Help choosing a new smartphone < $100-$150 (with contract)

[thestrangebrew1]

So I'm up for an upgrade and my cousin wants to buy my att galaxy s2 and I'm in the market for a new phone. What would you guys recommend? I'm not looking to get back into iOS, and I'm still on the fence about a windows based phone but it's certainly an option. I pretty much just use my phone to talk/text and play a few games. Sometimes I'll use plex on it to watch movies from my server, so that's pretty important, everything else is just a bonus.

 

[Joe1987]

Amazon, S4 or HTC One, I'[d pick the S4 because of the user replaceable battery and mSD card.

 

[zaydq]

^ What Joe said. You should be able to easily find the S4, or especially the HTC One, within your budget on Amazon or through third-party resellers. Pretty much the best that you can get in the Android space right now so you won't be left craving for more until the next lineup.

EDIT: AT&T has the Optimus G Pro for $99.99 on a 2 year activation from their website... thats a pretty sweet price for an underrated phone. 5.5" Screen, on par specs with the S4/HTC One. Flagship phone for less money.

link: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/lg/optimus-g-pro-white.html#fbid=ohjgdwNS_79

 

[Crono]

One Mini.

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/htc/one-mini-glacial-silver.html

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Awesome thanks for the suggestions I'll check it out

 

[thestrangebrew1]

^ What Joe said. You should be able to easily find the S4, or especially the HTC One, within your budget on Amazon or through third-party resellers. Pretty much the best that you can get in the Android space right now so you won't be left craving for more until the next lineup.

EDIT: AT&T has the Optimus G Pro for $99.99 on a 2 year activation from their website... thats a pretty sweet price for an underrated phone. 5.5" Screen, on par specs with the S4/HTC One. Flagship phone for less money.

link: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/lg/optimus-g-pro-white.html#fbid=ohjgdwNS_79

Just caught your edit. That does look like an awesome phone! I like the 2 gb ram & the resolution looks good for cheaper. I don't know much about cell phone processors but how does the optimus compare to the s4?

 

[Joe1987]

The LG is $59 on Amazon

 

[thestrangebrew1]

The LG is $59 on Amazon

Wow nice deal. Quick question though. I'm currently grandfathered into unlimited data and when I'm checking plans etc. it gives me the option for an existing plan, but then there's only the data options for $20-$60 /mo and nothing about my grandfathered data. Is this something I'll have to contact ATT about? I was able to upgrade my s2 and keep the unlimited data but that was 2 yrs ago obviously.

 

[dainthomas]

Wow nice deal. Quick question though. I'm currently grandfathered into unlimited data and when I'm checking plans etc. it gives me the option for an existing plan, but then there's only the data options for $20-$60 /mo and nothing about my grandfathered data. Is this something I'll have to contact ATT about? I was able to upgrade my s2 and keep the unlimited data but that was 2 yrs ago obviously.

Subsidized phone generally = no grandfathered data

Gotta buy your own.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Subsidized phone generally = no grandfathered data

Gotta buy your own.

I spoke to a rep this morning & he said they're not authorized to grant the grandfathered status. He said usually best buy & walmart will do it & looking online at att they will cont. to include the unlimited data. I'm going to call bb & walmart to see if they'll price match amazon though.

 

[zaydq]

Just caught your edit. That does look like an awesome phone! I like the 2 gb ram & the resolution looks good for cheaper. I don't know much about cell phone processors but how does the optimus compare to the s4?

Quad core snapdragon 600 at 1.7ghz is the same CPU in the s4 and HTC one. The only difference is the s4 is clocked slightly higher but you won't see any real benefit of that.

The LG is just as fast pretty much but has the larger screen and battery. I think it'd be the best choice. More for less.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If it wern't for the watching movies thing, I'd recomend a Blackberry Z10.

It's good for anything communication based. The whole OS design is based on communication.

It's good for the occasional game.

Plex might work on the Z10 but you'd have to look into sideloading the Android app. If yopu are into tinkering, this is an acceptable solution. If you don't tinker, it's not an option.

Get a GS3 though. It's like a GS4 at a lower price.

 

[Apex]

Quad core snapdragon 600 at 1.7ghz is the same CPU in the s4 and HTC one. The only difference is the s4 is clocked slightly higher but you won't see any real benefit of that.

The LG is just as fast pretty much but has the larger screen and battery. I think it'd be the best choice. More for less.

Camera isn't as good though (not sure if that's an issue for him or not).

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Yea movies are a pretty big deal for me, so the larger real estate is ideal. I was thinking about just going with an s3 but after looking at the lg, I think I may just go with that. It's not in stock at my local BB so I'll have to drive about an hour or two just to play with it. Hopefully this weekend I'll have time, and hopefully it'll still go for $99 at att online. As for the camera, I don't care too much about it. I don't take a whole bunch of pics. I think my s2 is only 8mp anyways so anything's an improvement I guess.

 

[Dessert Tears]

I'm in a similar situation: qualified for an upgrade on AT&T. I'm leaning Android because I want to play with writing custom apps. The LG Optimus G Pro for $60 at Amazon looks like a great deal, but I'm pretty sure that I can't deal with a phablet. I carry my wallet in my front pocket squeezed against my phone. My current phone is a BlackBerry Bold 9700, so pretty much anything will be larger (but thinner), it's just a matter of how much. The HTC One mini looks smallest of those suggested already.