So I'm finally thinking about replacing my old trusty Samsung G5. I've had it for 5 years now. It's been good to us. Survived 4 cross country trips and taken hundreds of pictures. I have 2 reasons for wanting to update my phone. First is to be able to "Hot Spot". I bought the one I have from Straight Talk and the hot spot and teathering are disabled. Second I would like a better camera. I've been researching Samsung G7 and G8 phones and these 2 seem to fill the bill (I want to stay under $600) however I'm seeing G7 problems with the screen breaking easily, and the battery overheating. G8 screen breaking easily and fingerprint unlock and face recognitiontrouble. I use our phone for calls, texting, GPS/maps, light internet and pictures. My wife uses the it for that Facebook thing. No gaming or streaming movies. As I mentioned having hot spot is important. Which I guess all the phones have now. So are these complaints about the Samsung phones I mentioned "sour grapes" and don't worry about it, or should I consider another brand, which I have absolutely no clue about. Thanks for your patience with my lack of knowledge on this. Just would like some ideas. Oh the size needs to be near the G5. DW takes most of the pictures and a bigger phone will end up be difficult for her.

Hope you don't mind me butting into your thread, but I logged on to ask the identical Q? I'm in the exact same pickle - new phone - so will watch and this with interest. Been looking at Moto G7 and Samsung A20 ... but am wondering if these are older models that will not keep up with service. This seems low-price to me at $250, and am not sure we'd get good service from it over time. We'd spend more for good quality, but not for fancy stuff and ability we never use. We always have our laptop. So many brands out there, hard to know quality of the phone. We don't game or stream. We need only Internet, Phone, Hotspot, Message -- we don't use all the apps or games in top-line phones, but do not want something that will run out of ability soon. Seems the older models can't stay up with the changes in service.

I would go for an iPhone. An iPhone 8 or later.

Unless it has recently changed, any phone bought from straight talk, Tracfone, total wireless family of companies will usually have the hotspot disabled. You can bring other "Unlocked" phones into their systems but they can tell if you are tethering or using it as a hotspot, and can , if it violates the terms of service, cut your usage. For unlocked phones check Amazon or Best Buy, both have plenty available. I've had good luck with the Motorola G series phones, good features, quad band capable so if you decide to switch carriers, the phone can go with you with either GSM or CDMA systems.

monkey44 wrote:Hope you don't mind me butting into your thread, but I logged on to ask the identical Q? I'm in the exact same pickle - new phone - so will watch and this with interest. Been looking at Moto G7 and Samsung A20 ... but am wondering if these are older models that will not keep up with service. This seems low-price to me at $250I have a G6 play and a G7 power that i got for DW. The G6 play has been great, no problems, hotspot is usually capable of streaming video at our home , which has lousy cell service. But we do keep the resolution down to 720p. The G7 power I bought for DW, she has problems with it, we are sending it back. Online reviews seem to either be 5 star or 1 star, Advantages are a huge battery, and 64 gb storage, current android system. Cons are that a percentage seem to have major problems on not ringing or dropping calls. When I bought hers, it was brand new, no reviews, or I wouldn't have bought it. Motorola will replace it for no cost, but she has over 1000 pics of grand daughter that I have to shift to my comp now.

I have been sticking with Samsungs (Currently an S-7) I think they have a new 5G model as well. though you can read the yammer about 5g and make up your mind on that.. (I do not have one and it would do me no good T-mobile tells me).My S-7 is currently feeding a whole bunch of stuff. Two ham radio "hotspots" (Voice over Internet) 4 Laptops. and a tablet via assorted paths. I burn about 100 Gigs a month or more. I can talk and type at the same time. An incoming call WILL NOT knock me off line. I miss an I/R emitter however (My older S-5 and S-3 were also TV Remote Controls)but one advantage of sticking with "the devil you know" is most everything works the same and once you log into your account.. Most of your apps (A few won't work on the new phone) will re-load.

New Cell Phone Choice | Good Sam Community

Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Apr 19, 2020
Even if it costs more than your budget, I would buy a 5G phone. You are going to have this phone for years to come and there's no reason to buy old technology and regret that option later. I have had a Samsung S9 for the last 2 years and in the next year or 2 will likely replace it. I'm OK with 4G now, but in a year or so the 5G coverage will be much more widespread and I will want to be able to take advantage of that.
I believe it's the lasted Samsung S10 that has 5G and I highly recommend their products. We were able to buy 1 and get 1 free so the cost came out to be $350 per phone.
RambleOnNW
Explorer II
Apr 19, 2020
The 5G technology is still developing and Apple does not use it yet, perhaps next fall. They are typically late in adopting the new standards preferring to let them mature before adopting.

The current 5G chipsets are also reported to have heat issues:

5G heat issues

I use wi-fi for data most of the time and have never noticed 4G bandwidth issues. I have a old 3G booster and had no problem streaming a 2 hour movie through Amazon Prime while camping using its HSPA+ through my phone boosted as a hotspot to a laptop.

Sure, if I was using Android I'd buy a 5G phone now.
mileshuff
Explorer
Apr 20, 2020
I too had an S5. Worked well for all these years but decided it was time for something new. Ended up with the new S20. Had to change carriers in order to get a good deal. Two for one so cost was $500 each, $40 a month for 24 months. Since I am not 55 I was able to go with a senior plan that dropped my phone bill well below my old cost even with the cost of the new S20. WAY faster than the S5. Love it.
T18skyguy
Explorer
Apr 20, 2020
AsheGuy wrote:
dieseltruckdriver wrote:
As an added bonus, (my DW is not easy on phones) neither of us has ever cracked a screen on these. They must use good glass!
I have a Pixel 3 and I dropped it three times in a row on a concrete sidewalk within a 20 minute period. Each time I thought this is not going to be good but on the first two drops there was no damage.

On the third drop the glass was slightly cracked on the upper right corner. First of all, I made a pledge to always focus on what I am doing when I take my phone out of my pocket. :) I ordered myself a new Pixel 3 from Google (luckily they were on sale at the time) and when it was delivered I sent my phone with the broken glass to Google for repair (it still worked normally). It came back looking like new and my wife decided she wanted to use it to replace her Moto G 5S Plus because the Pixel was a little smaller and felt better in her hand.

The Moto G ended up with a grandson whose phone died when he was visiting with us. So we are a two Pixel family now and have been for a year and I have not dropped my phone again.

I have a Note 9 now, but my alternate choice would be the Pixel. I especially like the Pixel's quick updates from Google, where Samsung takes forever to update theirs. Then there's all that Samsung bloatware and Bixby, which to me is worthless and bothersome. I thought I wouldn't use the S pen, figuring it was fluff, but I've been quite surprised how much I use it; particularly for taking notes in the dark. I really like the Notes 4000 ma battery. Sometimes I don't charge it for 2 days. If they put out a Pixel with a bigger battery I'd buy it in a heartbeat when this gets older. Ashe, I commit my left front pocket to my phone. Nothing else but the phone, so it doesn't get scratched from coins or keys. So far so good, but my cats like to knock it off the end tables when I put it out.
free_radical
Explorer
Apr 29, 2020
Fwiw I bought unlocked Blackberry 10 while back on Amazon for 120$

Does everything I need and battery last couple days easy.
Especialy like the Blackberry Hub
And the fact its not made in China

Not as famous as other phones,
but with the most secure OS it still has plenty of fans
https://crackberry.com/
monkey44
Nomad II
Apr 29, 2020
Thanks for all the advice - I ended up with a Samsung A10e ... small, does everything I need - Phone, Camera, Internet, Hotspot, good battery life, and $250. We're on the Senior plan with T-Mobile, and get everything for the monthly fee, no add-ons.

Now, we just have to get one the road ... Stay Safe ya'all !!! :)
ramyankee
Explorer
Apr 29, 2020
T18skyguy wrote:
AsheGuy wrote:
dieseltruckdriver wrote:
As an added bonus, (my DW is not easy on phones) neither of us has ever cracked a screen on these. They must use good glass!
I have a Pixel 3 and I dropped it three times in a row on a concrete sidewalk within a 20 minute period. Each time I thought this is not going to be good but on the first two drops there was no damage.

On the third drop the glass was slightly cracked on the upper right corner. First of all, I made a pledge to always focus on what I am doing when I take my phone out of my pocket. :) I ordered myself a new Pixel 3 from Google (luckily they were on sale at the time) and when it was delivered I sent my phone with the broken glass to Google for repair (it still worked normally). It came back looking like new and my wife decided she wanted to use it to replace her Moto G 5S Plus because the Pixel was a little smaller and felt better in her hand.

The Moto G ended up with a grandson whose phone died when he was visiting with us. So we are a two Pixel family now and have been for a year and I have not dropped my phone again.

I have a Note 9 now, but my alternate choice would be the Pixel. I especially like the Pixel's quick updates from Google, where Samsung takes forever to update theirs. Then there's all that Samsung bloatware and Bixby, which to me is worthless and bothersome. I thought I wouldn't use the S pen, figuring it was fluff, but I've been quite surprised how much I use it; particularly for taking notes in the dark. I really like the Notes 4000 ma battery. Sometimes I don't charge it for 2 days. If they put out a Pixel with a bigger battery I'd buy it in a heartbeat when this gets older. Ashe, I commit my left front pocket to my phone. Nothing else but the phone, so it doesn't get scratched from coins or keys. So far so good, but my cats like to knock it off the end tables when I put it out.

By bloatware you must mean all those really necessary apps that are preloaded but NEVER get used. Is there even a phone where one can skip all that garbage. Right now we are contemplating updating our cheaper Stylo 4 to the Samsung S20 format...
TurnThePage
Explorer
Apr 29, 2020
I recently purchased a couple refurbished Pixel 2s for $90 each. They are working excellent, and tons of life left in them.
SheriGoddart33
Explorer
May 05, 2020
I used different phones, but for me the most convenient is the iPhone.
mr__ed
Explorer
May 05, 2020
I have a Samsung Galaxy J3 on Verizon. The cost was well under $200. I use the hotspot feature quite a bit, and it works well.I think in your case, since you said you wanted a better camera, a higher upgrade may be more to your liking. The camera on my model works well enough for me.

Verizon has been giving me an extra 15GB of data each month since the pandemic hit. :)

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