Upgrade or buy at full price?

[chanmanx2k]

You guys planning to buy this piece of machinery at full MSRP? Or are you going to use one of your upgrades? Im hesitant to waste an upgrade on year hold hardware. And given the small market for this phone, the resell value down the road will be low. What are your thoughts?

 

[thed]

Even though the price isn't too bad and it might get discounted even further, I'll get this one off contract and save my upgrade for a nicer phone next year, assuming Verizon gets them. I'll be eligible for an upgrade very soon but not renewing means I get the chance to see how Verizon does with updates and getting new models. It may end up costing me more but it will give me some flexibility.

Agree with you that resale value will be low once newer phones get released. I might consider hanging onto it for traveling purposes after I upgrade, since it supports so many GSM bands (one of the biggest selling points of this phone IMO).

 

[Tjarren]

Need to know the price first. Hard to make that call right now. I think its best to wait for a renewal upgrade personally. The only plus I can see about doing it now is, whenever WP8 is ready, you'll be set for a nice upgrade.

The thing I wonder, though, is if the way things went with the Trophy is going to be the status quo for WP devices on Verizon (late release, middling device, etc) ...

 

[WayCool]

+1 what Tjarren said.... if this is status quo .. may not be a good idea to use an upgrade...

I'm waiting to see if I can find one in a month or so on ebay or craigs list...



Once there are Microkia phones available.. the game will change

And to be honest.. AT&T so far has been pretty flawless So I may not bother...

 

[Adiliyo]

i'm not signing any contracts with verizon for the near future.

that being said, i'm not going to pay full retail either, i'll pick one up on CL or ebay when the price comes down close to 200 (which it is sure to do)


having a focus admittedly makes it easier to wait out the trophy now though...

 

[Ruined]

I went ahead and upgraded today, they were willing to sell it to me 2days early w/ the 2yr contract over the phone.

I figure its not really worth waiting aside from price which will come down, as though some higher spec'd devices will come out and slicker ones, the real deal will be windows phone 8 which won't be until late 2012-2013 alongside windows 8. So my contract will be through may of 2013, which should allow upgrade shortly after windows 8 release.

What will new phones bring that this one doesn't have? Probably higher quality screen, potential addition of front facing camera, potential faster loadtimes, 4g... But I dont really skype with anyone and the front facing cameras are genreally lowres so not really worth it to me. And I live/work in a relatively remote area thus I will likely not even get to use 4g for years due to lack of coverage; nevermind the battery it eats. Thus, I think the trophy will get the job done for me personally until windows 8 is released. Will also give data caps some time to get increased/normalized as I am locked into unlimited data w/ trophy.

Not to mention, god knows how long until a "mango" phone comes out on verizon. this will be a good phone to demonstrate to my friends who have verizon.

you can bank on the htc 7 pro coming this summer too to verizon, if you want the keyboard. its being tested right now from what I hear. this will be my first keyboardless smartphone but I'm determined to adapt .

 

[Grubish360]

I went ahead and upgraded today, they were willing to sell it to me 2days early w/ the 2yr contract over the phone.

I figure its not really worth waiting aside from price which will come down, as though some higher spec'd devices will come out and slicker ones, the real deal will be windows phone 8 which won't be until late 2012-2013 alongside windows 8. So my contract will be through may of 2013, which should allow upgrade shortly after windows 8 release.

What will new phones bring that this one doesn't have? Probably higher quality screen, potential addition of front facing camera, potential faster loadtimes, 4g... But I dont really skype with anyone and the front facing cameras are genreally lowres so not really worth it to me. And I live/work in a relatively remote area thus I will likely not even get to use 4g for years due to lack of coverage; nevermind the battery it eats. Thus, I think the trophy will get the job done for me personally until windows 8 is released. Will also give data caps some time to get increased/normalized as I am locked into unlimited data w/ trophy.

Not to mention, god knows how long until a "mango" phone comes out on verizon. this will be a good phone to demonstrate to my friends who have verizon.

you can bank on the htc 7 pro coming this summer too to verizon, if you want the keyboard. its being tested right now from what I hear. this will be my first keyboardless smartphone but I'm determined to adapt .

How did you go about ordering one over the phone early?

 

[Ruined]

How did you go about ordering one over the phone early?

I called the Verizon Wireless Sales line 1-800-256-4646 and I already had numerous complaints as I am on my 3rd replacement LG Fathom phone in 6 months, also Verizon terminated one of the services I signed up for when under contract which gave me a bargaining chip for early upgrade in addition to the multiple equipment failures. I also have corp discount so this may have had some impact as well. The LG Fathom I had a 1-year contract with appears to have serious design issues with the screen, in all of the ones I've received first two hotspots show up on the LCD then in 1-3 months the touchscreen stops working completely; my guess is it overheats and fails over time.

In the end, VZW offered me early upgrade back in April and told me to callback when there is a phone that fits my needs (i.e. WP7) that is available. So, I called today and said I wanted the HTC trophy and would sign a 2yr contract for it, I told them I knew it would not be available until 5/26/11 but they said they could order it for me anyway and quoted me the 199.99+tax and $50 rebate as we all heard. They told me I'd get it by Thursday, we'll see if that happens or not.

This may be a special exception due to the extreme amount of failures I've had with my current device over a short period of time, but you can callup and give it a shot. Just say you want the HTC trophy which is available online 5/26/11 and would sign 2yr contract for it and they might sell it to you.

 

[Grubish360]

I called the Verizon Wireless Sales line 1-800-256-4646 and I already had numerous complaints as I am on my 3rd replacement LG Fathom phone in 6 months, also Verizon terminated one of the services I signed up for when under contract which gave me a bargaining chip for early upgrade in addition to the multiple equipment failures. I also have corp discount so this may have had some impact as well. The LG Fathom I had a 1-year contract with appears to have serious design issues with the screen, in all of the ones I've received first two hotspots show up on the LCD then in 1-3 months the touchscreen stops working completely; my guess is it overheats and fails over time.

So, I called today and said I wanted the HTC trophy and would sign a 2yr contract for it, I told them I knew it would not be available until 5/26/11 but they said they could order it for me anyway and quoted me the 199.99+tax and $50 rebate as we all heard. They told me I'd get it by Thursday, we'll see if that happens or not.

This may be a special exception due to the extreme amount of failures I've had with my current device over a short period of time, but you can callup and give it a shot. Just say you want the HTC trophy which is available online 5/26/11 and would sign 2yr contract for it and they might sell it to you.

Thanks for the info. Do you know if you will get the free Xbox game with it? That's one of the pluses about ordering it online, you can get Halo Reach for free. (Which I'm planning on selling. I already have one I pre-ordered before it came out, and the update disc Microsoft sent me for being in the Xbox Live beta that is currently going on.)

Anyways, when Thursday comes, could you report back if you receive the phone or not?

 

[Ruined]

Thanks for the info. Do you know if you will get the free Xbox game with it? That's one of the pluses about ordering it online, you can get Halo Reach for free. (Which I'm planning on selling. I already have one I pre-ordered before it came out, and the update disc Microsoft sent me for being in the Xbox Live beta that is currently going on.)

I have no idea if I'll get the free game, and I can't order online as technically I'm in contract until Sep 2011. They made an exception to let me upgrade to a 2yr contract but it would have to be over the phone or instore. I already have all of the rumored games (Halo Reach, Lode Runner, Kinect Sports) so like you it would just be ebay fodder if I got it.

Anyways, when Thursday comes, could you report back if you receive the phone or not?

For sure, I've lurked this forum a while and have enjoyed the informative posts so if I can contribute something worthwhile I will do so.

 

[Grubish360]

Thanks!

 

[Adiliyo]

the thing about the game that confuses me is in the wording on msft's blog (i'll look and see if i can find the link) they make it sound as if you can buy any xbox game valued at $60 and the ones that they list are examples.

i guess we'll find out soon enough!

 

[Ruined]

the thing about the game that confuses me is in the wording on msft's blog (i'll look and see if i can find the link) they make it sound as if you can buy any xbox game valued at $60 and the ones that they list are examples.

i guess we'll find out soon enough!

I also see the term VOUCHER being thrown around, perhaps it will be something in the box itself?

 

[Adiliyo]

i would much rather have been given a $60 credit put into my xbox live/marketplace account than an xbox game...which would have made more sense imo

 

[Gungzwei]

i would much rather have been given a $60 credit put into my xbox live/marketplace account than an xbox game...which would have made more sense imo

I got me an xbox friday just so I would be able to take advantage of the offer

 

[Adiliyo]

but $60 would be more than the price for the games they listed!

i have an extra copy of reach i'll trade you for your voucher...

 

[JudgeHolden]

At this point it'd likely be better buying a Charge or Incredible 2 with your discount, hocking it on ebay and then buying a Trophy on ebay.


Though we don't know the numbers, I wouldn't be surprised to see the resale values of these phones prove that this is the cheapest way to get the phone. Also the biggest hassle...

 

[Gungzwei]

but $60 would be more than the price for the games they listed!

i have an extra copy of reach i'll trade you for your voucher...

I might take you up on the offer. I was prolly gonna get Reach, anyway. I'll send you a PM if I do.

At this point it'd likely be better buying a Charge or Incredible 2 with your discount, hocking it on ebay and then buying a Trophy on ebay.


Though we don't know the numbers, I wouldn't be surprised to see the resale values of these phones prove that this is the cheapest way to get the phone. Also the biggest hassle...

That's not bad thinking. Worth looking into. Thanks!

 

[Vallos]

In case no one saw it, Ted posted a link in another thread, with a the full retail price of the Trophy - $429.99

 

[Vallos]

Actually, it's $409.99. Look at the news feed.