New Phone Suggestions

[John Goodin]

James
if you are not a texter now; you may become one. I began to love texting after realizing I could communicate instantly with people with whom I did not want to talk. That is a priceless feature.

[Larry Whitlow]

Smart Phones -- my wife has one, my daughter, my sons, my nieces and nephews, in-laws, friends and just about everyone I know has one. I am still using my $29 Pantech (voice & texting). I did use a company provided Blackberry before I retired and appreciated having it. I understand how powerful smart phones are and they are way beyond my old blackberry. I just don't want one. Or, maybe better to say, it is far down the list of things I would really want. Besides, if I really need to use some smart phone app, I can always just ask the wife, kids, etc, etc.

[Jeff Erbele]

I think they need to come up with a new name for these "phones". The phone part of is really a very minor piece of how they are used anymore. Maybe call them PCDs (Personal Communication Device) or maybe MAD (Mobile App Device). I just think "phone" needs to dropped from its name. Cause it's not really a phone. That would be like calling a drill press a vertical spindle sander. It can be used for one, but it is hardly it's primary function.

Well they started as Cellular Phones, then the mfg's started added features, (maybe not in correct order) an address book, calculator, digital camera, eventually a memory card, wifi - internet, computer software, apps, music, video, hot spot, GPS mapping & navigation, etc. and whatever. The basic cell phone became somewhat of a swiss army knife of most anything technology or digital related. Nothing here everybody else doesn't already know, but all of it was built around a cell phone, now a "Smart Phone" or "Smart Device". We now carry more computing power in our shirt pocket than the early main frame's had or more than NASA had in the early years of the space program. Pretty amazing.

I simply call it my "Communicator", borrowed from Star Trek

[Jim Matthews]

I recommend a browse of Consumer Cellular.

I've been a happy customer for more than 5 years.
They use the same towers as larger carriers.

You may not have the latest generation frequency searching gizmo, but unless
you're streaming video - it's not a noticeable degradation of voice or text.

I bought a cheapo Android phone off Amazon, that's BIG so I can read the numbers
and ORANGE so I can find it when I put it down. It was under $200 when I bought it.

Consumer cellular has a nice selection of plans, and you pay as you go - NO contract.
If you buy an "unlocked" phone from any carrier, verify that it can be used on others.

Some of the bargains have costs buried in the extended contract.

Be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true.

It has a nice flip cover so the screen isn't scratched after nearly two years.

[Mark Andrew]

I would not buy a phone that is on either the Sprint or Verizon networks. There are two reasons why. 1. You cannot simultaneously receive data and calls with CDMA phones; the network is not capable of it. You need a GSM phone to do that, which means T-Mobile or AT&T. My job requires me to be in long calls at times, and if I'm on the road, the ability to check an email or Google something in a call is useful. On a CDMA network, the wifi hotspot in the phone will suspend while you are on a call. 2. CDMA was a commercial failure outside the US & Canada. There are no CDMA networks in Europe. Business phones need to be able to roam without question, and that again means a GSM phone; AT&T or T-Mobile. This may not be an issue for some, but is crucial for me.

If you use a Mac, you will get on better with an iPhone. The Mac, iPhone and iPads all share data and settings through iCloud. You can see your email on all three, share web bookmarks across all three, share documents, all seamlessly.

iPhones do indeed have a hotspot feature, they can be either wifi, bluetooth, or USB cabled. The one feature I wish they had was a removable SD card.

That said, I recently saw a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and the screen was outstanding. Shame it used Android, my favorite app (Next Issue) isn't available for the Note 3, otherwise I would have bought one.

Disclaimer - I am a telecom engineer and a registered Apple developer, so I have a particular interest in this!

[Brian Ashton]

I've had two phones recently: samsung galaxy note and now the sony xperia z.

Probably the thing that stands out for me with their respective android versions is samsung appears to do a better job on it's particular version of android. The Sony's version feels and looks quite amateurish by comparison and has removed a number of features that I would think are quite practical, like being able to rename a file...

The Galaxy Note also connected to any computer as an external HDD without the need of for software, where as the Xperia Z won't connect to all operating systems without some sort of application to facilitate this.

I don't like having to buy a phone and then buy a waterproof case also. They're more a pain in the butt because you're always opening and closing the delicate doors to do anything; and they eventually fail. So from now on my phones will be dust and water proof, which limits me to Sony Xperia Z line and Samsung Active. However both have delicate doors that are prone to fail, same as the cases. To counter this I've bought a cradle and bluetooth headset that allows me to operate the phone without having to open the doors ever. The Sony appears to have the better bluetooth accessories for their phones. The Sony SBH52 Bluetooth headset will take calls, make calls and remotely control my music with or without the earbuds, and is water proof. The cradle works with two exposed contact points on the phone to allow charging. Problem is, the SBH52 doesn't play well with other makes and models and it doesn't appear that there are any really good bluetooth headsets, or cradle, available to samsung phones that works as well.

Also, the earbuds that come with the samsung were excellent. But! if they break good luck finding another set. For some unknown reason samsung won't sell them on their own. They offer a couple subpar versions. There are cheap counterfeits that look exactly like the OEM ones, but they're wouldn't be worth it even if free.

There are so many phones out there it can be very overwhelming to figure a way through all the features. Luckily for me my criteria is so stringent there is only a couple phones to choose from. Good luck in your hunt.

[James Tibbetts]

Mark, thanks for the information. Sounds like the "I" thing has more capability than would ever be of benefit to me.
You're the second one to mention the Galaxy note I believe. I will have to give it a look.

[Matt Meiser]

I would not buy a phone that is on either the Sprint or Verizon networks.

That's all well and good if you are in an urban area. AT&Ts coverage and available network speeds fall of as you move way from urban centers.

[Pat Barry]

That's all well and good if you are in an urban area. AT&Ts coverage and available network speeds fall of as you move way from urban centers.

It probably depends on where you are. For example up at our cabin, my brides droid smartphone only works on the deck overlooking the lake (Verizon) but my old Samsung Jack works inside and in more locations around the property (ATT). Unfortunately, you won't know for sure til you have it and try it.

[Matt Meiser]

Yes, that's definitely a generalization but one that generally holds true with some exceptions. There's a lot of areas in Missouri with no Verizon service but AT&T but overall there is a lot more land mass covered by Verizon 4G than even 3G AT&T. Since he's buying a smart phone, one would assume data service would be important.

AT&T's coverage numbers go by people covered, not land area.

[Roger Feeley]

If you have decided on the Samsung Galaxy, you might want to wait for the S5. They are adding some nifty power management. There is also some weird stuff that you probably wouldn't care about but the battery thing seems worth waiting for.

Full disclosure: I just ordered the Galaxy S4 but I had to have it for work and my old phone (HTC Evo) is getting wacky .

[Mark Andrew]

That's all well and good if you are in an urban area. AT&Ts coverage and available network speeds fall of as you move way from urban centers.

It's a very subjective thing. At our lake property in the wilds of E Tennessee, I get 5 bars and LTE coverage. 50Mbit/s on AT&T. Two years ago, I was struggling to get even a phone call.

The coverage maps show a story.

Here is Verizon's. The red indicates some sort of coverage, the dots are where they have LTE.

coveragemap_4gp.jpg

Here is AT&T's, again, dots are LTE, orange tone indicates other coverage.

Untitled1p.jpg

But what does it really mean for LTE? Blue is AT&T LTE coverage, red is Verizon LTE. When you remove the fallback 2G and 3G networks from the graphics, it shows quite a difference.


4g.jpg

[Jim Matthews]

This is a very good point - unless you can test drive the service in your daily route,
you could be dropping calls and paying for the privilege.

[Orion Henderson]

I use a Samsung Note 3. I will never go back to a small screen smart phone. Highly recommend. After using this one for a few months there is just no comparison. I would imagine hand size plays a role in that. It would be huge for my wife, but fits my hands nicely.