Need to Replace Phone

[Mike McCall]

I currently have a Motorola G4 running Android 7.0, the latest security update is from 4/1/2018. Clearly out of date and not secure. My provider is Consumer Cellular (which I'm fine with). They do offer a few affordable (for me) phones at the low-end, but phones are not my forte' so I need some advice.

Here are a few options of theirs which I can financially reach.

1. Samsung Galaxy A20 32GB
2. Samsung Galaxy J3 16GB
3. Motorola G7 Power 32GB
4. Motorola E6 16GB

My last few phones have been Motorola and have been generally pleased with them. However, I could move to something else if it's a better phone. I could also purchase an unlocked GSM phone elsewhere if there's good reason to. I don't want to get into something that stops getting updates a year into owning it. Suggestions?

 

[britechguy]

Personally, I'd buy an unlocked GSM phone.

In my household we have 2 Xiaomi devices, a Redmi 5 Plus and Redmi Note 6 Pro, and both have been getting OTA updates since we got them in mid-2018, so it's heading in to 2 years now. The latest version of MIUI (Xiaomi's twist on Android - with which I use the Evie Launcher) is 11.0.2 which is based upon Android 8.1.0. The security patch level at the moment is 2019-10-01 and I have not yet received any notification that OTA updates will be suspended. Both of these phones have now been replaced, neither was a flagship model, but both were way more than adequate for my needs. Both were right around $200, one slightly below and one slightly above at the time of purchase. Both are also still available new, but at much lower price points.

One thing to be very careful about if you go the unlocked GSM route is making sure that the phone you're looking at operates in the frequency bands that your carrier actually uses. Virtually none function in all of them, but try to make sure as many frequency bands, and in the "speed zones" (that is 4G LTE, 4G, and 3G) available in your area. In mine, for instance, we have 4G and 4G LTE, but from there it drops to 2G, there is no 3G in my area.

The best tool I've found for matching specific unlocked GSM phones to both the frequency bands they use, along with the frequency bands that the various service providers use, is the Kimovil Frequency Checker (this on is the US checker, but there are versions for providers and nations worldwide): https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker

It can be really interesting to see how certain "flagship" units from certain makers that sell unlocked GSM devices simply will not work with certain carriers in the USA while some very inexpensive ones have incredible frequency band coverage, which most often means they'll work with more service providers, too.

By the way, Amazon was by far my preferred source, not only for selection, but because they made it simple to return units that I stupidly bought prior to knowing about needing to do the frequency band checking. I think I had tried three different phones before cluing in, and there was not even the slightest difficulty in making returns on those.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Mike McCall]

@britechguy Good information, thank you. I must admit to being wary of Chinese phones for security reasons. Even if they make a great phone, I have real trust issues. Given the nature of our business and all I use my phone for, I'm more comfortable sticking with major brands normally found here in the US.

 

[britechguy]

Everyone has to stick with what they're comfortable with.

Xiaomi is a major player in many markets around the world outside of Asia, but they've had very little market penetration here. ZTE and Huawei have a much bigger footprint.

I really don't have the same reservations you do with regard to Chinese brands, as even most of the majors manufacture their devices in China, and particularly the lower end ones (though plenty of flagships are made there, too).

But there are even unlocked GSM phones from Japanese makers that have virtually no market share here in the USA that can be found on Amazon, so it's not all product from China.