HTC Does What Google Wouldn't: Sell an LTE Phone That Sidesteps AT&T

schwit1 writes "You won't see it advertised on billboards or television, you won't hear it mentioned in a carrier store, and your less technologically-savvy friends most certainly won't know about it — but quietly, HTC's done something extraordinarily important this month: it's broken AT&T's stranglehold on its nationwide LTE network. It's a move that even Google, for all its money, power, and influence, didn't make with the Nexus 4. HTC is shipping both 32GB and 64GB versions of the One — an early contender for the best phone of 2013 — in a carrier- and bootloader-unlocked version that supports both T-Mobile and AT&T LTE. No strings attached."

Comments

News at elleven

[spectrokid]

company dears to do something in the US (under cover of darkness) which is standard practice everywhere else on this planet. Welcome to the 21th century!

Re:News at elleven

[captainpanic]

I was just gonna write something similar. It is very common to be able to buy a phone without contract in the Netherlands, and then buy a separate sim-card somewhere. What's all the fuss about? But then I guess we do occasionally blow news items from the USA out of proportion, so maybe I should just take it with a grain of salt and grab another cup of coffee.

Re:News at elleven

[sabri]

It is very common to be able to buy a phone without contract in the Netherlands, and then buy a separate sim-card somewhere.

You can do that in the U.S. as well. You will just pay the full price.

The reason why lots of cellphones are carrier-locked, is because the carrier subsidizes the purchase and charges less for the phone than the manufacturer does. Your brand new Nokia 6220 will cost Telfort 300 Euries, but you will only pay 49.95 if you sign a 2 year contract. So in that case, Telfort's business model to subsidize your new phone will be based on the assumption that you will use their service. In order to "force" you to do so, the phone is locked to accept only Telfort Sim cards.

This model has evolved to certain manufacturers doing only business with certain service providers and basically locking them in. For example, here in the U.S. the first Iphone could only be purchased at AT&T and thus would be sim-locked for the AT&T network.

The news here is that HTC now breaks that tradition and just offers their cellphone directly to consumers, simlock free. And that does matter.

Re:News at elleven

[captainpanic]

In retrospect, not the best combination of words. :)

Re:News at elleven

[nozzo]

They have salty liquorice in the Nederlands - salty coffee too for all i know!

Re:News at elleven

[geirlk]

"But it's a taste sensation!"

It sure is: http://blog.khymos.org/2010/03/21/a-pinch-of-salt-for-your-coffee-sir/

Re:News at elleven

[todrules]

T-Mobile has a truly unlimited data plan, which is on their HSPA+ as well as LTE, if available. Granted, their LTE coverage pretty much sucks as of right now but should be much improved by the end of the year.

And, I agree about the downgrading the voice experience though. Not a very elegant solution. However, Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) should solve this, and most major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) are planning to implement this either in 2013 or 2014.

Re:News at elleven

[karnal]

Verizon has sim cards now for the LTE network. I have a few devices (mini wifi router and 4g usb stick) and both require a SIM card; both are on Verizon.

Re:News at elleven

[Lumpy]

the iphone 4s and iphone 5 as well as many other phones have penta band radios in them that support All cellular bands and technology. Verizon is just being Scumbaggy by demanding that any phone they allow on their networks to be LOCKED to their networks forever.

It's an example of a company being highly dishonest and nobody calling them out on their dishonest behavior.

Re:News at elleven

[NJRoadfan]

All LTE devices on VZW have SIM cards. They lock their phones by their unique network requirements as they won't work on the other LTE carriers in the Us without multiple band support. The voice part of their phones is still CDMA2000 and they use LTE on 700Mhz Band 13. AT&T uses LTE on 700Mhz Band 17 and 1700Mhz Band 4 with voice using GSM/HSPA.

Re:News at elleven

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you idiot. You pay 49.95 now, and the rest as downpayment through your 2 year contract. The cost isn't subsidised, it's hidden.

Re:News at elleven

[msauve]

Nice troll.

With the exception of the iPhone, Verizon has never locked phones to their network, at least as the word "locked" is applied to cell phones.

VZW uses CDMA for voice. The only other US carrier to do so is Sprint. A VZW phone will work on Sprint, except for the fact that Sprint won't allow any phone they didn't sell on their network. It used to be that Verizon would let you put a Sprint phone on their network, though. Then Sprint went WIMAX for a while, and VZW went LTE.

In any case, there's nothing which keeps a VZW phone locked to their network. Not being able to use most of their phones on a different network is purely a technology issue. There are some VZW "world phones," which will work on other networks just fine.

Finally, with regard to locked iPhones, they will unlock them when your contract is done.

Re:News at elleven

[nightgeometry]

Pity you are at 0, because this is exactly it. Whenever I wish to change phone I look at the same phone on contract 'subsidised' and paying outright. Every time so far it has worked out cheaper to buy the phone, then equivalent service. Also every time my monthly cost has dropped after some time, so it works out even cheaper than the original calculation makes out. Further - if i wish to change phone, I sell the old one, and get to choose a new one (I never come out ahead, but it is nice to reduce the burden).

Re:News at elleven

[thomasw_lrd]

Corporations don't make any sense. If they make you sign a contract and lock the phone, then they can screw you both ways.

Re:News at elleven

[jawtheshark]

Yes, that is true... However, it's not the whole story. Especially not where I live, considering iPhones. A mid-range iPhone contract costs 45€/month for everything flat-rate, except roaming. When you subscribe to that contract you get an iPhone 4S for 49€ or an iPhone 5 for 149€. The thing is: there is no contract that is cheaper which would provide the same functionality.

I don't have an iPhone. My wife does. She got it two years ago, with that plan. The phone is still perfectly fine. Still holds charge, still functions as expected. It is entirely sufficient for her needs. We could chose not to renew the contract and get a new phone, but we'd continue paying those 49€/month any way. So, I went to my telco, gave then 149€ and renewed the contract. My wife has a new iPhone 5, I have a new toy to play around with (her old iPhone 4) and all that just because I renewed a contract and spent a bit of money (basically, 149€/24 = 6.21€/month for the next two years).

The alternative would have been to let my telco get away with a fat margin for all the months that iPhone 4 would have continued working exceeding the contract time. I don't know about you, but I'd rather spoil my wife a bit than give them extra money.

Re:News at elleven

[Andy Dodd]

The problem is that sometimes it is hard to get service without the subsidy penalty.

Fortunately, it is much easier now than it was a year or so ago, thanks to Straight Talk and Net10's SIM-only plans (both give you choices of AT&T or T-Mobile's network, although new AT&T ST SIMs may be temporarily unavailable.) and T-Mobile's new plan structures.

When my contract is up, it's off to ST (if they are offering AT&T SIMs again at that point) or Net10 for me.

Re:News at elleven

[fuzznutz]

Your apathy is the reason Verizon and AT&T can continue to screw their customers. I left AT&T last year and went with an AT&T MVNO and never looked back. My cost may be about the same, but it's at a much higher level of service. I got tired of watching my minutes and paying an extra $6 or $7 ala carte charges each month caused by friends who love to text. I bought a Nexus 4 and paid a whole $150 more than I did for my last "subsidized" phone.

I am no longer forced to choose between contract churn every two years or continue to pay "subsidized phone" rates after finishing the contract. I am much happier and I always know exactly how much my bill will be each month. I will never step back on the contract treadmill.

Re:News at elleven

[fightinfilipino]

it may be a "technology issue" as you say, but don't think for a second that the Mobile Phone companies are just obliviously choosing technologies that only work on their own network. it's the same issue with AT&T's and T-mobile's LTE networks using different frequencies of LTE. it's simply another form of lock-in.

Re:News at elleven

[xchknfrmr]

The problem is that sometimes it is hard to get service without the subsidy penalty.

Fortunately, it is much easier now than it was a year or so ago, thanks to Straight Talk and Net10's SIM-only plans (both give you choices of AT&T or T-Mobile's network, although new AT&T ST SIMs may be temporarily unavailable.) and T-Mobile's new plan structures.

When my contract is up, it's off to ST (if they are offering AT&T SIMs again at that point) or Net10 for me.

Net 10 is Straight Talk. They're the same company. If you call Net10's support line it declares itself to be Straight Talk. The differences are that ST is sold only by Walmart, Net10 is sold by other stores and Net10 can be $5 per month more expensive unless you use their "Auto Refill" service.

Re:News at elleven

[msauve]

LOL. Your ignorance is showing. Different carriers use different frequencies, because they have to, both technically and legally. Many phones work on multiple frequency bands, there's no "lock-in" as you claim. The same is true in Europe, where different providers are assigned the use of different frequencies within the available bands.

Going back to the original AMPS "A side/B side" US cellular system, which eventually aggregated to essentially ATT/VZW, one side chose CDMA and the other TDMA when they moved to digital. When PCS expansion came into play, the new carriers likewise picked between the available technologies. It's not like any of them are proprietary. The US has more frequency bands in use because of what could be made available. Phones can be made to cover all bands, but it costs more and consumers generally aren't interested in paying for that flexibility, since they can simply get a new phone and change providers when their contract is up.

The current direction is that all US carriers will eventually end up with VoLTE, but during the transition from current technologies there will be a period where technology prevents interoperability of some equipment between some carriers.

Re:News at elleven

[briancox2]

When Verizon purchased the rights to the LTE band from the government, the FTC agreement included a clause that they could NOT restrict which devices were allowed to have access to their network.

The FTC made a ruling last year that enforced with Verizon that this rule meant that they could not charge for tethering. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/07/31/2139246/fcc-rules-that-verizon-cannot-charge-for-4g-tethering

When will some hungry lawyer actually take them to task in a class action lawsuit that demands that they not block other LTE devices?

Re:News at elleven

[icebike]

Its been my experience that religious blessings of salt make no difference in its effectiveness.

Re:News at elleven

[NJRoadfan]

Nope, the neither the GSM version nor the CDMA version support LTE Band 13. You might be able to pull off voice and 3G EVDO on the Sprint version (their phones may be locked), but no 4G.

Re:News at elleven

[motokochan]

Yeah, the major US operators have done their best to make money no matter what way you go. If you pay full price for your phone or go for their subsidized offerings, you still have to pay $100/mo for service if you want a data plan. There is no service price difference either way. Often, you have to go on a two year contract either way as well. If you don't take their subsidized phone, they just make a better profit on you. That makes it advantageous for customers to upgrade every two years as there is no benefit to them for keeping an older device.

The only major operator that isn't that way is T-Mobile, where you got a lower price if you brought your own device. That was on their old "value" plans. Now they have fully unbundled the two things and you can get a phone with discount on an interest-free installment plan and choose whatever service you want. The downside is that T-Mobile has fairly poor coverage outside their major areas. I'm lucky to be in a region that has decent coverage with them. It will be interesting to see how the other majors respond to the new T-Mobile plans, but they might just be too big to care.

Of course, pre-paid MVNOs operate differently, but are subject to the whims of the majors upon whom they depend for connectivity.

I only wish such good mobile plans were here in the US, but the corporations have made sure to make it near impossible to happen.

Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its head.

[VortexCortex]

Looks great except for One thing: No SD card slot, so screw it. I'm not buying into the "stream everything" BS. "Always online" is a disease. Lack of this basic feature is a huge "Fuck You" to me and anyone else who shuffles a lot of data -- The power users -- The people who would by the thing -- The target demographic...

I mean, even my cunting Sansa Clip+ has a fucking SD card reader -- Loaded with a 64 gig micro SD... Which is more than this damn thing can store (the full 64GB of the 64GB version isn't fully usable for data) -- And I have a 8 of these cards (in a CD jewel case holder). It takes me 10 seconds to swap cards -- That's 384 GB/sec... For the price they're changing for this thing, it should be as feature complete as a $30 music player.

What is it going to take? Wait until software defined radio gets cheap enough before I can have a damn SD card slot back? Ugh.

Confusion?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait a sec..

...bootloader-unlocked version that supports both T-Mobile and AT&T LTE.

What does the summary mean by AT&T LTE?

Does it mean that AT&T LTE is different from Other carrier's LTE? Why would a manufacturer make a phone that works only on a single carrier? Isn't LTE supposed to be a standard as opposed to a propreitary tech?

I don't live in the USA, so I wouldn't know.. Everyhere else in the world, people would practically boycott the carrier which sold locked down phones like that..

Re:Confusion?

[Dorianny]

Each carrier uses different frequencies. The majority of phones in the USA are sold by the carriers rather than the manufacturer, which they then sell to the user for a steep discount in exchange for signing up for a multi-year contract. Because it is the carriers rather than the end user who is making the actual purchase from the manufacturer, they typically ask them to do things like place sim-card restrictions and drop support for frequencies they do not use.

Re:Confusion?

[squiggleslash]

There's a variety of possibilities here, because LTE has kinda screwed up the standards thing.

1. It might just mean frequency. For example, T-Mo's UMTS is different from AT&T's in that T-Mobile runs their's on 1700Mhz and 2100MHz, while AT&T runs their's on 850MHz and also on 1900MHz. That said, this seems unlikely, both are running LTE on 1700/2100, though AT&T is also running it on 700MHz.

2. How the two networks use their frequencies may vary, though I doubt it. Verizon and AT&T choose different ways to handle, for example, uplink and downlink frequencies when running it on their 700MHz allocations.

3. I don't know if either network supports voice on LTE yet, but there's at least three different ways to implement it and it's not impossible that T-Mobile has selected a different voice protocol to AT&T. No, I'm not making that up - originally, the intention was that voice on LTE would be GSM's pre-existing IMS protocol. Several carriers balked, arguing that it doesn't support what's necessary to ensure there's a consistent quality of service when the network is congested, and as a result there's VoLTE and also, for reasons that remain unclear to this day, a version of GAN (UMA - that "GSM over Wi-fi" thing) all competing in that space.

Before you rule out (1) and (2) and deduce it must be (3) by process of elimination, (3) is unlikely to be the issue as most phone makers are simply avoiding the entire question by routing voice over 2G or 3G.

So I don't know. My guess is that this is a regular phone that supports LTE, in all of its forms, on 1700/2100, and maybe on 700MHz too. It probably doesn't support voice on UMTS at all. It may well be standard enough to work on Sprint PCS's LTE too, though as it doesn't support cdma2000/cdmaOne, it's wouldn't be marketed towards Sprint customers as it would suck being limited to being a data phone only, and then only in the few places Sprint has LTE.

It's probably very boring in practice.

LTE Nexus 4 Coming in May

[Dorianny]

According to Google’s Andy Rubin, the reason Google didn't include LTE support on the Nexus 4 was because “A lot of the networks that have deployed LTE haven’t scaled completely yet — they’re hybrid networks [...] which means the devices need both radios built into them [] When we did the Galaxy Nexus with LTE we had to do just that, and it just wasn’t a great user experience.” Whatever the reasons, after getting skewered for the decision, Google is backtracking and seems poised to release a LTE Nexus 4 sometime next month.

Re:LTE Nexus 4 Coming in May

[AlphaWolf_HK]

I wonder if that would include patching in support for the existing LTE radio on the Nexus 4? It has a four band LTE radio IIRC (in addition to its existing pentaband UMTS radio) and it does actually work with t-mobile LTE and I'm fairly certain AT&T LTE as well.

In that respect, it already does what TFA is making a big deal about, only unofficially.

Re:LTE Nexus 4 Coming in May

[Internal Modem]

Apple has already been selling an LTE phone that sidesteps AT&T since last year, so this article is making a big deal about nothing.

Best phone for 2013

[ta_gueule]

The best phone in 2013 is from 2009. The N900 is still unmatched. In 2013, the N900 screen is crap, the CPU is a joke, it doesn't do LTE and it is still more useful than any other phone. I'm still waiting for a replacement with better spec but I don't see that coming in the near future. This phone is the Amiga of the 21th century. They can up all the specs in their phone, they won't match the N900 until a decade or more.

Re:Best phone for 2013

[Xest]

What is so magical about it that you N900 fanboys keep going on about it exactly. I mean, what does it do that no other phone can?

Re:Best phone for 2013

[bfandreas]

It's got a nice keyboard and is very Linuxy. I had also considered to replace my E61 with a N900.
Do not underestimate a hackable phone with a decentish keyboard. In a pinch I have quite often used my E61 to take down notes for a meeting and writing lengthy Emails. The N900 was a lot nicer.

I'd buy an updated N900(with a proper battery, an easily unlocked bootloader, HDMI out, SDXC support and a nice display) in a heartbeat. Touchscreen typing is inferior to a keyboard no matter how limited.

Re:Best phone for 2013

[ProbablyJoe]

It runs Maemo/Meego, which is based on Debian, and can therefore run lots of standard Linux programs. It's also fully open and not locked down at all, unlike iOS/Android. The things that it can do that other phones can't do are very niche hacker things though, hence the popularity on Slashdot. I do have one, and it's fun to play around with, and certainly better than anything else for using a terminal and SSHing into servers, but for anything else I much prefer Android, since it's much easier to use and has apps that are better designed for touchscreens.

Re:Best phone for 2013

[Xest]

"Touchscreen typing is inferior to a keyboard no matter how limited."

I think this depends, if you're typing command line commands or code with lots of switches, brackets, braces and so forth then I think you're absolutely right.

In fact, I used to agree with you in general, but now I use swype on my Android phone I actually think it's far faster and far superior to typing on a phone sized keyboard if you're typing general text such as SMS messages, e-mails, Slashdot posts...

I'm certainly a convert in this respect to touchscreen keyboards, Swype is the only input device I've ever encountered that allows me to reach near full-sized keyboard input speeds when typing plain English text. I certainly used to think touchscreens would always be shit, but Swype and Swype like keyboards are genius and completely changed the touchscreen input game.

Re:Best phone for 2013

[Xest]

I guess it's the physical keyboard that gives it the edge over Android for things like terminal and SSH access given that Android does also allow these things? How would an unlocked and rooted Android device with a similar physical keyboard compare?

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[nametaken]

Believe it or not, people care about different things.

I use the hell out of my smartphones, but I've yet to need more than a few gig of local storage. I just don't use my phones to hold my entire music and movie collections, even if I have the option.

And given how many smartphones do not have card slots, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it isn't necessarily a make-or-break feature.

Whoop de flippity do

[FuzzNugget]

What is it, exactly, that Google didn't do? Offer 32/64GB capacities? LTE?

Oh, wait: https://www.google.com/search?q=Nexus+4+lte

I'm going with: whoopdedoo. Is it even possible to actually take advantage of LTE with SoC mobile hardware or typical network congestion? Even it is, what's the point if you hit your data cap after 5 minutes and get wallet-raped by your carrier?

I'm aware of exactly one regional carrier in all of Canada, and maybe one in the US that actually offer unlimited data in only specific areas, not nation wide (subject to arbitrary "excessive use policies" of course ... so it's not really unlimited so much as it's "unlimited"). Everyone else makes a big fucking deal about one whole gigabyte and it's absolutely hilarious how anyone thinks that is any real amount of data in 2013.

No, it most certainly was Google who started upsetting the status quo. The Nexus line has always been available unlocked straight from Google, and for an extremely palatable price. Pop in your SIM card, no plan restrictions*, no contract, it just goes.

I will admit that HTC's One is proportionately well priced. They also get kudos for a big fuck-you plainly directed at AT&T.

* I have my Nexus 4 on a voice & text plan (no data) because I can wait until the next available wifi signal or until I get home to check this or that and I don't need to post every damn meal I eat on shitsagram. Yes, I'm aware that some carriers will automatically tack on charges to your bill for features you never even used when they detect your phone model from the IEMI. Fortunately, the government here still seems to give a modicum of shit about us, as we have specific laws disallowing any carrier from adding adding features or changing plans without a customer's explicit consent.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[peragrin]

that's what is great about this. Check out T-mobile data plans.

I am seriously considering switching to t-mobile in the fall when my current AT&T contract is up. I presently get a crappy signal in my current location and anything will be better than AT&T

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[GigaplexNZ]

I had a quick look, and their base 500MB plan costs nearly double what I'm paying now (ignoring the fact I don't live in USA). Choosing between using my existing microSD card or paying $30 extra per month for enough data to support streaming? It's a no-brainer.

Anciant business model

[ze_jua]

Subsidizes phones is a business model from the past.

It's so heavily broken that I can't even understant :
- Why (we) the people accepted this ? (Okay, GSM phones were VERY expensive in 1996...)
- Why did the banksters allowed the carriers to steal their favourite business (small consumer credits with huge interests) !?

Since past year, here in France, one carrier (and then... every other) bagan to sell "low cost" subscription. It's in fact the same service, without the cost of the "subsidized" phone. Minus 30€ a month (or more).

24 months later, you have 24*30=720€ to buy the unlocked phone of your choice.

For people who prefer to pay 25-30€ a month to pay their handset, banks are back in the dance, with credit offers to buy your unkocked phone on a 24 months credit.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[dunkelfalke]

It is for me. Not only that my 16gb MicroSD card is almost full (offline navigation data, music), the micro USB port of my phone is broken. I can neither recharge it nor copy data through USB.

If I had one of the many smartphones without a card slot or a changeable battery, I'd be screwed. As the things are right now, I can continue to use the phone - a top of the line device few years ago - until something else fails. I can even still update the firmware without much hassle.

Re:Nice Phone

[wed128]

I have owned 6 cell phones (most of them not "Smart") and all of them have had removeable batteries.

I've never actually *removed* the battery from any single one.

Anecdote.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[D4MO]

You, even by power user standard, are an edge case. I'm technology inclined / power user and the 64GB model is good enough for me without need for SD card.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[dunkelfalke]

So you prefer buying a new phone instead of a second battery and an external charger in a case like mine? Well, be my guest, I prefer to spend the money on my bike.

T-Mobile Frequency support incomplete

[FlatEric521]

Even though they mention T-Mobile support for LTE, if you look closer at the frequency support on the phone's specs at HTC's site, there is something important to note.

HSPA/WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 MHz

This will not support T-Mobile 3G in a number of areas where they haven't converted AWS from HSPA+ use to LTE use. For people considering this phone for T-Mobile, you may get stuck on 2G depending on where you live.

T-mobile no contract plan should shake things up.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

The latest policy shift in T-mobile is: no contracts, transparent installment sales of phones, no nickel and diming on data. 500 MB high speed included. 10$ for another 2GB, another 10$ for "unlimited". At the end of quota, no over use fees, but just throttling of speed. Allows 500 MB of tethering. This should shake things up in a regular free market.

But I am not so sure. Verizon has a huge cash cow, in the form of FiOS. It can use that revenue stream to undercut t-mobile and try to kill it instead of competing with it on a level ground. AT&T has inertia and corporate support helping it. I just hope T-Mobile succeeds just to bring sanity to this market.

T-mobile got the best deal in the failed merger with AT&T. Apparently that contract gave T-mobile 2 billion dollars if the deal was rejected by the Govt, and more importantly bandwidth in the edge network for T-mobile in some 50 markets. If it plays this hand of cards well, things should shake up in the mobile market in USA.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[tepples]

Seriously. Get a thumb drive.

You appear to recommend using a USB MSC device to move files between a phone and a PC. That won't work so well on an Android device without USB OTG MSC host support, which a lot of Android devices appear to be leaving out in order to get around paying Microsoft a royalty for FAT.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[dunkelfalke]

So you are suggesting that I create some data on the phone, then put the data through wifi on my PC at home, then put it to a thumbdrive and bring it to work instead of just pulling the MicroSD card from the phone and put it into the card reader on my work PC? I am not quite sure I see the sense of this excercise.

In fact, I don't see the sense of many of "helpful" posts here. People suggest that I buy a phone lacking certain functionality, then jump through hoops to emulate the lacking functionality. Are you guys business consultants or what?

Re:T-mobile no contract plan should shake things u

[steelfood]

Verizon is too entrenched to need to undercut T-Mobile. It's Bell South errm, I mean AT&T who might have to do this, and they don't have other revenue streams.

Not that they need to right now. Verizon and AT&T currently offer far better coverage than T-Mobile. Verizon is still tons better than AT&T, mostly because they're on CDMA instead of GSM, so that should tell you where T-Mobile is in comparison with Verizon.

The other thing is, FiOS is not as big of a revenue maker as you might think. The cost of rolling out the infrastructure is not being offset by the revenue from people switching over. In fact, it's gotten so bad they've stopped rolling it out completely.

Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea

[Bill_the_Engineer]

I just looked it up on iFixit. You are correct this is practically a disposable phone. I'm pretty sure any repair involves getting a refurbished unit in exchange.

Re:Just so you know what you're in for...

[fahrbot-bot]

"Can't talk on phone while driving on interstate" is a pretty big negative for me.

But probably safer for the rest of us, and the practice of phoning while driving will probably be unlawful most places soon anyway.