Phone upgrade?

[Mrs.]

Hi all,hope all is well.

We're FINALLY close to selling our home and going sailing.

Question is: Should my husband upgrade his phone? He currently has a Samsung Galaxy edge 6. He believes his phone will be fine as he's happy with it(doesn't like change,nor is he tech savy).

Thoughts?

[Pandor]

I am forced to ask what connection you think his phone has to your cruising?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Mrs.

[Adelie]

Welcome

[JC Reefer]

Is the phone locked to your provider? What area are you planning to cruise? Domestic or international

[wholybee]

I don't think the type of phone matters much, as long as you like it. One consideration is that with most carriers in the US, if a phone is 6 months old or older the carrier will unlock it, allowing you to insert SIM cards from other carriers. This is important for many people who are cruising. If you buy a new phone, you will need to research an unlocked version, which is often much more expensive-or wait 6 months before you can use it in another country.

[valhalla360]

If the phone not having problems and he is happy...what problem are you fixing?

I'm assuming it's not brand new, so you should be able to get it unlocked if it isn't already.

When traveling internationally, there are often small kiosks where they can stick a new sim card in and you buy a monthly prepaid plan (verify it's working before leaving the store). Compared to the US/Canada, it's dirt cheap, quick and easy.

[Dogscout]

If you are going International, then your phone becomes more important for a few things. Banking and credit cards is something I do almost exclusively on the phone now. Samsung pay so I do not have to get a card out. A large enough screen to see the banks app or web site. Also a dual SIM phone lets you keep your US based line and adds a place for a SIM from another country. Seems I keep adding SIM cards every month.

[Mrs.]

Oops! I apologize for not getting back to y'all sooner-been busy doing yard sales.

Hmm I assumed since his phone is outdated-he might need to upgrade. Guess I was wrong!

Thank you everyone for your input/welcome [emoji846]

[SeanPatrick]

Originally Posted by Dogscout

Samsung pay so I do not have to get a card out.

Speaking of ... I just learned that it works even with old swipe-only card readers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBjwdfJgQ0Q

[grayadventures]

I'm new to the forum, but I have quite a bit of experience with cellphones since I've spent the past 10 years reviewing them for tech sites across the web. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was a great phone for the time but it is very outdated at this point, no longer receiving Android updates for the latest version of the operating system nor security updates for known bugs or hacks.

The other feature it does not have is an IP (ingress protection) rating, which means it shouldn't be exposed to water. New phones like the Galaxy S21 offer an IP68 rating which means it can survive up to 30 minutes in 5 feet of water with no issues. This means it will have no issues surviving an accidental splash on your boat or if you get it wet in the rain as well.

The older phone will also have an older battery which won't last as long, especially if you're using it while sailing. The weaker a cell signal is while off shore, the more power the phone uses to try to boost that signal to hold the connection. New phones also have improved radios inside so that you can maintain that connection to a cell tower a bit longer. You'll also get much faster upload and download speeds with 5G connectivity here in the US and most of Europe. 5G is coming to more markets regularly, but I'm not sure how things have been deployed in the Caribbean.

Lastly, new smartphone have much better cameras for taking pictures and recording videos. If you plan to share photos with friends and family, you'll definitely enjoy the new camera capabilities of the newest generation of smartphones. Some of the devices offer 5x or even 10x optical zoom, ultrawide camera lenses and of course 4K video capture.

If you have any specific questions about which phone you should get, I can offer a few suggestions. Pricing for these new phones can get pretty high, but there are some that offer quite a bit of an improvement over the Galaxy 6 Edge that aren't terribly expensive.

Hope that helps.