I have an iphone 4S. Have had an iphone since the 3 days, but the other day I met a lady who showed me her HTC One and I have to admit it was pretty damn cool. Much larger screen, good features, and I liked the interface. I didn't get too much of a look into it but it came off as feeling less restrictive, and as there's been a few things going on with Apple that are making me humor jumping ship I figure it's time to change. The phone I'm looking to get would be the Galaxy 4S.
But I have no idea how things function on Android devices. I like to pay for my music. Does Samsung offer something similar to itunes where I can find all music/movies/apps in one area? Will the music now working on my iphone transfer over to my new 4S? What about apps? Do I have to rebuy entirely? How does it all work? I know these are probably really dumb questions but I'm clueless as I've only ever had an iphone up until now.
And what does buying an "unlocked" phone mean? Why shouldn't I pay $250 with two year contract as opposed to $650 for unlocked? I have no idea what this means. Can anyone direct me to a good site that will explain what the main differences are between platforms, how they sell music and apps, how those are transfered, etc? I've enjoyed Apple, but think it's about time to give another a shot for a while.
MirkoS77
I'll address the unlocked question first. An unlocked phone is one that isn't tied to any particular carrier, and is often an attractive option for people who may be considering "BYOD" (bring your own device) plans. On the contrary, a locked phone will only work on one specific carrier - for example, if you sign a two-year contract with Verizon and get a subsidized smartphone with your plan, the phone will be locked to Verizon - it won't work on AT@T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or any other carrier, and if you would want to switch to a different carrier you'd have to purchase an entirely new phone. An unlocked phone is one that isn't tied to any carrier, therefore if you end up switching to a different cell phone service you could still (potentially) use your unlocked phone with the new service.
I say potentially because - at least in the United States - cell phones operate on one of two different communication standards. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) for their phones, and AT@T and T-Mobile use GSM (Global System for Mobile), and it varies among smaller services like Virigin Mobile or Net10 (assuming you're in the U.S.). Any unlocked phone you buy is almost certainly going to be GSM - meaning that you're not going to be using Verizon or Sprint directly if you bring your own device (and often, the large carriers don't offer you the option to do this anyway). As far as I know AT@T doesn't have BYOD programs setup, and T-Mobile may or may not depending upon recent changes at the company (I'm just not sure of the current situation as I haven't been following it that closely lately).
Anyway, to get to the point, if someone is buying an unlocked phone they're doing it because a) they want full control over their device or b) they want a cheaper service plan (almost always prepaid) while still having a newer phone, or both. For example, last year I bought an unlocked Galaxy Nexus through the Google Play Store (check out the Nexus 4 here - highly recommend the Nexus phones if you're getting an unlocked Android phone, btw). I then bought a SIM card (a small card you put into your phone to receive service) from the service Straighttalk, which I then put into my Galaxy Nexus. Since then I've been paying $45 a month for unlimited talk and text and 2 GBs of data. Comparable plans on services like Verizon or AT@T are usually at least double that, if not more. Sure, I paid a lot more upfront for the phone than I would have had I signed a two year contract with one of the big carriers, but in the long run it saves more money.
Let's say you buy an unlocked phone for $400. Sure, the initial price is steep, but if you can find a good plan it will save you a significant amount of money in the long run. Using the same price as my current plan, $400 + 24 months (your two year contract length) x $45 = $1480 paid for your phone and service plan over the course of two years. Now let's say you bought a phone and signed a two year contract with Verizon. You got a nice phone, and for a cheaper price than the unlocked one - $200 with the contract. But now you have to take into account a much higher monthly fee. Assuming you're paying Verizon $90 a month (believe me, I'm not exaggerating the price here at all), you'd be looking at $200 + 24 months x $90 = $2,360. Over the course of two years you're paying $880 more Verizon's phone and plan. Some will say it's worth it because of better reception/customer service/whatever, others (myself included) don't feel or can't afford to pay this much. Straighttalk is an MVNO that runs off of AT@T's network and works well for me, and there are other prepaid services like it which offer great plans for lower prices. But again, it depends on where you live and what you plan to be using your phone for.
As for your other questions, I'm afraid I won't be able to be as detailed. The thing about Android is that it's quite fragmented (the manufacturer of a phone like Samsung or HTC or Motorola doesn't affect a whole lot other than the appearance of the OS) - and unlike Apple and iOS, there isn't necessarily one single store which "has it all". For music, I personally use Amazon to buy my songs and download them to my phone, and then use a third-party app like PowerAmp to manage my playlists and organize my songs. Songs are able to be purchased through the Google Play Store as well, although in the past I've admittedly found their selection lacking in comparison to Amazon. Streaming apps like Pandora or Spotify are also available, if you prefer those to downloading individual songs. Although when it comes to apps, the Play Store is where you'll undoubtedly be purchasing them. I'm honestly not sure if it would be possible to transfer your iTunes library over to Android, as I've never owned an iPhone and am not too sure on the subject of transferring content. Without doing any searching I'd say you'd almost certainly have to re-purchase apps, transferring songs over from iTunes I remain unsure of.
This got a long more long-winded than I thought it would, hopefully it helps you understand these things a bit better.
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