I downloaded a countdown app for my Thrive tablet a few months back and have been literally tracking the days until I was freed from my cell phone contract and able to jump ship. In that time, I've done plenty of research into no-contract phones, and honed in on either Virgin Mobile's Motorola Triumph or Boost Mobile's LG Marquee. I even bought a $5 flip phone at Target and activated it with $10 of minutes just to test out Virgin's network. Both Virgin and Boost are owned by Sprint, and the cell coverage was just as good in my tests with that $5 flip phone. So I've been itching to get a no-contract smartphone and stop being needlessly gouged by contract service providers. I was leaning heavily toward Triumph, but at the last minute, decided on the Marquee for a few specific reasons.
First Things First:
Now that my Sprint contract is finally up, I feel like I've just been released from prison or something, and vow to never get suckered into another cell phone contract again. I've been under contract with AT&T, Verizon and now Sprint. Of the 3, Sprint has the best prices and their service is on par with the other 2 providers. I'm happy with Sprint's coverage, but the phone they sold me turned out to be a colossal dud a few months in, and they didn't care to do a thing about it since I was shackled for 2 years. So I've been counting the years, months and days until I could finally be freed from contract oblivion and get a phone that actually works! The phone I'm gladly dumping, The Samsung Moment, got 90 minutes of battery life at best, and took 10 minutes just to boot up!! My "wireless" phone was constantly tethered to a charger, was plagued with CPU hangs and lock-ups, and virtually every task was the epitome of tedium. Someone could literally die if they needed to rely on that phone in an emergency. I'm in a wheelchair, and I'd be better off trying to walk to the police than call 911 with that piece o' junk -good riddance!
Pre-Paid Stigma?
I don't get why most people willingly commit themselves to a 2 year contract with any service provider. I was duped into the false sense of security just like everyone else, but I've learned my lesson. Sure, maybe you'll get a "free" phone up front, or get suckered into believing the mail-in rebates are a great deal, or that 4G coverage actually matters when NONE of the providers can offer that speed consistently as of this writing. But in reality, there's virtually NO reason to be bound to a 2 year contract. I see how it benefits service providers, but there's virtually no upside to the consumer whatsoever -nada, nothing, zip, zilch, zero -period. It seems prepaid cell phones have a stigma associated with them, hence why they're being re-branded as "no-contract;" because only poor people or those with bad credit get "prepaid" cell phones. Well, I'm struggling financially now that I've been forced into early retirement, but my credit rating is still over 950, so the stereotype doesn't fit. True, at one time, prepaid cell phones were old technology that no one wanted, but that's no longer the case. Both Boost and Virgin have several smartphone options; even Blackberry if you're set on clinging to that dying brand. But no-contract carriers are getting better phones now; a few are even top-notch. Virgin has the Triumph and now Boost has the LG Marquee, which only a few months ago was a contract phone offered through Sprint. Both are really great smart-phones, light years ahead of my last contract phone. And both Boost and Virgin are owned by Sprint, so the fear of having terrible coverage are unfounded. All told, the excuses with going the prepaid route have quickly evaporated.
Motorola Triumph vs LG Marquee
I really loved a lot Triumph's features: fast CPU, huge screen, HDMI connectivity, excellent video quality, readily available Root mods, and the Motorola brand. I did exhaustive research into this phone and was really set on getting it. But one thing that really concerned me is Amazon suspended their sales of the phone multiple times after receiving customer complaints that their stock was defective. I know tech stupidity is often at play as much as defective hardware, but it did give me cause for concern. Then I read that Virgin was due to announce their new phone for the year, and it's going to be the LG Marquee, so that made me take a serious look. And when Amazon finally got the Marquee on Boost, I decided to just take the leap and go for it. It's not always true, but generally, new is often better in tech world. Things evolve and change very quickly with tech, so a phone that was only a few months old, compared to one well over a year old, sounded more appealing to me. And if it's true that Virgin will be carrying the Marquee as well, then there will be plenty of tweaks and mods available soon enough.
Boost vs Virgin
Since both companies are wholly owned by Sprint, they both have the same coverage. The real difference comes in the plans: Virgin has $35 for 300 min, $45 for 1200 min and $55 for unlimited. All 3 plans include unlimited text and data. I thought I could get away with their $35 plan, but would have to really keep an eye on my minutes to pull that off. Boost, on the other hand, just has a $55 unlimited plan which goes down $5 a month until you reach $40 monthly. That sounded much more appealing to me, since there are many coupons available online that offer $25 off to new customers, and over time, I'd be getting more for less with Boost. In the end, I'd just rather not worry about my minute usage.
If Buying Online, Never Buy From Anyone But Amazon
Of all the problems I read with the Triumph, the most common seemed to be activation issues from people who got their phone from a 3rd party seller, rather than direct from Amazon. Frankly, you just can't trust where 3rd party stock comes from, or that it's even brand new. Whenever I've had problems here on Amazon, it's always been with 3rd party sellers. So I've learned to stick with buying from Amazon directly, especially with tech stuff. Their no questions asked return policy makes it foolish to buy from anyone else, and it's the only way to be sure that what you're buying is actually brand new -not refurbished, lightly used, or grey market -just my personal experience.
Enter LG Marquee
A HUGE selling point with me for the Marquee over Triumph is the screen. Both are roughly the same size, but Marquee has a super bright NOVA display which can be viewed in direct sunlight, and still holds up at extreme viewing angles. Also, Marquee is running a newer version of Android than Triumph, and while I have no bones about rooting any phone, it's not necessarily something I want to do if I don't have to. So the newer OS on Marquee was another notch in its favor. Plus if Virgin is going to be carrying Marquee as well, then it just seems to make sense to go that route over Triumph.
Super Thin
The great thing about the Marquee is that it's very thin and light. My last phone had a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, and I was concerned that I would miss that. But the Marquee is half the thickness and weight of my last phone, which is quite noticeable when it's in my pocket. As far as missing the Qwerty keyboard, that really hasn't turned out to be an issue for me. I got a tablet last summer and have become quite accustomed to typing with a touch screen keyboard. I'm actually just as fast with it as a physical keyboard. So I haven't missed the hard keys whatsoever.
Fast and Responsive
My last smartphone had to be the dumbest "smart" phone ever manufactured. By contrast, this Marquee is a dream. It switches from my different desktop screens smoothly and crisply, with no hangs whatsoever. Occasionally there will be a slight pause when switching between apps, or pinch zooming, but nothing compared to my old piece of junk. The graphics accelerator isn't as snappy as my tablet, but then no phone would be, because tablets have much faster processors. I don't intend on doing much gaming or video watching on my phone, but have every reason to think that it could handle those tasks just fine. The YouTube videos I've loaded play smoothly with no redundant buffering; no better or worse than any device I've used. My tablet has become my primary go-to device, and I don't see any cell phone replacing my tablet's functionality. So for me, Marquee fits quite well into my tech lineup, and holds its own.
Battery Life
Every manufacturer exaggerates battery life with their devices. If you're a heavy user, then you likely won't be satisfied with the battery life of any smartphone. Having said that, the battery life on this Marquee is light years ahead of that old piece of junk I just got rid of. The battery is lasting me all day with light use, but it does drop quickly under heavy use. I think under constant use, I'd probably get roughly 4 hours. When I'd use my old phone as a WiFi hotspot, it would die after about an hour, even plugged into the wall. So clearly it was using more power than it could take in. I haven't rooted the Marquee yet, so I have not used it as a hotspot. Since I have a tablet, I do the majority of my surfing on that, and just use my cell phone for calls and convenience; so I wouldn't call myself a heavy user at all. But I'll post updates to the battery life as I get more real world use with it. But overall, I'm quite happy with it, and don't feel like I'll be stuck in a lurch with a dead phone, like my last one.
EDIT: Just ordered this 3900mAh High Extended Battery with Back Cover which supposedly will over double the Marquee's battery life. I'll post back my real world usage when I get it.
No Bloatware
Unlike most phones, the Marquee doesn't come bogged down with a bunch of useless apps that nobody wants, and can't uninstall. The Marquee is running a pretty stock version of 2.3 Gingerbread, which seems to be standard for these no contract phones. My guess is since they are a low cost service, that carriers are not wasting a lot of time developing custom operating systems, which is fine by me, since it offers a truer Android experience.
Rooting
Since the Marquee is still quite new, there isn't a lot of root info out there just yet. But I have found root mods for the LG Esteem, which will work for the Marquee. Rooting can theoretically open you up to malware, since it grants access to the system files. However the benefits likely outweigh the risks, as you'd be able to use the Marquee as a WiFi hotspot under your unlimited data plan with Boost.
WiFi Tethering
There are several apps out there that claim to add WiFi tethering capability to cell phones without rooting your phone. I intend to explore those options, and will post an update here, if any of those apps pan out. Be aware that using your Marquee as a hotspot goes against Boost's service contract, however, I'm not too worried about it, since I only intend on doing it occasionally. I think where you'd run into trouble, is if you start tethering your laptop to your phone, and then download a bunch of movies, and use a ridiculous amount of data that no cell phone would clearly use. In my case, I would just like to tether my tablet when away from home, and no free public hotspots are available. Since a tablet uses data essentially the same way as a cell phone, I don't think Boost would ever notice the occasional tether with my tablet. Just be smart about it, and you should be fine. Having said that, I have no plans to root my phone, if any of the no root required tethering apps pan out.
Bluetooth Connectivity
This was one of the areas that concerned me with the Triumph. I read several people were having problems keeping their headsets connected. I keep my phone connected to my car's hands free speaker phone, and the connection has been good for me so far.
Sound Quality
The Marquee has pretty decent audio quality from the speaker. No, it won't compete with a boom box, but it's much better than my last phone, and plays pretty loud. I haven't used the Marquee to listen to music just yet. I haven't been doing much of that lately with my cell phone, but that might be because I stopped doing anything extra with that old piece of junk phone I had. If I get into it more with this Marquee, I'll post any updates if they're merited.
Call Quality
None of us want a cell phone that can't get a signal or has terrible call quality. I would guess this is the number one stigma against pre-paid phones. However this Marquee is much better than my old Sprint phone, and I'm quite happy with the call quality and signal strength of this phone.
Video Quality
The Marquee can play video up to 720p HD, and shoots HD video as well, however, the frame rate doesn't appear to be true HD at 24p or 29.97fps. When shooting video, the quality is quite good, but I suspect they're trimming the frame rate as the video does stutter when panning from left to right. It's not noticeable during filming, but is apparent in playback. However, this is getting a little nitpicky, but it's worth mentioning. Overall, the video quality is quite good on the rear camera, which is 5mp. The front camera is only 2mp, and noticeably lacking in comparison. The Marquee does take good pictures as well. And the NOVA display is stunning to use while taking pictures or shooting video. The screen also renders the live camera with no hiccups or artifacts whatsoever. That would be in part due to the awesome NOVA display. It's also worth mentioning that you can shoot video with the LED flash on, and that little LED is quite bright. So if you want to download one of those silly flashlight apps, you'll probably have one of the brightest ones out there and blind someone while finding your seats in that darkened movie theater.
NOVA Display
Supposedly the NOVA display draws 50 percent less energy off the battery than a standard display. This would be key, since these large screens are a huge reason why battery life is so terrible with all smartphones. And yes, this display really is crisp and clear, even in direct sunlight. I saw a side-by-side comparison with the iPhone 4, and the Marquee had a much more vivid display. I'm not a fan of iPhone comparisons, but the screen quality is worth mentioning. I haven't yet put a screen protector on it, but do have one of those military grade, helicopter blade protectors that I may use. I'm usually a big believer in those, but for some reason, I'm still on the fence with whether or not I'll be adding it to this phone.
Storage Space
LG claims you're getting 4gb of storage right out of the box; 2gb onboard, and 2gb with the included micro SD card. I have an 8gb from my old phone installed in the Marquee. Keep in mind, that you never get the full advertised gb as you always lose some to formatting. So that 2gb card that this Marquee comes with is more like 1.7gb. Better to get a bigger card, and not worry about it.
Activation
Like my $5 Virgin flip-phone, I really love the streamlined activation process. I even kept my old phone number, and it was all quite easy to do. Last time I bought a phone, I was in the store 3 hours just trying to complete the entire purchase. By contrast, Boost has been a dream; Amazon shipped the phone straight to my door, and I was up and running shortly thereafter. Being in a wheelchair, this is a big deal, since going to stores that are rarely accessible is a huge pain. So the ease of purchase and activation, coupled with all the money I'll save monthly, makes this purchase a no brainer.
Throttling
Unlike their parent company, Sprint, I completely expect my data speeds to be throttled with Boost. I'd rather it wasn't, but that's likely the trade-off for the cheaper monthly fees. Virgin throttles for customers who use more than 2.5gb of data a month. And Boost likely does the same. Personally, I'd have a hard time using 2.5gb of data a month, so I think I'll be ok.
Bandwidth The Future Commodity
I wouldn't be surprised to see bandwidth become a commodity as valuable as crude oil. In fact, it's already happening, and it will only get worse as more people jump on the 'Cloud' bandwagon. There's a little thing called Spectrum... and there ain't enough of it to go around. Spectrum is essentially bandwidth; similar to a freeway, if all the lanes are clear, then it's full-throttle, but sometimes you hit gridlock and can't drive the posted speed limit. All the cell carriers are struggling to sustain the bandwidth their customers are gobbling up. It's part of the reason why no one can offer 4g (or even 3g) speeds consistently. Personally, I'm not interested in funding cell carriers tech upgrades via overpriced monthly service plans that tout speeds they can't even deliver. Wake me when your towers are ready and can handle the traffic, until then, I'll stick to paying less with Boost.
Footnote to Amazon
Amazon has done an excellent job in revolutionizing the tablet market with their Android hybrid Kindle Fire. They should take things to the next level, and become actual service providers with no-contract cell phones and WiFi hotspots. Their name recognition and track record for offering quality products at a reasonable price could do a lot in erasing the stigma associated with no-contract cell phones. Communications and data really is the future of technology; Apple knows it, Google knows it, and Blackberry has fond memories of it. Amazon knows it too, hence why they're edging in that direction. And becoming a no-contract service provider would be a great way for them to continue being a trend setter and leader in the tech world. Take it for what it's worth, Amazon. ;o)
Bottom Line
Sure, you could get a cutting edge smartphone under contract for the same money, or less, than this Marquee. But is it really worth being shackled to a 2 year contract and paying at least twice as much monthly? You don't really think those phones are free, do you?! Carriers know they've got you on the hefty monthly premiums. And those newfangled cutting edge phones will be quickly devalued by the next new kid on the block. To me, it makes much more sense to get a solid piece of technology that I have the freedom to upgrade anytime I want, and not be bound to any carrier. At the end of the day, if the service is exactly the same, then why pay more? Remember, 4g speeds are not available everywhere, nor are they consistently offered, even in the markets where they are available. 3g isn't even available everywhere, so a lot of people are being suckered into technology that isn't yet fully supported. Besides, with my tablet, my cell phone is actually only needed for calls. Hmm... imagine that! I'm quite happy to have finally come to my senses, and released myself from contract hell, so I can benefit from these great no-contract phones and services. So, why 4 stars instead of 5? Because while this is a great phone with a great monthly price, it still isn't the most cutting edge phone on the market. And even though it's far better than my old phone, the batter life could still be better. But none of that should deter you from getting this great phone, and the awesome no-contract service. So, jump on in folks, the water's fine!
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