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iTouch-Like Android Phones with no Data Plan in U.S.

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Erik Neu

Lurker
I just got a T-Mobile MyTouch (Magic). First Android phone, first smartphone. So far I like it, but I am still not sure it is worth the incremental $25/month for the Data Plan. Especially since, after my 14-day remorse period, that becomes a two-year commitment. So essentially I am making not a $200 purchase, but an $800 purchase ($200 for phone + 24 months x $25/month). So I am not even 100% sure I will keep the phone.

In the meantime, though, my kids think it is really cool and want one themselves. Well NO WAY am I shelling out $25/month x 3 for KIDS (young teens) to get data plans. But what I was wondering is whether anyone knows if the cheaper, next-gen Android phones are likely to not require a data plan? Because if so, it would be worth waiting a few months (our contract is up now).

Does anyone have any insight? Whether through T-Mobile, or another carrier, such as Verizon?
 
Erik Neu said:
I just got a T-Mobile MyTouch (Magic). First Android phone, first smartphone. So far I like it, but I am still not sure it is worth the incremental $25/month for the Data Plan. Especially since, after my 14-day remorse period, that becomes a two-year commitment. So essentially I am making not a $200 purchase, but an $800 purchase ($200 for phone + 24 months x $25/month). So I am not even 100% sure I will keep the phone.

In the meantime, though, my kids think it is really cool and want one themselves. Well NO WAY am I shelling out $25/month x 3 for KIDS (young teens) to get data plans. But what I was wondering is whether anyone knows if the cheaper, next-gen Android phones are likely to not require a data plan? Because if so, it would be worth waiting a few months (our contract is up now).

Does anyone have any insight? Whether through T-Mobile, or another carrier, such as Verizon?
Click to expand...

Android, iPhone, Pre, Xperia ALL are linked tightly to have web/data plans

So dont understand how you might think there would be any Smart phones without data ... and in the short time none of the carriers are going to greatly reduce the price for data nor their contracts .... that is why the are in business ...
 
I believe there are some android powered mp3 player/pda type devices coming soon. They would be similar to an ipod touch I suppose.
 
I strongly considered an iPod Touch. After all, it has wi-fi and you can find wi-fi networks in many areas today. If you and your children have access to wi-fi for much of your day (home, work, school, etc) a solution like this may be okay. After all, you can IM and e-mail which pretty much eliminates the need for text messages.

A friend recently purchased a 3rd generation iPod Touch. He keeps it interfaced in the car for music, but without data access everywhere, it isn't the communication tool he had hoped.
 
Erik Neu said:
In the meantime, though, my kids think it is really cool and want one themselves. Well NO WAY am I shelling out $25/month x 3 for KIDS (young teens) to get data plans. But what I was wondering is whether anyone knows if the cheaper, next-gen Android phones are likely to not require a data plan? Because if so, it would be worth waiting a few months (our contract is up now).
Click to expand...

How about help your kids the old fashion way? Mowing lawns, working a job (if old enough) , etc?
 
Erik Neu said:
I just got a T-Mobile MyTouch (Magic). First Android phone, first smartphone. So far I like it, but I am still not sure it is worth the incremental $25/month for the Data Plan. Especially since, after my 14-day remorse period, that becomes a two-year commitment. So essentially I am making not a $200 purchase, but an $800 purchase ($200 for phone + 24 months x $25/month). So I am not even 100% sure I will keep the phone.

In the meantime, though, my kids think it is really cool and want one themselves. Well NO WAY am I shelling out $25/month x 3 for KIDS (young teens) to get data plans. But what I was wondering is whether anyone knows if the cheaper, next-gen Android phones are likely to not require a data plan? Because if so, it would be worth waiting a few months (our contract is up now).

Does anyone have any insight? Whether through T-Mobile, or another carrier, such as Verizon?
Click to expand...

I agree with you and believe that we will start seeing these phones without a required data plan, but how soon that will be is anybodies guess. Right now the carriers have people snowed into believing that somehow there is no way to make this happen, yet people with unlocked iPhones running on T-Mobile have no problem using the iPhone without a data plan.

Interesting thread on the topic also over at the gdgt forums at HTC Eris (Droid Eris, Desire): Archaic service plan - gdgt

As someone on the above thread suggests, people with certain disabilities could really benefit from the Android interface. Who knows, it could ultimately come down to a class action lawsuit by people with disabilities since there is no option for them to get such a phone without a data plan.
 
The ipod touch isn't a phone so the devices listed in that thread should be equiv.
I assume itouch is just a shortened name for ipod touch since there isn't anything called an itouch.
 
Eugene said:
The ipod touch isn't a phone so the devices listed in that thread should be equiv.
I assume itouch is just a shortened name for ipod touch since there isn't anything called an itouch.
Click to expand...

Yeah itouch is another name. I hate that name with a passion, sounds so pedo-ish and just incorrect. Data plans suck but you have to realize that while there expensive they really hook you up to the world in places vyou need it most. Nothing sucked more trying to check google maps, facebook, etc.(with my ipod touch) When bored only to get blocked by the WEP on "joes wifi" your trying to break into. Now if wifi is blocked I can just use EVDO, really a good advantage.
 
So many posters trashed the OP's question as if it was heresy to want all those smart apps to run over cheap wi-fi rather than expensive cell phone minutes. Without a phone, the Ipod Touch is a music player? Seems like there are a lot of people posting here who work for the phone companies.

I'm also looking for exactly what the OP is asking for: web functionality in a hand-held, and open OS with access to a developer-built app market, web mail, IMs, streaming media.

There's no cell service at my house, it's spotty around town, and I don't leave this area that much. The cell phone I have comes off the charger maybe 20 minutes a week because I can't get enough service to make calls most of the time.

But at home, or in the free wifi hotspot at the local diner, I'd like to have some fun technology in my palm, and I'd like to have it at home without being anchored to my computer.

It's a reasonable request. Is it REALLY not possible to buy an unlocked cell phone model that has wi-fi support, not buy a data plan, and configure and use the wi-fi only? Sure, I'd like to turn off the cell wireless to save battery life. Sure, I'd pay maybe $400 for the phone, but I'd pay that in less than a year even on a cheap cell phone plan, and data plans around here aren't cheap. More likely, I'd spend that in less than 6 months.

It won't work? Cell phones with wi-fi won't run their wi-fi unless I've bought a data plan?? even if the phone is unlocked? Is that really true? It seems odd, like the phone company consortium still has its hooks into my phone even though I broke away from one of them by unlocking it.
 
Erik Neu said:
I just got a T-Mobile MyTouch (Magic). First Android phone, first smartphone. So far I like it, but I am still not sure it is worth the incremental $25/month for the Data Plan. Especially since, after my 14-day remorse period, that becomes a two-year commitment. So essentially I am making not a $200 purchase, but an $800 purchase ($200 for phone + 24 months x $25/month). So I am not even 100% sure I will keep the phone.

In the meantime, though, my kids think it is really cool and want one themselves. Well NO WAY am I shelling out $25/month x 3 for KIDS (young teens) to get data plans. But what I was wondering is whether anyone knows if the cheaper, next-gen Android phones are likely to not require a data plan? Because if so, it would be worth waiting a few months (our contract is up now).

Does anyone have any insight? Whether through T-Mobile, or another carrier, such as Verizon?
Click to expand...

The only way to get an android smart phone on T-mobile without having to add a data subscription to your phone plan, is to buy the phone at full retail value. The subsidies offered on smartphones by the carriers is based on the additional revenue generated by the included data subscription. Without this extra revenue, the carriers would not be willing to offer such large subsidies on the phones. AT&T on the other hand forces all smartphone owners into a data subscription whether they bought the phone with a subsidy or not.

I recommend changing your plan to the non-contract "Even More Plus" plan which T-mobile still offers in their retail stores and through their telephone sales reps (not on their website). The EM+ plan offers the same services as the contract plans but they are around $20 cheaper per month for plans that include a data subscription and $10 cheaper per month on plans that do not include a data subscription (multiply the savings by 2 on family plans). They offer this savings on the plan because there is no subsidy on the purchase of the phone. The advantage is, the monthly savings will offset the cost of purchasing the phone at full retail value and you won't be tied to a contract.
 
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