yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] }{Alienz}{:
I've been following the Galaxy S and Vibrant releases for a while and love the Vibrant. I however have a problem concerning plans. Since I will only be using its Internet capabilities where I have Wi-Fi (college, home, work), I have no need or desire for a data plan. T-Mobile REQUIRES new devices are sold with data plans so my question is.

1.Would getting a Vibrant from Ebay (for ~$500) and using my old SIM be the best option?

2. Can I just walk into a Tmobile store and tell them I want to purchase a RETAIL ($500) Vibrant with no contract or SIM and get one that way (or are they going to add a data plan and ask me for my Tmobile line credentials to do so)?

3. Is getting a Vibrant on contract for $200 + data plan and then cancelling the contract after the 15th day the cheapest option?

I suppose I would prefer to buy it from Tmobile, even at retail price since I get the manufacturer insurance of 1 year (have needed it before) free though if not possible, Ebay is an option too. I'm just looking at getting it as cheap as possible without having to do a 2-year data plan contract.

Thx.
[Vibrant General] hpz937:
I bought it at T-mobile off contract, however i made some other account changes while i was there so not sure if they require anything account wise when buying off contract.
[Vibrant General] }{Alienz}{:
I see. What kind of changes did you make? Adding a data plan or something else?

Do you think I can walk into a store, and buy a Vibrant for $500 WITHOUT providing any account information so that they cannot associate my account with the phone?

I'd like to keep my contract AS IS currently, and if possible not renew it (it just passed the 2 years mark so I can technically get a discounted phone if I renew it but I do not like T-Mobile's new contracts. I have unlimited texting on my line through a Family plan)
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
you might try asking this over in the the Tmobile vibrant forum

i believe you can cancel the data plan after or during the first month but i'm not the expert
[Vibrant General] ranova:
costco WAS selling Vibrants off-contract (even more plans) for $229. not sure if its still ongoing.
[Vibrant General] s15274n:
Either costco or t-mobile. At costco they have to tie it it to a new phone line, which you can cancel at any time since you aren't under contact, pretty sure there is no fee.

I opted to but at tmo, and have the price split up over 20 payments interest free. I already had an existing android plan though.
[Vibrant General] Mr_Tricorder:
Even More plans are contract plans. Are you talking about Even More Plus plans?

Go by a T-Mobile store and ask or call their customer service. You'll get a much better answer straight from the horse's mouth than you will from here.

I've heard about people trying to get a discounted phone with a new contract or making changes to their plan so they qualify and then immediately change things around in a manner that would disqualify them from the discount after they got it and then T-Mobile hit them with the remaining amount for the full price of the phone in their next bill. I guess it's their way of saying "cheaters never prosper".
[Vibrant General] }{Alienz}{:
If I buy it from Tmobile with ANY sort of contract...Even more Plus or Even More, they WILL add a data plan to it. There is also activation fees for a new line so not only will I have to pay the $500 for an even more plus plan, but I would have to CANCEL the line...in that case I may as well get it off of Ebay and save myself the hassle of all that.
[Vibrant General] RobBull69:
The T-Mo forums are really helpful with everything other than development. Try there or stop at an official T-Mo store. The third party official partner places get paid to sell contracts. I've had some bad experiences on eBay and had to go to resolution with the seller twice on pre-smartphone phones, so beware.
[Vibrant General] }{Alienz}{:
What kind of bad experiences exactly?
[Vibrant General] martin0641:
If I were you and looking for a SGS I'd buy the full model that has all the extras... or possibly even the version with a slide out keyboard and ffc. The SGS Pro i believe it is.
[Vibrant General] RobBull69:
Wrong carrier on one occasion and got a refurbished instead of new phone the other time. I have gotten good deals as well, so it's a crapshoot. I probably didn't screen the seller as well as I should have, just looked at the overall rating.
[Vibrant General] hpz937:
you could probably call tmo or stop in to a tmo corp store and ask, I find they are usually very helpful about things like this. side note i actually had a long conversation w/ the rep at the store when i bought my vibrant about cyanogenmod and phone modding, which he has done to his phones.
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
OMG, costco was selling this for $250 no contract and noone spread the good news. SHAME ON YOU ALL.

Know if i can still get it @ 250?

if you find any good deals please post it here. thanks
[Vibrant General] Inat:
Nope. A memo was sent out and they raised the price Tuesday morning to $479. Think the $250 was a pricing error.
[Vibrant General] jkang29:
The best deal is with Bing cashback! $325

Go to bing.com

search for tmobile (you should see gold dollar sign w 35% off)

click on the link to tmobile site then do your shopping

I got my phone for $325 and on top of that, 35% off activation and the $59 plan.

so my total saving was $208

But bing is ending its cashback program at the end of july so better hurry!
[Vibrant General] Spartoi:
I don't see the gold $ when I search t-mobile nor when I do my shopping after clicking through bing do I get the discount. :(

Is there supposd to be some code you put? Is it possible for you to just post a link?
[Vibrant General] Blueman101:
too bad Bing cashback is gone at the end of the month.

@killer bee

See picture
[Vibrant General] RobBull69:
I went to check the phone out the phone at a local store and someone was playing with the demo so the rep let me play with his personal phone. I noticed he had the su app installed lol
[Vibrant General] Yogi76:
I totally agree! I recently switched our 5 phones over from AT&t and we went with Even More Plus because it's cheaper in the long run and no contract. However, we had to pay full price for the phones. Two of them were basic flip phones, but three of them were Samsung Vibrants at $500 apiece. We bought them at a T-Mobile corporate store and the most they did for us was waive the activation fee (which I found out would have been done anyway as a AAA member) and give us one free car charger when we bought the other two. We shelled out $1500 for the three Vibrants and we could have paid $750 at Costco!!!!! We're still in our 14 day return period, obviously, so if this is all true I'm going to call T-Mobile and see what can be done.
[Vibrant General] Yogi76:
Well, I went by Costco and spoke to the guy there. He said that they were indeed selling the phones for $250 with non-contract Even More Plus plans. The only stipulation is that it had to be a new line of service, but you did not have to get a contract. He said if you got the Even More plan and did sign a 2 year contract, it was $100 for the phone. However, he said it was an initial promo and ended on Tuesday. The deal they have now for non-contract phones is $480 and it includes the phone, carrying case, car charger, and bluetooth headset.

I called the corporate T-Mobile store where I purchased the phones originally and told them that Costco has them for $250 without a contract, but I didn't mention that the deal had ended. He told me he couldn't match that price, of course. I bluffed and said that I could return them under the 14-day customer satisfaction period, and he then told me to try calling T-Mobile customer care. I did, but they said there was nothing they could do. Their suggestion was to return the phones to the store, cancel the service on all five phones, and then purchase them at Costco. She said they could hold the phone numbers during the cancel / repurchase period so we wouldn't lose them. Unfortunately, I can't do that since the phones aren't really $250 at Costco anymore. I guess I could to get the $30 off and extras, but it's not worth the possibility that I could lose my phone numbers.

In the end, I chalk it up to a lesson learned... always check at Costco before buying anything. Kind of an expensive lesson at $750, though.
[Vibrant General] mingkee:
Why the bing cashback cannot be done with upgrade???????

Isn't it better fo business to open another account and cancel later in order to get the discount?!

This is stupid!
[Vibrant General] jkang29:
Just checked bing.com and searched for tmobile.

i see the gold dollar sign w 35% off so this still should work.
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
i have been looking, i must have lead eyes because i cant find it. Attached a screen capture of my search.

also im on cashback rewards.

Thnks for the info though

update: IM STUPID. i have so many security measures/ ad blockers on firefox that it also blocked the 35% cashback thing. guess too much security can be bad huh. thanks though\\

EDIT2: is tmobile's ETF a fixed $200, or is it the difference between the non-contract and subsidized price of the phone. Would it be practical to buy at contract price and cancel to make it cheaper?

like $200 for the contract phone and cancel to make it cheaper?
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
bump .
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
just a heads up Bing cashback ends july 30 (2 days to go). and i would appreciate it if someone would please answer my question. thanks
[Vibrant General] sfsilicon:
If your doing an upgrade I was able to get my vibrant for $100 after $50 BCB and $150 wirefly price. It is actually cheaper than most in store deals since you ad sales tax in store and wirefly had free shipping.
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
not to sound like a broken record, but today is the last day to get a vibrant with 35% bing cash back.

I did mine last night, and they have started shipping it. saved $208 but crazy enough, i also had to pay tax of like 38 bucks. i also saved 35% on my plan, even though i did not have to pay anything for that yet.

I wonder if i signed up for the most expensive plan, and then cancelled, would i still get like 35% of $90.
[Vibrant General] neasoon:
Don't think you can get 35% off your plan. Is that provided by bing back or t mobile?
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
technically, you dont get 35% off your monthly plan. Bing just takes 35% off everything put on that tmobile bill, which includes the activation fee and the first month of the plan.

heres a pic:

http://tinypic.com/r/e9ah61/3

oh bing cashback ends in 2 hrs. and if you dont want to get the vibrant, do yourself a favor and dont ever use it. At first i said it was just outta my price range,but since i had never played with an android phone before (winmo since i was 14), i gave it a shot. It was off at the tmo store. It booted up in about 15 seconds. looking at that screen was like sex with your eyes

responsiveness was out of this world. the browser was great, watching a video taking by it was like a cracker crisp(y). The pictures was awesomely awesome and the screen. At that moment i kneew there was no way i was waiting for moto and their 2ghz phone or wp7.

I dunno, maybe the only reason i am going crazy about it is because i am on winmo 6.5 with an att tilt which i got used. Phone should be here august 4th. I shoulda sprung for next day shipping.
[Vibrant General] fragimar:
I paid full price for mine but did the payment plan. $25 a month and you can keep the chapter non-contract plan.
[Vibrant General] Trezzz:
Bing cashback is dead and gone:confused:
[Vibrant General] SquareBare:
I went to T-mob of Gainesville, GA and purchased a phone straight from the store.

The woman behind the counter asked me if I had a plan, I told her that I was using it for development purposes. She then told me all kinds of lies, saying it wouldn't even turn on because of "internet" etc etc. I nodded my head and said: "I guess i'm just wasting my money then" and she sold me the phone with a look of dissapointment.

I then walked out to my car, put in the battery and already activated prepaid sim, walked back in the store to buy a gel case and made a call right in front of her.

So yes, you can indeed use it with a prepaid sim and buy it right out from the store. Just tell the rep that you are using it as a PDA only without a plan etc, whatever it takes. They will eventually sell it to you for 500 with tax.
[Vibrant General] air2k57:
I'm not primary on my account and I told the Rep that when I bought my vibrant. He didn't even ask me for my number, so you could try that. Just buy it and ay that you want to pay full retail, say its a present or something.
[Vibrant General] engineer14:
there are many other ways to get around it:

1. tell em to bug off, you came for the phone, and dont want a plan.

2. I am travelling out of the country so i cant use your plans

3. im from the future and im looking for a relic phone.

4. aliens have my girlfriend hostage and they wont release her unless i give them a samsung vibrant. (I dont think they will be too happy if i try and stick em with a 2 year contract)
[Vibrant General] kboater:
i have not read this whole thread, but if you search, i made a very detailed post about this about a week ago. in Short, yes for a few days, with some luck, you could get the phone with "even more plus" plan which is not a contract for 249.99. then go home call tmobile and cancel the plan. then put in old sim and you have new vibrant for 249.99 :)

this is NO longer working and only worked for a few days before tmobile and costco caught on and upped the price to 479.99.

look for the long post i made about it
[Vibrant General] cnpthe3rd:
here is an idea, walk in a store and see what happens tell them you dont know your account info and your in a hurry just want to buy the phone and you will drop your sim in when you get home. they work on commish. so they get paid for your rateplan/contract not a lot of commish on a phone so they may or may not want to help you but worth a shot
[Vibrant General] MacGuy2006:
delete

please ignore/delete
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gonzoangel:
what kind of file types do you download?

Do you use a converter?

I downloaded some movies from this blackberry movies site and that was fine. But none of the videos I have on my computer work.

:(
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] t12icky0:
YEA..I ACTUALLY HAVE Clash of the titans, and harold and kumar on my HERO. i used Xilisoft Convertor and converted it. Works great on the phone.
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gonzoangel:
do you just convert everything to mp4?
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kenpoman:
I use Allok works great
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bcarter2000:
DivX is one the most popular format for videos for computers, but only one app (yxplayer)will play them. It cost $20, and doesn't work anymore. It worked in 1.5, but after a few rom flashes on my part and updates on their part, it would freeze the video randomly. If there is a way I could pull the apk from one of my old nands, when it was still xyplayer, it might work.
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Kcarpenter:
HandBreak FTW!
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gonzoangel:
is that an app or conversion program
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TheNexxuvas:
An awesome conversion program, then use mVideoplayer from the market. It remembers your brightness setting for watching movies, the position you were in the movie if you tab out to do something else and come back, you'll be ready to pick up right where you were. Even has srt/sub title support for those like myself who watch subbed anime on the go.

Terrific player + handbrake makes crunching movies down into the correct file type and size (480x320) a cinch.
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] thatguythatdid:
i was hoping someone would ask that question. Try the videoplayer.apk from the droidx
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gonzoangel:
what does that play.
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mkhopper:
Please post the Handbrake settings you used to convert videos for the Hero.

I haven't looked at HB in quite awhile. Does the latest version come with a default Android profile?
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jasonevil:
i'm using an older version, psp settings work fine for it......
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Noblesse:
Im gonna keep it simple. Use Videora Android Coverter. I download .avi files or .mp4 and convert them using these setting.

H.264/.mp4 >500kbps

aac/96kbps

23.976 FR

320x480

perfect files size for any SD card, playable with Double Twist or Meridian.
[Hero CDMA Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] awesomginger:
Same Specs, only with HandBrake.

Thanks, I will try converting some podcasts with those specs in HandBrake and see how it comes out playing in DoubleTwist. I feel like you can't put the Hero through too much before it will start to become way too laggy or something.... haha
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] DJ!:
i was just wondering if anyone knows a way to manually install more fonts on the vibrant.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] sman234:
I was wondering the same thing
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] zinite:
Search for "FlipFont" in the market.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] boodies:
appreciate it. will give it a shot. hopefully it works for non-root.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] The_Chrome_Coyote:
What if you want to use a font that flipfonts hasn't offered?

EDIT: NM got it, an app for Root users called Type Fresh can backup/ restore system fonts, and can install new fonts with proper permissions. Any TTF font file works, but picking ones that are designed for on screen viewing is best.

sent from my Samsung Vibrant
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] DJ!:
thanks! zinite and the chrome coyote

EDIT: i tried the app. i got to the point where i restart the phone but the new fonts do not apply. have you or anyone got this to work right on the vibrant yet? (the chrome coyote)
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] creator2456:
I tried it as well and also had no success. Font would not apply.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] Croak:
At least you Vibrant users got some "starter fonts" out of the box. :)

Captivates don't come with any besides the default.

I highly recommend the Helvetica Neue from the Market, btw, especially if you were fond of the Zune interface.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] The_Chrome_Coyote:
Yes. I ran into this problem as well. You need to go to Settings and return your fonts to "Default" and reboot before you will see the changes.

The app works by replacing the default fonts, if the phone is already using a flipfont font then it wont work
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] creator2456:
I'll give that a try as it seems like a very reasonable reason why it wasn't working. Thanks for that.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] the3dman:
Try my guide: http://www.xxthe3dmanxx.com/AndroidFonts/androidfont.html

It was written for the Moto Cliq but might work on the vibrant.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] creator2456:
Just tried it. Did not work. Not sure if I did anything wrong, but I followed directions properly. Phone would not boot past initial Samsung Vibrant screen. Luckily I was able to ADB the .backup out and replace the original.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] s15274n:
I just recently put this in the sticky in the general section. I listed the directory where to put the font, reboot, go to the settings and select the font, phone should reboot with the new font added.

I would LOVE IF you could test the directory for me. I bought helvatica through the system, do I think it's correct.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] The_Chrome_Coyote:
You need to adjust the permissions of the renamed font files to match the stock fonts or else you'll boot loop

sent from my Samsung Vibrant
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] creator2456:
Ok...I followed the directions and did as they said. So, how does one go about doing this?
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] The_Chrome_Coyote:
I use Root Explorer, as its one of the easiest ways to move system files around your phone.

To save you time looking in /system/fonts the permissions are:

User: Read-Yes, Write-Yes, Execute-No

Group: Read-Yes, Write-Yes, Execute-Yes

Others: Read-Yes, Write-No, Execute-Yes

Using Root explorer, you can navigate to your renamed DroidSans.ttf and DroidSans-Bold.ttf files, long press on them and select "permissions", then make sure the permissions match the stock font's listed above.

I cant express how effective the Type Fresh App was in doing this for me, and saves me a whole ton of hassle renaming everything. Plus its free.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] creator2456:
Thanks for that. Guess I'll give it a go again later today. I'll try Type Fresh again first, then move to doing it manually.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] zedomax:
International Fonts

For more fonts and also international fonts, I did a tutorial on a Moto Droid couple months back, it should be exactly the same for "ROOTED" Samsung Vibrant:

http://nexusonehacks.net/android-hacks/droid-hack-how-to-install-thai-font-on-droid/
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] ritalin:
What I would like to know is how to write the AKP for flipfonts.

I wanted to pull one of the APKs from the Apps directory, but it seems to to work. I also tried making a backup of the APK with titanium backup, but the zip is empty. It seems the files are protected in some way.

I just wanted to take a look at the structure of the apk so I can use it as a template to create custom font APKs to side load.

If anyone can manage to make a backup of one of the flipfont APKs please explain how you did so.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] zerosource:
I installed thai fonts by update.zip no root required.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] creator2456:
I just played around with it a bit more. Type Fresh is still not working and I don't know what I am doing wrong with it. But I did get the manual way to work, just not with a font I would like. The font I want to use is .otf originally that I converted to .ttf and I think that may be causing the problem. Guess I'll have to search for a better/differnt font if I want something else. Thanks for all the help everyone.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] jayzusfk:
I had no problems copying the .apk files to /sdcard in astro. I only glanced at its internal organs but it seems the flipfont .ttf just replaces DroidSans.ttf and DroidSans-Bold.ttf in /system/fonts.

I need to spend a little more time playing with the code but it doesn't seem like too difficult a task to make custom flipfont-compatible fonts.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] sync3:
I think i got this working..

Ok tinkering with some fonts..i believe i got this working...using type fresh...create a fonts folder on the phones built in sd...ie /sdcard/fonts

put all fonts u want to use there..this will also be the back up directory for type fresh...open type fresh..u will see ur stock system fonts there..do a backup 1st..it will allow u to change the path of the stock font..only ones u need to change are droidsans.ttf and droidsans-bold.ttf as stated above by jayzusfk..... click on droidsans.ttf and it will ask u for a path of the new font...u need and explorer for this to work...make sure u use the same font for boths paths..ie sans and sansbold...hit menu..apply fonts and reboot...and u should be good to go...in case all else fails..revert back to the stock backup fonts u already backed up..Cheers!!
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] The_Chrome_Coyote:
^ also make sure you are not using a Flipfont font at the time, and its set to "default" under Settings
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] renegadedj:
thank you so much for this! hahaha screw samsungs little stupid selection of run-of-the-mill fonts. thank you!!!! :D
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] sync3:
Hey all..has anyone tried my method..does it work for u guys?
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] Raceves:
I tried a few times and was not able to get it to apply the fonts.
[Vibrant Themes and Apps] sync3:
hmm

what issues are u having?