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.

[monkey44]

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.