Best budget smartphone?

I have just bought my second Oppo phone here in Australia. They are great phones for the money.
We don’t have a huge choice of phones in stores here.
The first one still works well, but the battery has just about died after 2 and a half years.
I hate it that all the new phones don’t have removable batteries, as I used to buy replacements on eBay for about $5.
It’s not worth taking a cheaper phone to a phone shop to have a new battery fitted, as they sting you and it’s hardly worth the money.
I looked at few other brands, and Moto get very good reviews.
I believe that the Xiaomi brand is very good, and I wanted to get one, but they are not available in stores here.
If you buy online from China you may have issues with warranty if something goes wrong.
It was easier for me to walk into a store and buy the Oppo.
The Huawei phones are good value as well.

Just got the Sony XZ1c 2 weeks ago after my Samsung S4mini suddenly died.

I certainly like the phone but I’m really waiting for the 2 (!) cases that I’ve ordered in China as the aluminum back of the phone is just too slippery.

I just got a Moto G6 and I like it a lot. The case I got for it made it feel much better in my hand as it gave it a little more heft and also less slippery.

Personally I think its better to search Swappa for an Excellent condition used phone.
You don’t have to worry about wacky Chinese brands and you can get excellent used phones built for the US market.
You could pick up an LG G6 or Samsung Galaxy S7 for around $130

https://swappa.com/mobile/buy/samsung-galaxy-s7/att

I am using an LG V30 that was perfect I got on Swappa and its been incredible

My current smart phone is the humble Moto E2.

We no longer have a house phone (landline), and I want a larger, more powerful cell phone.

The next time there's a 15% off coupon for eBay, I'll probably get a Moto G6.

(There are several that appeal to me for about $180 on eBay.)

Had to shuck-n-jive a bit to get the band I wanted, butt my “LG L22C Power” model has been error free through Tracfone and was free with the ~$100 year long, triple data units added deal. I have never paid more than $12/mo and never ran out of data points. We have connected from Canada/Italy/Greece with no problem. We are very light users butt Tracfone serves us well.

I got a Moto G6 back in November. I have so far enjoyed it. I am not a phone junkie, a handful of texts a day if that, its my alarm clock, and occasionally use it to read or browse the web. Charging it to 75, I get 4 days on a charge down to about 10 (power saver on). At times it definetely less, if I have been using it more.

Got mine on sale for $200, getting one new for $180 seems like a good deal.

They just released the Moto G7 Power
And its best feature is the battery: 5Ah
(and Dual SIM and a additional slot for a SD-Mini-card, NFC sorry, Europe only)

Here is a nice German review, incl. PWM measurements and runtime.
Please use google translate

G7 Play

Verdict

There are also a few other versions, but I would choose the power only because of runtime.
And please check the specifications on gsm arena

Sometimes Moto has little differences for USA vs. International

Edit: review of the US version

G7 Play

G7 Plus

normal G7

I’ve had flawless performance from a
2017 Samsung Galaxy J3 Luna Pro (S327VL)
& 2018 LG Rebel 2 (LG58VL).

QVC deal $59.95 each, with one year of service/1,500 minutes/1,500 texts/1.5GB data …. extra data is cheap to purchase.
99.5 % of my data is via home wi-fi, and I’m not a 15 yr old girl, so my data/text pkg is plenty.

Verizon can kiss my ass!

I am using a Xiaomi Pocophone F1 for 6 months. It’s very, very fast, has good cameras and screen.

My friends also went for Xiaomi, so I tested the Redmi 4 Pro, 5, 5 Pro, 6 Pro, Mi Note 2 and Mi 8. None of us regret buying it.

In my opinion Redmi 6 Pro has the best value by the moment (about 200), and balanced specs. Great performance with excellent cameras.

I wish I had known about QVC before I bought my G6, but I am glad you posted this now. I am switching to tracfone, definitely right up my alley.

Well, I ordered a Moto G6 for $150 on eBay.

I got sick of waiting, and saw what looked like a deal.

I really hope eBay doesn't have a 15% off coupon soon, or else I could have gotten an even better deal.

EDIT: If anyone is in the market for a G6, this is the one I ordered:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Motorola-Moto-G-6th-Generation-XT1925-32GB-Black-AT-T-GSM-Global-Unlocked/153396555017

It looks good, but there is this disclaimer:

"The Devices might have been activated and may not carry manufacturer's warranty unless stated otherwise in details of description."

Activated? LoL!

The warranty stuff thing needs to stand a change. As it is it has certain negatives. Luckily for us in Europe unlocking a smartphone's bootloader does not exempt its manufacturer from its duty to provide a quality product.

Anyway, if you look after smartphone freedom check here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g6

Cheers ^:)

Got a refurbed LG G7 for <250 USD on Swappa. Seller name “Sellworld” which has a physical store in NJ as well. Couldn’t be happier.

If you’re willing to buy used you can get so much more phone for your money, its what I’ve done with my last three. Got what was close to an $800 phone 6 months ago for a quarter of that. (Part of that is LG pushing fast price drops anyway but G7 is still ~$450 brand new).

Look at the new Moto G7. I’ve had a few Moto phones and they’re pretty good for the money. I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S9 that costs more than double what a Moto G would have cost, and I’m not impressed.

I would have gotten the Moto G7, but it's quite a bit more expensive, and more importantly there's little feedback on G7 accessories and I need a specific type of case.

(I determine which case I want by Amazon reviews.)

It’s a long thread….and a short life.

Up here, you can get gouged by the three sisters or you go to a discount company. I did so from the beginning of their existence so now I’m grandfathered to a fantastic rate. Unlimited North America wide talk/text and 5gb for 26 USD. Beat that if you can.

Downside, their phones are ridiculous expensive and they have their own band that I must match. Close to the TMobile bands in the USA. Luckily, Samsung makes universal phones with their band inside. I tried the A-8 and pretty decent phone but wanted better. Right now, if someone can hold off, the Samsung A-9 is going to hit the discount market and it’s my next phone. Will pick one up at Black Friday probably in the 300 USD range on my next 2 year cycle.

The way I buy is I wait and pick up at the tail of 2 generation back flagship phone. Just before the next generation is introduced and they want to get rid of the old phones. That’s what I did with my last three phones. S2 when there were S4 on the market and just before the S5, S4 when there was S6 just before the S7, S6 when the S8 just before the S9. Always in the upper $300 USD range. The hand me down goes to the wife. So any given phone gets used for 4 years and more when I travel. The older generation goes to back-up mode.

All the Samsung phones work and I never had any problems other then the usual battery replacement every year two years. The S2 is now 7 years old and still works fine. What I am afraid off is the batteries may not be available much longer for decade old phones.

Pity, that MOTO is just Lenovo crap.
Mike

LoL :-D sp5it, I am using a Zuk Z2 Pro (Z2121) and so far very happy with it. With a custom ROM, of course.

^:)

I have started looking at these phones after seeing the price of the current generation Samsung Galaxy (S10). Up here they are asking over 2k!!

The one that looks really promising is the new Redmi Note 7 and Note 7 Pro. Very impressive specs for the price.