Trying to find out what smartphone gmforum members are using any why.

My HTC One was stolen in Alaska last week at the DMV, and I owe $200 on it still.And T-Mobile wants another $150 to end my contract early. I moved to Pennsylvania, and T-mobile does not have coverage in rural areas. Verizon is the only carrier in rural Pennsylvania with decent coverage.

The phone I thought would match was the Google Nexus 5. $400, and it comes unlocked. It works on all networks- except Verizon. The research I did stated Verizon won't let the Nexus 5 on their network because it is unlocked, and Verizon wants to lock customers into contracts. As I am about to take a hit with T-mobile, I am thinking it is best to pay cash and buy a unlocked phone, but can't decipher which phone is best for a cash buyer, especially if using Verizon.

I went to Verizon in PA, and they told me they are pushing customers onto their "edge" plan, which essentially is designed so you get a new phone from Verizon every year. I viewed it is a bait and switch- always owing Verizon a balance on a phone and unable to switch cell providers because of the always in debt to Verizon.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

I'm really into the Google Droids by Motorola. If I lose my phone or it gets stolen, I can go directly to Motorola'* website, lock and MASTER reset the phone with the click of a button. It clears everything off the phone including all stored pictures.

Mike,

Thanks. Who is your cell phone service provider?

Verizon.

i had verizon for my work phone it sucks. i have att for my personal phone and always get the best deal at best buy. i have a samsung s4 i got it for less than 50 bucks when it was on sale last year. i am a android fan, you can do anything. this phone has an awesome camera that does way more than the iphone stuff, like panorama, burst, you can take people in or out and change the face, or it focuses on peoples face and you can do stuff with that. it auto connects with the HU in my car turns on the mp3 player and plays without me having to touch anything. the screen is bright and clear too and if you use the onboard app killer widget i can get 3 days of pretty frequent use, most smart phones are a day. and best buy has it free(like a dollar) right now because they are trying to move to the 5 that is hardly any different

i meant to say verizon sucks because they put their crap on it and att doesnt, at least on the phones i have had

Good thoughts, thanks Mike and Justin.

In a tough predicament. Verizon has the coverage, AT&T allows unlocked generic phones on their network. I did a coverage map for t-mobile this morning, the only offer 2G service in the region I live in, and in the house or work the T-mobile signal is zero bars.

For networks I like AT&T, because I can jailbreak/unlock my I-Phone and use it on there with no issues.

For phones I am partial to I-Phones because I know how to take them apart, and replace screens, batts, etc.
Also I know how to jailbreak it, so that matters to me since I like to mod my phone, with things like old Star Trek TOS sounds and whatnot, of course right now IOS 8 is out, and there are no untethered jailbreaks yet, but all in good time.
One other downside is that they are having issues with OS updates, the 8.1 update they released flopped, it had a lot of issues, so they went back to 8..

The next phone I get will probably be ab I=Phone as well, but I do kind of want a Galaxy as I have heard decent things about them.

any android phone doesnt have to be jailbroke for most things. if you want star trek sounds there is probably an app, but you can get into the sounds and change them to whatever you want on android

I have other reasons as well, such as certain programs I just happen to stumble across, that won't work on a non jail-broken phone....
I won't elaborate as I don't want it to turn into a you shouldn't get stuff you don't pay for argument...

Of course I have done research on how to gain root on an android, so I am sure I could achieve the same thing on one that I have rooted..