With three carriers now selling the iPhone, your options have gotten a bit more complex as far as monthly service plans go. We’ll take a look at which carrier’s plans are best for cheapskates, big talkers, big texters, and those who want it all—voice, data and text messaging.

Before we start, some constants between all three carriers:

The iPhone 4S starts at $199 with a two-year contract.

Voice plans include unlimited minutes to people on the same network, so even if you have the 450-minute plan on Verizon, for instance, you won’t use any minutes when calling other Verizon customers.

Apple’s new iOS software features “iMessage,” which lets you send and receive free text messages (for now, at least) between other Apple devices that have the iMessage feature turned on as well.

And with that, let’s get started.

Cheapest Plan

AT&T: $40 for 450 voice minutes + $15 for 200MB data = $55/month

Verizon: $40 for 450 voice minutes + $30 for 2GB data = $70/month

Sprint: $80 for 450 voice minutes, unlimited texting and data

AT&T is the cheapest way to get into an iPhone, especially considering that if all you want is an iPhone—any iPhone—AT&T’s the only carrier giving away the iPhone 3GS for free with a two-year contract.

You give up text messaging with both AT&T’s and Verizon’s cheapest plans. With AT&T, you’ll pay 20 cents per text message (incoming or outgoing) and 30 cents per picture or video message (incoming or outgoing). Verizon charges 20 cents per text message (incoming or outgoing) and 25 cents per picture or video message (incoming or outgoing).

As for data, with AT&T you’ll pay $15 for another 200-megabyte bucket if you go over your initial 200 megabytes. With Verizon, you’ll pay $10 for an additional gigabyte after you go over your two-gigabyte allowance.

Cheapest Plan with Light Text Messaging

Verizon: $40 for 450 voice minutes + $30 for 2GB data + $5 for 250 text messages = $75/month

AT&T: $40 for 450 voice minutes + $15 for 200MB data + $20 for unlimited texts = $75/month

Sprint: $80 for 450 voice minutes, unlimited texting and data

Verizon shows a good mixture of data—two gigabytes should be plenty for most people—and text messages here, though for $5 more per month, you can get the same amount of voice minutes with Sprint and not have to worry at all about data or text messaging overages. AT&T only offers unlimited text messages at a price of $20 per month.

Cheapest Plan with Heavy Text Messaging

AT&T: $40 for 450 voice minutes + $15 for 200MB data + $20 for unlimited texts = $75/month

Sprint: $80 for 450 voice minutes, unlimited texting and data

Verizon: $60 for 450 voice minutes and unlimited texting + $30 for 2GB data = $90/month

For heavy texters, Sprint’s a good worry-free option since you get unlimited data as a bonus. AT&T’s five bucks less but that’s with only a 200-megabyte data allowance.

Cheapest Plan with Heavy Voice Minutes

AT&T: $70 for unlimited voice minutes + $15 for 200MB data = $85/month

Verizon: $70 for unlimited voice minutes + $30 for 2GB data = $100/month
Sprint: $110 for unlimited voice minutes, unlimited texting and data

If you’ll be doing more talking than anything else, AT&T’s your best bet at $85 per month for unlimited voice minutes. Verizon gets you substantially more data, but will cost you an extra $15 per month. Sprint is the most expensive, but you get unlimited data and text messages, too.

Cheapest Plan with Heavy Voice Minutes and Light Texting

AT&T: $70 for unlimited voice minutes + $15 for 200MB data + $20 for unlimited texting = $105/month

Verizon: $70 for unlimited voice minutes + $30 for 2GB data + $5 for 250 text messages = $105/month

Sprint: $110 for unlimited voice minutes, unlimited texting and data

AT&T and Verizon are neck and neck here. AT&T gets you unlimited texts but only 200 megabytes of data; Verizon gets you two gigabytes of data but only 250 text messages. Sprint actually looks pretty good—for $5 more, you don’t have to worry about anything.

Cheapest Unlimited Plan (Voice + Texting + Data)

Sprint: $110 for unlimited voice minutes, unlimited texting and data

AT&T: $70 for unlimited voice minutes + $45 for 4GB data + $20 for unlimited texting = $135/month

Verizon: $90 for unlimited voice minutes and texting + $80 for 10GB data = $170/month

Sprint is the clear winner here, edging out AT&T by $25 per month and Verizon by $60 per month. Sprint’s also the only carrier that offers unlimited data plans. You’re still in danger of overage fees with AT&T and Verizon.

Conclusions

AT&T provides the cheapest path to an iPhone… until you add text messaging. The company’s decision to offer only a $20 all-or-nothing texting plan prices it out of cheapskate range pretty quickly, especially considering that even if you’re not sending any text messages, you can be charged for messages sent to you.

Verizon’s weakness is that its lowest-priced data plan starts at $30. You get more than enough data if you’re a typical user, though, as AT&T’s $15-per-month data plan only provides 200 megabytes to work with.

Sprint actually comes away looking pretty good here. If you can get past the fact that you’re facing a minimal monthly outlay of $80, the peace of mind you get with unlimited data and unlimited text messaging might be worth it. And if you really don’t want to have to worry about anything, you can avoid any and all overage charges with the $110 plan. AT&T and Verizon cost $25 and $60 more per month, respectively, for similar peace of mind, but even their plans aren’t truly unlimited when it comes to data overages.

[This post republished from Techland. Edited on 10/11/11 to correct some inaccurate pricing for AT&T.]

If you believe what the Wall Street Journal is saying Sprint has done, you all but sell your company’s soul for the iconic iPhone.

Sprint is likely to lose money on the iPhone deal through at least 2014, the paper reports, but it seems to think that the device could be key in keeping the carrier relevant. The gamble carries a lot of risk: Sprint could find itself straddled by a costly deal that could bring the entire company down if it fails.

The four year deal is said to guarantee the purchase of 30.5 million iPhones over the period, costing some $20 billion dollars. Sprint would subsidize each handset to the tune of about $500, meaning it would take quite awhile to recoup the cost of providing the device.

Think about it for a second: as of last quarter, Sprint only had about 27.7 million postpaid subscribers. If you take it at face value, every single customer would have to convert to the iPhone, or at least half of the subscriber base would need to re-up with a new iPhone twice during the agreement period.

But to be completely fair, the Sprint deal is not unusual — it seems to be average of what Apple asks of its carriers. The Cupertino company asks for a good deal of leverage over its partners, and these folks willingly give it to them. Despite Android’s successes, individually the iPhone is still the single best selling handset.

Verizon and AT&T did not have such risk in taking on Apple, because they are so much bigger and had a larger margin of error. But because Sprint is so much smaller, the risks of missing targets when making such huge deals are far higher.

Will Sprint be able to do make this work? If it sticks to its principles, it very well could. Remember the carrier makes a big stink about unlimited data: if it holds itself to that, it would be the only US carrier to offer such a plan. AT&T got rid of its unlimited iPhone data plans in June of last year, and Verizon’s this past summer. That’s certainly an attractive selling point.

So here’s my question: if Sprint offers unlimited data plans similar to its current ones for the iPhone, will you bite? Or did the carrier make a misguided gamble here? Personally, I think it had to do something, but this may have been a step too far.

Good news for Sprint, Sprint customers, and Apple.

If you’re thinking about buying the HTC Evo 3D on Sprint, the first thing you should do is ignore the 3D.

The phone’s namesake features — a glasses-free 3D display and dual cameras to shoot your own 3D content — amount to little more than a cheap party trick. And with a dearth of 3D movies and games to enjoy on the smartphone, the Evo 3D’s design and performance in two dimensions is far more important.

Strip away the gimmicks, and the Evo 3D is just average among high-end Android handsets. It’s a phone that provides lots of power through a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, but falters on design.

Compared to the graceful curves and smooth materials of HTC’s newly-launched Sensation 4G, the Evo 3D’s figure is no triumph. It’s not uncomfortably large despite a 4.3-inch, 960-by-540 resolution display, but its boxy shape and considerable weight lack elegance.

In the hands, you’ll always feel the phone’s camera shutter button, which sticks out from the bottom right side and rests right underneath your palm or fingers. A ridged back panel adds a touch of class, but ultimately this isn’t a phone that feels great to hold.

And don’t let the Evo 3D’s size fool you into thinking this is a multimedia powerhouse. The phone’s single speaker is poorly placed on the back side, projecting in exactly the wrong direction, and it kicks out some of the weakest audio I’ve ever heard on a high-end handset.

Unlike Sprint’s first-generation Evo, there’s no kickstand on this model, so forget about propping up the phone to watch some 3D flicks. With 4 GB of internal storage and an 8 GB microSD card, there’s not a lot of room to store your own music and videos, anyway.

The Evo 3D includes a 1730mAh battery, which leans toward the high end for Android phones, but I wasn’t floored by the battery life. After a day of moderate Internet use, no 4G service and no phone calls, the Evo 3D was in the red zone. When I kicked on Sprint’s 4G WiMax service for part of a day, the phone was dead by dinner time.

The Evo 3D redeems itself with a dual-core processor and Android 2.3, the latest version of Google’s smartphone software.

As with the Sensation, I tested the Evo 3D’s hardware muscle by playing One Button Bob, a desktop Flash game that always gave me trouble on single-core devices. As expected, the processor allows the game to run smoothly. The Evo 3D also had no trouble with videos and games, including the 3D content that was pre-loaded on the handset.

Combined with HTC’s Sense interface, the Evo 3D provides a slick and capable Android experience, although as with the Sensation 4G, Sense isn’t silky smooth like an iPhone or Windows Phone.

A customizable lock screen lets you see important notifications and jump directly to your favorite apps. There are pre-loaded widgets for apps like Twitter and e-mail, too. And I like the carousel effect that spins between home screens. Otherwise, it’s Android as usual. Check out our Nexus S review for more on how Android 2.3 operates.

Finally, let’s talk a bit about 3D. Don’t expect great 3D pictures out of the Evo 3D. Do expect images that look like layers of cardboard cut-outs, with the effect falling apart when subjects are too close or too far from the camera. Sure, I enjoyed showing off the 3D to friends and family, but not enough to factor it into a purchase decision. The Evo 3D’s two-dimensional stills and video are better for practical use, especially because the shutter is much more responsive. (Annoying bug alert: In both modes, I had issues with the camera freezing after snapping a photo.)

As for 3D content, the Evo 3D includes a Spider-Man game demo from Gameloft and a few other 3D games for purchase. One 3D movie, The Green Hornet, is pre-loaded, but you must sign up for HTC’s Watch movie service and download software updates to view it, and from what I can tell, there are no other 3D movies available for purchase right now. Without a thriving 3D ecosystem, its hard to recommend this phone for content consumption.

I don’t think highly of gimmicks, and the Evo 3D’s tentpole feature hasn’t proven that it’s anything but. I’d much rather have a phone that excels at the basics, which is why I gave the HTC Sensation 4G such high praise. Unfortunately, smartphones tend to be tied to specific wireless carriers in the United States, and for now, the Evo 3D is Sprint’s only option with a dual-core processor. I wish that was something to get excited about.

Second Opinions:

Engadget | CNET | BGR | PCWorld | Laptop | This Is My Next

(This post republished from Techland.)

All bets are on Google launching a mobile payment platform with Sprint on Thursday, allowing people to pay for goods and services with their smartphones.

The mobile payment concept, which relies on technology called near-field communications (NFC) embedded in smartphones, has a lot of potential. In the long haul, it may eventually replace the need for credit cards. But I wouldn’t get too excited about this rumored announcement just yet — assuming that is what Google will talk about at a press event in New York on Thursday.

For starters, there’s only one Android phone on the U.S. market that supports NFC, Google’s Nexus S. To date, that phone is only available on Sprint and T-Mobile, the two smallest of the four major U.S. wireless carriers. Other phones will surely follow, but for now the potential base of Google mobile payment users is rather small.

And if Google and Sprint come together to make an announcement on Thursday, that still leaves the countless retailers who will have to install NFC kiosks at their stores to accept mobile phone payments. Bloomberg’s rumor says nothing about which retailers, if any, will be involved.

Finally, let’s not forget that we’re talking about Google here. This is a company that loves public betas and starting small. Android, for instance, launched in the U.S. with a single phone on a single carrier. It didn’t get huge until a couple years later. With NFC, Google started with a pilot program in Portland, Ore., and only with decals on store windows that people could scan for information.

So here’s my best guess on what will happen this Thursday: Google and Sprint will announce their plans for mobile payments in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as rumored. They’ll show off the payment kiosks and demonstrate how the technology works. It’ll all be very impressive.

But after that, it’ll be up to retailers to start installing kiosks in their stores and accepting smartphone payments for real. Meanwhile, Android phone makers will have to start putting NFC capabilities in their devices. It’s a chicken-and-egg issue, but like so many others in technology, it’ll probably get solved over time. And that’s when you can start getting excited.

(This post republished from Techland.)

The news follows a non-committal from Verizon Wireless, which last month said it was still evaluating the Playbook. Sprint’s alleged memo gave no reason for the delay.

We shouldn’t be suprised to see this happen, but not simply because the Playbook is a critical flop so far. The real issue, I think, is tablet fatigue on the part of wireless carriers. The market’s about to be flooded with competition for Apple’s iPad, so it’s not only a buyer’s market for consumers, it’s a buyer’s market for carriers as well.

Consider what happened last time wireless carriers rushed into supporting a shiny new tablet, with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. By January, Samsung had sold 2 million Tabs to retailers, with support from all four major U.S. carriers. But how many did consumers buy? We don’t know. Samsung’s only comment was to say that sell-through had been “smooth,” in other words, not stellar enough to brag about.

Then in February, Verizon stuck its neck out for the Motorola Xoom, becoming the tablet’s exclusive mobile broadband carrier. Again, no sell-through stats are available, but Motorola said it has sold 250,000 tablets to retailers. Apple’s iPad 2 likely beat that number in one weekend.

So I can understand why Sprint and Verizon would hold off on the Playbook. Adding new tablets requires resources for testing performance and delivering upgrades, as well as physical space in retail stores. And there’s little evidence that every incoming iPad competitor is worth the trouble. If I were running a wireless network, I’d want to be pretty picky at this point.

The company told Bloomberg that it is already working on a system with payment vendors and handset makers, and it plans to have it in place this year. While so-called near field communication (NFC) support would likely not be enough to attract customers to the brand itself, it certainly would give Sprint some bragging rights.

As of late there seems to be a mad rush to support mobile payments, with quite a bit of news in the space. Last month I told you about Google’s plans to begin testing a payment service in New York and San Francisco that would tie in with some type of coupon service: this was followed later by news that Microsoft was working with Verifone on its own solution. It seems like 2011 will be the breakout year for NFC.

Sprint’s idea is similar to Google’s, with its service is tied to a loyalty program aimed at giving incentives for using the mobile payment option. Charges would be processed through the user’s credit card statement, not their cellular phone bill.

As I’ve said in the past with NFC, whether this catches on will be dependent on how serious the phone manufacturers become in including the technology within new phones. ABI Research seems to believe that time is not too far off, with 35 million devices with NFC shipped in 2011, and double that forecasted for 2012. By 2014, some 340 million mobile users could potentially be using the technology, the firm believes.

You can also fold one of the screens neatly under the other, so that it looks like a slightly chubby but conventional Android phone:

Then there’s a so-called Simul-Task mode, in which you can run two of the device’s seven core apps at the same time, one on each screen. In the image below, the Echo is running Facebook on the top and a photo gallery on the bottom.

And finally, there’s an optimized mode in which you can work on different aspects of one app. For example, you can use the Echo like a mini laptop, with a software keyboard on the bottom half and an e-mail or text message on the top. The phone also comes with a cute custom app called Vue-Q, which lets you run a YouTube video on the top screen while searching YouTube and queuing up additional videos on the bottom screen:

Other dual-screen optimized apps include the browser (you can either browse two web sites at the same time or expand a single site to both screens) and contacts (you can either view more contacts or an expanded virtual dialpad). The Echo will ship with the Jibe Mobile Social Messenger, a new app that aggregates feeds from popular social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Kyocera has also made an Echo software development kit available, and at launch you’ll be able to buy Echo-optimized versions of a couple of games, including The Sims.

The Echo’s other hardware specs include 802.11b/g Wi-Fi (and the ability to function as a Wi-Fi hotspot, for a fee) and a 5-megapixel camera and 720p camcorder. It’s powered by a 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and comes with 1GB of onboard memory plus an 8GB micro-SD card (which you can replace with cards holding up to 32GB of data). Kyocera also throws in a spare battery and a charging cradle that can tether the spare to the phone (a good idea since all that display real estate surely will soak up power).

The dual touchscreen is an interesting experiment. In the demo, it looked very cool for some apps (such as the aforementioned VueQ), and a little odd for tablet-style use. You probably will run into problems trying to run some Android apps in tablet mode: There’s nothing to stop the black bar from impacting functionality that happens to occur in mid-screen. On the other hand, I don’t know of any tablets that will fit into pockets as easily as the Echo will.

Sprint plans to launch the Kyocera Echo on its 3G network on May 17, with a $199 pricetag (after a $100 mail-in rebate), assuming you sign up for a two-year contract. What with all the 4G talk here, the decision to go with 3G on this phone seems a little odd, but then again speed isn’t the selling point for this one. It will be interesting to see its reception.