I dropped my smart phone a couple of weeks ago and broke the screen so I went in search of a replacement. Money's tight, so that limited my options. And I use Walmart's "Straight Talk" service and see no reason to change, so that limited my options.
The old phone is a Moto G Power 5G (2023 vintage) and I think it cost just under $100.00 just over a year ago. It's pretty well spec'd with 6 GB of RAM and (it think) 128 GB of storage, a decent CPU, a decent camera and, of course "5G". In reading the reviews for that phone a little over a year ago, I was a bit flummoxed by statements like, "It has a decent camera for a phone that costs just under $300.00". If this was a $300.00 phone, it sure wouldn't be in -my- pocket!
Back to the present, I didn't want to spend a hundred bucks on a phone if I'm just gonna break it in a year and money's tighter now than it was a year ago, so I took a realistic look at my phone usage habits vs the hardware:
So I ended up getting a Moto G Play (2024 vintage).
This thing actually cost just under $40.00.
After a week and a half or so of using it, I'm not the least bit dissatisfied with the Moto G Play.
Oh yeah - Battery life is fine on both the old and the new phones. I don't charge them every day and I don't carry around a "pocket juice" battery.
The old phone still works, though I pulled the SIM card out for the new one, but I've relegated it to the role of "alarm clock and spare camera".
FWIW- I still have the Pinephone. Still not using it for... really, much of anything.
The old phone is a Moto G Power 5G (2023 vintage) and I think it cost just under $100.00 just over a year ago. It's pretty well spec'd with 6 GB of RAM and (it think) 128 GB of storage, a decent CPU, a decent camera and, of course "5G". In reading the reviews for that phone a little over a year ago, I was a bit flummoxed by statements like, "It has a decent camera for a phone that costs just under $300.00". If this was a $300.00 phone, it sure wouldn't be in -my- pocket!
Back to the present, I didn't want to spend a hundred bucks on a phone if I'm just gonna break it in a year and money's tighter now than it was a year ago, so I took a realistic look at my phone usage habits vs the hardware:
- the CPU isn't a limiting factor for me so any of the current mainstream ones will be fine
- I don't do anything spectacularly RAM intensive with my phone, and I'm not likely to do so on an Android, so 6 GB might not be necessary
- 5G is all very nice... but I don't stream video, nor even music so uber fast downloads isn't really relevant.
- I religiously keep all the data I can on a TF card instead of in "internal storage" so that's not really relevant.
- I use the phone's camera all the time (puppy pictures and such) but you can pack that thing full of all the features and megapixels you want and it's still a phone camera with a little itty bitty lensm so as long as the camera's not dismally "bad" it'll do.
So I ended up getting a Moto G Play (2024 vintage).
- It has some not-to-lame-seeming and fairly current CPU
- 4GB RAM
- 64 GB of internal storage (but I dropped in a 32 GB TF card I had laying around)
- Same basic main camera as the old phone, but w/o the separate macro camera
- 4G, not 5G
This thing actually cost just under $40.00.
After a week and a half or so of using it, I'm not the least bit dissatisfied with the Moto G Play.
Oh yeah - Battery life is fine on both the old and the new phones. I don't charge them every day and I don't carry around a "pocket juice" battery.
The old phone still works, though I pulled the SIM card out for the new one, but I've relegated it to the role of "alarm clock and spare camera".
FWIW- I still have the Pinephone. Still not using it for... really, much of anything.
