Phone suggestions

[Ydoow]

My sister got a phone for her birthday (surprise trip to Verizon) and the phone isn\'t turning out to be what was hoped.

Specifically the battery, and a few hiccup glitches here and there with the LG Spectrum.

I\'m not exactly looking for solutions for those problems, but suggestions for other phones. I\'ll be looking for a phone myself in a little bit, and I think my sister wants something different as well. She\'s rather aggravated that a new phone shows glitches after 2 days of use.

So we\'re looking for something reliable and cheap ($300+ is like...a lot. So have good reasons to suggest it)

iPhone is being considered, but she\'s not a fan, and I\'m not a big fan either. Nothing against Apple, we know they are probably the MOST stable/reliable phones out there, we just don\'t like the interface too much. Too mainstream I guess.

We were considered the Razr or Razr Maxx, but I\'ve noticed an underlying issue of screen cracks caused by the slightest of bumps, drops, and gentle use.

I don\'t know how common the issue is, but I saw a lot of common reviews about this. Seems to be caused by bumping the edges of the screen/phone. I know gorilla glass to be very durable with my Kindle Fire.

Verizon and Motorola support are always absurdly terrible in these reports/reviews.

Speaking of Verizon, the phone (for her at least) will have to be Verizon sold

Basically, I\'m tired of settling for a phone out of a list that has the least issues. We would like a phone that just works and works nicely.

It sounds like a 'Don\'t we all' statement, but truly this should be pretty basic when you\'re shelling out well over $100 for an item.

All help is appreciated

[Anomalous_Matter]

Um... My brother\'s planning on getting this once his current contract expires:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=5919

I don\'t have any particular reasons to recommend it, but it seems like a nice smartphone. I imagine the screen would be a bit vulnerable to dropping, though.

[UmbralRaptor]

Are you looking for just a phone, or a palmtop computer (smartphone)? If the latter, how much storage do you expect to need/want? (eg: on board storage, and what can be gained from an SDHC or SDXC card slot if available) Do you want a hardware keyboard? Do you expect to seriously tweak the phone? (if so, look for something officially supported by CyanogenMod or the like)

Note that the upfront costs of a phone are dwarfed by contract costs. If you\'re wanting to do the unlocked thing (say, on T-Mobile), You can get a Galaxy Nexus through Google. No matter what, get a carrying case for your phone. The ones that you attach directly greatly increase their survivability.

I have a Motorola Droid 3 and Verizon for bandwidth. The phone itself is decent, despite the software it came with. I\'m not especially thrilled about them cutting off support on the phone ~6 months after it came out, especially given the 2 year contract I\'m in. Also, that it will *never* see an upgrade from Ginger Bread to Ice Cream Sandwich, as Motorola claims that this 'will not enhance the user experience.' Given my experience with an unofficial CM9 port, with the increased features and greatly enhanced speed, I\'m unclear how they can make this claim.

[Ydoow]

Yes, we\'re looking for smart phones basically.

So are you saying just buy an unlocked phone and then you put a sim card in to use a carrier?

I\'m not exactly sure how unlocked phones work >.<

The Galaxy Nexus looks...very nice. I\'m a big Google Fanatic

[UmbralRaptor]

So are you saying just buy an unlocked phone and then you put a sim card in to use a carrier?

I\'m not exactly sure how unlocked phones work >.<

It depends on some assumptions that I\'ve made. Specifically, that you\'re in the US, and paying for both the phone and the plan. If you\'re already on a family plan (especially if you aren\'t paying for it), the situation might be different. Also, that T-Mobile has good coverage in your area.

The process for an unlocked phone with a monthly plan but no contract would be: 1) Buy phone. 2) Buy Sim card. 3) Insert sim, pay monthly fees like a contract phone (albeit with easier upgrade options, and a lower per monthly fee)

If you want to go with AT&T, their website makes it a hassle -- you\'ll likely have to hit one of their stores. If you want a pay-as-you-go card (unlikely), you\'ll likely have to get it at a physical store.

[Ydoow]

Yeah we\'re in the US.

So essentially buy the phone, and then look around at carriers to see what suits me best.

I have no idea what our family plan is right now, but I can investigate that bit.

We\'ve always been with Verizon, but I\'m no longer super fond of them and might go else-where. It will probably just depend on what\'s cheapest.

[UmbralRaptor]

Cheapest is actually somewhat ambiguous -- you\'ll want to look at both phones and plans before buying. My suggestions are based at least partly on my use-cases. (Talk is unimportant, text sees moderate use, data regularly breaks 1 GB and consistently staying below 2 requires some effort. And yes, this means I\'ve toyed with the idea of Sprint as a choice for the next phone.)

[Ydoow]

Alright a bit of an update I spose. My sister is now happy with her phone, so that\'s settled.

I think I\'m going to stick with planning on buying the Galaxy Nexus, so for now I\'m just researching the cheapest carrier to use.

Verizon\'s plans confuse me so I\'ve been looking at T-Mobile, and they seem to have decent price.

I\'m looking at Unlimited Text + Web (Up to 5Gb) and 100 Minutes of Talk for $30 a month, no contract.

Personally, I don\'t think I need much Web at all, I\'m in WiFi like all the time.

100 minutes of talk might be cutting it close, but I\'ll have to check how much I actually talk. I don\'t think it\'s much.

[DonLorenzo]

One thing to keep in mind when \'cutting it close\' with minutes is that they\'re often not actual minutes. Especially in short conversations. Some carriers/plans have a 1 minute minimum call duration or something like that. Sometimes a \'minute\' is also usable as 1 text etc.

I\'m all for the \'buy phone outright, find sim-only provider\' solution. Here in the netherlands its consistently about the same price or about 100 bucks cheaper over the two year duration, but with the big added freedom of switching carriers, altering the plan or cancelling the service altogether. As I like to travel and move about a lot a 2 year plan is a big waste for me.

[Ydoow]

One thing to keep in mind when \'cutting it close\' with minutes is that they\'re often not actual minutes. Especially in short conversations. Some carriers/plans have a 1 minute minimum call duration or something like that. Sometimes a \'minute\' is also usable as 1 text etc.

I\'m all for the \'buy phone outright, find sim-only provider\' solution. Here in the netherlands its consistently about the same price or about 100 bucks cheaper over the two year duration, but with the big added freedom of switching carriers, altering the plan or cancelling the service altogether. As I like to travel and move about a lot a 2 year plan is a big waste for me.

Yeah I definitely don\'t want to be tied down with a 2 year contract. Just bleh.

I checked my phone usage last night and apparently I used 25 minutes of talk only 2 days into my cycle :l

Yesterday I made a lot more phonecalls than usual for work, but that\'s still concerning.

I wish there was a way for me to see previous months usage...I know I don\'t talk much. I\'m sure 95% of those 25 minutes are actually just 23 separate 20 second phone calls, which I would tie directly to work yesterday.

Just need to keep thinking things out. I\'m in no rush. Currently, I believe I\'m locked in a contract with Verizon on my current phone. I\'m not sure how much longer the contract lasts, but I think several months. Which I guess is why I\'m becoming more concerned with a carrier than a phone at this point.

I\'m dying for that Galaxy Nexus, I just hope by the time I get it they fix a lot of the issue\'s it\'s been having. Specifically the dropped calls. I\'m sure the reported short battery life is affiliated with 4g/LTE usage (which my town has no coverage of, so I\'d turn it off)

Edit: I need to check my plan. Somehow my minutes are at 44 now, I didn\'t make a phone call at all, so something is up. I\'m not saying there\'s a glitch, but that I don\'t understand some aspect of my current plan (It\'s under my father)