If you're pondering a new phone and don't want to commit too much money, check out the Moto E4.

With some prepaid services it's as low as $39 now (with Boost Mobile at Best Buy; $49 with Verizon at Walgreens and other stores). I paid $59 for the Verizon version at Target in early December.

It runs Android 7.1.1. I don't think it's in line for an auto-update to 8 but I see tutorials online for updating. No complaints, good phone, does what I need. Runs every cycling app and every other app I've tried.

The only catch with the prepaid versions of the Moto E4 is the phone will probably be locked to that particular carrier for a year or until you've spent a minimum amount on prepaid service. Or you could pay the full pop for the unlocked phone. But for $150-$200 there are probably better unlocked phones. The Moto E4's main appeal is it's a significant step up from the usual entry level prepaid phones.

In my case Verizon unlocked my phone even before I reached the year/$75 minimum. Their prepaid service list price is $50/mo for unlimited talk/text and 7 GB data, way more than I used in December. The rest rolled over to January with the nominally $40/3 GB data although Verizon charged me only $25, hoping I'd stay on as a customer. And I might. Top notch customer service. A techie friend who works in the telecom industry pooh-poohs Verizon because their network isn't quite state of the art. But it's good enough for my needs. I think he's a T-Mobile guy, but I had T-Mobile for years and found their customer support unresponsive.

I also have an older iPhone 4s running iOS 9.3.5, reportedly the final update Apple will make available. It runs fine with the cycling apps I use, and handier to carry on bike rides. It also fits my existing Delta phone caddy. There are some apps it won't run but those aren't essential to me. And it's a bit sluggish compared with newer phones. Occasionally some activities apps will stop when I run two or more simultaneously, or it will have GPS sync errors. When that occurs it's usually cleared up with a reboot/soft reset.

But eventually the 4s will probably be useful only for voice and texting. At the moment I'm running
it on Freedom Pop's "free" plan (aka, not really free), with generous voice and texting and limited data, but more than I'll use in a year.