Twilight Wolf said:
I think my point is still valid, though, Zero. A phone is going to be insanely expensive whether you get one with a contract or not. It's just a matter of how long of a period the payments are stretched out over and whether or not you want to be restricted to what your carriers says you can and can't do. Contracts are why I'm getting the Heck out of Sprint ASAP.
Twilight Wolf said:
$20 a month for 36 months = $720
That's an expensive phone.
And then guess what? You're stuck with that phone for three years. It'll be massively outdated by the time your contract is up. Wanna upgrade before then? Pay an assload of fees, buy the phone for probably full price, extend your contract by another thee years from that point and continue to pay them $20 a month.
Screw contracts, period.
Twilight Wolf said:
Nook Color costs $249 new.
Uhh... you're forgetting the fact you're paying for phone service, something that you'd need anyway. The phone is by no means $720. Everyone hates contracts, but the average contract time here in the US is two years, so unless you're buying a new phone every year (something that'd cost a *Can'tSayThisOnTV* ton on its own), its really not an issue. Plus, besides the fact you're getting
phone service (something you can't get with the Nook Color except with VOIP over Wifi, which isn't very useful), you're getting 3G/"4G" service, which is very helpful for emails, GPS, tethering, plain ol' browsing, etc.
You also have to acknowledge that there's people who just don't prefer tablets. Tablets don't fit in my pocket and can't be taken everywhere unless I have a backpack or hold it in my hand. Hardly convenient when I'm going out somewhere with friends or something. I'm also stuck with offline content unless there just so happens to be an open Wi-Fi network I can use.
Both phones and tablets are expensive, but contracts help offset the total price. The only reason the Nook Color is so cheap, is because I'm sure B&N is taking a hit on every one sold, but expected to make up the money with e-books bought from their store. They weren't expecting so many people to root their ebook reader and use it as a dedicated tablet. Its an exception, and away from the norm. As time passes, the Nook Color won't even be that much of a viable option anymore. Besides, like Palmer said, you can find some pretty decent deals online on fairly recent phones both new and used (There was even a point where the Vibrant was $0.01 with contract over Amazon). You can also go with something like Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plan which is $25/month for unlimited data, texting, and 300 minutes. The Optimus V is $150 from them, oh and there's
no contract.
Off contract phones are not all that bad.
