Budget smartphone for ~150 USD T-Mobile

My fiance's mom is in need of a replacement smartphone, used/refurb isn't a huge deal;

- LTE would probably be a dealbreaker
- I would prefer a microSD slot
- Removable battery isn't a dealbreaker
- Somewhat modern specs

I got as probably candidates old Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Sony Xperia SP, Moto G.

 

LG Leon LTE.

It fits the price perfectly coming in at 150 and has all the features you asked for. I'm not sure about the removable battery but the most important thing is that the phone supports all T-Mobile bands. T-Mobile is migrating their LTE to Band 2 and 12. Most of T-Mobile's older LTE phones do not have support for anything except Band 4.

Its a quadcore Lollipop phone, has a nice appealing look to it, has expandable storage, isn't excessively large.

None of the other phones you mentioned have the band compatibility that the Leon does.

The Leon has its downsides though. 1GB of RAM and an 854x480 display and only a 5MP camera.

Moto E is another option and it has all the connectivity that the Leon does.

In fact, looking into the E, I'd recommend it over anything else for a budget phone...

http://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones/moto-e-2nd-gen/moto-e-2nd-gen.html

 

oops, I read post 1 as my financiers mum need a cell phone and can only spend $150, A bit of a tight financier

John.

See if you can get a good used Samsung S3, it`s one of the best phones ever made in my opinion.

 

The 2015 Moto E LTE seems the clear-cut winner here. It's on budget, LTE equipped, microSD expansion from the base 8 gb, 1 gb RAM, etc.

http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-e-lte-2015-review

 

I think my biggest beef with the Moto E 2nd gen was no Flash for the camera (which is a pretty big bummer), but other than that for 150 I can't really complain. The Leon LTE looks interesting, but it seems like you can only get it on T-Mobile (which isn't a bad thing).

 

Have a look at all the Samsung S3, much better specs than the Moto E.

Then ones in the link below are classed as new.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=samsung+s3&_dcat=9355&rt=nc&LH_ItemCondition=3

John.

 

As for Galaxy S3 versus Moto E, depends a lot on priorities. The Galaxy S3 has a FAR better camera, but it's performance is messed up by Touchwiz and bloatware (I still use mine as a back-up device and its performance and smoothness are very inconsistent), and the Moto E comes with Lollipop (which the S3 will never have).

 

I have the Samsung S3 as an backup phone to my HTC M7, and i dont have any problems with it at all, people get too hung up about having the latest software, the Moto E looks cheap to me, the S3 was a wolfston dac you want to use it to play music, the screen is nice, the cpu is fine if you are not a gamer, and the camera is very good for an 8mp

John.

 

I have the Samsung S3 as an backup phone to my HTC M7, and i dont have any problems with it at all, people get too hung up about having the latest software, the Moto E looks cheap to me, the S3 was a wolfston dac you want to use it to play music, the screen is nice, the cpu is fine if you are not a gamer, and the camera is very good for an 8mp

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/...-g-vs-galaxy-s3-smartphone-comparison-review/

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Motorola-Moto-E,Samsung-Galaxy-S-III/phones/8654,6330

John.

 

The S3 doesn't support band 2 or 12 LTE. If you are looking at a phone for T-Mobile, you need to have support for those bands.

The S3 also has awful battery life... I had one. Was on the charger constantly. That was actually the only phone I ever had that I had a spare battery for.

You also neglected to put the 2015 model in the comparison.

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/co...II,Motorola-Moto-E-2015/phones/8654,6330,9252

 

You check out Swappa, Tsuname?

They tend to have decently priced used/reman phones.

 

There is an "Samsung GALAXY S III LTE"

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9305_galaxy_s_iii-5001.php

John.

 

And once again it doesn't support T-Mobile bands.

The only one that supports band 4 (and still not 2 and 12) is the T-Mobile specific one which was not a big seller since the S4 came out and those of us who already bought the S3 without LTE weren't going to buy another one to get it.

http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-T999ZWATMB

T-Mobile has 3 different LTE bands and you need to have all three for best coverage. Band 12 is basically any new deployment and there are only a handful of phones that support it - since it's low band spectrum, you won't have LTE outside of major cities without it unless T-Mobile has freed up some band 2 spectrum but the device has to support it as well.

 

Sorry US T-Mobile LTE frequency`s are an unknown to me.

John.