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Cellphone advice: Refurbished IPhone5 or New Moto G4?


Pegasus
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Younger DD is almost 17 and as she is now driving and taking classes at a college campus, we have decided to get her a cellphone.

 

Hanging head in embarrassment but one consideration in phone choice is so that we can all play Pokemon Go. We definitely hang behind the curve in cellphone technology so the phones already owned by me, DH, and DD19 are all too old tech to play the game!

 

The refurbished IPhone5 is priced about the same as a new Moto G4.  I'm leaning towards the new phone but wanted to seek other opinions.  Also considering waiting another month or two since the new IPhone came out, will the older iPhone prices drop more?

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During 2016, our family purchased 2 new Motorola phones and 1 new Lenovo phone. Lenovo owns Motorola Mobility. All of them work perfectly.  DD installed Pokeman Go on my wife's Motorola phone when Pokeman Go became available here in Colombia and she went exploring in our large rural subdivision with my stepson one day, so I know Pokeman Go works on the Motorola phone.  In general, I would prefer a Brand New item, in a Factory Sealed package, under normal circumstances.  Sometimes, Used/Refurbished/Remanufactured products can be more reliable.Our family has purchased 3 Refurbished Dell laptops and 3 Used (INCOMPLETE) Dell Laptops during the past 2 1/2 years.  I found that I transferred my confidence to  those laptops, much faster, than I would to a Brand New computer.  That is because of Mechanical parts (hard disk drives, DVD drives, etc.).   With a cell phone, that's less of a factor to me.  I would go for the Brand New Motorola  phone with a factory warranty, if the price is about the same, unless you have other Apple products and enjoy their way of doing things. GL with your decision!   My Stepson has the Lenovo phone. When he and my wife went to the superstore to look at cell phones, he said it is exactly like her Motorola phone, but it was a little less expensive than the Motorola phone.  

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I would suggest that when your DD gets her cell phone, that she install Google Maps and/or Waze on it, so she can know how to get to where she wants to go. Also, she needs a USB charger for the car and a cable long enough to go to from the charger to the phone.  Waze is IMO more complete, but also has more of a "learning curve".  

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I don't know anything about the iPhone 5.

 

Dh has Moto G4. He can play Pokemon Go in places where I can't get cell reception on my G3, because our wireless carrier doesn't support "Band 12" on the G3.  He says the Band 12 issue could vary by carrier, and reception in your area might not be a problem anyway.  There are some parks here with wooded ravines and that's where I'm running into the reception problem.

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During 2016, our family purchased 2 new Motorola phones and 1 new Lenovo phone. Lenovo owns Motorola Mobility. All of them work perfectly.  DD installed Pokeman Go on my wife's Motorola phone when Pokeman Go became available here in Colombia and she went exploring in our large rural subdivision with my stepson one day, so I know Pokeman Go works on the Motorola phone.  In general, I would prefer a Brand New item, in a Factory Sealed package, under normal circumstances.  Sometimes, Used/Refurbished/Remanufactured products can be more reliable.Our family has purchased 3 Refurbished Dell laptops and 3 Used (INCOMPLETE) Dell Laptops during the past 2 1/2 years.  I found that I transferred my confidence to  those laptops, much faster, than I would to a Brand New computer.  That is because of Mechanical parts (hard disk drives, DVD drives, etc.).   With a cell phone, that's less of a factor to me.  I would go for the Brand New Motorola  phone with a factory warranty, if the price is about the same, unless you have other Apple products and enjoy their way of doing things. GL with your decision!   My Stepson has the Lenovo phone. When he and my wife went to the superstore to look at cell phones, he said it is exactly like her Motorola phone, but it was a little less expensive than the Motorola phone.  

 

Great information. Thank you for sharing. I am leaning towards the new phone. 

 

I would suggest that when your DD gets her cell phone, that she install Google Maps and/or Waze on it, so she can know how to get to where she wants to go. Also, she needs a USB charger for the car and a cable long enough to go to from the charger to the phone.  Waze is IMO more complete, but also has more of a "learning curve".  

 

I'm not sure how you know that this particular DD has zero sense of direction but that is excellent advice.  I'm not familiar with Waze but we'll look into it.

 

I don't know anything about the iPhone 5.

 

Dh has Moto G4. He can play Pokemon Go in places where I can't get cell reception on my G3, .

Great to hear that the G4 will work for Pokemon Go. 

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Waze is more complicated, but more powerful in what it can do, once the "learning curve" has passed. My wife told me that she can track me, with Waze, but I'm not sure what settings I would need to have activated in my phone, for her to be able to do that. Google Maps is easier to learn how to use and can tell your DD where to go with Audio ("Turn right in 200 feet onto Third Avenue").   Critical that one has Data available and a USB charger and cable, because Google Maps and Waze require GPS and will drain the battery in the phone if used very long.    I like Google Maps because it is easier for me to learn how to use it, but my wife likes Waze, because it is more powerful. With Waze, people report in real time if there is an accident or other problem on the route.  

Edited by Lanny
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The Maps app on the iPhone 5s has worked very well for me, including things like "turn right in 500 feet."

 

If StraightTalk will work in your area, look for deals on that.  Back in July, WalMart offered a StraightTalk iPhone 5s (new) plus an Otterbox case for $188 shipped.  I couldn't find a used iPhone in any sort of decent shape for less than $150, so I took the deal and have been very pleased with it.  The only caveat is that since StraightTalk offers unlimited data, you can't use their phones as a wireless hotspot, but otherwise, it's been great.  Our internet doesn't always reach the back corner of our house, where my room is, so my phone often reverts to using cell data up there.  Even with that and with streaming Amazon music in the car, etc., I still haven't hit 5GB a month yet.

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*sigh*... for rural areas where nothing works but Verizon...

 

We switched to Tmobile two years ago, but the service has been pitiful.  Now we want to switch back, but our phones won't switch because they are GSA and Verizon is CDMA.  We just bought these phones two years ago!  We can't afford three new phones!

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Is the camera better on the Moto G?

 

There may be some other features as well that are better on one or the other.  That's probably how I'd make the decision.

 

I know you don't think you're going to be using it mostly as a camera, but once you've got it in your pocket you find yourself snapping pictures everywhere.  And then you want to zoom in for a better look.  If one camera has better resolution you're going to wish you had that.

 

You should also compare memory.  My phone has about half the memory of my daughter's and runs REALLY slow in comparison.

 

 

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One thing that I do not like about many of the new phones, and I think this possibly includes the 2 Motorola's we bought earlier this year and the Lenovo (Lenovo owns Motorola Mobility)  is that the Batteries are not easily removable. One needs to take the phone apart, to replace the battery. There are YouTube videos showing how to do that and for about USD $10 on Amazon or eBay one can buy a Tool Kit with the tiny little tools needed to take cell phones, tablets, etc., apart.  Another thing, I read this in the Dummies book for Android phones, is that many new phones do not have a slot for an additional memory.  

 

Those in rural areas where the signals are weak will always do better with CDMA than with GSM.  With CDMA, you can communicate with a very weak signal. With GSM, you need a strong signal.  I think CDMA service was eliminated here in Colombia, but there are still (major) providers of CDMA in the USA.  

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We chose the Samsung Galaxy S5 for many of the reasons noted here:

* battery is easily replaceable

* unlocked Verizon version works on our Tracfone accounts with an easy SIM card - great service, great coverage

* also has GSM if we ever want to change providers/move to a different coverage area

* decent camera (not its top priority, but useful in a pinch)

* not the newest model so the price has come down

 

We've been very happy with them.

 

Dd plays Pokemon Go around town with hers.

 

Edited by Amy in NH
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I'm an iPhone zombie.  I never plan to have any other kind of phone.  I also am a fan of refurb for most things, but I get new phones.  

 

That said, if your DD is NOT an iphone zombie like me, and doesn't care, I would recommend the newer phone.

 

Here's why:  Phone manufacturers upgrade software pretty regularly.  Apple just released the iOS 10 upgrade, and my iPhone 4s, which I currently use as a mini digital frame, is not included in the upgrade.  No new features for me!

 

But what that also means is that some apps will upgrade past the ability of the phone to use them.  

 

The 5 is getting a little long in the tooth now, at least from Apple's perspective.  It will have a shorter effective life and less impressive features than the newer Moto.

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I just visited the web site of the superstore where we  purchased three (3) Brand New "Free" phones this year. Those are not phones that were branded to a carrier and then unlocked. These phones left the factory without any carrier branding. Two of them are Motorola phones and one is a Lenovo phone (Lenovo owns Motorola Mobility).  I clicked on the Motorola G4.   I don't have a calculator handy, but it is approximately USD$216, which includes the taxes here in Colombia.  It has a 5" display. I would like that. My 2014 model Samsung has a 4.5" display.  The main camera is 8 Mpx.  I think my phone has a 5 Mp camera.  It has 16 GB of Memory and 2 GB of RAM.  It has Android 6.0.  That may be *the* most important feature. Sometimes, one wants to use Apps that will not work on an older OS. Or, like with the "Open Camera" App I have, some features will not work on the Samsung I have, which has Android 4.4.x which is an old version of Android.   This has 4G, which I would like to have the option of using, although I probably wouldn't pay the extra $ for that service, because I do not watch lots of videos or download large files on my phone.  I would go for the Motorola phone.  There have been no issues with the 2 Motorola phones we bought this year or the Lenovo phone we bought this year and they are heavily used.    It looks like the display is HD? This is the link and it is in Spanish...

http://www.alkosto.com/celular-motorola-moto-g4-play-sd-4g-negro

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We just replaced my son's phone with a Moto G+ and he likes it a lot. We live in a rural area with notoriously craptastic reception, but he's now getting somewhat decent and reliable reception whereas he was getting nothing or one line almost all the time. FWIW, iPhones have among the weakest reception. We out in the boonies compare notes on phone reception all the time. No one out here with iPhones can use it as a phone, and they can't get texts in a timely manner either (2 hours later isn't 'timely' IMO). So, the Moto has been kind of impressive so far in that regard. My dh is considering getting one when his contract is up, and he swore he'd never have an Android phone. Oh how far the snooty one falls. LOL!

Edited by Audrey
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