Q&A: what are pro's/con's of purchasing as "unlocked" cell phone vs a phone through carrier ?

i currently have a samsung “Blackjack” (2 yrs ancient) through at+t and am looking to hold an HTC “Fuze” (at+t version of touch pro) and i don’t know the advantages of purchasing “unlocked” HTC and maybe upgrade to a “Touch Diamond” which is not offered by at+t. My understanding is that an “unlocked” phone can be used by taking sim card out of current phone (recognized blackjack at+t) and switch into an unlocked phone and it will function just the same. (???) 1 reason for a exchange of cell phone is the fact that i want a new cell phone. i have also been recently having distress with reception and i was told that the conundrum may maybe be caused by an older sim card. Again, i don’t know how right that may be but if it is right, is it possible to have all information from ancient phone to new (ancient sim to new sim). And, i don’t know how to tell what is really on the ancient card… for example: i can’t tell if all my “contacts” are really on the sim card and which ones may not be on it. Is there 1 “master” button to get everything place on that sim card. i also have a mini sd card with a lot of digital stuff on it and would that card be compatible with the new phone? This is a lot to question but i cannot get any of these yahoo’s that want to sell me a phone to give me the reassurrance that some or all of this may be possible. They just say “yes” to everything and i really don’t feel confident with any that i have encountered lately. I am trying to do as much research as i can but there are too many things that i don’t know and i don’t want to throw $ $ $ $ out the window….the days of spending money as if i had a lot of it, have certainly come and gone. Any help from anyone out there would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

Answer by BeJizzle
Wow, we have a lot to cover:

Unlocked phones gives you the freedom of switching mostly to phones that your carrier (AT&T) doesn’t carry. Once a phone is unlocked, it will take any simcard, so you can buy additional phones (such as the Diamond) and not be tied down with the option of phones only AT&T give you. Also having an unlocked phone, you can travel abroad and use a community carrier’s simcard for cheaper tariff.

The conundrum with your Blackjack can easily be rectified, just call or pop into an AT&T [corporate] store and say your sim card is the theater arts up. They will question for your number and identification, and you should be up and running in less than 10 minutes.

I currently have a Fuze running on Windows Mobile 6.1, and I think the Blackjack runs on 6.0, but Try going to Contacts>Menu>sim administrator to see what numbers are all saved to the sim. If none are there, you can go back into your contact list, press menu, and select all to go to the simcard if you wish.

Most new mid-end and high-end phones includes a MICROSD slot, not Mini SD. The HTC Diamond doesn’t have a MicroSD slot, but the Fuze does.

I say go for the Fuze directly through AT&T, which is $ 299 after a $ 50 mail-in rebate. You can also insure the Fuze for an additional $ 5 per month on your monthly bill. An unlocked Diamond would most likely cost $ 450 or more. The Fuze is basically a HTC Diamond with a [GREAT!!] slide-out keyboard and with AT&T logo on it.

ANY more questions, feel free to question…

Answer by el tom
The main difference between a locked and an unlocked phone is the price. The phones get locked by the operators/carriers in order to ensure that you stay in they network for the duration of a subscription contract which includes a subsidized plot for the phone. They estimate that even if they give you the phone at a lower price they will recover this subsidy (and more) by you using the phone in their network for that duration.

An unlocked phone will be paid for at the market price (no subsidy) but you are free to switch to another network at any time, you are not bound to any specific network.

Another business to consider is that the locked phone may also be modified by the operator and it might have its brand all over the place. Some operators may even mess up with the software on the phones removing some of the features they don’t particularly like, e.g. VoIP support.

Buying unlocked phones with the first software as unrestricted by manufacturer is usually the best choice but of course the price is something to consider.

What do you reckon? Answer below!

Ok guys, i need to choose which phone to get (won’t be getting it for about a month) out of these phones:
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10
HTC HD2
HTC Desire

So may maybe somebody please clarify to me the advantages and dis-advantages of each phone and which one is best considering i would use it a lot for internet use, maps, just generally browsing the internet along with e-mailing along with the general phone use, texting and phoning.
I would really be grateful for it
Thanks in advance

PS: Please do NOT just tell me a phone to get or tell me another phone which i have not listed is better. Thanks

Answer by confusedgirl
a blackberry
they rock

Answer by Sorena
I will give you a full comparison between the 3 phones, you choose for yourself. But in my opinion the Xperia X10 is the best one.

The Xperia X10 has Android OS (over 10000 apps, lots of them are free) – 8 mp camera. On the additional hand, the HD2 has a slightly larger screen (0.3 inch larger) – larger amount of RAM and ROM. The HTC Desire doesn’t have any considerable advantages over the X10 and HD2. You can see more specifics in this link:

http://www.jawal123.com/PublicPages/Compare.aspx?IDs=-1830391701_86884831_-1948088755_&Lang=en-US

But the HTC Droid Incredible is better than all 3 of these and its about the same price. (Sorry i just had to mention this INCREDIBLE phone! )

http://phones.verizonwireless.com/htc/incredible/

Cheers

Know better? Place your own answer in the comments!
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