, the Storm 2, the Droid and Eris, and the Omnia 2. Though I'd say they all had much fanfare online, Vz had there stores open at 6am on each of those launch days expecting iPhone like lines - and though they had respectable lines at only a handful of stores across America, it turned out to be a dud and another slow day everywhere else. My store wasn't even sold out of the Droid OR Eris at the end of Black Friday, and then the returns within 30 days became another issue...some people switching back to their Blackberry phones and some even going back to their iPhones (especially during November through the Droid's initial push).

All I'm saying is that unless the Evo becomes google, HTC, and Sprint's flagship phone, Apple doesn't have much to worry about. Also, due to both the economy and from what I've personally seen inside a wireless store at a mall with the Sprint store right across from me, the customer might not have much to worry about either unless HTC purposely limits the amount of units shipped to each store.
Click to expand...


I see your point and have to agree. But i think this phone will do better than most and cause some that have the Iphone to consider making a change. Mobile wifi for a reasonable rate is opening up a whole new bag of worms.

Think about this you could get mobile wifi and still have a plan cheaper than the Iphone. Thats very tempting.
 
bthockey said:
I agree with some of you. I think Apple definitely needs to get off of AT&T, it is the worst thing about the iPhone right now. I think Apple will (eventually) release a model that can go on any cell service, one for AT&T's kind of chip and one for Verizon. I can't wait to see if this happens this summer!
Click to expand...

Verizon sucks where I live.

Please dismiss with the generalized network statements, they only show ignorance.

With the exception of sprint of course.
 
I love the iPhone. It currently has the best overall os. I switched to sprint and bought the htc hero because of the plan. No one can beat sprints unlimited plan of $69 a month. Includes unlimited mobile to mobile, text, data, navigation, and 450 landline minutes. It was a close enough to the iPhone to suit my needs, but still aways to go from the smoothness of the iPhone.

The htc evo will be the first real competition for the iPhone. Yes, it is great on paper, but you really got to watch some of the videos to get a feel for how smooth this phone is. The android market is currently outpacing the app store, but most of the good usable apps are already there. You will have true multi tasking, 8mp camera, front facing camera, HD video recording, snap dragon processor, etc... The list goes on and on.

My favorite thing will be wifi tethering my iPad at 4g speeds. Now if sprint gets a 4g iPhone, there would be a duel to the death. Lol
 
Sprint may just shock the market this year

I just spent time at the Sprint store. I almost pulled the trigger today and moved my 5 line, AT&T family plan to sprint, even with my $400 cancellation fee.

I could probably sell my 3 iphones for more than enough to cover the cancellation and maybe even cover some of the new HTC hero purchases.

Why I waited:

1. In July the 4g EVO should be out, I don't want the HTC heros when they are obsolete so soon.
2. I am waiting for more reviews on the EVO. I don't want a swiss army knife, i want an iPhone ease-of-use competitor. What i care about:
  • HTC EVO has to be as easy to sync with outlook and itunes as iPhone. I can see outlook, but not iTunes without hacks.
  • HTC EVO has to support simultaneous talking and surfing, Yeah the ads are hype but I am telling you this is a must have feature for me.

Major selling points of sprint:

1. tethering!!!!!!! holy smokes every HTC supports 8 devices at 4G. Say goodbye to home internet contract.
2. Price!!!!! My $300 a month family plan is 170 at Sprint with my business discount. That includes unlimited data for every phone, i currently on have unlimited data on 2! phones right now !!! $130 a month!!!! ATT you might lose me just typing that out.
3. Geek features. HTC currently blows away iphone. I don't care a whole lot about these, but it will be nice knowing if i ever need a micro sd that i have one, even though i know i will never use most of those stupid features.
 
While Sprint will probably not have a lot of iPhone users leaving for the EVO, it will keep existing Sprint customers from leaving for the iPhone.

If I was still with Sprint, it would keep me from leaving. Especially if I had never had an iPhone before.
 
I'll deffinatly be looking into this this summer. I want to be able to see the new iPhone and evo before I pull the trigger on either. I will say I am really liking htc products. My only issue with the evo may be the size. 4.3 is kinda big. 3.7 would be perfect. I'm also looking forward to seeing what battery is coming in the iPhone, I know the evo has a better battery than the iPhone right now, but the bigger screen may negate any advantage, and the iPhone may come out with a stellar one.
 
I've been very intrigued by EVO 4G as well and Sprint's ability to tether to 8 devices.


BUT you all realize that there will be a 4G PRICE PLAN right?! It will not be the same as the current data plan Sprint is offering. Sprint management aren't idiots to offer 3x speed of 3G at same price while letting customers tether their laptops and iPads:). I see 4G price plan to be at least $15 more than it's current 3G data plan. It may still be worth the price.

Also, I believe CDMA DOES NOT allow talk and surf like GSM technology.
 
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