“Select your carrier, not your phone“.
That has got to be the last rule a genuine smartphone lover can live by simply because of the restrictions it puts on your choice of devices, both in terms of available phones for any given carrier, but also because of the lock-in that usually goes with subsidized phones. (I buy all my phones unlocked. The last and only locked phone I have ever bought was a Nokia back in 2004. And the reason for not buying locked phones is simply the freedom it gives me to switch phones, and carriers, whenever I want to).
Case in point, have a look at Precentral right now: people are going crazy over the fact that the Pre 3 apparently won’t be available on Sprint (now I am on touching on a subject that is worth a post on its own, but that’s for another occasion…). Of course, being on a CDMA network opens up a whole other can of worms when it comes to lock-in… But the point is that as long as you choose to live by the advice above, be prepared for plenty of more [frustration] where that came from.
