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Question about owning both Android and iPhone

egeek84

egeek84

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 26, 2010
448
160
Northern California
Hey Guys,
Right now I own a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 which I absolutely love. The thing is though, I am planning on getting an iPhone 5 (ATT version) and I was wondering if there is a way for me to swap between phones on a single line? I was originally going to get an iPod touch but decided to go with an iPhone instead because the specs are better and because one of my lines is eligible for an upgrade. I also read that you can use the iPhone as an iPod if you really want to but ideally i'd like to use it as a backup phone or maybe if i'm feeling like it, go months using it as a phone instead of the Note 2. I just don't want to pick between my iPhone and Android phone becuase I love them both. Please advise me if this is even possible and the best route to take. Thanks.
 
You'll have to get an adapter (nano-to-micro). Once you get one, switching is as easy as placing the SIM card in the phone that you want to use.
 
most carriers have an online page where you can swap sims instantly, too. takes 5 minutes to switch. i do it with my bb z10
 
Theoretically a nano sim can be reprogrammed, unlike previous sims. If you get your hands on a nano sim, activate it, pop it into the note (with appropriate adapter), you can hop between phone all you want. You just have to call to activate the sim that is in the phone you want to use.

For me this is more hassle than it would be to just swap sims, but if you are the type of person who might lose things, or you just find it more convenient to go that route, this might be something worth giving a try.
 
i have a captivate glide full keyboard with galaxy s 1 internals, and i use 2 own iphone 4 , i switched cuz iphone keyboard is godawful, and for running a business, touch screen is weak sauce. so i took my micro found an old cut sim card and kind of fit it back in. so i can use both, i use iphone for ipod music stuff.
 

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lordofthereef said:
Theoretically a nano sim can be reprogrammed, unlike previous sims. If you get your hands on a nano sim, activate it, pop it into the note (with appropriate adapter), you can hop between phone all you want. You just have to call to activate the sim that is in the phone you want to use.

For me this is more hassle than it would be to just swap sims, but if you are the type of person who might lose things, or you just find it more convenient to go that route, this might be something worth giving a try.
Click to expand...

Well the iPhone 5 comes with a nano sim so if i put that in an adapter and then put it in my note 2, will i still have to call? Also att told me that once you activate a sim card, the previous one is deactivated and can never be activated again.
 
Beenblacklisted said:
i have a captivate glide full keyboard with galaxy s 1 internals, and i use 2 own iphone 4 , i switched cuz iphone keyboard is godawful, and for running a business, touch screen is weak sauce. so i took my micro found an old cut sim card and kind of fit it back in. so i can use both, i use iphone for ipod music stuff.
Click to expand...
I did this with a Micro sim card and a full size sim card. I took the full size card and cut a hole in it like you did where I can place my micro sim into it and then use it in a 3GS or my 4S or Nexus 4.
 
egeek84 said:
Well the iPhone 5 comes with a nano sim so if i put that in an adapter and then put it in my note 2, will i still have to call? Also att told me that once you activate a sim card, the previous one is deactivated and can never be activated again.
Click to expand...

You can put the nanosim in an adapter and it would work without calling.
 
egeek84 said:
Well the iPhone 5 comes with a nano sim so if i put that in an adapter and then put it in my note 2, will i still have to call? Also att told me that once you activate a sim card, the previous one is deactivated and can never be activated again.
Click to expand...

No, you will not. What I was trying to do is give you two options since it seemed like you wanted to byass swapping out sims.

Scenario one: Swap sims out. Simple as that. Visual voicemail may cause issues without a phone call. Otherwise everything should would fine.

Scenario two: Keep a nano sim in each phone. When you want to swap phones, make a phone call. This will also make sure VVM is working fine.

The vast majority of people will go with option one. It's basically the selling point of a sim card; one does not have to deal with the actual carrier when swapping phones if they don't want to. But, if you don't want to be swapping cards, option two is on the table as well. :)
 
You'd come out better getting an ipod touch 5g.

I rock mine as a lesser OS to my Galaxy s III.

Both platforms definitely have their advantages
 
lordofthereef said:
No, you will not. What I was trying to do is give you two options since it seemed like you wanted to byass swapping out sims.

Scenario one: Swap sims out. Simple as that. Visual voicemail may cause issues without a phone call. Otherwise everything should would fine.

Scenario two: Keep a nano sim in each phone. When you want to swap phones, make a phone call. This will also make sure VVM is working fine.

The vast majority of people will go with option one. It's basically the selling point of a sim card; one does not have to deal with the actual carrier when swapping phones if they don't want to. But, if you don't want to be swapping cards, option two is on the table as well. :)
Click to expand...
ah ok thanks. But what about the plan? iPhone uses the iPhone data plan, and the Note 2 uses the "smartphone" data plan. Which one should I have on my account or will it not matter?
 
egeek84 said:
ah ok thanks. But what about the plan? iPhone uses the iPhone data plan, and the Note 2 uses the "smartphone" data plan. Which one should I have on my account or will it not matter?
Click to expand...


For the most part it will not matter. I had no problems going from my iPhone data plan to an Android phone. No calls needed. Just a simple SIM swap.
 
egeek84 said:
ah ok thanks. But what about the plan? iPhone uses the iPhone data plan, and the Note 2 uses the "smartphone" data plan. Which one should I have on my account or will it not matter?
Click to expand...

The reason there is an iPhone data plan and a smartphone data plan, as far as I can tell, is because of vvm. For some reason iPhone just does that differently. Other than that, the plan doesn't matter.
 
thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated

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lordofthereef said:
The reason there is an iPhone data plan and a smartphone data plan, as far as I can tell, is because of vvm. For some reason iPhone just does that differently. Other than that, the plan doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

can you recommend me a good nano sim to micro sim adapter and a website to purchase it from?
i was eyeing this one http://www.amazon.com/iCoolkit-iPhone-Stander-Adapter-Holder/dp/B009ABEA7E/ref=pd_cp_cps_1
 
Last edited:
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I have the S3 and an old iPhone 4S. I can swap out the sim and use both phones (calls, email, wifi etc) but once you get set up on the S3, your voice mail won't work on the iPhone. aTT has to do some switching of ?? Not sure what.

Voice mail didn't work on my S3 when I first got it because my sim (or service) was programmed to the iPhone when I first stuck my sim in the S3. Called aTT, they did their thing and it worked fine. Swapped my sim back to my iPhone and the voicemail didn't work on my iPhone anymore. So I stuck with the S3 (I was just playing around anyway).

I DO miss visual voicemail that the iPhone had.
 
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woodekm said:
I have the S3 and an old iPhone 4S. I can swap out the sim and use both phones (calls, email, wifi etc) but once you get set up on the S3, your voice mail won't work on the iPhone. aTT has to do some switching of ?? Not sure what.

Voice mail didn't work on my S3 when I first got it because my sim (or service) was programmed to the iPhone when I first stuck my sim in the S3. Called aTT, they did their thing and it worked fine. Swapped my sim back to my iPhone and the voicemail didn't work on my iPhone anymore. So I stuck with the S3 (I was just playing around anyway).

I DO miss visual voicemail that the iPhone had.
Click to expand...

Have you downloaded Google Voice? It ties into your real line and gives it VVM as well as transcribing the VM. Pretty nifty, and works seamlessly :)
 
Mxbzz said:
Have you downloaded Google Voice? It ties into your real line and gives it VVM as well as transcribing the VM. Pretty nifty, and works seamlessly :)
Click to expand...

It isn't great, IMO, when you are swapping between an iPhone and Android device. Beautiful on Android, less than half baked on iOS, sadly. :(
 
lordofthereef said:
It isn't great, IMO, when you are swapping between an iPhone and Android device. Beautiful on Android, less than half baked on iOS, sadly. :(
Click to expand...

Yeah I can see how it could be a nuisance if switching frequently. I haven't used my iPhone 5 since November so it has become a non-issue for me.
 
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