topic Re: Smartphone for Dumb People in Electronics

Smartphone for Dumb People

fritzee — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:26:47 GMT

My trusty flip phone is slowly dying. I want to move on up to a smart phone. I just need to know what to look for. I don't need bells and whistles. I just want a good entry into this arena. Help.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

patbz — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:29:57 GMT

Costco sells one that can be connected to any carrier (around $200).

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

Kachina624 — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 01:47:16 GMT

@fritzee. Target carries Consumer Cellular phones which cater to non-tech savvy senior adults. They have superior customer service in case you have trouble. They have different models with various levels of complexity.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

Mz iMac — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:13:12 GMT

Jitterbug Smart2

greatcall.com/phones/jitterbug-smart-smartphone-for-seniors

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

BirkiLady — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:18:02 GMT

@fritzee Interested in what you select. I have Lupus and cannot use a smart phone due to my fingers locking up. So, I've gone back to my flip phone. But I miss having a camera! The other features aren't really necessary to me.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

Deree — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:31:22 GMT

I also still have a flip phone because when I'm out and about I don't hang on my phone but I haven't been entirely pleased with reception and thought upgrading to a smart phone would be the solution. A few months ago I bought an older model Samsung for around $79. I chose it because hundreds of reviews were excellent and specifically said reception was great. When I took it to my carrier whatever they did to test it out told me that the reception would be no different from my flip phone because of too much geograpical interference so I wound up returning it. I would recommend doing what I did. Go on Amazon and read reviews. I'm sure you can get a no frills phone for under $100.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

x Hedge — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:57:11 GMT

My phone, plus all expenses needed to use it, costs me about $100. per year.

@fritzee, it all depends on how you will use your phone.

Are you a big-time talker?

Do you text? Will you be using your phone for email? post and shop here? etc...

You can't begin to compare smartphone offers until you assess your own phone use. Then buy what will best suit how you use a phone.

With some carriers, talking has become the most expensive way to communicate on a phone.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

AngelPuppy1 — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 09:38:36 GMT

@fritzee wrote:
My trusty flip phone is slowly dying. I want to move on up to a smart phone. I just need to know what to look for. I don't need bells and whistles. I just want a good entry into this arena. Help.

@fritzee

Good question. I am thinking about doing the same thing! I don't want anything complicated or expensive either. I keep seeing ads for Consumer Cellular and they claim you can get unlimited texting and talking for $25.00 a month. Don't know if this is true, but if so, would be perfect for me. I don't know what kinds of phones this would include but might be worth looking into.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

software — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 10:58:23 GMT

I've been very happy with my Samsung Tracfone android.

You can't find many smartphones without bells & whistles, don't use them.

Get the best phone you can afford. Ignore what you don't want to use.

E232572 is a good one.

You can buy them anywhere, Walmart, Target, Best Buy

I like a Tracfone because there is no monthly charge

You pay as you go.

I love Samsung products.

You can also look at an iPhone.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

glb613 — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 11:17:05 GMT

@fritzee wrote:
My trusty flip phone is slowly dying. I want to move on up to a smart phone. I just need to know what to look for. I don't need bells and whistles. I just want a good entry into this arena. Help.

Look into a Tracfone if you don't think you'll use the "smart" part of the phone much. They are reasonably priced and you pay as you go. Just because a phone has all of the "bells and whistles" doesn't mean you have to use them. I understand you wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for a phone if you won't use all of the features. But, you might surprise yourself as to how much you do use the "smart" part of a phone once you get it.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

meem120 — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 13:03:12 GMT

Consumer Cellular is the best!! We switched from Verizon. We were nervous but I can honestly say I do not see one bit of diffrence. Give it a try. They have loads of phones to choose from. I like the Iphone. Its simple and I love it. They are very easy to deal with and CC ports over your number without a glitch. I cant say enough good things about them.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

Tyak — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 19:05:09 GMT

@AngelPuppy1 wrote:
@fritzee wrote:
My trusty flip phone is slowly dying. I want to move on up to a smart phone. I just need to know what to look for. I don't need bells and whistles. I just want a good entry into this arena. Help.
@fritzee

Good question. I am thinking about doing the same thing! I don't want anything complicated or expensive either. I keep seeing ads for Consumer Cellular and they claim you can get unlimited texting and talking for $25.00 a month. Don't know if this is true, but if so, would be perfect for me. I don't know what kinds of phones this would include but might be worth looking into.

It is true about Consumer Cellular, we have 2 phones and our bill is $46.00 plus change per month. And the reception is wonderful. I have an iphone and dh has a Samsung.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

AngelPuppy1 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 11:02:39 GMT

@Tyak wrote:
@AngelPuppy1 wrote:
@fritzee wrote:
My trusty flip phone is slowly dying. I want to move on up to a smart phone. I just need to know what to look for. I don't need bells and whistles. I just want a good entry into this arena. Help.
@fritzee

Good question. I am thinking about doing the same thing! I don't want anything complicated or expensive either. I keep seeing ads for Consumer Cellular and they claim you can get unlimited texting and talking for $25.00 a month. Don't know if this is true, but if so, would be perfect for me. I don't know what kinds of phones this would include but might be worth looking into.
It is true about Consumer Cellular, we have 2 phones and our bill is $46.00 plus change per month. And the reception is wonderful. I have an iphone and dh has a Samsung.

@Tyak

Wonderful! I appreciate your posting this. Sounds like a very very good plan!

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

gardenman — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 11:40:12 GMT

All smart phones come with most of the bells and whistles, but they just sit there unless you need them. I recently got the LG Premiere Pro and it's a great little phone. It's a Tracfone and I got it through HSN and it cost less than $90 with 1500 minutes/texts and 1.5 gb of data. I love my little LG because among it's features is a hotspot function so if you have a tablet or something that doesn't have wireless access and there's no wifi where you are, your phone can become a hotspot and feed the Internet to the device. That's a feature that wasn't available on lower end phones until recently and isn't mentioned in the on-air demonstrations, but it can be very handy. Features like Google Maps for GPS are great to have.

When you see all that a smart phone can do these days it'll make you wonder how you ever lived without one. One little device that fits in your pocket now takes the place of a video camera, digital camera, tape recorder, portable TV, FM radio (if you plug in earphones/headphones,) GPS unit, MP3 player, computer/tablet for some tasks, and even lets you use it as a portable hotspot when needed. We're getting to the point where they aren't smart phones, but are genius phones. They're more than smart these days. And operating them is typically very, very simple.If you can point, swipe, and press, you've pretty much got the skills you need to operate a smartphone. You can even just talk to it to do most things. "Ok Google, open Google maps and find directions to whatever." It'll open Google maps and give you the directions to get there from where you are. And yes, it knows where you are. Want to call your friend Rosalie? Just say, "Ok Google, call Rosalie." It'll look into your contacts, find Rosalie and call her. Need to set a timer for ten minutes for a batch of cookies? Say "Ok Google, set a timer for ten minutes" and it'll set a timer for ten minutes. Want a good picture of your family, but have a hard time getting them all to smile at once? The camera will even wait until everyone is smiling to take a shot if you set it for that. Like I said, they're getting to be genius phones rather than smart phones, but you don't need to be a genius to use them. For most things you can just tell the phone what to do verbally and it'll do it as long as you start out with "Ok Google."

When you can get a device that does all of that for less than $100, it's incredible. Buy a smartphone and you won't be sorry. And don't spend too much on one. You can easily spend over $1,000 on one of the high end name ones, but most people don't need all of that. A cheaper version (I'd go for one with 16 gbs of internal storage however) will blow you away with all it can do. I just look at mine and marvel at how they squeeze all that functionality into such a small device.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

Mom2Dogs — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 11:47:49 GMT

I just purchased a smartphone.....upgrade from a flip phone. We have Consumer Cellular as our carrier - the phone purchase was $60.00. You can call, text, surf the internet. The phone was purchased and activated at Target.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

glb613 — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 12:38:27 GMT

I thought I'd never need a smart phone since I was retired and home more than away. I became deathly sick while on vacation and thanks to the group leader who had a smart phone, I was able to see a doctor close to where we were located. I decided I was never going to travel again without a way to get online if I needed. As gardenman posted, I had no idea how much I'd use my phone at the time I bought my iPhone. Over the years I've used it as my main camera, e-mail, GPS device, texting, information lookup, answer my Ring doorbell and the list goes on and on. You may not think you'll use it much but, I think you will. As I posted earlier in this thread, look into a Tracfone. It's an inexpensive way to introduce yourself to a smart phone.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

apple1964 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 12:30:35 GMT

Good morning O/P.. I just brought my mother the LGK 20 phone and she just loves it. She went from a flip phone too. She was able to set it up by herself and loves it. And by the way your not dumb its just that they load so much technical stuff on these phones that it gets a little confusing when operating these smart phones .. Happy shopping!

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

tends2dogs — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:21:12 GMT

@glb613 wrote:
I thought I'd never need a smart phone since I was retired and home more than away. I became deathly sick while on vacation and thanks to the group leader who had a smart phone, I was able to see a doctor close to where we were located. I decided I was never going to travel again without a way to get online if I needed. As gardenman posted, I had no idea how much I'd use my phone at the time I bought my iPhone. Over the years I've used it as my main camera, e-mail, GPS device, texting, information lookup, answer my Ring doorbell and the list goes on and on. You may not think you'll use it much but, I think you will. As I posted earlier in this thread, look into a Tracfone. It's an inexpensive way to introduce yourself to a smart phone.

Are you able to use your RING with your Tracfone? @glb613?

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

glb613 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:47:57 GMT

I have an iPhone.

Re: Smartphone for Dumb People

straykatz — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 20:51:41 GMT

I love LG phones ..I've had a couple samsung and hated them.