Phone snobs: I need your help on buying a new cell

[Sonikku]

I have that phone in the 32gb version. It's been a solid phone thus far. I think you'll like it. Congrats on your new phone.

Do you think I got a good deal for $49?

 

[jcwagers]

Do you think I got a good deal for $49?

Considering I paid almost 4 times that much for mine around Christmas time last year, yes, I think you got a good deal. For the money, I think you'd be very hard pressed to find anything new close to that in a budget phone. I'm sure others may disagree and that's ok. Just make sure you get a decent sized micro sd card so you can up your storage some more and you should be good. Let us know what you think once you've played with it a bit. It's not going to compete with the newest high end phones but for 49 bucks, you should have a solid phone that will last a pretty good while.

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

Have you seen the huge ad banner "buy honor 7" on top? Do you still need to ask question?

 

[sdifox]

Have you seen the huge ad banner "buy honor 7" on top? Do you still need to ask question?

What ad banner?

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

What ad banner?

you dont see it? maybe the site is somehow recording my browsing history and serving me ads. I need to install some ad blockers...

 

[Sonikku]

I called my government subsidized phone carrier, Access Wireless, and they say that for it to work I need to get a Sprint sim card for it as they use Sprint's towers. I called Sprint to inquire about procuring a sim, but they said those are solely for those that have a phone plan exclusively with them. What do I do? I can't afford $20+ every month for a "mainstream" phone carrier. If I can't get my new phone to work with my government subsidized carrier I'll be crushed.

 

[sdifox]

I called my government subsidized phone carrier, Access Wireless, and they say that for it to work I need to get a Sprint sim card for it as they use Sprint's towers. I called Sprint to inquire about procuring a sim, but they said those are solely for those that have a phone plan exclusively with them. What do I do? I can't afford $20+ every month for a "mainstream" phone carrier. If I can't get my new phone to work with my government subsidized carrier I'll be crushed.

I think you are supposed to ask for access wireless sim from sprint

 

[ElFenix]

based on what i've been reading lately on slickdeals most sprint 'customer service' people have no idea what their company does or doesn't offer.

 

[spdfreak]

I ended up getting the Amazon Offers G5 Plus for myself a few days ago. My initial impression is favorable but I haven't done much more than activate the SIM card yet.

I'm looking at one of these but I need a good camera. Reviews are all over the place with some saying the camera is great and others claiming it is junk. People also seem to disagree on how well it works on verizon's network. My current phone- nokia icon, has a great 20mp camera but the rest of the phone is just tolerable and WP is dead now. Does the camera take good shots in normal light- daylight, flash, etc? That's really all I need.

 

[Yuriman]

I'm looking at one of these but I need a good camera. Reviews are all over the place with some saying the camera is great and others claiming it is junk. People also seem to disagree on how well it works on verizon's network. My current phone- nokia icon, has a great 20mp camera but the rest of the phone is just tolerable and WP is dead now. Does the camera take good shots in normal light- daylight, flash, etc? That's really all I need.

The shots are good for the price range the phone is in, during the day. Low light performance is poor, I find the pictures to be dark and noisy compared with my Pixel, but that's absolutely not a fair comparison; that kind of low light performance is also very typical in this price range.

If you can get a phone which uses a Snapdragon 8xx (might be 820 minimum?), the Pixel's camera software has been modified to work on them and it produces very significantly better pictures than any other camera app.

 

[Sonikku]

I got off the phone again and they said any micro sim from Sprint would work. Is that true? I thought some sims only worked with certain models.

 

[Sonikku]

Oh my god. I can't find a Sprint sim card that'll work with the Moto G4 ANYWHERE. Sprint won't give me one like Access Wireless says they will. I looked on Ebay hoping to find one for a couple bucks and I couldn't find one PERIOD.

 

[jcwagers]

Do you have a Sprint store near you? I found this... https://m.sprint.com/shop/mobile/shop/accessory/ao/accessory_details.jsp?accSKU=105500049 for $2.99 and it says you can visit a local store to purchase one as well. You might call the number at the top of the page to try to order one if you can't get one through the website.

 

[Sonikku]

nice find. Though I don't know if it will be compatible. I spoke with a rep at a sprint store over the phone and he said there are different sim cards for different models. Even if it's a sprint micro sized card, what might work for an iphone might not work on a samsung galaxy for example due to encryption. The rub is finding out what works with a moto 4 as it appears to be an obscure phone as far as sim cards are concerned.

 

[sdifox]

nice find. Though I don't know if it will be compatible. I spoke with a rep at a sprint store over the phone and he said there are different sim cards for different models. Even if it's a sprint micro sized card, what might work for an iphone might not work on a samsung galaxy for example due to encryption. The rub is finding out what works with a moto 4 as it appears to be an obscure phone as far as sim cards are concerned.

just go to a retail store then. this is the first I have heard of different sims for different phones.

 

[jcwagers]

nice find. Though I don't know if it will be compatible. I spoke with a rep at a sprint store over the phone and he said there are different sim cards for different models. Even if it's a sprint micro sized card, what might work for an iphone might not work on a samsung galaxy for example due to encryption. The rub is finding out what works with a moto 4 as it appears to be an obscure phone as far as sim cards are concerned.

If I recall correctly, the Moto G4 was the first major phone that was supposed to be compatible with ALL of the major carriers, GSM or CDMA. I remember reading about a lot of people having horrible times getting them working with Verizon because Verizon said it wasn't supported and Motorola/Lenovo said it was. It seemed to revolve around WHO you spoke with in the store and how interested they were in trying to help you get it working. It could be a similar situation with Sprint but as was said, I would take it to the store and have someone try to help you with it.

Now, what I would personally take from the "different sim cards for different models" is that it depends on the phone as to which SIZE sim you need. There aren't different sims for phones that I know of. However, there are different SIZES. Some phones will only work with a nano sim while some need a micro. I think that the rep jumbled things up and made a mess of trying to explain that. As long as the phone takes a micro sim or a nano sim, there is no special sim card. It just needs to be the right size for it to work in the phone.

 

[sdifox]

If I recall correctly, the Moto G4 was the first major phone that was supposed to be compatible with ALL of the major carriers, GSM or CDMA. I remember reading about a lot of people having horrible times getting them working with Verizon because Verizon said it wasn't supported and Motorola/Lenovo said it was. It seemed to revolve around WHO you spoke with in the store and how interested they were in trying to help you get it working. It could be a similar situation with Sprint but as was said, I would take it to the store and have someone try to help you with it.

Now, what I would personally take from the "different sim cards for different models" is that it depends on the phone as to which SIZE sim you need. There aren't different sims for phones that I know of. However, there are different SIZES. Some phones will only work with a nano sim while some need a micro. I think that the rep jumbled things up and made a mess of trying to explain that. As long as the phone takes a micro sim or a nano sim, there is no special sim card. It just needs to be the right size for it to work in the phone.

you mean they haven't all switched to the nano with adapter kind?

 

[jcwagers]

You know what I mean. I was just reiterating (probably poorly) that a micro sim is a micro sim and a nano sim is a nano sim. If it fits the phone, it should work. The only confusion might be what SIZE sim card fits the phone. And that is where you mentioned the nano sim with adapter to make it into a micro sim or you could probably just buy a micro sim depending on the carrier and what sim cards they still carry and use. For some, you might have your choice of micro sim or nano plus adapter. For others it may only be nano plus adapter because they no longer carry micro sims.

 

[Sonikku]

Thanks for the input everyone!

I think I'm going to head to the Sprint store tomorrow and see if they'll sell me one of those $3 kits linked above from their online store. If they don't, which is likely given the behavior of the employees I've spoken to on the phone, then I think I'll buy this at the Best Buy right next to it at the mall;

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/boost-...m-card-activation-kit/5887020.p?skuId=5887020

Evidently despite being boost, it can be used to active Sprint according to reviews. And it can be used with the Moto g4 as well according to another review. For $10 it's more than I would like to pay, but marginally less than getting the $3 sim off Sprint's website with $10 shipping. How much money does it cost to mail a micro sim card anyway?!

 

[artless1]

there's a handful or so of the Samsung Galaxy S6 on ebay everyday for < $100 . . .

 

[Victorian Gray]

Oh my god. I can't find a Sprint sim card that'll work with the Moto G4 ANYWHERE. Sprint won't give me one like Access Wireless says they will. I looked on Ebay hoping to find one for a couple bucks and I couldn't find one PERIOD.

Don't believe that the G4 is compatible with Sprint.

From the amazon info:

This cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile as well as with GSM SIM need cards (e.g. H20, Straight Talk, and select prepaid carriers) need to contact the service provider to check fully compatibility of the phone. This cellphone will NOT work with CDMA Carriers like Verizon, Sprint, Boost mobile or Virgin mobile

https://www.amazon.ca/Motorola-XT16...F8&qid=1513513211&sr=1-2&keywords=motorola+g4

 

[jcwagers]

You are looking at the international version. The regular G4 shows as being compatible. I honestly don't know what the differences are between the two phones but.....I guess there is something.

https://www.amazon.com/Moto-4th-Gen...&qid=1513536693&sr=1-5&keywords=Moto+G4+phone

 

[Victorian Gray]

You are looking at the international version. The regular G4 shows as being compatible. I honestly don't know what the differences are between the two phones but.....I guess there is something.

https://www.amazon.com/Moto-4th-Gen...&qid=1513536693&sr=1-5&keywords=Moto+G4+phone

Yes, you appear to be correct. Did a bit more rooting around online and it does look like the domestic model should be compatible. Also noted a lot of forum messages from various places with folks having trouble getting functional cards from Sprint which seems odd. <shrug>

 

[jcwagers]

I've heard of people having trouble with Verizon so it doesn't surprise me that they had trouble with Sprint too. I've been on GSM and mine activated easily but apparently the CDMA wasn't such an easy process. I haven't read up to see if the Moto G5 is better in that regard or if it's still difficult to get it working with some of the carriers.

 

[Sonikku]

Don't believe that the G4 is compatible with Sprint.

From the amazon info:

This cell phone is compatible with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile as well as with GSM SIM need cards (e.g. H20, Straight Talk, and select prepaid carriers) need to contact the service provider to check fully compatibility of the phone. This cellphone will NOT work with CDMA Carriers like Verizon, Sprint, Boost mobile or Virgin mobile

https://www.amazon.ca/Motorola-XT16...F8&qid=1513513211&sr=1-2&keywords=motorola+g4

Sprint told me the same thing when I took it in to them. They checked the serial and IMEI and had to eat crow. Was serious pain in the neck getting a sim card out of them without signing onto a plan though. ugh.