smartphone, ipod touch, "dumb" phone for clinical years

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Hi,

My friend is starting her 3rd year. She currently has a LG Rumor Touch, which is considered a non-smartphone ("dumb" phone). She was told she needs a smartphone, but due to expense, family plans and existing contracts, getting a new iphone is not likely.

So, she has the following options:
1. Get an iPod Touch for $200. No monthly fee. She will carry her existing phone, which only has talk and text, but no email/data. Is the Touch sufficient? Do all the medical apps work offline, or do they need a data/wifi? There's no guarantee the wifi will work at the hospital she rotates to, I suppose.

2. Get a cheap mostly-data plan with Android. VirginMobile, Sprint, MetroPCS. Cost is around $40/month + cost of $200 Android phone. Do all the apps that she'll need work with Android? She'll actually still have her existing phone because it's cheaper to let the contract run out than to cancel early.

Buying a $500+ phone is out of the question. Entering a $50+/month contract is out of the question.

Any advice? FYI, she's on the NYC area, in case reception is a concern.

Pay as you go I think is the best way to go if money is an issue.

I really dislike virgin mobile their phones in general always have some bizarre quirk or defect. I have 2 of my current phone(one for me and one for my younger sister) I'm using the Motorola triumph. My phone was alright but did suffer from a few defects common to the model. I'm only satisfied with it now due to all the time I spent finding custom roms and apps that got me around defects. My sisters phone on the other hand was defective in box and it took 4 rounds of returns and a BBB complaint to get one that was still not perfect. Rate is not bad though the mostly data plan with 300 min and unlimited text is only 35 a month. I still advise going with someone else as a provider. Though if one chooses virgin mobile research the phone intensely before purchase. The new evo 4G phone they releases has people excited so that may be worth looking into.

One plan that I kinda was interested in was the tmobile 4G Prepay plans. The minutes are horrible but the data is good and it's only 40 a month last I checked. The phone selection is much better I personally really like anything in the Samsung galaxy s line

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I think a smart phone is overrated for the clinical years. Just write down anything you need to look up and then find a computer when you have a free moment. This also will keep you engaged in the patient care and not staring at your phone all the time.

But, if you deem mobile internet to be essential, obtain an old smart phone from someone and just use it for WiFi but keep your original phone for calls/texts.

Thanks for the responses. Does that mean the medical apps that I've looked up (Epocrates, Medscape...) all work offline without a data connection? If not, which medical apps need data connections? I should point out that I have no clue what any of these apps are or what they do. I'm not up to my clinical years yet.

For epocrates and medscape they work offline for the most part. The exception is that they require wifi or data to display pictures

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Never do pay as you go.
I am one of those who are lazy enough not to sign a contract (the day I went to get my first cell phone, I was too lazy to fill out the forms, I don't know why they required me to fill out forms)
I bought a pay as you go phone and I've been using it for years and years (the sim card is still Cingular =P) Anyone remember that company haha?

For a couple months during 3rd and 4th year, I spent more than $100 a month on phone bills....... should've could've would've

Will the phone allow group texts? At my current hospital we use text messaging instead of paging, and there's been a few times when a specialist wants to show us something and someone will send out a group text about "____ in room 123 with [insert specialty]."

I have prepaid t-mobile exhibit ii 4g. Paid 200 for phone and 50 monthly for unlimited talk text slow internet.

Some apps (eg. Uworld qbank) require wifi or internet.

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Originally Posted by soccerfifa

I have prepaid t-mobile exhibit ii 4g. Paid 200 for phone and 50 monthly for unlimited talk text slow internet.

Some apps (eg. Uworld qbank) require wifi or internet.

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This is most likely the one my friend will go with. They have a $30/month unlimited data, text and 100 minute talk plan. Since she's stuck on the other contract, she'll use that for talk minutes and use her Exhibit II for data. When you say "slow internet," do you mean 3G? I believe the plans now offer 4G, at least up to a certain usage limit. Then it gets capped to 3G speeds. In any case, 3G is still plenty fast for most purposes. Not planning to stream movies on her phone.

the new google nexus 7 tablet is on the cheap side, less than 300 i think. You could check it out. Only thing is internet connection is restricted to wifi as there is no 3g.