Let's talk low end smartphones

[NissanFanBoy]

Gave my Samsung S8 to my wife, have a huge payout on Freedom so I decided for the first time in my life to purchase a phone upfront.

None of the carriers offered anything decent looking for around $250 so I decided to look around.

Went on Memory Express website and found a couple of Asus phones that seemed to be decently fast.

Ended up with one of these:

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX72454

Bought from Staples instead since it was closer.

So far so good, really happy with it, I'm not a heavy user so I just wanted a reasonably small device that was light and still looked good. The only downside so far I've found is it can't connect to my 5G wifi at home, turns out it has an outdated wifi receiver.

So just curious from other beyonders, if you needed a smartphone for under $300, what would you get?

The other phone I was thinking about is the LG X Power 3 but it seemed a little too big and the phone is kind of ugly whereas this phone looks like the S8 but is less "slippery" and much lighter.

[ExtraSlow]

Know people who have used BLU phones without issue.

[NissanFanBoy]

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Know peo9qho have used BLU phones without issue.

I considered Blu but I wanted a phone that I could see and feel it in store before buying...I read Blu is big in South America though.

[ExtraSlow]

Best thing about Blu is the unlocked fm tuner. Nice to have data free radio with you everywhere.

[NissanFanBoy]

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Best thing about Blu is the unlocked fm tuner. Nice to have data free radio with you everywhere.

Yup mine's got it too, nice.

[D'z Nutz]

I'd take a look at Xiaomi's offerings.

My sister's phone shit the bed suddenly in July and she doesn't like spending a lot on phones, so I suggested a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5. The specs looked nice for the price and they were getting a lot of praise on RedFlagDeals. When she got it, she was really impressed with the quality and couldn't stop raving about it. Then my phone shit the bed a week after and I needed something cheap to hold me over until the new Pixel came out so I went with the Pro version of the same phone, which has a better processor and dual lens camera. She paid $275 for hers and I paid $300 on Amazon. You can get them cheaper on Aliexpress, but I'm not going to wait fucking 3 months for a phone to arrive in the mail.

For the price, you were getting:
- 4GB RAM/64GB storage
- factory unlocked
- dual-sim
- expandable memory
- 4000mAh battery
- 5.99" display

My sister's phone came with a Snapdragon 625 whereas mine was a Snapdragon 636. The battery on these phones are ridiculous.

I'd say they're mid-range phones with a low end price tag. I'm so impressed with this phone, I might not even bother with getting a Pixel now cause this does what I need it to at like a third of the price. If I were to do it again, I'd pay a little more and get one of the Android One models cause it's pure Android with zero bloat like the Pixel, not to mention unlimited photo storage at full resolution.

I was also considering the Nokia 6.1 at the time, but it has a smaller screen in a similar sized body and cost $50 more at the time. It's going for $320 now and is also an Android One phone.

They're a little more than $300, but I think the value is there especially since the Android One models will get a couple years worth of updates.

[KrisYYC]

I think for long term reliability the low to mid-range Nokia Android One phones are the best bet. Android updates almost as fast as the Pixels.

https://www.amazon.ca/Nokia-64GB-And...ords=nokia+6.1

[jwslam]

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I think for long term reliability the low to mid-range Nokia Android One phones are the best bet. Android updates almost as fast as the Pixels.

https://www.amazon.ca/Nokia-64GB-And...ords=nokia+6.1

I'd be all over this if they supported freedom bands

[mr2mike]

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Best thing about Blu is the unlocked fm tuner. Nice to have data free radio with you everywhere.

ExtraSlow is the guy at the Flames games listening to the game on his FM tuner while watching the game.

[ExtraSlow]

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ExtraSlow is the guy at the Flames games listening to the game on his FM tuner while watching the game.

As a kid, actually did that a few times, but jokes on you, Flames games air in AM band, and the phones have no AM tuner.

[Mitsu3000gt]

1-2 year old flagships are still a lot better than any of the very entry level phones - I would just try to find a good used one.

Also in another thread someone said they got a Pixel 2 XL for like $250 from Koodo in some promotion - that is insane.

[mzdspd]

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1-2 year old flagships are still a lot better than any of the very entry level phones - I would just try to find a good used one.

Also in another thread someone said they got a Pixel 2 XL for like $250 from Koodo in some promotion - that is insane.

My wife got a Pixel 2 XL for 480$ (large tab) thru one of Koodo deals.

But the best deal I have saw was with Koodo and wow mobile, people were buying a S8 on a large tab (480$) and then wow mobile was issuing a 300$ prepaid mastercard.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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My wife got a Pixel 2 XL for 480$ (large tab) thru one of Koodo deals.

But the best deal I have saw was with Koodo and wow mobile, people were buying a S8 on a large tab (480$) and then wow mobile was issuing a 300$ prepaid mastercard.

Oh my mistake - I thought it was $250 for some reason. Still $480 is a good deal.

Pixel 3's are getting announced on October 9, OP should just wait a week and pick one of the Pixel 2's that are going to flood the market. I always sell mine for pretty cheap just to get rid of them.

[revelations]

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Know people who have used BLU phones without issue.

Yea I just picked up 3 for a corp client - running Android 4.4 .... lol ($60 each). These are to be standby phones only. Am setting them up now and appear to be pretty decent for BASIC functionality only.

[civic_stylez]

Alcatel, Xiaomi and ASUS all offer decent quality specs at below market pricing. As long as youre not after cutting edge specs, these are great options.

[tonytiger55]

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I'd take a look at Xiaomi's offerings.

My sister's phone shit the bed suddenly in July and she doesn't like spending a lot on phones, so I suggested a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5. The specs looked nice for the price and they were getting a lot of praise on RedFlagDeals. When she got it, she was really impressed with the quality and couldn't stop raving about it. Then my phone shit the bed a week after and I needed something cheap to hold me over until the new Pixel came out so I went with the Pro version of the same phone, which has a better processor and dual lens camera. She paid $275 for hers and I paid $300 on Amazon. You can get them cheaper on Aliexpress, but I'm not going to wait fucking 3 months for a phone to arrive in the mail.

For the price, you were getting:
- 4GB RAM/64GB storage
- factory unlocked
- dual-sim
- expandable memory
- 4000mAh battery
- 5.99" display

My sister's phone came with a Snapdragon 625 whereas mine was a Snapdragon 636. The battery on these phones are ridiculous.

I'd say they're mid-range phones with a low end price tag. I'm so impressed with this phone, I might not even bother with getting a Pixel now cause this does what I need it to at like a third of the price. If I were to do it again, I'd pay a little more and get one of the Android One models cause it's pure Android with zero bloat like the Pixel, not to mention unlimited photo storage at full resolution.

I was also considering the Nokia 6.1 at the time, but it has a smaller screen in a similar sized body and cost $50 more at the time. It's going for $320 now and is also an Android One phone.

They're a little more than $300, but I think the value is there especially since the Android One models will get a couple years worth of updates.

Dumb question. Do these work with the LTE bands here..?

[PeterGTiR]

LeEco Le 2

3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and they can run LineageOS out of the box. Dual sims so that you can use a tablet sim for data. They're about $120 on AliExpress.

Some of the Xiaomi phones take three days or more to unlock the bootloader so if you're thinking about trying LineageOS, it takes a bit longer to get permissions.

[jwslam]

This is a steal for a back-up phone

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/asus-ze.../6000198001352

[NissanFanBoy]

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This is a steal for a back-up phone

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/asus-ze.../6000198001352

Damn, why can't any of these phones connect to 5g wifi...I have to return this Asus for this reason, plus the head phone jack seems to be broken but from I read it's just shit to begin with.

Was going to get the Moto G6 Play for $240 but apparently the Canadian version also can't connect to 5g??

[NissanFanBoy]

Good news! I started using my old Nexus 5 again and realized how awesome this little phone is/was!

It's got a nice design with a grippy rubber backing, it's small, thin and light, it's FAST, like I swear my Samsung S8 was slower than this little thing. The only reason I stopped using this phone was that I was finding that the battery was only holding a charge for less than 3 hours and I also I wanted a bigger phone at the time so I went to the LG G4 and also the earpiece all of the sudden would only go so loud.

But I decided I liked this phone so much and that it was a perfect fit for what I want currently that I looked on kijiji for a used one and it just so happened I got a red one for $90 and the earpiece works perfect and the battery seems to be working way better than my old one.

I know there's a bit of a cult following for these phones and I can definitely see why. I think I might go and look for a white one now to complete my collection and also find one that's brand new and sealed in a box to keep for collectability purposes.

I'd highly recommend this phone for people looking for a cheap phone that's still decent. Online there seems to be still people selling brand new versions but be careful, it could be an international version that your carrier might not be able to work with.