Getting a new smartphone? Recs :-)

[mlktwins]

So...I have an old Samsung Galaxy S5 from 2014 😎.  IT IS TIME!!!  Time for a new phone -- LOL.  And...because I've been so patient, I can get whatever I want.

Any recommendations other than Apple products?  Not necessarily opposed to them, but the Samsung was a bigger phone (again old eyes) at the time and we have had good luck with it.  I am looking for something that isn't tiny (old eyes), has great battery life, and an awesome camera/video.  

Also, does anyone know if I will lose all my text messages that I currently have on my phone (not changing numbers)?  Contacts?  I know to save my pics to my computer.  Anything else I should know?

We have Verizon if that makes a difference.

PS - Hubby has never texted -- LOL.  He is gonna love it when we upgrade our service!

 

[Lanny]

Hang on because this is getting much more complicated than in the past.  To begin with, approximately 5 years ago, possibly more, I asked a neighbor we are friendly with who is an Electronic Engineer for one of the cell phone companies here, and has been for approximately 25 years, which of the low end Android phones he thought were the most "bang for the buck" (or in our case bang for the Peso)  and connected well to their towers, and reliability and quality, etc. At that time he told me Motorola and Samsung. Mostly over the years he's purchased Motorolas, with an occasional Samsung.

We have had Samsungs. They are very good, but they are harder to use. They add a lot of stuff and their menus are much more confusing. One gets used to that and considers that to be "normal".  Motorolas have an almost pure Android OS (Operating System).

Now, it is getting much more difficult and I will try to explain why and I don't have all of the buzzwords.   In the past, it was Verizon that had a limited list of phones it would allow on the Verizon network.  Now, they are all about to go crazy...

When our DD was going to go to the USA in mid 2019, I researched MVNOs (Virtual providers) and put her on Red Pocket Mobile on the AT&T network.  She has an old Motorola Moto G4 she bought here. Configured for the Latin American market but it works there.

Well...  Starting next February (2022) AT&T will kill their 3G network.  They will require phones that can use VoLTE and another technology I can't remember. They will have a list of phones that will/should work on their network.

So, for example, if DD buys a new Motorola G9 Power (I think that's the one with the 6000 mAh capacity battery?) I will suggest that she buy it directly from the Motorola USA web site and if there are any issues, send it back immediately.

I believe that T-Mobile will also be making major changes to their network, which will greatly impact which phones will work properly, if at all.

I am probably a lot older than your DH and I used to Text but now I rarely initiate a Text (SMS) message. We use WhatsApp extensively and that is end-to-end encrypted.

I can't comment on cameras in phones because I only take a few photos a year. My DW and my DD take lots of photos.

If I assume, if the specs are similar, a Samsung will cost more than a Motorola. YMMV

Buy whatever you buy from the manufacturer if possible. An UNLOCKED and UNBRANDED phone.  Good luck

[City Mouse]

Well, I don’t know much about smart phones other than how to use mine, but I have an iPhone 12 mini. My DH has a 12. The 12 was way too large for me as it is uncomfortable to hold for long in one hand. I don’t use the camera much, but the battery life is so much better than my previous iPhone (old SE). I used it today at DisneyWorld for 12 hours with a lot of use and it didn’t get to red (20% of battery left) until we were on the bus going back to the resort. This is the first time that I have had a phone that lasted a full day at Disney without having to recharge along the way.

[SounderChick]

Pixel have been a pretty big hit here I don't know how they compare size wise to the galaxies.  

[Ellie]

I let my Samsung Galaxy S5 go because it randomly turned itself off, and it didn't seem to hang on to its battery charge for very long. I have an LG Velvet, which is apparently quite new, and I'm pretty happy with it overall. The biggest bummer to me was that I lost all my special ring tones, and Zedge (my source) now charges a whopping 99 cents a month? a year? something minimal, but it used to be free. I've been too lazy to figure out how to pay for the thing, so I've settled for the ring tones that came with the phone. Boring.

Text messages do not transfer from old to new.

[Arcadia]

DS16 went with this from Best Buy

OnePlus - Nord N10 5G 128GB (Unlocked) - MIDNIGHT ICE

Model:BE2026 

His Motorola phone kaput after two years so he had to get a new phone. My husband is particular about Android OS updates so this model would last for two years and that’s how frequent we buy a new phone.

”

• OnePlus has confirmed that the Nord N10 5G and N100 will receive just one "major Android update".
• With both phones running Android 10 out of the box, that means Android 11 is the only platform update that roll out to either device. 
• The phones will receive two years of security updates, one year less than the norm”