Smart phone shopping help

[cyndi]

I've been looking for a couple of months and get totally paralyzed be the options. Maybe you'd be willing to help.

What I don't want: an iPhone or a Samsung.

What I'd like:
I'm looking at refurbished phone. I'm definitely not looking for the latest and greatest.
I need something fairly light/small. 
I'm currently with Verizon but will be going with AT&T at some point this summer. That means it needs to be unlocked, I think.
I don't need all the bells and whistles. Calling, texting, 4g internet, decent camera, emailing, decent battery life
Hopefully, not a lot of built-in useless apps taking up space
Prefer 64gb memory, might go 32. Not sure it matters

What have you got?
Are you happy with it? Would you get another?
What have you had and hated. Why?

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

 

[Riverman]

I bought a used phone from eBay that's on Straight Talk (walmart).

10GB for $45 a month works great for me.

 

[cyndi]

Thanks, riverman. eBay is one of the places I've been looking. But, I'm looking for a phone, not a plan.

 

[DuneElliot]

Why are you so against Samsung? I get not wanting an iPhone but curious about the lack of love for Samsung.

My S3 and S5 were the best phones I've had...solid and reliable.

 

[cyndi]

Dune, I had a Samsung way back when. It had a well documented problem wth the charging port failing. Millions of people complained. Samsung never recognized the problem. Personally, I had 3 of these phones before I gave up. Swore I’d never buy any Samsung product. I plan on sticking to that.

I did love my Samsung phone. Did not love the customer support. I believe it was the 4s that had the problem.

 

[WanderingCanuck]

My current, much loved (and a bit hated), phone doesn't fit many of your criteria so I won't mention it by name.

As to the Samsung USB/charge port issue, this is not isolated to any brand or model. Those little Micro USB ports just aren't engineered for the type of strains they receive with plugging/unpluggnig cables sometimes multiple times daily. The bending associated with a connector and cable hanging out of that tiny little port just compounds the problem.

My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy SII LTE, which will tell some of you how infrequently I update my mobile technology. It was a great phone in almost all respects except for that damned port. I replaced it once, which extended the life by maybe another year, but as careful as I was I couldn't help but slightly crack/chip the case and break a clip or two in the process. I have yet to meet a phone that's designed for easy access to repairs.

My current phone offers wireless charging, which I thought would eliminate the above issues. Combine WiFi, and it's unlikely I'd ever need to plug it in! The reality wasn't so rosy though. Maybe it was the cheap wireless charger I got from Amazon, but the wireless charging was very glitchy and unreliable. So much that I swapped back to plugging it in and the wireless charger is collecting dust.

I'm interested to know whether the new(er) USB-C interface will suffer the same problem. I love how it is unidirectional (you can plug it in either way), but it's still very small and without additional support for mechanical stability.

 

[cyndi]

Thanks, WanderingCanuck. I think we all have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with our devices.

I gave up cheap usb chords a long time ago. Except for the Samsung I’ve never had a problem.

 

[RVTravel]

It sounds like you want a postpaid GSM phone unlocked. I'd get on howardforums.net and ask there too.

 

[Travelmonkey]

It used to be Verizon and ATT needed different versions of phones due to different radios used. I think newer phones with the newer technology support multiple carriers with the same phone. Whatever you decide, make sure the phone you get will be supported by ATT when you move from VZ or you'll be in the same situation as now.

 

[John61CT]

It used to be Verizon and ATT needed different versions of phones due to different radios used. I think newer phones with the newer technology support multiple carriers with the same phone. Whatever you decide, make sure the phone you get will be supported by ATT when you move from VZ or you'll be in the same situation as now.

Only a small set of expensive phones work *well* for multiple carriers.

Each carrier has their own list of LTE frequencies, and it's much cheaper to get a phone optimized for your target network than to pay big buck$ for a "universal" device.

 

[TMG51]

As someone above said, you want a GSM phone. I like using gsmarena.com. It lets you read reviews of phones, filtered by criteria, similar to how Amazon filters work for products. You can plug in the criteria you specified above and see options, read reviews, then just search that phone on eBay and buy it.

 

[casswarry0]

I was researching for my wife and me. We got the Motorola G4 Play (https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-g-play, used for $100) for me and the Motorola G5 Plus (https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-g-plus, new for $170) for my wife. Especially the G5 Plus is excellent value for money.

Both phones work with all US carriers. I use the Freedompop AT&T LTE (that's GSM) and my wife has the Red Pocket Verizon (that's CDMA) Plan.

For the technically inclined: the boot loader on both phones can be easily unlocked and a custom ROM be installed.

 

[Motrukdriver]

MotoX 2nd Gen here. Was a contract phone with ATT some years back. Switched over to a different carrier when my ATT contract was up. Used the ATT site and got my unlock code for the phone. Good phone, takes great pictures and videos. Pretty durable as well since it rode with me in the big truck for several years and still works like new. When I get back to the US I have to reactivate it on the network again but that's easy. Dollar General carries the nano sim I need for it back home.

 

[RVTravel]

Another phone is the Verizon branded Motorola Moto E4. It had gone on sale for $40. You can buy unlock codes for $2 on ebay. It can then be used on ATT, Verizon, TMobile but not Sprint (lacks the proper bands).
https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e4_(usa)-8665.php

 

[MrAlvinDude]

I had a Samsung S4, and were very happy with it.
I did however wish it had a bigger screen. It was a 5" screen.
After three years, and due to the upgrades to the Android OS, it did start to feel a bit sluggish in the screen response time.
Had it not been stolen, I would however no doubt still have been using it.


Now I have the 'OnePlus 3T', and after getting used to the changes in interface and settings selection, I am again quite happy with this phone.
Though using Android, the phones will all have different implementations of the apps that provide the basic functions as: Home screen, dial, text etc.

What I like about the OnePlus phone:
- top of the line hardware specs, at about half the cost of similar hardware spec'ed phones from other brands.
- big screen (5.5")
- very good battery life (when I turn on 'battery saver', I get two to three days of power from just one charge)
- excellent cameras, both main and secondary.
- super fast updates to the OS when ever Android security  issues are discovered.
- very few "factory" apps.
- USB-C style connector (by design, it is much less likely to become disconnected from the rest of the phone). 
- dual SIM card slot (though currently I only use one carrier/SIM-card).
- plenty of storage built in, both RAM and Flash (6Gb RAM and either 64Gb or 128Gb Flash) 

I don't like how new phones all seem to come with glued-in batteries, but it seems to be unavoidable.


I always add an extra layer of gorilla glas and use a sturdy (and bouncy) cover. I hardly ever drop my phone, but it has been my experience that sometimes it still happens, and so far my phones have (combined) survived four years of use without a scratch to the original hardware. I have only ever needed to replace the extra layer of gorilla glass. 


I try to buy my phones (old models) when ever a newer model comes out, as this tends to get me a discount on a still fairly capable phone.

 

[cyndi]

Thanks, for your input. I appreciate the help.

I got a phone today. Open box, Moto 5g plus. Happy to have an Android again. Can't receive calls or texts but I'm confident I can work that out.

Hoping to never have to deal with an apple product, ever again.

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