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We just moved up to Smart Phones....cheap, $149 each. Always said "I won't be one of those" pointing to a kid texting away....guess what.....I'm one of those.
I got my first smart phone just before I retired 6 years ago. Because I travelled full time in an RV, the phone was an absolute necessity. I had unlimited data and found an app that allowed me to use the phone as a hot spot for my laptop. Now that I have a house and high speed internet, it is more of a luxury. I do use it frequently to check emails, weather, and as a navigation system. It seems I am always using it to look up information on the internet.
I rarely use it as a phone, even though we gave up the old landline. We use text messages to replace phone calls. Text messages can be read at one's convenience whereas phone calls are an interruption that is often unwelcome and inconvenient. The way to encourage this is to avoid answering the phone and also allow the voice messages to fill up. My daughters are the ones who taught me this approach.
Still on the fence.We have trach phone,so can make calls but can also understand the being on line bit,yet seems like a lot of money now home much of the time and retired.Yet nearly everyone has a smart phone,so maybe it is a case of not knowing what we are missing.
My kids all use iPhones and we get the free "hand me ups" when they switch to the newest models.
So I have an iPhone 6, and my wife has the iPhone 5.
The advantage is that the kids post photos and we're all in a group so we can see instant photos of the grand kids. These phones take beautiful photos. They also communicate a lot by texting. We can use that to quickly communicate while they are busy. My 3 year old grand daughter calls us on Facetime. She knows how to press the correct icon to reach grandpa.
When we visit, we use the Uber app so we can quickly get a ride to the airport. The iPhone has a Southwest Airlines app that allows easy check in. No paper boarding pass is needed; instant update for flight schedule or gate change information.
We use Google Maps all the time to navigate or find nearby coffee or restaurants. We use Yelp to read restaurant reviews.
Bottom line: Don't fight technology. Go with the flow. You might actually enjoy it!
Still on the fence.We have trach phone,so can make calls but can also understand the being on line bit,yet seems like a lot of money now home much of the time and retired.Yet nearly everyone has a smart phone,so maybe it is a case of not knowing what we are missing.
Almost all people here seem to enjoy it.
Trac fone is now available with iPhones. It has an app to tell you how many minutes you have available in your pre-paid account. When you upgrade, the minutes carry over. My wife had been using a flip fone on the Trac fone network for several years.
My wife's iPhone 5 is a Trac-fone account. Here, Trac-fone uses the Verizon network. All you need is a micro-sim card for Trac fone that you can buy on line or at Wal-Mart.
The network charge for that phone is just about $95 per year. You buy minutes/data separately.
If you are not a heavy user, this is a very affordable way to play.
I've had a smart phone before and after retirement. I only pay around $30 a month for unlimited text and 100 hours of talk, which I rarely use up. With Facebook messenger I can talk live to any one any place in the world for free. It worked great when we were in Scotland and I needed to talk to our house sitter. The phone has a GPS and looking up restaurants on the road is a great convenience. I use my phone just about every day.
We were coerced into getting one here (peer pressure, anyone?) and now are on our 2nd one. They were unlocked smartphones brought from the States. We hate both of them.
Phone calls are a thing of the past. I don't keep the phone near me because it beeps with every spam email. Then I miss the occasional text if I turn off the sound. Typing on the tiny keyboard is just too frustrating. Everything is glitchy. We were perfectly happy with our flip-phones in the States. We have not found anything useful yet about smartphones. I was taking pictures on the first one, and that was fun, but the 2nd one is locked so by the time I unlock it, the photo op is gone. So that's useless! Sheesh.
I'm glad they work for almost everyone else though. Including everyone around us....
Oh, semi-retraction. We have used the translate app in some stores to get help. When it works....
If we had kids, I'm sure we'd be forced into it. But we're just not motivated....
Just been through helping my girl friend get a new phone/plan. One poster touched on the key and that is the phone plan can be more important then the brand of phone. Plans consist of data (when on line), talk (as in make a call), and text (typed messages). There are limited plans like mine that work for me. My girlfriend does not have a computer so she is online with her phone all the time. She uses a humongous amount of data and talks all the time to her family so my plan would not work for her.
Look for an unlimited plan which means no limit on data, talk, messages. Be aware many plans will throttle back (slow down) on data when you pass a certain monthly level. Even though still unlimited data, it will run slower. The new plan my girlfriend has ($35 per month, Virgin Mobile) is the first 5GB is at 4G LTE, the rest of the month will got to 2G LTE. She can bump up her plan to 10MB at 4G LTE for $10 extra per month
Typically 4G LTE runs at about 5-8MPS which is about where basic computer Internet service runs at. 2G LTE is about 1MPS.
Also pay attention to the format as mentioned for overseas use. Also pay attention to being able to use the same phone with different plans/companies.
The phone is almost secondary. The plan is the issue.
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