My service providers terms make it attractive to keep the latest phone. Yu can buy or lease your phone. If you lease, there is always some promotion or other that is good for 18 months. At that point you are eligible for an upgrade and there is always another promotion. So, oddly, we keep our bills down by following that protocol and always have fairly current phones.
I totally agree. I think people's lifestyle today is to have a nice car and a nice phone. It doesn't matter if those two items alone account for 50% of someone's paycheck. Gotta have the BMW. Gotta have the iPhone or whatever. Nothing funnier than seeing a nice luxury automobile pull into the driveway of a dilapidated house with nothing but dirt for a front lawn. Forget about the 401K or IRA account for retirement or having health insurance or paying for your child's college. People's priorities seem to have gone completely out the window and blown away in the breeze. Ok, I'm done with my rant.
Yes I know quite a few people like that. I know a couple that doesn't own a home, they live in the worst section of town, but they both drive $60k cars, have expensive phones, watches, etc...They rarely even have gas money and their paychecks go towards credit cards and car loans...in debt over their heads, but as long as they have the latest and greatest that's all that seems to matter. I just don't get it. Sent from my LM-Q720 using Tapatalk
In truth I am just very behind on the times and I much prefer phone calls when I want to speak to someone. For me any other means of communication is just too impersonal. Sure I text with some people, but only because it's what they prefer...and I honestly hate having to ask someone "was that sarcasm, or are you mad?" because I can't judge by the tone of their voice through a text message. In my opinion all this "technology" that is supposed to be making life easier--is really dumbing down the new generations and quite frankly, making them lazy. But like I said that's just my opinion, so please don't take offense. Sent from my LM-Q720 using Tapatalk
Yikes. I grossly misoverestimated that then. As I get older, time seems to become a nebulous, weebly wobbly thing and I'm getting worse and worse about it. That said, yeah, it got to the point that I was carrying a charger everywhere. I have kept it for the camera though. It takes fantastic portraits. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
I laugh at those IPhone slaves, that have to upgrade, every year or so. I'm surprised anyone still uses them, after they had been caught sabotaging their customers phones, to encourage the upgrades. Me, I have a 2+ year old Samsung works flawlessly, the battery lasts all day with a lot of use, and it only cost $70 when it came out. It quickly shot up to $120, after the promo was over. One thing I learned a long time ago, dont keep updating your phones apps, and other software. If it works, leave it alone. ..
Not an iPhone slave or even fan but recognize people look for different things in their devices. The camera in your $120 old Samsung might be fine for you, I could never live with it. I'd have to buy a separate camera again which is not gonna happen. Not upgrading your apps and OS is a great idea as long as you stay off the internet. Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
I will give the IPhone one plus. The cameras on them are great. My Samsung takes pretty good photos, but, for high quality shots, I use a real camera.
Sold all that stuff long ago. The best camera is the one you have with you as they say and the Pixel 2-4 camera is amazing. I have a buddy here in Cambodia who is nuts about his "real" cameras, Leica to Pentax and everything in between.. but guess which one of us actually uses his camera. Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
With all this talk about mobile/cell phones, models, plans, etc. and my probably needing to get a new phone sooner rather than later, I'd like to ask for your opinion/suggestions about phones to seriously consider. I look at my carrier's website to try to come up with a good choice and I'm boggled. I'm not in the market for an I-Phone that is going to cost me almost a grand. I want a phone with a screen large enough I don't have to squint to see. A camera that takes pictures of suitable quality for posting and an occasional print. Something with a reputation of good service with at least a modest amount of longevity expected. Ability to be able to use most mainstream apps. ???
About the time I started getting more scam phone calls than real ones I blocked all unknown numbers and I enjoy the peace. I'm 63, none of my friends make phone calls as a primary means of communication and that suits me fine. As I suggested chat apps are a thing, no need to use old school phone tech if you really want to talk someone. Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
Personally I'd go for this . Will probably get one for my daughter and GF. Great camera and no carrier junk. Pretty much any phone will cover your other bases.Given your needs zero reason to spend more. Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
The new phones (computers) are amazing but not for me. I've used ten dollar Track phones for years and now have a $30 flip phone from Consumer Cell. I generally go through a couple (or more) phones a year. I either just lose them or I will run them through the washer. No way I would spend that kind of money for a cell phone (I'd go broke and be a nervous wreck in-between). I'm retired and don't really need one. Back in the day I spent a lot of time in a phone booths with a fistful of dimes. It's amazing how things have progressed. The Blackberry was just coming of age toward the end of my working career so I never really had one (attached at the hip) like is required now. I lasted a year with it on my desk with my boss (young) nagging me to program it. I guess I have a VCR mentality but smart phones are too much of a hassle for me. I'll stick with my laptop in the a.m. and pass on connecting to the web every 5 minutes. Those were the days?
I've gone with flagships with last few phones I've bought. It's really like having a computer in your pocket. Some of the higher end Samsung phones can replace your computer. They plug into a monitor. Add in a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you have a usable computer. For those of us that use a computer for work it can save your hide in a pinch. In 2017, I bought the iPhone X shortly after it was released. It's still a very usable phone nearly 2.5 years later. In 2018 I switched carriers and got the Note 9. Again still a very usable phone but it sits in my drawer over the iPhone at the moment. When I was on prepaid plans I frequently bought the best phone I could by for cash. Usually $3-400. All were decent phones. They didn't have any spectacular features but they worked if a bit sluggish at times. When you amortize the cost of a high end phone over the course of the 2 year contract maybe even longer it's worth it to have all that computing power in your pocket, IMHO.
I've never had a "prepaid" phone, but have wondered how that'd be. But you say they are "sluggish?" If so, carriers probably throttle access and/or speed for them to steer people away from them, do you think??
I don't think it's a tottling issue. Throttling typically involves network speeds. My current provider Spectrum Mobile throttles you customers to roughly 20mbps I hardly notice it in day to day browsing. The sluggishness in midrange phones generally comes from lower end processors and less memory compared to flagships.
You are the "first" person I've run across with Spectrum Mobile service. How is their mobile service? I've got everything but mobile with them and keep getting mailings about switching. Truthfully, their advertised price structure is enticing, but I know how hard they are to deal with in the local office on everything else to the point I'm leery of going to them for mobile service. ???
It's been great and trouble free on my end. I do agree Spectrum cable service's customer service is a nightmare but I haven't had to contact support for anything. Their service runs off of Verizon towers. If you have good Verizon service in your area it will work well. I just switched to their by the gig plan for my cell phone as I'm home using WiFi 90% of the time. My bill should go down about $30/mo. I can live with that. I also have an iPad through them. I rarely use the data service attached to the iPad but it's good to have as a backup
My wife had to have a new iPhone something. $800.00 and the payments for it are added on to my AT&T plan. My iPhone still works ok for me and is so old they won’t even give me any credit for it on trade in.
I switched to prepaid service a few years back and to be honest it was a much better deal. My sprint service was costing me around $110 a mo for unlimited talk, text, & 1Gb of data + $10 per Gb thereafter. I switched to Boost Mobile which is Sprints prepaid carrier and was able to get a higher level of service for $35mo unlimited talk, text, and data...now the 4g lte data is throttled after 6Gb, but even then my speeds are between 5-7Mbps which is more than enough for me. Pre-throttled speeds are around 28+Mbps...and to make the payment process more convenient, I signed up for auto-pay & it's automatically deducted from my bank account every month. As far as the selection of phones...Well no, they're not the greatest. You can usually find a few higher end phones, but you will pay a premium price for them. The rest range from some pretty solid midrange models--right down to some bottom of the barrel $30 offerings. This seems to be the standard with any prepaid carrier. Your other option is to purchase an unlocked, or compatible phone elsewhere which I have occasionally done. You can always find used flagship phones on Ebay. The key to picking a decent performing phone lies in knowing what specs to look for. Midrange phones seem to be closing the gap between their flagship counterparts these days. So do your research, know what the current trends are when it comes to specs---processors, ram, rom, battery capacity, displays, etc. They might not be as powerfull as the flagship offerings, but if you choose wisely you won't be missing out on much. And yes I will be the first to say that buying a brand new phone with a quad core processor, 1 Gb of ram, and 8Gb of rom is just foolish. Sent from my LM-Q720 using Tapatalk
