Newb help?

[Swebra]

Hey guys, I am brand new to this forum, and I want some help with choosing a device.
About three years back, I purchased my first mobile device.... An apple ipod touch 4. Being a nerd and hating any restrictions, I deck it out immediately with jailbreak tweaks, themes and others of the such. I have always been familiar and in awe of the android community, but never had one for my self. I am looking for a relatively cheap android device to replace this iPod I now hate.

I have looked into it myself and found the best option will be a cheap phone without a plan. I found BLU, a relatively small phone maker, who make some awesome stuff for the price. What I came here is to ask you guys if you know of any other company/phone of the such. I am looking for something powerful enough, but at this point everything is more powerful then a forth-gen ipod. My requirements are the following. Obviously you guys wont be able to find something that is exact, so all of these are really flexible.

- Android
- Size can be whatever, but want a pocket device for sure. (No phablets)
- Touch screen, preferably 720p or better.
- A quad core processor, 1+ GHz.
- 1G of RAM
- A decent camera (1080p?)
- Price somewhere between 100- 250

Again, in order to get all this power into the price point, we have to buy from small companies. I am also open to phones that are still to come out in the next 1-2 months. I have fallen in love with the BLU products, but half of them advertised you cant buy yet. Simply put: I want a cheap, capable, small name phone.

 

[dancing-bass]

Check out the Motorola MotoG - I haven't used one personally but from what I've read you can't beat it for the price. If you can scare up a little more money, the Nexus5 is also a pretty incredible phone - even more amazing if you compare the hardware you're getting to the price (Currently $349CND for the 16GB).

I would say you would be better off spending more on the device. With a few rare exceptions, most cheap android devices are --- well, cheap. Often with older or minimal hardware which results in a less-then-stellar user experience.

Apple makes sure the hardware is optimized for it's OS. Due to Android's open-source nature, the OS itself is just that - not optimized for any device, and more often then not will require more horsepower to run it smoothly compared to an iOS device.*.

Summary: Save for MotoG, Nexus 5, (or for more money yet) a MotoX. Buying "cheap" Android devices is like buying an old, beat-up, wreaked car just because it used to be a sports car. If you want a great Android experience I'd recommend staying away from "cheap" brands or devices

*DISCLAIMER: MOST cheap devices are underpowered and not optimized - and laden with a heavy "skin" over Android - which makes it perform even worse. Notable exceptions: Nexus 5 has no skin (pure stock Android), and MotoX and MotoG are both optimized to run Android very well - plus have no real skin to speak of, but do have a few additional useful features baked in with stock Android

 

[Swebra]

Thanks for the reply, one thing I forgot to mention is that I wont be getting a plan (for a while at least), so I would like to buy an unlocked phone. Hence BLU products. Any opinion you have towards those?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! The Moto G Google Play Edition is unlocked. 8 GB version is $179 from Google Play, 16 GB is $199 (but the 16 GB version is currently sold out).

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...us/?playredirect=true&hl=en-US&token=HIkAHTTL

 

[Rukbat]

A few problems buying from a "small company". There's usually no documentation for the phone. If it's not in the About Device page or some other setup page, you're not going to find out about it.

Support. Really? If they spent money on support the phones wouldn't be cheap.

Compatibility. The phone may be "LTE", but if it's got one LTE band it can be advertised as an LTE phone, even though the best you'll ever get is 3G. (Maybe - the fine print in some of them say 2G data - that's dial-up speed.)

Mods, rooting and ROMs. Probably not. Unless you and the 5 other guys who bought the phone know how.

Cellphones may not really be worth what we pay for them, but when you buy a "Shenzen Note 3" for $250, you're not getting the phone of the same name that Samsung puts out. Or the quality. Or the company or community support.

But most industrialized countries work by "what's the cheapest" and these companies take advantage of that. Anyone old enough to remember "Made in Japan" toys knows how it works. Except that the 5 cent grass finger trap is now a $250 knockoff of a $750 phone. and the "SanDisk" 64GB Extreme microSD card is really a 2GB Class 4 memory card programmed to claim that it's 64GB. Which sells for about 10 cents these days. (The packaging, which can't be told from real SanDisk packaging with a microscope, costs more to produce than it costs them to reprogram the reject card they're putting in it.)

 

[Swebra]

As always, thanks for the reply. I live in canada eh so the Moto G Google Play Edition is not available to me. (Of course I could always buy used or from another dealer, for example ebay) And I could always skip out on the GPE and buy it stock. (And restore to vanilla Kit-Kat if I wanted to)

 

[Swebra]

The moto g does look very appealing, especially considering its only 75 out of my pocket after I sell this iPod.
My next thing to bother you guys about. If I was to go higher price, and then possibly buy used, what would be my best option? I am looking around (again flexible) the 250-350 range?

 

[dancing-bass]

I wouldn't recommend buying used unless you can meet the seller at the carrier's store. They can verify the device is NOT stolen and functions properly. Even then - I'd be really consider the pro's and cons. (You never know what the previous owner did with it - dropped, dunked in water, bill is outstanding and on the verge of being locked down, many things can be wrong).

MotoG is available from a few carriers, and the Nexus 5 is as well - but it will cost you $100 to $150 more from a carrier then if you buy it from the Play store. MotoX is more money but worth every penny from what I've read.

MotoG if you can, N5 if you can stretch your budget that far. Used? be prepared and research the heck out of various used phones on the market and common problems they have. Meet at the carrier's store so they can verify it functions properly and is not locked or stolen (blacklisted). Even then - you have no warranty or recourse if you buy a damaged defective unit.

 

[srkmagnus]

Moto G and even the Moto X, which would be at the higher price point. Otherwise, the Nexus 5 is a good buy of you want to go that route.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Swebra]

Dancing-bass, thanks for the advice, it is very valid. One point to remind you is that I won't have a plan, and will just be using it via wifi.