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Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

Frayed Knot Mar 29 2020 07:28 PM

Hi, my name is Frayed Knot and I've never owned a smart phone … So how have I survived to this point without one and why am I about to crowd-source you folks for info about one now? To the first question: quite nicely actually. My life is reasonably uncomplicated and I feel ZERO need to be one of those people who needs to stay in touch 24/7. Getting the Noah Syndergaard news two minutes after it breaks or six hours after is all the same to me. As to the second, there are a handful of things where I think a smart phone can come in handy going forward. - I'd like to NOT get lost on various bike rides through unfamiliar territory (or in unfamiliar territory when I'm not on the bike) so the ability to have access to an APP that allows me to see where I am and where I'm going would be quite helpful. - I barely use my home phone as it is (being anti-social has its advantages) and so I'd use a mobile for occasional calls & texts (wow, using a phone as a phone!!) while eliminating my land line. - I'd like the ability to listen to the occasional pod-cast as well as the ability to check in and see what you mooks are saying while I'm not anchored to a desk computer. - And snapping the occasional picture here and there would be nice if the mood strikes iow, while I'm likely to find various things to do other than just the above (I'm sure at least one of you will tell me that I'm going to be addicted within a month and be one of those distracted guys walking into walls) I most definitely do NOT foresee this thing velcro-ed to my hand. I am not a ‘gamer' so do NOT need the latest and greatest in technology and I certainly don't want to be one of those guys walking around with white things in my ears. Not only am I not going to shoot movies with a phone but I have no intention of watching movies via a phone. I don't need to adjust the heat or talk to my coffee maker while I'm out of the house and, if any of you catch me being one of those people having loud and long conversations in supermarkets as if totally unaware that there are other people in the store I give you express permission to pick up the largest object you can lift and drop it directly on my cranium thereby putting both of us out of our miseries. This, of course, will be in contrast to phone salesmen who are under the impression that anyone with a cell phone more than about 10 weeks old is a hopeless loser who deserves social quarantine more than Covid-19 patients. So basically, since not only have I never owned one but I've never even looked into owning one, I'm looking for some suggestions on what I do and, perhaps more importantly, DON'T need going forward. - Are there particular brands you'd steer me towards or away? - What features should I be looking for and on which ones should I tell the salesman to take a hike? - What questions should I be asking and are there particular ‘plans' that would be best for my situation? Talk to me like I'm an idiot here (like that will be new) as whatever you tell me will probably be news to me.

whippoorwill Mar 29 2020 07:39 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

They're hella Expensive Are you sure you want one?

kcmets Mar 29 2020 07:46 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

I have a Samsung Galaxy 8+ something or other. It's getting old but I have no plans on replacing it for quite some time. It works on 5G, that's something to consider since that will be a thing. Just saying the newest isn't necessary.

Fman99 Mar 29 2020 07:55 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

Get the cheapest Android phone your local cell tech jobber carries. It'll do everything you listed there. I got one for Fgirl as her first phone, when she turned 12, and I liked it so much I got the same one for myself (I subsequently broke it when I was drunk, that's another story). I've had positive experiences with Samsung, personally.

Johnny Lunchbucket Mar 29 2020 08:45 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

Go with the latest budget Samsung, the A90 or whatever. It's less than $100. Get the no-limit data plan though, podcasts and gps eat those minutes up. Sprint (soon to be T-Mobile ) is cheaper than Verizon or AT&T but might not have the coverage area you'll need. Save for it by canceling that worthless landline. Walmart or Costco also have cheap plans they white label from the major carriers. Your employer might also offer a discount with one of the carriers.

Ceetar Mar 30 2020 06:57 AM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

latest budget Samsung is probably fine. Looks like the A50 is $10/mo or 240 and the A20 is half that and the A10e is free. I think those are the three most recent ones? Those are fine. (I always feel like iPhones are the 'phone for dummies/newbs' but I've never really used one and the Androids are less locked down and have more features generally) GPS, phone calls, text, podcasts/webpages all work on every smartphone pretty easily. Cameras are of increasing quality, but I think at this point even these 3 year old budget line phones probably take better pictures (keep your hands steady) than any non-SSR camera from before like 2010. video conferences/zoom/virtual happy hours are a thing in our isolation. But really that's more down to your internet connection than the phone. I'm not going to tell you you're going to be addicted, but modern society (if it exists much longer) is very much a smartphone-forward society. If you're willing to utilize it for the tool it is, chances are you'll find yourself using it more and more. Some stuff maybe you're fine with out (maybe you don't need Amazon pinging your phone when your package is 8 stops away) but there are various other features that become easier if you're used to doing them on the phone. Like, maybe you don't want to watch a movie on your phone (though it's not really as onerous as all that) but it's way faster for me to open something on my phone and cast it to the TV than it is to use the TV itself to find it. Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, MLB TV. I agree on unlimited data for the most part. Though if we remain quarantined forever you're always on your own WiFi.. If you want to be super vigilant and organized, you can pre-download podcast episodes and even a lot of other stuff while your home so that when you're listening on a commute or a bike ride it's not streaming data. Streaming is your big data usage, most people set things like podcast programs to only download episodes on WiFi. It's pretty hard to project how much you're going to use. they're going to hard sell you on unlimited. It's possible you don't need that. It might be worth the few bucks more just to not have to worry about it. It's hard to project how you're going to use the phone in a few months, data wise. It's literally a device designed to transfer data,so it tends to do that. Video chat with friends and family? I'm not on unlimited myself. Have 12gb between me and my wife. We've gone over a few times, mostly back when my wife was still streaming video while pumping when the kids were smaller and when I would try to do something weird and my phone would spasm (accidentally uploaded a 500meg file like 10 times. Sort of. It was a bogus thing but there's literally no recourse for me to say 'hey, my phone was being weird'). Of course, I work from home now so I use roughly 15 megs (making cool Tik Toks while I'm at the grocery store! this is a joke you won't get)

Benjamin Grimm Mar 30 2020 06:59 AM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

You can get a cheap deal from Tracfone. They're not fancy at all, but you can buy a $200 unlocked Android phone (I have a Motorola) and you can get a year of service from Tracfone (minutes, texts, and data) for not much more than $100.

Lefty Specialist Mar 30 2020 09:23 AM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

Stay away from Iphones. I'm lucky in that my company pays for my phone plan, but the downside is that I have to use an Iphone. I hate it. My wife has an Android Samsung and loves it.

MFS62 Mar 30 2020 11:07 AM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Save for it by canceling that worthless landline. Depending on where you live, that might not be a good idea. We lose power quite frequently in the winter, and therefore lose the ability to re-charge our cell phones for days at a time. But land lines stay in operation. Evaluate your own situation before you decide to cut the cord. We have older model Iphones and they suit our purposes (phone, text, photos) just fine. Another suggestion - turn it off at least one hour before going to bed. They cause stress. https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/excessive-cellphone-anxiety-experts-warn/story?id=48842476 https://www.uchealth.org/today/the-hidden-stress-of-cell-phones/ Later

Frayed Knot Mar 30 2020 06:49 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe) Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Mar 31 2020 03:22 AM

Just quickly scanning prices on line I'm seeing very different figures than what's being cited here. Like the "less than $100" model is on Amazon for nearly $800, and "free" looks to be going for around $150 But before even getting into all that, let me start here: WTF is an "unlocked" phone?

Marshmallowmilkshake Mar 30 2020 07:12 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

I always had iPhones. Love 'em!

Benjamin Grimm Mar 30 2020 07:13 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

A locked phone means that it only works with one provider. You buy it from Verizon and it only works with Verizon service. An unlocked phone allows you to shop around. You buy a SIM card and insert it in your phone. If, a year from now, you want to switch services, you just have to get a new card. You can continue to use the same phone.

LWFS Mar 30 2020 10:17 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

What Cee said, only less well-informed. I've got a two-year-old Samsung Android-y dude that's always served me well and proven a LOT more resilient than the two iPhones I've had. The only complaints I have are ones from groups of friends who bitch about how my presence on their iPhone group chats keeps them from posting some new emoji or other.

Ceetar Mar 31 2020 06:28 AM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

=LWFS post_id=34414 time=1585628273 user_id=84] What Cee said, only less well-informed. I've got a two-year-old Samsung Android-y dude that's always served me well and proven a LOT more resilient than the two iPhones I've had. The only complaints I have are ones from groups of friends who bitch about how my presence on their iPhone group chats keeps them from posting some new emoji or other.

This is because Apple tricked them into proprietary messaging software because they'd implemented SMS/MMS so badly. Tell them their insistence on using iMessage means you get a separate text every time they 'like' one of your texts. There are some changes coming on this front and last I looked it was unsure if Apple was going to conform.





I don't know if Amazon represents best prices for phones or whatever. I bought my last one direct through Samsung but it was hooked into my Verizon account already.

Frayed Knot Mar 31 2020 12:49 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

=Ceetar post_id=34417 time=1585657738 user_id=102] I don't know if Amazon represents best prices for phones or whatever. I bought my last one direct through Samsung but it was hooked into my Verizon account already.

I hadn't even gotten around to pricing stuff yet - and even when I do am going to be more concerned with the ongoing costs than the initial purchase price. But the type of disparity

I'm seeing just in these couple of examples is the kind of thing I'm worried about by going in blind. I can definitely see phone sellers quoting one price before dropping it way down

only if the customer knows it can be gotten cheaper elsewhere:

'Yeah that model goes for $1,000 ... oh you saw it for $200 somewhere else, well in that case it's $200. That $1,000 quote is only for suckers who haven't done their homework before coming in'









oe: I note also that most of these quoted prices I'm seeing on-line say 'With eligible trade-in', which obviously isn't going to apply to me and is a loophole that allows them to

jack up the price to ... probably whatever they feel like on that particular day.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 31 2020 02:01 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

Frayed Knot wrote: But before even getting into all that, let me start here: WTF is an "unlocked" phone? Benjamin Grimm wrote: A locked phone means that it only works with one provider. You buy it from Verizon and it only works with Verizon service. An unlocked phone allows you to shop around. You buy a SIM card and insert it in your phone. If, a year from now, you want to switch services, you just have to get a new card. You can continue to use the same phone. I finally reached my breaking point with typing on my furshlugginer smart phone a few days ago when I wrote a post on this forum and it took me about half a dozen tries to type the word "baseball" correctly and then at least a full dozen tries to type the word "cleats". Not to mention that I had to go back and fix practically every other word in that post at least twice. I go through a similar experience pretty much every time I write a post here from the smartphone. So I did what I should've done a long time ago: I researched for the best big key smartphone keyboard apps and then downloaded one. So I open up the app, ready to test drive the keyboard with the bigger keys, and I get a message that I must give the app permission to "unlock" my phone before I can use the new keyboard. So I backed off because I'm not quite sure what the ramifications or risks, if any, are of that. And why would I need to unlock my phone for that anyways? Is the standard keyboard like permanently attached to the phone with hermetically sealed nails or something? Oh well.

Ceetar Mar 31 2020 02:39 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

are you sure it's a reputable app? Did you read reviews? It might just be that if your phone was password protected, and your keyboard does not have access unless the screen is unlocked..well, good luck typing your password. Or, it could be malware that's looking to get access to your phone (though simply unlock access isn't going to do much). Think about the likely people downloading 'big key' keyboards. It's probably the first though. You have to give explicit access to apps these days, to avoid security loopholes. And because app developers were throwing kitchen sink access in to roughly every app. Flashlights are notoriously bad. But like, simple apps that didn't need it were asking for storage and contact access. And once you gave an app access, it used to give access forever. you could edit your keyboard app to add code to do all sorts of malicious stuff, and you'd already granted it access. or apps that didn't need it were recording your location. This was a big one. Most of the reputable ones were fine, but say you downloaded like an online ordering app for some random sketchy chain chicken place. They'd asked for location (hey, locations nearby, let's check!) and then that app would run as a background process that recorded everywhere you go. Anyway, most phones are set price. There's very little haggling. They'll give you value for a trade in, or they'll throw you free credits (I got a 'free' samsung watch Active2 with my last phone) or something, but the price is roughly the price. There will be "new customer" rewards though, it's worth looking into that. They get giddy over the prospect of a new phone line. Different prices for 5G updated versions, or storage size. I think the Galaxy A50 is Samsung's newest "budget line" phone and looks like it retails for $350. Verizon is saying you can get it for $10 a month over a 24 month contract on a new line. A20 is $250 or 5x24. A10 is free it looks like.

Frayed Knot Mar 31 2020 03:01 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

=Ceetar post_id=34453 time=1585687157 user_id=102] A10 is free it looks like.

Except that, as mentioned, I saw it listed for $150 bucks or something like that.



And, look, I'm probably exaggerating the cowboy nature of cell phone sale depts, but I do get the general impression that if you don't know exactly what you're after when buying

you stand a good chance of being taken, maybe more with add-ons than with sales price, but still. Now I suppose the same could be said for a lot of purchases but my guess is

that the cutting edge electronic market is especially rife with that sort of thing.

One ad listed its come-on for new buyers as: A two month subscription for ad-free You Tube, to which my response, to quote a one-time NBA'er, is: Whoop-de-damn-do!

Benjamin Grimm Mar 31 2020 03:09 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

This is a locked phone: Verizon Prepaid 4G Smartphone - Motorola Moto E5 Go - Black - Carrier Locked to Verizon Prepaid. It's cheaper because Verizon knows that you're locked in, and they'll be getting monthly fees from you as long as you own that phone. And here is the same (or similar) model, unlocked: Moto E5 (2018) 16GB, 2GB 5.7" Display, 4000 mAh All Day Battery, FM Radio - (GSM+AT&T+Tmobile + Verizon) Factory Unlocked 4G LTE Smartphone - XT1920DL (US Warranty) (Gray) It costs a little more, but it allows you the flexibility of finding your own provider, and switching later if you want to. (Like I said earlier, Tracfone is a really cheap provider. It's not at all fashionable, but the only drawback I know of is that it doesn't work overseas, and nobody goes overseas anymore anyway!) I'm not recommending that particular phone, by the way. I know nothing about it. It's just the first example I found of a phone that comes locked and unlocked.

Ceetar Mar 31 2020 09:22 PM Re: Joining the 21st Century (maybe)

it's not that hard to switch. it's just the sim card that's locked. Trust me, if you have Sprint and call Verizon wanting to switch and bring your phone, they figure it out. The prices I quoted were off Verizon's website. Other carriers may incentive different phones, probably based on their own back stock of the things. They'll upsell you on cables and headphones and cases and screen protectors and all that. Your call on what level you want to take that to, or how clumsy you are. I drop my phone all the time but still just use a simple $10 rubber/silicone case off ebay and no screen protector and have no problems. I'd think you'd want headphones, and most phones still have a headphone jack if it's older than a year or two, but you can also get simple and easy to use bluetooth headphones for like $40 that aren't branded as AirPods or whatever. Same concept. It's nice not having a wire, even if you have to remember to charge 'em.