Long history short, I’m brazilian and I’m going to Vegas next month for EVO.
Cel Phones are really, really REALLY expensive in Brazil, so I’m just using that crappy ones that can’t even play some mp3s or take some photos.
So since i’m going to US for a while I wanna buy me a nice cel phone. Not the top ones because they are too much expensive, but i’m looking for the best I can get for a 250 USD maximum. What would you recommend? Any good stores in Vegas to buy them?
Main use would be internet and gamining.
The price needs to be for a celphone free of contracts, for obvious reasons.
Smartphones are expensive here, too, unfortunately. Also, define ‘nice’. If you don’t mind owning phones that are several years outdated, you can probably get one for around that price. I think a unopened 8GB iPhone 3GS costs around that?
well, from “nice” I mean a phone that you can use to hear mp3s, take pictures, use internet to check forums/email and play some games like angry birds and stuff…
I also not a cel phone hardcore user (my current one doesn’t even play mp3s), so I don’t even know what I’m acually missing from one smartphone to another.
What can I lose from “phones that are several years outdated” in comparison to newer ones? Can you give me a couple of examples?
The thing is you going to need a sim card phone, at least that’s how it is in Europe and Asia T-mobile and AT&T are the only ones that I know of that use sim cards you will also need it to be unlocked or at least a phone that’s easy to unlock Do you know anyone in states that you could order one and have it shipped to their address and you could get it from them at evo I know newegg use to have decent deals on unlocked phones
What he means: some US cell companies don’t use phones with sim cards, Verizon being a notable offender. If you buy a Verizon branded phone, you will not be able to use it back at home.
Good luck, American cell phone compaines don’t play well with sim cards, don’t use standard neworks and everyone up here just signs up for a 2 year contract without even doing the math - they’ll pay $200 more for a phone because “ON CONTRACT THAT SHIT IS ONLY $50 MAN SUCH A DEAL”
Virgin Mobile is $30 for a month, no contract, and their phones are pretty cheap. It’s probably the best short term option at the moment.
I usually don’t do contracts, and when I do I’m more than prepared to pay the ETF should I choose to do so. There’s also a lot of loopholes to get out of one if you need to as well. Also, how does one pay more for a phone if they get it at a subsidized price? I’m confused on that one.
American Cell companies and Sim cards are a 50/50 split. GSM networks require a SIM to function, this would be something like AT&T, or straight talk. CDMA networks, which are primarily Verizon and Sprint, do not require a SIM to function. Even if a phone will accept a SIM card, it doesn’t necessarily it has the proper radio and firmware to work on a foreign network, although most of the world operates on GSM, so that would be a good start.
WEll, you basically pay “less” if you were already going to sign up for a contract anyways.
But I always use pre-paid contracts so in my case, yes, it’s not worth it to get the subsidized price.
The ones Eperelez mentioned looks like a great deal if you could manage to be able to order one of those you would be straight its GSM but its all so unlocked you can find GSM phones the thing is they need to be unlocked because here the two major GSM phone carriers AT&T and T-Mobile are locked to each one of their services so you can’t use their phone with their competitor so its more than just switching the chip so unless you unlock the phone you wont be able to use them in Brazil
Yeah things are different in the states but don’t feel bad its like that in most of the world the States is were its fucked up and you have to get locked into contracts and locked phones
