OT - Buying HTC phone on eBay
So I think I'm finally ready to take the leap to a smartphone. I'm really interested in the HTC Touch Pro 2, as it has both a physical keyboard that slides out, as well as a large touch screen. Anyone have experience with that phone?
Anyways, I'm thinking about buying it unlocked on eBay. However, I heard from a friend that the 3G might not work if the seller sends me a phone from Canada/Europe/Asia. Is there something I need to look out for?
Any other tid bits?
August 25th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
What carrier do you use? If it's Verizon, they have Certified Pre-owned Devices that are basically new (refurbished), but it comes with a 1-year warranty. I went that route for my HTC Droid Eris a while ago only because I bought a phone off E-bay and it died 3 months later. Warranty = good.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^
Also, I can't speak for that phone, but as I said, I have the HTC Droid Eris and the Android OS is awesome. No problems with HTC either. I personally would never use a phone with a pull out keyboard - the on screen keypad is really accurate and efficient.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:02 PM ^
...after searching for what seemed like forever. I love it though. I switched from AT&T and the curve. I will never look back.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:18 PM ^
The HTC EVO is my first smart phone and I cannot live without it. I hardly use my laptop anymore.
August 25th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
HTC EVO FTW. It's quite literally the Escalade of smartphones. There's nothing it can't do. The only downside is that it sucks juice like a mofo.
August 25th, 2010 at 4:22 PM ^
The same thing online. Haven't bought one yet, hoping for lower electrical consumption in future iterations. There were some suggestions online as to lowering consumption by turning off various GPS or other functions that may not have needed to be "on" full time.
August 25th, 2010 at 5:13 PM ^
should look into the Samsung Epics coming out on sprint at the end of the month, even nicer, i waited and will be getting one pre-order.
As for the Touch Pro 2, it is a Winmo device and the OS version (6.5, I believe) will be obsolete in a month or two when W7 Mobile releases. It will never have an ecosytem that supports aplications, extensions, etc. Depends on what you want to use it for and wther or not it will provide the functionality you want over the long term. It would suck to buy the phone and save a few bucks now, just to find out a few months later that it doesn't do a lot of what you wanted/expected from a smartphone.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
Personally I would go to a carrier like Verizon to get a smart phone that way you don't have to worry about it not working correctly. The Droid or new Droid 2 have a touch screen and full pullout keyboard, but I guess it depends on your budget. I have the HTC Incredible and love it, but it does not have a pullout keyboard like you want (I don't mind).
August 25th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
Cant speak about ebay or anything, but you picked a good phone.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^
I don't know who your current carrier is, but if you aren't with AT&T, this is a good deal. I have this phone, and I would highly recommend it.
http://mobility.dell.com/eCommerce/SpecialOffer.aspx?cid=35693_9eb5a2d2…
August 25th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
My problem with that phone is Att tried crippling it's androids by not allowing unsigned apps to be installed which means no backing up your apps and reinstalling later. Unless you download from market every time.
EDIT: Nvm you can install unsigned apps just have to do a work around.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
Ok you'll need to know if your phone is gsm or cdma. If you have sprint or verizon you have cdma and your out of luck buying a phone on ebay since you usually have to go into the store and have them activate your phone and they usually avoid phones they don't sell or have stopped selling.
If you have gsm your in luck you can pop your sim card into the new card and it will work but how well depends on the phone and your service.
If you have Att your gsm bands are 850Mhz and 1900Mhz.
If you have Tmobile your gsm band is 1900Mhz.
This is for 2g.
For 3g
if you have Tmobile WCDMA 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz
if you have Att its the same as 2g.
Basically if you have Att makes sure it's a quad band and it will work on the whole att network. If it's not and only has 1900 it only gets restricted coverage. Check what the the 3g bands are and if they match up it will work for your att 3g.
If Tmobile you'll get full coverage with 1900. Then makes sure 3g bands match tmobiles and your set.
August 25th, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^
*228 option #1 is activation. Just did that a couple months ago.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
I have kept my HTC Mogul for now (had it 2+ yrs) because of the svc. plan on Sprint. Currently, for $90/mo, I have 2 phones, 1500 minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited txt, & for another $15, unlimited data in 3G. I'd be interested in an HTC EVO as a handset if I can switch it out for my Mogul without changing the plan. But at Sprint, they claim that the EVO isn't avail. unless I change the plan & pay more for 4G data.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
More then likely it won't be possible. Your best bet is to upgrade to the best 3g phone sprint has which off the top of my head i don't know. Or try to convince a sells rep to only upgrade the 4g portion for the EVO or EPIC 4g. If they decline and say you have to upgrade you main phone plan try another sells rep or call again.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
I have it... love it. I've had the 6700, mogul, TP, and now TP2. Love the thing. I typically get the newest phone when it comes out... my brother just got the EVO. But honestly... I have no issues with the TP2, so I will not get rid of it. Some think they need Iphones or Droid now, because that's whats cool and on the commercials. And it seems like some companies are shying away from the Windows Mobile OS, but I love it and only want to use WM. I will warn you, if you're not familar with smart phones, battery life sucks, if you do a lot on them, which I do. But I like WM because it's a good mixture for work and personal use.
For example, I run Slingbox on my phone to watch games when I'm not around, also can run that directly into my car speakers for really dangerous driving. I also have Garmin Mobile XT, which is great becaus it works on actual GPS, not aGPS, so you get coverage when your cell service is gone. I also use Slacker Radio, to stream commercial-free music. I also use ORB through Kinoma FreePlay, so I can stream ALL of my music straight from my home PC to my phone, so no need to ever use my ipod or fill up my SD card. Also use WMWifRouter, so when I'm out of town, I can use my phone as a router for my netbook. Then if I want to listen to my Sirius radio and Stern... I just turn on SXRadio2 and stream Stern to my phone. Then when I park my car in a garage or far away lot, I use CarLocator to find where I parked. Then, if I'm taking a dump, I play a few games of Guitar Hero, Pocket UNO, or Tiger Woods golf... now if I can just figure out a way to wipe my butt with it... I'll be good!
August 25th, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
Only one day have I had the EVO run out of juice before I was through with it. You're guaranteed to have to charge it nightly but the battery life issues aren't nearly as bad as people make them out to be. Android 2.2 also increases battery life. If you're smart about using the task manager and setting programs to sync at a reasonable interval, you'll have no troubles.