Best budget phone choice?

Shabadage

Member
Sep 9, 2014
15
0
0
Visit site
Hello ACers,

I've just switched to cricket, and got myself an LG Stylo. I don't recommend it, the 8gigs storage combined with Lollipops disabling of Move to SD card and Google's built in software means you have nearly no space left right out of the gate. I've combed through cricket's offerings and the only thing I'm seeing that could somewhat fit what I'm looking for is the ZTE Grand Max +, kind of nervous about getting it however, as I've read that the Lollipop update completely screwed the camera. So I bring myself before you all and ask, what Phone should I get? I've got 6 days to take this thing back. I'm not limited to just cricket's lineup; but I've got a hardline price of $150.

The Musts -
At least 16GB
Lollipop
Micro SD Cardslot
LTE
NO MEDIATEK PROCESSOR

Would be nice -
at least 720 screen
65.5-6" (Coming from a Note 3)
Swappable battery


Thank you all!
 

codeda

Well-known member
Jan 28, 2012
864
3
0
Visit site
I would say the Moto g has everything you are looking for except size. I can't think of anything else offhand but I've been using it and it's a great phone. Good luck with selection!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Shabadage

Member
Sep 9, 2014
15
0
0
Visit site
It almost hits my mark, but the 3rd gen with 16gb comes to $219, a lottle above my given wife approval range.

So I went through a couple of phones, so here's my thoughts.

LG Stylo - Loved this phone for the most part, except for it being crippled by only 8 gigs of internal storage. You're left with only 4-3.5 left after the android system, and I really didn't have any space left after the google apps updated (Sheets, Slides, etc) and I installed my base apps. After my base setup, I only had 500 megs free. Instant deal breaker.

HTC Desire 520 - I like the build quality on this phone, the WVGA panel is pretty terrible, the colors are washed out. It takes forever to boot up. Again, only 8 gigs of internal storage, but memory was not as much of an issue. This is the wife's phone. The camera is OK.

LG Risio - Ah the $20 smartphone. It's a bit more capable than you'd expect, but don't expect to be running any type of graphically intensive game. The android system isn't quite as big on the 8 gig internal memory as the Stylo, giving you some extra space. The camera was pretty bad, which prompted the wife to request the HTC Desire 520.

As for me, I ended up with an Amazon Fire Phone. I picked it up for $130 with the free year of prime. It's more capable then any of the phones that were in my price range with cricket, and met most of my requirements. It plays Walking War Robots great (Yes, that's one of my requirements) and once you get used to it's weirdness (Slide up from the home button to go back?) and install the normal google stuff it works fantastically.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

wheeliegal79

New member
Aug 21, 2015
2
0
0
Visit site
I would pick up an AT&T branded phone off of eBay and buy a $10 Cricket SIM card for it. I am currently running an AT&T iPhone 5 on Cricket and love it.
 

omega supreme

Member
Nov 15, 2015
17
0
0
Visit site
I just picked up the Stylo from Tmobile which comes with updated specs. Most of which takes care of the version you had. For starters it comes with 16g and a 13mp camera and it gives you the option to move apps to an sd card which I'm using a 32g for... I've only had it for 2 days coming from a blackberry z10 and I'm satisfied with it so far...

My only complaint is there is no HDMI output like my z10 and it's a fingerprint magnet all over.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

colton groters

Well-known member
Nov 21, 2014
115
0
0
Visit site
I would pick up a Moto G 2015 16gb, 240$ out the door with unlocked GSM bands. From experience I would absolutely recommend it. As soon as you get it, Android 6.0 via OTA is available.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Jon Tessler

Member
Jan 25, 2015
21
0
0
Visit site
I also have the lg g gstylo. I hate the lack of storage space, but i have no trouble moving apps to my sd card. I don't understand why you can't move them. I never update the google apps. Also i uninstall facebook, update my apps, move them then reinstall facebook. It is a pain but at least i get my updates lol

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Jon Tessler

Member
Jan 25, 2015
21
0
0
Visit site
I just got a ZTE Grand X3 to replace my stylo which I broke. Love this phone. It has 16 gigs of onboard memory. A nice bright screen, Dolby sound, and ZTE doesn't fill it up with a bunch of crap like LG does. I can now load all my apps to my phone and have tons of space to add more in the future.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Sgooter

Well-known member
Jun 19, 2012
193
1
0
Visit site
Switching from Verizon to Cricket soon. So I recently bought a pre-owned mint condition AT&T-branded Samsung Galaxy S4 w/32GB internal memory on eBay for $150. It's now unlocked, rooted, and ready.
 

Premium1

Trusted Member
Nov 7, 2011
3,532
266
0
Visit site
Switching from Verizon to Cricket soon. So I recently bought a pre-owned mint condition AT&T-branded Samsung Galaxy S4 w/32GB internal memory on eBay for $150. It's now unlocked, rooted, and ready.

I am doing the same here soon. I tested out Cricket and they work just as well as verizon in my area. Getting my parents their first smartphones with Cricket. Verizon is just too costly. Will work great for my parents who aren't heavy data users, but mainly want a better camera (feature phone cameras are awful!)
 

rocknrollover

Well-known member
Feb 29, 2016
108
0
0
Visit site
I switched to cricket also been almost a month have unlimited plan with Auto pay so far I'm very Happy.

Posted via the Android Central App on my ZTE Zmax 2
 

Rivest

Member
Mar 17, 2011
19
0
0
Visit site
Hello ACers,

I've just switched to cricket, and got myself an LG Stylo. I don't recommend it, the 8gigs storage combined with Lollipops disabling of Move to SD card and Google's built in software means you have nearly no space left right out of the gate. I've combed through cricket's offerings and the only thing I'm seeing that could somewhat fit what I'm looking for is the ZTE Grand Max +, kind of nervous about getting it however, as I've read that the Lollipop update completely screwed the camera. So I bring myself before you all and ask, what Phone should I get? I've got 6 days to take this thing back. I'm not limited to just cricket's lineup; but I've got a hardline price of $150.

The Musts -
At least 16GB
Lollipop
Micro SD Cardslot
LTE
NO MEDIATEK PROCESSOR

Would be nice -
at least 720 screen
65.5-6" (Coming from a Note 3)
Swappable battery


Thank you all!

I went through three phoens trying to find the best one for the money. Keep in mind the only high end phones on Cricket are the iPhones and Galaxys.

First one I got was the LG Power. Battery is superb. Phone is plastic and my biggest complaint is that it is incredibly slow. Has an outdated processor and only 1GB ram. Everything was sacrificed with this phone and all the money was put into the battery that can easily last 2-3 days on heavy usage.

Second one i got was the ZTE Grand X Max 2. Due to the slowness on the LG Power I exchanged it for the ZTE phone. The ZTE phone had 2GB ram and slightly better processor. I was excited to get this phone due to it's size; it's massive. But, with this dumbass phone you can't move apps to the SD card. Both ZTE and Cricket confirmed this. If for some magical reason you get it to work, you're lucky. Since Android is notorious for killing memory with the OS, out of the 16GB native memory only 8GB could actually be used. That was a joke and i was pissed.

Third phone I got was the Alcatel Idol 4. I exchanged the ZTE for this phone close to 2 hours after buying the ZTE. This is the best phone on Cricket right now (considering we are taking the iPhones and galaxy's out of the equation). I say best because it has the highest amount of RAM (3GB) and has a farely current processor (Snapdragon 617 Octacore). The phone comes with 16GB memory (11-12 usable and supports a memory card up to 512GB which actually supports moving apps to SD cards. The phone can get hot, but that is pretty standard with any Android phone. The phone also doesn't feel cheap like most Cricket phones. I can't really hate on the phone as it works just as good as my iPhone 6 Plus (taking the camera out of equation). The phone is fairly cheap on Cricket right now too. Hope that helps.
 

Trending Posts

Forum statistics

Threads
942,407
Messages
6,913,941
Members
3,158,399
Latest member
pauloxcavalcante