Smart Phones in Mexico?

Smart Phones have been used in Mexico , since they came out... they work great.. Buy a unlocked phone , they even cell them with space for two sims, so you can have a US number and a Mex # ..
visit a telcel store

Just finished a trip from Chiapas to AZ and they worked fine. Verizon has a special rate now, called the travel pass and that is what we used. All connections were on the Telcel network.

We've used our S5's this entire trip and love them. We use the Verizon $2/day Mexico plan which uses our US allocations of data, texts etc. We've had 3G/4G coverage via TELCEL, and sometimes Moviestar, for the entire trip from Monterrey to now in Patzcurao with one exception: a portion of the desert between Delores Hidalgo and GTO. Family calls and texts just as if we were in the US...all for $2/day. We even Skype'd into a wedding from SLP.

We use Google maps for navigation on the S5 almost exclusively using the Garmin as a backup...I was in the Patz big square on the phone looking for the market yesterday when your email popped up :). Maps coverage here is amazing...but it will send you down a dirt road if you aren't careful. I used it to remind me where we parked the car in GTO and route me back.

The app "SpanishD!ct" has been invaluable when we get stuck on a word...we open it and show the person the word.

The Adiante peso to dollar app has been great. We leave it open and if we cant understand the merchant we hand them the phone and they key in the price.

Bottom line is that the smart phones are very handy here. I have a cracked screen on my S5 and will be getting an S7 when we cross back!

clarlk wrote:
Buy a unlocked phone , they even cell them...

Good pun.

You can cut down on your connection costs by installing a navigation and off-line mapping application such as mapsme or osmand. Both are free and you download just the maps you need. Many Overlanders use these apps exclusively for their travels all over the world and they use the smart phone gps for position info.
On osmand you can set it to record and display your track so as you walk around a city you retain awareness of where you have been. Takes a while to get fully into its capabilities though.
BTW now you can also install ioverlander and get right into the 21st century. You can even post all the rv parks that ioverlander doesn't yet have - with photos too.

Mostly I am interested in how well Google Translate works in Mexico. I use it here in AZ to practice and to see how it works. It is very fast almost as though it does not connect to the internet. But I can't imagine they put the entire Spanish language in one of these things. I can speak and it immediately types what I say in both English and Spanish. At almost the same time it does the Spanish translation in audio as the phone speaks the Spanish words. If I say too many words it talks at the same time I am still speaking. It can then immediately switch to translate Spanish to English. I would think it would have to be online to do this but it is just so fast it is hard to believe. Does anyone have any knowledge of how well this works in Mexico?

Using the translate facility a long way further south than Mexico, and even though we invariably use it off-line (which means that it doesn't speak the Spanish) it is remarkable just what complexities it will handle. Take a photo of a sign and it translates that as well. Currently using it in Brazil while we are staying with a family and even though they can speak English fairly well, it is surprising how often the smart phones get called on to translate unusual words or phrases

Lots of other apps that are genuinely useful as well.

Found HERE maps and downloaded the basic app - then downloaded Mexico - have not downloaded US yet as it is very large so waiting to get on good WiFi - have not practical experience with this or with the traveling/offline Google Translate - hoping to hear from those who know.