Branded versus unbranded phones

[Christopher Chaltain]

I don't recall seeing a response to this question, so I apologize if I'm 
covering ground someone else already covered.

A branded phone is one you get from AT&T. An unbranded phone would be 
one you get from Nokia. A branded phone is going to be customized by 
AT&T. It'll have logos and themes associated with AT&T. It'll also have 
applications put on there by AT&T. Some will access AT&T specific 
features while others will be trials or bloatware. The firmware will 
also be customized by the brand, sometimes not for the better.

I don't know of an example where a branded phone is superior to an 
unbranded phone, although I suppose it's possible. The carrier could 
always add applications or firmware features that the unbranded phone 
wouldn't have.

Generally though, branded phones are missing features found in their 
unbranded counterparts. For example, the list for the Nokia N75 is 
pretty long. The additional software found on a branded phone also take 
up space and use up additional memory. I've seen claims on the internet 
that branded phones run slower than unbranded phones. The real advantage 
to branded phones is that they'll come from the carrier as part of a 
plan upgrade, so they can be considerably cheaper than the corresponding 
unbranded phone.

I think of a branded phone as being analogous to a PC that you would get 
from a major brand like HP, Dell or Gateway while an unbranded phone is 
more like the PC you'd get from one of the smaller companies where 
you're almost building it yourself. On a PC from HP you're going to get 
all of that bloatware.

I'm not sure if this helps or not.

 jordmartin at suddenlink.net wrote:
> I'd like some clarification.  Are the branded phones the ones you buy from 
> your local phone store like AT&t?  Are unbranded phones the ones you buy 
> from Letstalk?  What are the pros and cons of each phone?
>
> Juanita Martin 
>
>
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-- 
Christopher

cchaltain at austin.rr.com