This is a bit off topic, however many of us use these things as secondary navigation devices and as digitized operations manuals for much of our on-board equipment, not to mention their utility as a secondary means of communication in case of radio failure. So the topic is not TOO far out of bounds I'm hoping.
Please respond off line to my email unless you think your information may be of benefit to the rest of netters. I'm getting ads from Straight Talk and since my old Samsung dumbphone is starting to act up, I'm confronted with having to replace it since I doubt anyone is fixing old Tracfones - although I haven't looked to find out. As a replacement I doubt I'll find anything as small and convenient as my Tracfone Samsung with sliding keyboard has been, but when I get calls recently I can barely hear the caller (sometimes) and other times it's loud and clear. In short, it's becoming a bit unreliable. I've had it about eleven years so I suppose it's natural that something is wearing out - either that or the cellular network is deliberately causing fluctuations in their service in order to force people to upgrade/replace their phones. The ads I get from Straight Talk include models from Samsung, LG, and even an iPhone model or two. I'm not interested in iAnything so basically my inquiry to the group is in regards only to Android-based phones. Here's the quandry: Prices for these things run all the way from $19.99 to $299.00, so none are expensive relatively speaking. Price isn't a significant factor in this query. They're all roughly the same size. They all look pretty much the same. I'm sure everyone reading this has gone through several smartphones over the years and everyone surely has their likes and dislikes so would you please send me a little list of things that you have found to be important? This $30 Wal-Mart LG Rebel 4 I bought at someone's suggestion several months ago is perhaps all I really need and I can transfer my accumulated Tracfone minutes which roll over from year to year to any new Tracfone I might buy. I'm guessing Tracfone also carries this same model, the LG Rebel 4, so I possibly could just buy another $30 LG Rebel 4 with the Tracfone label on it instead of Straight Talk - in fact, when the phone is booting up it displays the Tracfone logo so even though it's labeled Straight Talk, they obviously use the same networks and are probably owned by the same company. Anyway . . . what have you guys found to be important in owning a smartphone? What does one do that others don't that you've found important? I've never even activated the Rebel 4 - (just use it as a wi-fi radio). When traveling I take my Tracfone slider that I've had for eleven years - the one that's starting to act unreliably. If it wasn't starting to act unreliably I wouldn't even be asking this question. Seems to me the only requirement I would ask for is that it have a replaceable battery and a slot for a micro-SD card - both of which the $30 LG Rebel 4 already has out of the box. So . . . what am I missing? Should I just buy a Tracfone-labeled LG Rebel 4 (so I can transfer my accumulated minutes and not lose them)? The Tracfone slider is a "triple minute" phone which means when I renew my number once a year for $130, the renewal comes with 400 minutes - which means I actually get 1200. I use it so rarely that I've got over 4000 accumulated minutes. Renewal time is coming up in another month so it might be clever to do my renewal, collect all the new minutes, then transfer the minutes to a new Tracfone . . . but which one? What makes one different/better? They all look the same and I presume all do pretty much the same, so what's the difference between a $30 Tracfone and a $300 Tracfone? Coverage has always been faultless with Tracfone since I think they lease tower access from just about everyone - I've never gotten a "no signal" message and I've been in some remote and weird places in the more than 20 years I've had my Tracfone number. Coverage has always been superb. What do you value with your smartphones? What makes one better than another? I'm going to miss my little sliding keyboard - I can't see how tapping on a screen to write a text can be as convenient as having a tiny little querty keyboard, but I'm going to have to give up the keyboard I guess. I'm writing too much, as usual, so to cut to the chase . . . what features are important to you in your choice of choosing a smartphone? What have the $300 (or more) phones got that my $30 Wal-Mart LG Rebel 4 doesn't have? My trusty old slider is apparently wearing out so I'm forced to find a replacement - the smaller the better. I don't do social media, don't watch YouTube (on the phone), and don't carry it with me unless I'm going out of town. If I want to take a picture I use one of my DSLR's, so a camera in a cellphone is of no use to me. What has proven to be important in your choices of buying a smartphone? Please email me at propbala...@att.net with anything you have to say on the matter. It's not a topic for KRNET but these things can be and are frequently used as aviation related devices so I'm hoping my inquiry isn't too far off the range of legitimate topics. Any responses though, please use my email. Thanks for any thoughts on this, Mike stirewaltkseepropbala...@att.net ________________________________ -Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html -Change list delivery options at https://list.krnet.org/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ Affinity List Info Board -Search recent KRnet Archives at https://list.krnet.org/empathy/list/krnet.list.krnet.org/ -Search John Bouyea's decades of archive at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/
