YIKES - YIKES - YIKES! I don't want to have to buy a new cell phone! The top popped off of mine and currently it still works but I'm just using it for the hot spot as it lays there with it's guts exposed to the world. The Samsung S5 was an awesome phone to last this long - but now the time has come to have to replace it. And being I am the opposite of an early adopter, holding on to the next phone at my age might be for the rest of my life. So this isn't a quick small decision. As much as part of me wants to run down and get the cheapest phone I can buy because that's really what my financial situation calls for me to do, I just can't look at it this way without a lot of thought.
I am making this blog to help me store helpful information in the decision making process and who knows maybe it will help someone else reading it someday too.
I'm attaching links I've deemed helpful or listing at the end of the blog if they won't allow attaching for future reference.
My first question was whether to switch to apple since I hate all things Google. So my first investigations were looking at the two systems and since I've never had apple, trying to figure out if I would like how they do things and how their phone works.
In the middle of this studying I was made aware of the Freedom Phones which I also researched. But since I have no plan to network from my phone, no matter how convenient it is, what they loaded the phone with wasn't that helpful to me although I LOVE the idea of NO Google Spyware. Also their lack of specs, warranties, notice of how frequently there would be software updates and so on make me leery of spending around 500 dollars for the unknowns. There are no tech reviews of this phone anywhere to be found either. No one even knows if it is glitchy or how good the camera is or really anything more about it than the little they decided to tell on their site.
So back to iPhone vs Android: See several comparison links below for more information as to how I came to my conclusion. (Sort of) The ongoing theme at most links is to figure out which features are most important to ME because there are good things about both kinds. When all is said and done, although I hate anything loaded with Google, I don't like the idea of not being able to control my home screen and I think IF (AND THAT'S A BIG IF) I go on in life to do what I am wanting to do, a project that would include lots of videos and pictures, then I want a phone that has a slot for expanding external memory.
Not too many phones are coming with expandable card slots anymore, not even the Galaxy S21 nor any of the iPhones I could find. Although the camera and screen display on iPhone is given the higher rating by most, the S21 is also lauded for its phone and cameras the iPhone camera quality tests I've seen the results of show pictures turn out way more vibrantly. I am capable of removing imagery and fixing things but it's just another step I'd rather not do if I don't need to.
While upgrades of software and os is also important, I already know Apple is the way to go for that when you want to hold onto a phone but I can't reason that it is THE most important thing for me.
So I want to focus on videos and pictures - and storing both. iPhone = best pic quality - Android = best storage but not in the S21 - however Onenote allows up to 1T on an external card. I can store outside of the phone so I factor that in - but that brings me to something else I don't think I would like about iPhones. You can hook an iPhone up to a computer but it only works like a read only connection. Androids allow you to transfer things back and forth which for me , being I don't want to network from the phone to do pass throughs of files, I think this is also another important consideration. I've done that often with the phone I've had for seven years. Since I don't have any other Apple gadgets to sync with, anything the iPhone can do along that line is not meaningful to me.
So in Samsung flagship phones top of the line it comes down to S21 Ultra vs Galaxy Note 20. S21 - has better overall ratings and features on the camera too, but Note 20 is upgradable to 1T on external chip. (How do I choose between that when the price point isn't all that great once I look in the $1,000 range?)
But can I even afford the top of the line phones? Realistically I realize I probably shouldn't spend that much so then I researched down line and with Samsung generally coming out on top in all other price ranges, I turned my attention to them particularly.
There are other decisions to be made at this time as well such as where I buy the phone. Do I go through the phone service carrier or the manufacturer and get an unlocked phone, which most reviews recommend for the switching carrier ability and for avoiding the bloatware carriers load the phone with.
And then that brings me to do I stay with Verizon or switch to what I found was my best alternative, T Mobile? Both plans are comparable in price but I find myself leaning to T Mobile for their perks while I lean to Verizon for the best territorial coverage, outside of 5 g that is, because T Mobile says they have the largest 5 G in the country right now. But if I ever do get to return to HI, T Mobile isn't great for coverage in a lot of places I would go.
None of the places show any difference in phone prices between them, although Samsung allows storage upgrades that neither Verizon or T Mobile do. But a final consideration is that a carrier will allow the purchase of a phone to be spread out over a contract period making the higher price more doable for me at least.
Finally I am making a question list for contacting various sources and it's growing by the minute. The biggest question I have that NO ONE answers is what software and apps are preloaded on the phone when you purchase it from them as a source. Also do the phones allow blocking of numbers and what kind of chargers do they have because in some cases I can't even find this info which one would think would be basic to provide in phone specs.
I started this search almost two weeks ago and at the moment I am only more knowledgeable not really any closer to a decision.
YIKES - YIKES - YIKES!
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