Help choosing my First real smartphone

[helma]

Hey.

Since i never really had a real smartphone.. a Nokia N78 With whatsapp. and for a month or so an
Nokia N97 i am now trying to buy my first ''real'' Smartphone.

I've actually always been a nokia fan really. but for Wifi-lowbudget Smartphones i heard they are not so good. By budget is around 100-150 bucks.
Right as of now i've been checking 2 phones. the LG Optimus L3 II And the Sony Xperia E.

Are there other phones and what should i search for with these phones?

Thank you

[Sierra85]

i'm a mindless iphone user.

[helma]

i'm a mindless iphone user.

Well Iphones are slightly above my budget. So that's a No-go for me

[Deleted]

go on GSM arena and compare them

there are also cheap second hand phones which u can by

[Shakadam]

It's exactly in the low-budget smartphone category that windows phones stand out! Nokia have some very good lower price phones, Lumia 620 perhaps?

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy a cheap low spec android phone. They are terrible in every way, all of them.

iPhones don't exist in the low price category, unless you happen to find a 2nd hand older model, but 2nd hand phones are always a bit of a gamble. You won't be recieving updates either.

[THoyt]

Contract or Prepaid? If you're on a contract plan, you can probably upgrade at a discount or even free. If you're using a prepaid phone then you have many options but the phones are severely limited. iPhones are out of the question as far as your budget and any android phone is going to be limited in features (mainly OTA's) Best advice I can give is find a used GSM phone and buy a SIM card from a provider, thats about the only way you're going to get a smartphone with your budget.

[JP1o]

Why not try a contract phone? (don't know what the term is in the US) if you can afford the monthly bill. I currently have a HTC one and thats about £45 a month, it is on the expensive side but its a newly released phone and in my opinion, probably one of the best smartphones atm.

Over in Britain, my ISP, tv box and the landline are all with the same company (Virgin Media) and they offered my dad (account is in his name) a contract phone that would add onto the monthly bill of the internet, tv and landline by an extra £15 and it was a Galaxy samsung s2 or s3 can't remember. He would of got something like, 2000 texts, 1000 minutes, free minutes to other virgin users and like 1-2 gb's of data. As I'm not from US I'm not sure if your ISP/TV/Landline providers do the same.

[Ssith]

spend a little more, you're going to get what you pay for.

look at something like a Galaxy S3. the S4 just came out and retailers are trying to get rid of the old S3s, you should be able to find a deal.

[Holyshnikies]

Metro PCS offers a smartphone called the LG Motion. My xgf got it when I was with her. Very fast phone. $40 a month. Android 4.0 too.

[Masark]

By $100-150, do you mean to to buy it outright or on a contract/financing?

[Deleted]

It's exactly in the low-budget smartphone category that windows phones stand out! Nokia have some very good lower price phones, Lumia 620 perhaps?

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy a cheap low spec android phone. They are terrible in every way, all of them.

iPhones don't exist in the low price category, unless you happen to find a 2nd hand older model, but 2nd hand phones are always a bit of a gamble. You won't be recieving updates either.

I wrote a big paragraph explaining why I agree with this and then accidentally clicked back. But yeah, I agree. Lumia 620 is as good as it gets in budget phones.

[helma]

By $100-150, do you mean to to buy it outright or on a contract/financing?

Buy it outright. i dont call that often, so a contract isnt my thing. and as i am a student 40 bucks a month is alot

i also checked and SONY Xperia Miro is just abit more expensive 130 bucks. how is that in comparisment with other phones?
(like the Xperia E )

[Masark]

It's exactly in the low-budget smartphone category that windows phones stand out! Nokia have some very good lower price phones, Lumia 620 perhaps?

Where are you finding a 620 in his price range? The only thing I'm finding for $150 is a 521 from t-mobile.

[helma]

Where are you finding a 620 in his price range? The only thing I'm finding for $150 is a 521 from t-mobile.

Well probally i am going for a SONY Xperia Miro Wich is 130 Bucks over here. or a Sony Xperia E.
Just need to decide wich one

[Masark]

Buy it outright. i dont call that often, so a contract isnt my thing. and as i am a student 40 bucks a month is alot

i also checked and SONY Xperia Miro is just abit more expensive 130 bucks. how is that in comparisment with other phones?
(like the Xperia E )

What carrier(s) do you have in mind?

[siafu]

gsmarena.com use the tools at your disposal.

[bestpike]

I would suggest to get at least a 1Ghz phone, or else internet browsing might make you throw it from the window

[Shakadam]

Well probally i am going for a SONY Xperia Miro Wich is 130 Bucks over here. or a Sony Xperia E.
Just need to decide wich one

I just checked the specifications on both of those phones and I cannot stress enough how much you should NOT buy either of those.

They're both worse than my former android phone, which was sluggish at best, running a completely barebone ICS custom rom (manufacturer specific roms are pretty much always more bloated and thus more demanding to run). A 320x480 resolution on a 3,5" is terrible, the Xperia E only has a 256k color display for god sake!

Either save up a bit more money for a Nokia Lumia 620, or find a 2nd hand iPhone of some kind or a former android flagship product (Samsung galaxy S, galaxy S2 etc, I'm unsure of how much they're going for 2nd hand these days)

Just spare yourself the misery and don't buy either of those Sony devices.


EDIT: You might actually get your hands on a Lumia 520 for that same price as those Sony devices, in which case that's what you should go for. While not a high-end smartphone by any means, it runs circles around both Xperia models.

[Deleted]

nokia Lumia 920

[ghrolt]

Save some money and get a decent phone instead of a budget one. If you get a cheap something-something you'll regret it after a few weeks.

Spend some money on a good phone with a insurance plan just in case something stupid happens.