Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been excited about this phone ever since I found out it was going to be available in my region. I went so far as to try and cancel my account early and pay the fee just to get the phone. However in the end after a bunch of misinformation and hoop jumping I was able to get this phone from my current provider Rogers, tho I’m not sure I would recommend them to anyone else after my most recent interaction.
Now you may be asking yourself, why all the fuss over a phone? Why is it so special? I like toys!
This phone will run you on Rogers with a 3 year plan $179.99 or $649.99 with no term contract, that is after the $50 (yet another hoop!) mail in rebate, and $35 account/activation management fee.
Now to understand why I have been so excited about this phone you have to know the history of my last few phones. My most recent phone before this was a Apple iPhone 3gs running iOS 3 thru 5, which I bought to jailbreak and run some NES emulators on it between bus transfers on the way to work. Prior to that I had a Samsung Black Jack 2 running Windows mobile, it was purchased so I could stream shoutcast radio while on the go. Anything prior to that is so antiquated we shouldn’t even mention them.
Lets discuss the phone itself:
The Specific Model is SGH-1727R it comes pre-loaded with the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, and is slated to receive Ice Cream Sandwich later.
Dual Core 1.5GHz Processor, 1 Gigabyte RAM, 8MP Camera with flash, a 2MP Front Facing Camera, HD Video Recording and playback, GPS, 16 Gigabyte memory expandable with upto 32 Gigabyte Micro SD card, and a 4.5” Super AMOLED Plus display
Now after a week using it I like this phone, but it is not without its faults, from a physical standpoint using the screen with one hand does pose some difficulty for all options, the screen is just too big to navigate without difficulty (tho NBA players will probably not have a problem). The speaker phone leaves a lot to be desired, at high volumes it is distorted. Tthe few times I have attempted to use speakerphone the person on the other end had quality issues, which is a big negative for me as I use it frequently. I also noticed a few times the need to reboot the device in order to use data, can’t quite figure out whats causing it to stop functioning. To get data to work at all in the beginning I had to change a setting in the phone for data to function on Rogers regular network because LTE isn’t available in my neighbourhood, nor do I feel like paying extra for 75MB on a cellphone, utterly pointless for a mobile device.
What this phone does right is give you a beautiful coloured 400×800 pixel display encased in a very light weight form that is only 132 grams, you will feel like you forgot to put it in your pocket. So powerful it allows Android to do what it was built to do, everything you want. It’s blazing fast from boot to power down, everything is responsive. The Android live wallpaper is a very nice feature, there are many options but I decided to go with the a weather one. At a glace of my phone I know what the weather is like outside, sunny, cloudy, wet or dry. I looked at my phone and thought the screen was messed up, it was just the live wallpaper showing me it was stormy outside.
To say I am not satisfied with this phone right now would be lying, it is not perfect but no gadget ever is, there is always something better or more shiny just around the corner or available for a few dollars more. Coming from an iPhone there have been some learning curves, like the first phone call I received I tried to tap the green button instead of swiping it. Nor have I rooted this device yet, and that is something I usually do when I first get it home. Custom roms are not available for it yet, as the hardware is different from most other phones out there, tho I suspect it will be developed for sooner rather than later. The specifications are just too good to ignore playing with it.
In conclusion, I would recommend this phone to anyone who wants a powerful device in their pocket able to handle just about anything you could throw at it. If your a bleeding edge, run custom hacks on it just because you can, pick up the Bell non-LTE version and root away and load your roms today, because waiting for tomorrow can be a very long time in the dead of winter in Canada.
If unlocked will it work with mobilicity 1700/2100 frequencies?
It lists the following frequencies:
LTE Dual Band (700Mhz/AWS)
HSPA+ 21 Mbps Tri Band (850/1900/2100Mhz)
EDGE/GPRS/GSM Quad Band (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
So I want to say yes to the 2100 and no to the 1700 frequencies, but I just honestly don’t know. If you give those numbers to your provider they can answer for sure.