ARE YOU THINKING OF GETTING A SMARTPHONE?
When it comes to smartphones, there are so many choices out there. But what is the right one for you? Should you consider getting the IPhone or an Android phone? And what else would you want to use it for besides talking and texting?
First, you should think about what service you will be using....Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile (Sprint is in the process of merging with T-Mobile), AT&T, etc. There are also prepaid phones that you can think about as well....Tracfone, Greatcall, Consumer Cellular, Metro by T-Mobile, Boost, etc. They use the lines of the ones mentioned above. There are two technologies that the smartphone uses....CDMA and GSM. So you want to purchase a phone that will work with the service you choose. I suggest that once you have chosen a service, then you learn what phones will work with it. They all sell phones as well as the service. When you switch or are a new customer, you may get a free phone.
Secondly, you need to determine if this is going to be your only phone or if it will only be used occasionally such as when you are away from home. You can spend as little as $7 a month or $100. If you join a family member's plan, that will save you some money. If you will be using it to do things on the internet, then you may need more data. The more you need, the higher will be your cost. If you will mostly be using your phone where you also have WIFI, then you would not need a lot of data. Most plans will include unlimited talk and text and a small amount of data (unless you get one of the discount plans...then you would estimate how many minutes you need.)
Once you choose a service, then you will have to select a phone that will work on that service. Whether you purchase an IPhone (IOS) or an Android (Google) phone, they all can pretty much do the same thing. As a general rule, IPhones are more expensive, but they are coming out with a cheaper model. Which one you choose is mostly a matter of opinion. When Apple puts out an update, then all the IPhones that are not considered obsolete are updated. With Android, when they put out an update, each individual manufacturer decides when to update their phones. There are many different brands of Android phones. Androids were the original smartphones. I use both android and ios (on my ipad) and find them pretty much the same as far as everyday use goes.
All of the above information can be mind boggling as to which to choose, so let me give you an example. I gave up my landline some years ago and only have a smartphone. I chose to go with Metro by T-Mobile. I get good reception and the store is close by. I am a fan of Samsung phones. In my opinion, they are the most user friendly of the android phones. I am on the $30 a month plan which includes unlimited talk and text and 2g. data and taxes. I don't even use 1g of data since I am on WIFI most of the time. If everyone in your family uses IPhone, then you may want to consider getting an iphone so you can FaceTime with them. But if you have some people on Android and some on IPhone, you can use one of the many other apps for video chatting.
I hope this hasn't been confusing, but all of the above needs to be considered. We talk about all these things at our computer/tablet club which has been on hiatus due to covid-19, but we hope to return in September. I am more than happy to take phone calls if you have questions. (549-9237) STAY WELL, EVERYONE!
