smartphone

silvermouse

I'm thinking of entering the 21st century. Any suggestions about which smartphone to get? 

webmost

Do you grok wifi? Then google* fi Moto G7.  Cheap, great coverage, automagically finds any open wifi to hook up thru. You got free unlimited calls and text for like twenty bucks a month, with ten bucks a gig for data (which you never even hardly crack a gig). No contract required.

Don't grok that wifi? Then get google fi anyways, and learn. It's easy. Tap your grandson to show you how.

Ignore any and all coverage maps. These maps are the biggest lie in advertising.

Forget about data plans. You're not watching football on a four and a half inch screen.

Whatever you get, get an Otterbox or similar. Makes it easier to grasp. Amazon has cheap phone covers.

* I'm not using "google" as a verb here. Google "google fi", or click:

       https://fi.google.com/about/plans/

silvermouse

Thanks. Do all phones give the option of connecting through wifi? I have that at home and in my car, that leaves me only needing limited usage for when I am out and about. I can add a phone to my wife's plan for $10/month so I need a phone that will work with Xfinity, but I hear some phones are 'locked' into a provider?? 
Still in the 20th century here but I've figured out how to set the time on the microwave after a power outage.

ShawnOL

You can get an unlocked BLU phone at bestbuy for about $230.  My son swears by his Galaxy S7 or S8 (whichever it is).  A bit pricey but has a great camera.

TBonz

Xfinity probably has a selection of phones you can get from them so you might want to check that.  All smartphones I have seen support wifi.  I have had both iPhones and Androids and like some of the features that each provided.  I'd suggest going to some store that sells phones and mess with a few of them.  You will figure out which one "fits" you best...what is intuitive to you may not be to others and vice versa.

CalvinAndHobo

^^^ That's my advice as well. Go to Best Buy or something similar and test out a few different phones. Try and guess how you would intuitively do something like send an email or go to the forum, then test it and see if that's how the phone does it. Find the phone that seems to match your instincts. The speed of the phone won't matter to you much, since the "slow" ones will still be very fast, so don't waste money on that. I would recommend getting the largest memory size available though in whatever model of phone you get, since our cigar pictures take up a decent amount of space. Once the memory is full you have to delete something to add something, which is really annoying. 

silvermouse

Thanks all. Time for a little hands on research.

peter4jc

Does this mean we'll get pics of what you're smoking?  

jlmarta

Here’s my $.02, Edward. When it was time to get a free upgrade I let the AT&T sales person talk me into trying a Samsung (I.e., Android) for two weeks for free. 

After two days I was begging to get my iPhone back again. ‘Nuff said??

peter4jc

^^^can't teach an old dog new tricks 

0patience

Try Android and iphone. 
See which will work best for you.
Some folks love Android and some folks love iphone.
Like cigars, it is a preference thing.

Make sure the carrier has coverage where you want. In my area, Verizon is the only one who has coverage.

I have an LG V40. It is fine for what I need.
I have an iphone for work and it works well.

It also depends a lot on what all you want to do.
But if you only want browsing, taking pictures, etc., most will work fine for you.

Sleddog46

Edward, Dawn & I bought our first smartphone several years ago. We got a deal on tracfones where there's no contract and you buy minutes, text ,data as much or as little as you want. We have Samsung Galaxies and have been happy with them. We also got a great deal because when we bought them from QVC they were offering triple everything. So whenever we purchase time everything is automatically tripled. The only drawback is we have to purchase time every 3 months. We're thinking of getting new phones and now they come pre-loaded with a years worth ( 1500 ) minutes of talk, text and data. We are very happy with tracfone plus they utilize all the cell towers so you get pretty good reception almost everywhere. The only problem I've had was in the mountains of N.C. and VA.

deadman

@Sleddog46 no phones or services work in those two locations 

webmost

The diffs with google fi, as I understand it, are:

1) Google aggregates service from three providers. If you are in reach of more than one of their provider carriers, it hooks up with the strongest of those three.

2) One of those three is itself an aggregator of other minor carriers. So if you are in East Gnawed Pencil where the only carrier is Billy Bob and Bucks Pretty Good Cell Phone and Lawn Service, then chances are still good.

3) If the strongest signal is a wifi, then it calls via that wifi. When I rode murdersickle across the country last year, I always found wifi at my lodging, and nearly always where I stopped to eat. Cell service was frequently missing; wifi was always somewheres.

4) There's just a few phones which have the widgetry installed to do this switcheroo. Google sells them. They're cheap. No stores ... all on line ... so cheaper. No contract required. No helpful geek and no square footage to pay. Don't worry -- like everything else in this world, you don't like it, it goes back.

=======================

note bene: Something north of 80% of the world's smart phones are android. Neither iPhone nor android are anywhere near hard to use at all. Like falling off a log, either way. The whole "easier" iHead argument is pure bunk. You touch them with your fingers. How hard is that?

And consider this: many e-commerce sites will automagically charge you more for the same products as soon as they detect that you have logged in from an iPhone or iPad or Mac. Their rationale is that iHeads have more money and are demonstrably more foolish with it. It's the same way that pharma charges more for the same pill sold in the USA. Disposable income? Here, let me help you dispose of it.

Usaf06

I have both an iphone (work phone) and a Galaxy S9. I hate iphone. But, if you are looking for a simpler platform iphone is what you would want. 

VegasFrank

You're welcome, @silvermouse

silvermouse

reminds me of this...

BKDog

Wow, I still use a cheap phone from Tracfone and pay $20 every three months to fill up. Of course, I turn off the wifi and only use the phone to make phone calls and maybe an occasional text. Back in the day I would dispose of them every three months and get a new one with free bonuses.

ShawnOL

Same here, who needs unlimited data with WiFi being just about everywhere.  I haven't put a dime on my tracfone in months.  

Amos_Umwhat

ShawnOL said:

who needs unlimited data with WiFi being just about everywhere.  

As long as by "everywhere" you mean heavily populated areas near the East Coast, I suppose that's true.  Here in Tennessee, it's also true, as long as you live in Nashville, Knoxville, or Memphis.  Stray a few miles outside those cities limits, however, and the WiFi disappears.  

ShawnOL

I guess you're right about that.    Hadn't thought about the rural areas.  Didn't have a smartphone when I lived in Wyoming so I never missed WiFi.

jd50ae

Why do they call them smartphones?
Shouldn't they be called Pied Piper phones?

0patience

ShawnOL said:

Same here, who needs unlimited data with WiFi being just about everywhere.  I haven't put a dime on my tracfone in months.  

Unfortunately, wifi isn't everywhere. 
Even Potland, Oregon doesn't have wifi everywhere.
And on the coast, it is nowhere. Except at McDonalds. LOL!