ericdabbs

No idea. Can the S-pen work on any smartphone? I thought the Note 3 had a touch sensitive type of display to allow for a S-pen to work?

It is to me because with such a large screen and with note taking capability, I don't know about you but my finger is the worse pencil out there to take any notes on. You can't write as neatly or as legible with your finger as you can with a pen. Also if you look at what Samsung has done to add features to a S-pen, I can see why it can be useful. Sure it may sound gimmicky but I still find it interesting.

I gotta check this out later.

Either way the HTC One Max looks to be off my list of smartphones I am considering now not only because of the uncertainty of triband LTE but the Snapdragon 600 is troublesome along with what looks like a lack of a S-pen feature.

I am more worried that the HTC One Max will be single band LTE than the Snapdragon 600.

Yeah I stopped doing Black Friday several years ago. Waiting all night to get a good deal on surge protectors was not just not worth it.

Like I said if you do not care about data that much and you just want strong voice capability, features of user experience of the Note 3 series, then the Note 3 is fine. The Note 3 will have the improved CDMA 800 antennas built inside the phone so when Phoenix lights up with CDMA 800, the Note 3 can take advantage of it. Besides Sprint is begging you to buy the Note 3 since a lot of folks in here that were hardcore Note 3 buyers at one point including myself are venturing off into other phones because of the lack of triband LTE support.

*sigh* this is what happens when unemployment is still at 6+%.

This is because Sprint has not deployed any CDMA 800 in Phoenix yet. If you check out the NV complete maps in the Sponsor section for Phoenix, you do not see any green dots which indicate that CDMA 800 has been deployed. Just look for green dots to show up in areas around you and that will give you a strong indication that voice signal should be improved in that area. The LTE turning up live in some sites doesn't necessarily mean the CDMA signal is strong enough to reach your house. The improvement of using RRUs right next to the panels gives a slight improvement in signal performance but in this case the CDMA signal improvement may not be enough to reach your house. if you want to see a great example of a lot of sites upgraded to CDMA 800, take a look at the NV complete maps for Chicago. You can even visit the Chicago market thread and ask folks in there how their voice signal has improved tremendously because of CDMA 800.

I won't even consider an iPhone even if it had the software to back it up simply because I can't go back to tiny 4 inch screens. If Apple made 2 editions of the iPhone that sported a 5 inch iPhone then it may tickle my interest.

Just curious, do people still line up at Apple stores and ATT stores overnight just to buy the iPhone on launch day? If so, anyone of you guys planning to get the iPhone 5S planning to line up tomorrow night or Friday morning?

Not looking good. It seems like the HTC One Max may only sport a Snapdragon S600. While the S600 chip itself is not too shabby but the long wait for this phone really deserves the S800 chip especially when the S800 chip is now available and if it wants to truly compete with the Note 3. http://www.gsmarena.com/new_htc_one_max_photos_confirm_screen_size_chipset-news-6816.php

Could it be a HTC One mini? Where can we find the dimensions of this device?

Sprint uses 800 and 1900 MHz frequencies for voice. If voice is more of a concern over data then a single band LTE vs. triband LTE phone will not make a difference since both the single band LTE and triband LTE phones each have the 800 and 1900 MHz frequencies for voice support. So for voice either single band or triband is fine. 800 MHz frequency will give you better coverage and building penetration coverage. Sprint is in the process of deploying its CDMA 800 network for voice so very soon you will get better voice reception at your house so you won't need an Airave anymore. However I would still strongly advise you to get a triband LTE phone over a single band LTE phone since that would future proof your phone for data for the next 2 years. You might not use a lot of data now but in the future you may so its better to have the capability built into the phone. LTE 800 and LTE 2600 are going to be launched soon in Phoenix so I still strongly advise you to pick up a triband LTE phone.

I personally don't care about world phone support. I would much rather have a triband LTE device with SVLTE vs. triband LTE device with world frequency band support. If I use my phone internationally, I am just using wifi calling using apps like Viber or GrooveIP. If Sprint is able to find a way to do triband LTE support with SVLTE minus the world frequency band support, it should aim to do that.

Please keep me in the loop when you get to it. I still prefer not to have as much clutter in the notification panel as possible so both the sound and brightness toggle can go. I don't mind spending the extra 10 seconds to go to settings to adjust the brightness settings and for the sound bar you can just hit the volume up or down 1 time and you can see the current sound level. Its kinda useless to need a persistent sound bar in the notification panel.

True but the dude is in Hawaii which we all know isn't getting NV for awhile. Don't know how Tmobile LTE is over there but even then they won't have indoor penetration. I figured ATT will fit his needs until Hawaii steps up the game in Hawaii.

Have you talked with folks to find out how the ATT LTE coverage is in Hawaii. I assume both Verizon and ATT have pretty good LTE coverage in Hawaii so you can't go wrong with either one. If you have just an individual line, I would strongly suggest ATT since they still have individual plans. Those Shared Everything plans on Verizon forced on individual lines is just pure sin!!! Verizon should have kept their individual lines the standard a la carte format like ATT did.

I am not too familiar with LG's UI skin in the past and from playing with the LG G2 thus far, I do wish there was a way to get rid of the sound bar and brightness bar in the notification pull down because it just takes up so much room. I believe the Verizon version doesn't have this problem but the international/ATT/Sprint/Tmobile versions should have this issue. I mean I am sure the LG skin could be made better and hopefully as time goes on, LG will make the necessary adjustments in their next version of the LG skin. I usually don't focus too much on UI skins but rather the specs and functionality of the phone. To me the LG G2 has similar functionality compared to the GS4 and HTC One and has all the hardware to compete with the GS4 and HTC One (IR sensor, proximity sensor, 1080p display, huge battery, etc). I have been following the XDA forum on the LG G2 to find out more news on the bootloader to see if it can be unlocked. So far on XDA, I have found a mod that you can adjust your external speaker volume for media and phone and people have experienced huge improvement since there were some small complaints that the external speaker wasn't loud enough.

I think Sprint would wait for new panels that can support the PCS H and 600 MHz and new RRUs that would support PCS H and another RRU that would support 600 MHz before updating its Network Vision equipment. Even if Sprint wins the PCS H licenses, it still can't deploy the spectrum right away anyways since the equipment isn't available. Also the 600 MHz auction should be held by late 2014 or early 2015 at the latest.

Completely agree. No way does Sprint allow other carriers to pick up licenses in the H block and I know Sprint will have a strong showing at Auction 96. Sprint paid this money back in 2008 to move the BAS service from 1990 MHz to 2025 MHz so that they can free up all this spectrum for 4G use. Sprint in a way has already put some eggs in this H block basket by paying to move the BAS service.

Yes the EPRP plans are eligibile for all smartphones.

It was possible in the past. I have never done a TOL but I guess it should work. Might need a Sprint rep to vouch for this like Rocket87.

Its very hard if not impossible to get SERO Premium nowadays. You can only get SERO Premium if you had SERO plan before beause the plan itself is not widely available.

No no I am arguing that the phone specs should read that the resolution of the Nexus 5 is 1920x1080 instead of the actual 1794x1080 resolution.