Going unlocked, and the freedom you’re giving to yourself.
Let me open by saying ten years ago I made a decision that I didn’t think would influence my life 10 years from the time I did it. Somehow I was wrong in that thought, and now I’m sitting here typing this to you guys because, it was really a genius decision. With that said, ten years ago, I made probably the most insane impulse purchase I ever could. Not knowing that it could and would shape how I viewed cell phones from then on. Ten years ago? I purchased the Nokia N95 8GB, and man oh man would that be the greatest electronic purchase of my entire life.
See, ten or so years ago. The cell phone and cell provider landscape wasn’t as broad as it is today. The idea of buying an “Unlocked” device seemed insane, a little outlandish even. This is mainly because the idea of buying an unlocked phone also mean that you would be buying it for a provider that wasn’t one of the big 4 (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile), oddly enough I already had a T-Mobile line so this made my purchase even more wise. I’ll speak a little about the N98, it was a beast. At the time it was doing things certain phones wouldn’t do for a while. It had a 5MP Rear camera, a front Camera for video chatting. It had Dual speakers. It also had this intuitive dual sliding mechanism. One side for your common phone buttons, and one side for dedicated media buttons. Speaking of media, when certain phones were still on the smaller 2mm headphone jack? The N98 had a dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack.
At the time it truly did things other phones couldn’t that’s including this cool feature where you could set videos as ringtones. IT’S 2017 AND I DON’T KNOW IF ANY DEVICE IS DOING THAT!!!! Symbian as a mobile system was so mature at the time. It even had dedicated flash built in, which meant that you could watch YouTube and all other flash enabled videos without having to use some horrible mobile site, and we know how horrible mobile sites were some ten years back. The blessing of having the N98 was that it was unlocked, I didn’t have to call T-Mobile and let them know I was using a new phone. I legit removed my SIM card from my BB Pearl and dropped it into my N98 and VOILA, instant service.
Now, I feel as if I’m ranting but I promise there’s a reason for all of this. Earlier this year, I made the same decision again. To buy an unlocked phone, and break free from carriers. Now in 2017 this is so much easier to do than it was in 2007. The concept is still the same, yet the evolution of cell providers and their subsidiary providers has been nothing short of amazing. 10 years ago, If I purchased an unlocked device the idea of using it on the then paltry Metro PCS was idiotic. First off Metro was a crappy CDMA only network which meant I needed to stay on T-Mobile, there was nothing wrong with that, it’s just that compared to today? That was a limitation. In 2017? You buy an unlocked, or an internationally branded device? You just insert your SIM and keep moving.
Earlier this year I purchased a OnePlus 3T. In the same fashion that I did my Nokia. Unlocked, on an impulse buy. Originally I was gonna go right back to T-Mobile, I then remembered that T-Mobile purchased Metro PCS and that they would no longer be as crappy as they were 10 years ago when They only cost about $35, but had spotty service and dropped calls more than Ted Ginn JR dropped wide open touchdown passes (Sorry Panther Fans). I Promise that my opening paragraph completely relates to this as the OnePlus 3T offers plenty of things that flagship devices locked to carrier devices offer, But at a fraction of the cost with 2x the freedom. The OnePlus 3T offers, premium storage, a future proof data port, It’s generations highest processor and a very serviceable rear camera. On top of that it has solid update schedules and if you’re feeling dangerous an unlockable bootloader (the main selling point for me). It also offers dual sim usage, which for travelers is great. In America there may not be much use for dual sims, but internationally its excellent. There are even some “Flagships” That still don’t offer dual sims.
The beauty in unlocked phones is that I fully control my devices destiny. The device is purchased outright (Unless you’re buying from an OEM that finances) and who I use it on is my decision. I’m not leasing it which means it isn’t marked up above normal price. And I don’t have to contact a company to switch anything. I am completely buying just that service. The funny thing about this is that Nokia is once again due up to release a flagship device in the Nokia 8. I wonder if they can return to the prominence that the N95, and the entire range of N devices gave them. The probability of never reaching that success is high, but them maybe providing unlocked and excellent devices may pull people away from contracts. Who knows?
