Well, I caved… I finally caved… but only because there was a good deal at Target where I could get a free iWatch series 3 (with cellular). How did I get a free iWatch? Well here is how…..
So when it comes to upgrading I dread it usually. Because in today’s upgrade there are so many fees and costs involved. It is not just wait a couple years and get a free phone anymore. Now it’s finance this and pay this to activate and pay even more for a line access fee…. LINE ACCESS FEE? isn’t that rolled into my plan to have the line in the first place… oh and don’t forget the DATA FEES…
OK…. rant over.
So TARGET had a great deal where you can upgrade on either an iPhone X, iPhone 8 or 8 Plus and get a Target gift card from each upgrade. The gift card ranged from $100-$150; plus you would get a Target Gift Card for turning in your phone!
Here is how my deal went:
I had 1 line that was out of contract so it was already $20 less on my bill. Then in less than 2 months 2 additional lines were falling off contract so that would save me $40 more dollars a month. Looking at the savings upcoming I made that work in my favor. Plus VERIZON at TARGET was running a deal where I could buy one iPhone X and get another free, or get an 8 or an 8 Plus with the activation of a new line (which eventually was used for my FREE iWatch). My husband has bigger hands so the 8 Plus would fit him much better and he wouldn’t lose the home button feature; which I felt would frustrate him because he likes simplicity in his phone.
So with Verizon BOGO deal and Target Gift card deal I got 2 phones for the price of one, I got two Target Gift Cards (1-$100 and 1-$150) for the upgrade deal, then I got two more gift cards ($140 each) for the trade in credit on my 2 phones I surrendered to Target. SO I now have a total of $530 in Target cards!
So my iWatch cost me $399 plus tax (Paid for with Gift Cards) and I had about $100 left over on my Gift Card balance to put towards the iPhone X to lower the monthly payments. Which I had to do at the time of the phone purchase transaction so the Target rep was aware at how I could maximize all of my Gift Card savings – He was great. Remember the iPhone 8Plus was FREE.. (credits from Verizon each month for 2 years will be applied to my bill – but it’s still free). I did add the extra line for the upgrade of one phone but it’s attached to my iWatch so it’s not a wasted line addition.
After all is said and done our bill next month after the other 2 phones fall off contract, our bill will only be $30 more for an extra line, 2 new phones and we also upgraded to the unlimited data plan.
Now for the review I promised on the X vs 8Plus…
The Cameras are the same except the 8 and the 8Plus do not have the front facing camera specs like the X if you want to take a great SELFIE. However the rear facing camera on both the X, 8 and 8Plus all have the portrait mode and take amazing pictures. Which after getting used to the X upgrade and losing my home button and gaining face recognition, it took me about a week or so to even play with the camera functions.
Here are some examples of the new camera features.. and let me remind you I have a Nikon 5200 because on the side I dabble in photography, but I can’t seem to get this quality of pics without an edit with my Nikon.
