I just got mail from Republic Wireless about this.

They mentioned a 100 dollar rebate on the Motox bringing the price to $199. And apparently it will finally support hybrid calling (switching from cell to wifi and back during a call)

9/19/2013 9:05:24 PM

still can't decide if i should get the moto X on RW or keep my N4 on AT&T via straight talk

they cost about the same (selling what i have and buying a moto X when it comes out) until 4 months in, then it's cheaper every month to go with RW...but it's SPRINT

also, tethering is somewhat important to me...ignoring the fact that RW doesn't want you to, i wouldn't abuse it and surely the moto X will be rooted and able to to tether eventually...

i kinda want to decide now so i can sell the N4 before the N5 comes out and possibly pick up a defy to get in on the beta discount

9/19/2013 10:43:04 PM

I would go N4 and straight talk, but I don't have wifi at work that my phone can join. I also have to tether to vpn home from customer sites and stream data constantly in the car. sprint's network is just too shitty to rely on for that stuff and the reason I gave back the free sprint mifi from work.

9/20/2013 11:23:44 AM

So, anyone know if the new phones will be MORE reliable for calls/data in the morrisville/cary area than then current defy xt phone is? My wife has it, and suffers in many places around where we live. She does not need the phone that often, but would prefer a service that works better than the current phone/service she gets from republic.

So, is it the phone (moto x) that would give her better reliability/connection or is it the upgrade to 4g that would make it better?

9/20/2013 12:11:44 PM

Doubtful since they're both motorolas.

And lol, guess the bookstore jumped the gun a bit.

http://republicwireless.com/new-pricing-faqs

Quote :

"What is the new Motorola DEFY XT pricing? Starting on September 26, 2013, Republic will offer the Motorola DEFY XT for just $99 for the smartphone with a monthly rate of $19 a month. As of that date, this will be the only plan offered on the Motorola DEFY XT."

9/20/2013 1:52:08 PM

no unlocked bootloader on the moto X

Quote :

"Per David Morken, co-founder of Bandwidth.com, the bootloader on the Republic Wireless Moto X will not be unlocked. Does this make it a dealbreaker? Perhaps not if the service's bargain plans appeal to you."

9/20/2013 1:57:15 PM

Not really a surprise since they've made it known before that they didn't want people being able to change things.

9/20/2013 2:09:42 PM

just stopped by the NCSU bookstore and the defy is $199

guy told me they made a mistake and it'll be $99 next week if Iwanted to come back then

9/20/2013 3:50:30 PM

haha well I guess I was that mistake that they made. Glad I was able to get in on it.


robster - to answer your question

Quote :

"What improvements has Republic made since it launched its last phone, the Motorola DEFY XT? It was very clear that Wi-Fi to cellular handover, improved call quality, and MMS were critical features for our members —we couldn’t agree more. Where other attempts have failed or abandoned, our team has succeeded —we’ve invented new technology that enables seamless Wi-Fi to cellular handover, vastly improved Wi-Fi call quality, and MMS capabilities as well as some great new features such as visual voicemail (and yes, that will be included in the price. C’mon, did you think we would charge for that?). And most importantly, we’ve built a foundation that we can continue to iterate with our members, and update the experience as we continue to learn."

[Edited on September 20, 2013 at 4:08 PM. Reason : ]

9/20/2013 4:05:39 PM

heck yeah. I can't wait. $199 for a moto X and $36+ tax for the 4g plan.

Im in.

9/20/2013 6:40:10 PM

Officially disconnected my Verizon account today. The CSR asked me why I was leaving, and I said it was 100% cost related. He tried to offer me some $60 smart phone plan, but I already had ported my number. I told him about republic, the $19/month price tag, 299 Moto X no contract, etc. He sounded pretty interested and said he'd have to look it up, and doesnt blame me for switching.

So i'll be rocking the Defy XT until November when I get the X. Everytime I get frustrated, i'll just remind myself, "you're only paying 19/month for this, its ok"

9/21/2013 5:05:09 PM

^ Yup! That's what I keep telling myself too.

9/22/2013 3:08:28 PM

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/09/23/republic-wireless-may-launch-the-motorola-dvx-a-low-cost-moto-x-alternative-in-october/

Looks like the cheaper 3g only version of the Moto X is coming also.

9/23/2013 11:58:01 AM

They definitely said phones (plural) were coming out later this year awhile back. I hope some of those plans are clearer around the time Moto X comes out, such as if there's an even better phone than the Moto X coming soon.

That being said, I'm currently planning to buy the Moto X as soon as it launches. I kinda want to test drive the $10 (9 with 10% discount) plan for a week or so since I don't use much data off of wifi currently. Probably will end up upgrading to the $25 (22.50) or $40 (36) plan though.

9/23/2013 12:08:16 PM

Quote :

"such as if there's an even better phone than the Moto X coming soon."

RW staff has said the Moto X would be the Best in the Good, Better, Best hierarchy.

9/23/2013 12:14:04 PM

^^^That's probably going to be more in my budget. If the Defy actually worked reliably I would stick with it.

9/23/2013 3:05:40 PM

^I'd probably stick with the Defy too, but the lack of memory on it pisses me off frequently when trying to get a new app or update an existing one. I can get over the fact it's slow at times and is on the lower end of current phones, but not the memory issue. Moto X at 22.50 > Defy at 19 for me.

Quote :

"RW staff has said the Moto X would be the Best in the Good, Better, Best hierarchy."

That's kind of what I figured. I'm satisfied with the Moto X though, so I'll be getting that.

9/23/2013 3:11:44 PM

i'm curious as to what the differences in hardware will be between the X and the DVX

because at $300, RW is subsidizing the cost of the X (though not by a huge amount, 10-15% maybe?)...if the DVX is $200 unsubsidized, they're probably not going to offer it for any less

i just want to know what you're giving up in addition to the 4G radio

9/23/2013 3:26:26 PM

In the FCC filings for it, the only thing they really could tell hardware was was that the DVS doesnt have a LTE radio (3G only). http://gigaom.com/2013/09/03/motorola-dvx-passes-fcc-a-low-cost-moto-smartphone-with-removable-back/


So
Good: Deft XT (Gingerbread, 3G)
Betterr: DVX (assume Jellybean, 3G)
Best: X Phone (Jellybean, 4G)

9/23/2013 3:52:04 PM

^ i'm fairly certain the defy doesn't count and that they'll be offering a third phone to fill the "good" category (unless the DVX is supposed to be that, but i'm not sure what would fall between the DVX and X)

9/23/2013 3:55:31 PM

From what i've heard they are planning on keeping it around for a while. I think it'll be the "good" phone until the replace it with another one. On Sept 26th the price for it will be dropping to $99, which is just about as cheap as you can get for a smart phone. The pricing system would make sense to me.

Good: Defy XT- $99
Better: DVX - $199? (rumored to be this price)
Best: X Phone - $299

9/23/2013 4:38:14 PM

I just joined. Not too impressed with the reception. The call quality on skype (a laptop using wifi) seems to be better than the call quality on my phone using wifi. Breaking in and out, echoes, etc. I'm putting up with it for the price though.

9/23/2013 5:23:11 PM

Quote :

"If the Defy actually worked reliably I would stick with it."

It's reliable. I've had mine for 3 months now without issues. Running some aps, the phone will get hot (hot enough that it'll warn you and it won't charge while using).

My only issue with the wifi is using a wifi connect that's slow/loaded/busy. My parent's 762KB connection is laggy when I visit and take a call (the call is clear, but there is a ~2 second delay from my end). I haven't had issues using wifi, say at NSCU or at a friends house. If my friend is using torrenting and using a good portion of the bandwidth (TWC 10MB), then I get some lag. Otherwise connection has been clear and reliable. YMMV

Sprint towers do suck though. I consistently get 2 bars lower than when I had verizon inside most buildings. Sometimes, during peak hours, 3g feels very, very sluggish. Enough to give my streaming pandora connection issues even if I have 3 or 4 bar signal strength.

Im hoping going to 4g will fix that issue, but if not, I'll switch to the $25 ($22.50 discounted) plan.

[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 8:01 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 8:01 PM. Reason : ,]

9/23/2013 7:58:49 PM

EuroTitToss did you do the phone software update? My call quality was pretty sucky, and then after a day or so I was looking and went to the phone info and did all 3 updates you could. Since then people have told me they noticed little to no difference.

9/23/2013 10:12:58 PM

http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-posts-full-list-t-mobile-moto-x-update-changes

Looks like an update is floating around that fixes the camera quality which seems to be the number one complaint of reviewers. Wonder how long that'll take to make it to the Republic Wireless Moto X.


http://www.droid-life.com/2013/09/23/moto-x-camera-update-new-vs-old/
Probably a better link since it shows comparison photos.

9/24/2013 9:39:13 AM

yeah, from the examples i saw, it seemed to be a firmware/software issue, not hardware...and it seems to be a pretty solid camera in terms of hardware, so hopefully it's living up to its full potential after the update

9/24/2013 9:45:45 AM

Looks like no Google Wallet out of the box on the Moto X either. O.o

https://community.republicwireless.com/message/119042#119042

Quote :

"We don't currently support tap to pay with Google Wallet, although this is something that we may look at supporting in the future. It has more to do with the required integration points that have to be developed and certified."

9/25/2013 10:47:45 AM

Quote :

"EuroTitToss did you do the phone software update? My call quality was pretty sucky, and then after a day or so I was looking and went to the phone info and did all 3 updates you could. Since then people have told me they noticed little to no difference."

Nope. I figured if there were updates, I would get prompted or they would be automatic. I'll check that out, thanks.

9/25/2013 11:12:04 AM

Cnet first look at the RW Moto X. Oddly enough, Google Wallet is installed.

9/25/2013 11:21:06 AM

google recently updated the wallet app. i havent used it yet but from what i have read, it kinda sounds like paypal a little bit. you can now send money to people directly.

9/25/2013 1:07:27 PM

10/23/2013 12:26:51 PM

I'm hoping they seriously consider allowing us to purchase buckets of data to use with the $10 plan. I use so little cell data the $25 plan seems like overkill.

10/23/2013 2:53:17 PM

Quote :

"$25 overkill"

lol. Its $25 for a smartphone with unlimited everything

10/23/2013 8:10:53 PM

I feel like such an idiot not paying attention to the new plans... I should have held out for the Moto X, but I just got the Defy last month.

At this point, I can't really justify the cost though because I'd be looking at a $9/month savings compared to $200 to buy the phone.... 2 years just to break even. Plus no data while driving (e.g. google maps).

[Edited on October 23, 2013 at 9:42 PM. Reason : asdfasdf]

10/23/2013 9:41:43 PM

I'm always stunned how well google maps does with just wifi. Tell it where you're going, it downloads the route before you leave the driveway, and not only will you have a map the whole way as well as voice directions, but it will even compensate if you make a wrong turn. It must be rather strictly limited in how far off course you can get before it needs to contact the mother-ship, but it is still impressive.

10/24/2013 1:21:59 AM

^ With the Motorola upgrade plan, you know you can trade in your Defy for a $100 Visa Gift Card if you upgrade to the X phone right? And if you signed up a month ago, you might be in with the beta users who get 10% off their bill for life.

10/24/2013 11:43:09 AM

^I was already including the $100 rebate in my calculation and a $1/month discount doesn't get me too excited.

[Edited on October 24, 2013 at 6:53 PM. Reason : rebate]

10/24/2013 6:53:11 PM

11/10/2013 4:48:34 PM

Actually it is this week.

11/11/2013 10:17:11 AM

Looks like they got mms working with AT&T now too. Google Voice now supports receiving from tmobile so RW shouldn't be far behind which would just leave Verizon as their usual stubborn selves.

11/11/2013 1:01:38 PM

Good review on Cnet
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57611724-251/hands-on-with-the-republic-wireless-moto-x/

11/11/2013 5:55:05 PM

based on that previous article I posted from CNet, Wednesday is the magic day!

11/11/2013 9:30:00 PM

so stoked...i won't be getting one, but i'm ordering one for my wife as soon as i'm able...and eventually, i might sell the N4 and leave ST for RW and the moto X

11/12/2013 8:19:31 AM

As part of the launch of Moto X RW is having a party during Internet Summit this week. Musical guest is Coolio.

11/12/2013 11:27:12 AM

11/12/2013 12:48:38 PM

did coolio do anything but gangsta's paradise?

11/12/2013 3:01:31 PM

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/11-craziest-moments-from-mark-mcgrath-and-coolio-s--celebrity-wife-swap--episode-031758665.html?page=all

11/12/2013 3:14:23 PM

^how'd you get that invite? I'd love to attend! Loyal Republic customer right here

11/12/2013 4:21:05 PM

they just added TMO to the list of carriers that will work with MMS

i wonder if VZW will EVER stop being dicks about it...no "real" MMS was my wife's biggest complaint and we know many people who use verizon

11/13/2013 2:41:28 PM

Tomorrow's the day.

11/13/2013 6:46:36 PM