Earlier today Phandroid seemed to have off-contract pricing information on the upcoming T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant – the T-Mobile variant of the Samsung Galaxy S – as $329 without contract. Sounds great right? Well, that was taken down from the T-Mobile site promptly – turns out the actual off-contract pricing is set at $450.
T-Mobile contacted Phandroid and informed them that the actual off-contract price of the device was $450. The pricing makes sense. It would not be so smart for Magenta to have priced the device at such a low price, as that would encourage people to just buy the device outright and not get on a contract (the more lucrative option for any carrier). T-Mobile, the 4th largest carrier in the US needs all of the customers it can get, whether its on or off contract, but contracts are what make you stay with the carrier. As such, T-Mobile would like to wrangle you into paying them for two years of your life, as does every other carrier.
The $49 pricing applies to the Even More Plus plan T-Mobile offers, which is a contract free plan that offers the option to pay for your no-contract phone in installments – think of it as smartphone financing. I’ve been on this plan since it was debuted late last year, and the option to finance a phone is really convenient. Paying $20 extra dollars per month for a MyTouch 3G (that I never use, but still a decent back up) is no problem in my book. It gives the customer the option to leave T-Mobile, but would still have to pay the remainder of the financed device. I’d expect this option to be available for the Vibrant as well when it comes to this specific plan, but the monthly payment price is not yet known. In the picture below, it states that you can pay for the device over time for as little as $16.50 a month, but since it was taken down, the price could be higher.
After being in contracts for so long, and wanting a different phone almost every other month, I started buying smartphones unlocked or at full no-contract prices. I can leave any carrier of my own accord, and I can take my phone with me (to AT&T…..). $450 for a phone is not bad, especially for a Samsung Galaxy S. And, there’s no doubt that the T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant will be the best Android phone T-Mobile has ever put in their line up.
I was planning on getting this device, but now I think I’m going to wait another six months until we start seeing some Gingerbread devices hitting market. Anyone else out there thinking the same thing?
[Via: Phandroid]
In the past I have been in financial prison while making a ‘good’ living, and now find myself more financially ‘free’ while making less money than I’ve earned in almost 20 years. I think financial freedom is mostly about attitude. Freedom means that I have choices, and mostly, choices are about having an awareness of what my choices are.
e.g. I bought gas for the car today and when I wrote down the debit in my checkbook and spending notebook (that I carry everywhere) I realized I had not spent any money in almost one week. I also realized that although it is two days til payday, I have over $250 in my checking account. (not including a small amount in savings.) When I was earning three times my current income in the early 1990’s it was rare that I had any money by two days before payday, making those last couple of days before payday very fearful.
I could have chosen not to buy gas today and instead walked or taken the bus everywhere I need to travel, in my city it is not an easy way to function but it is doable. So buying gas for the car was a choice. However it was not a choice I wanted to make.
However, some “spending less” choices I do make. I choose not to have cable TV. I have “rabbit ears” and get seven channels, which is about six more than I need. I rarely buy clothes, (probably about $200 per year total) and usually they come from Goodwill or TJ Maxx or big sales at Macy’s. I rarely eat out, but I eat very well at home. I NEVER buy coffee out, even though I am a coffee snob. Instead, I buy fair trade organic coffee a pound at a time and make it at home. A pound for $10 lasts over two weeks, compared to $2 per cup in a cafe.
I have a busy social life, I am involved in church and civic life, I have family and relationship commitments, I teach and consult and write professionally. I go to cultural events (many are free or super cheap in my city.) I read a lot. (mostly used books or library books.)
My life is rich and full and I use my money is as a tool to make that happen. I also donate ten percent of my gross to my church, which is heavily involved in social justice causes.
At times I get wistful about things that I want or places I’d like to travel. At some point I will make a choice to shift some of my money toward those things, but I feel financially free about 90 percent of the time in my current lifestyle.
Part of my money goes toward saving and part on paying off old debt but both are at a pace that is workable for both me and my creditors. I don’t let it make me crazy or compromise my quality of life.
Every time I make my mortgage payment I am making a choice. Every time I pay my electric bill I am making a choice. The consequences of not making those payments are not consequences that I want to experience. However, it is still MY CHOICE.
I don’t know what the meaning of life is, but I think that if something happens to me tomorrow, I will be much more satisfied with my time on earth living how I live today than if I had spent the last several years sacrificing everything I enjoy in order to put more money in the bank, in order to have “financial freedom.”
“To Have More, Desire Less.”
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