Cheap Flagships: The Rise Of The $400 Smartphone

Megalith

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I think “cheap flagship” is an oxymoron, but are you one to spend more to get bleeding-edge technology—or pay less and get something that is “good enough”?

For a long time, the cost of a fast, high-end smartphone with the latest technology seemed definite. You were paying $600 or $700 no matter whether you did it up front or spread out over the course of a two-year carrier contract. This doesn't have to be the case today, however. There's an exciting new category of phone on the block—the "cheap flagship," a phone that has flagship or very-close-to-flagship specs but only costs around $400. We're talking about devices like the $305 Xiaomi Mi 5, the $380 LG Nexus 5X, the $400 Nextbit Robin, the $400 Moto X, and the $329 OnePlus 2. These phones all shipped with the best (or close to the best) SoC at the time, beautiful screens, and the usual set of features.
 
I have the OnePlus2 and it's an awesome piece of tech. Nice screen. 4gb of RAM. Dual SIM !!! Quad core and one and on and only $329. Can't recomment it enough.
 
I have the 32GB Moto X Pure. It was $449. I see absolutely nothing that a $700 phone would give me over this other than a lighter wallet.

If you can live with a few minor oddities, the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 is probably the best Smart Phone deal on the market right now.
 
Personally I'm sticking to Nexus, because the quality and features fall into that "good enough" area, but more importantly the software is kept updated, and they can run on ALL carriers. I HATE carrier lock in and all the bloatware that comes with it.
 
Personally I'm sticking to Nexus, because the quality and features fall into that "good enough" area, but more importantly the software is kept updated, and they can run on ALL carriers. I HATE carrier lock in and all the bloatware that comes with it.

I have the LG G5, simply because with all of the extras given (that I'll resell), it came to about $500ish. But I was very close to going with the Nexus 5X. If they can roll some of the features into a newer Nexus (if LG gets it again), I'd be all over it. Mainly the camera (don't need the wide-angle), fingerprint sensor, and the side buttons (I hated the back buttons). Not sure if the 5X has the super-fast fingerprint sensor of the G5, it makes it actually useful. I can unlock my phone quicker than I can press the button, it's impressive.

I don't need a lot of the other fluff. Last gen SoC's are good enough for me, as long as it has 3Gb RAM and an SDCard slot. Don't care about metal body, since I always put a case on it. Being able to get quick OS updates is a major bonus where I'd likely overlook other "features" for it.

I think the "cheap flagship" segment has come about for people like me who feel the phones are fast enough as is and don't need QuadHD screens (on such a small device, it makes no sense). Those specs were achieved a year or so back, so now the expensive flagships (like the S7) are just all marketing and maybe a few gimmicks rolled in.
 
I think we've kind of hit the wall with smart phones. Sure, we will see better cameras and probably better CPUs - although not at a fast pace.
Hell, I'd be happy to have a cell phone that doesn't drop calls. I use very few apps (and I'm in the mobile app development business). At this point, I use my phone mostly for calendar, email/text/weather. Ok, I also use it as my camera and a GPS.
 
I think we've kind of hit the wall with smart phones. Sure, we will see better cameras and probably better CPUs - although not at a fast pace.
Hell, I'd be happy to have a cell phone that doesn't drop calls. I use very few apps (and I'm in the mobile app development business). At this point, I use my phone mostly for calendar, email/text/weather. Ok, I also use it as my camera and a GPS.

Yea I have very few apps, no games. Dropped calls are a given, they should fix that.
 
Can add the Lenovo Zuk 2 Pro to that list of current cheap flagships ($420) and first of the cheapies with SD 820 SOC. Too bad its China only..for now.
 
I think we've kind of hit the wall with smart phones. Sure, we will see better cameras and probably better CPUs - although not at a fast pace.
Hell, I'd be happy to have a cell phone that doesn't drop calls. I use very few apps (and I'm in the mobile app development business). At this point, I use my phone mostly for calendar, email/text/weather. Ok, I also use it as my camera and a GPS.

Same here... I just want lag free normal usage, decent battery life, good camera (point and shoot good, I don't own a camera and don't want to)... .oh and no carrier bloatware crap.
 
Phone's aren't changing that much any more, so it's a good money saving move to stay a generation behind.

That's one of the reasons I went with the Note 4 a few months ago. $475 for a fast quad core, 3GB ran, 32GB flash, SD slot, and a removable battery that lasts all day.
Plus it has good camera, amazing screen, and they've promised an upgrade to Android 6.0.
Figure I should be good for another 3 years.

The lack of an SD slot on the S6 and the Note 5 (along with their higher price) cause me to not even consider them, just like I wouldn't consider the Nexus line since they don't have an SD slot.

I might reconsider if they start shipping phones with 128GB of flash for a low price. :)
 
I've still never owned a smart phone myself, the old TV died on the HTPC in the master bedroom last Friday and went out and picked up a 39" Hitachi 720P Alpha Series for $199 bucks to replace it that looks perfectly more than adequate to me.

Actually looks better than I expected, once I tweaked it a bit.

$400+ for a phone has always seemed a bit insane to me, personally.
 
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$300 is far from "cheap" for majority of low-income earners in Asia. A cheap smartphone is something that costs <$100 (contract-free).
 
This whole smart phone thing has gone off the chart pricey. I would love to have a simple phone with limited txt that took good pictures. I don't need a gigantor data plan as I can upload the picts when I get home.
 
I think Motorola really got the lower price ball going with their Moto G phone line. Also the current unbalance in world currency values makes the super high priced phones a no-go in many countries which the manufactures probably noticed pretty quickly and so lowered the price of entry on many models. Send even Apple isn't immune to that phenomena and had to introduce a lower priced 5SE model to keep sales going in many countries IMO.
 
$300 is far from "cheap" for majority of low-income earners in Asia. A cheap smartphone is something that costs <$100 (contract-free).


Lumia 640, 520, etc....

Yeah, for customers. The markups on phones are stratospheric.

that is so far from the truth it isn't even funny... Hardware is often sold at a loss up until recently because they made it back on the contract... Now people are seeing what phones really do cost...
 
Awesome suggestions, in the market for a new phone soon gonna look a lot of these up. (y)
 
I have the Nexus 5x, and I'm very happy with it.

As long as there a 5" Nexus, I don't see myself buying any other phone. (I'm not getting one of those huge 6+" "phablets"...
 
I might reconsider if they start shipping phones with 128GB of flash for a low price. :)

Digital hoarder? :p

I have a 32GB phone now, but I'd be happy with a 16GB version. You don't need to carry every photo and video you've ever taken around with you :p
 
Digital hoarder? :p

I have a 32GB phone now, but I'd be happy with a 16GB version. You don't need to carry every photo and video you've ever taken around with you :p

I don't like streaming (and the expensive data plan to go with it), so I want room for my music and several movies when I travel.

Besides if I wanted to carry every photo and video I've ever taken, I'd be looking for something over 500GB :D
 
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I got my daughter a Blu Pure XL a few months ago. The thing is a complete beast for 350 dollars. It is faster than most phones that cost twice as much.
 
I got my daughter a Blu Pure XL a few months ago. The thing is a complete beast for 350 dollars. It is faster than most phones that cost twice as much.

The wife and I both got one of those a few months ago. Flagship specs at $350 and the phones have been great. When I first got mine, it wouldn't load Evernote and a handful of other apps from the play store. Searched Google and it was a common issue with that phone (specific error code). A month after I had the phone it got an update and now I can load Evernote fine and it has recent Android security updates. I'm very impressed with Blu so far.
 
I've still never owned a smart phone myself, the old TV died on the HTPC in the master bedroom last Friday and went out and picked up a 39" Hitachi 720P Alpha Series for $199 bucks to replace it that looks perfectly more than adequate to me.

Actually looks better than I expected, once I tweaked it a bit.

$400+ for a phone has always seemed a bit insane to me, personally.

I'd say for about the last year there's no reason to not own a smart phone, unless you're total technophobic or that of not mentally capable of handling all the screen swipes and presses of a touch screen such as elderly. Prices for handsets are at an all time low (and plenty options on used market), and MVNOs are offering service that cost the same as a basic flip phone as does a smartphone.

This whole smart phone thing has gone off the chart pricey. I would love to have a simple phone with limited txt that took good pictures. I don't need a gigantor data plan as I can upload the picts when I get home.

They've been off the chart pricey since the original iphone in 2007. And the cellular companies have been charging stupid pricing for data and txt. However the last 2 years with all the MVNO's entering the market, prices have been falling if you know where to look and settle on quality previous generation "flagship" phones made in the last 2 years.

TLDR;
if you aren't a DATA HOG and shop for the right phone you can have cake and eat it too.
 
I think we've kind of hit the wall with smart phones. Sure, we will see better cameras and probably better CPUs - although not at a fast pace.
Hell, I'd be happy to have a cell phone that doesn't drop calls. I use very few apps (and I'm in the mobile app development business). At this point, I use my phone mostly for calendar, email/text/weather. Ok, I also use it as my camera and a GPS.

I remember the dark ages, when you had to poop with a magazine.


Don't take your smartphone for granted.
 
I'd say for about the last year there's no reason to not own a smart phone, unless you're total technophobic or that of not mentally capable of handling all the screen swipes and presses of a touch screen such as elderly. Prices for handsets are at an all time low (and plenty options on used market), and MVNOs are offering service that cost the same as a basic flip phone as does a smartphone.

If you say so.

Yep, I'm just frustrated by new technology.

:rolleyes:
 
If you say so.

Yep, I'm just frustrated by new technology.

:rolleyes:

Well, I guess you just don't understand how absurd it sounds to those who have adopted the smartphone lifestyle to opt out.

It's on the level of crazy odball hermit hermit in the forest, or not being into this newfangled "electricity" or "indoor plumbing" thing.

To those who have embraced the smartphone lifestyle they look at statements like yours with a mix of pity and horror at having to live ones life without one, and wonder what is wrong with you :p


It's certainly true that we were able to get by just fine before there were smartphones, but now that they are reasonably affordable, why would anyone WANT to, when you can possess the totality of human knowledge in your pocket, always be able to pull up a GPS driven map, never get lost again, never be stuck somewhere wondering the answer to a question and not be able to look it up, and always have good reading material within reach, in case of downtime.

The experience is life changing and universally positive (as long as you don't do something stupid like take nude pictures of yourself with the expectation that they will never get out), and opting to forgo it just sounds - to many - really, really strange. Even my parents in their late 60's and early 70's and my future mother-in-law in her early 70's have and use them heavily now.
 
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