Help me replace my smartphone

[travelover]

I very rarely use my smartphone, but occasionally it is handy to make a call or access the internet. I currently use PagePlus prepaid which only costs me about $2.50 a month. It is a 3G data plan and if I buy a 4G phone, I have to go to a $30 a month plan, a waste for me.

My current phone is a Motorola Droid X2. The OS is so old that many apps can't update or load and it doesn't work with the Entune system on my new Toyota.

So in summary what I need is:

1. A Verizon compatible non-prepaid or unlocked phone
2. 3G Capable
3. An OS system likely to be usable for a few more years
4. Compatible with the Toyota Entune System

Am I asking too much?

 

[CaptTom]

Not too much at all. My wife's phone just died. We went on line and discovered a phone that had everything we wanted for around $200. Unlocked, compatible with AT&T or Verizon (we use AT&T), 4G LTE, a good camera, Android OS that supports all the apps she had on the old phone, good battery life, nice form factor.

The point is, we discovered that last year's models were still selling new, for less than one-third the price of the new flagship models. These are the same phones that were the flagship model last year.

Since painful experience with smart phones has proven to us that they're only going to last a couple of years anyway, paying 1/3 the price seemed like the way to go. She's been very happy with it. When mine goes (and I know it will...soon) I'm going to do the same thing. I'll never buy the latest model again!

I don't know anything about the Toyota audio system, but I assume if you have bluetooth and the manufacturer's app, it should work.

 

[mpeirce]

If you're looking for a bargain, you might look at

https://buy.gazelle.com/buy/

They sell quality used phones. I've sold a couple of phones to them and they are easy to work with.

 

[travelover]

Thanks, I'm kind of asking for specific recommendations. I suspect the problem will be finding a phone that has both 3G and a reasonably recent OS such that I'm not back in the same boat in a year.

Re the Entune system, there is a compatibility guide on the internet, but there are a lot of choices, so I though it might be better to work backward.
Entune Connect

 

[mpeirce]

I very rarely use my smartphone, but occasionally it is handy to make a call or access the internet. I currently use PagePlus prepaid which only costs me about $2.50 a month. It is a 3G data plan and if I buy a 4G phone, I have to go to a $30 a month plan, a waste for me.

Why can't you keep the 3G data plan. Most phones (OK, iPhones for sure, not sure about Android) will fall back to if they can't get a better data signal.

If you really need a phone that can't do 4G or LTE and are interested in iPhones, you'd need to go back to the iPhone 3GS. That's pretty far back. You can find them on eBay, but the battery might be pretty old and not hold a great charge.

(I have a 3GS on my shelf - just turned it on and it's running iOS 6.1.6 which way old. It might have some serious security issues, so I wouldn't recommend using it really)

 

[travelover]

Why can't you keep the 3G data plan. Most phones (OK, iPhones for sure, not sure about Android) will fall back to if they can't get a better data signal.

If you really need a phone that can't do 4G or LTE and are interested in iPhones, you'd need to go back to the iPhone 3GS. That's pretty far back. You can find them on eBay, but the battery might be pretty old and not hold a great charge.

(I have a 3GS on my shelf - just turned it on and it's running iOS 6.1.6 which way old. It might have some serious security issues, so I wouldn't recommend using it really)

I don't understand all I know about it, but this plan allows 3G phones only. I'd be happy with an Android phone as long as it works in my car and is not obsolete in a year or two.

 

[Ready]

Have you looked at Republic Wireless? $15/month for unlimited text, talk and wifi data, or $20 for 1GB of data. They have the Samsung Galaxy for $149.

 

[travelover]

Have you looked at Republic Wireless? $15/month for unlimited text, talk and wifi data, or $20 for 1GB of data. They have the Samsung Galaxy for $149.

Thanks, but I'm not sure this put me in a better place. I make a couple calls a month and rarely use data and when I do, it burns up the accumulating mandatory $10 per 120 day charge.

Perhaps a better way to rephrase my question is what is the oldest Android OS that is likely to be still functioning in a couple of years?

 

[NW-Bound]

I don't understand all I know about it, but this plan allows 3G phones only. I'd be happy with an Android phone as long as it works in my car and is not obsolete in a year or two.

My Android phone settings can be changed to limit it to 3G, and even 2G only.

My wife's older Android phone which does not have LTE (4G) capability can also be downshifted from 3G down to 2G.

By the way, I did not know there's a phone plan as cheap as $2.50 and even having some data allowance!

 

[travelover]

..........By the way, I did not know there's a phone plan as cheap as $2.50 and even having some data allowance!

Well that's why we hang out here, to learn about all these weird bargains and angles.

 

[scrinch]

I'm afraid that there just haven't been any 3G-only phones that you can use on PagePlus made for the past 4 or so years. You're pretty much stuck with that old OS if you want to stay on the $10 pay-as-you-go plan. I'm pretty sure that PagePlus will never allow a 4G handset on that plan because of how Verizon charges them.

If you want to get a new smartphone and are willing to change providers, there is a company (mypuppywireless.com) where you can use a 4G smartphone and pay only $10/mo for 60 min/mo + 60 SMS/mo, and you can add 60MB/mo to that for an additional $2. Puppy Wireless uses the Verizon network, so your coverage shouldn't change.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

My current phone is a Motorola Droid X2. The OS is so old that many apps can't update or load and it doesn't work with the Entune system on my new Toyota.

A quick search on the Motorola Droid X2 phone shows this -Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), not upgradable to v4.1 (Jelly Bean).

PagePlus website lists several 3g only phones starting @ $20 with Android 4.4 and either Kitkat or Jellybean. Have you ruled them out?

https://www.pagepluscellular.com/phones/

 

[travelover]

A quick search on the Motorola Droid X2 phone shows this -Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), not upgradable to v4.1 (Jelly Bean).

PagePlus website lists several 3g only phones starting @ $20 with Android 4.4 and either Kitkat or Jellybean. Have you ruled them out?

https://www.pagepluscellular.com/phones/

That sounds like what I'm looking for. How do you tell which ones are 3G?
Edit - I guess you have to go though the various models one by one and review the specs.

 

[Ready]

OK, you've peaked my curiosity now. How do you manage to only spend a few minutes a month on your cell phone? Do you mainly use your landline? Just don't talk on the phone much? Never need to look anything up while away from home?

 

[travelover]

OK, you've peaked my curiosity now. How do you manage to only spend a few minutes a month on your cell phone? Do you mainly use your landline? Just don't talk on the phone much? Never need to look anything up while away from home?

You are not going to believe this, but for most for most of my life cell phones did not exist - and I survived! I do not have a land line, but do use Google Voice with Hangouts if I need to call some place where I will likely be left on hold for a long time or for a long chat.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

That sounds like what I'm looking for. How do you tell which ones are 3G?
Edit - I guess you have to go though the various models one by one and review the specs.

Skip the ones that show LTE or 4G LTE, and high $'s I presume.

 

[travelover]

Skip the ones that show LTE or 4G LTE, and high $'s I presume.

Thanks a lot. The Galaxy 3 looks good at $40, except is is so huge.

 

[ejman]

I don't know if it will work for you but I use a Motorola Moto E 1st gen which costs $20 with a tracfone plan where I buy 1200 minutes of talk time, 1200 texts and 1.2 g data plus one year service time for $99 a year. This phone comes with Android KitKat 4.4 and works just fine with the Uconnect system in my 2016 Chrysler 300. I've owned this phone for about a year now and very happy with it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-Moto-E-Android-Smartphone-w-Triple-Minute-for-Tracfone-NEW-/1

 

[travelover]

I don't know if it will work for you but I use a Motorola Moto E 1st gen which costs $20 with a tracfone plan where I buy 1200 minutes of talk time, 1200 texts and 1.2 g data plus one year service time for $99 a year. This phone comes with Android KitKat 4.4 and works just fine with the Uconnect system in my 2016 Chrysler 300. I've owned this phone for about a year now and very happy with it. Motorola Moto E Android Smartphone w Triple Minute for Tracfone NEW | eBay

Thanks. I ended up buying one of these as PagePlus was out of the Galaxy S3 phone, which was a nicer phone but had an older operating system. At $28, practically free.

 

[ERD50]

OK, you've peaked my curiosity now. How do you manage to only spend a few minutes a month on your cell phone? Do you mainly use your landline? Just don't talk on the phone much? Never need to look anything up while away from home?

Not the OP, but I'm similar. I sometimes go months w/o making a call/text on my cell.

When we are home, it's the VOIP phone. When I'm out, I'm out, I rarely need to talk to anyone. If I need to call home about some shopping item or something, I do. I don't avoid using the cell phone, I just don't have any need to use it much at all.

For years I had the T-Mobile Gold plan, once you put the initial $100 on it, you only had to add $10 a year (yea, a year - like 8.3 cents/month). The minutes roll over, and I still have hundreds of minutes on it. For $10 a year, I'm keeping it active, just in case, but use a smart phone now. I occasionally do need data now (Uber mostly), so went with a cheap data plan (Ting, sharing minutes/data with DW - runs ~ $28/month for the two of us).

Obviously, this won't work for some people, but if you have a VOIP phone at home, some of us just don't need/want to gab while we are busy doing other things.

-ERD50

 

[jimbee]

When looking for cell phone deals, I check Prepaid Phone News. They have a list of cell phone deals, updated weekly. Here is the latest list.

Updated 4/11: Prepaid Phones On Sale This Week Apr 9 - Apr 15 | Prepaid Phone News

 

[travelover]

Update

Got my Moto E phone today and set it up. Happy as a pig in mud and all for $28. I also downloaded Google Voice and Hangouts Dialer so I can make wifi calls from the phone.

 

[ejman]

Got my Moto E phone today and set it up. Happy as a pig in mud and all for $28. I also downloaded Google Voice and Hangups Dialer so I can make wifi calls from the phone.

Glad it worked out well for you. I'm frankly amazed at what this little smart phone can do for such a pittance. Out of curiosity I tried my daughters $600 iphone and frankly had to scratch my head as I couldn't see the value added for + $580. I guess the same sort of thing applies to a comparison between a $20 Casio watch and a Rolex or some such.

 

[ERD50]

Got my Moto E phone today and set it up. Happy as a pig in mud and all for $28. I also downloaded Google Voice and Hangups Dialer so I can make wifi calls from the phone.

Isn't it amazing how much technology our $ will buy? I see that phone is < $100 unlocked.

In my younger days, I couldn't dream of owning this much computing power. Now I have a few of them sitting in a drawer unused!

-ERD50

 

[travelover]

Isn't it amazing how much technology our $ will buy? I see that phone is < $100 unlocked....

The one I bought was literally new, but not in the original box. Even came with a charger.