Project Fi

[Santilli]

Hi DD suggested project Fi for power users.

So far, here is my evaluation:

Rates: 20 flat unlimited, Data for 10 @ 1GB.
Potential to cut my 55.00 a month Sprint bill in half, but, doesn't include taxes, and extra charges.

DD, can you ask your inlaw that has Fi what kind of extra charges google puts on this plan?

Part that bothers me is the phone options. You get both devices, Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 with Android 6. I imagine they come with a pretty bare bones system, without all the typical carrier crap on them.
Rooting them might be a bit messy, for not a lot of functional advantages.

Both come with fixed non-removeable batteries. How long will these batteries last? I tend to like to keep good phones for longer then 2 years,
so having a dead phone due to a dead battery is not cool. Having a hassle to root the phone might also stop you from putting Battery programs on the phone that might extend the life of the battery.

Also, wouldn't this considerably deflate the resale value of the phone, when you decide to sell it? Why would anyone buy a phone that's two years old, with a battery about ready to die, unless they can replace it themselves?
How much does a battery replacement cost on a phone with a fixed battery?

Further, you have to pay for fixed storage. Options are 32 Gig, 64, and 128, IIRC.

So, for me, I'd want the Nexus 6P for 650 dollars, with 128 gigs storage. It would leave the warehouse in 4-5 weeks.
64 gig is 549, so save a 100 bucks.

I'm really on the fence about this...

Suggestions, experiences?

 

[Santilli]

600 spread over two years would be 25 a month. That, plus the Fi useage bill makes it pretty much a wash with my current Sprint bill @55.00 with everything on it. Plus I don't have to fork over 650 dollars up front.

 

[Tea]

I think your second thought is more sensible.

 

[Handruin]

I've thought a bit about this also given past experience and how AT&T now itemizes phone costs rather than roll them in as a subsidy. They're basically offering a 0.0% loan on a device that you have to pay monthly for. To give you an example, my HTC One M8 was around $650 when purchased new about 1.5 years ago right when it became available. Today the phone is worth $75 on Gazelle or $100 credit from AT&T if I were to trade it in.

What I'm wondering is if it's worth just paying for the phone as if it were a lease assuming I'm not to keep it past 2 years anyway. Given the table below, I could lease it for 12 months and then upgrade thereby losing a lot less than I have now by waiting 1.5 years and my phone being worth very little. What I don't have are the data points for my phone's value at 6 months and 12 months. That might be interesting to see where there might be a sweet spot for trading it in vs buying it out.

AT&T Next 24: Divided into 30 installments; can trade in and upgrade after 24 installments
$21.66/month for 30months
Money spent after 24 months: $519.84

AT&T Next 18: Divided into 24 installments; can trade in and upgrade after 18 installments
$27.08/month for 24months
Money spent after 18 months: $487.44

AT&T Next 12: Divided into 20 installments; can trade in and upgrade after 12 installments
$32.50/month for 20months
Money spent after 12 months: $390

 

[Santilli]

Odd as this may sound, being on the cutting edge of phones has some real disadvantages. Rooters haven't worked out a fool proof way of rooting on most new devices.

I'm not at all convinced that the value for a cutting edge phone is there. The market is really weird. I paid 140 dollars for my Samsung Mega SPH-600. It was NOT a full on top of the line phone at the time, though they did try and bring it out at high prices. Last time I looked, to buy one and use on a network was in the 300-450 dollar range, and this three years after it's first release.

Point two:
Newer is often NOT better.

When I was trying to find a phone to replace my girlfriends' iPhone, I found with Ting a Galaxy S3 refurbished for 122 dollars. It was a flag ship phone when it came out, and other then it's smaller size,
it still functions incredibly well, and many rated it the phone of the year in 2013, it's release year.

While I like the Phablet size phones, not everyone does.

The S3 was very much developer done and the easiest root I've done yet. All the bugs are worked out.

Finally a number of the flagship phones do not provide replaceable batteries, or the ability to add storage.
Much as the Apple model of we don't want you improving or modifying our product, even though originally that was what built the Apple fan base, the industry is making 600-800 two year disposable phones, or that is their goal. Why buy into that?

I wonder what the actual cost of the phone build is? 35.00?

 

[Santilli]

Considering China labor, or Korea, more like it's .50 cents. The rest goes into advertizing, and shipping.

 

[Howell]

It has been considerably inconvenient to have my sd card die. Plus, considering how far into the case the port is combined with the myriad of dates transfer option, I'm not sure there is any real advantage to removable memory.

 

[Clocker]

Doug - Do you think your HTC phones dramatic drop in value is somewhat of a special case because of all the problems HTC has had over the years? I have done no research on it but it seems that HTC is being shunned by most. Naturally, getting it when it was brand spanking new at top MSRP didn't help either.

 

[Handruin]

Doug - Do you think your HTC phones dramatic drop in value is somewhat of a special case because of all the problems HTC has had over the years? I have done no research on it but it seems that HTC is being shunned by most. Naturally, getting it when it was brand spanking new at top MSRP didn't help either.

I honestly don't know. When the M8 came out it was very well regarded as a top-tier phone. The current M9 has been lack-luster from everything I've ready given how little things have changed. I realize buying it as soon as it came out wouldn't help this but I really liked it and wanted what it offered. I don't regret getting the phone but I was unclear if I should have bought it out right or done their monthly payment.

 

[mubs]

It has been considerably inconvenient to have my sd card die. Plus, considering how far into the case the port is combined with the myriad of dates transfer option, I'm not sure there is any real advantage to removable memory.

I agree. I've had cards fail in phones too. Seems the environment is not conducive to their health; probably too hot for them inside. I too have been thinking it's beyyer to buy a phone with more built-in storage than to stick in a memory card. In the case of Android, many apps don't like being the the card anyway.

 

[Mercutio]

It has been considerably inconvenient to have my sd card die. Plus, considering how far into the case the port is combined with the myriad of dates transfer option, I'm not sure there is any real advantage to removable memory.

1 hour of HD video takes 8GB on my phone's highest quality setting. Plenty of Android phones are sold with only 8GB of internal storage. Putting aside my preference to carry around a huge library of content and switch in other cards for days that I need the camera, remember that losing the card reader is going to impact more than just the expensive devices most of us probably carry and only being able to record an hour of video with no way to move it out would be awfully lame.

Android M will offer to format a camera card with something besides exFAT so that it can be used with proper security and apps will not longer react poorly to being installed on the card, by the way.

 

[ddrueding]

Android M will offer to format a camera card with something besides exFAT so that it can be used with proper security and apps will not longer react poorly to being installed on the card, by the way.

Looking forward to that. The highest capacity LG G4 is only 32GB, and even with a 128GB card in it that won't be enough if I can't move apps and secured data.

 

[Santilli]

Currently I have 6.63 gigs free on the phone, of about 18
and 7 gigs of 59.4 on the SD card. I'm deleting as much stuff, read bad music and pictures as I can...

 

[Santilli]

Nexus 5 is out. Around 20 a month through Fi. No interest for me.