Google Nexus Rumored To Cost $530 Or $180 w/Plan

wkurzius writes "The new Google phone, the Nexus One, is rumored to cost $530 unlocked and will work on any GSM network. A subsidized version is also available for $180 and will get you a T-Mobile Even More Individual 500 Plan for 2-years with a $350 termination fee. Access to the phone is supposed to be invite only at first, with January 5th being the supposed release date."

No thanks

[TubeSteak]

Those wanting to buy the handset subsidized will pay $180 and have to sign up for a two year contract. There appears to be only one plan available for these customers, and that is the T-Mobile Even More Individual 500 Plan, which gives you 500 minutes, free weekend and in-network calls and unlimited SMS, MMS and data. That bring the total cost over two years to $2,100.

The unsubsidized price + a data plan is vastly cheaper

Re:A little more competition is a good thing

[pclminion]

The lump sum does suck. I've been using T-Mobile for about 10 years, and haven't really had anything to complain about, but I still hate the contract. I was poking around their online phone store and saw that they are now offering financing for the newer touchscreens with NO CONTRACT, which is pretty nice. It works out to about $20 a month, and it's 0% APR. I was going to take the plunge, but then I saw that the Nexus was coming out any day now. So maybe I'll wait and see if they offer a similar financing deal for the Nexus.

Re:CDMA?

[iron-kurton]

The business answer to your question is: GSM is used by the rest of the world, CDMA only by America. CDMA = limiting your potential market.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:This is just FUD

[signingis]

"just plain old FUD."

You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re:prices?

[Wonko the Sane]

If you go pure VOIP then you can get data-only plans for $40 per month.

Re:prices?

[jabbathewocket]

There are unlocked smartphones all over the place? this is not new.. but you cannot use virgin mobile or any of the other sprint wannabe phone companies in the states for it.. as they dont offer data.. You will basically have to goto tmobile, and buy a data only plan on flexpay (no contract prepaid, essentially you can pick any plan t-mobile offers and have it where you pay first, then use minutes versus the more standard postpay market in the states) You can also buy any phone tmobile offers on this unsubsidized plan TODAY if you want (and if your credit is good they will even finance the hardware for you)

Re:Smart move

[beeverteeth]

Yeah, there will be an SDK... Android SDK :rolleyes:

Expected price

[irp]

In Denmark, an unlocked HTC Hero costs ~620 USD. (including the Danish 25% VAT).

Most people I know (myself included) buy phones unlocked (because my (current/prefered) phone company don't sell phones - but I like their simple "~10 USD/month for up to 1GB" data plan).

Using the "US to Danish price" conversion (multiply by 1.25, add some) it will cost around 670-700 USD in Denmark (of course payed in DKK).

The price does not surprise me. I am planning to replace my phone ½ year from now (then my current phone will have survived 2+ years). It will probably be an Android based, in that price range.

For comparison, in Denmark, an iPhone (unlocked 3GS/32GB) costs ~1100 USD.

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no such program?? Except the one T-mobile offers where you get ~ $10 discount per month is you bring your own phone or buy it a retail price?

Re:So

[b0bby]

Actually, it seems T-mobile is doing just that now - "Even More" is their standard subsidized phones + 2 year contract deal, "Even More Plus" is the same plans but no "free" phones or contracts & $10/month less. Maybe the other carriers will follow if T-mobile starts getting people to switch because of this.

OTOH, if you want T-mobile & a Google phone, it makes more sense to pay the extra $10/month to get the subsidized phone, because the amount of subsidy (($530-$180)/24) is almost $15/month.

Nokia N900

[kurt555gs]

You can buy an N900 for $569.00. As long as you are going to drop that kind of change, why would you limit yourself to an Android fone?

Re:Smart move

[thetoadwarrior]

I'm waiting to see what if there will be an SDK and what kind of access users will have to the phone. Hopefully it will be wide open.

You started off well but then you went here and jumped on the fail boat.

It will be the Android OS/SDK and already has loads of apps out as Android has been out awhile.

Re:CDMA?

[caladine]

Like another poster says in reply to this, there's a lot you've gotten wrong here. You seem to have your technologies confused.

• AMPS (the original analog cell) is first gen.
• Next came GSM, a 2G technology
• CDMA rolled around first in the IS-95 standard, also 2G.
• GSM folks upgraded with GPRS (and later EDGE) making 2.5G networks
• CDMA2000 is a family of 3-3.5G technologies (1x, 1xEVDO/revA/revB)
• GSM people realized that CDMA > TDMA when they got together to make WCDMA (also called UMTS). From a simple view, UMTS is CDMA, but using a 5 MHz frequency band, rather than the ~1.25 MHz band that CMDA uses. There's more to it, of course.
• 3.5G networks use UMTS + HSPA/HSPA+. Not that there are really many networks that use anything more than the 3.6Mbps HSPA. (which, incidentally isn't much faster than EVDOrA @ 3.1 Mbps)
• 4G is LTE and WiMax (sort of).

The only reason that smartphones make more sense at the moment on GSM/UMTS networks has nothing to do with the technology involved, but the economics. There are a lot more people on GSM/UMTS networks than CDMA, mostly due to the fact that CDMA was a late comer to the cell phone game. My guess is that the CDMA follow-on will come later in the year.

Re:Invite only?

[thePsychologist]

The _buying_ of the phone is not invite only. That's just the special event to unveil it. It's in the article.

Re:T-mobile? Seriously?

[Leebert]

AT&T's woes are from being overused in the big cities.

Sorry, but that's only part of it. It's also a complete lack of reasonable coverage outside of cities. There's a map for that...

Re:CDMA? MOD PARENT DOWN

[DrDitto]

You don't know what you are talking about. Variants of IS-95 CDMA (the original 2G CDMA) are widely used in China, Korea, and elsewhere. In China, CDMA phones even have SIM cards. All 3G technologies (EV-DO, UMTS, HSPDA, etc.) use CDMA signaling technology because it is more spectrum efficient.