Entry level smartphone

Repondering

Repondering

Well-known Member
Location
Nebraska, USA
I've never used a smartphone and am intimidated by them. I could use some suggestions for a beginner level phone.
Is a prepaid smartphone a good idea?
Apols if this subject has already been covered.
 

Don't be... intimidated...
Jitterbug Flip2...might be a start.

Consumer Cellular

I have TracFone phone service

It's up to you..what you want to spend on what you get.
Good Luck!😉
 
I've used Tracfone for years. I had a small basic 3g phone, but late last year they announced that 3G would no longer be supported, so they had some fairly cheap smartphones available, and I got a Samsung for $30, and spent a couple of hours learning it, and shutting off most of the "Aps". We only use/carry it when away from the house.
Check the Tracfone website. They have a good selection and low monthly charges if you don't need to text and tweet.
 

Depends what you might want to do with your smart phone and how much you’re willing to pay. I don’t know the US market so can‘t comment on that

Personally, I’d want texting and want a basic amount in your monthly plan. It’s a good way to communicate, especially if you have family members who text.

If you think you might want to be able to read newspapers or go online (like here) or whatever while you’re out, then look for a moderate data plan.

The best thing would be to go into a mobile shop and talk to them. Don’t feel you have to commit right away.
 
Repondering said:
I've never used a smartphone and am intimidated by them. I could use some suggestions for a beginner level phone.
Is a prepaid smartphone a good idea?
Apols if this subject has already been covered.
Click to expand...
I was in Don's position a couple of months ago. I'd had a Tracfone (prepaid) flip phone for years that was rarely used and had accumulated about 5000 minutes of available calling time. It was to become obsolete when the wireless network it used (3G) went away on Feb 22. Tracfone gave me a free replacement phone - a rebuilt Samsung A10e "smart" phone.

I've always bought a new "card" annually, and the current one was about to expire. For this new phone the new 365-day card cost me $136 including taxes and fees - $11.33 per month. It includes 1500 minutes of talk time, 1500 texts, and 1.46GB data. I still doubt that I'll use it very much at all and then only when away from home.

Although my old flip phone was capable of doing texts I never used them as it was a major pain to send them. With the new phone, texting is much simpler. It's possible this might be useful once in a while.

My advice:

I consider myself to be quite computer literate, but smart phones, tablets, &c. ARE NOT computers, at least in my opinion. There is nothing intuitive about them, very little similarity to a real desktop or laptop computer, and useful instructions are hard to find. The best advice I can offer is to identify a friend who uses one regularly and then buy a phone that is as close as possible to the one your friend has. Then have them walk you through the basics. Again and again.

My wife uses a similar Samsung phone (different network) and, although she's not thoroughly comfortable with it herself, she was able to get me up and running. I can now make and receive calls, retrieve voice messages, and send and receive text messages. That's all I really want it for.

Tips:

Make sure the carrier you choose (Tracfone, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.) has good coverage in your area. A cell phone is completely useless if you can't get a signal.

You'll need to choose an operating system. There seem to be two - Android and Apple. As I understand it, only Apple phones use the Apple operating system. Apple phones seem to be quite expensive compared to some Android phones. If plan on using your phone for just basic stuff, it looks like you should be able to find a perfectly serviceable Android phone for under $100.

If I'm wrong about any of this, I'm sure there are others here who correct me.

Hope that helps.
 
We've had i phones for years...hey, hubs is an old #7, but still works great with what he needs. Of course, we're Mac folks. Once you learn from one company that seems to be the norm for the new models you buy from then on...saves learning a whole new system.
 
Repondering said:
Is a prepaid smartphone a good idea?
Click to expand...

Jace said:
Jitterbug Flip2...might be a start.

Consumer Cellular

I have TracFone phone service
Click to expand...

I have a prepaid tracphone, but it is not a smartphone. It is simply a cellphone. (It is 4G so will continue to be usable.)
It is good for emergencies, if there is cell coverage in the area, or good to take outdoors or on rides, but again, only works if the coverage is a good location, and has no smartphone features.

In other words, some of the tracphones are not smartphones, but some are?

It (mine) costs extremely little, to get the prepaid cards every 3 months,
but I too, have wondered about possibly getting an actual smartphone, that can connect with internet. Ongoing significant Monthly fees for it, and other unknowns, also intimidate me.
 
Last edited:
Not going to advise about the phone itself as I'm not qualified to do so. Just be careful to bear in mind that things are being upgraded all the time, so be careful to make sure your choice is not going to become obsolete. 4G and 5G will be here at the end of the year, so any new purchase needs to be compatible.
 
If you narrow down the phone brand/model that you’re thinking of buying, you could search YouTube for a tutorial.
 
Tommy said:
I was in Don's position a couple of months ago. I'd had a Tracfone (prepaid) flip phone for years that was rarely used and had accumulated about 5000 minutes of available calling time. It was to become obsolete when the wireless network it used (3G) went away on Feb 22. Tracfone gave me a free replacement phone - a rebuilt Samsung A10e "smart" phone.

I've always bought a new "card" annually, and the current one was about to expire. For this new phone the new 365-day card cost me $136 including taxes and fees - $11.33 per month. It includes 1500 minutes of talk time, 1500 texts, and 1.46GB data. I still doubt that I'll use it very much at all and then only when away from home.

Although my old flip phone was capable of doing texts I never used them as it was a major pain to send them. With the new phone, texting is much simpler. It's possible this might be useful once in a while.

My advice:

I consider myself to be quite computer literate, but smart phones, tablets, &c. ARE NOT computers, at least in my opinion. There is nothing intuitive about them, very little similarity to a real desktop or laptop computer, and useful instructions are hard to find. The best advice I can offer is to identify a friend who uses one regularly and then buy a phone that is as close as possible to the one your friend has. Then have them walk you through the basics. Again and again.

My wife uses a similar Samsung phone (different network) and, although she's not thoroughly comfortable with it herself, she was able to get me up and running. I can now make and receive calls, retrieve voice messages, and send and receive text messages. That's all I really want it for.

Tips:

Make sure the carrier you choose (Tracfone, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.) has good coverage in your area. A cell phone is completely useless if you can't get a signal.

You'll need to choose an operating system. There seem to be two - Android and Apple. As I understand it, only Apple phones use the Apple operating system. Apple phones seem to be quite expensive compared to some Android phones. If plan on using your phone for just basic stuff, it looks like you should be able to find a perfectly serviceable Android phone for under $100.

If I'm wrong about any of this, I'm sure there are others here who correct me.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Very good points made here. I’m an Apple head. Our neighbor would come over all the time for getting things to work on his phone even when he had a Samsung.
 
I bought a Samsung Galaxy today, it cost $19 and the carrier, US Cellular is charging me $50 a month
I got some basic instruction but even this "entry level" instrument will require some significant learning for me.
There are built in apps I'll probably never use and I haven't quite got the hang of texting with it yet though I was told that it should be much easier to text with than my old flip phone. I've got the phoning part of it down OK....

My computer sales and service lady has told me she'll be glad to walk me through the ins & outs of smartphone usage if I ever get one. I'll give her a call next Monday. Thirteen years ago she sold me my first desktop computer when I was utterly tech illiterate.
 

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