question for those less far behind on the technology curve

[kindkit]

My current mobile phone contract is soon to expire and I'm probably upgrading to a smartphone, if only because it's very difficult not to, these days. I have a couple of questions

Comments

[zubiemom]

I'm on my second Samsung phone (Galaxy 4) and I love it. Very reliable and easy to use. It's now several generations out of date but I see no need to replace it. As to data, I got along for years with 300 MB/month. I primarily use my phone data to check email or Facebook in idle moments. 1 GB should be fine.

[kindkit]

That sounds very similar to how I would use my phone. Thanks!

[astrogirl2]

Do you have wifi at home (or somewhere else where you spend a lot of time)? If so, 1 GB should be more than enough for all that kind of ordinary stuff, including web-surfing, e-mail, maps, and gps navigation. Heck, you'll likely even have enough left over to watch an occasional YouTube video or stream a little bit of music using your data plan, if you keep an eye on your usage. (The phone can tell you when you're starting to get close to your maximum for the month.) I've never gone over 1 GB, and the only times I've come even remotely close were when I was traveling for a couple of weeks, when the phone was my only internet source and I was doing everything through my data plan. And even then, I was under by a decent margin. You'll just want to make sure to be connected to wifi for updates, or if you're downloading any really big apps. My phone politely waits until it's connected for the former, and asks if you want it to wait until it's connected for the latter.

[kindkit]

My home wifi is limited to my laptop only, but I can always go to Starbucks or somewhere for updates. Thanks for the info!

[cerisaye]

I got a Moto G 3rd Gen for Christmas and love it. I still only have 500 MB on my data plan and, with home wifi it's absolutely fine so twice that should be no problem. Android is easy to master, with loads of apps to do anything you need, and I don't see any need to spend what Apple requires (though iphones are cheaper in the US than here). The cameras on these wee gadgets are really quite good too, to the extent I have more or less stopped using my digital one. I was a smartphone holdout for a long while but have been completely converted. Though I make full use of my phone's Do Not Disturb function, and still read ebooks on my Kindle.

[kindkit]

Yeah, with Apple products I think you pay a huge surcharge for the name and the cachet, and I don't see the point. Motorola isn't an option for me because I'm limited to the phones my provider (who I want to stay with because they donate part of their profits to good causes) offers with a contract. But it sounds like Samsungs are good phones too.

[marginalia]

I'm also on my second Samsung (Galaxy 5, up from Galaxy Nexus) & I'm very happy with it. Until a year and a half ago my phone was my only source of home internet. I tethered it to my laptop, and even when I was unemployed, home all the time, using it for job searching etc, I maxed out at 2G. So you should be fine at 1G. It lets you set up a data use warning, so you could put one at .75 to be safe & see how it goes. I'm also vigilant about setting everything to update/download over wifi only - podcasts, app updates, audiobooks from the library - so you'd want to look to that too.

[van]

So long as you're not watching YouTube you shooooould be fine with something like that. You'll probably want to set any apps/etc to not download images/gifs unless you direct it to, just to be safe. I have a Galaxy and it's a weird mix of I like it more and less than my old iPhone. Samsung has a lot more freedom to customize and do things to it, but I feel like the iPhone is more user friendly in some ways. But I don't think you'll be unhappy with a Galaxy.