New phone at Virgin Mobile: 4.5-inch Huawei Union for $80

Once upon a time there was a drought of new smartphones at Virgin Mobile, as Sprint was trying to digest all the different prepaid companies it accumulated. Perhaps the color-matched red of the Radio Shack stores is doing well with the red of Virgin Mobile, or perhaps their own Sprint prepaid is not doing as well as they had hoped. Regardless, speculation aside, there’s yet another new phone shipping from the VM website.

As usual, it is no-contract, but locked to Virgin Mobile. It the 4.5-inch Huawei Union for $80 with free standard shipping. It has the latest Android Lollipod version (5.1), which is pretty good considering some flagships that cost almost an order of magnitude more are still behind.

The main specs of the Union are:

  • 4.5-inch 854 x 480 display
  • Android 5.1 out of the box
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB on-board storage (consumer-usable amount is less – as usual)
  • microSD card
  • 1.1 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 210 processor – currently ranks #959 at notebookcheck.net – this includes ALL PC and mobile processors
  • 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Mobile HotSpot features
  • detailed specs at PhoneArena
October 18, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , ,

Power-hungry users: BLU Studio Energy 2 with 5000 mah battery (unlocked 4G LTE) for $180

If you are a fan of GSM and 4G LTE and battery life is your #1 priority, there’s a brand new smartphone coming out with a 5000 mah battery (that’s right, five thousand mah). It is a refresh of a previous model, but now with 4G LTE and improved specs. It is the new BLU Studio Energy 2. And a reasonable price of $180, unlocked without contract requirements.

Having said that, the rest of the specs are in the mid-range, it has 1.5GB RAM, 16GB on-board, microSD (up to 64GB), 5-inch HD AMOLED (which probably suggests 720p), and an unspecified 1.3 GHz quad-core processor (other Blu phones use MediaTek). It is a dual-SIM phone and comes with Lollipod out of the box.

The price at the moment is $180 at Amazon.com (no contract!). The shipment estimate, as of the time of writing is “Temporarily out of stock”.

October 10, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , ,

Good News / Bad News: Motorola Moto G (3rd generation) arrives at Virgin Mobile USA for $150

This is a good news / bad news type of a thing. The good news is that the third generation (latest model as of writing time) Motorola Moto G has arrived at Virgin Mobile USA and it is available for purchase for $150.

The bad news is that this is the entry-level model with 1GB RAM and 8GB on-board. This is the only model they currently offer. This is clear in their product description, see annotated screenshot below:

motorola_moto_g_3rd_Gen_at_virgin_mobile

[Read more…]

October 6, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , ,

Refurbished Motorola Droid 3 XT862 for $30 [Verizon]

If you are fond of older Droid-branded headphones, but still 4G LTE, and you feel comfortable with seller-refurbished smartphones, eBay seller “Grab Wireless” (99.3%) is offering the seller-refurbished Motorola Droid 3 XT862 (Verizon obviously, 16GB on-board, 4G LTE) for $30 with free shipping with a limit of 50 per customer. Over 300 units got sold so far from this listing. No contract obviously 🙂

The seller is offering a 30-day money-back guarantee but obviously no warranty.

October 2, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , ,

Unlocked 32GB Motorola Nexus 6 (XT1103) for $300

If the new Nexus 5X and 6P devices are not to your liking, there’s further discounting on last year’s Nexus 6 by Motorola. You can get it in new condition, carrier unlocked, in the 32GB denomination for $300 with free shipping, with a choice of blue or white, with a limit of five per customer, from eBay seller “QualityCellz” (99.2%). This is model XT1103.

This does not have a microSD, but it is one of only a few phones at the moment that can work with Google’s Project FI, whose defining feature is giving you an account credit for unused data in your account.

September 30, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , , ,

LG G Stylo LTE (Boost Mobile) for $150

If you like stylus phones but don’t want to pay big S-Pen dollars, and want them in new condition, you can get the Boost Mobile edition of the LG G Stylo LTE, with its 5.7-inch screen, for $150 with free shipping, sold by eBay seller “ShopCellDeals” (99.7%). No contract! You can always use it as a Wifi-only model if you don’t want to sign up for a Boost Mobile plan.

September 26, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , ,

Refurbished LG G2 D801 (T-Mobile locked, No Contract) for $130

If you are fond of former flagship phones, you can find many and more of those at the eBay Deals. Case in point, you can get the manufacturer refurbished LG G2 (D801, T-Mobile, 4G LTE) for just $130 with free shipping from eBay seller “Pangea Deals” (98.9%). One of the reason the price is low is because this is locked to T-Mobile, so you have to use it there for cellular. As always, you can use it as a Wifi-only device. No contract!

This phone has been out for a while, so there are plenty of reviews and tips and hacks available on the interwebs for you. As a refresher, this is a 4G LTE device, running on the Snapdragon 800, with 2GB RAM, a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass 3 display, 32GB on-board storage, microUSB, OTG, etc. As you can see, this is not a bad spec sheet.

Good Candidate for the T-Mobile 10GB/month Family Plans
Particularly of interest if you are planning to sign up for T-Mobile’s 10GB/line family plan that requires a minimum of two lines, and it is a data-hungry user’s dream. Each line gets 10GB of its own per month, with a 12-month Data Stash (their name for rollover).

Two lines are $100 total, so you get 20GB per month, with rollover. Optionally, for +$10/month, you can add an extra 10GB per line, so $130 gets you 30GB/month, $140 gets you 40GB/month. Nom nom indeed. Plus music streaming and Speedtest does NOT count against this limit. On top of that, you can use up to 10GB per line for hotspot/tethering (this of course comes out of your total 10GB line bucket).

September 16, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , ,

[DEAD] refurbished FreedomPop sale [LG G2 for $100, Galaxy S3 for $80, Moto E (2nd g) for $80]

This daily deal expired, but things have a way of resurfacing every few days at Woot…
[Read more…]

September 16, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Samsung Galaxy S6 (G920i) for $430 [no contract; unlocked!]

If you are comfortable with a Galaxy S flagship smartphone without a microSD slot and without a removable battery, you can get the international edition, factory unlocked, version of the Samsung Galaxy S6 (G920i) for $430 with free shipping, in new condition, with a limit of five per customer.

Only the black sapphire color scheme is available. The other two have sold out already. The seller of record is none other than Monoprice (their eBay store)! This is a GSM phone, unlocked, no contract!

September 15, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , ,

Certified Preowned Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Verizon) w/1yr warranty for $250 [no contract]

More Note temptations, especially if you are fond of the microSD card which Samsung took away with this year’s model. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in the Verizon version, in either black or white, is now on sale for $250 with free shipping in certified pre-owned condition (without contract) at Amazon.com by Amazon actual. It comes with a 12-month warranty.

This offer is currently restricted only to Prime members. If you must have it and you are not a Prime member, you can always start a Prime Free Trial (30 days)… The S-Pen’s siren’s call is hard to resist 🙂

Since it is a Verizon phone, if you plan to use the cellular part, you have to use it on a Verizon-compatible network, but you can always use it over Wifi.

September 14, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , ,

Refurbished Motorola Moto E (Net10-Verizon) for $20 w/free s&h

If you want a general purpose basic but functional Android phone and you have exactly $20 to spare, you found the right post! For $20 with free shipping you can get the manufacturer refurbished Motorola Moto E (XT830C) from eBay seller “WW_Manufacturing” (99.7%). This is a “Verizon Towers” edition and comes with a one year warranty from Net10. No contract. You can use it as a Wifi-only device or signup for a Net10 (Verizon Towers) plan. You can buy as many as you like.

With more and more things becoming connected, this could make (among many other things) a handy in-home remote control 🙂

September 8, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , , ,

LG G3 (D851, 32GB, T-Mobile Unlocked GSM, No Contract) for $250

If you like the sweet value of former flagships, and also prefer no-contract GSM unlocked smartphones, there’s another temptation among the latest eBay Deals, you can get the new condition LG G3 (32GB, D851), T-Mobile Unlocked GSM smartphone, no contract, for $250 with free shipping. Limit five per customer. The seller of record is MobilePros1 (97.7%). Over 1900 units got moved so far from this listing.

This was opened for unlocking purposes but it is otherwise new. As a refresher, it has a 5.5-inch screen, 3GB RAM, 32GB on-board, comes with Kit Kat and can be upgraded to Lollipop, and such. As a former high profile release, there’s plenty of information, reviews and hacks posted about it.

September 2, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Unlocked Motorola Moto E (2nd gen) for $90 (3G) or $100 (4G LTE)

Motorola’s rollout of affordable bang for the buck Android phones continues with the second generation of the Moto E, which is currently on sale, GSM unlocked, at Amazon.com, with a limit of three per kind per customer. It is available for $100 4G LTE or $90 in either Global GSM or US GSM. No contract, you own it when your payment clears. You can use it as a Wifi-only device, you don’t have to sign up for a cellphone plan.

The difference however is not just the cellular radios. The 4G LTE model is powered by the Snapdragon 410, while the 3G by the Snapdragon 200. Both come with Android 5.0 (out of the box), with a 4.5-inch 960 x 540 qHD (not to be confused with quad HD), IPS, Gorilla Glass 3, 1GB RAM, 8GB on-board storage, but thankfully it has a microSD card. It takes micro SIM cards.

NOTE: if you are planning to use this with T-Mobile, the update to Android 5.1 removes Band 12 which is necessary for some T-Mobile locations. This was verified by a Motorola representative in the comments of this Amazon review.

August 28, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , ,

Certified PreOwned Samsung Galaxy S5 for $350 with 12 months warranty [no contract; choice of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile]

It’s a good year to be buying smartphones. So many options out there pushing prices down. Case in point, if you like the Samsung Galaxy S, and value the microSD and removable battery a lot, you can get the Galaxy S5 in certified pre-owned condition for $350 at amazon.com in your choice of AT&T or Verizon or T-Mobile. No contract – you own these the moment the payment clears!

The description says it comes with all original accessories and it is “like new”. There is also notes that it comes with a 12 month warranty! The only downside is that they are probably locked to their respective carriers, which partially leads to the lower prices you see. But if you are planning to use these as Wifi-only, not an issue.

samsung_galaxy_s5_certified_preowned_sale

August 24, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Buy Amazon’s Fire Phone, extend your AmazonFresh subscription by an extra four months

It is well-known among bargain hunters that the new condition Amazon Fire Phone includes one year of Prime Membership with it. With a current price of $160 for the phone (no contract by the way), you are essentially getting the phone for $60, because a Prime membership is well worth the $100/year (2-day shipping, Video streaming, Music streaming, e-book library, and so forth). If you are a current Prime member, each Fire Phone extends your membership by another year (as in an extra 365 days).

What is not as well known but explained in its own paragraph in the Terms and Conditions page is that if you are already an AmazonFresh Prime member (the $300/year plan), buying and activating a Fire Phone on your account gets you an additional FOUR months added to your Prime Fresh membership.

firephone_amazonfresh_extension

Not only that, but the Prime memberships that come with each new Fire Phone are stackable. Meaning if you buy four new condition Fire Phones and activate them all on the same Amazon.com Prime account, your Prime membership gets extended by four more years. If your expiration was May 10, 2016 it will get bumped to May 10 in 2020.

Likewise with AmazonFresh, but instead of 12-month increments, your subscriptions are extended in four month increments.

August 24, 2015 Filed Under: android, shopping Tagged With: , , ,