New Cell Phone Choice

[docsouce]

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 recognition
trouble. 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.

[folivier]

Look at www.bhphotovideo.com for unlocked phones, good prices, great service and quick shipping.
I've had Samsungs in the past but a couple years ago bought 2 Moto X4. Really like them, was on ATT until December then switched to RedPocket.

[AsheGuy]

dieseltruckdriver wrote:
If you haven't bought anything yet, we went with Googles phones after our banking apps wouldn't work with our old Samsung S3s. We absolutely LOVE them, and the improvement in cameras and not having Samsungs crappy interface on top of the Android stuff made them a breeze to use.
If I can help it, I will not be using any more Samsung phones, and will be sticking with the Pixels as long as we can afford them.
BTW, our Pixels are not tied to any carrier, and will work with them all. I am currently with Straighttalk, and my DW is with Google FI. We are considering switching to Visible, but not ready to make the jump yet. I know Visible will let you use the hotspot as will Google FI, but Straighttalk will not.

Exactly our experience, we have had Samsung and Moto phones but my last three phones have been unlocked Google phones and I will never go back. The Moto phones are unlocked and priced lower than most and we had no problem with them. But the Google Pixel series have excellent cameras. Having an unlocked phone separates you from the carrier and Samsung apps that are not needed but can't be removed.

[ksg5000]

I have started a similar search because my S8 screen has cracked twice and I need to find something less expensive and more durable. I think the move towards tiny bevels is the root cause. Currently considering an unlocked Samsung a50 - inexpensive, hot spot, long battery, decent camera ... but not waterproof.

[Heisenberg]

The new soon to be available moto g power will prove the biggest bang for the buck. I am comparing it spec wise to my g 4 which I paid the same price several years ago. For most of us this is more than we use.

[newman_fulltime]

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 $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 own the g7 power and wont own another phone for awhile absolutely love it

[dieseltruckdriv]

If you haven't bought anything yet, we went with Googles phones after our banking apps wouldn't work with our old Samsung S3s. We absolutely LOVE them, and the improvement in cameras and not having Samsungs crappy interface on top of the Android stuff made them a breeze to use.
If I can help it, I will not be using any more Samsung phones, and will be sticking with the Pixels as long as we can afford them.
BTW, our Pixels are not tied to any carrier, and will work with them all. I am currently with Straighttalk, and my DW is with Google FI. We are considering switching to Visible, but not ready to make the jump yet. I know Visible will let you use the hotspot as will Google FI, but Straighttalk will not.

[DFord]

Addressing the OP: I bought a couple of Galaxy S7 in April 2017 used off eBay for about $300 apiece at the time. They were in perfect condition even though the seller rated them at 9/10. I've been completely happy with both of them. The wife was a newbie to smart phones at the time but now I can't get her off FB with all her friends. I love the camera! Especially the "panoramic" feature that lets me start at one side of a scene and sweep in any direction up to 360 degrees (it gets a little messy and confusing if you go past 360). I've got a hot spot that runs over its 15Gb high speed data by the 10th of the month. If the throttled speed is too slow to do what I need to do or if I don't have the hotspot with me, I'll switch on the phone's hotspot feature and continue on using it. I've thought about upgrading but why would I want to? The camera meets all my needs and I've all the apps I could ever want at my finger tips. I added a 32Gb micro SD card to store my pictures as the built-in memory can't handle a lot of images from the camera - like I have stored on the SD card. Here;s a link to an eBay search for the Samsung Galaxy S7: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R7.TR12.TRC2.A0.H1.Xsamsung+ga...
I see the price way down from what I paid 3 years ago making them an excellent choice. I've never had any problems with either phone. I use this horizontal case: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-S7-edge-HORIZONTAL-Carrying-Leather-Pouch-Case-Belt-Clip-Hol...
And keep the phone in one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-S6-S7-S7-Edge-S8-S9-Plus-Case-Silicone-Rubber-Protective-Cov...
I found a glass screen protector for $1 at Dollar Tree. If I were to take the covers off the phones today, there wouldn't be a mark on them.
I highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy S7. Don't get sucked into any of the 5G hype for the next several years till after the providers build out their networks. I doubt if you'll ever be able to get 5G service while boondocking in the desert at Quartzsite. The range on 5G tower isn't nearly as good as 4G/LTE towers.

[Acampingwewillg]

I've been happy with the Moto G phones but I'm not really a techie when it comes to them in general. I have kind of switched things around recently in order to have that tethering/streaming option. Just so happens, our "Visible" group has one spot open at 25.00 a month( Verizon network), I figure for this price, it's just an extra phone. Add to that our T mobile "senior" account and I went ahead and splurged on the "Togo" via AT&T...hopefully, I'll have a cell/data signal on one of another.

If anyone is interested in "Visible" let me know, things have slowed considerably in getting and keeping a group of four to get the 25.00 rate.

[lovemountains]

My husband and I both had the S7 for more than two years on Verizon. Then we switched to Consumer Cellular for several months. We had to have new SIM chips put in the S7 they would work with ATT towers. Mine worked well on Consumer Cellular, but my DH's didn't. He was really frustrated with it, so we went back to Verizon. We were going to buy the S8 or S9, but they had a better deal on the S10, and a really good deal to switch to Verizon.

[azdryheat]

I got the Samsung S8 and it works great. takes great pictures and the fingerprint ID works real good. I've been using it for a mobile hotspot for my laptop. Very satisfied with the S8.

[K_Charles]

I go with the cheapest phone AT&T has and they all have had a hotspot. The $50 one I have now I got about a year ago.

[wa8yxm]

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.

[wanderingaimles]

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 $250

I 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.

[wanderingaimles]

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.

[Tom_N]

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