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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6367532" data-attributes="member: 177">I went through much the same just a few months ago.&nbsp; Here are some of my personal thoughts, in not much of a particular order.&nbsp; I am not an expert, just a person who did this conversion, and ended up fairly happy.First point:&nbsp; Don't worry about it too much.&nbsp; Smartphone performance is actually starting to plateau a bit - sure there are improvements, new gizmos, but for your basic use - making a call, sending a text, some basic web-communications and such - they're all snappy enough, and the ancillary features are... ancillary to your experience.&nbsp; Samsung, Motorola, LG, HTC, Apple - they all *work*.&nbsp; iOS or Android?&nbsp; They both *work*.&nbsp;&nbsp; Windows?&nbsp; Honestly I know nothing about it, and cant' speak to it.Don't worry about cables, either.&nbsp; Yes, maybe you'll need new ones.&nbsp; Live with that.&nbsp; Needing a new cable or two is not a reason to avoid a phone.&nbsp; I am/was not already in the Apple ecosystem. I don't have an iPod, or an Apple laptop, so binding my future apps and music to iTunes didn't seem like a win to me.&nbsp; They are, however, very popular phones, and do their job well.About carriers and plans:If the carrier doesn't have signal where you typically go, it can suck.&nbsp; Ask your friends and coworkers what their carriers are, and how good their signal is at your home, workplace and so on.It is my experience that, when the chips are down... none of the carriers give great customer service, I'm afraid.&nbsp; We wound up with smartphones because Sprint customer service truly stank, in fact.&nbsp; When my wife and I chose our phones, we did find someone at the store (Verizon) who didn't try to hard-sell us, and that and cost made the choice for us.&nbsp; We went to the store, and found a couple of phones that were free/inexpensive with a 2-year contract.&nbsp; My wife got a Motorola &quot;Moto X&quot;, and mine is a Samsung &quot;Galaxy S5&quot;.&nbsp; Neither of us has had any complaints about the devices.&nbsp; Mine is, in fact, better as an outright phone than my feature phone was.&nbsp; I expect that if you go with &quot;free/cheap with contract&quot;, from a major manufacturer, you'll end up fine.&nbsp; I kind of recommend this for first time buyers - you don't really know what features you'll really use, what features and interface bits really matter to you, until you start using the things.&nbsp; So, for your first, go with something that doesn't cost you much out of pocket, learn what you need in practice, and get what you really need when you upgrade.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6367532, member: 177"] I went through much the same just a few months ago. Here are some of my personal thoughts, in not much of a particular order. I am not an expert, just a person who did this conversion, and ended up fairly happy. First point: Don't worry about it too much. Smartphone performance is actually starting to plateau a bit - sure there are improvements, new gizmos, but for your basic use - making a call, sending a text, some basic web-communications and such - they're all snappy enough, and the ancillary features are... ancillary to your experience. Samsung, Motorola, LG, HTC, Apple - they all *work*. iOS or Android? They both *work*. Windows? Honestly I know nothing about it, and cant' speak to it. Don't worry about cables, either. Yes, maybe you'll need new ones. Live with that. Needing a new cable or two is not a reason to avoid a phone. I am/was not already in the Apple ecosystem. I don't have an iPod, or an Apple laptop, so binding my future apps and music to iTunes didn't seem like a win to me. They are, however, very popular phones, and do their job well. About carriers and plans: If the carrier doesn't have signal where you typically go, it can suck. Ask your friends and coworkers what their carriers are, and how good their signal is at your home, workplace and so on. It is my experience that, when the chips are down... none of the carriers give great customer service, I'm afraid. We wound up with smartphones because Sprint customer service truly stank, in fact. When my wife and I chose our phones, we did find someone at the store (Verizon) who didn't try to hard-sell us, and that and cost made the choice for us. We went to the store, and found a couple of phones that were free/inexpensive with a 2-year contract. My wife got a Motorola "Moto X", and mine is a Samsung "Galaxy S5". Neither of us has had any complaints about the devices. Mine is, in fact, better as an outright phone than my feature phone was. I expect that if you go with "free/cheap with contract", from a major manufacturer, you'll end up fine. I kind of recommend this for first time buyers - you don't really know what features you'll really use, what features and interface bits really matter to you, until you start using the things. So, for your first, go with something that doesn't cost you much out of pocket, learn what you need in practice, and get what you really need when you upgrade. [/QUOTE]

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