Straight Talk, a no-contract provider available both online and at Wal-Mart stores, has introduced its first Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Precedent.       Now consumers can take advantage of Straight Talk’s incredibly low $45 price for unlimited voice, text and mobile web on a phone where the data component is actually meaningful.

Why is this a big deal?    Until now, Straight Talk’s $45 unlimited plan looked very attractive against the cost of similar plans for the major carriers.   However, their phone selection left much to be desired.   Now, with the addition of the Android phone, customers get a complete mobile experience, including access to hundreds of thousands of Apps, for a fraction of the cost of similar service on other carriers.

How much do I save?   Unlimited talk, text and data with a smartphone ranges from $80 on T-Mobile up to $120 on Verizon.  This is a savings of up to $1,800 on a two-year contract.   Even better, no contract is required.

What about service quality?  Straight Talk buys airtime and uses the network of the major carriers (Sprint for this phone).   Service quality/coverage will be roughly the same as if you were a Sprint subscriber.

About the Samsung Galaxy Precedent:   This Android 2.2 device features a 3.2 inch touch screen, 2 megapixel camera with video capture and playback, Bluetooth, GPS and high speed data via 3G and Wi-Fi.   Battery life is up to 6 hours, with standby up to 9 days.   The Galaxy Precedent is M4/T4 hearing aid compatible, the highest ranking.   In addition, the phone lets you have 5 home screens and supports microSD memory cards of up to 32GB:  a 2GB card is included with purchase.

To buy Straight Talk:   You can buy online, or at Wal-Mart stores.    You can keep your existing phone number in most cases.    

T-Mobile has updated their smartphone data plan tiers, as well as some of their voice plans.  We’ll address the voice plans in another post, but it is worth noting that T-Mobile now has more data tiers to choose from than actual voice only plans.  We believe this is a first for the industry, and reflective of the growing importance of data to a carrier’s bottom line — both from a revenue and capacity perspective.

Until today, T-Mobile had two smartphone data plans, a 200 MB for $10 option, and an unlimited for $30 plan.   They’ve now expanded that to 4 options:

• 200 MB for $10
• 2 GB for $20
• 5 GB for $30
• 10 GB for $60

Interestingly, there is no charge for additional data on any of these plans.   Instead, T-Mobile will reduce (or throttle) the data speed, until the end of the billing cycle, to any customer once the allowance is exceeded.     We’re not sure how slow downloads become in this situation, but suspect that the experience won’t be pleasant — otherwise most people would just stick to the minimum $10 plan.    Our data calculator can help you figure out which T-Mobile data plan is right for you, and compare that option to those offered by AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

In reviewing the tiers, T-Mobile has undercut AT&T by $5 at the 200 MB and 2 GB tiers.  Neither Sprint nor Verizon have those tiers.   5 GB for $30 is competitive with Sprint and Verizon and less expensive than AT&T.   Only a very small percentage of customers currently exceed 5 GB.  While Sprint and Verizon say their data plans are unlimited, they reserve the right to throttle speeds for customers who consume too much, although “too much” isn’t really defined.    T-Mobile thus becomes the first carrier to explicitly create a plan for these heaviest of users.

Starting September 6, new AT&T customers who purchase a smartphone or BlackBerry, as well as existing AT&T customers that upgrade to one of those devices will be required to purchase a $30 data plan with their phone.   This requirement puts AT&T in line with the other major carriers, all of whom have had this requirement for a while (although pricing varies by carrier).   Until now, AT&T had only required a data plan for the iPhone, one that is built into a separate series of plans available for that device.

MyRatePlan Analysis: The impact is likely to be fairly small, as most people who purchase a high end device would likely purchase data service to take full advantage of the features.  However, future customers (and those upgrading) who are mainly interested in having one of these phones for texting via the QWERTY keyboard may choose to instead purchase one of the many “quick messaging” phones offered by AT&T.  These will not require a data plan.    On the business side of things, BlackBerry may see a slight reduction in market share of AT&T’s business if customers forgo those devices to avoid the data plan.