You absolutely should, I was just offering other ways that work great for me, given my hearing impairment.
My wife bought a refurb phone and just popped in the SIM from her old phone without any trouble from Verizon. Which surprised me.
This was iPhone to iPhone. YMMV if you’re trying something else.
In my case, it’s not the charging, or the camera quality, or most of the other things that the manufacturers try to brag about. I don’t mind plugging my phone in when I go to bed and letting it charge overnight.
Why drives me nuts are the usability issues. I’ve been using computers for decades. I was very much in the habit of starting a program, using it to do what I wanted, then exiting it. I got my smartphone and tried to do the same thing. I started an app (checking my e-mail, or something like that) then started looking for how to close the app. It just seems like they run on a whole different mental model.
And I was taking a road trip recently, and used Google Maps on my phone to find my way. I missed a couple turns, and then I realized that it wasn’t giving me voice prompts anymore. It’s done this once or twice in the past, but I don’t remember how I got them working again. It’s hard to find the settings to turn features like that on and off, and when I do there are so many that I can’t find the one I need.
I probably sound like a technophobe, but I’m not. I test robots for a living.
I’ll probably need a second SIM. I’d like to keep the old phone working while I transition to the new one.
I have a Samsung Galaxy J6+ which I’ve been using since 2019. Does everything I need although my previous phone which was a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is still the best phone I had. It just felt better in my hand and I had it for five years.
There is a shortage of electronic devices. I bought a new Samsung phone in June. It was frustrating because so many phones (all brands) were on backorder. The Samsung I bought was out of stock within ten days of my purchase. I was considering getting one for my mom.
I would strongly suggest buying a SD card. They’re very, very inexpensive. I bought a SanDisk 128GB extreme U3 for $21. Put all your music, photos, docs etc. On it. Makes upgrading the phone easy because you just put the SD in the new phone.
Sorry if I came across a bit sharper than I intended in that last reply. I’m having to deal with some money issues today and it’s not helping my temper.
I am dreading my hearing deteriorating further into real impairment, given how frustrating I find on-line chat services. I may have to learn to live with them, though. Ya never know where you’ll be in a year or ten.
Yes, generally smartphone apps would prefer you just keep them hanging around in the background. Though you can close them by swiping them up on the app switcher menu (on both Android and iOS).
FWIW, smartphones these days don’t have nearly as many buttons and the OSs are mostly navigated by gestures (though some Android skins will still allow you the three electronic buttons of Home, Back, and App Switcher)
For what it’s worth, I will recommend looking at Motorola G series. You can buy them unlocked direct from Motorola, and they run an almost stock version of Android, with only a small number of moto apps which are actually useful, but easy to ignore if you wish.
I recently bought the 2020 Moto G Power, which they still sell along side the 2021 model. I can’t recall the exact reason why I went with the 2020 version, but there was some review that convinced me it fit my needs better. Both can take SD cards if you need more memory. But here’s the good thing - the price of $250. I used to get the more expensive phones, but I find that the G series works just fine. And if I lose or break the phone I’m out only $250.
And it works perfectly on Verizon.
Edit: what it doesn’t come with is NFC, so using your phone as a tap to pay using Google Pay is out. Which is fine with me since in my experience it only worked about half the time I tried it on a phone that did have NFC.
I got my iPhone SE when I switched to Xfinity a couple/few weeks ago. They were running a $300 off promotion, so my new phone only cost $99… but I have to pay for it over two years.
May I briefly hijack the thread? I’ve used Facetime exactly once: when I got my new phone, and I Facetimed my wife (who was sitting across from me) just to see if it worked. What if the person you want to Facetime with doesn’t have an iPhone? When you click their contact information in Facetime, does it just make a regular phone call?
I assume that’s what happens. Android users don’t have access to Facetime, so you can’t Facetime us.
Thank you. We now return you to the OP’s thread.
Lots of phones no longer support them.
Just bought a refurbished Galaxy s10 5g. 256g, and 8 g for memory. I paid right at 300. The phone was originally Verison, but was unlocked. Popped in my t-mobile Sim and I was good to go. I ported over all the apps from my old note 5, and so far everything has been great. I would recommend a refurbished phone. I have had no issues, and it’s nice to get 5g service once in a while.
If the person’s contact has an iPhone, that icon will be highlighted as an option (a little old timey looking movie camera shape with FaceTime written below). On my iPhones a regular call is launched with the icon that is labeled ‘call’ and shows a old fashioned phone handset. Contacts without an iPhone have an icon that says ‘video’ in the space where the ‘FaceTime’ icon would otherwise be. Presumably that can be used for Skype-type calls to non-iPhones.
Smartphones are commodities. All of them have the same basic features – telephone, text, web browsing, maps, email, etc. The difference between them are all bells and whistles.
Since they are commodities, buy the one for the lowest price that has the bells and whistles you like and go with the provider that costs the least for coverage in your area.
Actually, as of very recently, Windows and Android users can join FaceTime calls. I think they do so via a browser. (But given that there are many other options, like Zoom or whatever, I’d just use one of them.)
since you use apple products already, the learning curve on switching from android to ios should be pretty flat for you.(not being an apple products user, I found it nearly vertical and quite, erm, frustrating).
I’d recommend ditching samsung for motorola or pixel if you want to stay on android. Samsung is trying to become apple and doing it badly and without any promises, explicit or implied of data security, personal or otherwise.
My iphone, I’ve found to be meh at best. Apple has some neat gimmicks baked in but nothing you can’t replicate easily on android. The controls are rudimentary at best compared to my experience on android and there is almost zero customization of screens icon placement etc allowed. For a device that comes from what is essentially a “premium” brand(as I see apple), I really expected something much more refined and flexible in the software interface with the user.
Over all, I can’t say that I really regret switching, at least from samsung(a pox on them and their damn bixby button) but there is nothing compelling enough at this point to keep me on an iphone with my next phone. If i’d known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have switched from android, just from samsung.
Except for cameras and battery life, which can be extremely important for some of us.
What does this mean? I can move the icons on my iPhone wherever I want them.