Whats the best cheap android smartphone or tablet?

[AC Question]

I'm not looking for high end phones but i sure i can get a cheap Android phone made in China. which one is good?

 

[kmd107]

Take a look at the Moto E

Moto E (2nd Gen.) - Motorola

 

[Rukbat]

None made in China. The problem is that as long as they work, they're okay (not good, but okay), but as soon as you need any technical information - a driver, a ROM image, a way to flash a ROM, any technical specs - you're dead. Even assuming that the company didn't change its name right after they shipped those thousand phones, they don't waste time on nonsense like customer service and tech support.

Even if you see a "Samsung S6" made in China, it's a Chinese phone and the manufacturer is ignoring trademark infringement. It looks kind of like a Samsung S6 on the outside (some look more like the original, some are easy to spot as fakes), but on the inside it resembles a real S6 like your kitten resembles a full-grown lion. No 4G, not as much storage as it claims, the CPU is about half as fast as it says it is, the screen is probably 720p (even on a fake Note 4, which should have a 4k screen), etc. You may pay $200 for an "S6", but the phone you're getting is only worth about $200 (in 2010).

A good, cheap Android phone? If you're willing to put up with one without much storage and not much speed, you can get decent quality phones for the $100 price range, but stick with name brands. Even a $100 Samsung phone has available ROMs, specs, developers working on it who can help you, a support staff that can actually fix or replace the phone under warranty, etc.

But if you want a new one that won't run out of storage space, that will run current apps, it's going to cost more. (If you're willing to buy a good used phone, you can save a lot. My old Samsung Precedent is hardly worth the price of 2nd day air shipping, but it works and it's Android. [I'd rather donate it to a battered women's shelter than sell it for $20.] Granted, Android 2.3.3, but Android. And you can buy fairly current phones in the $200 range. Look on Swappa.)

Whatever you do, check coverage first. The carriers' coverage maps are pure fantasy - that's the coverage the engineering calculations say their antennas should give them - not accounting for terrain, buildings, electrical interference and a dozen other things that exist in reality, but not on the maps. Go to the spots you need coverage (and remember, a hole can be inches in diameter, so coverage in the street right outside your company's building doesn't tell you if the phone will work at your desk) and determine, using someone's actual phone, which carriers give you coverage where you need it. Then, once you've chosen one of those carriers, choose a phone.