Good mid-range phones

I am in the market for a new phone.  My Samsung Galaxy S5 is gettin slower and slower.  It does some weird stuff changing screens, freezing, or just not doing anything when you push a button now.  It is two years old and it was a refurb when I bought it to save money.

I do not want a new Samsung Galaxy or iPhone.  I can't afford that.  I use Straight Talk and have to buy my unlocked phone.  To get these designer brand phones, it is going to cost me anywhere from $750 to $1000.  No phone is worth that kind of moolah.  I don't game.  I don't have an unlimited plan, so I don't do streaming audio.  Getting older, I just can't see straining my eyes to try to watch tv or movies on such a tiny screen.  Also, without an unlimited data plan, that isn't really feasible anyway.

So, what are some good MID level phones?  I want a great camera and expandable memory.  I have given up on getting a great phone with a removable battery as everyone is moving away from that.  I give up on a headphone jack.  I don't really want Blu-tooth headphones, but I can buy an adapter to keep using my headphones I already have with most phones now.  I just want a decent size screen as I have big fingers, be able to get an Otterbox for it, the great camera, and expandable memory.

What would you recommend?  Anything over $500 with my paying out of pocket is just too extreme.

My son and I just got the Moto G5 Plus. There is also G5S (Plus) avaiable. They can be bought unlocked, still have headphone and SD card, decent cameras. They were <$200 during Black Friday.

Get the cheap 15 dollar "dumb phones" at Dollar General.

topshot rhit wrote:

My son and I just got the Moto G5 Plus. There is also G5S (Plus) avaiable. They can be bought unlocked, still have headphone and SD card, decent cameras. They were <$200 during Black Friday.

I am looking at those.  I am also looking at the LG G6 Prime addition as well.

I've got an LG G5 and love it, so I'm sure the G6 would be a good choice too, though I don't know how the offers/ads thing works. You might also want to consider a Galaxy S7, which retails for $465 on Amazon (excluding tax). It's the previous generation Galaxy phone (the GS8 is the latest generation) so you'll still be getting a good phone but at a lesser price than the latest and greatest.

I will check it out.  I still think that $400 or more is kinda steep.  When I bought my Galaxy S5 2 years ago, they were still $400 so I bought a refurbished one for $200.  If you have a phone plan that does the financing for you, a higher price phone is great.  When you buy them yourself with a no-contract plan to save money, you typically have to pay full price for your phones.  I understand I will never have a flagship phone, but I don't mind.  I am not a gamer nor do I watch movies.  I don't need something built for that.

Right now you can get the iPhone 6 for Straight Talk for $199. My daughter has one. Her S5 also went ka-put and she wanted an S6. Those were $399 so I told her no... The guy behind the counter suggested iPhone 6 for $199 and we got her that since she has an iPad for school we both thought it would be a good idea. My phone is an unlocked ZTE ZMax2. Decent and I got it cheap (by it being listed wrong on the Walmart website -- got it for $27.99 which was a misprint, should have been $27.99 OFF the price of $299 at the time but since it was listed wrong they had to give it to me for that price).

Also Straight Talk now offers some phone on a monthly payment (yeah I know you don't want anything super huge but the options are out there).

I used to have a Moto E, was good at the time and I hear good things about the Moto G (which is way better than the "E" version I had).

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-Apple-6-32GB-Prepaid-Smartphone-Space-Gray/329264833

Also look for something with 16 gig internal memory. I think a lot of the LG phone have half of that but have heard good things about the LG G5 and G6 as well as the LG Stylo 2 & 3 (I checked the 3 and it has 16 gig internal) https://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-LG-Stylo-3-16GB-Prepaid-Smartphone-Black/547422534

I almost bought a Stylo 2 a couple of years ago (around the time I found this ZTE phone) and the deal breaker for me was it did not have an LED message indicator light for missed call or new text messages. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-Talk-LG-Stylo-3-16GB-Prepaid-Smartphone-Black/547422534

Curious to know what you decide on. Post here for us to see. I have wondered about those Samsung Galaxy phones that aren't really Galaxy (Sky, J7). I don't need one and I hope I don't for a while. but I want to know what is out there.

I still haven't made up my mind.  There are too many options!!!!

Right now, I am looking closely at the Moto X4.  They have a version at Amazon that has a lock screen ad that later you can pay to have removed but I don't think will be a big problem for me.  I has a 3 GB processor and huge cameras compared to my current refurbed Galaxy S5.  It has 32 GB of internal memory but can take an SD card up to 1 TB!  You can pair it with any Blutooth device, but it still has an old school headphone jack if you so choose to go that route. 

Using the free gift cards I got from Speedway and Shopkick, I have $100 in Amazon credit.  If I buy the Amazon version of this phone, it will only cost me $179 out of pocket.  That is definitely in the price range I'd like to spend.  There is not an Otterbox available for this yet, but there are cases I can get until the Otterbox comes along.

Link please! Would like to see this in case something happens with mine. My ZTE doesn't have an otterbox for it either but I have one of these and it is OK, have had no issues with it at all. Cheap and decent tho I highly doubt it is military grade or "military grade drop tested". What the heck does that mean anyway? Mine has a couple of cracks but no biggie (not the phone the case).

This is the Moto X4 I purchased.

This is the CASE I bought until Otterbox comes out with one for this phone.

Wow, 16 megapixel camera!  My Galaxy S6 had the same resolution camera and it was wonderful!  Then it got stolen...    Most of the little gadgets and doodads on phones are really not needed, but having a good camera is a must.  I'm sure this one will serve you well!

I hope so!  It has been some time since I had a truly NEW phone.  When I got my Galaxy S5, it was a refurbished model because I am not paying $800-$1000 for a flagship phone.  I had to ask what do I need (or prefer) in a phone and go from there.

I will hang on to my S5 so that if I have trouble with the Moto X4 I can switch back over to this one.  It pays to keep your old phone as a back up plan if need be.  Until about a 9 months ago, I still had my S4 but gave it away to a young couple who needed a cheap phone and also used Straight Talk.  They were thrilled.  I wiped the memory and did a factory reset on it for them.  They are still using it, too!

Great when it comes in let us know how it is! It looks pretty sweet. I used to have a Moto E which was fine, got it for 9.99 on black Friday. Kept it for a long time. It was my first smart phone and I loved it. But it had a crappy camera other than that I was happy with a Moto.

I will give a short review of the new phone.  I just hope I love it.  With it having the Amazon ads on the lock screen, I am sure I will miss having that screen pimped out.  On my current phone, I have a poster from Stranger Things and my ringtone is the theme song.

I had a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for quite a while and got spoiled with the amazing speed, and phenomenal camera/video. Then after disability I wanted to cut our bills so we went with a different carrier and bought cheaper phones to save a buck... big mistake. I saw the Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime for only 200 bucks and thought hmmm, it's a Samsung Galaxy, has fair specs, and is in my price range... so I got it without reading reviews or asking my son (who was a phone sales rep for a few years)... DUMB ! Thing is SLOWER than a $30 phone at Walmart ! The ONLY way to take a picture without any blurriness at all is to set it on a timer on a tripod and hope to God no one breathes too heavy - it's that bad.

I've been reading ya'all's posts here and would like to hear your reviews of your inexpensive phones, as I'm considering acing this J7 soon.

Thanks G/F I was wondering about those lower grade Samsungs. My ZTE is a cheapo but I like it, have had no issues at all but lately sometimes it can drag a little bit but I have a ton of stuff on it.

After a time, ALL cell phones begin to lag just like laptops or desktops.  Even Apple is locked into a court battle that could cost them hundreds of millions over the allegations that they intentionally slow down phones so that consumers will buy new ones every two years.  I look for Samsung to get hit with the same lawsuits as there have been a few studies now showing they do the same things.  If both of these giants get hit with large payouts, then even the smaller companies will take note and change.

The cell phone companies do this, in my opinion, because they really aren't giving us anything that is innovative.  Fingerprint unlocking?  You can get an app for that for an older phone.  Wireless charging?  The base you sit the phone on still has to be plugged in.  Better cameras are nice but not groundbreaking.  Faster processors are really nice, but not groundbreaking.  There is nothing really NEW, and they have to do what they can to insure that people keep worshiping at the altar of the new device.

I've done a lot of homework searching for cheaper phones.  I looked at the Samsung Galaxy J7.  Most of the user reviews say it is a brick.  I looked at Blu phones.  Their flagship phone is decent if a great camera isn't your thing.  I looked at LG phones.  The LG G6 and 6+ are great phones with awesome reviews as these are LG's flagship models.  They just are asking too much for them.  I even checked out Motorola.  They used to have awesome phones.  My wife had a pink Razor for a few years and loved it.  I kept looking at them and reading customer reviews on Amazon and Walmart.  If you buy them within the first month of release, you probably won't be happy.  Give the newest models a couple of months to work out the kinks, and customers seem to be happy ditching the over-priced Apple and Samsung models.

I am almost banking on the higher end Moto phones being kind of like the difference between buying a Lexus or a Nissan.  Both are nice vehicles and will last a long time if you take care of them.  You might get a few more premium features on the designer car than on the Nissan, but both will serve your purposes.

When I get the new phone, get it activated, and get it running for a few days, I'll give you my thoughts.

Please DO let us know. I want more honest first hand reviews. I checked out a few reviews of my J7 AFTER the fact (I know, duh), and I realized not many people have the negative reviews we do. So I guess it's all in expectations and prior experiences.

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After a time, ALL cell phones begin to lag just like laptops or desktops.

I agree for the most part, but my wife's Galaxy Note 2 and my Note 3 are several years old (bought them brand new when they were the latest on the market) and they are both STILL lightning fast in every way - also both have high quality expensive-grade cameras. Only bummer, they were LOCKED as Sprint. Wish I could go back in time and change that.

Wonder what happened to the Amazon Fire phone? Will have to look it up. Or the Google phone (which was very expensive).

The Google phones are still out there, but they want you to use their overpriced no contract plans.  If you were going to use their service, you'd be just as well off to have a contract.

As for me, I hate paying for my own phone right out, but I love not paying what other people on a contract (or extension plan) pay monthly.  When Straight Talk makes it where you can do the $55 unlimited plan with the automatic monthly payment, I am going all in just for fun.  I do the $45 a month plan and have 10 GB of data which I never go over.  If  I want to watch a lot of video, I jump on the wi-fi.

Same here, I am on the 45 plan and never go over. When I want to watch Netflix there is an option to download and watch later. So I download to my SD card and watch while on the elliptical machine or treadmill. Not everything on Netflix is available for download but a ton of movies and shows are. I'll stick with the 45 plan for now it does me good. My wife and teenage daughter are also on the 45 plan.

I received the new phone yesterday but haven't had time to activate it yet.  That is my plan for this afternoon after school.

The phone is just slightly larger than my Galaxy S5.  It is heavier, though, as the back is completely molded of metal instead of plastic.  I also bought a case for it that is similar to the Otterbox.  It feels really durable while still being lighter weight than the Otterboxes.  Only time will tell, huh?