Monday, January 13, 2014

A list of global phones that do both GSM and CDMA

All the followings are Verizon phones and can be used on Verizon (including voice) and Sprint (no voice) 2G/3G networks including MVNO such as PagePlus and BoostMobile.

HTC Incredible 2 and Samsung Galaxy S3: 2G and 3G on China Unicom and 2G on AT&T and T-Mobile.

HTC DNA: 3G and 4G on AT&T, in addition to above networks.

Samsung Note 2: 3G and 4G on T-Mobile, in addition to above.

Samsung S4: LTE on T-Mobile and AT&T, in addition to above.

If you have the money, S4 is the one, otherwise Incredible 2 can be found really cheap. Some Moto phones are global too but too crappy and/or locked to worth of mentioning. The Nexus 5 is too new to know its details.

11 comments:

  1. My Galaxy S3 had problem on Unicom 3G. Does it need some configuration? Can you please advse? Thanks! Also, any comment on Samsung Note 3? Assuming it's a super one. :)

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    1. You need to add manually the APN for Unicom, see the original Note 2 article for details. If your S3 is updated to the later updates, you can use its built-in APN manager, otherwise you'll have to root it first and then either manually edit the APN file or use a 3rd party manager.

      I have not touched a Note 3 yet. I bought a Note 2 for its global feature (S3 cannot use AT&T's 3G, Note 2 can), not for its large screen and pen. Now S4 is even more global than Note 2 and I don't see Note 3 is even more, so I won't get a Note 3.

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    2. Note 3 should be very similar to S4, in terms of global features.

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    3. My S3 just upgraded to Android 4.3. But the APN adding + is grey out. Does it mean I have to root it to add more? Currently there is only one APN: LTE - Verizon. Thanks!

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    4. No, I guess you just need to insert an active SIM card.

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  2. I assume the verizon htc one and one(max) are similar to htc dna. Nexus 5 doesn't support verizon.

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    1. For some reasons I'm no longer so interested in HTC. Small battery (and not removable), no SD card, expensive, not so durable, LED only goes for 5 minutes...

      Nexus 5 doesn't officially support Verizon, that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't work on PagePlus etc. The real problem is: it is made by LG. LG phones usually have MIP and PPP locked, impossible to make EVDO to work on Verizon and BoostMobile. Moto phones are better than LG, in that the MIP is not locked and PPP is only half locked, EVDO can at least work on PP, not on BM.

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  3. For Samsung S4, what should be set for "preferred network mode" as a default (or normal): Global or LTE/CDMA or GSM/UMTS ? BM data. Thanks. (LRB)

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    1. For BM, you need to dial ##3282#, more, 1X, Hybrid. You need to enable HiddenMenu first. It is exactly like the Note 2:

      http://kingoftweaks.blogspot.com/2013/12/updated-my-note-2-now-4g-on-t-mobile-aws.html

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  4. I'm not an Apple fan but to be complete, you can add Verizon iPhone 5/5s in this list too.

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    1. Theoretically they are global phones, but like anything Apple, they are deadly locked up, virtually impossible to get 3g (evdo) on Inpulse, BoostMobile, PagePlus etc. The good part is they are sim unlocked like all Verizon LTE phones, so you can use it on att, T-Mobile, h2o, lycamobile etc. and other countries including China.

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