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We received a tip yesterday that Google would be selling the Nexus One with support for AT&T 3G starting today. I had heard nothing of the sort, so I ignored the tip and decided not to post it. Now today I checked the store and a Nexus One is available that is compatible with AT&T and Rogers Wireless.
AT&T customers can buy an unlocked Nexus One for $529 and there are no subsidized options. This is great news for AT&T users because they can now purchase the best Android phone and it is not crippled like the Backflip.
Update: Users in Canada are reporting even more versions of the phone. I’ve been told there is one for WIND Mobile, and the other for Rogers, Telus or Bell networks.
Here is the tip we were sent:
“I work for a contract company for tech support on the AT&T network and was just informed that starting 3/16 Google will be selling the Nexus One will the AT&T bands. Google will not be offering AT&T service and will not, to the best of my knowledge, be offering the phone with any subsidized pricing.”
Your superphone is ready to order.
Comment RSS48 Comments
¡¡Good!!, now I can buy one and use it in Argentina (in 3G)
This is Excellent! I love my Nexus One and I want everybody to see what a Fantastic experience it really is!
I keep reading how rad the Nexus One is, I ended up getting the Cliq instead. Mostly, because this is my first android and coming from blackberry/sidekick I felt safe with the keyboard. Definatley thinking about going with a Nexus 2 or 3 or whatever it may be by then next time!
Wow. I just looked @ Google’s Nexus page yesterday…and that definatley wasn’t there. But good news for AT&T and bad news for Apple.
It will also work with Bell and Telus HSPA. HSPA 850/1900 (AT&T/Rogers) is all you need!
not sure why Google did not list those two.
Just bought one! So friggin’ happy!
LOL YAY!!! I’m so excited to see if they will also have 3G issues
!!!
Wind wireless uses the same frequencies as T-mobile. I was up in Toronto this weekend roaming on Wind. Their network speed was quite nice
So if someone is a not an AT&T customer, do they still have to sign a two-year agreement with AT&T, and what are the cost of the voice and data plans?
you don’t need to sign anything.
AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus, price is $530.
So you buy the phone from Google for $529, call AT&T and say I want new service, pay the activation fee, and sign up with no contact, cancel anytime?
Yup, pretty much. You can go on a monthly plan or prepaid or whatever suits you in terms of a…er…term
What many people do when they join a company, and do not want any of their phones is STILL sign up for a longer term to get a discounted phone, then turn around and sell that phone.
For example with Bell, get a blackberry 9700 for $150 on a 3 year term, then put it on a local selling board for $500 or so, and you’ve made $350 by going on the plan. you then go and buy the Nexus for $530, but you have $350 ‘credit’ in a sense.
Does at&t give you a discount on the plan if you brought your own phone, like what t-mobile does?
It appears that AT&T will not give a discounted rate plan for individuals who purchase the Nexus One full price. I was just on the phone with their customer service folks asking about getting a reduced monthly rate (like T-Mobile offers) because I won’t be paying for the phone subsidy.
The customer service agent couldn’t comprehend the idea of a subsidy. She kept saying AT&T doesn’t subsidize phone purchases, they just offer discounts to people who sign up for 2 years. And that no portion of the monthly bill is for a subsidy.
outside of the buying some phone and then selling it to recoup some of the subsidy, the idea of paying full price for a phone, but still paying the monthly rate that subsidizes a phone discount is very unappealing.
It will be interesting to see if Verizon manages the Nexus One the same way.
The Nexus One is THE BEST Android phone? Do you have a source for this?
I would say, the Nexus One is the Android version of the iPhone.
So maybe the most GOOGLE/ANDROID like phone?
It was mostly a joke.
But, imo, the N1 can suck it once the Incredible hits. Android is a great OS, but HTC Sense blows stock/blur/touchwiz out of the water.
Screw unification…capitalism works.
Modaco has a Rom that uses sense UI. its off the desire Rom. I flash between cyanogen and modaco at least once a week.
lol nice. You just can’t decide I have to guess? Yeah, there are ROMs out there for Sense on the N1 but in my time learning some developing here and there, I’ve realized that the best idea with these Android phones is to have the phone with the interface you want and then optimize the kernel. (a la cyanogen)
You can port ROMs over and after almost 2 years the devs have the G1 down pretty well. But with each phone comes new drivers, and hardware that the manufacturer usually doesn’t release the source code for. The N1 is likely a different story coming straight from Google, but (and I would really like your opinion) which runs better on your N1? The Desire build or Cyan’s?
Actually, let me elaborate a little further. The “best” comment they made, I assume is because it has the best specs of any of the other currently available Android handset.
The reason I tend to give this site a hard time is because when I first got my CLIQ, I was amazed at how fast it ran, even with Blur running all over the place. I originally got it to get an upgrade over the G1 (which truly does suffer from storage issues) and I wanted a physical keyboard. Meanwhile, these guys are basically telling me I just bought a $400 paperweight and I couldn’t disagree more.
But then I remembered why it is that my CLIQ was so much smoother than the G1. It’s still a tiny linux kernel. No matter how you try and split the hairs on these phones, 528 mhz is MORE than enough to run any linux kernel of this size.
One of the things developers constantly get asked over at modmymoto.com is to add apps2sd to their ROMs. Since rooting started in December, the general consensus has been that it’s not necessary, as you can load plenty of apps and then some and not really notice a significant lag in the system performance.
I am the source. I have owned the N1 since day one and I have played with every Android phone available. The N1 is the best by far.
Again, why I pick on you guys: you act like you know so much better than everyone else about all of this stuff. However, I sincerely doubt you’ve ever tried to build a linux kernel for an x86 machine let alone an Android phone.
I tried the whole blogging thing and it’s hard to keep up. I’ll have to applaud you for that. But I eventually decided I’d much rather be a pundit that knew what he was talking about instead of someone who shoves my “facts” down other people’s throats.
I’ve read this blog pretty regularly and it’s just filled with inconsistencies, inaccurate information and contradictions with previous articles. You tend to love exaggerated rumors and ignore the more realistic corrections when they are presented to you. Sorry, but sensationalism is not news.
Also, Taylor, realize I’m having a very civilized conversation with your viewers discussing viewpoints.
And then you chime in with this cocky attitude? Classy…
I don’t know if I’d sit there and say Sense UI blows everything else out of the water including the Stock UI. While it may be nice looking and offer a couple of cool features, one problem with it is the delay you end up having with getting Android updates. Also with the N1 revamped UI, it’s pretty slick compared to the older Android UI. Custom UI’s are strictly a personal choice.
Currently, the majority of the population agrees the N1 is currently the best Android phone out, the Legend/Desire may beat it soon, the Incredible may beat it when it comes out. But that always happens when a new higher-end phone is released, it’ll always (usually) be better then the ones before it. So when the Incredible comes out, it may be the best, until something else arrives.
Of course, I’m more than happy to admit that my preference of Sense UI is my opinion. Hence, I don’t have a source.
But “the majority of the population agrees the N1 is currently the best Android phone out”? Really? I hate to tell you but the majority of the population prefers the iPhone over anything.
I’ve gotta agree about the Nexus being the best Android phone to date. And yes, I’m probably a bit biased because I’ve been using it for months. Just like you are a bit biased towards the CLIQ and Motoblur.
The difference here is that I have used both phones extensively. The CLIQ was my daily phone for months. It is just not up to par. Complain all you want, but until you’ve used a Nexus for a proper amount of time you’ll never fully understand why we complain about the CLIQ.
Clark, I should preface by saying, that Motoblur has lost its touch with me. After the radio update preventing further root, the mess of a kernel they gave us and the difficulty that the drivers have given, I’ve been happy to admit for a while now that I’m not getting another Motorola.
My point is, one does not imply the other. Because the Nexus One has better specs does not make the CLIQ a train-wreck. Because Android 2.1 is available for one phone, does not make all other phones outdated. Remember that Cupcake came out less than a year ago. If I still had my T-Mobile Dash and Microsoft rolled out a yearly update, I’d be overjoyed with them.
It’s just the fact that this is only an opinion and your mention of biases only reaffirms this fact. I’m sure I’d fall in love with the N1 if I had one, but I don’t have $530 to shell out on it. (I’m on EMP) Also, I don’t think I’m alone in saying that it’s very disconcerting to spend a large amount of money on a phone, just to read about how terrible it is on here. If it truly is a terrible phone that drops calls and can’t hold a 3G connection (didn’t the N1 do this?) and the battery dies after an hour then that’s one thing. But if all of your comparisons are stacked up against whatever the top-spec device is available today, then do you see how I find your reviews biased?
Look, maybe there’s a middle-ground where we can meet here. I’m all up for discussion. You’ve got my Gtalk ID from my comments if you’re ever interested.
Because the Nexus One has better specs does not make the CLIQ a train-wreck.
The Nexus didn’t make the Cliq a trainwreck. It was a wreck right out of the box. It was slow, the GPS rarely performed to satisfaction, the touch screen was the worst I’ve ever used. I could go on and on but it’s important to note that I decided all these things before I ever even touched a Nexus. I discovered them by using the phone daily, without any prejudice against the CLIQ. The dissatisfaction grew from use, not from thoughts about another phone.
Because Android 2.1 is available for one phone, does not make all other phones outdated.
Yes. It does. When the new version of something comes out, all other versions are ‘old’. Do they still work? Yes. Are they outdated? Also yes. Personally, I prefer the newest software over a custom UI any day.
You do realize there’s a difference between “outdated” and “old” or “older”. A Commodore 64 would be “outdated” as they are usable but can’t perform a majority of functions that you would look for in a desktop. A Pentium 4, on the other hand, would be “older” as it still provides the same essential functions of any x86/amd64 system, but does not perform as well as today’s dual-core PCs.
Also, you realize that with the most recent CLIQ update, that all the issues you mentioned have been fixed, right? I agree it was shaky at first, and deserved a lot of the flack it got, but a lot of it was centered around its comparisons to the DROID. My problem only came well after the release when it seemed like there was absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel for this phone. At least on this website. Many other websites were happy to say that a CLIQ update came out and that it should fix the issues that users have been having. This website, however, always stated that in terms of, the CLIQ got an update but it’s still 1.5, so why bother?
I agree with you guys on many points. Like the Backflip. Yes, it’s a terribly disabled phone, but when I saw that Yahoo! search had replaced Google, my reaction was “Wow! I would never want that on my phone, but that’s what I call innovation.” When cyanogen got his C&D letter, I remember pitching the idea to him that maybe he should just make a bunch of competing Android platforms. For instance, replace all of Google’s apps with MSN. Probably not the most popular idea for Android users, but that’s what makes Android amazing: it truly is portable.
Look, if you had said “the most powerful Android phone” or “the highest-spec’d Android phone”, that’s indisputable. But to call it the “best” Android phone is a little presumptuous. If it really were the best phone, would the other 80% of us still be on 1.5?
If it really were the best phone, would the other 80% of us still be on 1.5?
You are equating ‘best’ with ‘most successful’ which aren’t really the same thing. If you were to offer those 80% a Nexus One, how many do you think would accept?
Look, instead of pulling one sentence out of the three paragraphs I give you and picking that apart, why not contact me privately like I previously offered and we can talk it out like civilized men.
If you would rather not, I can understand (I can get a little hot-headed at times) but overall this was a simple “ha-ha” statement that got taken out of hand. I just simply stand firm in my belief that you’r presenting opinion as “journalism” and I feel that’s very irresponsible.
Again, if you don’t want to contact me, that’s fine with me but I will continue to cast doubt on the validity of content posted here that I find questionable if only for your readers. However, through shared knowledge and cooperation I believe that this website could post very good, accurate articles of relevance.
As much as you and your brother might think I’m trying to bring this site down, it’s really quite the contrary. I’ve only wanted to persuade your content to be as respectable as what I see on the other Android blogs.
“I just simply stand firm in my belief that you’r presenting opinion as “journalism” and I feel that’s very irresponsible.”
Come on dude, this is no flipping New York Times. Its called a Blog,where people post opinion.You don’t have too agree with it. You are just doing the same thing you are condemning-imposing your opinion on others.
“As much as you and your brother might think I’m trying to bring this site down, it’s really quite the contrary. I’ve only wanted to persuade your content to be as respectable as what I see on the other Android blogs.”
I think this blog is as respectable as any out there.
I’m glad that it is available for at@t. Now they finally have a good android phone. I hope more android phones are sold through the store, that way at@t can’t cripple it.
I really hope selling phones separate from carriers catches on, because then you don’t have to worry about the phone your wanting being on a carrier that has bad coverage in your area, or them giving you a bad deal, you just have too choose the carrier that has the best signal in your area and gives the best deals. That way carriers can concentrate on fixing they’re horrible service, rather then what phone they have with that horrible service.
It’s nice to see another country getting quite the Android boost finally. First paid apps and right after they get the N1. Now it’s time for more countries to come on board!
HTC SUPERSONIC FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!
The nice thing with t-mobile is that they give you a $20/mo plan discount if you bring your own phone. Is at&t also doing this, or are they treating BYOP users as equal to subsidized users?
WOAH! This is definitely news to me! Has this been true for a while now? Btw, to answer your question, I don’t think AT&T likes giving out stuff like T-Mobile does. At least from my experience with them.
I think it’s actually a $10 a month discount, they started it in late October of last year. It’s their Even More Plus program I think.
Wow. that was a huge downer to find out I’m already getting the discount. boo!
Sorry for the bubble bursting.
Wrong, Sean, it’s $20.
N1 is $80 with contract, or $60 with the equivalent 500 minute “Even More Plus” plan. Because of that difference, you save $130 with the BYOP plan over 2 years, even though you pay more for the phone up front. Plus you aren’t in a contract.
If AT&T isn’t offering a similar plan discount if I buy the phone unsubsidized, I’m not really interested. I like spending more up front to save more over the long term, and I’m not interested in getting stuck to a contract.
After speaking with AT&T this morning, it does not appear that AT&T will be offering discounted rate plans for individuals who purchase their phone outright.
The already slim chances of me staying with AT&T have now fallen to zero. It will be interesting to see if Verizon or Sprint will be willing to go the same route as T-Mobile.
While I’m not ready to pay 500 bucks for a phone yet, I’m so glad to see the US cell phone market becoming more like the European market. Hopefully the days of locked in contracts will soon be over.
Canada’s wireless infrastructure is an interesting place but for the most part a simple one. All of the major carriers use one set of HSPA bands and are all using GSM as of late 2009. Bell/Telus share one network together and Rogers runs it’s own network but all are run on the same bands as AT&T. All of these company’s have nation wide networks, some places are better served by Rogers and some by Bell/Telus. CDMA coverage is still available through the Bell/Telus legacy network, also with very good coverage but no data speed upgrades like in the states.
Wind mobile is a very small new player that runs on the same bands as T-Mobile in the US but their HSPA/3G coverage is limited to a few major cities only.
In short any unlocked phone that works on AT&T is a great option for Canada and if you want a phone that is not available in the US you can pay the price for a Canadian phone and run it on AT&T (Motorola Milestone on AT&T). Wind is not yet big enough to likely get it’s own phones. They will likely be using T-Mobile hardware for some time.