Cell phone experts - which would you choose?

[rszdtrvl]

Okay, so this is kind of "Part 2" in my cell phone saga.

This is cut and pasted from my iphone 4 question. Looking for a new phone for DS for Christmas.

His cell phone is an old Rumor Touch from VM.

I am not looking to spend more than $200 on a phone. He kind of wants an iphone because he can have all of his apps, etc. on it (already has the ipad and ipod touch). But it is not necessary.

My main thing is budget, and getting him a good 3g (4g is not necessary) cell phone.

These phones are all in the budget DH and I have :

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/samsung-galaxy-victory-4G-LTE-phone/features/

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/awe-phone/features/ (this is the phone I have)

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/samsung-galaxy-reverb-phone/features/

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/iPhone4-8GB-white-phone/features/

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/reef-phone/features/

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/shop/cell-phones/lg-optimus-f3-phone/features/


Any techies tell me which is "the best" (in their opinion)? He will be 17 next month (in case you want an age).

 

[bjgonzo]

What I like about Apple is once you buy an app you can put it on so many devices, same with music. If you get him an android based app, he will have to re-purchase his must have apps, and he will not be able to sync up his stuff. I love that I can put something in the calendar on my iPad and it automatically syncs with my phone, same with notes and other things. I would go with the 4s over the 4 because the 4s has more memory then the 4 does.
I did not look at your other post, but for budget purposes, if you do a 2 year plan, you can get older phones for free or pretty cheap. I haven't looked into the price of buying the phone outright so I'm clueless.

 

[wiigirl]

What I like about Apple is once you buy an app you can put it on so many devices, same with music. If you get him an android based app, he will have to re-purchase his must have apps, and he will not be able to sync up his stuff. I love that I can put something in the calendar on my iPad and it automatically syncs with my phone, same with notes and other things. I would go with the 4s over the 4 because the 4s has more memory then the 4 does.
I did not look at your other post, but for budget purposes, if you do a 2 year plan, you can get older phones for free or pretty cheap. I haven't looked into the price of buying the phone outright so I'm clueless.

 

[DVCTX]

You may want to check you local Target. The Targets in my area have a brand new VM iPhone4s for $249. That is $100 less than the VM web site. Not quite within you budget but close for an iPhone.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I ended up getting him the iphone 4. The Target deal looked good, but there is no Target locally, plus it was over our budget by 25% (yes our budget is a BIG deal for his phone).

He will be happy, and I stayed within our budget.



Thanks everyone!

 

[CarlisleMom]

From experience on Android...I disagree with prior poster.


On android devices - we own 2 cell phones and 2 tablets... we use the same google play account and only buy the apps once and can download to all. We just set up a gmail account only for this purpose.

Google calendar syncs phone, tablet and desktop.

 

[bjgonzo]

From experience on Android...I disagree with prior poster. On android devices - we own 2 cell phones and 2 tablets... we use the same google play account and only buy the apps once and can download to all. We just set up a gmail account only for this purpose. Google calendar syncs phone, tablet and desktop.

Right you can do that on other android devices. He already has Apple devices so he would have to buy any apps he has already paid Apple for again to have them on an android device. You can't download an Apple app to an android device.

 

[Fueledbycoffee]

Do you have to stay with VM? You can get the iPhone 5c with new 2 year contract for $100 at AT&T. I've had the best luck going to best buy & shopping for phones because the don't work on commission & can offer the best deals from all of the carriers. It's one stop shopping

 

[MillauFr]

Do you have to stay with VM? You can get the iPhone 5c with new 2 year contract for $100 at AT&T. I've had the best luck going to best buy & shopping for phones because the don't work on commission & can offer the best deals from all of the carriers. It's one stop shopping

I thought AT&T was far more expensive than Virgin Mobile. My daughter has unlimited data and texting from Virgin Mobile and her monthly bill is $32.85 inclusive of all taxes. I've heard people paying over a $100 per month to AT&T for a similar plan.

 

[DawnM]

Very true.

You have to look at your savings long term, not just for the initial phone expense.

My husband's cell plan is through ATT. His work pays, thankfully.

iPhone with ATT. His bill is $110/mo.

Phone: $100
Monthly plan for 24 months: $2640
Total Cost: $2740 for 2 years

Same plan with Straight Talk (just as an example)

iphone 5: $550
Monthly plan for 24 months: $1080
Total cost: $1630

Other plans are even cheaper. I have Republic Wireless (no iPhone though)

Moto X with discount: $200
24 month plan: $600
Total Cost: $800

The above are just examples. There are dozens of plans out there right now with pre-paid options.

Dawn

I thought AT&T was far more expensive than Virgin Mobile. My daughter has unlimited data and texting from Virgin Mobile and her monthly bill is $32.85 inclusive of all taxes. I've heard people paying over a $100 per month to AT&T for a similar plan.

 

[JB2K]

His cell phone is an old Rumor Touch from VM.

I am not looking to spend more than $200 on a phone. He kind of wants an iphone because he can have all of his apps, etc. on it (already has the ipad and ipod touch). But it is not necessary.

My main thing is budget, and getting him a good 3g (4g is not necessary) cell phone.

I am a Virgin Mobile user, if you want a good Android phone in the 3G world, their Samsung Galaxy S2 is among the best (and can be found at many retailers under $200).

Also worth considering - VM has an iPhone 4 that is pretty inexpensive and offers 3G service, too.

 

[JB2K]

Do you have to stay with VM? You can get the iPhone 5c with new 2 year contract for $100 at AT&T. I've had the best luck going to best buy & shopping for phones because the don't work on commission & can offer the best deals from all of the carriers. It's one stop shopping

True "budget" types never handcuff themselves to restrictive (and ultimately, expensive) 2-year contracts.