clueless about smart phones and need advice!

[Imbrium]

so a friend randomly offered me her old iphone 3 for $100, which is on the low end of the going rate for them. I HATE AT&T with the fire of a thousand suns... but begrudgingly started to consider selling my soul for a $100 smart phone because, you know, damn good deal and all.

I pulled up the Cricket website and they had iphone plans and sell the iphone 4 & 5, so silly me, I thought that meant you could totally use an iphone with Cricket. I convinced myself that I didn't have to hate myself for buying an iphone, because it's not like AT&T was getting ANY money out of it - the money was only going to my friend.

I got all excited, bought the phone from her, took it to Cricket, waited in line for like 20 freaking minutes and then they told me to f-off because they can't let me use an iphone unless it's a "Cricket" iphone because of some bullsh*t contract they have with AT&T, who I now hate even more than I did before, which I didn't think was possible! *cry*

said friend is totally willing to gimme my $100 back and reclaim her phone... but now that I had actually convinced myself to give up my 7-8 year "I don't need a damn smart phone" mentality and got myself all excited about having real internets on my phone and all that, I'm looking at my 6-7 year old phone and it's making me kinda sad... so I'm contemplating actually coughing up for a smart phone through Cricket (even though part of me wants to refuse to out of sheer spite because god damn it, it's not right that they told me and my hand-me-down iphone 3 to go screw ourselves).

anyway, I don't know a damn thing about smart phones other than that they've got touch screens and real internets and can do a crapload of stuff that my current phone can't... well, and I just learned that some smart phones have as much RAM as the computer I owned around 5-6 years ago (1 GB), which is pretty scary.

a friend I had in college taught me his rule for buying liquor, which is "find the absolute cheapest brand they have and then go at *least* two steps up" and I've found that to be incredibly applicable to purchasing almost anything. based on going at least two steps up from the cheapest models + avoiding the "top of the line" stuff where you pay a LOT more for a very meager increase in quality, I was able to narrow the selection down to the following phones:

http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phones/details/lg-optimus-regard-lw770
http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phones/details/htc-one-v-2000-c
http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phones/details/zte-engage-v8000
http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phones/details/htc-one-sv-h3000c
http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phones/details/apple-iphone-4-black

unfortunately, 90% of the specs for the phones go right over my head because I've never even played around with someone else's smart phone, let alone owned one.

I know I want something with decent internet.
I hate waiting for **** to load.
I have a digital camera, so I'm not sure how much I really care about pics and videos and storage - I'd probably only use the phone if I happened to have it handy but the camera was at home (unless I can upload videos from the phone to my computer, since apparently the damn camera has stopped letting me do that).
I want something user-friendly that doesn't constantly remind me how clueless I am.
I guess I might listen to music on the phone, since my mp3 player is really old and it's gotten uppity and no longer allows me to change the music on it (though it still works)... however, the TOTAL amount of music I have stored on my comp comes out to just under 2 gigs, and it seems that there's not a smart phone out there that doesn't have plenty more memory than that.
I STILL don't know what bluetooth is... the boyfriend I had at the time tried to explain it to me over five years ago, but I kinda zoned out after the first couple sentences.
I'd like a phone with at least ONE ring-tone on it that doesn't piss me off something fierce (without requiring me to buy/download a ring-tone).
I'm also 99% clueless about apps...

TLDR: I'm looking for someone to read my mind better than I can, lol! ><

 

[Blue eyes]

I took a quick look on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_condition-type_1?rh=n%3A2335752011%2Cn%3A!2335753011%2Cn%3A5005582011%2Cp_n_feature_ten_browse-bin%3A3299090011%2Cp_n_condition-type%3A6503240011&bbn=5005582011&ie=UTF8&qid=1366173042&rnid=6503239011

This is how I got my phone and my husband's. Amazon for one and e-bay for another. We got refurbished phones specific for our carrier. I'm not sure if this can work with cricket since I'm not familiar with how they work. But the link says it's for prepaid cricket. So maybe this could be an alternative.

When I wasn't sure about one phone compared to another, I googled "___phone vs ____phone" to check comparisons.

The links aren't opening that you gave, but hubby got an lg optimus s and I got the HTC evo 4g shift. Apparently they are both slightly older models but aren't that old. The names of our phones seem similar to some you linked but may be a slightly different model. We are happy with ours (and are still learning how to use them, lol)

The link I gave is for new phones, but you can change that on the left hand-side of the link and click on refurbished.

 

[Imbrium]

that's very odd that the links aren't working, since I wasn't signed in ><

the phones I was looking at were:
LG Optimus Regard ($250 on sale for $110)
HTC One V ($280 on sale for $140)
HTC One SV ($370 on sale for $280)
ZTE Engage ($250 on sale for $130)
and
Apple iPhone® 4 - Black (8GB) ($300 on sale for $250)

 

[Blue eyes]

Here's one of those sites comparing 2 of the phones you have listed:
http://geekaphone.com/compare/LG-Optimus-Regard-vs-HTC-One-SV

Looks like they compare as a tie even though the prices you found have quite a disparity. If you scroll down you can compare the features and see which ones are more important to you.

 

[Imbrium]

see, the problem with that is that I have no idea what most of the features are, let alone which ones are more important to me

what I need is a "buying a smartphone for dummies" guide!

 

[Blue eyes]

Ha! Yeah, I don't either. But, on the comparison link, I can see that one has a larger screen and the resolution is higher -- that I like. The question would then be whether or not I think that those features are worth the extra $170. Most of the other features I can see are comparable.

I would compare the other phones you are considering in a similar fashion.

Here's an even better site comparing the 2 cheaper of your alternatives. I'm sure with this link you can gather what you want.
http://sortable.com/phones/ZTE-Engage-vs-LG-Optimus-Regard

 

[whitelop]

Whatever you do get, get a serious case for it! I just dropped my phone this morning and busted most of my screen up, so my best advice would be to get an otterbox or something like that to save your phone screen. Because as much as you think you don't drop a phone, as soon as you get a NICE one, you'll wind up throwing it across a room by accident.

Or on purpose, you'll slam it into a wall and put the first crack in the screen.

I have a ZTE and its nice, its android powered. Does everything all the more expensive ones do. I have apps and get internet service and good picture quality. It doesn't take good picture OR have flash, which are one of the things I would change. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm not sure which one it is though, I'm not sure if its the one that you put up there or a different one. And its linked to my google playstore account so if I pick an app from my computer it will put it on my phone, thats pretty cool.

 

[slavetoabunny]

I have a Blackberry which I love and most people hate. I'm just curious why you hate AT&T? I have been with them for 15 years and have had zero problems. We use them for our home service too.

 

[Imbrium]

Whatever you do get, get a serious case for it! I just dropped my phone this morning and busted most of my screen up, so my best advice would be to get an otterbox or something like that to save your phone screen. Because as much as you think you don't drop a phone, as soon as you get a NICE one, you'll wind up throwing it across a room by accident...

I drop my phone fairly often, lol. that's one of the things I like about it, it's been beaten up like crazy for like 7 years now and the worst thing that's ever happened is I think *one* time it turned itself off when it fell (particularly bad fall) and it came right back on when I hit the "on" button like nothing had ever happened. the iphone my friend tried to sell me has this metal case on it that apparently makes it basically indestructible... one more reason I'm pissed at AT&T, that would've been nice.

as for AT&T, they're over-priced, money-grubbing *******s who encourage (or at least did for a long time) their employees to screw people over.

back in the days before everyone had a cell phone, we had MCI, I believe, for long distance and one time the AT&T telemarketer tried to convince my mom to change and she *repeatedly* told them "no" and then they switched our service anyway and it was a huge hassle. that was when we were living in new orleans, so I was 11 or younger at the time. and before you say "isolated incident"...

when I was 16, I got a job at West Telemarketing... I wanted to take inbound calls because I hated the idea of calling people who didn't want to talk to me, but the b*stards stuck me with trying to sell AT&T small business services. the chick training me actually pulled the VERY crap on someone that happened to my mom when we lived in new orleans, of switching someone even though they said no, and was TRAINING me to do that sh*t to people! suffice it to say, I took a trip to HR and put my foot down about wanting to get away from AT&T and ended up calling people about their census forms instead. keep in mind, this incident happened in a different state and with a different sub-section of AT&T than the new orleans incident.

then there's how bitchy they are about their precious iphone and making it impossible for me to switch an iphone 3 to a carrier that charges a reasonable amount for service...

oh, and my boyfriend a couple years ago had AT&T cell phone service and was constantly getting pissed off because of dropped calls and such while he was at home. mind you, he lived in LA where he could see the hollywood sign out his window AND there was an actual AT&T tower *visible* from in front of his apartment. he finally had it out with them about the sh*tty service and apparently it was a flaw or defect or something with THEIR stuff... yet they charged him $50 for something-or-other that would make it so his phone would stop dropping calls. what BS is that??

 

[Imbrium]

ok, the biggest thing I'm not understanding about smart phones is the "G" thing... and I didn't even know 3.5G existed until 30 seconds ago, I thought it was just "3G" or "4G"... I know the higher # is supposed to be better, but I don't know what it's supposed to be better AT. (yeah, yeah, I'm a noob )

also, the processor thing confuses me ><
in a comparison of two phones, the first one says:

Faster processor 1.4 GHz vs 1.2 GHz Around 20% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster

and the second one says:

More cores - Twice as many cores; each additional core lets your phone do more without visible UI slowdowns and jerkiness

so both are saying the processor is better than the other phone, but for different reasons?? which is *actually* better, a faster single-core processor or a slower dual-core processor?

this whole smart phone thing hurts my brain

 

[Imbrium]

you know what I don't get? cricket gives you a $20 discount if you buy a new phone online instead of in one of their stores... and then they give you free overnight shipping. I'd rather pick up the phone at the store, since I'm going to have to go in and physically look at them to make a final decision... and overnighting a phone's gonna cost like $25-30... so you'd think they'd want to reward you for buying in the store instead of the other way around. inconvenient, budget-unsavvy morons .

 

[Apebull]

If you are going to use the phone for actually making calls then look at review for the caller sound quality. When I got my smart phone last month that was one thing I looked into more then anything else. I actually use my phone as a phone. I know shocking :shock2: LOL. Also don't spend the extra money to get a 4G phone if it's not even available in your area. One of the main reasons my husband let me finally upgrade was so I could use it as a WiFi hotspot for our kindle fire. And then after we got it we found out that the kindle won't let you connect to phone hot spots. But I still get to keep my phone :biggrin2:

 

[MikeScone]

ok, the biggest thing I'm not understanding about smart phones is the "G" thing... and I didn't even know 3.5G existed until 30 seconds ago, I thought it was just "3G" or "4G"... I know the higher # is supposed to be better, but I don't know what it's supposed to be better AT.

I suppose I should start by saying that I don't have a smart phone and don't want one, thank you - I have a camera when I want a camera, my iPod does all I need done "smart", and my phone is a phone.

The 3/3.5/4G number is a very rough indicator of over-the-air data speed, or at least the phone companies want you to think it is. The "G" stands for "Generation", so "3G" is not a unit of anything (unless you're flying a jet plane, in which case it means that you feel REALLY heavy). There's no particular meaning to the number, nor does it necessarily mean anything carrier-to-carrier. About all you can say for sure is that one carrier's third generation system (3G) is probably faster than that carrier's second generation (2G) and slower than its fourth generation (4G).

None of the comparisons have any validity if you're just using the phone as a phone. Every cell phone can make calls, and the speed is irrelevant because voice audio is really slow, electronically speaking. So, unless you're planning to do lots of data downloads or watch lots of movies, the over-the-air data rate really doesn't matter.

One point to consider is that not all US cell-phone technologies are usable outside the USA/Canada. If you are planning to travel overseas, you should find out if the phone you're looking at will work there - I go to the British Isles every year or two, so I made sure that I had a GSM phone because that's what is used there. Even in GSM, though, you have to make sure that your phone is three- or four-band, because they use different frequencies in Europe than here.

so both are saying the processor is better than the other phone, but for different reasons?? which is *actually* better, a faster single-core processor or a slower dual-core processor?

Now, you're talking about the internal processing speed of the computer (smart phones are really computers which happen to be able to talk to the phone network over the radio). Faster processors process data faster, by definition. But, as with over-the-air data speed, does this matter to you? If you're just going to make phone calls, keep a calendar and contact list, and run similar apps, I doubt you could tell the difference between one processor and another.

As to 1.2GHz and 1.4GHz, that's a measure of clock speed (the "heartbeat" of the system), not necessarily an indicator of processing speed as such. Different chips and different software do different things differently, so one processor running at a 1.2GHz clock speed might edit pictures faster than another running 1.4GHz, but the reverse might be true if you're looking at transferring a file over the wireless. In any case, my rule has always been that in almost every type of thing you probably won't be able to notice a change of less than 3dB (that is, half or double).

A dual-core processor has two microprocessor chips inside one case, a quad-core has four, and so on. So, if the number of cores is the same, the processing speed will compare directly. As to comparing single- and dual-core processors, it's not quite that simple - it depends on what you're asking the computer to do.

If you're only doing one thing, then you're probably only using one processor, no matter how many cores you have. In that case, a single-core computer with a higher processing speed will beat a two-core machine with a slower speed.

If you're having the computer doing a bunch of tasks at once, and if the software is sophisticated enough to split the tasks so that the different tasks run on different cores, then a dual-core processor will complete the overall sum of tasks approximately twice as fast as a single-core processor of the same speed, because the single processor will have to share its time between the tasks. Sometimes, some software is clever enough to break a single task up between processors to reduce overall processing time (think of using nine women in parallel to have a baby in one month) - but I somehow doubt that's happening in smart phones.

I have a quad-core processor on my desktop, and if I run Task Manager to see what's happening, most of the time two or three of the processors aren't being used at all.

Hope that was helpful.

 

[Imbrium]

I make maybe one phone call a week, hehe... unless CPS and/or Time Warner are being ******* and I have to call them to find out WTF is up with my lack of electricity/internet/cable (they don't seem to understand that if they're allowed to expect me to pay my bill in order to receive service, then I'm allowed to expect to receive service if I've paid my bill >.>).

I mostly only use my current phone for texting and the scheduler (ie being able to set multiple alarms... it's *insanely* helpful at times with an online game I play, when I'm launching a ton of attacks over the course of the day that have to be timed just right ).

with a smart phone, I'd use it to do internet stuffs when I'm lounging around in bed and too lazy to get up or when I'm doing "tent time" with the sugar gliders or if I'm having to stand in line somewhere and I'm bored... plus if I trek all the way to Joann's fabrics and forget to bring a printed-out coupon, I could pull it up on my phone (or just skip printing it out to begin with and save paper and ink)... and every once in a while, I find myself arbitrarily thinking I'd like to go somewhere when I'm already out and about and it'd be nice to be able to google whatever it is and find out where one is located (like Quiznos, which I never go to because I can never remember where the heck one is and I only ever think about it when I'm not at home for some reason). I'd also maybe find some games to get addicted to, hehe. I'll also totally use it to download music now that I know the phone I decided to go with lets you download unlimited amounts of music at no extra cost.

I decided to go with the ZTE engage... and apparently I've got 30 days to return it if I decide I don't like it, which is really awesome - if it's going to piss me off, it'll probably do so in the first month.

apparently it can be used as a wireless hot-spot, which would've been totally badass about 3 years ago when I was using my nintendo DS like crazy and getting pissed off b/c the wireless in my house has never worked right so I couldn't use it as a hot-spot to do some stuff for some games... but I kinda forgot about the DS and it's been off in a corner somewhere, so I'm not paying an extra $10 a month for "cricket tethering" to make my phone a hot-spot... unless I find myself constantly running afoul of the 1GB limit for full-speed data AND the slower speed once they start limiting me gets really annoying (there's no limit on data with any plan, they just slow down the speed). as it is, I'm gonna be paying $180 more a year for the "privilege" of having a damn smart phone, which is more than the actual phone costs *grumble*. I'll really miss you, wonderful $35 a month cell phone plan!

btw, thanks for the http://sortable.com link, Blue eyes - that *really* helped me narrow down my choices and make a decision!

 

[Imbrium]

can someone please explain to me how "Free overnight delivery" translates to purchasing on Thursday the 18th and not getting my phone until MONDAY the 22nd???

I suppose I know... it's because I didn't notice the "by 3 pm eastern time" thing before I wandered off to the Cricket store to look at phones in person and placed my order at 2:55 CST, which is after the cut-off... but UPS is still total b*stards for not delivering on Saturday... and a 3 pm EST cut-off time is totally asinine...

I'm about ready to call and cancel my order and go buy a phone in person just to have it sooner, lol. I'd *almost* rather pay $20 than wait another four days for what was supposed to be "overnight delivery". but... it costs them a lot of money to overnight something and I'd hate to miss out on that opportunity to stick it to them. jackasses. I want my phone! I've waited 7+ years for a smart phone, I don't wanna wait four more days!

 

[Imbrium]

and the Cricket bullsh*t pile deepens!

so when I was at the store, I asked about protective cases for the ZTE engage... they had some nice, heavy-duty ones, but they're $22. of course, I already knew that you never, EVER buy accessories from your cell service provider - I just wanted to see what the options were so I could buy one online for like half the price

anyway, I get to ebay and there's apparently two different model numbers for the ZTE engage... but of course the page on Cricket's website where I bought the phone doesn't give ANY model number or even any indication that more than one model exists (WTF?). so I call the number listed for if you want to buy a new phone over the phone... but when the automated system found out I was an existing customer, they said "go f*ck yourself, you have to buy the phone on the internet or in a store"... never mind that I didn't want to buy the phone, I just wanted to talk to a person who sold them >.>

so then I go to the "contact us" thing at the bottom of the page and call the customer service line and select options in the automated system to take me to technical support because that was the only option where I was sure I would get a real, live people on the line. then that guy had to transfer me to their website support people (why the heck they couldn't just give me that number on their website in the first place is beyond me). after waiting for a while and getting a new person on the line, he asked for my order number and name and then told me it didn't say anything about a model number and I would have to wait like 24h until I got the email saying the phone had shipped and then it "should" be listed on there. I was like "well you only sell one version of the phone - don't you know the model of the phone you have for sale??" and he was all "no" and I was all *glare of death through the phone line* >.>

so then I was gonna call the store I was in earlier because those chicks seemed nice and I knew they'd totally remember me 'cause they ooh'd and ahh'd over Lemmy and Tabitha, who were supposed to be "bra training" but had decided to go on a crazy adventure ALL over the inside of my shirt... but of course, using both the cricket store locator and an outright google search, I could not find that cricket store's info ANYWHERE - like it doesn't even exist! they DID, however, have info for the one that was a couple blocks from my house and totally closed down 2+ months ago. way to go, geniuses.

so I called another store and the phone rang and rang and rang and when it finally stopped ringing, it started making these HORRIBLE noises, like an old-school dial-up modem or something. I hung the hell up and called a different store... and every time I put in the number and hit "call", the call got dropped before it even rang (this happened like three times in a row).

FINALLY I called another store and actually got a people on the line and explained what I needed and (unlike the worthless people whose entire job it is to help when people have issues with the cricket website yet don't even know WTF products they've got for sale) they were able to get me the model number so that I can finally resume my ebay shopping.

Cricket is so full of BS and so adept when it comes to failing at customer service. I REALLY hate them and miss the days before they engulfed Pocket. I'd change carriers in a heartbeat if it weren't for the fact that Cricket is leaps and bounds cheaper than any other carrier and the actual service is reliable and high quality. in other words, 99% of the time, they're great... but that 1% of the time where you actually have to interact with them makes you want to start tracking down Cricket execs and punching them in the face.

TLDR: I wasted 15-20 minutes of my life that I can never get back tracking down a damn model number that they should've just had on the product description on their website in the first place. jackasses.

 

[Apebull]

Ha Ha Ha Jennifer your cracking me up. I and SO agree I waited years to get my smart phone and then when my husband finally said yes he went and ordered it snail mail!!! I about died that week waiting for it. Don't worry Monday will be here before you know it and then you have a shiny new phone to play with

 

[Imbrium]

I swear it took me longer to pick out a cover for the phone than it did to pick out the phone - WAY too many choices!!!

I went with this one for now - http://www.ebay.com/itm/271179778102?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 but I'll probably go back and get another one later. $17 cheaper than the ones Cricket sells and a WAY better design, too!

 

[Imbrium]

ok, Cricket has totally redeemed themselves. the UPS guy just showed up 2h earlier than usual and came bearing my new phone!!

edit: ok, mostly redeemed. the phone came with an uncharged battery >.>

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Phones--I don't like any of them, but Nancy would not be able to function without hers.