[vox] T-Mobile "G2"

[Bill Broadley]

On 09/09/2010 04:29 PM, Bill Ward wrote:
> I assume then you have to pay hundreds of dollars for the phone, then?

Well depends.  I've seen used androids under $100.  But yes brand new 
without a subsidy is going to be hundreds.


> The reason the primary carriers require a contract is because the phone
> cost is subsidized.

Exactly.  But there's substantial flow of used phones going around. 
Google's given away at least 10k if not a few times that.  Some people 
buy direct (from motorola, nokia, or google).  Often the companies will 
charge $200 for one phone, then give away a 2nd free (verizon and 
t-mobile).  So quite often the 2nd phone gets sold to subside the first 
one.  There also seems to be a substantial number of people who buy a 
phone on contract, want an upgrade before the end of a contract and sell 
off the first phone.

The droids in particular seem to be one of the cheapest of the decent 
phones.  The original is still quite reasonable, way nicer than a 
g1/mytouch, 2.2 is available, and it's quite cheap.  I've seen them sell 
for under $200 and often have a $250 buy it now price on ebay.

The first generation android phones I don't really recommend unless you 
can't afford anything better and can be had for $75-$150 ish.