question for those less far behind on the technology curve

[kindkit]

My current mobile phone contract is soon to expire and I'm probably upgrading to a smartphone, if only because it's very difficult not to, these days. I have a couple of questions.

1) I'm strongly leaning towards a Samsung phone because they're much cheaper than iPhones and because Apple annoys me. If you have/had a Samsung, what do/did you think of it? Conversely, if you have good arguments in favor of the iPhone, I'm willing to listen.

2) The cheapest data plan offers 1 GB monthly. How much data is that, really? Is it enough for normal use--checking when the movie starts or what the weather forecast is, forays onto the internet during lunch or while standing in a queue, and so on? I don't think I'd use the phone a huge amount for internet access because if I'm at home I'd rather use my laptop.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Comments

[the_rck]

Most smart phones will use wifi if it's available, and that doesn't count against data usage, so the question isn't just how much you'll use but how much you'll use when you don't have wifi.

There should be a settings option that makes sure the phone only does software updates when it's connected to wifi. Those updates can chew through data.

I think I have a Motorola rather than a Samsung.

[fleetsparrow]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 and I really love it. It's sturdy, and has a place for an SD card and removable battery, so if that dies you don't need a completely new phone. We have a 1GB family plan and we never even get close to it. We tend to use whatever wi-fi is available, but if we need data, we can turn it on and use it. I recommend turning off data whenever you're not using it to make sure no apps are running in the background and using it even when you're not actively using the phone.

[lilacsigil]

I have 1G data and I only use it up when there's extended internet outages in my area, such as right now. For normal usage, I never get close.

[frayadjacent]

I had wifi at home but not at work, and looked at facebook, DW, etc on my phone pretty regularly for my ~45 minute commutes, during lunch, etc, and I also used google maps a fair amount. I rarely used 500 MB per month. Streaming video and tumblr ate through my data though.

(I'm using past tense because I now have an iphone and I haven't figured out how to see what my data usage is. I'm not worried about it though.)

The HTC One, another android phone, is also very good. I had it before the iphone and liked it a lot.

[lilliburlero]

Samsung phones are good: I've just replaced my Galaxy Fame which leapt to the pavement the day before yesterday and smashed its little face in with a Galaxy J3 and it's great. If big. Why did you get so big and fragile, phones?

I have 4GB monthly and I never use anything like. I discussed this with the sales guy and he said he uses between 4 and 5 GB monthly, but that represents about 3 hours daily data usage. And as others have said, you can use wifi in a lot of places (here, the city buses have wifi, which is great if you use the bus a lot, less great if you're just hanging about waiting to meet someone and your phone is trying to chase a passing bus's wifi signal down the street instead of connecting to mobile data.)

[vilakins]

I've always gone Android. I had a Samsung as my first smart phone and liked it, but have had a Motorola for the last year or so. They're much the same, both using Android, and Greg loves his Samsung S5, so my only rec would be to go Android.

Not being in the US I can't say much about plans, but I believe you guys have free wifi all over the place unlike here.

[starlady]

I totally recommend Android, and in particular Samsung--I've had three Samsung phones and they've all been pretty great, though I don't think any of them are going to last much longer than about three or four years tops, it's just the way they're made these days. That said, I currently have a Galaxy S6 and like it quite a lot; it's big enough for reading AO3 but still not ginormous. 1GB data also sounds pretty reasonable as long as you're not streaming video all the time and you do your downloading of apps etc over wifi.

[cathexys]

Another vote that 1G should be plenty, esp if you tend to be around wireless access and don't do video.

I own an iphone and wouldn't have any good reason to rec it. I think both price and annoyance are good reasons against it :)

[cathexys]

Also re downloads. I spend a lot of times listening to podcast and audiobooks and even watching tv shows, but you can d'load all of that when you're on wifi so it doesn't ever affect your data. On the iphone you can allow or disallow every app to use 4G and I bet they all have that. That way, even if you accidentally click a podcast, for example, that you haven't downloaded yet, it won't let you do it.

(When I was really hurting for d'load space at the end of a month, I'd turn off everything but email and usually I only have that and web browser on anyway).