Finding the right Phone

[Kevin Black2]

Good day

I’m hoping someone can steer me in the right direction for the right phone.

Up until 4 months ago I was happy camper with my Samsung Galaxy S3 rooted with Cyanogen-mod.
Then it died and not keeping up on the latest changes I went out and grabbed a SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 SM-G900A AT&T SW-VER G900AUCU3B0C4 - LP 5.0. Little did I know that they had locked it up tighter than a drum? Wow, with the software bloat and not being able to use CM on this thing is driving me nuts.

I’m with Cricket now and I guess that puts in with GSM. Though an unlocked NW phone that could handle both GSM and CDMA would be nice but not a must.

I’m looking for –

- 2 GB RAM
- 4.8 – 5.5 Display
- One you can root
- Customize with CM
- 16-32 Internal ROM
- MicroSD card support
- Cost under $250
Note - I really don’t use a Camera and I don’t play games on these

Unless someone can suggest something else I was look at these two straight from Motorola.
What do you all think –

MOTO G3 GSM (XT1540) AndroidTM Lollipop 5.1.1
MOTO G4 GSM/CDMA (XT1625) Android™ 6.0.1, Marshmallow

Thank you so much for your time and help.

 

[Rukbat]

Your problem isn't the phone, it's the manufacturer and carrier. AT&T Samsung phones are welded shut. If you want the normal Android-type access to the phone, stay away from that combination - Samsung/AT&T.

Anything else (so far) will have an unlockable bootloader, can run Cyanogen (if there's a version for it), etc.

BTW, the software bloat isn't a problem. Root, then uninstall (freeze first, to make sure lack of the app won't cause a problem) the app. But any ROM you flash has to be a modification of the stock ROM, which lets Cyanogen out.