I bought an Android phone

[ted leslie]

i have been looking at smart phones to get one soon.
i had settled on picking up one of the many  acer liquids for sale on
kijji and ebay, some from rogers cx's that went to iphones (pussies!),
this deal looked interesting, but you can get a good used (even
unlocked) liquid s100 with more ram and screen real estate for
160-180$,
so I still think for an android buy, its the preferable phone if you
are looking to spend <200$. Only bad points on liquid is low battery
life (approx. one day),
and not stylish looking, but aside from that, it supposed to give you
power of iPhone4 and better signal strength, and of course the android
experience.
Plus they appear to have a Cyan.Mod for it. Having a Cyan.Mod for a
android phone seems to be the cats ass, but I am not sure I understand
why this
is so huge a deal, anyone on list have cyan.mod on a android phone can
comment on why it seems to be a must have?

tl

On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 1:10 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Why is this news?  Because I'm a phone Luddite.
>
> Why did I buy it?  Curiosity combined with bargain hunting.
>
> Why is this TLUG news?  Because Android is built on top of the Linux
> kernel so there are opportunities for Linux hacking (maybe).  And learning
> about Android is of interest to us.
>
> This deal looks extraordinarily good:
> <http://forums.redflagdeals.com/koodo-lg-optimus-one-150-starting-friday-1016684/>
> (but note that I'm not an expert cellphone consumer.)
>
> - From Koodo, the Telus flanker brand
>
> - LG Optimus One handset (LG-P500h)
>  + Android 2.2; I heard rumours of an update being promised
>  + WiFi, bluetooth, GPS, ...
>  + uses a SIM so I would have called it GSM but it has some other
>    name
>  + comes with an internal (replaceable) 2G MicroSD card
>  + screen resolution only 320x480
>
> - $150 for the handset, all of which can be put on "tab".
>  Putting it on the Tab has some advantages.
>
> - If you buy online or from a Koodo store (but not from Future Shop
>  etc.) you get $100 in a one-time-VISA card (you can spend it like
>  a VISA card)
>
> - the tab can be either paid off OR it will be reduced by 10% of any
>  phone bills you pay.  So it declines over time.  If you quit Koodo,
>  you have to pay it all off (but it evaporates if you have a
>  credit.)
>
> - KOODO DOESN'T LOCK YOU INTO A CONTRACT.
>
> - Koodo doesn't have "System Access Fees".
>
> - I bought their cheapest plan, $15 a month for not much service.  Not
>  even caller-id!
>
> - I chose flexible data plan: free if it isn't used, expensive
>  if it is.  For the first 10 days data is free.  WiFi is free, of
>  course.
>
> - Since you can cancel very quickly, this is a very inexpensive phone:
>  $150 - $100 (I don't know how tax works).
>
> - bonus: if you ask a Koodo customer for a "referral" before you buy
>  the phone, you can use that to give each of you a $25 tab credit.
>  The credit appears after 4-6 weeks so it is probably useless if you
>  are going to cancel quickly.  Tab credits are good for (1) reducing
>  the debit you have from buying the handset, and (2) using for future
>  handset purchases, but not for actual phone service.
>
> - Deal ends at the end of March
>
> - apparently the phone can be unlocked and work with "normal"
>  GSM/whatever frequencies (Bell, Telus, Roger and relabeled versions
>  but not Wind etc.).  Apparently unlocking can be had for $8 from
>  ebay vendors (why not free?).  Some say it can be used with Telus
>  without unlocking.
>
> Now I will look around to see if other providers have a better plan
> that would work for this phone.
> --
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