Prepaid or postpaid?: The fight for your cell phone dollars (Smartphones Unlocked)

No-contract carriers can slice your smartphone bill over the course of two years. But you may still opt for a pricier contract instead. By definition, the no-contract carrier model is designed to save you money over a two-year contract agreement, the latter of which reigns supreme here in the U.S. The question is: How much do you really gain by going prepaid, and what do you lose from the subscriber experience? Without a doubt, no-contract carriers like MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Cricket Wireless can dramatically cut your monthly cell phone bill, but there are trade-offs. I'm not going to dive into every carrier's pricing structure and phone offerings, so for the sake of comparison, I'm going to break down the cost of ownership over a two-year span for two carriers: Verizon, which has the most U.S. subscribers, and MetroPCS, the country's largest prepaid network. Samsung's Galaxy S3 makes a good model device thanks to its ubiquity across seven carriers; the 16GB version has a $199.99 base price for most contract providers. Now, that $200 charge isn't the phone's true cost; it's the price that Verizon and the rest subsidize so you pay less up-front than a MetroPCS customer, who will pay the full $500. The trade-off for a "cheaper" Verizon phone is committing to two years of data fees no matter what, and getting slapped with a multiple-hundred-dollar termination fee if you try to leave early. In addition, Verizon and others add an activation fee for new lines of service. If you're a new cell phone customer, or switching from another carrier, chances are good that you'll be tacking a nominal fee onto the transaction, and that adds to the phone's overall cost.

Verizon Wireless -- two-year contract
Samsung Galaxy S3 cost	$200
Activation fee (one-time)	$35
Monthly access rate	$40
Monthly rate (4GB data)	$70
Access fee, 24 months	$960
Data fee, 24 months	$1,680
Two-year total, excluding taxes	$2,915

MetroPCS -- No contract carrier
Samsung Galaxy S3 cost	$500
Activation fee	$0
Monthly rate (Unlimited 4G LTE)	$55
Data fee, 24 months	$1,320
Two-year total, excluding taxes	$1,820

Assuming you use Verizon's new pooled Share Everything data plan, you'll have to pay a monthly access fee for any device, on top of the monthly bundle for unlimited talk, text, and a portion of 4G LTE data. I chose 4GB of monthly data, but Verizon also offers plans for as low as 1GB per month to as high as 10GB per month.

Over two years, you'll pay almost $3,000 for the Galaxy S3 on Verizon, assuming you're activating a new line of service.

With MetroPCS, however, you skip the activation fee, and the $55 unlimited monthly rate gets you all the LTE data you can eat, on top of limitless calls and texts. MetroPCS' LTE plans range from $40 to $70 per month, depending on add-on services. For instance, the $70 plan gets you on-demand video and unlimited Rhapsody Music.

A high-powered phone like the Galaxy S3 brings powerful software and hardware features to traditionally more humble networks.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

In this scenario, MetroPCS saves you $1,095 over the course of two years of ownership for that high-end Galaxy S3. The math gets a little trickier when you factor in lines of service for multiple family members. Verizon and AT&T have their pooled data plans, but MetroPCS does drop rate plans by $5 a plan when you have two-to-five lines of service under a single name. This is MetroPCS' small concession for families and groups.

How low can you go?
What happens if you're trying to get the least expensive phone you can, period? Once again, a prepaid carrier may offer you the cost advantage on the lower end of the scale, too.

Although most known as a post-paid carrier, Verizon also has a prepaid branch that gives you unlimited talk, text, and Web. (Check and you'll find that each national carrier has some sort of prepaid option. In Verizon's case, there are two choices, since you can also buy phones at full retail cost and opt for a month-to-month contract.)

For the next scenario, I wanted to compare the most rock-bottom price you can get with Verizon and MetroPCS. Verizon's least expensive handset is the $50 Samsung Gusto 2 flip phone, which, though simple, has all the basics for making calls and texts.

Verizon Wireless -- Cheapest prepaid
Samsung Gusto 2	$50
Monthly fee (talk, text, Web)	$50
Data fee, 24 months	$1,200
Two-year total, excluding taxes	$1,250

MetroPCS -- No contract -- Cheapest
Huawei Verge, Kyocera Presto	$50
Monthly fee (talk, text, Web)	$40
Data fee, 24 months	$960
Two-year total, excluding taxes	$1,010

Verizon charges $50 for unlimited talk, text, and Web, though you won't use much Web on a phone like the Gusto 2, and that saves Verizon money in the end. The $1,250 total for two years of ownership is pretty low.

I likewise searched MetroPCS' Web site for its least expensive offering. At the time of writing, the Kyocera Presto and Huawei Verge each cost $50.

Yet its cheapest 3G rate squeaks in at $40 per month, just south of Verizon's offering. The difference between the two isn't very vast, but there's a lot you can do with the $240 you'll have left at the end of two years with MetroPCS.

A third option: MVNOs
Carriers with storefronts aren't the only options. You can also find great deals with MVNOs, Mobile Virtual Network Operators. MVNOs are services that resell other operators' spectrum, and prices go as low as $30 per month without a contract. TracFone is the largest, and owns StraightTalk, a Wal-Mart exclusive that resells AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

(Credit: CNET)

Ting and Credo Mobile ride Sprint's network, as do Sprint's own prepaid Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile brands. PureTalk sells AT&T; Net 10 rides AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint; and Simple Mobile resells T-Mobile service.

Getting the phone you want
As with the handsets themselves, no carrier offers a one-size-fits-all solution. No-contract providers are simpler and less invasive: there's no service agreement and no credit check. You can often pay in cash at a retail store, so a credit card isn't required. Since there's no contract, there's also no fee for stopping service sporadically or switching providers any time you want.

Selection is one big drawback; you can't always be as choosy about what you get. Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T's prepaid services are usually limited to flip phones and other simple devices. Quality midrange Android phones can easily cost $300 without a contract, but the features will often pale in comparison to the most coveted smartphones on the market.

The good news is that the more major prepaid carriers are snagging popular smartphones like the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3, but these will come at the full retail price, which is a larger sum up-front.

Cricket Wireless snagged the iPhone 5 just a week after the major carriers began selling Apple's flagship phone.

(Credit: CBS Interactive)

It's all about the network
When you're considering which carrier to pick, you should always think about the network speeds and services you can expect. MetroPCS, for instance, works best in urban centers, so if you travel a lot to the country, you may find your call quality and ability to stream data heavily compromised.

Not every network is created equally, either. MetroPCS' 4G LTE data is downright slow compared with Verizon's top-notch LTE, but it's still speedier than another carrier's 3G network. Still, not everyone requires the absolute fastest downloads.

All the extras
Post-paid national carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon can also afford to offer you greater support when it comes to in-store attention and customer service, in addition to intangibles like a more alluring brand appeal.

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ITC decides to review Apple complaint against Samsung

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) decided yesterday to review a ruling made by an administrative law judge in the ongoing patent-infringement saga between Apple and Samsung.

Judge Thomas Pender in October ruled that Samsung had violated one of Apple's iPhone design patents, as well as three software feature patents, in some of its mobile products. Two other patents brought before the judge by Apple were found to have not been violated by Samsung.

In a memo published yesterday (PDF), the ITC announced that it will review the ruling passed down by Judge Pender. The organization said that … Read more

Judge decides to keep Samsung sales data unsealed

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh has denied Samsung's request to keep its phone and device sales data out of the public's eye.

According to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of an order filed earlier this week, Koh decided that Samsung must file and cannot seal an exhibit detailing total units sold on certain Samsung products. The products included in that exhibit, as well as the span of time in which the sales were registered, were not disclosed in Koh's order.

Koh has been at the epicenter of Apple and Samsung's vicious patent battle in a San Jose, Calif., courtroom. The judge presided over Apple's first major victory in their battle, when the iPhone maker was awarded more than $1 billion from a jury that found Samsung had violated several Apple patents. Last month, Koh denied Apple's request for a sales ban on Samsung products.

Still, the case continues, as Apple tries to seek more damages from Samsung, and Samsung plans its appeal to a U.S. Circuit Court. According to Bloomberg, Samsung wanted to keep its sales data out of the court record until its appeal was heard by that Circuit Court -- a plea Koh struck down.

"Samsung's appeal involves pricing information and profit margins," Koh wrote in her order, according to Bloomberg, adding that the soon-to-be unsealed exhibit "only lists the number of units sold in each of several recent months."

This isn't the first time sales data has been made public. In August, Apple was forced to reveal sales data on its iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch over a period of five years. Samsung had to do the same on its Galaxy Prevail mobile phone. Just a couple of months later, Apple was ordered by Koh to share its sales, earnings, and profit margins on the iPhone.

It wasn't a total loss for Samsung this time around. In a separate order, Koh said the company would be able to seal operating profit on two unidentified Samsung phones.

CNET has contacted Samsung for comment on the judge's order. We will update this story when we have more information.

Apple Asks Judge to Block Sales of 8 Samsung Devices

In the wake of its victory against Samsung, Apple has petitioned a U.S. court to block the sale of eight Samsung devices.

In its filing with the court, Apple cited seven patent violations as its reason for requestion the eight Samsung devices be blocked from sale in the United States.

Specically, Apple targeted seven Galaxy devices - Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Galaxy Prevail - as well as the Droid Charge.

Those eight devices are not insignificant. According to documents provided to the court by Samsung, they accounted for $1.3 billion in sales for Samsung during the first half of 2012.

Apple was recently awarded $1.05 billion in damages when a jury decided that Samsung had "wilfully" copied Apple's iPad and iPhone. An injunction hearing is scheduled to take place on Sept. 20.

Industry analyst Jeff Kagan, says traditionally cases like the one between Apple and Samsung would result in the winner charging the loser a fee while the devices remain on the market. In this case, however, Kagan says Apple might not be so forgiving.

"There is nothing traditional about this case. I think Apple has it's eyes on Samsung's jugular," Kagan wrote in emailed comments.

Still, Kagan doesn't think this is the end of Samsung in any way.

"Either way this is just a short term problem for Samsung," he said. "I am sure they are busy, behind the scenes, developing their next replacement technology and will update their phones as soon as possible.

Since the jury's decision was announced, Samsung stock has plummeted, while Nokia, RIM and Apple have all seen considerable gains.

Samsung Galaxy S III hits Sprint, T-Mobile on June 21

Credit- (CNET)

Samsung Electronics' latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III, will arrive at Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA on June 21.

At Sprint, the highly anticipated smartphone will cost $199.99 for the 16 gigabyte version, and $249.99 for the 32GB version. T-Mobile also confirmed it would arrive on the same day, but didn't provide pricing information.

U.S. Cellular will also get the phone, but it doesn't launch with the regional carrier until July.
Samsung is preparing for a major launch of the Galaxy S III, with Verizon Wireless and AT&T also committing to selling the phone this summer. Over the past two years, Samsung has worked to build up the Galaxy S brand. It now stands as the second most line of smartphones behind Apple's iPhone.

That Samsung is selling the phone in the U.S. speaks to the strength of the Galaxy S name. When the phones first emerged here, the carriers insisted upon slight tweaks and variations to the device, allowing each carrier to stand apart. Even the second generation got slight tweaks, including a different name at Sprint, with Verizon opting to skip the phone entirely.

Like the iPhone, the Galaxy S III is consistent across carriers.

The Galaxy S III will come with a dual-core Snapdragon processor optimized for 4G LTE network, a slight change from the quad-core processor that the international version uses. That's because there currently aren't any quad-core processors that play well with cellular radios, similar to the situation with the HTC One X.

The Galaxy S III is a slim handset with a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display. It supports 4G LTE and HSPA+ 42 speeds, has an 8-megapixel camera (hands on) with 1080p HD video capture and playback, and a bevy of software features to complement and enhance Android's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Samsung has also given the Galaxy S III 2GB of RAM and a very large, removable 2100mAh battery. There will be support for 16GB or 32GB of expandable memory, depending on the carrier, it seems.

Another nice touch, the Galaxy S III is topped with Gorilla Glass 2.0, a stronger, thinner type of the premium glass brand that Corning, Gorilla Glass' maker, unveiled this past January at CES.

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