Electronics

[gardenman]

The Q has the Tracfone Moto G Stylus marked down to $179.99 today, so I took the plunge. Honey even found a $5 off coupon that was applied knocking the price down to $174.99. It should be here around July 6th. It's a phone with 128 GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, and a 6.8" screen. It's a perfectly adequate phone for me. I could have waited and it might have gotten marked down more, but Tracfone sells it for $199 without a year's service. Amazon sells it unlocked for $279.99. Getting it for $175 with free shipping is a pretty good option. Now I just have to wait for it to arrive.

[SouthernBee]

@gardenman : Excited for you and hope you enjoy the phone. I still appreciate your help before I ordered the LG Premier Pro 5.3. That has been the easiest phone for me to operate. My current service plan expires in October. I will be researching for another phone from a different company. 

[gardenman]

I spent much of Amazon Prime days debating getting the unlocked Samsung Galaxy A51 they had marked down to $180. That and the Moto G Stylus are very similar phones, but the Moto comes with the year's service and it would have cost another $50+ to add that to the Samsung, so I waited. It worked out. Amazon had me very tempted to make that move though. 

[Stargazer77]

Very exciting, @gardenman!  I'll be looking out for a review from you in a couple weeks!  That phone has a lot of storage.  I was happy when most of the phones went from 16GB to 32GB.

I have an LG K31 Rebel and just ordered two the other day for my parents.  Hopefully, the switchover will go smoothly.  For you, too!  Enjoy your new phone!  Stay cool, too.  I know you're down south.  Are you near the beach?  I'm up north and not near the beach.  My sister has a pool, so that's pretty nice.   

[Susan Louise]

@gardenman  Enjoy your new phone purchase! DH and I still use our near 21 yr old flip phones

[gardenman]

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@Stargazer77 wrote:

Very exciting, @gardenman!  I'll be looking out for a review from you in a couple weeks!  That phone has a lot of storage.  I was happy when most of the phones went from 16GB to 32GB.

I have an LG K31 Rebel and just ordered two the other day for my parents.  Hopefully, the switchover will go smoothly.  For you, too!  Enjoy your new phone!  Stay cool, too.  I know you're down south.  Are you near the beach?  I'm up north and not near the beach.  My sister has a pool, so that's pretty nice.   

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@Stargazer77 

I'm in South Jersey, but Southwest Jersey, far from the ocean. The Delaware River is about a half-mile from my house, so I'm about as far from the ocean as it's possible to get in South Jersey. I'm about 6.5 miles south of the Delaware Memorial Bridges. I've got my air conditioner fired up and running full-time yesterday and today. (Also tomorrow.) Temps in the mid-nineties are a bit warmer than I'd prefer, but I'll still take that over the winter cold. Heat doesn't really bother me much. I haven't really needed the air conditioner much so far this year which was a nice change. Some open windows and fans have been enough to keep things comfy so far, but with the higher temps of yesterday, today and tomorrow, it's time for the AC.

The increased storage is what motivated me to look at the Galaxy A51 and the Moto G Stylus. Both have 128 GB of storage. Even my 32 GB Moto Optimo Maxx is getting a bit too full, so the 128 GB of storage will be nice. The extra RAM, bigger screen, better cameras, etc. are all a nice bonus also. My gut says the Moto will get marked down a bit more later in the season, but at $179.99 ($174.99 after the $5 discount Honey found) it was a good enough deal for me, so I got it now. I paid more than that many years ago when I got my first 2 MP digital camera, now I get a 48 MP camera and all of the rest for $175. 

[Ainhisg]

@gardenman I usually follow (and copy) your phone purchases.  You will have to let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly about your phone once you have had it a while.  I don't need to do anything until May of next year...lol...so I will hold off buying anything to see how you like your new phone and to hopefully see a lower price.

[Nuttmeg]

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@Susan Louise wrote:

@gardenman  Enjoy your new phone purchase! DH and I still use our near 21 yr old flip phones

@Susan Louise 

I have followed the 5G roll out for sometime . All the wireless companies will shutdown their 3G service to older phones like yours. 

I read yesterday that AT&T will provide customers with a free phone. Please call your carrier and ask them for assistance.

AT&T Is offering  iPhone customers a new iPhone 2020 SE, and Android uses a phone with a small battery. It was suggested a person buy a Samsung A32. 

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[gardenman]

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@Ainhisg wrote:

@gardenman I usually follow (and copy) your phone purchases.  You will have to let us know the good, the bad, and the ugly about your phone once you have had it a while.  I don't need to do anything until May of next year...lol...so I will hold off buying anything to see how you like your new phone and to hopefully see a lower price.

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@Ainhisg 

I expect to see the price drop a bit since it's typically $199 at HSN. They'll often discount a phone a lot (25%-50% or more isn't unheard of) and they haven't had that phone marked down yet. But, rather than wait and hope, I decided to act now. I still saved $25 off of the "normal" HSN and Tracfone price. And if I bought it directly from Tracfone it wouldn't come with the airtime package. It's the phone I wanted at a price I can live with. It also comes with a coupon for the iRing that's a $20 add-on if bought separately. 

Amazon had the Samsung A51 unlocked at $179.99 on Prime Day (typically $300+) and I was very tempted by that. But then I'd have to add the airtime where here it's included. Those were the two phones I was most intrigued by this year. With LG getting out of the phone business I pretty much ignored them this time around. That pretty much left Samsung and Motorola as the top two options. TCL and Blu are now selling Tracfone phones, but not their mid to upper-tier stuff. I could buy an unlocked phone, but the ones with similar features tend to cost more. The unlocked Moto G Stylus sells for well over $250 at most places and then you have to add the service. 

I'm pretty confident I'll be happy with the phone. There are about a dozen or so YouTube reviews of it up. Not many printed reviews other than PCMag who gave it a middling review, but they more compared it to the upper-tier phones. I kind of know it's not going to be a match for an upper-tier phone since it's costing me about a sixth as much. I'm not sure how much I'll use the stylus, but it's nice to have.

My current service is good until 9/23/2021 so the new phone will extend that to 9/23/2022 (or so.) I've got plenty of data, minutes, and texts still, but more will be added with the new phone. 

It comes with a case, but those cases aren't generally very good. I've already got a few case options scouted out on Amazon and once the phone ships I'll likely order a case for it from them. Some on here have raved about the Spigen cases and Amazon has a couple of them available for this phone, so I'll probably give one a try. I'm just waiting to be sure QVC ships the phone first. Once I know it's shipped, I'll order the case.

[Ainhisg]

@gardenman I had a Spigen case on my Motorola 6 and loved it.  I didn't get that brand for the phones we currently have as the reviews said that it didn't fit well.  I would definitely get a Spigen if it fits my next phone well!