This is a branch from the thread titled 'Streaming and Smartphones' located in the category 'Broadcast Equipment'. At the present time I am considering to get my very first cell phone to use mainly as a telephone to make phone calls. I wish I didn't have to have a cell phone, but I am convinced that the lack of public phones has to be compensated by our own 'public phone', a scheme by phone companies to get more money. As I see it there are two categories to learn about: 1.) The physical phone itself, Smartphone, flip-phone, etc.; and 2.) The service contract with a phone company for the personal phone number and access to making calls. I know very little about either one and need to learn the details of how it all works. I'll be watching YouTube videos and coming here to ask questions. Part15.org has always been a place to learn about communications systems.
I think they have their usefulness, like the one I have that I don't even pay for that sits in the car never even turned on just for emergencies. It's a little flip phone and just that a phone and nothing else. If I am out in the country and something happens and I need help at 2AM I don't need to go 3 miles to find the nearest house to wake them up to get to call for help. But it will never be anymore than that. If I am ever forced to get a cell phone as a home phone if I move to a place not wired for land lines I will get a simple flip that's a phone and nothing else and add it to the internet package, the cheapest thing to make it work that's all and it will be there for necessity only and it will stay at home or in the car only turned on if needed. If someone wants to contact me they can email.
Wait a minute! Don't go away! You just hit on something that I don't understand. You say you have a phone "that you don't even pay for" that you can use in emergencies? What kind of service is that called? How do you get it? Are you saying that you only pay if you make an emergency call? Who do you pay? I want a deal like that.
All cell phone carriers in the U.S. and Canada will accept emergency 911 calls, regardless of whether you subscribe to any of their services.
That doesn't help, however, if your car breaks down and you need a tow, as an example. Emergency services tend to take a dim view of what they think are convenience calls.
There are two types of cellular services - phone & data. Phone services let you make basic phone calls, and send basic (SMS) text messages. Data services are essentially a mobile Wi-Fi network.
There are really no differences between dumb and smart phones. Under the covers, both are computers, both run operating systems. With dumb phones, you're just limited to what the phone comes with in terms of functionality; smart phones let you add applications to do just about anything you can do on a larger computer.
These days you can purchase lower end smart phones for almost the same price as dumb flip phones. The availability of phone services is the same for both.
Cellular carriers off both monthly subscription plans (i.e., you pay a certain amount each month, whether you use the service or not) or prepaid plans (you pay as you go). The latter are (much) more expensive, but if you're not planning on using the phone much, they are an option. If you purchase a phone from one of the carriers, they'll often come with a certain number of prepaid minutes, and sometimes even a limited amount of data.
Hopefully that helps.
Carl...my brother gave me the phone on his plan as an extra he can get and it's only a few bucks more for the second phone. Just a flip phone and no plan so more than 30 minutes a month or something and he would get the bill for so much a minute air time. He gave it to me being a nice brother for me to have just for an emergency like calling AAA or CAA (Canada) to just keep in the car. All the little 1 inch screen does is show me the number I just dialed. Don't care about anything else. It's off all the time except if I need it I turn it on. I have the home land line for anything else which is very little. I even forget it's there and this reminds me I have to bring it in to charge it.
My head is broken from watching YouTube videos about cell phones, as the presenters tend to talk too fast, YouTube keeps cutting in with commercials, and after talking about a phone's many features they forget to say a word about the voice quality of the phone itself. I have heard some very dull microphone quality on some calls I've received, and the voice quality should be the main thing about a phone. I don't want to play computer games on a phone, don't want to watch movies, don't care about saving selfies or making videos at the zoo. I want two things: to talk to someone on the other end of a call, and to be able to run apps that let me order food or get an Uber.
At the moment I am looking at the Samsung A10 and A0 series phones that I'm told are best sellers at under $150. But even they seem to be overstocked with bloatware features.
Phone zombies are wandering the streets of every city looking at their phones. Is that what it comes to?
On the streets and everywhere else. The more I see these things the more I hate them. Well Carl, I think if you want to get a cell phone you have to take the other stuff it does with it and just use it for what you want. Even the lowly flip phone I have does other stuff but who cares. All I care about is how do I call out, receive a call and turn it off and on. But even on the flip the voice clarity is good and there's volume up and down and could even have treble boost for better speech. There's phones for seniors also that could have features like this.
Questions about cell phones...
What is 'locked' and 'unlocked'? The YouTube presenters assume the viewers know these terms and don't bother to explain what they mean.
The little plugin smartcard memory storage is of course for videofiles, pictures and such, but otherwise are they needed to use the phone?
Once a new phone is in hand and a service plan for a cellphone is purchased, how does the phone service provider get the phone connected to their network?
I'm looking at a Nokia G100 for around $100. Does that sound good?
@carl-blare Yes Nokia is a brand name. Unlocked means(pretty sure) the phone is not connected with any contract or company and you own it and can seek any provider to make it work. You just go to the provider you want and they set it up for you.
Thanks, Mark. Now I understand the 'locked' description. I've backed away from the Nokia model and am not going to commit to anything before spending more time sorting through all the available phones. Then comes the 'carrier' and all their 'plans'. Are we slaves in a plantation?
I would strongly recommend getting an unlocked phone. That way you're not 'locked' into any carrier, and can go with the one that gives you the best price or the best service (whichever is most important).
There are actually 3 types of memory on a cell phone.
RAM, which holds your running apps. If you decide to get an android phone, you'll want at least 2GB, preferably 4GB (most come with the latter these days, even the cheap phones).
Then there's phone storage to hold music, videos, etc. It's generally called ROM. You might not think you need it, but it holds all the O/S files too, as well as temporary stuff, so again, you'll want as much as you can afford. In the past, 16GB was enough, now I'd go for 64GB minimum, most modern phones have 128GB or more.
Finally, there's extra storage potentially in the form of a micro SD card. Always convenient, especially if you decide to store a bunch of music on your phone (it's quite easy to fill up a phone's ROM). A lot of phones don't have one these days (they want you to use their cloud services) and if that's the case, the need for maximum ROM is there. If they do support micro SD cards, again, there are several types. The two most common are SDHC (supports up to 32GB) and SDXC (supports up to 2TB, although right now they only make up to 1TB cards - if you see any 2TB ones, they're fake). You'll want to get a phone that supports SDXC for maximum flexibility. Most phones except the very cheapest (which you probably want to stay away from) support SDXC if they have a micro SD slot.
I have to laugh at Mark's comments. He really doesn't like smartphones. But you can't blame the tool (in this case the smartphone) with people potentially misusing it. People can do what they want, and I'll do what I want. I rarely look at or use the smartphone that I carry around with me. I'll sometimes use it to stream Artisan Radio in the car, or play some music via bluetooth through the radio, but that's it. I don't even carry headphones.
I would add Apple iPhones don't allow to any SD card storage Just the storage available in the phone. I have an iPhone 12 when it's time to replace I'm going back to a Android.
After deep confusion things are finally coming together and I am closing in on some final choices for cellphone and carrier, largely thanks to so much input from members here at the Forum of Record.
One certainty was realized... I will definitely need a Smartphone rather than a fliptop dumb phone, for the reason that I'll need to run the Uber App, since Uber is mainly available through their App and cannot simply be reached by making a phonecall.
In fact I only need two capabilities from a cellphone... 1.) able to make phonecalls; 2.) able to run the Uber App. I have no interest in pictures, videos, music files, games, or any other memory hogging functions.
Some of the recommendations made by Artisan and others seem to assume many of the uses that I will not be needing, so I am guessing that I don't need so much ROM, nor high capacity MicroCard. But I want to be sure, and will post the specs of my possible phone choice here for final approval/disapproval.
Remain available all day.
The thing is Carl, that it's the Android operating system itself that requires a lot of the specs talked about here. Even if you're only going to be running the Uber app. Unless, of course, you like being frustrated with lag time and overall slow performance.
While you might be able to get away with 2GB RAM and 32GB ROM, it won't cost much more to get 3-4GB RAM and 64-128GB ROM. You'll thank me for it after the fact.
I agree that you don't need SD cards for what you want to do, but the capability is always nice (and there are things you can do with even small SD cards that may save you in the future, such as app/firmware upgrades). You don't have to purchase one if you don't want to right now.
Carl. I have a smart phone, but make very few phone calls from it. It is mainly a radio and a tool kit. It is connected to my hearing aids so it is used as a radio by data when Im from home listening to RAG-FM. I do use it around the house as well for the same thing. It streams any phone calls I get to my hearing aids as well. I use it to connect to my local network in to the station as well. Shifting files around with it. Tool wise. crazy I know. I even have a spirit level app, very handy. Reminders when I have to go out somewhere. Internet speed checker when Im home on the local network and even a voice recorder. A note program I write my shopping lists on. I was one person who stayed clear of a smart phone for years and now I have one I cant think what I d do without it. Even hase chillout music when I want a break from real life. Go for it Carl you will never look back. My phone is Samsung Galaxy A22 5G. I forgot I use Google maps when I have to drive somewhere I dont know. Never been lost since lol.