{"id":2978,"date":"2011-07-11T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T07:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2013-02-10T12:51:52","modified_gmt":"2013-02-10T19:51:52","slug":"get-thee-a-new-cell-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=2978","title":{"rendered":"Get Thee a New Cell Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cell phones are now a solid part of our digital life, if not the very center of that life. If you don’t yet have a smartphone, a cell phone that provides Internet access, then you’ll probably get one soon. If you have an older model, then you’ll probably want to update.
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\nWhen to Update, Whether to Update.<\/strong> The typical cell phone contract is about two years in duration. After that contract is up, you need to look at the options for a new, replacement phone.<\/p>\n

Sure, it’s going to cost you a couple of hundred dollars for the new phone, and you’ll be stuck in a new contract, but the upgrade will be worth it: The new phone will be faster, have better features, and perhaps even access a faster data network.<\/p>\n

Provider issues.<\/strong> You’re going to dislike your cell phone provider no mater what. All of them have mediocre support, questionable service, and other annoying attributes.<\/p>\n

The biggest non-issue for your cell phone provider is the plan. Almost all plans are the same: 2-year contract, plus anywhere from $30 to $80 per month for the phone service plus another $30 per month for the data service (Internet). You may also pay more for texting, advanced voice mail, music services, mobile hotspot, and other goodies.<\/p>\n

What you should pay attention to are the provider’s coverage area and whether or not they have a faster, LTE or 4G service available. If so, then I definitely recommend getting an LTE or 4G phone.<\/p>\n

Keyboard.<\/strong> There are two keyboard options: Real keyboard, as in real tiny<\/em> keyboard, or touchscreen. Some people really love a real keyboard, despite its diminutive size. I prefer the touchscreen. The keyboard decision probably won’t affect the phone’s price, but it does affect the phone’s weight.<\/p>\n

Operating System.<\/strong> I recommend Android, of course. It has zillions of apps, lots of support, and if you’re familiar with working one Android phone, you’re probably familiar with working them all.<\/p>\n

Weight and Size.<\/strong> Unless you really know what you’re getting, visit a Phone Store and try out one of the demo units. Check its size. Check it’s weight. See if your comfortable carrying the thing around, or whether it fits in your pocket.<\/p>\n

Other Goodies.<\/strong> Beyond the basics, there are other phone attributes you can consider. One big one that the Phone Store may tout is the phone’s camera resolution. Some phones have very high resolution cameras. Big deal! The resolution isn’t the key thing with a camera, the lens<\/em> is what’s important. Pretty much all phone cameras have crummy lenses, so don’t pay heed to the camera resolution mumbo-jumbo.<\/p>\n

Insurance.<\/strong> For your primary phone, I recommend getting the insurance. If you ever drop the phone, get it wet, or lose it, the insurance instantly pays for itself. I pay $7\/month for my phone’s insurance because my original phone lacked insurance and it cost me $400 to replace it. Yes, the insurance is definitely worth it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cell phones are now a solid part of our digital life, if not the very center of that life. If you don’t yet have a smartphone, a cell phone that provides Internet access, then you’ll probably get one soon. If you have an older model, then you’ll probably want to update.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-android"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2978"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4113,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions\/4113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}