# Good phone under $400



## AlanSD

What are some smartphons that have good specs that can match flagships but under $400?


----------



## Hick

Depends what you are wanting. Pretty much any contract company will give you a very good phone for free (or a cheap price of 100-200) for simply joining up with them. However, you are locked into usually a 2yr contract with them.

If you are wanting more of a pay as you go service, straight talk is good & has good phones. Just check who has the best coverage in your area & make sure that phone is carried on it. I.E if you can get verizon in your area but not sprint, dont get a sprint phone.

Now, will a samsung galaxy S 3 be on par with a S6? No, not really.

Will an apple iphone 4 be on par with a 6? Not in the least.

However, will they get everything done that you likely need it to do? 95% likely yes. It all depends what exactly you are demanding of your phone. Do you really need 4g? Do you need a front camera? Does it have to have 50 difference sensors in it?

If all your going to do with it is goof off on facebook, make calls & send out txt's with the occasional game when your bored at the office....practically any phone made in the last 5ish years will do you just fine. If you insist on doing video calls, any phone with a decent front camera will work great.

Why not tell exactly what you are looking for in a phone & we can help narrow down your search. What "bells & whistles" are mandatory?


----------



## Hick

also zip code to see if said phone will work in your area.


----------



## arvanlaar

I have a Samsung S3 and it works just as fast as phones that are newer. I love mine and have been offered trade ups which I turn down because my phone works perfectly


----------



## rjniles

Motorola Moto G, 4G LTE. $195 on Amazon


----------



## Davejss

My wife uses a tracfone. No contract, no monthly payments. She paid about a hundred bucks on a home shopping channel. It has the normal smart phone features, camera, gps, etc, and she gets tripple minutes, eg; she pays for 100 mins but gets 300. 
She probably spends $150 a year on minutes.
She is frugal with her usage to conserve on minutes, so it might not be ideal if you're on your phone all day. But for a light user like her it's about as cheap as it gets.


----------



## talukdar

Under $400, there is a lot of Branded smartphone that can fulfill your Desire. But You did not tell that what kind of Specification you want at your smartphone. But I think Apple's latest smartphone IPhone_6/IPhone_6_Plus 128GB. $399 is the best.


----------



## rjniles

Any specific carrier? Do you want to sign a 2 year contract?


----------



## Greg.Now

talukdar said:


> Under $400, there is a lot of Branded smartphone that can fulfill your Desire. But You did not tell that what kind of Specification you want at your smartphone. But I think Apple's latest smartphone IPhone_6/IPhone_6_Plus 128GB. $399 is the best.


$399 for 128GB? I think you forgot to mention the 2 year lock in period and all the other crazy stuff that goes with that deal.


----------



## rjniles

With ATT, if you buy a phone under contract you pay $40 per month device fee plus the monthly plan fee. If you buy or bring your own phone the device fee is $25. $15 per month for 24 months is $360.


----------



## Greg.Now

rjniles said:


> With ATT, if you buy a phone under contract you pay $40 per month device fee plus the monthly plan fee. If you buy or bring your own phone the device fee is $25. $15 per month for 24 months is $360.


the 24 months lock in period is what kills it plus the phone will be exclusive for that service provider. plus after the 2years the value of that phone usually drops to half. not to mention aftersales stuff which is definitely a user preference. This is why I do not recommend "plans" when someone asks about the best for a price range.


----------



## CaptainHurrican

The "one plus one" starts at 400 dollars and is competitively top of the line.


----------



## seosp2

AlanSD said:


> What are some smartphons that have good specs that can match flagships but under $400?


Forbes recently recommended 6 smart phones priced under $400 where Xiaomi Mi Note – $370 topped the list.


----------



## ZZZZZ

Davejss said:


> My wife uses a tracfone. No contract, no monthly payments. She paid about a hundred bucks on a home shopping channel. It has the normal smart phone features, camera, gps, etc, and she gets tripple minutes, eg; she pays for 100 mins but gets 300.
> She probably spends $150 a year on minutes.
> She is frugal with her usage to conserve on minutes, so it might not be ideal if you're on your phone all day. But for a light user like her it's about as cheap as it gets.


Tracfone is a great option for people with low minutes (like me) who don't need 100% of all the very latest bells and whistles. 

A few months ago I got an LG Optimus 34C with Android 4.4 for $29. Just just $29 for a decent smartphone. Does everything you could want for a casual user. And no contract. $20 every 3 months to keep the service going. That's it.


----------



## Arky217

If you just want a cheap deal to talk and text, the best deal that I've found is the 1000 minute/month Net10 plan for $25/month. I use a cheap LG flip phone I bought from Walmart for $20 that uses the Verizon towers.

Arky


----------



## asevereid

I use an unlocked Galaxy S3 that I paid $180 for. 
I use a prepaid Koodo account with a decent base plan ($35/month), and add extra data and talk time as I need it (to a maximum of $90 w/base plan cost). 
I use my phone for everything... Scheduling, job pics, email, text, invoicing, estimating, even the occasional game. 
No problems at all.


----------



## RustNeverSleeps

Can buy an 128 GB (4 GB RAM) Asus Zenfone 2 without contract for $399. The 64 GB (3 GB RAM) model goes for $299. There is also a $199 priced 32GB model. All three support micro-SD memory expansion and dual SIM.


----------



## craig11152

asevereid said:


> I use my phone for everything... Scheduling, job pics, email, text, invoicing, estimating, even the occasional game.
> No problems at all.


how do you back things up?


----------



## MadMax2015

I like the Nexus phones.


----------



## asevereid

craig11152 said:


> how do you back things up?


Back ups for Google Drive, Timesheet, Joist app, Photos Inkpad Notepad, Evetnote, etc... are cloud based , and then my anti-virus app backs up program data daily. 
Most of my apps are saved on my SD card, so they transfer from phone to phone easily.


----------



## timaishu

Im a big fan of the moto x line. A 2013 X can be had for less than 200. A x2 can be found in the 300 range, sometimes very high 200s for a sale.


----------



## Colbyt

I'm going to join ZZZZZ here. 

I am a lite phone user but wanted a smart phone for those few time I need it. I bought the Tracfone LG Ultimate (Android 4.4) off Ebay with triple minutes, data and text for $120. After the triple factor it came with 1200 minutes, 1200 texts, 1200MB of data and a year of service. The data and text can be purchased separate from air time if more is needed. The website rates for both are quite reasonable.


----------



## Druidia

One of my phones is an LG Volt to use with the Sprint network. Got it for $39.99 new on Groupon. It has an 8 Gb internal drive but I rooted it so my 32 Gb micro SD card gets seen as an internal drive. 

I have this phone on Ringplus Leonardo 2 where I pay $0 for 1500 min, 1500 SMS, and 1.5 Gb data per month. Overages are 2 cents per MB or SMS. MMS are 4 cents each. 

My main phone for organizing is still my old unlocked GSM iPhone 4S 32 Gb because, unlike an Android, it syncs seamlessly with MS Outlook (calendar, contacts, notes) using iTunes (photos, music) in my PC. (Nope. I don't backup to clouds or to a third party company. I like doing my syncing/backup of data directly to my PC by cable, Bluetooth or wifi). I use photos and MS Outlook Notes heavily for projects and anything and everything. iPhones are able to sync all categories of notes. Androids, frustratingly can only sync one category. 

If you want carrier and/phone specific discussions, go to Howard forums. 

If you're looking for good deals on phones, go to Slickdeals.net.


----------



## dougp23

My son's friend got a new phone for Christmas, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime. Looks just like the Galaxy S5 I got my kid, but the Grand Prime is just $99. He went with Cricket Wireless, a "pay as you go" phone provider. Excellent coverage, $35 a month for calls, texts, and data. I was impressed.


----------

