Virgin Mobile Samsung Galaxy SII VS. Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE, LTE or no LTE?

[henrodstone]

Hey guys,

I'm signing up with Virgin Mobile soon and I've got a bit of a dilemma on my hands, because while the G SII is a better phone, the Victory 4G LTE has the LTE support that the G SII doesn't have, so my question is, should I get the lesser Victory that has LTE, or is Sprint's LTE not quite good enough to warrant getting a lesser phone, people are saying that LTE should have coverage identical to 3G by the end of 2013, but is that a true promise? In other words, I prefer the G SII in almost every way to the Victory, but since the G SII is not compatible with LTE, should that be a good enough reason to downgrade to the Victory?

Thanks!

 

[TheBritton]

LTE will soon be in every market that has 3G.. essentially replacing 3G although 3G will still be available for a while.
Right now I am typing this on the Galaxy S2 but I have a Victory LTE that I am in the process of activating so I can give you a comparison later on.

Right now I can tell you the S2 has a bigger screen, but the Victory has better battery life. Storage, RAM, and CPU are identical so you aren't losing anything spec wise.

LTE coverage is scattered right now but Sprint is rapidly expanding. It isn't available in my area but it is literally moving up the highway toward my direction. It seems every few months its a few cities closer. They plan to upgrade every 3G tower which means if you can get 3G or 4G Wimax now you will eventually see LTE. Sprint says by the end of 2013 the LTE coverage will be near completion if not completed.

 

[henrodstone]

Thanks, I will go ahead and say that I'm one of the few people that thinks that Sprint 3G is pretty good? (when you can get it) Anyway, I've done a little more reading and noticed that Sprint's WiMax towers don't go offline until 2015 and since I usually keep a phone for 1.5-2.0 years, I'll be able to use the WiMax network until it's dropped, and hopefully by then either Virgin Mobile or Boost Mobile will have a better selection of LTE devices.

 

[Prinny]

I dunno, the Victory is a cheaper priced phone. That's why I got it. And LTE when it comes to your area will blow WiMax away

Then again, I don't have WiMax, and I will get LTE eventually. (I heard within the next month.) So that's why I got it. I honestly like the phone. Its not as big as my Evo V was, but that's fine. It's big enough for me to enjoy it now.

 

[TheBritton]

Yep! Also the camera on Victory is 5mp while the S2 is 8mp if that matters to you.
Been using the Victory for a few hours and is it just me or is it much snappier than the S2?

 

[Prinny]

Yep! Also the camera on Victory is 5mp while the S2 is 8mp if that matters to you.
Been using the Victory for a few hours and is it just me or is it much snappier than the S2?

Cant say for sure, but the phone is quite responsive.

 

[henrodstone]

I dunno, the Victory is a cheaper priced phone. That's why I got it. And LTE when it comes to your area will blow WiMax away


Then again, I don't have WiMax, and I will get LTE eventually. (I heard within the next month.) So that's why I got it. I honestly like the phone. Its not as big as my Evo V was, but that's fine. It's big enough for me to enjoy it now.

Well, I mostly travel between Atlanta, GA and Fairhope, AL, and right now Atlanta has Sprint LTE, but Fairhope, AL doesn't and the closest place to get LTE is Atlanta, even though WiMax coverage is about the same, if not worse. And besides, there's only a $30.00 difference between the G S II and the Victory, so it's not that big of a difference, and besides, maybe Sprint will also have some expected bugs worked out of LTE in a year or two.

Yep! Also the camera on Victory is 5mp while the S2 is 8mp if that matters to you.
Been using the Victory for a few hours and is it just me or is it much snappier than the S2?

And camera quality doesn't really matter to me, I'm still one of those doofuses that prefers to carry a pouch with a point and shoot camera, until the cell phone companies can make a camera that I personally think is better than my $350.00 Canon camera, I'm just going to reserve my phone camera for quicky, unimportant stuff.

And I guess it is a little more responsive, being that it has a smaller, lower quality screen and various other sacrifices, but I'll also say that I do like bigger screened phones, being that I have big hands

 

[jmatherly411]

Hey guys,

I'm signing up with Virgin Mobile soon and I've got a bit of a dilemma on my hands, because while the G SII is a better phone, the Victory 4G LTE has the LTE support that the G SII doesn't have, so my question is, should I get the lesser Victory that has LTE, or is Sprint's LTE not quite good enough to warrant getting a lesser phone, people are saying that LTE should have coverage identical to 3G by the end of 2013, but is that a true promise? In other words, I prefer the G SII in almost every way to the Victory, but since the G SII is not compatible with LTE, should that be a good enough reason to downgrade to the Victory?

Thanks!

I currently have the 3VO V 4G on Virgin Mobile and I'm considering moving to the Victory LTE, as far as the S2 and Victory go the screen is .5'' smaller than the Galaxy S2 and pretty sure the Victory only uses a WVGA display while the S2 has the super AMOLED display. Other than that spec wise the phones are about identical. S2 uses WiMax and the Victory is using LTE for its 4G technology. Sprint will be rolling out LTE to areas that have 3G data while also upgrading there towers for more capacity while using 3G and also doing data speed upgrades to 3G service as well. While the whole Sprint network is getting an overhaul and implementing "Network Vision" they are also rolling out HD voice probably by Q4. This technology will be only used if calling other Sprint customers...pretty sure. You can check what work is currently being performed in your area or whats scheduled to be upgraded by visiting network.sprint.com

 

[Tejer]

I was in the same boat stuck between the s2 the victory. I had the evo v and sold it. I got the victory mostly because reviews for it were great, it is reported as snappier than the s2 and got it for $175 on tax refund sale. It's better than the evo and a better investment than the s2 my opinion since it will have LTE and the specs aren't too different to justify the extra cost.

 

[henrodstone]

Well, I just bought an EVO V on Ebay for $150.00, and I'll use that until VM gets some higher-end LTE devices. I would have gotten the S2, but I thought the EVO V was a better value.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Tejer]

Well, I just bought an EVO V on Ebay for $150.00, and I'll use that until VM gets some higher-end LTE devices. I would have gotten the S2, but I thought the EVO V was a better value.

Thanks for your help!

A good choice, definitely a better value. It's hard to justify paying $150 + more for a phone with just a better camera, and slightly bigger screen. Then again, it was voted better than the iphone 4...might be paying for bragging rights.

 

[henrodstone]

A good choice, definitely a better value. It's hard to justify paying $150 + more for a phone with just a better camera, and slightly bigger screen. Then again, it was voted better than the iphone 4...might be paying for bragging rights.

IKR, can't wait 'till Monday when it comes in the mail! Plus I held dummy versions of the S2 and Evo V at Walmart and the HTC definitely wins in quality and in my opinion, looks. And besides, your friends $200.00 iPhone 5 can't take 3D pictures and videos, even though that's kind of a gimmick. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this phone for the rest of the year, Maybe, just maybe, VM will get the EVO 4G LTE, that's still my dream phone.

 

[maaneeack]

I'm thinking of upgrading to one of these two phones from my VM Triumph. Should I, or should I wait? I'm on the $25/m plan still. I think I'll have to change that if I upgrade.

 

[henrodstone]

I'm thinking of upgrading to one of these two phones from my VM Triumph. Should I, or should I wait? I'm on the $25/m plan still. I think I'll have to change that if I upgrade.

Oh yeah, go right ahead, the difference will be night and day, I've had my EVO V for the last three weeks and it's definitely the best phone I've ever owned, and yes, you'll probably have to step up to at least the $35.00 a month plan, but compared to a MOTO Triumph, it's money well spent.

 

[maaneeack]

Oh yeah, go right ahead, the difference will be night and day, I've had my EVO V for the last three weeks and it's definitely the best phone I've ever owned, and yes, you'll probably have to step up to at least the $35.00 a month plan, but compared to a MOTO Triumph, it's money well spent.

Considering I haven't done any updating on my MT I might have to seriously consider changing. I'm using the 2.2.2 version of Minimal Triumph still. Aside from being unresponsive sometimes the phone is fine. Only really use the phone a few times a day anymore. That alone may be a reason not to upgrade right now.

My brother has my old Intercept that restored to stock and he's got the same plan. So does our mom but shes on the Mantra flip. At least the MT would have a good home in my brother, until he drops it. That Intercept, omg that's a tough ass phone.

 

[dibblebill]

Considering I haven't done any updating on my MT I might have to seriously consider changing. I'm using the 2.2.2 version of Minimal Triumph still. Aside from being unresponsive sometimes the phone is fine. Only really use the phone a few times a day anymore. That alone may be a reason not to upgrade right now.

My brother has my old Intercept that restored to stock and he's got the same plan. So does our mom but shes on the Mantra flip. At least the MT would have a good home in my brother, until he drops it. That Intercept, omg that's a tough ass phone.

Should see th eone my roommate had. He threw his at his car by accident (long story there), and it exploded so badly on contact that even the microSD was shattered.