Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with verizon and samsung

In which I reveal my ignorance about the cell phone landscape...

ersatzkat — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:10:02 -0800

My husband has a phone I'd like to replace as a gift for him, and I want to be sure I understand what I'm getting into. My husband has a fairly new (4 months old?) Samsung Galaxy III. Something horrid happened to it and I'd like to replace it for him. He bought it through Amazon Mobile and we added it to our Verizon account. Replacement is not covered, so I'd like to just order this for him. Is there any difference at all between the "bought it for a specific carrier" phone and the "international unlocked phone" besides price and unlocked-ness?

Verizon Smartphone Upgrade: Drioid 3 vs Samsung Stratosphere vs Droid 4

filthy light thief — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:04:29 -0800

Upgrading smart phones with Verizon, January 2012 edition: moving from an original Motorola Droid and a Droid Eris, and unsure how critical 4G LTE and Super AMOLED are for phones we'll have for another 2+ years. More thoughts inside. My wife and I have (relatively) old smart phones - I have an original Motorola Droid with keyboard, and my wife has the touchscreen-only Droid Eris. We're eligible for upgrades now, and I've been watching news about the Droid 4, which sounds like the best of all things (4G LTE, Super AMOLED Advanced screen). But today I saw $250 is the (tentative) minimum advertised price for a phone + 2 year plan. Plus we're on a family plan, so it might actually be more, given the pricing I've seen on some other phones.

My wife and I are keen on pull-out keyboards, so the other alternatives are much more affordable: 1. Samsung Stratosphere (4G LTE, but "dated" WVGA Super AMOLED with 800x480 resolution, vs 720p HD displays available)
Price: $99 w/plan through Verizon, or $49 for a Certified Pre-Owned phone + plan through Verizon; or $39.99 from Amazon Wireless with Verizon plan

2. Droid 3 (soon to be discontinued, 3G, but qHD Display with 960x540 resolution).
Price: $99 from Verizon with plan; $19.99 from Amazon Wireless (backordered currently)

Questions:
1. is the improved resolution or 4G LTE that key for our relatively casual use? We don't watch movies on our phones, we just play games, browse the net, text and send the occasional email.
2. Might Amazon Wireless offer the Droid 4 for a discount off of the $250 minimum advertised price?

Cell phone mystery/conundrum

dee lee — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:23:02 -0800

My cell phone display has gone black, for no reason I can see, and now I'm receiving a mysterious new spate of text messages-- which I can't read or identify the sender of. Help? I woke up a couple of days ago to find that I'd slept on my cell phone. In a development that may or may not be related, the display does not work at all now-- the keys are backlit and the phone is still functioning, but the screen itself is always black.

In another development that may or may not be related, I've received a very unusual number and frequency of texts since then, and I've contacted everyone I can think of who might be texting me, and, well, they're not.

This whole thing smells really fishy, and it's driving me nucking futs. I almost never send or (normally) receive texts.

I would really like to know what the hell is going on with my phone, rather than being stuck with my speculations. My hope is that this is a specific thing, a known issue, and you, the hivemind, will recognize it where google could not.

Failing that, I'd like to know how to retrieve and read those texts-- preferably in a way that doesn't cost my broke ass much.

Details-- it's a Samsung-model Verizon phone, still covered under warranty. I share a cell plan with my grandparents, and if I really can't hack my way around this, I'll replace the damn thing after a lot of red tape and a couple weeks' wait.

It does not have a SIM card. I tried signing up for Verizon's online service (which stores a backup of your text messages) and they sent me a text with which to confirm my account. *Sigh.* I may be able to work around that by turning my cell phone off for 24 hours, signing up for the service again, and then trying to talk my grandparents through finding a confirmation code Verizon sends them in the mail. Again, looking for alternatives here.

I went in to a Verizon location. The employee I spoke to was unable to offer any solutions other than the replacement option, or any explanation of what happened to my phone. This was before the strike ended-- another thing that may or may not be related.

I signed up for Google Voice and GVMax-- unless I'm missing something, the free edition of Voice no longer offers SMS-to-email forwarding and, by extension, GVMax can't anymore either. My phone is not, as far as I know, 3G-enabled.

I've also tried opening and forwarding the text blind. No luck there.

I don't have a credit card. I have a tiny bit of money in my PayPal, and a TracFone with plenty of minutes.

I'm normally not this much of a curmudgeon, I swear. I'm a little terrified because I sent an embarrassing text message to a friend at 4 in the morning the night before all this happened. Her phone doesn't actually receive texts, but my big fear is that in my blurry state I selected the wrong contact and opened some horrifying social can of worms.

Tell me something I don't know?

Can't Check Text Messages on Samsung SCH-U340

phrontist — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:44:23 -0800

I just got a Samsung SCH-U340 (catchy, eh?) and I seem to have two text messages in the inbox. When I try to check them, the phone instantly shuts down and restarts (with the Verizon Logo sequence). I have tried deleting all the messages, which effects everything but the inbox (those messages remain) and doing an all settings reset (which is under the security menu), also to no avail. How do I fix this?

Can I use an unlocked V3 RAZR with Verizon Wireless?

de void — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:21:21 -0800

I'm a customer of Verizon Wireless in New Jersey. If I purchase an "unlocked", refurbished Motorola V3 RAZR can I use it with my current Verizon service/phone #? I'm out of contract with Verizon. My current phone is a Samsung SCH-A670 which is rather haggard at this point with a cracked screen.

Verizon is happy to give me a new phone if I sign a new 2 year contract with them. I'm loathe to do that.

Without a new contract, they'll only sell me a new phone at full retail price.

Can I buy the V3 RAZR that is currently for sale at www.stootsi.com and get it to work with my current Verizon service?