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Thread ID: 149622	2021-03-01 22:34:00	Cheap Smart Phone	Brucem (8688)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1475319	2021-03-01 22:34:00	I am looking at replacing my very dumb phone with a cheap smart phone that is capable of Covid 19 scanning. The current phone, a Nokia 3310 3G, is only used for very occasional texts, both in and out including appointment reminders from Doctor & Dentist. There are very seldom voice messages mainly to or from home. A camera would also be useful. Has anyone any suggestions?	Brucem (8688)
1475320	2021-03-02 00:36:00	1) define Cheap. not being a smartarse, cheap varies by many hundreds of dollars . Some see $400 as a cheap phone . 2) what Telco provider are you with ? Voda, Spark, 2degree have some 'locked' phones at cheaper than normal prices. Im more than happy with My Moto G7+ (now unavailable?) heres the cheaper Motorola 6 $229 www.pbtech.co.nz Go too cheap on Android & it becomes a painfull experience Also, "cheap" phones are often abandoned after release by manufacturer, so usually no updates or security patches on the cheapies Check what version of Android a new phone has. Some cheapies may have obselete versions of Android . Some Android phones are bastardized versions of Android , try and avoid those if possible. Some chinese imports have non official Android installed. So when Google detected its a non authorized Android install, they Blacklist it & you cant download anything from the Google play store (so cant get the tracing app) . That hapened to my LG Tablet :-(	1101 (13337)
1475321	2021-03-02 20:01:00	Any smart phone is capable. I have a very old one, thanks Kenj! Take a look on Trademe and sort by price....	piroska (17583)
1475322	2021-03-02 20:19:00	Any smart phone is capable. I have a very old one, thanks Kenj! Take a look on Trademe and sort by price.... Good to hear it is still going OK Ken :)	kenj (9738)
1475323	2021-03-03 00:37:00	Yep, love it. Deleted some unwanted stuff off it, got a new case (and a spare) and it's great!!! I see no reason to chnage it. Very happy, thank you again.	piroska (17583)
1475324	2021-03-04 03:00:00	I wouldn't go with anything under $150... As 1101 says, software updates are usually non-existent on budget phones, leaving you vulnerable to security risks or the inability to run some recent programs, potentially requiring the purchase of another phone in a couple of years. Cheap ones are also often horribly slow, have very limited storage, and are likely to break sooner. A Nokia 3310 on the other hand will outlast the known universe so if that's working for you otherwise, maybe just keep it!!	Agent_24 (57)
1475325	2021-03-04 20:48:00	They wanted something compatible with the Covid app, so that Nokia is a no go . Many used phones may have also Android versions too old for the Covid app . As above, save yourself some grief , just buy new. Look at PBTechs site , plenty there Make sure the version of Android is at v6 to be covid app compatible, at least Android v9 to be reasonably current. If the Android ver is stated , assume its horrendously old. The Motorolla's seem to do a good job rolling out updates on the mid/cheapish phones, unlike many other brands	1101 (13337)
1475326	2021-03-04 22:15:00	I bought the Spark Plus 3 Smartphone for a family member. It has Android 9.0 op system. Smiths City ChCh currently has it for $89. Elsewhere it looks like prices are from about $110-$130. It has the Emergency Alert built in and is Covid Alert capable. Front cam 5MP, rear cam 2MP. The Spark Gold Plan for over 65's is great value at $12.99 per month. 50 texts, free unlimited calls to other Spark mobiles and landlines, 50min to other networks and 100MB data and free voicemail.	bellbird (6169)
1475327	2021-04-13 09:31:00	1) define Cheap. not being a smartarse, cheap varies by many hundreds of dollars . Some see $400 as a cheap phone . 2) what Telco provider are you with ? Voda, Spark, 2degree have some 'locked' phones at cheaper than normal prices. Im more than happy with My Moto G7+ (now unavailable?) heres the cheaper Motorola 6 $229 www.pbtech.co.nz Go too cheap on Android & it becomes a painfull experience Also, "cheap" phones are often abandoned after release by manufacturer, so usually no updates or security patches on the cheapies Check what version of Android a new phone has. Some cheapies may have obselete versions of Android . Some Android phones are bastardized versions of Android , try and avoid those if possible. Some chinese imports have non official Android installed. So when Google detected its a non authorized Android install, they Blacklist it & you cant download anything from the Google play store (so cant get the tracing app (gbapps.net)) . That hapened to my LG Tablet :-( Thank you very much for sharing this information with us And are you trying to say in simple words that cheap phones should not be used? Because they also unable to install tracing apps.	yasir1 (17715)
1475328	2021-04-13 21:09:00	I wouldn't go with anything under $150... As 1101 says, software updates are usually non-existent on budget phones, leaving you vulnerable to security risks or the inability to run some recent programs, Cheap ones are also often horribly slow, have very limited storage, and are likely to break sooner. ! Hah, son used to have cheap junk...they lasted quite well. Now he has seriously expensive and has had problems already...so it means nothing. My so old (free) one is still capable of new apps.	piroska (17583)
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