Buy unlocked or Verizon?

[NewArtDroid]

Should I buy the unlocked or Verizon version, which is $50 more at Best Buy and doesn't come with the $50 gift card?

I am upgrading from Pixel 2XL.

However, I want to keep my Pixel 2XL to still upload Google photos for free. So if removing the SIM card will stop that, that won't work for me.

 

[Clementine_3]

The $50 is going to get you their C-band/mmwave coverage, the unlocked phones don't have that radio. If you live in an area that gets that it may be worth your while but the coverage is very sparse and spotty right now.

I'm not positive but the Google photos are based on the phone and not the sim, hopefully someone has better info on that

If I were to get a 6a I would not be getting Verizon's version.

 

[Dannydet]

Google photos is linked to your Gmail account, so you can access them on any browser also.
You won't lose your photos.

 

[ocnbrze]

yeah google photos is not tied to your sim but rather your google account. just need to sign in to your new phone and as long as your new phone is sync'd, your photos will appear. now keep in mind that it is not downloaded, but can be viewed thru the web via wifi or cellular.

i bought the unlocked version of the z fold 3 vs getting it directly from verizon. i would recommend that you do the same. this way you do not get verizon's bloatware.

 

[Clementine_3]

Google photos allows unlimited storage, or did. I believe that is based on the phone model.
I found this but am not sure it's exactly actually completely right lol.

edit: by not exactly right I mean the phones, not sure what the cutoff actually is...

 

[Hadron]

The unlimited original quality Google Photos storage was linked to the phone, not the SIM. I believe that the article is wrong in claiming that it's only the original Pixels retained it, but also not sure where the cut-off was (I think my Pixel 2 still had it). But a new one, no, definitely not.

Of course that means that if you want to use your old Pixel 2 XL for this purpose you must turn off Google Photos backup on any new phone, since anything uploaded from there will be using your storage (it may be worth checking whether newer ones can do free storage of reduced quality images, as I vaguely remember something like that when the removal of free original quality storage was announced).

But remember, your Pixel 2 XL won't last forever (my Pixel 2 failed catastrophically a few months after I replaced it). At some point you'll have to give up on this.