Don't need much from a cell/smart phone, and trying to save $$

January 12, 2010 10:27 AM

Don't need much from a cell/smart phone, and trying to save $$ In NYC area, I need a simple phone for calls and some texting. MAC friendly. Would like internet access if affordable, but how much are you paying for it/how do they charge?? Unlocked smartphone w/ prepaid? Or just a good, solid cell?
posted by ebesan to technology (5 answers total)

Nokia E51, ticks all the boxes, candybar shape, wifi, great battery 5+ days. They are about 60 to 90 pounds second hand on ebay here in the UK. Their second hand value holds up pretty well for an older phone.

You can download fring so you can use skype over your data package or wifi connection, this is very handy for international calls as data sometimes works out cheaper than the price per minute of the call. Also the google maps application is good, you don't need GPS as you can download the entire street map of the US to just search for a street when your lost.

It was issued primarily as a business model but its the best phone I have ever had. The E52 is essentially the same phone but with GPS I think.. Going to cost another 80 on top of that though..

Can completely replace the case (see ebay again) in a myriad of colours. There is a white shell for apple fans. Takes Micro SD cards which are fairly ubiquitous.
posted by camerasforeyes at 10:49 AM on January 12, 2010

If you will be getting a new number rather than porting in an existing one (that gave me lots of trouble), I would recommend Page Plus: $29.95/month for 1200 minutes, 1200 texts, and 50mb of data (not a huge amount but definitely enough to read emails and google stuff occasionally.) You can use most Verizon phones - buy them used on ebay and check out HowardForums first to confirm that people haven't had trouble with that particular model. (Trouble is usually related to getting the internet bit to work.)

I use a Samsung SCH-i760 (Windows mobile smartphone) with it. I'm not thrilled with the phone, but I wanted wifi and QWERTY (I hate touchpad keyboards) so my phone options were pretty limited.

It's not top-notch customer service (and they're overwhelmed right now due to an influx of new customers), but it's cheap and uses the Verizon network.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:52 AM on January 12, 2010

thanks.
for a phone that gets me online, how will I be charged? minutes?
posted by ebesan at 1:03 PM on January 12, 2010

For internet, most cell phone providers charge by the KB or MB (how much data you transmit) rather than by the minute. (Mine charges 60 cents per MB once you use up the allotted 50 MB in a month.) A lot of providers have unlimited data plans, but those not going to be "cheap," at least not by my standards....you're probably looking at a minimum of $60-70 month for phone + internet (that's a conservative estimate.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:01 PM on January 12, 2010

ecallplus may have something
posted by y6t5r4e3w2q1 at 5:16 PM on January 13, 2010