The main agenda behind the introduction of Google Project Fi is so that mobile phone users can no longer be exploited by the costly phone and data plans offered by major carriers in the U.S.
It’s true that Project Fi has some amazing plans, where you only need $20 per month to get the Fi Basics. This plan will give you unlimited calls and texts all throughout the month and there’s no doubt that it’s a decent package. To browse the web, you’ll need an additional $10 per month for a GB of data. Depending on your internet usage, you might end up spending less or maybe more than this figure.
The best part comes when you spend less than 1GB of data per month, something that is greatly aided by the availability of many Wi-Fi hotspots in the country, be it in the workplace or even in our homes. If you use Wi-Fi when at home and at work, your data usage is greatly reduced, meaning that this GB of data is just too much. In short, you might end up using about 500MB or maybe less and unlike other carriers; Google Project Fi will credit the unused package to your account and even though you won’t be sent back the cash, your next monthly subscription will be cheaper.
This would have been the perfect package for my folks who have little to do with the internet and when they do, Wi-Fi is always turned on in the house. But wait; to get onto Project Fi via a device that is not almost two years old and has top-notch performance specs and features, I need to get them either the Google Pixel or Pixel XL.
These two devices currently cost $649 and $769, respectively. For a service that is selling itself as the most affordable or rather a cheap alternative to the costly Verizon and AT&T, for instance, it makes no sense having to spend this much in order to get a deserved phone that is supported on the platform. I know the two are available via financing, but this still doesn’t change their price, no matter how long it takes to pay for them.
There’s word that the Moto X4 will be coming in as a cheaper alternative, but looking at the rumored specs, the phone is simply nowhere near the Google Nexus 5X, which was the entry-level offering back in 2015.
As it appears, this Moto X4 might turn out to be the only option on the table, but it remains to be seen whether Google will be in charge of software updates or Motorola, which has gone from good to worse ever since Lenovo bought the company a few years ago. Despite this move, it would still be better if Project Fi got a device from Google itself with the qualities of Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, that is, top-notch hardware specs, decent build, timely software updates and above all, available at less than $500 or even cheaper.