Best budget smartphone?

Just upgraded my Tracfone LG22C to their Moto G6. Got it at HSN for $199 with 1200minutes & texts & 1.2 data plus 365days service($95 value alone). And I can port my phone number and remaining credits from my LG. I have twice those amounts still in my account other than service only until 7/19/2019. Not much on social media, just want communication when needed. Tracfone has been all I have needed so far. Connected from Alaska/Canada/Italy/Greece so far, maybe China this fall.

Bought a Galaxy S9 over a year ago on a discount deal for $379. Pre-ordered the unlocked Galaxy S10. They gave me a $550 trade-in for the S9, and a free set of wireless ear buds. Net cost was $349

Hey guys, do you realize that service provider deals can’t be duplicated? That is why I posted Amazon prices and universal phones.

Up here, the service providers use to lock people onto 3 year contracts with cheap phones….and abusive service contracts.

If it can’t be bought outright and unlocked, with no service contract, then the price is suspect.

Am I the only one who misses the days of picking up a prepaid Nokia candybar phone for 10-20bux… with sim card and free 10bux worth of airtime (and charger and all the other accoutrements)?

I miss the days of phone booths. Especially getting inside them with strangers….oh wait…

no need to think, pick xiaomi or redmi. My xiaomi Mi8 is good. I purchased it a week before Mi9 launching :person_facepalming:

Mine was direct from Samsung USA, no contracts. You keep saying “up here”. Where is up here?

US carriers used to do that too, but T-Mobile pretty much changed the environment of the market and everyone else shifted their service plans to unsubsidized post paid plans (aka. No contracts). I was on T- Mobile when they did that and I thought it was great. Of course that meant your phone wasn’t included in your contact price anymore, so you had to buy your phone outright for big $$$ or pay in installments added to you bill. Expensive phones added $30 to your bill, but cheaper ones only 10-15. Without a contract they essentially locked you down with the penalty of the full balance of that phone coming due if you canceled your service before it was paid off (24 months) so that was how they kept you. Of course you could opt to have another carrier buy your phone off if your switched to them.

Igloos. Polar bears running in the streets. Nose greetings.

Canada.

It sounds like a back door service contract.

Up here, they did offer to pay it in installments, but you could pay off the real balance left.

I think it’s the law.

I 100% would pick them or Huawei…

if they didn’t work with only about half the cell frequencies here.

That’s exactly what it is. They had to find a way to keep their customers from defecting. If you get an unlocked phone, all you needed is a SIM card to use it. Otherwise any phone you bought were locked to that network.

We had the government step in and reduce the the stranglehold of the service providers. Worse still, there wasn’t the wide open competition up here that was available in the US.

As far as I’m concerned, make the cell towers public property and then let the service providers fight for service. As it stands, they use the stranglehold of putting up towers to control areas.

Capitalism never works if there is some element of exclusivity. Worse still if governments won’t let anybody and everybody compete for market share.

Last November, I got the 4gig/64gig Moto X4 for what works out to be ~150 USD. I think this is the last in the style of phones I like: small (around 5”), full HD screen, fingerprint sensor up front, headphone jack, and IPX-8 waterproofing. Love Moto Actions as well. A cousin got the 6gig/64gig version for about USD 130 last month. Really dissatisfied with newer phones growing larger by the day and moving fingerprint sensors to the back and skipping headphone jacks.

That’s the way the industry is headed. There are very few phones with under 5.5” screens and headphone jacks. It’s even harder to find pvi res with styluses (Samsung Note or LG Stylo). They are still out there, but that are usually lower end models.

Y’know just how annoying that is? Ie, you see some chickie with a nice round bum, bounded only by sheer stretchy material of her pants, nigh perfection… except for what looks like a clipboard wedged in her back pocket. :person_facepalming:

:smiley:

I never hold the cell to my ear. Now instead of holding a clipboard to my ear…….I’m talking to it near my chin.

That’s why I always think those follks have a sandwich phone. Bite! Yum yum…

Anyways, my Sony XZ1Compact still works well. No need for full hd on a 4.6” screen, that would only drain the battery faster.
I only wish they added the silicone case right to it as the alu back is quite slipperey, the one I gotfrom bearguest is close to perfect for my needs.

It’s what I always do. I bought the best phone from two or three years ago. The smartphones have very little change between one year and another, it’s basically marketing hype so you can change yours. They are always in good condition and I do not make an initial investment of more than 500 bucks. I will never pay more than 200 bucks for a phone.

Any old flagship is usually better than any chinese budget phone.