• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

"Unofficial" Android Phones That Work Well On AT&T

M

Mr. Glass

Newbie
Hi Everyone,

I am thinking about skipping this round of iPhone and opting for an Android handset for use on AT&T.

I may wait for the Samsung Captivate, but am wary about how it will stack up, particularly when it comes to the feel of the touchscreen compared other handsets. (The sensitivity of the touchscreen on my 3GS is one of the biggest factors that has kept me from switching so far.)

My Question:

Aside from the Nexus One and Milestone (international version), what other high-end Android handsets can be used in one way or another on AT&T's 3G frequencies?

Would the Incredible, Evo, or Droid X support 850MHz and 1900MHz if they are SIM unlocked?

Thank you for your help and please pardon any naivety, as I am still catching up when it comes to Android, due to lack of a selection of devices to play around with at AT&T.

-Glass

(Moderator: Please feel free to move this thread if it is in the wrong section)
 
The Incredible, EVO and Droid X are CDMA devices. ATT uses GSM. As such, none of the devices you've listed would be able to work on ATT.
 
This would probably be better for the ATT subforum, but we'll leave it here for now and see what kind of responses you get.


^ Is correct. CDMA technology does not use SIM cards and won't work on GSM (AT&T's network). You could get a GSM Hero.
 
If I'm not mistaken, don't some or all of those devices also feature a SIM card slot for "international" use?

What I haven't been able to find out is if that SIM slot only supports GSM voice, or if it also supports 3G use as well.

If it does support AT&T's 3G frequencies (850/1900), then hypothetically, all I would have to do get a subsidy unlock for the the SIM card portion of the radio and it should be able to operate on AT&T.
 
None of those devices has SIM slots for international roaming. Some CDMA devices do, most don't and none you mentioned do. I am not sure what phones would work. The best thing to do would probably be to go to amazon, they have a nice selection of unlocked phones, and see what android phones support those bands. None branded for a US carrier will work since none of the CDMA androids have sim slots and T-Mobile uses different bands than att

EDIT: I did some looking around on amazon and found the Motorola Milestone and Milestone XT701 both support att bands. there is a whole host of htc phones, including the legend and desire, neither of which would be bad choices.
 
So it looks like I was very much mistaken, my bad...:o

For some reason, I had though that Sprint and Verizon offered roaming capable Android phones.

That said, is the general consensus still that the Nexus One is the best iPhone competitor for use on AT&T?
 
I would rather have the legend than the nexus one myself. I really like the sense UI. but if you want an att branded phone, not an unlocked phone direct from motorola/htc/sony, then yes, the Nexus One is the way to go. Or the Captivate that is coming out soon.
 
Cincinnati Bell is getting the Motorola Motoroi.

Telus (Canada) is getting the HTC Desire (named Triumph).

I have an Acer Liquid, supports 1900MHz 3G band (3G been working for me well)

Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk
 
Again, choose the HTC Aria. It is an actual AT&T phone and you can get it for free with a two year contract on wirefly. I don't know why you are not considering it, it is a great device.
 
nickdog670 said:
Again, choose the HTC Aria. It is an actual AT&T phone and you can get it for free with a two year contract on wirefly. I don't know why you are not considering it, it is a great device.
Click to expand...

I was slightly at one point, but after playing around with it extensively, I found that the small screen size made it difficult to type compared to the MyTouch, Nexus One, and especially the iPhone.

Also, I am ideally looking for better specs processor and RAM wise.

My dream (although I don't foresee this for a while) would be a phone that could play 720P MKV files cleanly without skipping and successfully output them to a TV through an HDMI port. (It would be especially nice to be able to drag and drop such files onto the device over USB without having to SSH into a buggy, Jailbroken iPhone.) Unfortunately, this is not even something I can do to satisfaction on my netbook [smooth playback] (Lenovo S12 ion).

When it comes to smooth HD playback on a phone itself (MKV, preferably), it seems like developers are closer to making this happen on an Android device then the Jailbreak community is on iPhone.

Sorry if this is getting off topic, but that is one of my driving reasons behind whatever device I end up with [and the device after that].
 
I just recently got the HTC Desire on AT&T. It's runs off 850/2100 3G so the 850 band will work with AT&T and it works quite well in this area. No 1900 3G band, however. The specs are very close to the Nexus One with the major differences being that it has an optical joystick (as opposed to a trak ball), real buttons for the Home/Menu/Back/Search, and no noise-cancelling mic. I really like the phone thus far, but it's not the cheapest option out there, that's for sure. It's originally a Telstra branded phone that was totally unbranded.
 
this thread has been really helpful for me since i'm in the same boat as the OP. i've been mainly considering the nexus one though! the desire seems like a good choice as well though, if only for the physical buttons haha. Does anyone know if there is a way to determine what 3g bands are available in your area? Or if one is more prominent than the other. It would really suck to throw down a ton of money on a phone and not even have 3g work on it...
 
legion21 said:
I was under the impression that AT&T used the 850 and 1900 bands for their 3G network.
edit: so if i wanted to get a desire that works on 850/1900 bands i would have to buy this 634$ monster? http://www.amazon.com/HTC-Smartphone-Touchscreen-Bluetooth-International-Warranty/dp/B00383MWY8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1277642772&sr=1-3
Click to expand...


No. You are right - AT&T uses 850/1900 bands for their 3G network. The phone you linked (A8181) doesn't have either of those 3G banks. The A8183 is the one that has the 850/2100 3G bands that will work on the AT&T network. I believe AT&T has been trying to phase out 1900 since 850 is more reliable in buildings, etc. The 2100 3G band is primarily used in Europe and I think most of the world.

The A8183 is a Telstra branded phone that you can find places that unbrand the phone and that is the one I have. It's not cheap, though.
 
Yes HSPA/WCDMA is 3G. It uses either 1900MHz or 850MHz 3G band (1900 being the stronger, 850 they are working on building more. This is unlike T-Mobile which requires both 900&1700). My phone has the 1900MHz but not 850MHz and I get fairly strong 3G coverage throughout the greater Houston area.

You can find independent 3G coverage maps for both bands through Google. If it had 1 of those 3G bands, it will work on AT&T 3G (else it would be voice/EDGE only).

Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk
 
I was under the impression that AT&T used the 850 and 1900 bands for their 3G network.
edit: so if i wanted to get a desire that works on 850/1900 ban
Click to expand...


No. You are right - AT&T uses 850/1900 bands for their 3G network. The phone you linked (A8181) doesn't have either of those 3G banks. The A8183 is the one that has the 850/2100 3G bands that will work on the AT&T network. I believe AT&T has been trying to phase out 1900 since 850 is more reliable in buildings, etc. The 2100 3G band is primarily used in Europe and I think most of the world.

The A8183 is a Telstra branded phone that you can find places that unbrand the phone and that is the one I have. It's not cheap, though.
Click to expand...

That was my dream phone but did not desire the $850 price tag.


Sent from my Liquid using Tapatalk
 
Yea $850 is frikken rediculous... idk why they cant just release the phone for the US. I'm sure they're missing out on thousands of sales here in the US.. I also saw that the telstra phone only supports the 850 bands and not the 1900 bands, which would be unfortunate because from a map i saw the 3g coverage in my area is 1900
 
If you have ways to buy phones from Canada, we have the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Acer Liquid E, Motorola Milestone, and HTC Legend. Get them unlocked and you should be able to use them on AT&T's network as the Canadian carriers (Rogers, Bell, and Telus) use the same 3G frequencies as AT&T's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom