Best smartphone Sub $150 & $250 - 2013

[joejoe666]

Hey guys,

i am looking to buy a sub $100 or sub $200 smartphone off contract for my cousin in Asia. What are some good choices.
* must be new
* OS doesn't matter
* average user (typical mid 50's stereotype to be applied....will probably use for phone calls, email, limited browsing, and handful of apps)

i was thinking Lumina 520, 900 or sonly xperia series. I know its a vague question but any help will be appreciated.

 

[code65536]

You need to make sure that the radio bands are compatible with whatever service provider that will be used over there...

 

[RossMAN]

You need to make sure that the radio bands are compatible with whatever service provider that will be used over there...

Agreed and assuming it works, the Nokia Lumia 520 for $55 after rebate is an amazing deal.

We have a Lumia 521 which is used as a backup phone and offline GPS, for under $75 out the door it's an incredible value. Nothing can touch it, nothing.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Did you guys hear the HTC 8X has been dropped to $250 at the Microsoft Store?
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...hone-8X-by-HTC-16-GB-Blue/productID.283842700

The Nokia 520 is a pretty nice phone for $100. But it's still only 800x480, 1GHz dual core, and 512MB of RAM.

$250 gets you the HTC 8X with 1280x800 display, 1.5GHz dual core, and 1GB of RAM. And the 8X just looks a helluva lot better too.

 

[code65536]

Did you guys hear the HTC 8X has been dropped to $250 at the Microsoft Store?
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...hone-8X-by-HTC-16-GB-Blue/productID.283842700

Whoa! LTE? A camera with a f/2.0 aperture? Damn, that's pretty good for $250 unlocked.

I still prefer my Nexus 5, but this sounds pretty nice.

 

[vi edit]

250 gets you the HTC 8X with 1280x800 display, 1.5GHz dual core, and 1GB of RAM. And the 8X just looks a helluva lot better too.

8x is a great little phone. Easily one of the better "feeling" phones I've held. Very light, has a nice texture to the back to help it stay put in your hand and the camera is snappy. If it had an SD card slot to let you expand the limited storage it would have been even more interesting.

 

[joejoe666]

both it will work!! 1900mhz in india.

should i even look into android phones? i have never used windows phones

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Whoa! LTE? A camera with a f/2.0 aperture? Damn, that's pretty good for $250 unlocked.

I still prefer my Nexus 5, but this sounds pretty nice.

phone prices are dropping all over the place, theres getting to be a glut of decent performance phones .

if youre willing to spend 250, you might as well spend 350 and get nexus5

 

[pantsaregood]

Lumia 525 leaks are all over the place, and it is probably going to land at the same price point as the Lumia 520. It looks to be the same device except it runs a Snapdragon 400 at 1 GHz (instead of Snapdragon S4 at 1 GHz) and 1 GB of RAM, as opposed to 512 MB.

 

[midwestfisherman]

Agreed and assuming it works, the Nokia Lumia 520 for $55 after rebate is an amazing deal.

We have a Lumia 521 which is used as a backup phone and offline GPS, for under $75 out the door it's an incredible value. Nothing can touch it, nothing.

I second the 521. I bought one 6 weeks ago and it's a great phone for the $100 range. I paid $100 for mine some have found them cheaper. Mine is my daily phone.

 

[RossMAN]

I second the 521. I bought one 6 weeks ago and it's a great phone for the $100 range. I paid $100 for mine some have found them cheaper. Mine is my daily phone.

My wife will hopefully enjoy her first smartphone, convincing her to upgrade from her ancient Nokia 2720 wasn't easy. She is thrilled to have a (significantly) better camera phone, internet access, apps, and other stuff we take for granted.

I got in on the Microsoft Store $99 - $25 One Note discount = $75 out the door. Even if she reverts to the old cell phone or chooses another model, we can still use it offline for GPS.

 

[crashtestdummy]

both it will work!! 1900mhz in india.

should i even look into android phones? i have never used windows phones

If you're looking in the sub-$150 range, you're not going to find an Android phone that works as smoothly as the 521. At the $250 price point, though, you're more likely to do ok.

I don't know what it's like in India, but if you can find an electronics shop to play with some devices on display I'd suggest going there to play with them. Android and Windows Phone have very different feels to them. If you really need the app selection of Android and don't mind a clunkier-feeling device, than it may be worth getting an Android phone.

 

[lopri]

Assuming the rebate comes through, $55 for 520 sounds like an unbeatable deal? Just for off-line navigation and MP3 player it may pay for itself. (assuming it gets map updates for free whenever they happen)

 

[gus6464]

I like how they bundle it with an AV.

 

[RossMAN]

Assuming the rebate comes through, $55 for 520 sounds like an unbeatable deal? Just for off-line navigation and MP3 player it may pay for itself. (assuming it gets map updates for free whenever they happen)

Agreed, that's a big ASSUMING the rebate come through.

 

[code65536]

Moto G:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7512/motorola-announces-moto-g-179-offcontract
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/motorolas-new-moto-g-a-179-smartphone-with-a-4-5-inch-displa

 

[jacktesterson]

Moto G:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/motorolas-new-moto-g-a-179-smartphone-with-a-4-5-inch-displa

$180?

I like where the market is going with these strong mid range phones.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Moto G:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/motorolas-new-moto-g-a-179-smartphone-with-a-4-5-inch-displa

thats a quad core phone, i wouldnt be surprised if that pushed down the price of moto x again to around 300-350

 

[crashtestdummy]

$180?

I like where the market is going with these strong mid range phones.

That Moto G looks really, really nice for the money. Between this and the Nexus 5, Google is clearly trying to break the phone contract system, for which I applaud them.

It's the future. The rest of the world doesn't do contracts, and devices are getting mature enough that low-middle end processors can do what most users want with their cell phones. It's going to become increasingly hard to justify paying laptop prices for phones.

Hell, I have a Lumia 521 (basically the same as the 520 mentioned above) with an S4 chip, and it does virtually everything I could want quite smoothly. The only real downsides for my usage are the screen, which doesn't have the best viewing angles and is a little low-res, and that live tiles are inconsistent about updating (which apparently is mostly fixed in the next update). Neither of these justify paying double or more to fix, though.

 

[Ravynmagi]

thats a quad core phone, i wouldnt be surprised if that pushed down the price of moto x again to around 300-350

Yeah, it's nice the Nexus 5 and Moto G are priced so nicely. Makes me wonder WTF happened in the meeting where they were deciding on the Moto X price.

 

[kpkp]

thats a quad core phone, i wouldnt be surprised if that pushed down the price of moto x again to around 300-350

That's a 4xA7, I would bet the SoC die size and performance is still on the Moto X side. Specially on single thread tasks and GPU.

 

[foghorn67]

Yeah, it's nice the Nexus 5 and Moto G are priced so nicely. Makes me wonder WTF happened in the meeting where they were deciding on the Moto X price.

-different camera
-LTE radios
-not reference processors
-assembled in TX, not China or southeast Asia.
-better construction.

 

[s44]

Yeah, it's nice the Nexus 5 and Moto G are priced so nicely. Makes me wonder WTF happened in the meeting where they were deciding on the Moto X price.

Eh, Nexus is Nexus. It's obvious what happened at the meeting about the G price: they just looked at the horrible X sales.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Motorola G for sure.

 

[lopri]

Tigerdirect has another 520 listing with no rebates for $78. Personally I would go this route than dealing with a rebate.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...12151&csid=_61