[quote=spdrun]The “no interest” phone deals are frankly sodomy. They may not charge you interest, but they mark them up 20% or more from the “cash” price.
I just bought Sony M4 Aqua, paid $140+tax “cash”. Essentially identical spec to an iPhone 7 (non-plus) minus the fingerprint sensor. Also, buying outright from the maker avoids the phone company’s crapware.[/quote]I understand all that. The carrier-locked phones ARE expensive. I’ve bought my last three phones from ebay for $70 – $180 but by the time I purchased them, they were close to or on their way out. I still use them to get old phone numbers from and listen to music on. They all have old deactivated SIMS in them and are all unlocked. One has a pretty good cybershot camera which still works … but is no competition to the Galaxy’s camera. Then I used my kid’s castoff LG windows phone (locked to AT&T) for 2 years, after replacing her cracked screen. I learned how to text on that as it had a pull out keyboard (it was a heavy phone). It had stopped updating prior to when I started using it. That phone died on my last long road trip. Its touch screen refused to work no matter what I tried to get it to work. It also lost several important texts for a day and a half while I was on a road trip last year. It died and I had to travel a long way to an AT&T corporate store to get the PUK codes and get it reactivated. It is aggravating to be traveling alone by car in remote areas and have your (old) phone malfunction.
The galaxy I have is the newest one (released July 2016, I think) and has everything. The other galaxy students in my classes were in awe of it and even the instructor wanted one but she was under contract with her phone. It behaves a little different than the other galaxy phones but does the same thing … plus a few more things. Also it has a strong body and is textured on the back and won’t slip out of your hands easily.
I just got tired of not being able to see my phone in my desktop computer on a consistent basis and it not being reliable. I don’t regret getting the galaxy and it is “affordable” because as an AT&T customer, I am making (interest-free) monthly payments on it.
I could see myself using this phone way past its ability to be updated (likely several years or even a decade from now) as long as I don’t lose it. I can get its location from the Samsung website if it is lost or stolen and also deactivate it. I got a free McAfee Mobile license to protect its contents cuz I am a great Office Depot customer! It’s a pretty amazing fast computer which fits in my purse and the voice quality is great!
My bill is the same as it was when I had a dumb phone … $45 month + tax unlimited talk and text with 1.3 gigs data on the AT&T network. It’s awesome in the mountains and the states I regularly go to. I have no desire to “experiment” with any other networks.
Oh, and if I need more data for a trip, I can buy it as needed for $5 per gig, as I did when I went to NV on 11/4-6 and had to run the campaign app and use google maps (I used 2 extra gigs). I’ve been with AT&T (formerly Cingular) since 1999 and so I don’t have to have a big data plan. I can just buy as needed and go down to my base plan when I’m home (and using my secured wifi).
