Will a Droid Incredible 2 serve my purposes?

[Bulldogg629]

This will be my first smartphone and I kind of need it in an unorthodox way since I just cant bring myself to pay for data plans and big voice plans right now…

I want to use the phone mainly at home and work so wifi only for skype and browser seems like it would be all I need. Of course there is the rare time when maybe I’m out driving and my car breaks down and I’m not around wifi, so I thought I could unlock the phone and put a prepaid sim (I think I like the tmobile plans) and just have about 100 prepaid minutes on the phone for emergencies. Would this work? So basically my cell phone would be a wifi web phone, a camera, a gps, a radio, an mp3 player, web browser… and only very rarely, an actual cell phone with prepaid minutes?


Thanks guys and sorry for being a noob.

 

[wicked]

The Incredible 2 doesn't take SIM cards. Not sure if it's the phone you're looking for as it won't do prepaid minutes either.

Are you on Verizon?

 

[Bulldogg629]

Are you sure it doesn't take a sim? Im not sure if I can post a link since Im so new HTC Droid Incredible 2: Insert/Remove SIM Card | Technipages and if the link doesnt post, I just google image search "droid incredible 2 sim" and it shows photos and instructions on how to replace sims in them. After that I thought it was a matter of unlocking the phone and activating a prepaid sim. I initialy wanted to do this whole process with an iphone on tmobile prepaid and did a lot of research about it, though I eventually decided I liked the android platform better.

 

[wicked]

Are you sure it doesn't take a sim? Im not sure if I can post a link since Im so new HTC Droid Incredible 2: Insert/Remove SIM Card | Technipages and if the link doesnt post, I just google image search "droid incredible 2 sim" and it shows photos and instructions on how to replace sims in them. After that I thought it was a matter of unlocking the phone and activating a prepaid sim. I initialy wanted to do this whole process with an iphone on tmobile prepaid and did a lot of research about it, though I eventually decided I liked the android platform better.

I stand corrected.

Found some useful links you should check out - https://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=droid+incredible+2+for+tmobile

Best of luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

[nikecar]

It takes a sim for global use. it doesn't use the SIM for use in the states.

If you plan to travel out of the coutnry, you have to activate the SIM card, if you don't go out of country, you don't.

Why not just get a prepaid phone and use that? Both ATT and Verizon have the prepaid service.

not sure if the Inc2 can be used as you are asking, I'm thinking no, since the SIM is just for out of country.

EDIT: I do know that folks have used other SIMs overseas to get service, but again, that is overseas.

 

[Trip3601211]

You know this is a funny topic. I got an X2 and my girls got the Incredible 2. I've hard facotory reset her INC2 twice and each time when trying to activate it after the reset a US Cellular activation came up and denied activation cuz we're on Verizon. So I think it's possible to set it up through other carriers. Simple Mobile I think does that type of stuff too. Possibly cricket if it were unlocked. Just my $0.02 I thought I'd throw in here.

sent from Michael Joseph William Hines

 

[Bulldogg629]

It can be used in the US with a T-Mobile or ATT sim card.
You have to unlock the sim card slot though.
Either call Verizon or you can buy an unlock code online.
Then you can use a sim card in the states.
I don't think 3G will work with an ATT sim though. Not sure about 3G with a T-Mobile sim card.

This is what I'd hoped, and I dont need 3g because its just for rare emergency calls. My problem has been conflicting opinions, even in this thread there seems to be a yes, no and a maybe, so I cant be sure. When I was looking into doing this with the iphone I called 15 at&t stores around me to ask the same thing and got answers from "yes its very possible" to "I think I used to be possible" to "no its never been possible" Sometimes contradicting answers from 2 workers standing next to each other in the same store lol. I suppose I'll try calling T mobile and maybe they will be inclined to help figure it out. Calling verizon would be useless I think because since it involves me leaving their service they're not motivated to be certain. But there's just no verizon coverage around my house and even if there was, I still want to make sure I can use different carriers whenever I want. Thanks for the help guys, and if anyone has any more ideas they'll be appreciated.

 

[AirForceAngler]

This really sounds to me as if you're wanting a smartphone without paying the data fee. I think such discussion is frowned on here.

Sent from yesterday using tomorrow's technology today.

 

[Bulldogg629]

This really sounds to me as if you're wanting a smartphone without paying the data fee. I think such discussion is frowned on here.

Sent from yesterday using tomorrow's technology today.

I suppose you could look at it that way. You could also say what Im looking for is a wifi tablet that fits in my pocket and lets me call help if my car breaks down. In the end my real purpose is to get a pocket sized camera with enough other features to make sure I carry it around with me and have it all those times I wished Id had a camera. Anyway, why is that kind of discussion frowned on here?

 

[ScottyDsntKnow]

In the states, ATT and T-Mobile SIM cards can be used but you will be on 2G EDGE and unable to use 3G at all. And that is after you unlock the phone so you aren't stuck with the pile of poop Vodaphone SIM. You'd also have to buy one outright for the $400-$500 or whatever they cost so you don't get stuck having to pay the VZW monthly rate so I really don't see this as any sort of viable option. If you want a smartphone but don't want to pay crazy monthly prices... get something from Virgin or boost that operate on Sprint towers so you get pretty good nationwide coverage. If you just want to call and text then just get a prepaid GSM phone and be done with it.

 

[jntdroid]

Discussion is fine, it's not like you're trying to steal anything or mess with an esn. I know for a fact, as stated, the Inc2 can run with a Tmobile SIM, what I don't know is how much work it takes to get to that point.

I'd have to agree, though, there are cheaper ways of accomplishing your goal, especially if you're having to pay outright for the phone.

I'll throw in some suggestions in a few when I'm on my computer. I've played the game you're trying to play quite a bit for budget purposes!

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk

 

[jntdroid]

Weird, tapatalk seems to be ignoring formatting...

edit: evidently only in Tapatalk as it looks fine on my computer.

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk

 

[jntdroid]

I think T-Mobile will be your best bet, even if you can't get the T-Mobile SIM to work in your Inc2. Here's my reasoning...

They have a prepaid "Monthly4G" plan that's $30/month - you get 100 minutes and unlimited text and data, and that's 4G data (well, T-Mobile's version anyway). And it's unlimited, but they throttle after you hit 5gb of data - which you wouldn't, obviously. So that's one good option. Though it would cost you $30/month, and you might not need the data. Though, if you use GPS a lot, you'll want some data - even with map caching, data is required to keep up navigation for any period of time. Anyway, you get the point. edit: you would likely only get their 4G data speeds with a compatible 4G T-mobile phone... doubt you could get it on the Inc2 through the SIM

If that's still too much, they have one of the better "basic" prepaid plans on the market. A lot of times, the kicker with prepaid minutes is how quickly they expire. With T-Mobile's "Pay as you Go" prepaid plan, you can pay $100 and get 1,000 minutes that don't expire for an entire year. That's really what makes that deal the best. Text messages count for one minute. Multimedia messages count for two minutes, I believe. There is old school "wap" data, also goes against minutes - but it's almost worthless. So theoretically, you could pay $100 now, and not have to pay $100 again for a year if you didn't use the minutes. That would definitely be a bare bones plan, though, with no data outside of wifi.

I think those would be your best options plan-wise. Virgin isn't bad, but their coverage isn't as good as T-Mobile's. They use Sprint's towers, but without any roaming. Sprint would be worthless without roaming capabilities. Google their respective coverage maps and you'll see what I mean.

Now, the phone. I'm assuming you already own the Inc2. Some quick googling/perusing makes it look like it's not too hard to get a T-Mobile SIM to work in the Inc2, for voice. I'm reading some people having issues with data - but that might not be a concern for you anyway. However, if you can't get it to work, T-Mobile has some very solid mid to top-mid-range Android phones (and some great top-of-the-line phones if you're willing to fork out the cash). You could sell the Inc2 via something like Craigslist or swappa.com, and then turn around and purchase a T-Mobile phone the same way - swappa.com is for buying/selling Android devices... great site.

There's my .02... I haven't exhausted everything, but I've done a LOT of switching around over the past couple of years, and done a lot of digging into getting the most bang for my buck. There might be a better option out there, but I think that'll be a good one regardless.

Sidenote - you can get directions and contact info and lots of other stuff through Bing 411, via text (you text them, they text you what you request). Google 411 used to do this, but they discontinued it. So you can even get a very dumbed down version of "navigation" on a dumbphone.

 

[ScottyDsntKnow]

1,000 minutes go up in smoke pretty fast especially if he is someone who talks alot or sends alot of texts. Again, this person would be MUCH better served getting an unlimited plan from one of the prepaid carriers like boost or Virgin. I had an Epic 4G that I self flashed onto boost and it was completely boss to pay $50/mo for unlimited EVERYTHING including calls to land lines. I will 100% not get into any discussion on the Epic on boost but as for the boost service itself... it uses Sprint towers, I never had a dropped call, texts were always fast and on time and the boost plan drops $5 every 6 on time payments so you can get down to $40 over 18 months of on time payments. The data speeds are meh compared to VZW but I was often able to pull pretty good speeds on speedtest depending on location.

Anyway, yeah pretty pointless to try to put a Inc2 onto T-Mobile or ATT prepaid when you can just sell it and buy a boost/Virgin Android and jump onto an unlimited plan that gets you data too on a pretty reliable network. Virgin actually just came out with an Android comparable to the OG Droid X which is still a pretty nice phone.

 

[jntdroid]

Oh I don't disagree at all on Virgin's plans - was with them for quite awhile. Had the LG Optimus V and the Moto Triumph (the one you referred to). I just got the impression that was more than he wanted, hence mentioning the 1000 minute thing.