Cheap international smartphone?

[snoopy7548]

I'm leaving for a 1.5 week trip to Australia next Friday, and my phone does not work internationally so I will need to buy one. I'll be staying in Sydney for the duration.

Since I only need it for 1.5 weeks, I really don't want to spend a lot of money. I'll realistically only need it for Google Maps and maybe making any reservations, checking e-mail and that type of stuff, and any emergencies. I came across the BLU R1 HD for $99, but I've heard horrible things about Chinese spyware on their phones.

Anyone have any recommendations for a cheap (<$100) smartphone that will work with the Telstra/Optus networks? Thanks.

EDIT: Nevermind. My work is giving me a temporary iPhone.

 

[FreshBross]

I see that you've found a solution but just incase anybody needs the same help and comes to this discussion I'd just like to say that BLU is in fact a very affordable phone and will function as well as many others. So long as you are not downloading anything off of chrome instead of the play store than you'll have no problems with spyware. I currently have been using a BLU Life One X2 for the mere price of 200$ and its lasted me almost 2 years now with no problems and no malware. I've spent 600$ on a phone before and another 80 on top for a warranty on it and the phone lasted me 6 months and the phone i got from the warranty lasted me 4. BLU is a better choice than one may think initially.

 

[snoopy7548]

A bit late but thanks. My work gave me an iPhone to take over there with a $10/day international SIM card, which turned out awesome because it took excellent photos - I took over 800 pictures. My LG L22C feels like a toy after using the iPhone for almost two weeks!

While looking, I found the Motorola E4 on Amazon for around $100-150. I would have bought that if my company didn't give me one.