Idea for phone to dink around with? (not as a daily driver)

[Jim Thornburg]

I have a Galaxy S6, which I really enjoy using every day. However, with all the fun stuff you can do with Android, I'd like to try it out (rooting, custom roms, whatever) but without bricking my daily driver. Any suggestions on what phone to get? And also, I'm really cheap so I'm not looking to buy a brand new $500+ phone. Just want something that'll take a software licking and keep on ticking.

Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Look for a refurbished Nexus 5. I've been seeing them pop up on daily deal sites like DailySteals.com or Woot.com lately for around $120-150.

Here's one on Groupon Goods for $170, but I've definitely seen it for less: groupon.com/deals/gg-lg-google-nexus-5-32gb-smartphone

 

[Jim Thornburg]

Thanks! That's the kind of advice I was looking for. I realize now my question was very vague.

 

[Jim Thornburg]

How about this for about $50! hahaha
Cheap Phone 5" Android 4.4.2 MTK6572 Dual Core Unlocked Smartphone 2G/3G GSM/WCDMA 512MB RAM 4GB ROM 3500mAh battery+Free Case-in Mobile Phones from Phones & Telecommunications on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

 

[B. Diddy]

I'd stay away from the cheapie no-name Chinese phones. If you want to root and customize the phone, it has to have a known root exploit, which isn't always the case for these phones.

 

[Jim Thornburg]

Ok last question: What about the BLU phones you can buy on Amazon?

 

[B. Diddy]

Blu can be decent, but I've also seen various complaints about quality control on these forums. One of our Ambassadors, itguyjax8430, has a Blu Life One XL (at least I think that's his model), which he has had good things to say about. But a lot of Blu phones have no more than 8 GB of internal storage (which means about 5 GB for your own use), and that can be fairly limiting.