How much are you willing to pay for a smart phone?

[OutHouse]

I was at the Verizon store tonight window shopping for a new phone. the S7's are cool especially with the VR stuff. but seriously, how much is too much? I think the prices of new phones has reached over my limit of guilt free purchases. I just cant bring myself to pay 700+ bucks for a phone. Hell we buy brand new Dell Optiplexes for work that are cheaper and they come with a monitor.

so just curious, what is your limit? do you have one or just say fuck it tell the cell phone jockey that you will take new newest phone and just hook me up with the monthly payments and reup me for another 2 year contract.

 

[Crono]

$400. You get to ~90% of the build quality and specs of the other flagships with the Axon 7, OnePlus 3, Honor 8, Moto X Pure, etc. And at $150-$200 you can get a good midrange phone that usually only noticeably lacks in comparison to the higher end phones in the camera department, but is otherwise "good enough" for most uses.

 

[lxskllr]

$1.5k-$2k if you include vaporware(American made, fully hackable, no restrictions). Otherwise, I'm ok with flagship prices, but I don't like flagship phones. It's a miracle that full computer that fits in your pocket costs less than a dell northy of less than 2 decades ago.

edit:
add replacable parts to my vaporware phone

edit2:
It would also be nice if the phone companies weren't cunts about tethering. Data is data. It shouldn't matter how it gets used.

 

[Skeeedunt]

$40/month forever, apparently, since that's what I just signed up for.

 

[John Connor]

$250 and $35/month. The hell I'm paying anymore for a damn phone. It's not a fashion statement. My woman is. HAHAHA

 

[highland145]

Expires 9/30, verizon. If your i6 is paid for, you can trade it in for an i7. They'll credit you $27/mo for 2 years to pay for the i7. Obviously a 2 year contract extension.

 

[ninaholic37]

$0, actually I wouldn't use one if you paid me

 

[highland145]

Luddites unite.

 

[TwiceOver]

Basically I have a number in my head that "if I drop this" isn't going to absolutely piss me off. That number appears to be around $250.

Nexus 5x fit the bill.

 

[John Connor]

$0, actually I wouldn't use one if you paid me

You know, I thought the same thing. Other than the fact the thing is the perfect AD platform/spying device, I find it very useful. I can flip the channels on the TV, watch the news on my phone, listen to Pandora or iHeartRadio in the car or anywhere I want with my bluetooth ear piece, etc. Plus when they say 'there's an App for that,' there really is. Couple weeks back I downloaded a white noise App that plays rain and shit while I sleep. I also track airplanes with the phone and can hook it to my USB SDR (software Defined Radio) and track aircraft myself. It truly is a smartphone. Plus, I used it to two-factor damn near every account I have.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Zero. I have one but, I don't need one. My current phone was given to me.

 

[JTsyo]

About $400 would be the max. That said currently I'm using a MotoE which was basically free.

 

[slightlyhuman]

just spent $350 on a galaxy s6 active and love it. waterproof up to 10 feet, huge 3500mah battery, last well over 24 hours and has an ultimate saving that you can get 24 hours on the last 10%. 64GB. well worth the price. i never see myself spending over that much for a phone.

also i use straight talk which is $46 a month

 

[luv2liv]

$200 or lesser.
chinese phones are great now. good enough for what i do daily. and if i loose or drop it, i dont even cringe like some of my friends with their $700 phones.

 

[RearAdmiral]

Given that my LG G3 blew up 5 months ago and I am still using my old Galaxy Nexus as a temporary replacement...not much.

 

[Yakk]

$0

I don't want any for myself and wouldn't pay for one, but required for work.

Is any case, as I negociate a good volume of phones at once I always negociate the cost of the phone as a usage credit. Meaning if the phone costs $700 I make sure to get a credit of $700 to my account so the payments are first subtracted from there. Rinse and repeat every 2 years.

 

[Denly]

$300-$400, I always buy unlock. Phone is the most used personal item now a day, I don't have problem paying bigger money for it.

 

[Art&Science]

HTC Evo 3D 4G - This was I think $179 from Virgin Mobile in 2011...

In 2013 I bought a Nexus 5 GSM straight from Google for $299.

In 2016 I bought my current Nexus 6 straight from Google for $299.

I'll probably stick on the 3 year unlocked/non-carrier phones from Google so long as they keep making them. Been very happy.

I don't see any reason to buy any Apple product ever... especially for people in science/engineering - there is no reason to own an Apple device. Apple makes washing machines for the masses, technical people should not own them.

 

[edro]

I don't concern myself with prices; I am ATOT rich.

But seriously, as much as we use our phones, even at $1000, that can be a relatively small percentage of your annual income.

 

[DeathReborn]

To be frank I don't ever look at the price, I just look at the specs & features then the brand and decide yay or nay on it. Bought a Note 4 outright and nothing since has taken my fancy.

 

[Chaotic42]

This thread encouraged me to see what upgrades Verizon has available. I'm not willing to pay any of those prices to upgrade my Galaxy S5. Unfortunately they don't have any data plans lower than 2GB/mo either.

 

[dullard]

I paid $500 for my last smartphone. I use it maybe a half hour a day. I use my phones for 3 years before upgrading. Thus, I will use this phone for 548 hours, which makes the total cost $0.91/hr. Will I pay $0.91/hr for entertainment, to not be bored to death while waiting (in line, in a doctor's office, for my wife to finish shopping, etc), to know if that massive cloud that I'm driving into is nothing or a storm to wait out? Yes.

Compare that to the $5/hr to $10/hr that most people will pay for a movie or $50/hr for a concert/sporting event. The smartphone is cheap in comparison.

I'd personally pay up to ~$750 because above that, then I'd get quite worried about dropping it in the toilet.

 

[Humpy]

Basically I have a number in my head that "if I drop this" isn't going to absolutely piss me off. That number appears to be around $250.

Nexus 5x fit the bill.

I came up with the exact same result though my line of thinking is "At what point would I be tempted to fish the thing out of a port-a-potty" and I make sure to stay below that number.

 

[nakedfrog]

$150-200, when I upgrade, I usually buy something one or two generations out of date.

 

[swanysto]

Apparently $650 via monthly payment is my limit....