Friday: refurb Nexus 6P for $240+ or Nexus 5X for $140+

Project FI is a great way to have cellular service without breaking the bank. Especially if you like to use or switch between various smartphones. However, to get into Project FI, the guardian at the gate requires a Nexus or a Pixel phone or the new Moto X4. If you want in, but don’t want to pay the big bucks for Pixels, and you have a soft spot for the Nexus phones, you have until Saturday at 3am eastern to decide!

Because among the daily deals at Amazon for Friday is a sale on a handful of certified refurbished Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X phones. Prices vary by phone color and storage option. The Huawei Nexus 6P models range from $240 to 4260, while the LG Nexus 5X range from $140 to $150.

Once you are in Project FI, you can order from Project FI what they call “Data SIMs”. These can be used for data service only, no voice. However, you can use the Google Hangouts and Hangouts Dialer combination (or Google Voice if you want a different phone number) and then you can make/receive calls and send/receive texts with the “Data SIM” only phones. Google sends these to you for FREE. You can have up to nine of them per Google account, great for developers, testers, reviewers and smartphone/tablet aficionados. I just did this with the Sony Xperia L2, I will finish the blog-post during the weekend if you are curious!

Prepaid Carriers offer Galaxy S9 for $660, S9+ for $760

If you are looking to get the brand new Samsung Galaxy S9 flagships at a reasonable outright price, and you want to use it with these prepaid carriers, you are in luck! A couple of them, “Simple Mobile” and “Total Wireless” are offering them for $660 (S9) and $760 (S9+) outright on Amazon! You have to use a SIM card for one of those two carriers if you want service, which, of course, you can find on Amazon!

Carrier $660 $760
Simple Mobile Galaxy S9 Galaxy S9+
Total Wireless Galaxy S9 Galaxy S9+

And that’s it. You buy it, you pay for it, and it’s yours! No monthly payments, no requirement to have or maintain service with a carrier and such!

Refurbished LG G4 (Verizon) for $85 [UPDATED]

UPDATE 3/1/18 at 10pm ET: the price has dropped from $100 to $85. Same seller and shipping situation…

If you are looking for a former flagship that is running on the Verizon network, and $100 is all you are willing to pay, then head on over to Amazon where marketplace seller Kanga Supply is offering certified refurbished LG G4 (Verizon) smartphones for $100 with free shipping.

[Read more…]

Motorola Moto X4 + Amazon ECHO (2nd Gen) for $350

If you happen to want an unlocked smartphone that will work with all major US carriers, and you also want a second generation Amazon ECHO device, and you are a Prime member, $350 will get you the aforementioned ECHO device along with the new condition Motorola Moto X4 smartphone from Amazon actual. This is an unlocked smartphone with a USA warranty, and it will work all four major US carriers, and also Google’s Project-FI, currently the only non-Google phone that is compatible with the service.

This is a limited time offer, but they don’t mention when it expires.

PS: speaking of unlocked smartphones, I just posted an unboxing of the Sony Xperia L2, with more posts and review action coming up in the next few days.

Sony Xperia L1 for $180 [Unlocked, USA warranty]

There’s an insane number of smartphone options these days, and at a wild range of prices. Many of the phones out there are available unlocked, which typically give you the most flexibility and better resale value (other things equal as many other factors determine resale value of a smartphone ~ not that we are buying these things as investments).

Which brings us to the Sony Xperia L1 getting its first discount, now going for $180 with free shipping in the three official color schemes at amazon.com. This is new condition, with USA warranty, and sold by Amazon actual. No contract, and you don’t even have to use it with a cellular plan.

It comes with Nougat out of the box, which is a step ahead of most Android phones out there (sadly!). It has 2GB RAM, 16GB on-board storage, microSD slot (Sony sells microSD cards, so of course they’ll support microSD storage), and GSM compatibility.

It has a 5.5-inch display with 720p resolution (it’s under $200 after all), with a MediaTek processor, a Nano SIM, USB-C connector, etc.

As you can see from the pictures, one semi-distinguishing characteristic of this is that there are almost no side bezels, but plenty of them at the top and bottom.

Motorola Moto E (Tracfone) for $20 w/free S&H

If you need a budget Android phone that is actually usable considering the price, the new condition Tracfone edition of the Motorola Moto E is on sale for $20 with free shipping by ShopCellDeals on eBay. They have a 99.5% feedback score and they ship from Virginia. Over 3650 phones got sold so far from this listing.

Tracfone is a prepaid seller, so you are under no obligation to start or transfer or continue service with them. It’s all up to you. Note however that the Tracfone is the only wireless carrier that you can use this phone with.

The specs are basic on the phone, but the Moto E was part of the earlier budget wave started by the Illinois pre-Google pre-Lenovo version of Motorola, along with the Moto G and the Moto X. It has a 4.3″ qHD screen, “q” in this case is “quarter HD”, not “quad HD”, which translates to 960 x 540 pixels. It runs on a dual core 1.2GHz processor and Android 4.4.

If you need more power, there are many great choices out there, but you won’t find them for $20 delivered and in new condition 🙂

Virgin Mobile Sale returns: Motorola Moto G (latest model 1GB/8GB) for $100, iPhone 5S for $150, etc

After the holidays ended, the prices jumped up at Virgin Mobile, but of course in the fast-paced world of smartphones, that wouldn’t last long. And indeed, there is a new sale now, headlined by the iPhone 5S (16GB) going for $150, and the 3rd-generation Motorola Moto G for $100. This is the latest model, however, this is the entry-level model with 1GB RAM and 8GB on-board storage. There’s also a model with 2GB RAM and 16GB on-board but unfortunately Virgin Mobile does not carry that one.

vm_sale_moto_GIII
Also on sale is the Huawei Union for $30, while Windows Phone fans have their Lumia 635 down to $50 (it had gone as low as $40 at some point in the year).

vm_sale_iphone_5S

These are no-contract phones, you own them, however, they are locked to the Virgin Mobile network, which is part of the Sprint 4G LTE infrastructure. Check the various phone forums to see which one of these phones can be hacked away to work on other Sprint MVNOs.

[DEAD] Motorola Moto G (3rd gen) drops to $120 (VM)

The new year came (2016) and with it, all the Virgin Mobile USA phone discounts got washed away… But I’m sure they’ll have more sales in the next few days… CES is already underway and more phones are getting announced, so it’s natural for the existing models to eventually go through the discounting and clearance cycle…

[Read more…]

LG Stylo (Boost Mobile) for $100 [no contract]

We have yet another discount on the big screen LG Stylo. You can get in the Boost Mobile (part of the Sprint family) version for $100 with a limit of three per customer at Amazon by Amazon actual. You don’t have to sign up for a plan or contract, just add to cart and checkout. You can use it as a Wifi-only (perhaps as a note-taking?) device. It comes with a stylus, but please note this is not as advanced of a stylus technology like the Galaxy S-Pen or the ones used by MSFT’s Surface tablets. Despite its size and features, this is a mid-tier phone, it only has 1GB RAM and 8GB on-board storage.

Amazon also offers the Virgin Mobile version for $110, with no commitment and no contract. Or you can get that for $100 from VM’s own website as part of their holiday sales.

HTC Desire 626S (Virgin Mobile) for $90

Phone discounts left and right! If you are using Virgin Mobile or if you simply need another Wifi-only device as an in-home remote control or media player, the no-contract HTC Desire 626s (the “s” is part of the name, it is newer than the 626) is currently on sale for around $90 at Amazon.com. This price is a by a marketplace seller fulfilled by Amazon (eligible for 2-day Prime), while Amazon’s own price is around $93. You own the phone immediately and you are under no obligation to sign up for a Virgin Mobile plan.

But keep in mind, this runs on the Sprint network (which is what Virgin uses), so you can’t use it with other providers as a cellphone. You can of course use it as a Wifi device anywhere.

LG G Stylo (Virgin Mobile) for $100

IF you are suffering from smartphone hoarding, this is a very good/bad time, because there are so many specials and so many phones to have and try and compare and such 🙂 One more temptation is in right now, Virgin Mobile’s Cyber Monday offering is the new condition LG G Stylo for $100. No contract. You can only use it on Virgin Mobile (or any other compatible sister MVNO carriers) if you want a cellular plan. But if you only plan to use it as a Wifi device or mooch off your hotspot or other phones, then you can’t go wrong, especially if you like having a stylus.

Granted, the stylus is not at the level of the Samsung S-Pen or the Surface Pen, so you don’t have advanced features. But you can still scribble on that big 5.7-inch screen.

NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV with bonus Remote for $200

UPDATE (11/25/15): this is going to drop another $50 for Black Friday, so don’t buy it just yet!

ORIGINAL: To encourage more people to jump on the bandwagon during the holiday shopping season, Nvidia is bundling their Shield Android TV device with their own Remote Control for free. So you pay $200 for both. This is the 16GB ShieldTV, not the one with the 500GB hard drive. You can get this offer, with a limit of three per customer, at Amazon. It also has a microSD slot that takes up to 128GB memory cards. The standard Shield kit includes a game controller. The remote is the bonus item here, which goes for $50 on its own. The promotion expires 12/31/15 or earlier if they sell out of them.

Huawei Union 4G LTE (Virgin Mobile) for $30

If you are part of the Virgin Mobile network or if you are looking for a cheap Android phone, the Huawei Union 4G LTE phone, with no contract requirement, is on sale for just $30, in new condition at the Virgin Mobile USA store. This is part of Huawei’s attempt to make progress in the USA market, hot on the heels of their Nexus high-profile selection.

It comes with Android 5.1 out of the box, 4.5-inch screen, 1.1 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB on-board storage, Bluetooth, and things like that. Check the internets for more specs and reviews on this. No contract, but this is locked to Virgin Mobile, which is part of the Spring 4G LTE network.

PS: remember, do not buy any Sprint WiMax phones, sometimes called “Spring 4G” without the LTE part of their name. WiMax is going down.

32GB HTC One M7 (AT&T Unlocked) for $150

Things move fast in the world of smartphones, which means you can get previous flagships for less a couple of years later. But they also rarely run the latest version of Android, so you have a tug-of-war of trade-offs to make. Be that as it may, among the latest offers on eBay you can get the new condition unlocked 32GB HTC One M7 for $150 with free shipping, in either the black or silver color schemes. The seller of record is QualityCellz (99.2%).

This is the last HTC flagship before they re-embraced microSD cards with the M8. So if 32GB is enough for you, and you don’t care for a microSD slot, keep on reading. The listing describes it as “factory unlocked” but it says multiples times this is “AT&T unlocked”. So if you are planning to use it with other GSM carriers that do not operate in the AT&T universe, you may want to check the bands or your favorite Android phones first.

As a quick refresher, this is powered by Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB RAM, a 1920 x 1080 Gorilla Glass 2 screen, and such. It originally came out during the reign of Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean).

Refurbished 16GB Nexus 5 (unlocked) for $170 [was $150]

The 16GB Nexus 5 (made by LG) Android phone that is part of the Marshmallow wave is available in “certified refurbished” condition for $170 [was $150] with free shipping by two different sellers “BuySPRY” and “Magic Mobile Partners” with the order fulfilled by Amazon, so you get free Prime shipping (if a member) and you get to deal with the Amazon customer service in case of problems. This “certified refurbished” comes with a minimum 90-day warranty and testing/inspection according to the product listing over there… UPDATE 11/19/15: the price jumped from $150 to $170 🙁

From the same seller with similar terms you can get the 32GB version for $180. This does not have a microSD slot, so it’s a trade-off to consider. On the other hand, this is a 4G LTE phone, so if you have a fast connection and access to reliable Wifi, you may not need more than 16GB – at least for media purposes.

I haven’t yet bought any items that are part of Amazon’s Certified Refurbished category, so I can’t tell you what to expect. I am tempted by this Nexus 5 price though because I don’t currently have an officially sanctioned Marshmallow phone.

There are no customer reviews of either one of these listings, so perhaps this is for the more brave shoppers who don’t mind taking a risk.