Hi Stacey! Trust me, you’re not alone. “What phone should I get?” is probably the most frequent question I get from readers, right behind “do you get to keep all those nifty gadgets?” (Answer to the latter question: nope, not unless I pay for them.)

As much as I’d like to just name the phone you should buy, I can’t. With so many new handsets and smartphones coming out each week, my advice would be obsolete two seconds after I gave it to you.

What I can do, however, is offer a little guidance for making your decision—namely, some questions to ask yourself before plunking down your cash and signing on the dotted line for a new phone, starting with…

1. What do you want to use your phone for?

Yes, there are still cell phones on sale that just make phone calls and send text messages—and not only are they generally cheaper than smartphones, they’ll also cost you less on a monthly basis (and remember, it’s the monthly bill, not the up-front price of the handset, that’s the true cost of owning a cell phone).

Want to send the occasional email on your phone? Again, you can still get away with a cheaper “feature” phone that supports email accounts (more and more do), not to mention a web browser (which you can use for Facebook and Twitter).

Related: What’s the difference between a feature phone and a smartphone?

But if you really, really want apps—you know, like Pandora for streaming music, Netflix for movies, Yelp for restaurant listings, or Angry Birds for fun—then yes, it’s time to start thinking about an iPhone, or Android phone, or a Windows Phone.

Related: Must-have apps for Android phones and the iPhone

2. How much are you willing to pay a month?

Here’s the thing about full-fledged smartphones like the iPhone or an Android phone: they require data plans, and they’re not cheap. Verizon, for example, charges a minimum of $30 a month for a 3G or 4G data plan, and that’s on top of your regular voice and texting plans.

If you go with a standard cell phone, though, you can get away with spending as little as $10 a month for basic web access—or you could even ditch the data altogether.

So if you’re on the fence about apps—as in, they’d be nice to have, but you’re not sure if you’d really use them—the cost of a smartphone data plan might nudge you one way or the other.

3. What’s your comfort level with cell phones?

Leery of dealing with complicated touch controls just to add a contact or send a text message? All the better reason to stick with a basic phone rather than diving into the heady world of smartphones.

That said, don’t just assume a particular phone will be easy to use because it’s cheap. Make sure to visit your local carrier store for a test drive before buying.

So, you want a smartphone but you’re still a bit of a beginner? If so, consider something like the iPhone, which (for my money, at least) has a relatively gentle learning curve.

Feeling confident, or want more choice in terms of look and feel? Then Android might be right for you. If you’re looking for a phone that plays nice with all things Windows, give Windows Phone a look. And let’s not forget the old, familiar BlackBerry, several models of which now offer touch-sensitive screens.

Related: iPhone or Android? 6 questions to ask yourself before deciding

4. Big or small?

Do you need a sliver of a phone that fits in a hip pocket, or would you prefer a bigger phone with a jumbo screen? These days, the smallest phones tend to be cheaper “feature” phones, while the latest Android and Windows Phone handsets are boasting displays larger than four inches diagonally. Apple, meanwhile, is sticking with a three-and-a-half inch, one-size-fits-all screen.

5. A physical keyboard, or a touchscreen keypad?

There’s nothing quite like the feel of an actual plastic key, particularly when it comes to tapping out lengthy email or text messages.

If a phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard is a must, you’ve got plenty of Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone options, not to mention bargain message phones. Apple, on the other hand, doesn’t offer an iPhone with a built-in or slide-out keypad—and it probably never will.

6. Are you in the middle of a contract?

If you’re currently under contract with a carrier, you won’t be able to jump to a competitor without coughing up a substantial “early termination fee,” or ETF as they’re known in the industry—think $350 or so, depending on how many months are left on your contract.

If that’s the case for you, and you’re not interested in shelling out a penalty for breaking your contract, then you’ll be limited to the phones offered by your carrier, and you might even have to pay extra if you’re not eligible for a discounted upgrade (if you’re not sure, call your carrier and ask). Just a thought.

7. Pre-paid or post-paid? Contract or no contract?

Not under contract, and not interested in signing one? Well, you could always go the pre-paid way. Pre-paid carriers like Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Tracfone, and others offer a wide variety of bargain and high-end handsets, including Android phones (no iPhones, unfortunately), as do such major national carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. (Sprint, by the way, offers its pre-paid phones through Boost.)

But if do choose to go with a pre-paid plan, keep in mind that you probably won’t be able to get a cutting-edge device, like the new Motorola Droid RAZR—and sorry, an iPhone 4S is out of the question.

Want the new iPhone, but don’t want to sign a contract? Well, you could always go for a standard post-paid plan (meaning you’re billed for the previous month’s usage, rather than paying in advance) but on a month-to-month basis, rather than signing the typical two-year contract. If you do, though, prepare to pay a bundle for an unsubsidized phone—for instance, $649 for the cheapest iPhone 4S, rather than $199 with a two-year contract.

Have more questions about buying a new phone? Sure you do. Post ’em below!

The post 7 questions to ask yourself before buying a new phone appeared first on here's the thing.

At the other end lie the latest, feature-packed smartphones, armed with mammoth color touchscreens, high-resolution cameras, full-on keypads worthy of a typewriter, brains the size of yesterday’s supercomputers, and price tags to match.

But there’s also another category that tends to crop up whenever you go cell-phone shopping: the mysterious, so-called “feature” phone.

OK, so what’s a feature phone? Are we talking some kind of middle-of-the-road cell phone, with some of the fancier smartphone features (like full QWERTY keypads and video cameras), or maybe a basic phone with a dash of style (like flashy colors or slim profiles)? What’s the deal?

Well, here’s the thing: A “feature” phone is a label used by many cell phone carriers to describe just about any phone that isn’t a smartphone—including everything from the most basic, bottom-of-the-line handsets to fancier phones with music players, camera, and even touchscreens.

So, what defines a “smartphone,” then?

These days, we think of smartphones as handsets that run on a mobile “platform” like Apple’s iOS (for the iPhone), Android (which powers phones like the Motorola Droid), BlackBerry, Microsoft’s Windows Phone (or Windows Mobile, as it used to be called), Web OS (from HP), and Nokia’s “Symbian” operating system.

These “platforms” are basically scaled-down versions of desktop operating systems, like Windows on your PC or Mac OS for the MacBook or iMac. They can run sophisticated applications (or apps) and games with 3-D graphics, as well as get regular updates that add new features (like voice commands or turn-by-turn driving directions) to the handset.

If your phone doesn’t run on any of those platforms (and if you’re not sure, ), then it’s probably a “feature” phone—even if it comes with such bells and whistles as a color touchscreen, a video player, a high-resolution camera, downloadable games, or even a full-on QWERTY keypad that slides out from beneath the display.

At the end of the day, of course, it’s the carriers who decide what’s a “feature” phone and what isn’t—a key distinction when it comes to your monthly cell phone bill.

While smartphones typically require pricey wireless data plans, on the order of at least $25 a month, “feature” phones will let you browse the web, post to Facebook, and check your email for as little as $10 or a month—or you can even skip the data plan altogether if you only want to use your phone for phone calls (imagine that).

Got more questions about “feature” phones versus smartphones? Let me know!

The post What’s the difference between a “feature” phone and a smartphone? appeared first on here's the thing.

The upcoming "Mango" update for Windows Phone lets you send messages to "groups" of friends.

Windows Phone users will gain the ability to quickly switch between running apps, chat with a group of friends simultaneously, and surf the web at “blazingly fast” speeds once a “major” update for Microsoft’s revamped smartphone platform lands this fall.

Microsoft already gave us the broad strokes about “Mango,” the code name for the upcoming update, back in February, but Tuesday’s press conference revealed more details and additional features, including Bing-aided “Local Scout” search; chat threads that combine text, Windows Messenger, and Facebook messages; and unified email inboxes that combine specified accounts. We also got a vague release date: this fall, a little later than earlier rumors had pegged.

The biggest of the soon-to-arrive Windows Phone improvements remains multitasking for third-party apps, a feature that finally brings Microsoft’s new smartphones up to par with its Android- and iOS-powered competitors.

A quick demo showed how Windows Phone multitasking will work: inside a running app, users will simply press and hold the “Back” button to reveal a row of tiles, each representing apps in the background. Flick to the app you want to switch to, tap it, and voilà—you’re in. The interface looks like a hybrid of multitasking “card” interface in HP’s webOS platform and the browser windows in mobile Safari; basic, yes, but serviceable, and effective.

Messages "threads" let you combine Facebook, Windows Messenger, and text messages into a single conversation.

Also coming in “Mango”: a series of messaging enhancements, including “threads” that combine Facebook, text, and Windows Messenger chats with a contact into a single, threaded conversation; “groups” of friend for e-mail blasts, or viewing communal photos and updates on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; built-in text-to-speech and speech-to-text for hands-free messaging; linked inboxes for multiple email accounts; and threaded email conversations that can be moved or deleted with a few taps.

Browsing will also get a boost with the hardware-accelerated, Internet Explorer 9-based mobile browser, which Microsoft claims will smoke the competition when it comes to “certain types” of web pages. Also on tap: “Local Scout,” a Bing-aided local search feature for finding nearby restaurants, shops, and other points on interest; and “Bing Vision,” which lets you scan and identify book covers and other items using the phone’s camera lens for instant search, shopping, and third-party app results (for example, within the Amazon Kindle app in the case of book covers).

All in all, Windows Phone users can expect more than 500 new features in the massive “Mango” update. Unfortunately (and only as far as I’m concerned, at least), none of them are true game-changers.

Indeed, despite my favorable impressions of the Windows Phone platform as a whole (and make no mistake, I’m still a fan of its clean, uncluttered interface and seamless Xbox and Facebook integration), I’m still at a loss whenever I’m asked for reasons to pick a Windows Phone handset over an Android phone or the iPhone.

Here’s the thing: Microsoft has made it clear that it’s in the smartphone business—or to be more specific, the Windows Phone business—for the long haul. That’s the good news; the bad news is that the upcoming “Mango” update lacks a killer feature to make Windows Phone stand out from the smartphone crowd.

The post Windows Phone to get a helping of “Mango” (multitasking, group messaging, faster browsing, and more) appeared first on here's the thing.