What is involved with buying a new, unlocked smartphone?
I use AT&T. I have had 2 Samsung smartphones. I currently have a Galaxy S5.
I don’t mind the Samsung interface they build on top of Android, but I hate the fact that I get Android upgrades a year after they are released. Upgrading from Android 4.4 to 5.0 was a pain, too.
While I say I don’t mind the Samsung interface, I detest bloat. The phone comes full of Samsung and AT&T apps that I have honestly never once opened. They just sit there taking up memory space.
The S5 I have currently is 2 years old. It’s running fine. No major complaints. I don’t need a new phone today.
I am seriously looking at a Nexus phone. I am fully enmeshed in the Google-verse and love it. (I will not consider any Apple products. Thanks.)
Google will launch a new operating system and new phones in the near future. I will wait to see what those phones have to offer.
I have never bought an unlocked phone before, and I want to know what I’m going to have to do to use it.
Do I have to take the phone into my AT&T store to get a new SIM card? My Samsung Galaxy S5 uses a micro SIM card, and the new Nexus phones require a nano SIM card.
Can I order the new nano SIM card online?
What is involved with buying an unlocked phone? How do I switch from my AT&T phone to an unlocked one using it on AT&T?
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6 Answers
I have an unlocked phone and am an AT&T customer. I purchased my phone directly from the company that manufactured it (which for you would be Google) and then went into an AT&T store to get a SIM card to fit it, because the phone required a micro SIM card and my previous phone had the older larger version. My understanding is that if my former SIM card had fit, I would have simply been able to put it into my unlocked device—I did this exact thing many years ago with another unlocked device. I think the SIM card needs to be from the phone company directly, though I might be mistaken (someone can verify or correct that). I believe AT&T provided the SIM card for no charge, so there was little incentive to purchase one on my own…. Yeah, free SIM card and no annual contract… more information as you scroll down the page… unless you know something about SIM cards that I don’t! (Which is very probably, as I don’t know very much.)
From what I understand, you can also purchase phones from AT&T, and once you pay for the phone full AT&T will help you unlock the phone. This might be at the end of the payment schedule (which I guess is now 30 months), or earlier if you pay it in full earlier.
Basically, you need to pay for the phone in full to have it unlocked.
Hope that helped!
^^ Yes, I was aware that the new OS is coming out this month followed by the new phones in the fall. I can wait.
The Motorola phones are also very nice and have little extra software, very close to stock Android like the Nexus phones.
If you buy direct from the Motorola site they are unlocked.
For the most part, using an unlocked phone is exactly like a locked model, except you can switch carriers by switching SIMs. Everyone is happy to give you a free SIM to get you using there service.
Do you know how quickly Motorola updates the OS when a new version of Android comes out?
The Nexus phones are the best bet for getting the new OS (Nougat Android 7).
From what I read, my 2014 Moto X will not be getting it.
The current & 2015 Moto models will very likely get 7.0, but it’s always a few months behind the Nexus.
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