If you are looking for an inexpensive gadget to play around with that shouldn't break your toy budget, I suggest picking up a Nokia Lumia 640 Windows phone.
I'm guessing most of you don't have a Windows phone and, while you may be curious and would enjoy playing with one, don't want to spend real money on something you probably won't want to stick with.
If that's your situation, now's your chance.
You can get the phone from Best Buy or Amazon for $30. Not sure how long those prices will last.
Other than the fun you'll get playing with it and figuring it out, and cursing Bill Gates, it's actually a rather astonishing bit of hardware for $30 bucks.
Now don't start comparing it with high end phones. Remember what you paid. Now see what you get:
--decent camera
--microSD slot
--GPS and the map app is decent, and you can download maps
--5" screen, pretty bright, 720p resolution
--FM radio - note this! Not an app that uses your data allowance. An actual FM radio.
--plays Netflix without problem
--great for music (with headphones, the built in speaker works but won't impress)
--the MS store needs a better audiobook player, but there are a couple that are adequate
--more apps than you might think, including some of the same ones on android or iphone
The phone is a prepaid AT&T model. Google and you can find the unlock instructions. Free. Exchange a couple of emails with AT&T and a day or so later punch in the number they send you and it's unlocked. I had an old backup TracFone flip phone with minutes on it and I just moved the account over to the Nokia. Seems to work fine, but I don't really use it as a phone.
Even if you never use it as a phone, you have a camera, radio, music player and audiobook player. If your eyes can handle the screen size you can read ebooks on it and watch movies. I suppose you can play games, although I haven't tried.
Definitely worth $30.
A couple of tips:
Don't put the AT&T SIM in. Just use it on wifi at first. I have read that if you start it up with the AT&T SIM in it, that can make it harder to unlock.
If you don't already have a microSD card available, you might want to order one at the same time (that will kick you up to free shipping at Best Buy). The phone itself doesn't have much storage. But enough to play around with it if you don't want to buy a card right away.
You'll need headphones to get the radio to work. It uses the headphone cord as an antenna. Or you can just stick an appropriate wire in and switch to speaker, but you need something in the headphone jack to act as antenna.
I'm guessing most of you don't have a Windows phone and, while you may be curious and would enjoy playing with one, don't want to spend real money on something you probably won't want to stick with.
If that's your situation, now's your chance.
You can get the phone from Best Buy or Amazon for $30. Not sure how long those prices will last.
Other than the fun you'll get playing with it and figuring it out, and cursing Bill Gates, it's actually a rather astonishing bit of hardware for $30 bucks.
Now don't start comparing it with high end phones. Remember what you paid. Now see what you get:
--decent camera
--microSD slot
--GPS and the map app is decent, and you can download maps
--5" screen, pretty bright, 720p resolution
--FM radio - note this! Not an app that uses your data allowance. An actual FM radio.
--plays Netflix without problem
--great for music (with headphones, the built in speaker works but won't impress)
--the MS store needs a better audiobook player, but there are a couple that are adequate
--more apps than you might think, including some of the same ones on android or iphone
The phone is a prepaid AT&T model. Google and you can find the unlock instructions. Free. Exchange a couple of emails with AT&T and a day or so later punch in the number they send you and it's unlocked. I had an old backup TracFone flip phone with minutes on it and I just moved the account over to the Nokia. Seems to work fine, but I don't really use it as a phone.
Even if you never use it as a phone, you have a camera, radio, music player and audiobook player. If your eyes can handle the screen size you can read ebooks on it and watch movies. I suppose you can play games, although I haven't tried.
Definitely worth $30.
A couple of tips:
Don't put the AT&T SIM in. Just use it on wifi at first. I have read that if you start it up with the AT&T SIM in it, that can make it harder to unlock.
If you don't already have a microSD card available, you might want to order one at the same time (that will kick you up to free shipping at Best Buy). The phone itself doesn't have much storage. But enough to play around with it if you don't want to buy a card right away.
You'll need headphones to get the radio to work. It uses the headphone cord as an antenna. Or you can just stick an appropriate wire in and switch to speaker, but you need something in the headphone jack to act as antenna.
