Skip to main content

Blink and you'll miss it: T-Mobile BOGO Samsung promotion is Saturday only

t mobile fee increase hq sign feat
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 is an impressive specimen of a smartphone, no doubt — it’s got a super screen, super stylus, and a super cool iris scanner to boot. In celebration of all that super-ness, T-Mobile announced on Friday a super deal: a buy one, get one free deal for “Samsung Superphones” on new lines.

It’s a shelf-clearing promotion in the sense that the carrier’s moving out old Galaxy phones to make way for the new, and as such the Note 7, predictably, doesn’t qualify. A number of older Samsung smartphones do, though, including the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the Galaxy S6 Edge and Edge+, and the Galaxy Note 5.

Partaking is simple enough: Just visit T-Mobile’s website or one of its brick-and-mortar locations, add a new line of service to an existing plan with T-Mobile’s Equipment Installment Plan (EIP), and select your two Galaxy handsets of choice. There’s a bit of fine print to note, though. Both phones must be purchased on an EIP, and the device credit isn’t instant — you’ll receive installments over the course of your new line’s two-year billing period. And if you pick a device that requires a down payment, you’ll have to swallow that cost initially — you’ll receive credit for it down the line. Still, considering the upfront cost of a Galaxy S7 Edge on T-Mobile — $780 — it’s hardly a raw deal.

T-Mobile’s Galaxy promotion starts and ends on Saturday, August 6.

The promo follows T-Mobile’s recent restructuring of its Jump! On Demand payment plan for the Galaxy Note 7. Initially, the Magenta carrier said it would attach a $70 premium to Note 7 orders, but quickly backpedaled after a barrage of negative publicity. It’s since eliminated the down payment requirement and instead raised the cost of monthly installments from $32.50 to $37.50 — a $5 hike. Over the Note 7 plan’s 24-month installment period, the new plan’s total amounts to $900 versus the old one’s $850.

It’s T-Mobile’s second Samsung device promotion in recent weeks. In July, it offered customers who signed up for a four-line 6GB or 10GB family plan the choice of a free Galaxy On5 or J7 — a deal that’s still ongoing.

T-Mobile isn’t the only carrier offering a discount on older Galaxy devices. On Thursday, Sprint announced a buy one, get one deal for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Editors' Recommendations

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
5G coverage map: Where you can get 5G on Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile
Qualcomm 5G at CES 2019

Gone are the days when 5G was just a buzzword and deployment was experimental. Today, 5G is an established worldwide networking protocol built into most high-quality and flagship mobile devices. 5G stands for fifth-generation mobile technology, and it's destined to replace 4G (and older protocols) worldwide with speeds up to 100 times faster.  Not only is it faster, but it is also more responsive for overall coverage and reception. That means faster uploading and downloading of documents, images, and videos. For home use, it means replacing fiber-optic cable with fast wireless connections.

There are two forms of 5G technology currently in use: Sub-6 relies on lower frequencies to deliver a much larger network, but the trade-off is that you'll receive only marginally faster speeds than you would with 4G. While mmWave connections rely on much higher frequencies that deliver dramatically faster download speeds, those radio waves can't physically travel long distances or make their way through obstacles like walls or even windows, which reduce signal strength.

Read more
Miss unlimited Google Photos storage? T-Mobile has a deal for you
T-Mobile smartphone.

Data storage has become something of a major issue as people begin filling up internal and external storage drives with photos, documents, and videos. Now, T-Mobile's latest partnership with Google aims to fix the problem with a single deal. The mobile company is introducing a new tier of storage plan that gives customers the 2TB of storage included with its previous tiers, as well as unlimited space for photos and videos in Google Photos.

The deal isn't live just yet but will be available on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, to all T-Mobile customers. It will be the most expensive storage plan priced at $15 per month, but includes everything and more from the cheaper plans such as full-resolution photo storage, photo-editing tools, VPN services, and extended trials for multiple Google services like YouTube Premium and Google Stadia.

Read more
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 shows why Android 12L isn’t enough
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra with keyboard.

Android tablets have usually fallen behind iPads and Windows tablets when it comes to offering good tablet experiences. With Android 12L, Google is taking that particular bull by the horns. The update will roll out to Pixel phones starting next month, but Samsung's recent announcement of the Galaxy Tab S8 casts a shadow over what should be a revival for Google's tablet ambitions because it shows that the problem with Android tablets isn't really with the interface.
What's Android 12L?
To quickly recap, Google last year announced Android 12L, an initiative the company is using to make Android a better experience on tablets and foldables. The company will continue this work through Android 13 and has hopes for app developers to step in line and create apps that would work better with Android going forward. The big issue here is that Android 12L is redundant for the most part -- and the Tab S8 is a reminder of that.

Android 12L, as far as focusing on bigger screen devices goes, amounts to pretty much a user interface revamp. There's a new multi-pane interface for the lock screen and the notification center, and there's support for a dock for productivity scenarios. But none of this actually fixes problems that exist for users. If you've done any shopping for Android tablets recently, you'll notice that companies like Samsung that actually sell Android tablets have pretty much always had their device software competently tablet-optimized.
Android tablets already have optimized interfaces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPGzX_y8ccM

Read more