What's the best bang for the buck Android phone right now?

Bankie

Bankie

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My Nexus 5x just bit the bullet which means I'm in the market for a new phone.

I mainly do standard stuff like Calls, Txts, Hangouts, FB Messenger, Bank Apps, Reddit, and general internet browsing. I don't do mobile games but I'd like something that can open and switch between apps relatively quickly.

It needs to be unlocked (Cricket) and rootable would be nice. Fingerprint unlocking on the back of the phone ala the 5x would be nice but I guess it's not required.

I'm trying to keep it somewhat cheap. Any suggestions?
 
Probably something from Motorola, the G5 Plus (5th gen model), has a fingerprint reader/home button on the front, gets great reviews, about $200-220. Has a growing community of support over at XDA-Developers as well:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5-plus

Can't speak for rooting/etc but that usually requires unlocking the bootloader which Motorola traditionally allows for but it voids the warranty in the process. Reviewers praise it for some extremely long battery life so, it could be what you're looking for.
 
Just did a ton of research for my daughters phone for xmas. Settled on the Moto G5S Plus.The (S) is the newest model. The G5 Plus is last years. But as the above poster said the fingerprint reader is on the front, ala Ipones. But it pretty much has the best features for the the price.

If you want cheaper they also have the Moto E4 Plus. I also just bought that for my mother in law for xmas. Both really good phones so far.
 
Didn't even know about the G5S Plus model, but I just looked at several reviews and found similar comments regarding what additional stuff Motorola tossed into it over the G5 Plus and one paragraph in one review jumped out:

A Moto G5S Plus Review said:
What I do know is that the Moto G5S Plus, which is available unlocked in the U.S. for $279, is one of the better budget phones you can buy, but the slightly better build quality, additional camera, and larger display don't justify the additional cost over the existing Moto G5 Plus.
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So, not a huge hella upgrade apparently: same processor (Snapdragon 625), same size screen, same resolution, same size battery, etc, don't justify the additional cost but apparently the G5S Plus does have a much louder/clearer speaker (bottom-firing this time out), 3GB of RAM instead of 2GB on the G5, and an LED flash on the front camera which was bumped to 8Mpixel from 5Mpixel, and of course the second 13Mpixel camera on the back, I suppose it's a wide angle in addition to the normal/original one from the G5 Plus.

Guess you'd have to decide on the price difference being worthy of consideration on those "upgrades."
 
Tiberian said:
Didn't even know about the G5S Plus model, but I just looked at several reviews and found similar comments regarding what additional stuff Motorola tossed into it over the G5 Plus and one paragraph in one review jumped out:



So, not a huge hella upgrade apparently: same processor (Snapdragon 625), same size screen, same resolution, same size battery, etc, don't justify the additional cost but apparently the G5S Plus does have a much louder/clearer speaker (bottom-firing this time out), 3GB of RAM instead of 2GB on the G5, and an LED flash on the front camera which was bumped to 8Mpixel from 5Mpixel, and of course the second 13Mpixel camera on the back, I suppose it's a wide angle in addition to the normal/original one from the G5 Plus.

Guess you'd have to decide on the price difference being worthy of consideration on those "upgrades."
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Its on sale frequently for the same price as the G5 Plus. I just watched it for a week or two and Picked it up for 220.00 on sale from 279.00. But yea if you dont care about the upgrades the G5 Plus is still a great phone.
 
The g5 plus is a fantastic phone. Great no thrills phone but I think the security patches will lag now that Lenovo took over..
 
Both are great choices. Among the diffferences the Moto G5sPlus has a larger screen (5.5 in) than the Moto G5Plus (5.2 in) and improved build quality (all metal unibody construction vs partial metal and plastic).
 
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Nextbit Robin - $130 on Amazon. 5.2" screen, USB-C, Snapdragon 808, 3GB ram, 32GB storage (ignore the cloud stuff, cause it's gonna get turned off soon). It probably won't get updated past 7.1.1; but Android updates are unlikely on most phones. The fingerprint reader is on the power button, and people say it sucks (I don't use fingerprints). LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/19/20/28)
 
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My "Smart" requirements aren't too demanding. I've had a Moto E4 for a few weeks now. I like it a lot. It's only 720p, and 2GB RAM, 16GB Storage. I kicked the storage up by 64GB with a mem card.

I know that a lot of smartphone connoisseurs here will laugh derisively at my cheap-ass phone. That's fine. I spent $40 for it, albeit, I'm locked to Verizon for one year. Then it's unlocked. Unlocked, at time of purchase, is $130.

I know. Who wants to be seen using a cheap-ass phone, right? You're gonna put the thing in some kind of case or protector, right?

When you are at Starbucks just randomly yell out that your phone is the new iPhone XI, and that you have a huge dick.


https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e4-8721.php
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up finding a like new ZTE Axon 7 on Swappa for $220.

Seemed like a good deal for Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM, 128GB Storage + MicroSD card, 5.5" 1440p, an active community on XDA, Lineage support, and USB Type C so I can use my 5x chargers.
 
Not a bad price for an Axon 7, and the speakers on it get very high marks. The active community means you'll have ROMs for years so it should do you well for the future absolutely.
 
Bankie said:
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up finding a like new ZTE Axon 7 on Swappa for $220.

Seemed like a good deal for Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM, 128GB Storage + MicroSD card, 5.5" 1440p, an active community on XDA, Lineage support, and USB Type C so I can use my 5x chargers.
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Other then the average camera and slow community support, thats a great snag. Congrats.
 
Like Vengeance said, Axon 7 is great, only weakness is camera. And agree that Moto E4 ($80?), Moto G5 Plus ($200?), and Oneplus 5t ($500?) are best budget phones. It just depends on the definition of "budget".
 
I'd agree with Moto E series or G series, cheap and gets the job done and can play 3d games well. I have an E4 plus and my kiddo has an E4 and he's been playing games on his quite often, great battery life as well. I use mine for email, text, pics, ect...
 
I had a 2015 Moto G. The only issue I have with the cheap Motos is the lack of NFC (not sure about the current G but the 2015 didn't have all of the movement sensors either so it wouldn't work with Cardboard and some other apps).
 
Gotta say that my first couple of weeks with the Axon 7 have been awesome. The thing is incredibly fast and fluid, the battery easily lasts all day, and the camera seems great to me even if it's not up to Pixel2 or iPX levels. The only niggle I've had with it is that the fingerprint unlock takes a half-millisecond longer than the 5x did which took a little getting use to. It's great that I didn't have to root it to enable wifi tethering like the 5x and the OS is damn near stock Android with some extra options that I previously had to root for (notification light control, gesture support, etc.).
 
Bankie said:
Gotta say that my first couple of weeks with the Axon 7 have been awesome. The thing is incredibly fast and fluid, the battery easily lasts all day, and the camera seems great to me even if it's not up to Pixel2 or iPX levels. The only niggle I've had with it is that the fingerprint unlock takes a half-millisecond longer than the 5x did which took a little getting use to. It's great that I didn't have to root it to enable wifi tethering like the 5x and the OS is damn near stock Android with some extra options that I previously had to root for (notification light control, gesture support, etc.).
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Where did you get it? For how much money? Which carrier?
 
I know the OP bought a phone. But what do you guys think about the Moto Z2 play on sale for $350?
 
EvilViking said:
I know the OP bought a phone. But what do you guys think about the Moto Z2 play on sale for $350?
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short battery life unless you add the Moto mod battery pack. I rather have an x4 from Google fi for that price or even a used opo 3T
 
EvilViking said:
I know the OP bought a phone. But what do you guys think about the Moto Z2 play on sale for $350?
Click to expand...

Vengance_01 said:
short battery life unless you add the Moto mod battery pack. I rather have an x4 from Google fi for that price or even a used opo 3T
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It's a bit shorter than the original Z Play, which with the SD625 combined with a large 3500 mAh battery has retarded long battery life. My wife has that phone and it consistently gets 10+ hours of SoT in a charge or can go 2 days with moderate to heavy usage. The Z2 Play has the SD626 (pretty much the same SoC with a 200 MHz bump) and a 15% smaller battery at 3000 mAh, so even with that smaller battery, it still gets damn good battery life. Probably still better battery life than most other flagship phones on the market, so I definitely wouldn't say it has "short" battery life by any means, just a bit shorter than its predecessor that set the bar near the top.

Anyways, I'd say the Z2 Play would be a solid buy still at $350. It's a toss up between it and the X4 really, it just depends on if you'd rather have IP68 water resistance, slightly faster SoC (630 vs 626), and maybe a bit better camera, or a better AMOLED display, 64/4GBs of storage/RAM (vs 32/3GB on the x4) on the unlocked model, and mod support on the Z2 Play. I'd say you can't go wrong with either phone, but with the current deal and with how good my wife's Z Play has been to her, I'd go with the Z2 Play.
 
You can often find the Essential Phone at $400 or somewhere around that (a week ago it was $435). It been getting updates in a very timely manner so far; it's already on Android 8.1 today. Kudos to Andy Rubin. Honestly, with that level of update support, I would pay a little bit extra for it over the Moto Z2 play. (Just remember to use the ported over pixel camera app.)
 
Bankie said:
Gotta say that my first couple of weeks with the Axon 7 have been awesome. The thing is incredibly fast and fluid, the battery easily lasts all day, and the camera seems great to me even if it's not up to Pixel2 or iPX levels. The only niggle I've had with it is that the fingerprint unlock takes a half-millisecond longer than the 5x did which took a little getting use to. It's great that I didn't have to root it to enable wifi tethering like the 5x and the OS is damn near stock Android with some extra options that I previously had to root for (notification light control, gesture support, etc.).
Click to expand...
I really liked my Axon 7 for the 1st 9 months I owned it. But then the battery life started dropping significantly on it. I am lucky to get through the work day with out it going belly up. It's no longer my daily driver, so I am sending back to Axon for that issue, as well as half the screen going to static, under their 2 year warranty. Currently running the Essential PH-1. Love it, got it during the Amazon $399 sale with the 360 camera. There are some nitpicks I have with it. It does randomly freeze for like 30 seconds every once in a while. I know people complain that the camera is not that good, but honestly, camera quality is so far down the list of things I give a shit about when it comes to cell phones.
 
T4rd said:
It's a bit shorter than the original Z Play, which with the SD625 combined with a large 3500 mAh battery has retarded long battery life. My wife has that phone and it consistently gets 10+ hours of SoT in a charge or can go 2 days with moderate to heavy usage. The Z2 Play has the SD626 (pretty much the same SoC with a 200 MHz bump) and a 15% smaller battery at 3000 mAh, so even with that smaller battery, it still gets damn good battery life. Probably still better battery life than most other flagship phones on the market, so I definitely wouldn't say it has "short" battery life by any means, just a bit shorter than its predecessor that set the bar near the top.

Anyways, I'd say the Z2 Play would be a solid buy still at $350. It's a toss up between it and the X4 really, it just depends on if you'd rather have IP68 water resistance, slightly faster SoC (630 vs 626), and maybe a bit better camera, or a better AMOLED display, 64/4GBs of storage/RAM (vs 32/3GB on the x4) on the unlocked model, and mod support on the Z2 Play. I'd say you can't go wrong with either phone, but with the current deal and with how good my wife's Z Play has been to her, I'd go with the Z2 Play.
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Ended up ordering the Z2 Play. 64gb / 4gb ram for $350. I like the idea of the Power Battery Mod. Ordered an Incipio battery mod for $59.
 
EvilViking said:
Ended up ordering the Z2 Play. 64gb / 4gb ram for $350. I like the idea of the Power Battery Mod. Ordered an Incipio battery mod for $59.
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Nice, my wife got that mod with her phone too, but has yet to use or need it, hah. I figured i would get the Z2 Force when it launched so I could use it, but they ruined that phone by putting the smallest battery of any current phone and with the non-replaceable plastic screen that scratches too easily. I'd actually rather take the Z2 Play over the Force even if they were the same price.
 
My pixel 2 xl ended up being like $300 after a $300 Target gift card that came with it and $300 in bill credits (granted that means I'm stuck with it for 2 years).

It's the first phone since my Nexus 6 that I'm perfectly happy with. Even my Galaxy s8+ felt wonky in some ways to me. Front facing speakers are something I'll never skip on again. The screen has the issues people claim it does but it never bothers me in day to day use.
 
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