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Suggest an android phone for under 80?

T

thebudman420

Newbie
I original had a lgl62vl. I think this is the phone. http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-L62VL-premier-lte

Like an idiot i left it on the hood of a car. I think this was a totalwireless phone although it says tracfone on bootup. I will be using it with safelink service it is part of tracfone what people call Obama phones. That phone runs on Verizon towers.

I am looking for a better phone and i don't know anything about the hardware in phones. You couldn't install very many apps or anything on that particular phone.

I would like a phone that has about the same screen size that has an unlocked bootloader or one that can be unlocked and the phone be rooted.

There are several reasons i need to be able to root the phone for.

More info. I couldn't root my old phone because it had a locked bootloader and no one seemed to be able to unlock the bootloader and root the phone.

I want to root it so i can do stuff like unlock the fm tuner in the phone. Move more apps to the sd card. Make things save directly to the sd card instead of phone memory. Like files and downloads and everything else i would like to keep. Also i would like to have a recent version of android instead of the old lollipop and if im rooted i think i can be on the latest android? Many other reasons besides this but this is a few of them.

A may be able to spend 100 at the most.
 
My advice: save your money until you can get a better phone with a good dev community. You're only setting yourself up for disappointment.
 
thebudman420 said:
I original had a lgl62vl.
8 GB (up to 2.86 GB usable)
Click to expand...
They really borked the file storage on that phone, wow.

A Verizon MVNO will limit your options.

If you can find them on sale, for under $100 you could get a Moto G4 Play or maybe the regular Moto G4 if they are still being sold. Moto E4 16GB on sale would be under $100. Those 3 unlocked work on all 4 main networks, they should work on Safelink but maybe check with them if you're using the more restrictive Verizon CDMA towers.

Moto bootloader unlocking:
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a

Moto phones let you use the FM radio out of the box.
 
I'd look into an old Nexus device. You might be able to find one of the older models for cheap.

Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 5x

These are on the smaller side of old Nexus devices.

These are the easiest devices to root as Google provides then with an unlockable bootloader. They are total development devices and have some of the most widespread development communities you can find for an Android device.

Sure, many people have moved on to later models, and Nexus 4 may be dead now, but they should still be easily rootable. I think the Nexus 5 development community is still somewhat active.

It's hard to find a decent Android device in your price range. If at all possible, wait a little longer if you can and pay a little more to get something that's decent. If you spend $100 and it's a waste of money, that can't be better than spending $200 on something that will meet your needs.

I understand that budgets can be tough though. If you can't find anything for a decent price, I might be willing to part with an old device. I have a Nexus 5 sitting around that I don't really use anymore other than to power it on occasionally and help people with device issues. I mostly hold on to it for sentimental value, was one of my favorite devices to tinker with.

But I unlocked the bootloader on day 1 and had it rooted ever since.

P.S. Nexus devices don't have SD card slots. But if it has enough internal storage space for your needs, it may not matter.
 
Last edited:
thebudman420 said:
I original had a lgl62vl. I think this is the phone. http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-L62VL-premier-lte

Like an idiot i left it on the hood of a car. I think this was a totalwireless phone although it says tracfone on bootup. I will be using it with safelink service it is part of tracfone what people call Obama phones. That phone runs on Verizon towers.

I am looking for a better phone and i don't know anything about the hardware in phones. You couldn't install very many apps or anything on that particular phone.

I would like a phone that has about the same screen size that has an unlocked bootloader or one that can be unlocked and the phone be rooted.

There are several reasons i need to be able to root the phone for.

More info. I couldn't root my old phone because it had a locked bootloader and no one seemed to be able to unlock the bootloader and root the phone.

I want to root it so i can do stuff like unlock the fm tuner in the phone. Move more apps to the sd card. Make things save directly to the sd card instead of phone memory. Like files and downloads and everything else i would like to keep. Also i would like to have a recent version of android instead of the old lollipop and if im rooted i think i can be on the latest android? Many other reasons besides this but this is a few of them.

A may be able to spend 100 at the most.
Click to expand...
Go on http://swappa.com i bought a S4 Tmobile their for about $85 not bad but has a great Dev community for roms
 
Revenant Ghost said:
My advice: save your money until you can get a better phone with a good dev community. You're only setting yourself up for disappointment.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice although i don't have the luxury of this option as i have no phone at all currently and i have to make at least one call a month to keep my service active.
 
Cyberdev said:
Go on http://swappa.com i bought a S4 Tmobile their for about $85 not bad but has a great Dev community for roms
Click to expand...
I may check into this i wasn't sure if this was a good place to buy phones although someone recommended the place on reddit. I didn't want to get ripped off / scammed or something like that. I tread carefully when it comes to online stores and stuff. Try to research a store first to see if they are legit and this is the first time i ever heard of swappa.com
 
kate said:
They really borked the file storage on that phone, wow.

A Verizon MVNO will limit your options.

If you can find them on sale, for under $100 you could get a Moto G4 Play or maybe the regular Moto G4 if they are still being sold. Moto E4 16GB on sale would be under $100. Those 3 unlocked work on all 4 main networks, they should work on Safelink but maybe check with them if you're using the more restrictive Verizon CDMA towers.

Moto bootloader unlocking:
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a

Moto phones let you use the FM radio out of the box.
Click to expand...
What does MVNO mean? The phone that i broke was my first android so i am fairly new to android smart phones although i been learning this quick since i am fairly tech smart. Most of my knowledge is of computers, networking and Internet related things. On pc i run linux as i ditched windows completely a few years ago and android is basically modified linux. I am guessing MVNO has to do with carrier networks?
 
MVNO stands for mobile virtual network operator.

It's essentially the carriers that use the big carriers' network towers. IE: They don't have their own towers.

One example is ting mobile, they use Sprint's towers/network.
 
thebudman420 said:
I may check into this i wasn't sure if this was a good place to buy phones although someone recommended the place on reddit. I didn't want to get ripped off / scammed or something like that. I tread carefully when it comes to online stores and stuff. Try to research a store first to see if they are legit and this is the first time i ever heard of swappa.com
Click to expand...
I was scared of it too when it was my first try because eBay a seller was trying to scam me so I went on swappa and got the s4 T-Mobile from there, and I got my phone in great condition then expected and did a genuine test on it and yes it's a genuine plus swappa prohibits scammers because they have to go through actual IMEI approval so you don't get scammed and your protected in case something does happen just don't mark as sake is completed until the item arrives its liget to me
 
AllinCheung said:
Try some Chinese-brand phones, some online retailer,like Coolicool. They have some very cheap devices..
Click to expand...
That won't really fit their needs. They need a device that can be rooted. Most all of the cheap Chinese Android phones have no development and no resources. Even if you can get it rooted it's very difficult to find factory firmware for the device if needed and usually no custom recovery either.
 
thebudman420 said:
I original had a lgl62vl. I think this is the phone. http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-L62VL-premier-lte
Like an idiot i left it on the hood of a car. I think this was a totalwireless phone although it says tracfone on bootup. I will be using it with safelink service it is part of tracfone what people call Obama phones. That phone runs on Verizon towers.
I am looking for a better phone and i don't know anything about the hardware in phones. You couldn't install very many apps or anything on that particular phone.
I would like a phone that has about the same screen size that has an unlocked bootloader or one that can be unlocked and the phone be rooted.
There are several reasons i need to be able to root the phone for.
More info. I couldn't root my old phone because it had a locked bootloader and no one seemed to be able to unlock the bootloader and root the phone.
I want to root it so i can do stuff like unlock the fm tuner in the phone. Move more apps to the sd card. Make things save directly to the sd card instead of phone memory. Like files and downloads and everything else i would like to keep. Also i would like to have a recent version of android instead of the old lollipop and if im rooted i think i can be on the latest android? Many other reasons besides this but this is a few of them.
A may be able to spend 100 at the most.
Click to expand...
Try a ZTE Warp Sync with Boost Mobile. It's not the newest device but it's Rootable, has custom ROMs, is an OFFICIAL device for BlissROMs, and only about $50-$75. Hopefully it fits your needs as it has excellent hardware that's still better than a lot of newer midgrade devices 😎
 
What do you guys think about this deal? https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1251440-REG/motorola_00972nartl_moto_g4_xt1625_4th.html 129.99 for the 32GB and 109.99 for 16gb version. In my area there is no tax and free shipping. I am in Illinois. They have the 16gb and 32gb in black and white colors.

I noticed everyone wants a higher price for the white ones including amazon. I am not sure why i think most people go for black anyway as they will end up putting a case around it like i am planning to do although on my computer screen at least the white one looks nice and i may end up getting the white one if i can find a case that matches.

I am actually having a relative of mine help me pay for the phone so i am hoping they will pay this price. If anything i will try to get the 16gb one and just get a larger sd card. Wish i could get a phone with more ram as i think i could put that to use somehow. 2gb should be fine for now i hope.

I think mainly any phone i get has to work on Verizon towers, The other phone that i posted up there used Verizon towers. Could i just stick my sim card from the old phone into the new phone and everything work out of the box? If not i will just have to call Safelink I'm guessing. That is how i activated the other phone and transfered it to the new one although the LG phone had a sim card with it already installed in it.
 
That phone is unlocked and compatible with Verizon so it should work.

The Moto G4 has a Micro-SIM which is probably the same size as your LG SIM. If they are different sizes you can get a new SIM from Safelink.
 
Do yourself a favor and try to scrape together the extra $20 for the additional 16GB of memory. With the lower version you will end up with 11GB or 12 GB free which can be used very quickly depending how much you want to put on your phone.

From what I can find, this phone ships with Android 6 (marshmallow) but is upgradable to Nougat (7.x). You may not need to root to use the SD card as internal storage (adoptable) which will encrypt the card and extend the user partition to include the cad. That said, I would consider not doing that. First SD cards are slow and unreliable. And second, the card is no longer portable once you do that. You can't take it out of the phone and copy files from it, since it's encrypted.
 
anros said:
Not necessarily a phone you had on your list but i just got the leeco pro 3 for a really cheap price and installed Lineage 14 on it. It's really the best bang for your buck if you're willing to put a little bit of time into rooting it.
Click to expand...

True enough. I have an S3 (rooted & running lineageOS) as my beater phone and it runs better than some recent flagships. I'd be careful with LeEco phones though as they've pretty much disappeared support wise from the U.S. and the models still being sold are virtually abandoned, and other users are few and far between.

It's a shame LeEco couldn't make a go of it here. It really is a very nice phone.
 
1- Leagoo M8 Pro 4G PhabletAndroid 6.0 13.0MP + 5.0MP Dual Rear Cameras RAM: 2GB RAM
ROM: 16GB
External Memory: TF card up to 128GB (not included)
$82.99
https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_617206.html?wid=11

2 - Ulefone S8 Pro 4G Smartphone5.3 inch 13.0MP + 5.0MP Dual Rear Cameras
RAM: 2GB RAM
ROM: 16GB
External Memory: TF card up to 128GB (not included)
$80.29
https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_683514.html?wid=11

3 - OUKITEL C5 Pro 4G SmartphoneAndroid 6.0 MTK6737 Anti-smash Dual Cameras
RAM: 2GB RAM
ROM: 16GB
External Memory: TF card up to 32GB (not included)
$73.15
https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_603541.html?wid=11

Many More here,

https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones-c_11293/price_range-3/

https://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-Smartphones-c-1567.html?pfrom=50&pto=100

http://www.everbuying.net/Wholesale-Cheap-Cell-Phones-under-100-22-price_range-5.html

(Check user ratings, reviews and select the best)
 
thebudman420 said:
I original had a lgl62vl. I think this is the phone. http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-L62VL-premier-lte

Like an idiot i left it on the hood of a car. I think this was a totalwireless phone although it says tracfone on bootup. I will be using it with safelink service it is part of tracfone what people call Obama phones. That phone runs on Verizon towers.

I am looking for a better phone and i don't know anything about the hardware in phones. You couldn't install very many apps or anything on that particular phone.

I would like a phone that has about the same screen size that has an unlocked bootloader or one that can be unlocked and the phone be rooted.

There are several reasons i need to be able to root the phone for.

More info. I couldn't root my old phone because it had a locked bootloader and no one seemed to be able to unlock the bootloader and root the phone.

I want to root it so i can do stuff like unlock the fm tuner in the phone. Move more apps to the sd card. Make things save directly to the sd card instead of phone memory. Like files and downloads and everything else i would like to keep. Also i would like to have a recent version of android instead of the old lollipop and if im rooted i think i can be on the latest android? Many other reasons besides this but this is a few of them.

A may be able to spend 100 at the most.
Click to expand...

Call around to different carriers and see if they have devices for new customers because some you make it for free but it may not be from Verizon or Sprint are even the upper brands that you want. But some of these places like MetroPCS and T-Mobile will give new customers free phones or sell them for under $100
 
I secured the 130 for the standard Moto G4 32gb although the store is observing some kind of religious holiday and i can't checkout and buy it until 730PM ET tomorrow. So are most everyone in agreement this is the best phone i can get at that price? I can't spend anymore then that. If so that is most likely what i am going to purchase. I also like that fact that it is brand new for that price.

My next step is to never leave my phone on a Truck hood and also buy a nice case for it and a screen protector.
 
Arjun_Fnsk said:
1- Leagoo M8 Pro 4G PhabletAndroid 6.0 13.0MP + 5.0MP Dual Rear Cameras RAM: 2GB RAM
ROM: 16GB
External Memory: TF card up to 128GB (not included)
$82.99
https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_617206.html?wid=11

2 - Ulefone S8 Pro 4G Smartphone5.3 inch 13.0MP + 5.0MP Dual Rear Cameras
RAM: 2GB RAM
ROM: 16GB
External Memory: TF card up to 128GB (not included)
$80.29
https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_683514.html?wid=11

3 - OUKITEL C5 Pro 4G SmartphoneAndroid 6.0 MTK6737 Anti-smash Dual Cameras
RAM: 2GB RAM
ROM: 16GB
External Memory: TF card up to 32GB (not included)
$73.15
https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_603541.html?wid=11

Many More here,

https://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones-c_11293/price_range-3/

https://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-Smartphones-c-1567.html?pfrom=50&pto=100

http://www.everbuying.net/Wholesale-Cheap-Cell-Phones-under-100-22-price_range-5.html

(Check user ratings, reviews and select the best)
Click to expand...
I did not see this post until i posted a reply. I must of not have refreshed the page. I will spend some time looking at this stuff.
 
Phalon4 said:
Call around to different carriers and see if they have devices for new customers because some you make it for free but it may not be from Verizon or Sprint are even the upper brands that you want. But some of these places like MetroPCS and T-Mobile will give new customers free phones or sell them for under $100
Click to expand...

I won't be on a contract or being getting a phone from there service directly as my phone service is from safelink and i get like 500 minutes a month and texting although i can add more minutes with tracfone cards and then safelink gives you extra minutes on top of what you purchase. Basically it is free as i am low income and also get Illinois link card snap / foodstamps. I will mainly use it on wifi although they offer us a small amount of data with ability to buy more. I never use all my minutes as it is.

I borked something and trying to delete the duplicate post oops
 
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