What Do You Want in a Phone?

My dad is looking for a cell phone. Following is my way of showing him the options so he gets the best phone for the money. There is a spectrum of phones and services that go from inexpensive to not. So what do you get for your money?

From what I understand, my dad wants a phone
1) That is easy to use
2) That he will be able to use in an emergency
  a) He can hear the other voice and they him
  b) He can use maps to get around
3) That he can do other fun and useful stuff with

Republic Wireless

For less than $20 a month you get free talking and texting and a limited amount of data. From my experience, using maps several times a month. Looking occasionally at web sites and other apps that are not music or video streaming apps. You also get voices that are sometimes choppy and hard to hear. You can buy more data at $7.50 per 500 MB. Whatever you do not use, you don't pay for.

This is the service I use. I bought a Moto E (1st gen) with a 32 GB SD card for about $120. It is a low end phone. It is slow for me. I drop calls now and then. The apps and phone can get bogged down. I think a lot of this is because the machine is under-powered. For a user that will not install a lot of apps, it may be satisfactory.

My wife has a Moto X (2nd gen) and 32 GB of memory for $350. She has a much better experience than I. It is about 10 times as fast. I am not sure what her experience is with dropped calls and voice quality.

Sprint

$45 Unlimited talk and text, 1GB.
$22/month lease
$22.92 installment billing 0% apr. $550
Can upgrade anytime in the cost of the plan.

T-Mobile

$50 a month, 1GB of high speed
Certified pre-owned 5S. $7 a month, $279 outright.
iPhone 6. $27 a month, $649 outright.

Verizon

We switched from Verizon to Republic Wireless in Nov 2014. We went from paying $85 a month sharing a plan with my in-laws. That is with feature phones and some texting between the both of us.  Republic wireless is less than $40 a month for two android phones. Unlimited talk and text, and some data.

For my dad I think he would have the best experience with an iPhone. He already has an iPad. He won't have to learn a new OS.

No Service contract, pay off the remainder

$50 a month, 1GB
iPhone 6 plus: $649 or $27/month
iPhone 6: $549 or $23/month