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Questions thinking about switching

t12b25

t12b25

Android Enthusiast
Hi, I was thinking about switching now with the in store promotions being offered just had a few questions before doing so.

1. First of all out of the 3 phones being offered which is best?. I think I know the clear winner , but would like opinions I am coming from a 4.3" phone.

2. I heard there was an activation fee if so how much would it be?.

3. What is the proper way to transfer your phone number from one company to another?.

4. How are 4g speeds in the Miami/South Florida area I am in Miami Gardens/Carol City if that helps if anyone is near me. Yes I have seen the thread on speeds near me, but I do know they vary greatly by areas.

Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to know what I'm getting into before I do .
I would appreciate any help. :D
Thank you ,
Tony
 
1. Best 3 phones currently out would be first the samsung galaxy s3. 2nd Lg motion but id u like larger screens then try the lg connect.

2. activation fee at store ranges from $10-15 depending on the dealer most stores do it for $15 but ive found some around my area only charging $10 but if u buy the phone online from metro then u can activate yourself free by using *228 or 611

3. proper way of way of transfering number is called porting number over which metro pcs does do but would require you giving your current carrier account info to metro like name bday and pass they contact your carrier and have them release your number to them.

4. 4g in south florida is pretty good ill say average 5-6mbps even at 7-8mbps from screen shots ive seen on a thread we have on this subforum for speed test in florida.

for more info about 4g coverage/speeds in south florida check out this thread some screenshot will amaze you.

http://androidforums.com/metro-pcs/725884-florida-4g-metro-speeds.html
 
If you will be hyper-vigilant in being sure the ESSN is clean and other questions are asked of your seller, there are some pretty good deals on used Spirits on The Bay.

I too would get a used Spirit before a new Motion. (And yes, I have Both.)

Bruce in Ocala, FL
 
t12b25 said:
Hi, I was thinking about switching now with the in store promotions being offered just had a few questions before doing so.

1. First of all out of the 3 phones being offered which is best?. I think I know the clear winner , but would like opinions I am coming from a 4.3" phone.

2. I heard there was an activation fee if so how much would it be?.

3. What is the proper way to transfer your phone number from one company to another?.

4. How are 4g speeds in the Miami/South Florida area I am in Miami Gardens/Carol City if that helps if anyone is near me. Yes I have seen the thread on speeds near me, but I do know they vary greatly by areas.

Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to know what I'm getting into before I do .
I would appreciate any help. :D
Thank you ,
Tony
Click to expand...
I see your current provider is virgin mobile/sprint which of course is a cdma network so you are looking at buying new phone and interested in the deals that metro is offering on cdma phones currently.

They are doing so because they are switching to gsm tech which means you could use any unlocked or tmobile phone.
How long do you normally keep a phone, that will be one major determining factor if you buy one of the cdma phones your speeds will be limited, on 3g tech, any lte should be fine, and cdma phones will phase out by middle of 2015.
So if you generally keep a phone for less then 18 months great get one of those phones and enjoy it.
Otherwise you might consider getting a used or new unlocked/tmobile/ gsm phone and keep it for as long as you want.
 
new optimus said:
I see your current provider is virgin mobile/sprint which of course is a cdma network so you are looking at buying new phone and interested in the deals that metro is offering on cdma phones currently.

They are doing so because they are switching to gsm tech which means you could use any unlocked or tmobile phone.
How long do you normally keep a phone, that will be one major determining factor if you buy one of the cdma phones your speeds will be limited, on 3g tech, any lte should be fine, and cdma phones will phase out by middle of 2015.
So if you generally keep a phone for less then 18 months great get one of those phones and enjoy it.
Otherwise you might consider getting a used or new unlocked/tmobile/ gsm phone and keep it for as long as you want.
Click to expand...



Hi, ok now you made me think. I was thinking of getting the LG motion the price is right can't afford the spirit or s3 right now. I was thinking of keeping it a few months , get a nexus 4 and switching to metro/t-mobile gsm then.
Now my question is when you said 3g tech would I be on metro's LTE , hspa+, or just plain 3g.?
This is helping me a lot , I appreciate it :D
Thanks,
Tony
 
t12b25 said:
Hi, ok now you made me think. I was thinking of getting the LG motion the price is right can't afford the spirit or s3 right now. I was thinking of keeping it a few months , get a nexus 4 and switching to metro/t-mobile gsm then.
Now my question is when you said 3g tech would I be on metro's LTE , hspa+, or just plain 3g.?
This is helping me a lot , I appreciate it :D
Thanks,
Tony
Click to expand...
The motion should be a cdma 3g and 4g lte phone, so you will get lte with 3g cdma to fall back on, or use when your throttled. if your looking at getting another phone, like the nexus 4 in a few months then that will work for you just fine.
 
t12b25 said:
Hi, ok now you made me think. I was thinking of getting the LG motion the price is right can't afford the spirit or s3 right now. I was thinking of keeping it a few months , get a nexus 4 and switching to metro/t-mobile gsm then.
Now my question is when you said 3g tech would I be on metro's LTE , hspa+, or just plain 3g.?
This is helping me a lot , I appreciate it :D
Thanks,
Tony
Click to expand...

Yeah I bought the Motion to use for a couple of months and that was almost a year ago :D. I bought it so I could sell my LG Esteem while it still had high value because I knew the price I could get for it would drop like a rock once the GS3 became available on Metro. The plan was to sell the Esteem, buy the Motion, and use the extra money to start saving for the GS3. But the Motion grew on me so I decided to wait. My hope is that the Nexus 5 or Moto X will come out later this year and live up to expectations. If they do I'll retire the Motion. It's a great little phone and it has a large community here on the forums. For that price Metro's basically giving them away.
 
anubispax said:
Yeah I bought the Motion to use for a couple of months and that was almost a year ago :D. I bought it so I could sell my LG Esteem while it still had high value because I knew the price I could get for it would drop like a rock once the GS3 became available on Metro. The plan was to sell the Esteem, buy the Motion, and use the extra money to start saving for the GS3. But the Motion grew on me so I decided to wait. My hope is that the Nexus 5 or Moto X will come out later this year and live up to expectations. If they do I'll retire the Motion. It's a great little phone and it has a large community here on the forums. For that price Metro's basically giving them away.
Click to expand...

You know I'm thinking it'll be the same for me. I like my evo don't get me wrong I even have a 3d movie on it , but the service isn't great , and i'm tired of being throttled to 0.25 mbps. LG motion and metro here I come hope you treat me well. I'm looking forward to joining this side of the forums.
Thanks ,
Tony
 
The Huawei Premia is better than the motion but doesn't have CWM yet if you're a rooter. Don't choose the LG Motion over it
 
rdrain1994 said:
The Huawei Premia is better than the motion but doesn't have CWM yet if you're a rooter. Don't choose the LG Motion over it
Click to expand...

I'll admit the screen is bigger and it has a very,very slight 3D rendering advantage but that's about it. My cousin has the Premia and it's a decent phone but the battery life is horrible and his voice sounds kinda muffled when we talk. And I know the Premia's 1.5 dual core seems to be better than the Motions "listed" 1.2 dual core but most Motions are really 1.5. But to quote Levar Burton, "you don't have to take my word for it", check out these videos.

Huawei Premia vs LG Motion Quadrant Standard Test - YouTube

Huawei Premia vs Lg Motion AnTuTu Test - YouTube

Huawei Premia 4G vs LG Motion 4G Antutu Benchmark Metro pcs - YouTube

Huawei Premia Vs Lg Motion Quadrant Standard - YouTube
 
I also switched from Virgin to Metro last November. I have the Motion; it's a great phone and does most things well. Why spend a lot of money now when you know you have to upgrade to a GSM phone shortly. In my opinion Metro is so much better than Virgin.
 
elhamda said:
Why spend a lot of money now when you know you have to upgrade to a GSM phone shortly. In my opinion Metro is so much better than Virgin.
Click to expand...

Also keep in mind that the CDMA network still has another year and a half to go. Almost Everyone changes phones at least once in that amount of time.

You could for example get a good shape used Spirit on TheBay for $170-200 and still have a great phone for quite some time.

Bruce in Ocala, FL
 
anubispax said:
I'll admit the screen is bigger and it has a very,very slight 3D rendering advantage but that's about it. My cousin has the Premia and it's a decent phone but the battery life is horrible and his voice sounds kinda muffled when we talk. And I know the Premia's 1.5 dual core seems to be better than the Motions "listed" 1.2 dual core but most Motions are really 1.5. But to quote Levar Burton, "you don't have to take my word for it", check out these videos.

Huawei Premia vs LG Motion Quadrant Standard Test - YouTube

Huawei Premia vs Lg Motion AnTuTu Test - YouTube

Huawei Premia 4G vs LG Motion 4G Antutu Benchmark Metro pcs - YouTube

Huawei Premia Vs Lg Motion Quadrant Standard - YouTube
Click to expand...

Well first the screen is bigger (who doesn't want a bigger screen) the premia has about 100 more PPI on the screen which is pretty nice. The motion doesn't have a notification light (I think is very useful). Only thing that the motion has over it to me is that I see that you all are getting Cyanogenmod and the phone has an extended battery. Oh and of course the more internal memory but you can just buy an sd card. But once this phone gets an extended battery and our CWM is up and going (which both are soon to be I believe) there's no question. But yeah this phone video recording is bad just because of the steady auto focus while recording
 
Well that explains that.

I Obviously have Completely the Opposite idea of what "Better Than" means than You do.

Silly me. :p

Bruce in Ocala, FL
 
Shabbypenguin said:
how exactly is the motion better? im honestly curious. im a straight shooter about phone specs, and since i tend to have to offer recommendations of what phone to buy on metro i should be informed.
Click to expand...

Well it scores higher benchmarks and in my opinion has better build quality. The listed SOC of 1.2 for the Motion is kinda incorrect as most people are seeing 1.5 dual core. Having said that, the phones are pretty close specwise but I have to give the edge to the Motion. I like to think of the Motion as the Spirit Mini lol. One other thing to consider is the community and devs. In that department the Motion has a huge advantage as of now. But who knows with this fire sale there may be a lot of new peeps on the Premia forum.:)
 
anubispax said:
Well it scores higher benchmarks and in my opinion has better build quality. The listed SOC of 1.2 for the Motion is kinda incorrect as most people are seeing 1.5 dual core. Having said that, the phones are pretty close specwise but I have to give the edge to the Motion. I like to think of the Motion as the Spirit Mini lol. One other thing to consider is the community and devs. In that department the Motion has a huge advantage as of now. But who knows with this fire sale there may be a lot of new peeps on the Premia forum.:)
Click to expand...

benchmarks are artificial crap. i can take a indulge make a tmpfs and outscore every single person ever in quadrant. now that is quadrant and i know no one is cheating, but it just further proves the point that they are a good basis for comparing upgrades (as in sgs3 vs sgs4, evo 3d vs evo lte vs htc one) but is fairly terrible at comparing different phones to each other.

both phones have the qualcomm 1.5ghz snapdragon s4 chipset, there is no motion edging it out specwise the premia beats the motion black and blue in terms of specs. the premia has an unlocked bootloader (just found out a few days ago, posting OUDHS recovery for em tonight.) which means they could actually have a fully functional cm rom. they can have custom kernels, they can do overclocking (lets compare benchmarks then).

in my opinion both of them are cheap plasticy crapboxes, but for the price both are amazing devices. i think for the average consumer they are gunna go with the premia. bigger screen, bigger resolution, same speed...
 
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