The rivalry between Android and IOS is a pretty big one. Everyone has their favorites, and sometimes people get stuck with Android because they don’t really want to pay the cost of an iPhone. There is no shame in that, a lot of people just don’t want to overly invest in their phones. Actually, if you are one of those people that are looking to keep their phone bill low you have come to the right place. There are actually many benefits to having an Android phone and taking it abroad. It is going to be easier for you to find a phone charger for example. This is something that we are going to talk more about here soon! A lot of times though, it may be a better idea to have a charger that works on the local voltage of the electric current. So that you won’t have to use voltage converters. At least not for charging your phone.
Another one of the major benefits that you are probably going to be able to obtain is that it is going to be easier to find a SIM card that fits your phone. We have talked in other articles about how eSIMs are great. Yet, not every single phone company is going to be able to provide you with one. So, for the time being, having a pretty basic Android phone may be a way to ensure that buying a foreign SIM card becomes easier. Overall, also you are probably going to end up paying less money to get the phone in the first place. There are a lot of things to think about. We are going to try and cover some of the main questions that people have as far as taking an Android phone abroad.
- Getting A SIM Card
- Going for a dual SIM phone, benefits.
- XGody Android Phones
- Setbacks of using an Android phone while abroad
- Is it worth it to buy a travel phone?
- Why using local chargers could make sense
- Conclusion about using an Android phone abroad
Getting A SIM Card
There is no reason to lie about this, it is going to be easier for you to be able to get a SIM card for an Android phone that it is to get an Apple SIM card. Especially if we are talking about eSIM cards in certain parts of the world. If you have a phone that is highly popular in the world, let’s say a Samsung or even a Huawei it is going to be relatively easy to be able to find a SIM card that fits your phone. This seems like the most basic knowledge that we could provide. The truth is though, this is still the first mistake that people make when buying a foreign SIM card for their Android phone. Although it has gotten harder to miss though as most phones now use a similar SIM card.
Still, the size of the SIM card is something that you are going to want to look into. Especially if you are making the purchase of the SIM card online. Since you are not going to have the chance to actually see if the SIM fits before you make the purchase. Before, you get into what company offers the best coverage or the best rates make sure that you are choosing a SIM card that happens to be the right size for your phone. As a side note, these days SIM cards can be adjusted to fit smaller openings. If you are not quite sure how to do this make sure you get help.
Going for a dual SIM phone benefits
Dual SIM capabilities are not a luxury that happens to be exclusive to iPhones. Actually dual SIM capabilities are in some phones that you probably would not have imagined. Samsung is going to try and compete in the eSIM market. They are releasing phones that have dual SIM capability and use an eSIM system to be able to hold 2 SIM cards. There are also other types of phones that have the ability to fiscally hold two SIM cards at the same time. Without using an eSIM. These phones are actually less expensive than you probably would have imagined. We are going to get to these phones in a bit though!
In a lot of ways, dual SIM capability seems to be the future. If you are someone who travels a lot whether it be domestically or internationally you are really going to be able to benefit from this feature. Domestically you are going to be able to have two SIM cards from different companies that have better coverage in certain areas. You would think by now that cell coverage would be the same across the board in the United States. That is still not the case! Most companies don’t even have nationwide 5G coverage. You can fix that by having two SIM cards.
Of course, if you travel a lot you are going to be able to use this feature to insert a foreign SIM. This is going to allow you to take and make calls and texts from both phones seemingly at the same time. This really beats out having to remove the SIM card on your phone every time that you want to change countries or whatever it is that you are doing.
XGody Android Phone
There are a couple of companies that offer phone options for people on a tight budget. Usually, though, the capabilities of these particular phones are very limited. To the point where you can only download a handful of apps before the phone literally breaks apart. XGody phones are a Chinese Manufacturer that sells phones that for the most part run on an Android operating system. These phones can be yours at an incredibly low price tag. Yes, as was mentioned before you are probably not going to be able to expect the same type of performance that you could get for an Android or Samsung phone.
Why then do we bring this up? Well, throughout the site we talk about the possibility of buying a phone to bring abroad so that you don’t have to bring your regular phone. For a lot of people, this doesn’t seem like an idea that would work just based on the price that you would have to pay for a phone. With an XGody phone, you can pay a dirt-cheap amount for the phone. These dirt chip versions have dual SIM capability. It is so inexpensive that you could literally have it as a backup phone just in case anything ever happens to your regular phone. You can also have it as a travel phone. Thanks to the dual SIM capabilities.
Setbacks of using an Android phone while abroad
To be honest there are not that many setbacks that come to mind. Some people are just not comfortable with the Android operating system. That can be a fair criticism. To say that you are just not comfortable with the operating system if you are used to having an iPhone with you all the time. For the most part, though, it is actually going to be easier to find foreign SIM cards that fit your phone. Globalization is like magic.
Still, there are a lot of places across the globe where technology has just not caught up. Usually in these countries, Android is king and you are going to have very limited access to Apple products. Things like buying a charger abroad can be way more difficult than many people anticipate. Of course, this can all change depending on where exactly it is that you are traveling. That is certainly something that you should keep in mind.
Surely as the years go by it is probably going to get easier to be able to find Apple products abroad. At this point in time, it is way easier to find chargers, SIM cards and all other gadgets that you can think of for an Android-based device. Also, all of these gadgets are going to be less expensive. Of course, you could always online shop for iPhone gadgets. At the end of the day though, there are just not that many setbacks from having an Android phone and taking it abroad.
Is it worth it to buy a travel phone?
This is something that we just talked about in the paragraph about XGody phones. At the end of the day, it has to make sense personally for you especially financially speaking. What are the benefits of buying a travel phone? If your regular phone does not have dual SIM capabilities you are going to have to literally remove your SIM to add a local one. This is going to mean that you are going to miss all of the calls and texts that you may get. If you are a person that uses mobile apps like Whatsapp, Skype or even Zoom to communicate you are going to miss out on all of those messages until you put your regular SIM back on.
Another one of the reasons why it may be a good idea to have a travel phone has to do with safety. Tourists are usually at risk of being robbed while abroad. This can happen anywhere in the world. Even in some of the biggest and most modern cities out there. Having a phone that you can technically afford to lose is not a bad idea. With as much information as we each carry around on a cell phone, these days exposing yourself in that manner may not be a great idea anyway.
Avoiding data loss issues is another big one. This is not as big of an issue as it used to be. It is obviously less of an issue with dual SIM phones. Yet, still with some models switching SIM cards can erase pretty much all of the local information that you would have had saved on your phone. Buying up more cloud space for back up can be a good idea. Just having another phone can also work.
A lot of times it is hard to make a suggestion that is going to apply and bring benefits to everyone. That is why we tend to talk about how this scenario can work for certain people, but won’t work for others. When it is all set and done if you are worried about the safety of your personal data and you are one of those people that like to have a tangible back up plan this can be a good idea.
Why using local chargers could make sense
If you are traveling to Europe from the western hemisphere you probably know about the difference in voltage in the typical electric current. It is the same thing if you are going from Europe to the western hemisphere. If you want to charge your phone, laptop, tablet or any other gadget for that matter you are going to need to use voltage converter to be able to charge these items. That is unless you buy a charger head that can connect directly to the local electric current. This is something that just makes a lot of sense. Especially with Android phones since chargers for these phones are usually not overly expensive. Leave that voltage converter for other things.
Another piece of advice regarding this issue would be to not use a voltage converter for a long time. Especially if you are buying some of the cheaper ones that you can get at airports or other places. They tend to burn out fairly quickly. If you are someone who travels across the Atlantic quite a bit another worthy investment could be a real state of the art voltage converter.
These gadgets are not going to burn out as easily as some of those cheaper versions that may be easier to find. If you have a cheap one at it burns while you are charging a laptop or your phone this could definitely cause a major issue. It is not uncommon for these burnouts to occur and mess up the battery life or ability to even charge for any of your gadgets. Since phone chargers, especially for Android tend to be less expensive it could be a good idea to buy a local charger. That way you are going to be able to completely avoid this particular issue.
Conclusion about using an Android phone abroad
It is safe to say that taking an Android phone abroad is going to be easier than taking an iPhone. At least in most parts of the world. You are usually bound to find a compatible SIM card with relative ease. Of course, this is again going to depend on where you travel. The difference in prices for phones, gadgets, add ons and everything Android, compared to iPhone just makes it a “more comfortable” option. You are going to be able to find a local Android charger probably at a local convenience store without much trouble. If you are on a tight budget to begin you are probably going to be thankful for this. Especially when it comes to traveling to Europe.
If you are someone who does a lot of international traveling it could also make sense to make those key investments. Like the idea of a travel phone or even the local charger. They are going to put a bigger dent in your budget the first time around. Especially if you want to add the cost for a SIM card. In the long run, though, these are things that could certainly bring you that peace of mind that you maybe didn’t even know you need it.
We know that many people can be reading this and thinking I have been abroad and I have never had problems with my phone charger. Other people can be thinking that cheap voltage converter works fine. If you are thinking this you are of course not wrong. The thing is the more you travel and the more stress you put on that cheap voltage converter the more likely it is to fail. That is why at the end of the day a lot of these recommended investments make sense. In a lot of ways, it is like buying a traveler’s insurance. To make sure that you are not having to deal with not having a way to charge your phone while you are abroad. Losing all of your personal data off your phone as well could be a major concern.
As we tend to do on this site, we want to make sure that you get a sense of the big picture. We know that when it is all set and done you are going to be the one making the decisions. Yet, the hope is that by reading this article or others on the site you are able to make more informed decisions. Knowing many of those little details that you may not have thought of at first! The more options you know about the better decisions you will most likely make.