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Are T-Mobile version phones of lesser quality than the manufacturer versions?

G

GAMESHARQ

Android Enthusiast
I'm thinking of getting the Note 4. But generally speaking, are the T-Mobile versions of phones just as good as the manufacturer versions? Or do they remove features and quality in order to port it over?
 
The featureset may vary from one carrier to another, but the overall quality of the device should absolutely be the same. The major difference between an unlocked, purchased-straight-from-the-manufacturer device and a carrier version is generally that the carriers like to load up value-added software bloatware. You don't really have to worry about that with T-Mobile though. :)
 
I think you have to worry about Verizon. Some manufacturer got mad at them and so they quit making it. I forgot which device.
 
Good point jjfad - I'd forgotten about that (very interesting) report.

Here's the TL;DR:
While we don't know for certain why T-Mobile phones last longer on a charge, there are some strong possibilities. T-Mobile's network could be more efficient at sending and receiving data because of the bands it uses, or maybe there are far fewer customers on its LTE network, easing the strain. Another possibility is that T-Mobile tends to pre-load less bloatware on its flagship devices relative to the other carriers.
Click to expand...
 
Hey all - I just want to be clear about something when shopping for a new phone and I figured I'd just ask here instead of making another topic.

If I am using T-Mobile's no contract $30/month prepaid plan, can I use any unlocked GSM phone? The reason I ask is because while I was looking on Walmart.com, they have 2 different filters - 1 for no contract phones and 1 for unlocked phones.
 
Any unlocked GSM phone will work for voice/texts, but for data you need to be sure the phone has the proper frequencies enabled. Here they are:

About T-Mobile coverage | T-Mobile Support

Note that T-Mobile's LTE frequency is also sometimes called Band 4. More and more unlocked phones are supporting T-Mobile's bands, for example the excellent Nexus 5.
 
Thanks. It seems like TM's frequencies are 1700 and 2100. Does this mean that as long as the phone uses either 1700 or 2100, it's good? Or does it need both 1700 and 2100?
 
Also for LTE they've started to use PCS which is called either Band 2(B2) or 1900, also they're starting to use the 700MHz A block also called Band 12(B12)
 
tmobile doesn't manufacture phones, they are manufactured by a company and the company puts the tmobile logo on the phone !

The galaxy s4, s5 did....I'm sure the note 4 will
 
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