Should You Get a 4G Smartphone? Discussion

[Adama D. Brown]

This holiday buying season, plenty of would-be smartphone owners are looking at 4G phones, wondering what benefits there are to 4G, and whether they need them. We'll take a look at a few of the important questions, weigh the pros and cons, and tell you what you might want to consider.

Read the full content of this Article: Should You Get a 4G Smartphone?

[Masterchief]

I just wish that Sprint's 4G service worked in my area. I would be a happy camper. I've been paying an additional $10/mo for a year with no actual 4G connection

[LandSurveyor]

The question is: Why would you not? Can't see throwing away a perfectly good 3g device but when you get to the end of your contract, assuming you're not particularly attached to your current device, 4g certainly seems the way to go, even if you have a choice.

[Adama D. Brown]

I just wish that Sprint's 4G service worked in my area. I would be a happy camper. I've been paying an additional $10/mo for a year with no actual 4G connection

I know that feeling. I only recently got hooked up with 3G on my regular smartphone when I'm in my home area. Before that, I was using 2G for a very long time.

The question is: Why would you not? Can't see throwing away a perfectly good 3g device but when you get to the end of your contract, assuming you're not particularly attached to your current device, 4g certainly seems the way to go, even if you have a choice.

Battery life, basically, and the costs that come with that, like larger and heavier devices. You have to go through extra hoops on a 4G device to get the battery life you get on a 3G one. And a small, compact 4G phone is probably going to get terrible battery life on 4G mode, particularly if it's Verizon.

[RickAgresta]

The question is: Why would you not? Can't see throwing away a perfectly good 3g device but when you get to the end of your contract, assuming you're not particularly attached to your current device, 4g certainly seems the way to go, even if you have a choice.

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Battery life, basically, and the costs that come with that, like larger and heavier devices. You have to go through extra hoops on a 4G device to get the battery life you get on a 3G one. And a small, compact 4G phone is probably going to get terrible battery life on 4G mode, particularly if it's Verizon.

Another factor is the data plan, and how much discipline the user has in sticking to its limits. Just my 2¢

[LandSurveyor]

I'm still thinking in terms of that Tmo $30/mo. plan. Unlimited with about 5gb or so at 4G. Can't see myself blowing through that with my typical usage.

[Adama D. Brown]

I'm still thinking in terms of that Tmo $30/mo. plan. Unlimited with about 5gb or so at 4G. Can't see myself blowing through that with my typical usage.

T-Mobile or Sprint are the clear best choices if you use a lot of data; unlimited really does do wonders. Unfortunately, they're also the carriers with the least available coverage, so lots of people like me don't have the option at all, and lots more can't get adequate coverage.

[LandSurveyor]

In my case, I will now be working within one city as opposed to being pretty much anywhere in about 6 counties so T-Mobile coverage should be good. Plus I plan to keep at least voice service on Page Plus.

[Magellan]

T-Mobile flies for me in the Twin Cities area. I hit my 5Gb limit last month but that is mostly thanks to Google Music streaming. That high quality bit rate sure sounds good, but I blew through my limit. Before that I used Pandora which is only half the bitrate and never got more than 4gigs in a month. As long as you watch it (T-Mobiles "My Account" app is very helpful for this) you can keep an eye on your usage. I have a T-Mobile G2, and my Battery life is very good while on 4G. I think Verizon's LTE is the real battery killer.

[LandSurveyor]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that GSM phones normally have longer battery life than identical CDMA phones. I don't know if that would have anything to do with their respective "4Gs" or not.