Samsung Galaxy S9?

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99Saturn

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Thinking about upgrading my wife's phone wanted to get some feedback/recommendations/etc.

Service is through Verizon and will stay through Verizon. Current phone is a Galaxy S5 16gb internal storage, a little over 5 years old. Battery life has gotten pretty bad, and overall phone performance has really begun to lag. I'm assuming much of this is due to lack of storage capacity and age. Have tried a factory refresh but ultimately does not seem to make much difference after a few weeks/months.

Wife would like to look at getting a new phone, reasonable budget around $300 to $500. Could go further if it was really going to be worth it, but I don't quite think we/she values the enhanced performance/capabilities beyond that price range (just my opinion, could be wrong).

Looking at the Galaxy S9 for $399. Questions for everyone:
1. Any reason not to buy directly from Samsung and get the unlocked version, 256gb seems like a good deal, reasonable all around phone, and better deal than 64gb model at the same price through one of the cell providers.
2. Any other phones in that range I should look at? Seems like the iphone at a comparable cost would be an iphone 7 and I am seeing some articles as I look around online about the iphone se2. Wife is a little hesitant to go to an iphone but would consider it.

TIA!
 
My sister and I had Galaxy 5S. We shared a plan years ago.
Phones got bad with age. She replaced hers with a Galaxy 10 a week before I switched to an iPhone 10.

The improvement to a 9 will blow her away to begin with.

Don't know about "direct from Samsung".
If you buy from Verizon (as I did) there were phones "newer" so they'll be as cheap as you can find plus Verizon has packages including cases, ear things, rechargers, cases etc. which they bundle.

Good luck deciding but remember, don't sweat it and don't look back.
 
I use Android, but I really, really dislike the mess that Android phones are regarding security updates. It's as if you bought a PC with Windows, the PC makers could apply when and if you get security updates or not. Thank goodness that's not reality.
That and Android apps give permissions and do things Apple apps don't. I'd get a battery from Amazon for the Galaxy and get an iPhone when the "cheap" one comes out.
 
Just got a New Samsung A50 with 64 Gig. at Best Buy one sale for $275 I spent another $20 and put a 128 Gig SD card in it. Works great with a higher than normal Pixel camera. Used T-Mobile for my service provider. Two lines unlimited phone, text and data $70 a month saves me $90 a month over our old combined Sprint bill. So far two months and service has been great.
 
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Tough time of year for good discounts. The S10 was $429 on black friday at Costco. Samsung always seems to have some black friday deal every year.

Anyway, all Verizon phones are unlocked, no need to go to Samsung for an unlocked one.

As for storage, not sure what's she's doing but the S9 takes a memory card, I think you can either go 256 or 400gb on the memory card. If you managed on an S5 for so long, I doubt you really need that much memory.

If battery life is bad, why not just pick up a new one on eBay/Amazon? They're easy to replace and don't cost that much.
 
I have a Galaxy S9 for work and a Motorola Z2 Play as my personal phone. I bought the Z2 Play directly from Motorola for $199 (64 GB). The S9 is clearly faster and has more features but honestly, I don't use those "extra" features. I actually like the Z2 Play better because it has a bigger screen and battery life is outstanding and blows away the S9. I've had the S9 for 18 months and struggling to make it through the day on one charge. The Moto Z2 Play easily lasts well into the 2nd day. Not as much bloatware either.

Find out from your wife exactly what she plans to use her phone for. She can save money by buying something other than a Samsung.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
I use Android, but I really, really dislike the mess that Android phones are regarding security updates.

Google is really trying to change that. It's the carriers that are to blame. Want to avoid that ? Get a Google Pixel.
 
1) Only reason most people don't buy their phones direct from the manufacturer is so they don't have to shell out $399, $699, $1199, and so on. If you're okay with paying up-front like that, go for it.

2) If she were to switch to an iPhone, I wouldn't go with a 7 nowadays. Reality is, there's minimal differences between a 6s, 7, and 8. Our daughter has a 6s and I have an 8. Hers feels [censored] near as fast as mine. Mine does have Touch ID, a better camera, and surely some other things but to the average person, it's not a big deal... I'm surprised an S9 is that cheap. Go for it ! I don't keep up with Android phones anymore but I'm guessing the S11 is available. If so, each older and older model gets cheaper and cheaper.
 
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
1) Only reason most people don't buy their phones direct from the manufacturer is so they don't have to shell out $399, $699, $1199, and so on. If you're okay with paying up-front like that, go for it.

2) If she were to switch to an iPhone, I wouldn't go with a 7 nowadays. Reality is, there's minimal differences between a 6s, 7, and 8. Our daughter has a 6s and I have an 8. Hers feels [censored] near as fast as mine. Mine does have Touch ID, a better camera, and surely some other things but to the average person, it's not a big deal... I'm surprised an S9 is that cheap. Go for it ! I don't keep up with Android phones anymore but I'm guessing the S11 is available. If so, each older and older model gets cheaper and cheaper.


It seems like Samsung right now has the cheapest price on the S9. The S10 is the current one and the next one they're supposed to just make the jump to the S20 so no S11. Not released yet, supposed to be released tomorrow. That's why they have it for almost half off by black friday as it will have been out for several months at that point.

In theory, a really cheap way to get the latest phones would be to buy a new phone on black friday and sell the old one that's only a year old, probably can still get close to whatever you paid last year. I don't do it just because it's a big hassle to swap phone. Probably only cost you around $50-$100 a year for a flagship phone that way.
 
I've had my S8 for a year and a half and love it. The S9 is a slightly improved S8. I bought my S8 on Samsung's website for $350 on sale.

$399 is a pretty good price for a new S9. Buying it right from Samsung guarantees it is legit and not refurbished. It will be a very nice upgrade over the S5!
 
The Galaxy S20 comes out tomorrow! Guess what, the prices of the S10 will drop like a rock. My S10 is very solid, with day and a half battery life, and wireless charging. Drop it on the charging pad and have a cup of coffee, good for another day! It also takes a memory card, which is of little use except for storing pictures. You can move apps there too of course.

I got my wife an S10 at the same time I got mine from Verizon, her battery life is like 3 days, since she doesn't use hers as much. Both rock solid phones running Android 10 and now getting updates BEFORE the Google Pixel phones! Internal storage 128GB, plus card slot. You need to go to an S20 plus or max next if you want a card slot, not sure which.

I'd never buy a Chinese phone no matter what, too many back doors built into the hardware.

Forget the S9 unless it is already running Android 10. All previous versions of Android are now obsolete.
 
I paid $400.xx for an S10

sounds like a bad deal.

would look for a moto g7 or pixel 3a maybe.
 
Quote
would look for a moto g7 or pixel 3a maybe.


The S10 beats the 3A buy a long shot, the G7 is OK, but not Android 10 yet, so no.

I don't see how paying $400.00 for a $750 dollar phone is a bad deal, but you did have bad timing. Wait a month and the S10 will be $300.00 or less.
 
Thanks all - had not thought about the S20 coming out so soon - great point regarding the pricing. Will probably give it some time to see what happens with the S10 pricing and the SE2. Doubt we'll make it to the next Black Friday - maybe. Poor planning this past year but then again I remember glancing at ads and was not blown away at the time. Guess I was looking at the wrong ads - haha. I know I would not have seen that Costco ad as the closest one is over an hour away, I wouldn't have looked.

As an FYI, we've been through multiple batteries (I have the same phone). It's hit and miss regarding how long they last, even day to day. I can leave for work and 2 hours later by the time I get there, I'm below 50%, just listening to music, not every day but sometimes. Also, I don't disagree regarding the SD card, we both have them today, all photos, music, apps that can go to the SD card. Android (or just whatever version we are on) automatically moves apps back to internal storage when updated, which is why I mentioned in the OP I thought it was due to lack of storage capacity.
 
I'm going through the same thing-on my Samsung S7-battery life has gotten pretty bad. However-I really can't see spending $400.00 or more on a phone when you have the Galaxy 10A or Google Pixel 3A that are both $200.00 to $250.00 and are great phones according to all the reviews I have read.

As someone who stated above-even the Motorola at a $200.00 price point are decent phones for many people.

BTW-the Samsung 10A at Walmart is $200.00 and CostCo wanted $329.00 FOR THE EXACT SAME PHONE.
 
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I'd skip the s9 and go for an S10.

I went from a Galaxy S6 active to a s10+. Battery life was the reason I upgraded, and a replacement battery was not the answer based on cost.

Funny enough, the new phone runs all my apps better and with some functionality that didnt work on my S6 that I had no idea. Battery life is excellent and I can go multiple days with no charging if I watch it.
 
Originally Posted by Wolf359
So what did you end up getting? Woot has a refurb S9 for $259 today, only a few hours left to buy.

https://www.woot.com/offers/samsung-galaxy-s9-unlockedsd?ref=w_cnt_wp_0_5

The price of the S10 dropped, but they only knocked off $150.

Even with the black friday sale, the S20 will probably still be in the $500+ range as it's listing for $999 now.


Nothing yet probably will wait for the SE2 to come out and let me wife mess around with my work XR to see how she feels about an iphone. Perhaps check out some of the Pixels or the One Plus phones mentioned by WhyMe (I realized a year or two back one of my coworkers had mentioned One Plus to me as well, think he has been pretty pleased with what he bought, have to ask him about it as well).
 
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