That depends on your usage patterns and how important it is for you to have LTE reception as compared to HSPA+ (which in my experience is adequate for most tasks).

According to the specs sheet of on the Samsung website, the Verizon model of the SG5 has only LTE bands 4/13. By comparison, the T-Mobile version has LTE bands 1/2/3/5/7/8/4/17 and the AT&T model has LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/17.

The G900V has most LTE bands locked, so you'd only be able to use LTE in the US, on Verizon.

Get yourself either the G900T (T-Mobile) or the international G900F.
The latter won't work with LTE in the US (not sure), but will definitely work in LHR, CDG and the other areas you mentioned.
Most of the places you mentioned share common LTE bands, bands 3 (1800MHz), 7 (2600MHz) and 20 (800MHz).

The 900T supports 3 and 7, but not 20.
The 900F supports all 3.

All up to you, as TWA884 said, HSPA+ is fine for most tasks.
LTE is just a battery drainer.

shame its locked- they have some cool phones.

What is the best T-Mobile phone for the US and abroad?
 

Hello all,

My wife and I are interested in purchasing new phones. Several years ago we purchased two new Samsung Galaxy S II phones from Tmobile (SGH-T989) within a few months of their release. The long story short has been that we haven't been terribly impressed, and while we have been desperate to replace them with something new, the bad experience has left us hesitant to spend that kind of money again.

From this experience we have learned a few things after having both phones replaced at least once under insurance due to them failing, living outside the US for short bursts, and very heavy travel for work:

-We like Android.

-We like (not love) T-Mobile. While we could change providers in the US, the overseas data plan works well enough for us.

-We like T-Mobile's Wi-fi calling feature. It has allowed us to use our phones as we would at home while overseas which has been great, and when it home it has proven to be a great way to limit battery drain and speeds charging. Further it has allowed great connectivity in some hard to reach places and places with thick walls and bad regular reception.

-We need to purchase the phones outright so that they may be unlocked as soon as possible. While the Wi-fi calling feature is great, we have frequently needed local sim cards so that locals could call us easily and cheaply. Having a local number also helps grease the wheels for all kinds of things along when overseas. Adds a great bit of credibility.

-The battery must be removable. The battery that Samsung provided was ****. It was later replaced with another Samsung battery and finally with an Anker brand battery that is amazing. Further, carrying an external usb battery or a powerpack to attach to the phone is just bulky, heavy and annoying. Carrying an extra fully charged phone battery is lighter, easier, and fixes the issue faster.

-The phone must have a microSD card slot. There are a myriad of reasons that I likely don't need to explain.

-The camera should be better than the 8 MP one we have now.

-The phone must play nicely around the world. This is a big one. For a year I was living in Paris with a local sim-card. It was amazing how poorly the phone worked there. I tried two of the big providers and with both the phone simply had a hard time. Sure I got signal, but the phone seemed to be especially prone to serious battery drain throughout the day even though it was not used any differently than in the states. I removed extraneous apps, made sure all the settings were optimized for battery life and yet it was still bad, even with the really great Anker battery. I was left with the impression that it had problems with foreign networks. I again saw this problem in Spain, Portugal, Vietnam, and Australia before we going blaming the French for one more thing (in fact the deal in got in France on data would make Americans start a very French-like revolution).

-Most importantly the phone needs to last a while. We don't feel a phone should be replaced every year. After all we are like most people in the world. We used the phone for essentially lightweight tasks: calls, texts, email, reading the news, checking the transit app, United app, and occasional street navigation. Though my wife still has it on her phone I got rid of FB and wow did standby battery improve as well as all the other apps responsiveness.

-After this experience with Samsung I am hesitant to buy another. I have already resigned myself to the notion that we will likely be forced into buying a phone that is larger in its physical dimensions simply because that is where the world is headed, though my pockets are the still the same size.:(

Thank you for your patience reading this posting. What do you recommend?

Looks like the LG G5 mentioned in another thread is for you. I'm not sure T-Mobile will support T-Mobile wifi calling on G5 but it would support Hangouts VOIP. T-Mobile branded LG G4 did support wifi-calling http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phones/wi-fi-calling.html

Searching by the conditions mentioned in your post + LTE bands 3,7, 20 for EU and 2, 4, 12 for T-Mobile USA
http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3...BatRemovable=1

LTE bands by country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks
LTE bands in USA
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Cheat...he-USA_id77933

Asus Zenfone 2 Laser ZE551KL also fits the bill if you want to get a dual sim phone mostly for use outside the country (lacks T-Mobile band 12, has AT&T bands) so you can use T-mobile for sms, local sim for data, voip for voice
http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3...BatRemovable=1


You don't need to buy a single model as pairs. Perhaps diversify models a bit to get both feature sets? You'd lose the ability to swap batteries, though. Or buy 2 main & 1 small travel phone? Sometimes a less expensive travel phone with local sim is useful as to not worry about it being snatched from your hands, especially if you keep banking/sensitive info on your phone.

Keep in mind your phones are ~5 year old tech now. They only have 1GB RAM, thus will start using a swapfile when they run out of memory, which will be often. This will kill a battery very fast. Newer phones will have more RAM and will have newer versions of IOS/Android which have more battery-optimizing features in them.

All modern smart phones (IOS, Android) have terrible battery life compared to the old days. I don't care who makes it or what anyone claims, they're all bad. I've tried various iPhones, LG, HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Nexus.

The last phone I had with what I'd call acceptable battery life was a Blackberry Tour 9650. I still miss it.

If you want T-Mobile's WiFi calling to work, you're going to need a T-Mobile phone, which does limit your choice a bit, but not terribly so.

I'm on T-Mobile with a Samsung Note 4 (which does have better battery life than my office Verizon Note 4) and I have to say it's the first modern smartphone that I find acceptable. I've had my Verizon Note 4 since November 2014, T-Mo Note 4 since October 2015. No plans to "upgrade" it any time soon. I don't see anything coming out as an upgrade for now. Battery life is acceptable. As with all phones, poor signal will cause it to use more power. BUT if you're just using the phone for basic functions, modern Samsung phones have an Ultra Power Saving Mode which will stretch out the runtime to ~15-17 days.

WiFi calling works flawlessly, even with me going in & out of WiFi coverage the call doesn't drop. T-Mobile's WiFi calling even worked fine on the aircraft's WiFi.
Contrast this to Verizon's "Wireless Extender" where the phone would jump from the tower to the extender, but if you left the extender's coverage it'd drop every time. VZW's extender also doesn't work with 4G/VoLTE/HD Voice.

Both the Samsung S5 and Note4 have SD Card slots and Removable Batteries. Both have been solid phones.

One minus for the S5: It lacks LTE Band 12, which is where T-Mobile has been putting up a lot of new towers. My fiancé has an S5, I have the Note4 and practically speaking, other than the signal being lower on hers at times, we've not hit an area where her phone showed no signal and I did have signal, just a speed difference. Ironically, some times her phone has showed 4G when I'm showing Edge, so go figure.

So far our phones have only been to the US/Canada/Mexico, but worked quite happily in all 3 countries. I did hit an issue at Niagara Falls where the phone wasn't sure if it should be on the US or Canadian towers, but I forced it to run on Rogers and it ran fine.

As far as actual models to buy, I'm quite happy with my Note 4, GF is quite happy with her S5. If price is an issue, take a look at T-Mobile's Pre-Owned phones or go over to swappa.com and pick one up off there.

The current Nexus phones, the 6P and the 5x, support the largest number of LTE bands, however, they do not come with removeable batteries.

You can check the specs and see what is out there.

You should only get a phone that supports Band 12. You can Google Tmobile Band 12 for why, but basically it will get you reception in places that you won't get on the other bands, once they turn it on for your area.

Bear in mind that not all phones with SD cards are the same. Android Marshmallow has something called adoptable storage - which essentially means that the phone encrypts the SD card, but then uses it as full memory in the same way it does with the built-in memory. Certain things - e.g., DRM content - will not utilize the space on an SD card if it has not been "adopted" by the phone.

The Galaxy S7 does not have adoptable storage.

Does anyone have thoughts on the Huawei GX8? It does seem pricier than the Honor 5X, but barring that, is it a good phone?

Coming off LG G3 and loved it (until it basically became not working almost overnight), and want a phone that has enough storage (IME, 64 GB or 32 + expandable, or 16 + expandable if on Android 6), international LTE, preferably NFC, fast, RELIABLE, non-bloated OS

What's your budget?

I know someone who recently bought a Huwaei G8 (also known as GX8), and he regrets buying it. It's not snappy, the pairing up of a Snapdragon 615 and 3GB of RAM made no sense, Huwaei phones usually aren't updated on time and it would be nicer to have a few more LTE bands on it.

What you actually want is an LG G4. Still a great phone, has plenty of LTE bands, very good-looking and has a removable battery and expandable storage.

AFAIK, the GX8 has a number of LTE bands (giving it 4G access in Europe and North America) whereas the G4 you really need to determine where you'd prefer LTE.

I would indeed prefer the G4 as I enjoyed the G3, but the G4 carries a heftier price tag than the GX8.

I'd prefer spending under $300

Still happy with my Note 4. Tried a few others but keep coming back to this phone. Wireless charging, removable SD card, removable battery, stylus. Battery life is better than an iPhone, but still woefully inept compared to the old classic Blackberry days.

I should specify that I'm picky. Had a Galaxy S3 and liked it but can't stand the Samsung bloatware anymore. Not a fan of touchwiz.

It's become a lot harder for me to recommend a smartphone, especially in the low-mid range where I think the number of competent/capable phones with amazing value has expanded GREATLY in the last 1-2 years. It's not due to any change in the market, but my own change in use-case. Android Pay (compared to the previous Google Wallet) in Lollipop and up has made NFC a real requirement for me. I use it daily now and can't see myself buying another phone without it. Unfortunately it's not trickled down ubiquitously to the low/mid-level phones yet and many otherwise EXCELLENT phones are without it.

I'm currently using a Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (Snapdragon 615/2gb/16gb/5" 720p LCD) which is a rare sub-$200 phone with NFC included... possibly because it started out as a $300 phone that was quickly discounted because it was undercut by others and received a lot of mediocre reviews focused (no pun) mainly on its camera performance. It's a good, solid, usable mid-range phone that I can more than make due with until NFC trickles down, but there are other options in the $100-$200 and even some sub-$100 options I'd likely STRONGLY consider as upgrades if it weren't for their lack of NFC. Options like the Blu Vivo 5, Vivo XL, Life One X, ZTE Max 2, etc come to mind. Instead I'll probably be left to twiddle my thumbs until the surely more expensive Alcatel Idol 4 or eventual Asus Zenfone 3 is released.

The Moto G4 Play looks like a fantastic upgrade to Miss Swede's Moto E LTE. I really hope it supports VoLTE and support T-Mobile's Band 12.

http://www.droid-life.com/2016/05/17...pecs-official/

Baby Swede lost her Amazon Fire Phone two weeks ago. If our search this week doesn't find it, then I've resigned to get her a new phone. I'm looking at the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime.