Am thinking of upgrading my cell to a smartphone or android. I do not want to pay an arm and a leg but I also do not want one that's not going to be very good.

Who wants to recommend one for me?

I've been eyeing two of them:

LG Nexus and the Motorola Rzer (sp?)

There's also the Galaxy SII - but I think one of the guys from a certain cell-phone shop have said there's a Galaxy 3 out now. Dunno.

I've got some stupid Windows phone and this thing needs thrown through the wall and placed under a big-rig's tires! Then sent back to the company that made them with a note saying they suck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2012 05:59PM by r@inyDayZ3.

Thx. Rainy - I've done so many cell phone shops but since I was not shopping for a smartphone, none of the ones I saw stand out. I've heard they don't hold a charge like the regular cells do so it would probably mean recharging every night or depending how much it's used.
Since all these folks are doing Gapbuster's smartphone shops, I thought maybe one of them would chime in and give me some advice.
I want to go get one next week as I have a couple days free from shopping on my calendar.

Your friend, Plums!

Try and find some more shops and get paid to compare. My understanding it's mostly the operating system that is most comfortable for you, IOS (iPHone), Android or Windows. It doesn't seem like I've heard a lot of people getting on the Windows bandwagon

And yes, smartphones will not hold a charge like a traditional cellphone. Think of them as computers that also can make phone calls and you will get the idea. I love my iPhone and find it super user friendly. It is not a matter of just charging every night, it often needs to be charged during the day while on routes. Granted, I really take advantage of the multi-tasking aspect and use it for calendar, notes, audio recording, GPS, pics, you name it, and often all at the same time Oh yeah, I even make the occasional phone cal!

Plums,

I think some of it may depend on your carrier too. I have ATT right now. I really don't want to switch, because I've gone to Tmobile, Verizon, and Cricket - and every one of those carriers I'd be paying a minimum of 25.00 more per month. Verizon was the highest monthly plan.

I've had the battery charge anywhere from 8 hours to 16 hours - it would depend on how much a person used their wifi on their phones. Pretty much that is the standard I believe - the more you use data/internet of course you are going to have a shorter batter span.

Good luck! I have to wait until October to change my phone with ATT unless I want to pay full price now. Ha, not on your life would I spend anything over $50.00 for a phone.

PS: Did you see my other post back to you? I told you to come out and visit - or I said I may take a road trip over to visit you! LOL

Rainy - I've been wanting to take a trip out to Laughlin which means coming thru AZ but I think you are way down south of I-40, are you not? I've held back on the trip in the hope that my docs will figure out why I am anemic. I'm limited on distances when walking.

Lisa - I am in rotation now so unless some new shops open up, I have to let my fingers do my shopping and get help from my fellow shoppers or web sites.

And I have a friend w/the iPhone and she's loved it from day one.

Plums - Oh yeah - I'm waaaaay down - opposite end of the State! Aren't all of the forest fires up in the northern portions of where you live too? I don't know if I'd want to risk driving through the areas that have the fires.

After I was done wiping all of the tears thinking about the land, I'd probably be a mess shopping!

IMHO, it's still worthwhile to go to a store that has demos, take the time to play with them and pick the brain of those brilliant associates, LOL! On your own you won't be concerned with whether the floor was clean or the lights were working which will free up the brain power These things are something I want to try as much as possible since I'll be stuck with the same one for 18 month to 2 years.

Fires are north and south of us. Any we get are usually on the bosque (by the river where the cottonwoods are). We had one the other day just north of us on the bosque, threatened some homes but firemen put the fire out before it did too much damage.
We do worry though because my grandson and my other grandson's fiancee both work at High Finance which is on top of Sandia mountains. They use the tram to get to/from work. They've told us that there is a plan on how they could get down the mountain from the back side but that plan has never, to my knowledge, had to be used.
Google High Finance, Albuquerque. It's a neat restaurant. They haul their water up there, too, so if a fire starts in the restaurant, it's likely they would not be able to save it.

Lisa - I will probably do that next week. I'll probably go back to Costco as a real customer instead of "shopping" them. I think I'm coming down in favor of iPhone but we'll see what they offer. The folks that have the iPhone seem to love 'em.

Another nice thing about going on your own time, there is not a target model to have to worry about. Make them show you everything about all of them. This time you are really buying so make'em earn that sale!

I recommend Samsung Galaxy 2 or the new Galaxy 3 that came out just a few days ago. Amazing phones.

I can't say it enough. Android, android, and again android.

The android phones of today are all light years ahead of the current iphone.

The newest one out is the Galaxy S3, and it will get the best battery life out of any of them as it has the new low energy processor. It is 199 on every U.S. carrier. I recommend this phone if you dont mind spending the 199. It has every feature you could need/want and has nfc built in which is the wave of the future in making payments in stores.(You just wave your phone and money is deducted for your store purchase).

If you want to spend less, make sure you get an android phone with the following features:

+++LTE, this is the new ultra fast network that rivals the speed of some cable modems. Verizon and ATT networks are live now. Verizon's is live in most of the Country, ATT is adding new cities every month. Sprint's goes live shortly. Phones range from free to 200 in price with these features.

+++screen of at least 4" and with gorilla glass. Gorilla glass prevents the screen from being scratched, great if you put in your pocket with car keys, tend to drop your phone, etc

+++8 megapixel camera. This way you can easily take pictures for shops if you dont want to bring a separete camera.

+++Android operating System Gingerbread at the minimum, but android 4.0 would be better way to go since that is the newest. If the phone has gingerbread, it will be upgraded later this year to 4.0

+++expandable memory card slot. Many of the phones have this, but not all. Make sure it has it so you can put a memory card in and use for storing pictures, music, etc

+++removable battery. Most have it, but a few don't. This will allow you to purchase a spare battery or get an extended battery if you dont mind the weight. Needed if your using your phone to do shops.

+++Brand: Samsung, HTC, Motorola are all ok. LG I generally say stay away from because they take too long to fix bugs in their software and support is lacking.

Tech - Is the Galaxy III out now or is that one that I would have to order?

And I see ads for "unlocked" phones. Does that mean I can get an unlocked phone and it can be used on any carrier?

Right now I am on my daughter's Verizon account because it only costs me $10 a month. Once I go smartphone/android I will end up having to pay additional $30 mo. to cover the data plan.

unlocked phones are at full retail price, which means 600 or more. They can't be used on any carrier in the u.s.

The s3 offically came out in the u.s. on the 21st, but verizon is not shipping theirs til later this week or next at the latest. You can pre-order it and get free overnight shipping, which I recommend doing, because on the 28th, verizon is changing all their plans and it will raise the cost for many.

However, if your daughter's family share account has multiple(3 or more) lines with smartphones, chances are you would actually save money on the new plans. As the new plans are going to allow you to share data between lines the way you share minutes now. All the new plans include unlimited text, minutes, and mobile hotspot.

No, I don't work for verizon, or any wireless carrier.

Tech - You are a big, big help to me because I'd probably be considered a novice because I've hated them in the past. Had to carry one at work but only under duress and usually left it at home except for days when I knew I would need it.

I think from what my daughter told me yesterday that my 2 grandsons are using the androids so if I went with a data plan, that would be 3 of us.

My daughter would love it if it was a little cheaper 'cause the guys are supposed to pay for their share of the phone bill but they don't. I'm the only one who pays my share!!!

Just so you know, data across a family plan should not be impacted by each phones operating system. My understanding is you still cannot talk and use the internet at the same time on an iPhone unless you are on the AT&T network, so there would be a loss of functionality that you may not experience with a Droid.

OMG - I lubs, lubs, LUBS those phones! I drool, badly, every darn time I see them in any of the cell shops I perform!

It's the large screen - that is the clincher for me! I have to have a large screen, I am so accustomed to my large monitor on my desktop, that even switching down to my laptop is a pain!




Deennax Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I recommend Samsung Galaxy 2 or the new Galaxy 3
> that came out just a few days ago. Amazing
> phones.

I switched to a smartphone last summer when I wanted Internet on the go while we were driving down to Florida. Now that I have one, not letting it go. I also upgraded my sons to smartphones because what they offer for basic phones nowadays are crap so you WILL upgrade.

I would definitely stay away from a Windows-based. You'll get more free apps if you avoid the iPhone and go with an android. Dual processors are quicker and you should be able to find one with a killer camera. My Atrix takes high quality photos as nice as my Sony Cybershot. The zoom isn't quite as powerful, though. That's the main difference.

When you decide to buy, go to Best Buy. They offer better deals than the carriers. I paid $100 for my Atrix at AT&T. Later when I got the boys their Samsung Infuses, they wanted $100 at AT&T but it was FREE at Best Buy. Guess who got smartphones for Christmas and why. LOL

If you work for a big corporation, ask about discounts. Verizon and AT&T both offer discounts since my dh works for the cable company. So what we pay for a $30 data fee is only a few dollars more than their $15 2 mb plan. Of course, I just found out the prices were raised so it's $20 for 2 mb, $30 for 2 GB, and $50 for 5 GB It'd be nice if the carriers would offer a group rate for Internet the way they do for texting. The first one to do that will earn tons of new customers. Right now, they're too greedy thinking in short term benefits. But one day one company will get smart.

Anyway, definitely shop around. Decide whether you like a keypad or an all touch screen. Most the newer ones are all touch screen. It takes a little adjustment period but I love it now. I'd also suggest looking for a phone that offers Swype texting. Again, after an adjustment period, it's a wonderful thing.

@angie, verizon is offered shared data come June 28.

All plans will automatically include unlimited texting, unlimited minutes and mobile hotspot for all lines.

The amount you pay will be based on how many gb's of data you want to share between all the lines...

1gb 50, 2gb 60, 4gb 70, 6gb 80, 8gb 90, 10gb 100 and so on...
That's one price/data bucket that is shared between all the lines.

Then you pay the monthly access amount per a line.
basic phone 30, smartphone 40.

So someone with 3 smartphones that wants to share 6gb of data between the lines, would pay 80+40+40+40=200/month

Depending on what plan you have now, this will either cost you more or less. It's the per a line access fee that they are nailing everyone with.

Thanks for letting me know, Techman! I'm stuck with AT&T until next December, I think it is. But by that time, AT&T might have jumped on the bandwagon.

For what I have now, Verizon was a bit more expensive plus AT&T offered a higher discount (30% versus 25%). Between the three of us, we have something like 700 minutes (none of us talk much and rarely outside the free periods...I have over 7000 Rollover Minutes, LOL), and 6 GB in data at 2 GB each.

When I get a tablet, I'd like to use my phone as a hotspot for free. It's always irked me that I'm forced to pay more to use my phone as a hotspot. Why? It's MY GBs to do with what I want. That's how I feel, at least.

So, we'll see what happens next year. Thanks again!

My 2 grandsons are using smartphones so can Verizon look at our phone bill and see how much data they are using?

That would give us a start on what we need. I do not think I will use nearly as much as they do. But then I may be using mine for shopping so who knows?

What in the world is a Mobile Hotspot?
Why aren't any Canadian shoppers chiming in??
There is no Verizon, AT&T, or Cricket...there might be T-mobile, I think I might remember seeing that at a mall somewhere.
Do you guys have any of these
Wind - Chatr - Mobilicity - Virgin - Solo - Fido - Koodo - Rogers - Telus - Shaw - Cellular Comm. - Digital Comm. etc?

@plmmcut, verizon can look and tell you how much data, or if the bill is paid online, can just log in and see how much data each line is using. Verizon makes it very clear how much data each line is using now after getting hit with fines and lawsuits awhile ago over overages and the term 'unlimited.'

The avg user uses 1-2gb a month on their phone.


@spygirl719, None of those carriers exists in the U.S. Sprint does have a prepaid division called virgin mobile though.

Mobile hotspot basically turns your phone into mobile wifi. So you hit the hotspot button on your phone, and now your laptop, tablet, etc can use the internet connection from the phone wirelessly, same as your router at your home. It's an item verizon used to charge 20 a month for, now including it in the new plans.

Tech - You're my guy!! I really, really appreciate all the info you've been dispensing over the last 24 hours.

I just got my Sony email this morning and they have Xperia coming out and it has HD. Have you looked at that one? I like Sony products as a whole but I don't know about cells.

You won't find Sony products on Verizon. Galaxy s3 is way to go as of now. Come fall there will be other devices out.

Am drooling over the Galaxy s3, and currently have the Samsung Fascinate - I think you can get them for less than $100 now, but love Love LOVE it!

IMO it outperforms all the other products I've tested including the IPhone (IMO). FAN-TASTIC camera, superbright Super Amoled screen and lots of room.

I don't want to switch to the s3 (well, I do but I don't) because I don't want the rate increase on the data plan - so I think I will be stuck for awhile!!! I got grandfathered in to an inexpensive unlimited plan with a limited plan for $15 on another phone. Worthwhile for having the usage when I need it, but don't use it ALL that frequently.

Well I went to the phone store today to order a Galaxy III. After looking at a phone that was slightly smaller in size than the Galaxy I opted to go for the iPhone4S. I have small hands and I don't want to carry around a phone that is almost 5" long. If I weren't doing shopping I probably would not be moving into the smartphone field at all but I would really like the GPS, internet, and picture taking/transmitting features of a smartphone.
I've done a couple shops where I wasted time just in trying to find the location.

There's a big learning curve on an android I'm told again and again during my cell phone shops...I'm opting for the Nokia Lumia Windows which will be easy to switch over to since the operating system is already known....but I'm going to wait for the prices to come down.

Also T Mobile is offering unlimited calling and data with NO CONTRACT for $50 per month - which is probably a great deal...while I've seen recent advetisements by
Virgin Mobile for $35 a month. On the other hand I don't know much about Virgin Mobile .